We may preach with great eloquence, we may have unanswerable arguments, but if we are preaching to the lost, we must remember that they are people whose minds have been blinded by the god of this age. Our most eloquent appeals will make no impact unless a Sovereign God causes His light to dawn upon their hearts. Our approach in preaching should not be to say merely that we are offering something beneficial that you our hearer can and should take up at any time. We have a more disquieting message. We are to tell the lost, 'You are slaves. You are blind. You cannot even understand what we are saying unless God in His mercy enables you.' The Lord must illumine. Our preaching can succeed only “in demonstration of the Spirit and of power” (1 Cor. 2:4). That must be the starting point for preaching the Lord God will honor.