Packer on Reading and Study
"I think that the priority for every pastoral leader must be his own personal time with God over the Scriptures, and anything he does by way of preparation must flow out of that. The first requirement for authoritative, perceptive communication of the word of God is that you yourself should be experiencing the power of it. The Puritan John Owen said, 'A man only preaches that sermon well which first preaches itself in his own soul.' He was profoundly right." J.I. Packer
