From HeartCry Missionary Society http://heartcrymissionary.com/modules.php?name=Sections&op=viewarticle&artid=12
1. God has ordained preaching as the means of converting sinners and edifying saints.
The kingdom of Christ does not advance through corporate strategies, seeker friendly methodologies, or Christian entertainment, but through the speaking forth of God’s Word, intercessory prayer, and sacrificial love.
2. Preaching is to be expository. The people of God are “being destroyed for a lack of knowledge” (Hosea 4:6). It is not enough for men to share from their hearts, teach through their experiences, or excite with quaint stories, flowery illustrations, and clever clichés. We are in dire need of biblical doctrine, brought forth with passion in its historical/grammatical context, and applied to men’s hearts by the Holy Spirit.
3. Believers and unbelievers alike are in desperate need of the clear proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This generation has witnessed a great reduction in the content of the Gospel. The only Message that is the power of God unto salvation has been reduced down to a few “Spiritual Laws” and “Five Things God Wants You to Know”.
We are in need of true Gospel preaching that confronts men with their radical depravity and hostility toward God; that sets forth Christ as the One who bore the guilt of His people and was crushed under God’s wrath; that proclaims Christ’s resurrection and the hope of eternal life; that calls men to repentance and faith; that warns professors to prove the genuineness of their calling and election through their growth in personal godliness and their practice of piety (II Peter 1:10).
4. We need revival and reform. All true revival is founded upon the truth of God’s Word. True preaching does not “fire up” the flesh, but reforms the mind, revives the soul, and brings the will into subjection to the Lordship of Christ. Revival is like conversion, if it is true, its fruit will last. It is wrong to refer to a series of planned meetings as a revival. A revival is a sovereign visitation by God that cannot be scheduled or orchestrated by men. Although movements of prayer have often preceded true revivals, these movements were not the cause, but rather the first fruits of revival. Revival should never be attributed to the piety of any man or group of men, but solely to the grace of a sovereign God.
5. Conversion is not a mere human decision, but a supernatural work of God whereby the very nature of a man is changed - he becomes a new creature. A radically depraved sinner, who is hostile to the person and will of God, cannot be manipulated into such an experience through carefully orchestrated “altar calls” or witnessing techniques designed to lead men to “make a decision”. True Gospel preaching does not seek to lead men through a series of hoops to heaven; it does not call men to repeat a prayer or to ask Jesus to come in. Rather it sets forth the saving work of Christ and pleads with men to repent and believe. Those who profess Christ are warned to prove the validity of their calling and election by bringing forth fruit as evidence of true conversion.
6. Although a few meetings are better than none at all, our contemporary practice is not beneficial. Three or four day meetings leave no time for plowing and sowing, or tearing down and building up. Oftentimes, a series of meetings are ended at the very moment when the work of God is beginning to manifest itself. Our truncated meetings are evidence that we desire convenience more than revival or that our lives are so filled with temporal preoccupations and activities that we have little time for eternal things. Meeting should be scheduled in accordance with the will of God and with great passion to see God glorified in the renewal of His people.