Without forging ahead, eyes focused on the heavenly prize, my ever present temptation to compromise my message becomes too much. I begin grinding away the rough edges of the gospel to make it fit comfortably in contemporary life, instead of grinding away the excess of contemporary life until it fits the gospel...The desire to please my church overrides the desire to please Christ. These are the sins of the prayerless preacher: (1) Cynicism, (2) Callousness, and (3) Compromise. These sins render our sermons impotent even when well communicated.
I want to know Christ not because it makes me preach better, but because it allows me to preach with integrity. It allows me to preach with hope, with a sensitive heart, and with conviction. That is better than preaching better!
"Preaching With Spiritual Passion," by Edward K. Rowell (pp.108-110)
I think that conformity is inherent in our DNA and that often it is our desire to be "liked" that keeps us from speaking the "truth"
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