The Secret Ingredient Your Sermon Is Missing

By Erik Raymond

Erik is a pastor at Emmaus Bible Church (EmmausBibleChurch.org), a church plant south of Omaha. Converse with Erik on Twitter at @erikraymond.


So often, it’s the little stuff that makes the biggest impact.

This is true in my home as I am blessed to enjoy delicious meals on a regular basis. I often ask, “What is in this?” when enjoying a new dish or a new twist on an old dish. My wife will usually give one-word answers: “Lime.” “Cardamom.” ”Turmeric.” “Honey.” “Pesto.” I am always surprised. I am always delighted. We rarely eat bland, ordinary, lifeless meals—for this I am daily thankful.

Like cooking, preaching can become bland.

It can fail to have that freshness worthy of the gospel table. There are many reasons why. One could identify a lack of preparation, lack of understanding, poor delivery, and shallowness. We would not disagree that undercooking the homiletical meal is a problem. But there is something else that can make preaching bland: the deadly reality of not being personally wowed by the subject.

I have seen this in some otherwise terrific sermons. Guys can be exegetically sound, communicate with clarity, illustrate with profundity, and then at the end of the sermon, it tastes like grandma’s meatloaf: somewhat filling but not so memorable.

On the other hand, we can probably identify a sermon we have heard when the guy was working out of a passage with passionate engagement. And as he was doing this, he was wringing out the text with personal adoration and joy.

In other words, the text had gotten into him! The man went from a tour guide to a resident, a lecturer to a preacher! He went from bland to flavor by seasoning the sermon with personal reflections of the infinite value of Christ, his beauty and unsurpassed glory.

I am convinced this is an indispensable aspect of preaching. 

As leaders and examples (1 Pet. 5:4), we must model hearts that are truly moved by the Christ we proclaim (Col. 1:28-29). After all, if we aren’t moved to worship … why would anyone else? One might say, “But I am not an emotional person. I don’t get excited.” That’s fine. I am not talking here about volume, but depth.

Preachers cannot be content to glide along the surface of the biblical ocean, telling their hearers of the great treasures that lie under the boat.

Instead, they are to dive down into the depths of the water, see it themselves, marvel, and then come up and exclaim, with seaweed on their shoulders, as one who has themselves seen: “This is who God is!” “This is what Christ has done for your souls!” It is easy to be sterile when we are dry and in the boat—preachers need to get wet, get deep, and come up and preach like they have seen something!
Jonathan Edwards is famous for many things; among them is his statement about the necessity of the heart being moved during the preaching of the Word of God:

“The main benefit that is obtained by preaching is by impression made upon the mind in the time of it and not by the effect that arises afterwards by a remembrance of what was delivered…Preaching, in other words, must first of all touch the affections.” (Jonathan Edwards: A Life, Marsden, p. 282)
I think you see this type of devoted diving into the gospel-deeps through the Apostle Paul as he considers his own sinfulness and the grace of Christ (1 Tim. 1:12-17); the personal nature of the gospel (Gal. 2:20); the staggering implications of loving adoption and reconciliation because of the work of Christ (Eph. 1:3-14); and the irresistible power of the Holy Spirit to conquer, subdue, and arrest a sinner’s heart (2 Cor. 4:1-6).

It’s everywhere.

Effective preachers are those who have been personally moved by the text before they attempt to see others moved by the text.

From a guy who has to fight every single day to have my heart moved by the gospel, hear my plea: Don’t be content to just give your hearers a comprehensive tour guide through a passage; connect the dots to show the glory, grandeur, and greatness of God in it so they can join you in marveling at the glorious view.

It’s a little thing, but it makes a big difference for you and the Church.

Dear Preacher: Remind Us of the Mercy

By John Blase

John Blase preached for over a decade but then he thought he'd go where the money is, so he started writing poetry. He's a lucky man with a stunning wife and three kids who look like their mother. John lives out West but he'll always be from the South and that suits him just fine. His books include Touching Wonder: Recapturing the Awe of Christmas; Start With Me: A Modern Parable; and All Is Grace: A Ragamuffin Memoir (co-written with Brennan Manning)

Why art thou downcast, O preacher? Oh, should’ve guessed — it’s us, right? Yes, yes, we the people of God are a stiff-necked-bow-legged flock, prone to not only wander but to waffle as did the fathers and mothers who so sensuously begat us. You’re in a hard place, we realize that, what with the megachurch being so passé these days and everybody going small church, but let not your heart be troubled because it won’t be long until some remember the reason they left the little church was the hootenanny music and potluck heartburn. We applaud your efforts to make us fully devoted followers but we see ourselves as part-time saints at best and that suits us fine, just fine. Tell you what, here’s a bit of advice, please "receive it in the spirit in which it is intended" which we all know (wink) is logorrhea for "this might hurt." Nevertheless, hear us out. This is what we need from you:

Remind us of the mercy.

