At Amsterdam 83, while addressing about 4000 evangelists from all over the world, Dr Zacharias said of communicating with people of other faiths, “You can never lighten the load unless you feel the pressure in your own soul.”
I remember talking to Brother Augustine Salins, a weeping prophet of India. When I said, “Mr Salins, it is not easy to preach evangelistic messages,” he gave me some brotherly advice: “When it becomes easy for you to preach, quit preaching!”
Preaching should not be a habit. It should not be a collection of fine-sounding phrases and impressive gestures. It should engage the very depths of your being. As the godly father of a friend advised, “When you prepare a sermon, never preach it unless you wet your notes with tears.”
We are familiar with the cry of John Knox, “Give me Scotland or I die!” Do we have the same passion about the proclamation of the Gospel? We should. Read the sermons of the Apostle Paul, and you will see that preaching, which could easily have been an intellectual exercise, never ceased to be a fire in his bones.
(From the book Practical Evangelism by Prakash Yesudian, pg 124)