10 Last Minute Preaching Tips

By Toni Ridgaway

As pastors, we must first preach the gospel to ourselves before we proclaim to the world the necessity of a Savior.  How damnable it would be to die of malnutrition while we busily prepare food for others.

—Scott Thomas

The best advice we ever give is that of a poor sinner to another poor sinner. As one who looks to herself, lest she also be tempted.  As one who knows he needs to be encouraged as well.  As one who doesn’t assume to know another’s heart and pain.

—Mark Altrogge

If one wanted to find the biggest problem in Christianity then listen to the preachers. Whatever most preachers are avoiding in their sermons. Whatever most preachers are not addressing. Those things are probably going to be the things that are most needed today.

—Sherman Haywood Cox II

Sermons are not made for paper; they are made for people. They are to be listened to. Just like Ford test-drives any prototype before they produce the vehicle, you should test drive your sermon by listening to it before you preach it.

—Mark Mohler

We all know that it is important to know what you are teaching, but it is becoming even more important to know how they are learning.

—Wayne Cordeiro

To help people change, you’ve got to help them see the lie they’re basing their behavior on. That’s why when you know the truth, it sets you free.

—Rick Warren

What the world is looking for is an authoritative Gospel spoken through a humble personality.

—P.T. Forsythe

People don’t transform because of a good message. They transform because of a great Jesus.

—Pete Wilson

Lectures are a fine way to impart raw information. But it's not enough to make disciples who make other disciples. Information transfer isn't enough, we need life transfer. Don't tell me, show me.

—Jon Reid

When preachers hold a Bible in their hands, they hold nothing more than pages of ink…Preaching brings the ink of the text alive—makes it real. The goal of preaching is to hand on an experience of God.

—Tom Rogers

Preaching Tip: Encourage Your Audience

By Peter Mead



Everyone needs encouragement.  We need it as preachers.  So we shouldn’t be surprised if our listeners do, too!  And yet, strangely, something that everyone needs, and everyone acknowledges is needed, seems to be strangely absent in a significant amount of preaching.  Let me encourage you to encourage people as you preach.

Don’t think exhortation is encouragement. 

There is a need for exhortation, but people need to be encouraged, too.  Exhorting involves persuasion and a hint of rebuke, but encouragement injects hope, confidence and life.

Don’t think guilt is encouragement.  

To put it simply, it is not.  Guilting people into conformity is a shortcut that may yield results, but it will be short-lived and counter-productive.  Allow guilt to come by the conviction of the Spirit, but don’t add guilt where guilt is not the issue—that is a form of legalism.

Don’t think that enthusiasm is encouragement.  

Your enthusiasm may be contagious, but people may sit impressed by your passion, yet not feel encouraged in their own.  Think through how to invest rather than simply demonstrate enthusiasm in your preaching.
There are other things we may offer and think we are being encouraging.  But consider both your passage and your listeners: how can this be preached in a way that will encourage them?  Robinson talks about the need for ten encouraging messages for every one rebuke.  It is so counterproductive when we get that ratio reversed.  Be encouraged as you read the Word, and look to share that encouragement as encouragement!

Using Humor

By Wayne Cordeiro


Envision that life is like a large, flat plain. At its edge is laughter, where life giggles and belly laughs without much effort. This is called the “Edge of Laughter.”

A lot of people build their lives too far from the Edge of Laughter. So it takes someone to do the best comedy act in Vegas to get them to crack a smile.

Live on the Edge of Laughter. Congregations that never laugh find that forgiveness comes hard. In a church that laughs easily, forgiveness also comes easily. Allow your spirit to be lifted by laughter. It will do more than just improve your communication, it will change your church.

Humor of Jesus
Jesus laughed. Where you might ask? Plenty of places in the Gospels if you have any kind of funny bone left in your body. Listen to these words of Jesus:

“It’s easier for a camel to go through an eye of a needle than rich man to get into heaven” (Matthew 19:24).

How do you get a camel through the eye of a needle? Do you start with the tail and start pulling him through? Of course people laughed. Jesus wanted them to, so they would not take themselves too seriously. As ambassadors of the King, you and I must also utilize humor to awaken people’s minds and hearts.

When people laugh, it reboots their computer and gets them thinking again. Have you ever experienced a computer crash? You wiggle the mouse, tap at the keys, maybe even kick it, but it doesn’t react. Well, that can happen during speeches too! You must jiggle your audience awake with joy.

When people laugh it opens their receptivity. As their mouths hang open, the preacher can drop in truth for them to chew on. What a preacher says immediately after the laughter is the most important message he can speak. Laughter makes hearts vulnerable and the words he will speak will sink deeply and be reflected upon.
How can a preacher develop his humor?

1. Watch Life
Watch life for unique experiences. Develop eyes to see humor every day. How much life goes by and we are oblivious to it. I went to a collegiate game where the University of Oregon played UCLA. The people were wonderfully alive and sparkling with joy. They had painted their faces and their bodies! They wore clown wigs and just went nuts. It was such a joy to watch them!

2. Watch Comedy
One of the best tactics for developing humor is from some of the most funny people in the world, stage comedians. A comedian will plan his routine, crafting his lines and adjusting his timing. These are the professionals of laughter. If their humor is clean, watch it and take notes! Watch every gesture, tone and technique they use to draw laughter out of people around them.

3. Practice Laughing
Right where you are, wherever you are, laugh! That’s right, laugh. Yes I do mean you! Don’t hide behind your screen. Just laugh.

You may need some practice. We need to practice joy so that it becomes a natural reflex in life, not just in the pulpit but every day we live.

If we don’t laugh we’ll be more painful to live with. Those who don’t laugh are often the first critics. If you don’t laugh very much, it does not mean that you are holier than others. It might make you a Pharisee but it will not make you holier. Somewhere along the line, church people began to look like they had been baptized in lemon juice. We have become known for our deep-furrowed frowns. Holiness is not best advertised with seriousness but with joy.

One of the first Sundays after we planted New Hope a somber man sporting a scowl and crossed arms glared through me during the service. So I went over to him and gave him a big hug and said, “Good morning!” He was as rigid as a phone pole. He scalded me with a look that could blister skin. In a low growl he said, “If you would stop being such a funny guy, and just preach the Word, then maybe I’d come more often!” He left that Sunday and we haven’t seen him since.

In those early days we only had a handful of people attending. But since then 34,000 people have made first-time decisions for Christ through New Hope . We’re going to keep laughing! As Nehemiah said, “The joy of the Lord is your strength” (Neh. 8:10). A church that understands the joy of the Lord is a strong church.