Please, please don’t stop doing that, whatever else you may do (and we’ll put up with quite a bit because for the most part we’re docile) but please don’t stop telling and retelling us that God loves us, better yet that He even likes us. Behold, we’re in the ring with the bulls, O preacher — the neighbors can’t afford a school backpack for their little girl and the other neighbor lost her husband last week (only forty-nine, by God) and the troubled man two streets away split with his gentle wife and the ink’s not even dry on the paperwork and he’s already got an old flame burning via Facebook and us, well we’ve put our hands to the family plow only to find that briars and thorns are the usual reward of our labor and we’re just about to get the kids through school and wouldn’t you know it, the parents start breaking down and now there’s trips back home to hold Daddy’s hand as he slips beneath the surface of time and Momma is gradually forgetting the names of the children she nursed at her breast and we could go on but you know most of that because you always ask with the sincerest eyes. Still, we don’t always tell you everything that’s going on because sometimes the woolen-shame of our lives leaves us cotton-mouthed; we have lips but cannot speak.

So regardless of what bright-lights-moderate-ego conference you attend and even in spite of what the elders may say (and we’ve heard they’re squeezing you for measureable results), just keep telling us of the mercies of our God, how wide and deep and grand and fresh-each-morning they are, because that’s what’s getting us from Sunday to Sunday, that’s what’s getting us from breath to breath. And that’s really your calling. Sure, we say we want other things from you, but most days we’re mostly bluff, so do a little of that active listening you’re so skilled at and hear between our lines and don’t be disquieted, O preacher, for you see we need you, not to play the game for us, but to play it with us, to help us remember the God who so loved this cockeyed world that He gave and gave and gave and giveth still. His mercies they fail not and His faithfulness is great indeed, but we get spooked easily and thus forget. Point to the cloud by day that covers all.

Hope thou in God, O preacher, for it is He who healeth our countenance, and that includes yours, too. Amen.

P.S.:  We pray for you every day. Don’t give up.

John Wesley and Preaching

By Michael Pasquarello III

Dr. Michael Pasquarello III is the Granger E. and Anna A. Fisher Professor of Preaching in Asbury Theological Seminary’s School of Biblical Interpretation and Proclamation.
He received a B.A. from The Master’s College, 1978; a M.Div. from the Divinity School, Duke University, 1983; and a M.A. (1999) and Ph.D. (2002) from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Department of Religious Studies.

Seven Minute Seminary

The 5 Most Dangerous Assumptions in Preaching

By Larry Moyer

Dr. R. Larry Moyer is a veteran evangelist and a frequent speaker in evangelistic outreaches, training seminars, churches and universities around the world. Born with an inherited speech defect, Larry vowed to God as a teenager that if He would allow him to gain control of his speech he would always use his voice to declare the gospel. In 1973, Larry founded EvanTell, where he now serves as President and CEO. He has written several books on evangelism and frequently contributes articles to ministry publications.



Years ago, during the America’s Cup competition in Australia, the Italian team went to the outback on their day off to see if they could find a kangaroo in the wild. They had been outfitted by the designer Gucci with jackets, wallets, bags, and luggage. Near the end of their search, much to their surprise, a kangaroo jumped out of the brush and was struck by their Jeep. As the kangaroo lay there, presumably dead, an idea struck them. They put the driver’s jacket on the animal and took a picture of a Gucci-clad kangaroo. As they prepared to snap the picture, the kangaroo—which had only been stunned—jumped up and hopped into the brush wearing the jacket. You can imagine the driver’s regret when he remembered his keys and wallet were in the jacket. Assuming the animal was dead proved to be costly.

It’s the same in the preaching world: False assumptions can be costly. Assuming the wrong thing can at least hinder our communication; at worst, it can cost us our audience. There are five dangerous assumptions in preaching, and the extent of the damage they do may vary, but the fact that they are costly does not.

“People are dying to hear me speak.”

Only one-half of this assumption is true. People are dying! There is no one there, though, who is dying to hear you speak. I’ve rarely met a person who got a speeding ticket on their way to church!
How does avoiding this false assumption impact your preaching? One is in the area of pride—an area where every preacher is vulnerable. Instead of walking into the pulpit amazed with how popular you are, you will walk into the pulpit overwhelmed with how privileged you are. Instead of focusing on how fortunate the people are to have you, you will focus instead on how fortunate you are to have your people. Instead of falling into Satan’s trap of thinking, “I can do anything,” you will heed God’s warning, “Without me you can do nothing” (John 15:5).

