The Mystery of Preaching

Parts of ministry remain a mystery to me.  Perhaps the biggest point of confusion is a bad sermon.  This past Sunday's sermon focused on 1 Kings 21.  Basically, Jezebel was willing to use deception, manipulation, and intimidation as soon as her feelings of power and entitlement were threatened.  I compared this to our response in the "kingdoms" we set up for ourselves in churches, work, or social settings.  The basic points were legitimate.  The subpoints and explanations could have been better.  The illustrations were a complete and total failure.  My weakness in the pulpit isn't the mystery.  I'm aware of my own weaknesses.  The confusion is that the weakest sermons I preach are the ones people come to me to talk about or share stories of how it applied.  The last time I was this frustrated with a sermon, a friend who provided me constructive criticism (at my request) refered to it as the best sermon she'd heard me preach.  In the last three days, I've had four people stop me to mention something about that sermon.  While I'm grateful the Holy Spirit uses scripture to speak to people, I almost always feel like I've failed to adequately explain or illustrate the simplest points of any passage.  Please, anyone who actually reads this...indulge this public whining on my part.  I promise not to make too much of a habit of it.  I don't need any reassurance of my calling or usefulness.  I just wanted to vent.