Do not judge a minister . . .

(Thomas Brooks, "The Unsearchable Riches of Christ!")

"If you point these things out to the brethren, you will be a good minister of Christ Jesus, brought up in the truths of the faith and of the good teaching that you have followed." 1 Timothy 4:6

It is sad to see how many preachers in our days make it their business to enrich men's heads with lofty, empty, airy notions-instead of enriching their souls with holy truths.

Fix yourself under that man's ministry who makes it his business, his work-to enrich the soul, to win the soul, and to build up the soul; not to tickle the ear, or please the fancy. This age is full of such light, vain souls-who dislike everything but what is empty and airy.

Do not judge a minister . . .
  by his voice, nor
  by the multitude who follow him, nor
  by his affected tone, nor
  by his rhetoric and flashes of wit;
but by the holiness, heavenliness, and spiritualness of his teaching!
Many ministers are like empty orators, who have a flood of words-but a drop of matter!

Some preachers affect rhetorical strains; they seek abstrusities and love to hover and soar aloft in dark and cloudy expressions, and so shoot their arrows over their hearers' heads-instead of bettering their hearers' hearts.

Mirthful things in a sermon are only for men to gaze upon and admire.

He is the best preacher, not who tickles the ear-but who breaks the heart!

"My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power!" 1 Corinthians 2:4-5