The second way avoiding this false assumption impacts you is in preparation. You carefully examine your introduction, making sure it strikes a need and properly orients people toward the text. You are abundant in your use of illustrations to keep people’s attention. You have a healthy sense of humor that makes what you say enjoyable and meaningful.

“People don’t care how long I speak.”

This may have been true years ago, but no longer. Here’s how to verify that: Sit among people listening to a speaker they enjoy and even admire. If he takes too long to say what he needs to say, look around you. You’ll notice people will start looking at their watches.

Two factors have been the cause. One is that people are busy—yes, too busy, but nonetheless busy. Even if it’s a Sunday, there are other things they have to do. It may be something as simple and admirable as spending some quality time with their family after a Sunday afternoon nap.
A second cause is a physical truth. It’s been said by different speakers in different ways, but “the mind cannot enjoy what the seat cannot endure.” It’s only a matter of time until a person gets tired of sitting.

This is why I’m such a proponent of 30-minute messages. People feel restless when you go beyond 30 minutes, and hence what they retain decreases dramatically.

Ask yourself three questions to correct this misconception. First, “Who do you enjoy the most: a speaker who stops before he had to, or one who goes longer than you wish?” Practice being the person you enjoy hearing.

Secondly ask, “What would help you be a better communicator: taking as long as you want, or taking everything you want to say and figuring out how to say it in 30 minutes?” The latter forces you to think carefully through what you have to say and how to say it.

A third question is, “Which encourages people to come back: a speaker who stops before you expected him to, or a speaker who went longer than you wanted him to?” This is particularly important when there are non-Christians in the audience. Most don’t come to Christ the first time they hear the Gospel. They need to hear it—and hear it again. So you want them to come back.
For the sake of the audience and the development of your preaching skills, don’t surrender to the assumption, “People don’t care how long I speak.”

“People think I’m a good communicator.”

People may regard you as a good speaker, but that doesn’t mean they regard you as a good communicator. Good speakers have pleasant voices, enunciate well, and vary their pace and speed. In general, they do well all the things that good speakers do. But speaking is not the same as communicating. Speaking is when the words of my mouth enter the openings of your ears. Communication is when what’s understood in my mind is understood in yours. Some speakers do well in speaking but they don’t communicate.

Recently, I was with a friend who attends a large church in a major city. The pastor is very well-known and is regarded as a good speaker. I gave my friend a study Bible I’ve recommended to many because of how much I value him and his desire to grow spiritually. I asked him how he was enjoying it. His answer was one I didn’t expect: “It’s helping me a lot. I have trouble understanding what my pastor is saying and what he means, so I go home each Sunday, look up the passage from which he spoke, read the notes, and then I understand.” The pastor speaks, but he doesn’t always communicate.

To find out how well you’re communicating, here’s a helpful exercise: Choose two people who represent where a lot of people in your church are spiritually. On a given Sunday, ask each of them to explain back to you what you explained to them in your message. Assure them you want their honesty; in fact, accompany the request with questions such as, “Where could I have explained something better? Did I confuse you with anything I said?”

Caution! Be sure you ask the right people. Your elders and deacons are often not representative of your people. In fact, biblically they ought to be more mature. You need to ask the “average” Christian. My friend and mentor, Haddon Robinson, once said to me, “Too many pastors preach to their elders.” Just because you communicate with your elders doesn’t mean you communicate with your people.

Don’t surrender to the assumption that you’re communicating well enough; find out how good you really are. You may be saddened—but helped—to find out you’re doing more speaking than communicating.

“People never have trouble following my train of thought.”

No one wants to be regarded as “Christopher Columbus” in speaking. When Columbus started out, he did not know where he was going. When he got there, he didn’t know where he was. And when he came back, he didn’t know where he had been! More may regard you as a Christopher Columbus than you might think.

One reason many feel this way but do not mention it is because they’re accustomed to listening to confusing speakers, so they tend to think their confusion is normal. It’s also why, when they hear one that’s easy to follow, they talk about him for days. He or she stood out.

When people see you as difficult to follow, it’s largely because of two reasons. One is that your thoughts seem disjointed. As I was helping a man prepare a message, I asked him to explain one of his connections between one sentence and another, because I didn’t see it. His response was, “I’m not sure.” I assured him that if it was confusing in his mind, it would be confusing in the mind of the audience.

