Notice what Paul does NOT write in 2 Tim. 4:2-Preach about the word; Preach with the word; Preach from the word. No! He writes, preach the word.
Therefore, the first question to ask when assessing preaching is not whether you liked the sermon, but rather: Did the preacher get the text right? In other words, did the points of the sermon take into consideration the context of the passage and did they obviously come right from the text? Once that is answered, then you can move on to the next assessment question—Were there exhortations given based on the interpretation of the text? More specifically, were unbiblical thoughts, words and/or actions confronted to be put off and then were Christlike thoughts, words and/or actions exhorted to be put on in their place? If those two main questions can be answered in the affirmative, that is preaching the word.
Furthermore, preaching that doesn’t consistently have the features listed by Paul in v.2 (reproving, rebuking and exhorting) isn’t really preaching, even if true doctrine is always preached. To put it another way, everything in the sermon may be true, but that sermon may not be able to be classified as preaching if there were no exhortations given towards holiness that require the Holy Spirit to obey. Preachers raised up by God, preach His word.