Robert Culver reminds us in his Systematic Theology (pg. 967) of the need to carry on what he calls “urgent preaching.”

Among the features of the public services of worship in the ekklesia the sermon, therefore, is of great importance. During the dark ages of the Western churches of Europe parish priests were so prevailingly ignorant of the Scriptures that the memorized liturgy of the Mass was about all they could produce. The evangelical Reformation restored the Bible to the people and put it again at the center of worship by way of public reading and urgent preaching by a competent preacher.