Preachers can also be difficult to follow when they lose people in their transitions. They move on, but they don’t take the audience with them. I’ve found that it takes three sentences to make a transition: “Having made his first point, Paul the Apostle has a second thing to explain. There’s a second point he wants to make. The second point he makes is… .” In doing so, I’m saying, “Hey, I’m moving on—pay attention! We’re leaving where we’ve been.”

To avoid this misconception, once again, talk to someone who will be honest with you. But once more, be specific with your questions: “Did you have any trouble following me?” doesn’t do it. Instead, ask questions such as, “What was my main thought? How did you see me developing my message? Was there any point in the message where I lost you?” You may discover that you are more difficult to follow than you think. But if you accept this fact with a broken spirit, you become a better preacher by improving in an area where you’re weaker than you thought.

“People have a pretty good understanding of the Bible.”

I wish this were true; unfortunately, it’s not. In fact, it’s gotten worse. There’s a dearth of Bible knowledge in the Church today. I’ve learned this first-hand as a lecturer in Bible colleges. I have to be more cautious than I used to be. I cannot assume everyone knows who Nicodemus, Zacchaeus, the Samaritan woman, doubting Thomas, and a list of other Bible characters are.

In my experience, the older the preacher, the more he explains his terms and speaks simply, because he’s discovered over time that people are never where we think they are in their Bible knowledge. Those preachers fresh out of seminary often preach over the heads of their people.

Nowhere is this problem more critical than when you speak to an audience of people whom you suspect have never met the Savior. If you tell them to “put their faith in Christ,” for many it means to depend on Christ for everything in life: groceries, health, the job, etc. But what you actually mean is, “Trust in Christ alone to save you.” Similarly, “Christ died for you” might mean to them that He died to show them how to live: putting others first. What the Bible means is “He died in your place.” By not falling victim to this dangerous assumption, you will use terms people understand and explain ones they might not. It also enhances your communication skills—can you explain propitiation, redemption, reconciliation, and justification in a way people can grasp and hang onto? Can they explain those terms back to you? Could a twelve-year-old understand you?

How do you overcome this assumption? Interact with your people. In a non-threatening way, take the time to find out how much of the Bible they know. Many will feel honored if you ask them, because it indicates a real interest in them as individuals. Secondly, when you speak, err on the side of explaining too much about what your listeners need to know. Do not assume they already know it.

Conclusion

Assumptions can be costly. Avoiding dangerous assumptions can be rewarding. Only when you know what the assumptions are and how to avoid them is communication enhanced. I can assure you that, had the Italian team at the America’s Cup competition in Australia been told how to make sure a kangaroo is dead, they would have been greatly helped. Not only would they have saved themselves embarrassment, but it would not have cost the driver his wallet and keys. Avoiding dangerous assumptions in speaking can help you not to lose your audience, and that’s far more important than keys or a wallet any day. Keys and a wallet are only temporal; communication about spiritual matters has to do with the eternal. Don’t let our impact on people be hindered through false assumptions in our preaching.

The 10 Commandments of Preaching

By Tyler Scarlett

Tyler Scarlett is the pastor-teacher of Forest Baptist Church, located in Forest, Virginia.


When it comes to preaching and teaching the Bible, we all fall short. Who hasn't quoted the wrong reference or (worse) read the wrong passage of Scripture altogether? Who hasn't, in the heat of the moment, accidentally gotten tongue-tied and credited Paul with the words of Peter? You may even find yourself creating a homiletical mountain out of an exegetical molehill.

Everyone makes mistakes, but for all the mistakes preachers can (and do) make, here are 10 that we should do our best to avoid at all costs.

1. Thou shalt not put words in God's mouth.
God is more than capable of saying what He means and meaning what He says. He doesn't need our help to add to or take away from His Word. We have no business saying God said something He didn't say. That's why we must handle the Word of truth accurately (1 Tim. 3:15). If you've ever been misquoted (in conversation or a newspaper), you know how frustrating that experience is. Imagine how the God of the universe must feel when one of His messengers misquotes Him. We need to be sure to get the message right!

2. Thou shalt prepare and preach every message as though it were thy last.
Even if it is only to a small Sunday night crowd, the preacher never should take his or her responsibility lightly. Why? Because it very well may be the last sermon you ever preach or the last sermon someone listening ever hears. Furthermore, we don't know what God's Spirit has been doing behind the scenes. A rebellious teenager or wayward spouse may be on the verge of repenting and trusting Christ. The listener's need is urgent; therefore the preaching should be urgent. Preaching is not a playground for frivolous fun,but a battlefield for gutsy warfare. It is where the very issues of life and death, heaven and hell, hang in the balance. As the great Puritan theologian and preacher Richard Baxter once eloquently said, "I'll preach as though I ne'er should preach again, and as a dying man to dying men." We should seek to do the same.

