Written by Paul David Tripp as sourced below the quote:

“… I loved to preach. I worked hard on my sermons and planned my preaching series a year at a time. I prepared weeks in advance for every message and developed creative outlines to support my key points. I carried my sermon files around with me so that I could add or delete illustrations when inspiration struck. I would preach each sermon to myself until it was almost completely memorized so that I would only need a brief outline in the pulpit. I tried to preach with a passion that matched the content of my message. I was sure that our congregation was being well fed on the spiritual food I was serving them each week.

One day a member of the congregation asked to meet with me privately. I was so excited! I was convinced that my preaching had convicted ‘Pete’ to talk about things God had exposed in his heart. But when we sat down, Pete said, ‘I know you probably think I am here to talk about me, but I’m here to talk about your preaching. You’re killing us. At first I thought it was just me, but I know that many others feel the same way. You’re driving us crazy, so I am here to give it to you straight.’

I asked, ‘Is it the content or the delivery that upsets you?’ He said, ‘It’s the whole package, but I have a solution.’ He handed me a set of tapes by a well-known preacher. ‘Just listen to these and do what he does until you understand how to preach a decent sermon.’ I went home devastated. I knew that the conversation had affected me, but I didn’t realize how much until I got up to preach the next Sunday. Everyone looked normal to me except Pete. His head seemed like the size of a blimp! Everywhere I looked, I seemed to see his disapproving face. I stumbled and stammered my way through the sermon, relieved when it was finally over.

The next Sunday was the same. I felt as if only Pete and I were in the room. By the third week, I was determined to get Pete to approve of my preaching. Although I didn’t fully realize it, I tried to craft sermons to his liking. But they were not me and they did not fly. This went on for about two months until, finally, the oldest lady in our congregation approached me after the service. She said she wanted to talk to me about my preaching. Oh no, not you too! I thought.

She pointed her finger at me and said, ‘Paul, I don’t know what has happened to you or who has gotten to you, but you have lost your freedom in preaching. You may be preaching out of fear or the need to please, but something is wrong. You need to get up tomorrow and prepare what God has given you to preach. Then preach it with courage or we’re all in trouble!’

 With that, she walked out. I stood there, knowing that she was exactly right. I had quit serving God and had begun preaching to please Pete. I had been evaluating the success of each effort by the reaction of one man and I was becoming enslaved and embittered.

So You Want to Be an Instrument of Change? We all have Petes in our lives, people who attack the borders of our comfortable lives. We have all had attempts at ministry blow up in our faces. We have all been torn between God’s calling and the fear of man, between compassion and anger, between love and bitterness. Given the messiness of sinners helping sinners, we need a model. And as God’s people, we do not have to stumble around. We have the example of the Wonderful Counselor.

Being an instrument of heart change means following Christ’s example and focusing on the heart—starting with your own. Pete’s attacks and criticisms had filled me with the fear of man and caused me to forget my primary allegiance to God. These heart issues subverted my knowledge and skill, rendering them ineffective. This was a vivid demonstration of the way my heart shapes my response to the ministry opportunities God sends me. Paul said it to Timothy this way: “Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers” (1Tim. 4: 16).”

— Instruments in the Redeemer’s Hands: People in Need of Change Helping People in Need of Change by Paul David Tripp