How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?
Why would anyone listen to a preacher?
The answer is different for everyone but at the core the reason is the same.
Dissatisfaction.
Each of us has to come to grips with how we respond to dissatisfaction. We might not even know why we are dissatisfied. I can only answer for myself and the same goes for each one of us. What we are dissatisfied with is as varied as our experiences.
The issue for the preacher is to offer up a solution to one and only one problem, sin.
If a person is not caught in sin they might not see that sin is their problem. In fact the sin they seek to escape might not even be their own. It might be that of their abuser. Abusers are in every aspect of life seeking those that they can prey upon for their own needs.
The most sinister abuser fails at love. Those that cannot do it, cannot share it and will mask their agenda of abuse under words of love with empty promises. I call this the most sinister abuse because sometimes the abuser themselves do not know what they are doing to their victims. God loves us and if we have never been loved in any way how can we come to know the love of God having never been loved ourselves?
By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.
The success of the preacher is seen by how his flock loves one another. If a flock cannot love one another, why would a stranger want to join them?
It will never be a safe place for the abused to find help if we do not show them that we share a love they have never experienced for themselves.
The love of Christ abides in us, let it show.