3. Thou shalt not present the Word of God in a boring and non-compelling manner.
Newsflash: If people are falling asleep during your sermon, it's not God's fault. If God's Word is sufficient to transform lives, isn't it also sufficient to keep people's attention? Don't get in the way of the transforming power of God's Word by letting it become boring. To preach and teach the Bible in a boring and unpersuasive manner is, I believe, a sin.This is not to say every preacher has to be dynamic, witty, and entertaining. It does mean, however, that every preacher should see him or herself as God's messenger and spokesman for that moment. He or she must plead passionately and desperately with those listening to hear and heed God's Word.

4. Thou shalt always point to Christ in thy message.
Seeing that Jesus Christ is the focal point of every passage, it stands to reason that He should, therefore, be the focal point of every sermon. As Dennis Johnson writes, "Whatever our biblical text and theme, if we want to impart God's life-giving wisdom in its exposition, we can do nothing other than proclaim Christ."

The most humbling experience of my seminary years was related to this. In one of my preaching classes, I had to give several sermons in front of my peers and professor. The first sermon I preached was well-received and complimented. So, after the second sermon (from the Old Testament), I sat down arrogantly waiting to hear "the showers of blessings" and compliments about how well I had done. My professor, Greg Heisler from Southeastern Seminary, said, "Tyler, that message was passionate and challenging … but you made one huge mistake." He continued, "You could have preached that message in a Jewish synagogue or a Muslim mosque and [the congregation] could have said ‘Amen!' to everything you said. You never once mentioned Christ in your entire message." He left me with this challenge: "You need to be sure that every time you preach—even from the Old Testament—that if a Jew or Muslim were in the audience [he or she] would feel extremely uncomfortable."Remember, we are not simply theistic preachers; we are to be distinctly Christian preachers.

5. Thou shalt edify thy hearers to faith and obedience.
It's like the old hymn: "Trust and obey, for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus but to trust and obey." Regardless of the passage, the goal of every sermon should be to remind people that whatever the issue or doctrine at hand God and His Word are reliable. When God gave the Ten Commandments, He didn't begin by barking orders at the Israelites. In fact, the Ten Commandments don't start with commands. They begin with the reassuring words, "I am the Lord your God who brought you up out of the land of Egypt …" (Ex. 20:1). In other words, God reminded them: "You can trust Me; that's why you should obey Me." The real motivation for Christian living is not, "I have to obey God," but it is, "Given everything I know to be true about Him, why wouldn't I obey God?" A good sermon will help people to think and live that way.

6. Thou shalt not be one kind of person and another kind of preacher.
This is the Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde syndrome of preaching. On the one hand, this means you can't live like the devil Monday through Saturday and expect to preach with the tongue of an angel on Sunday. Paul told Timothy: "Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from these [sinful] things, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work" (2 Tim. 2:21). Every preacher must seek to be a "clean vessel" which is "useful to the Master." This also means you shouldn't try to be someone else in the pulpit. As Phillips Brooks once said, "Preaching is truth through personality." God only made one Charles Spurgeon, one Adrian Rogers, one John MacArthur, and one John Piper. Don't try to imitate other preachers; be yourself.
Listening to such great preachers is like watching a grand Fourth of July fireworks display. You sit back, relax, watch and "Ooo" and "Ahh" with everyone else. You should be amazed at it and enjoy it, but you shouldn't go home and try to duplicate it in your backyard. You can't. There's no sense in trying. The same is true with preaching. When you preach, be yourself.

7. Thou shalt not open a commentary until thou hast read the passage 100 times.
This may be a bit of an exaggeration, but it's an important reminder. Which would you rather eat: Grandma's made-from-scratch, warm, fluffy biscuits or a frozen biscuit that's been nuked in the microwave? Reheated food is never as good or fresh. The same is true with sermons.The biggest temptation, I think, for the current generation of preachers is to jump directly into the commentaries or click over to the sermon Web sites without thoroughly meditating on the passage first for him or herself. As Robert Smith once commented: There are far too many preachers who preach only from the neck up. The truth is most powerful when it is from the lips of a person whose heart and mind have marinated extensively in God's Word.

