ccasionally I’m asked, “What is the hardest thing about preaching the gospel?” I realize that a few people expect an answer like “Nothing at all,” because they think preaching is not that difficult in the first place. Some preachers have said that the hardest thing is deciding what to preach each week - keeping your finger on the pulse of the congregation and knowing what lesson will meet the needs of the group that week. I would agree that it is certainly a challenging part of the work. Other preachers set such a hectic schedule for themselves that they say the hardest part of the work is the time, the long days that are required. There is truth in that as well. Yet some other preachers would say that the hardest part of the work of preaching is the preparation that has to go into every lesson that is presented. I can see that point also. Preparing two Bible classes and two sermons each week can easily take more than 40 hours in a week. For myself, however, I would suggest that the hardest thing about preaching is getting people to change.

Preaching the gospel is not just giving out Biblical information, and no preacher who is worth his salt is content just to address a problem. We want to see the change come about, we want to see the exhortations (and the rebukes) bear some fruit, we want to see the teaching put into practice. For example, Paul was not content just to know that the Corinthians had heard the gospel. He was concerned that they continued to follow the truth. So he wrote them letters and made personal visits to them to get them to become the kind of church