8. Honor thy context above all else, so that it may go well with thee in thy message.
The battle cry of the soldiers of the Texas Revolution was "Remember the Alamo!" The battle cry for today's preachers should be "Remember, context is king!" I often tell people they don't need to know Greek and Hebrew to teach the Bible well, but they must know the context well.The role of context in preaching and teaching cannot be underestimated or over-stressed. Without context, I could preach a sermon that said, "and [Judas] went away and hanged himself" and the Lord Jesus said, "Go and do the same." While there may not be anyone promoting suicide from the pulpit, if we don't pay close attention to context, the result may be spiritual suicide. Don't ever lose the context.

9. Thou shalt make the point of the text the point of the message.
The title of John Stott's timeless book says it all: Between Two Worlds. The preacher of the Word of God finds him or herself with one foot in the biblical world and one foot in the modern world. It falls upon the preacher to straddle these two with balance. Don't ever forget that what God said 2,000 or 3,000 years ago is exactly the same message people need to hear today.Some will argue, "Yeah, but what about all the history, culture, and differences in language from biblical to modern times? My people don't understand all that stuff." Well, guess what? You should teach it to them.Don't dumb-down the Bible; smarten-up the people. The Bible is the most relevant thing in the universe because God is the most relevant Being in the universe.

10. Thou shalt preach and teach doctrine above all else.
Many churches are weak and lifeless because they have spiritual anemia. What they lack is doctrinal iron in their bloodstreams. All week long, people hear messages from other people. "What people need," as Robert McCracken once said, "is to hear a word beyond themselves."  Doctrine feeds the soul. It reassures the faithless. It matures the child. It's what keeps churches healthy and alive. Without it, pastors speak without preaching, and churches sing without worshiping. Preach doctrinally rich sermons!The great problem in today's pulpits is not a lack of preaching, but an abundance of dreadful preaching. This is largely because many preachers are not as careful and mindful of the task as they should be. Not only does the church need us preachers to keep these Ten Commandments, but more importantly God and His Word deserve the effort required.

15 Awesome Quotes to Inspire Your Preaching

“If I had only one sermon to preach it would be a sermon against pride.” ~ G. K. Chesterton

“The test of a preacher is that his congregation goes away saying, not ‘What a lovely sermon,’ but ‘I will do something!’” ~ Francis de Sales

“Give me one hundred preachers who fear nothing but sin and desire nothing but God, and I care not whether they be clergymen or laymen, they alone will shake the gates of Hell and set up the kingdom of Heaven upon Earth.”  ~ John Wesley

“If Jesus preached the same message minister's preach today, He would have never been crucified.” ~ Leonard Ravenhill

“The gospel we preach must not be just something we hear from men or read from books or even conceived through our meditation. Unless it is delivered to us by God, it can serve no spiritual utility.” ~ Watchman Nee

“It is no use walking anywhere to preach unless our walking is our preaching.” ~ Francis of Assisi

“I'd rather be able to pray than to be a great preacher; Jesus Christ never taught his disciples how to preach, but only how to pray.” ~ D.L. Moody

“We complain today that ministers do not know how to preach; but is it not equally true that our congregations do not know how to hear?” ~ J.I. Packer

“What is the chief end of preaching? I like to think it is this: It is to give men and women a sense of God and His presence.” ~ Martyn Lloyd-Jones

“Only once did God choose a completely sinless preacher.” ~ Alexander Whyte

“The preaching of Christ is the whip that flogs the devil. The preaching of Christ is the thunderbolt, the sound of which makes all hell shake.” ~ Charles Spurgeon

“The Bible does not say we should aim at numbers but rather urges us faithfully to proclaim God's message in the boldness of the Holy Spirit. This will build God's church God's way.” ~ Jim Cymbala

”The preacher is not a chef; he's a waiter. God doesn't want you to make the meal; He just wants you to deliver it to the table without messing it up. That's all.” ~ John MacArthur

“God has ordained that our preaching become deeper and more winsome as we are broken, humbled, and made low and desperately dependent on grace by the trials of our lives.” ~ John Piper

“If preachers decide to preach about hope, let them preach out of what they themselves hope for.” ~ Frederick Buechner

6 Good Ways to Identify a Good Sermon

By Tejado Hanchell

Dr. Tejado W. Hanchell (TWH_PhD) is a 21st century “leadership liaison” whose passion is to help connect people and organizations to their purpose. He is a coach, consultant, and counselor and is a leading strategist on leadership and succession planning for churches, non-profit organizations and corporations.

Dr. Hanchell has over 15 years of leadership experience and brings a wealth of wisdom to help enhance lives and increase productivity. He currently serves as the Senior Pastor of Mount Calvary Holy Church of Winston-Salem, NC (“The Church Committed to do MORE”) –  the “Mother Church” of the Mount Calvary Holy Church of America, Inc., where Dr. Hanchell also serves as General Secretary and International Director of Youth & Young Adult Ministry under the leadership of Archbishop Alfred A. Owens, Jr.







We hear it all the time, “Pastor you really preached this morning. That was a GREAT sermon!” But, was it really a great sermon? How can we tell? Many times people make statements like this because the message addressed an issue they were currently dealing with. That’s one of the great blessings of the Word of God — it is living and it touches us right where we live. However, that leaves a great deal of subjectivity when it comes to analyzing the merits of the transmission of the message. Quite honestly, it is entirely possible to have a great message and a terrible sermon. The sermon is the vehicle the preacher uses to transport the message God has given to him or her, and the preacher must be careful not to allow the vehicle to get in the way of the message.

One of the opportunities the Lord has blessed me with is to serve as an adjunct professor at Carolina Christian College, where I teach courses in the field of homiletics. Homiletics is the art and science of preaching. Preaching is an art form. God uses all of who He created us to be in the preaching process. That’s why you will never find two sermons that are exactly the same — because there are no two people who are exactly the same. However, while preaching is an art, it is also a science. In other words, there is (or at least should be) some methodology to the preaching process.

It is extremely important for the preacher to engage in the process of regularly evaluating his or her sermon … because the congregation already is! For every person who says, “Great sermon, pastor” there are five who walk by thinking that it was the worst thing they ever heard. That should not discourage the preacher, but should inspire him or her to continually strive to improve and develop his or her craft. Preaching is a life-long call, and it involves a life-long process. Any preacher who is not seeking to improve his or her ministry is doing the congregation (and ultimately, the call) a disservice.

When it comes to evaluating the sermon, there are six key elements that form a rubric from the acrostic: PREACH.

Punctuality

One of the most important elements of a sermon is time. Great sermon content can be easily overshadowed by poor time management. When it comes to time management, err on the side of caution. Oftentimes, less is more. Of all the thousands of sermons I’ve heard or have preached I can count on one hand (with fingers to spare) the times I’ve heard someone complain that the sermon was too short. As the old adage goes, “The mind can only absorb what the behind can endure.” People in the audience no longer want to suffer through hour-long sermons of preachers proving how smart they are and how much they’ve studied. You don’t have to preach the whole Bible in one sermon. The good thing about Sundays is that they come every week. Save a little for the next one.

Relevance

As stated earlier, people are moved by the message when it speaks to where they are. The goal of preaching is contemporizing timeless truths and making them relevant to the audience of today. This does not in any way involve changing the timeless truths, but it does involve packaging them in such a way that the audience can understand. It is, in essence, what Jesus did. Jesus used parables as a way of packaging the principles of the Kingdom so His audience could grasp them and apply them to their context. A perfectly constructed sermon that lacks relevance is merely a lecture. Preaching must connect with the audience.

Exegesis

Exegesis simply means exploring and interpreting the text. Far too many sermons have no biblical foundation. The Bible remains the road map for every good sermon. If the preacher does not follow the map, the audience is bound to get lost. Preachers must stay true to the biblical text if their message is to maintain any substance. The role of the preacher is not to preach his or her opinion, but to preach God’s opinion, and God’s opinion is found in His Word. I’m very leery of preachers who consistently ignore the Word or just read it as a formality at the beginning of the sermon and spend the entire sermon talking about everything but that scripture. Good preaching is biblical preaching.

Appearance

You may be wondering what appearance has to do with a good sermon. The reality is that people see you before the hear you, and your appearance can either help or hinder the sermon. You never want your suit to get more attention than your sermon. Don’t be too flashy, and certainly don’t be too shabby. Your appearance must be appropriate for your audience. Also, for God’s sake, please use an iron. It’s hard for your audience to hear you talk about “a church without spot or wrinkle” when your clothes are full of them! Watch your appearance … because the congregation is.

Clarity

The greatest sermon has no effect if people don’t understand it. Sermons must be CLEAR in order for people to HEAR. Some preachers treat sermons like doctoral theses, but sermons are designed to reach the “least of these.” Like my pastor, Bishop Alfred Owens, always taught me, “We must always remember that we are feeding sheep … not giraffes.” The goal is not to be high and lofty in our preaching, but to preach with clarity and simplicity so the sheep can graze on the Word.

HEAT!

Preaching must be done with passion! This is not a matter of style, but it is a matter of conviction. The preacher must preach like he or she believes the message…or no one else will. When we preach with conviction … the message is convicting. The purpose of preaching is to produce a change. When we bring the heat, we are stirring the congregation toward positive change. Listless preaching leads to lifeless congregations. Preach with passion, and God’s power will manifest!

How to Preach with power?

By David Asscherick

David Asscherick suggests there's no reason to "go" to preach unless your life is already preaching.

Who Are You Preaching To?

By Peter Mead



Preaching is not just about communicating the message of the Bible; it is about communicating that message to people.  Specifically, certain people.  Today I’d like to share some thoughts on preaching to those who are present, then we can move on to those who aren’t!

1. Know your listeners as much as possible.  Seems almost too obvious to state, but it is important.  We have to know who is listening when we preach.  If we are a visiting speaker, we need to go into overdrive before the meeting to find out what we can.  If it is our home church, we should be engaged in the lives of those who are listening.  It will influence how we pitch the message, the vocabulary used, the applications chosen, the background information given, etc.  Not to mention the difference it will make if you love the people to whom you preach!

2. Be as relevant as possible.  This is true on so many levels.  We need to be relevant in our vocabulary, in our illustrative material, in our applications of biblical truth, etc.  Relevance is the natural next step on from knowing the listeners.  Our task is not to make the Bible relevant, but to show how relevant it is to these specific people.

3. But beware of unhelpful target practice.  There is a danger that the first two points can lead to an unhealthy third one—target practice.  That is, you know your listeners, including the issues, including the tensions, including the squabbles and the politics and so on.  And then you want to be relevant.  And without thinking you can find yourself preaching a sermon to a congregation that is pointed right at one person, or one situation, or one clique, or one faction, or whatever.  It is so easy to either bare someone’s dirty laundry or to take political potshots.  You can do it in your vocabulary, in your illustrations, in your applications, etc.  This is both an abuse of the preaching privilege and a flawed approach to addressing issues.  Whether it is a situation you are seeking to help or a skirmish you’ve been dragged into, the pulpit is not the place to address it directly.  Certainly the Word will speak to life’s real issues, but don’t be the filter through which the Bible gets redirected.
Tomorrow we’ll ponder the audience issue some more, specifically in reference to people who are not present.

Skills of Oral Clarity

By Don Sunukjian 

Donald Sunukjian is Homiletics Chair and Professor of Christian Ministry and Leadership at Talbot School of Theology in La Mirada, California.

As pastors we have to have people tracking with us. They need to follow us, know where we're going, and stay with us all the way. 

I emphasize oral clarity, because oral clarity is a different animal than written clarity. Most of us have been trained to be clear in our writing, and when we write something, such as a sermon, we are writing it for somebody else's eye to read it. That's instinctive in us. We do not realize we are writing for somebody's ear to hear it. But oral clarity is vastly different, and there are certain skills of oral clarity that ought to be built into every sermon.

Consistently use key phrases

One skill is you should use the same key phrases all the way through the message. The words ought to be consistently used, so they rain down through the message. For instance, a recent message of mine was on the filling of the Spirit, from Ephesians 5, where Paul says do not be drunk with wine, but be filled with the Spirit. After an introduction, I asked the questions I said I wanted to answer in the message: (I) What do we mean by being filled with the Spirit? (II) What does it look like? and (III) How do we get it? That was my outline.

When I came to Roman numeral two, I used exactly those words: What does it look like? And when I got to Roman numeral three, I used the same words: How do we get it? I was sure to repeat that same key phrase. You might think, Of course. But a preacher often won't do that. He'll say something like, " Okay, second, " and he'll give it. And the listener will say, " Second what? " 

Now the speaker thinks he is absolutely clear, because on his outline he's got one, two, and three.

It's exactly the opposite of writing for the eye. Your English teacher would say to you, " You're using the same word too many times. Let's use some synonyms. " But orally you need to keep using the same word to make that audio connection.

I heard a speaker once who said, " In the comic strip Peanuts, there's one character who has to have his security blanket. Linus lives in an insecure world. He needs to have his security. We also live in an insecure world. We too desire security. The psalmists too lived in an insecure world. Many times a psalmist would cry out in fear, and God would be there to meet him. Psalm 27 is one of those instances. Let's turn to Psalm 27 and see how the psalmist views God and see what a difference his view made. " And all of a sudden the listener has spaced out. The listener has lost track and wonders, Where are you going with this message? You started out talking about security, and I've lost the thread.

The speaker doesn't realize he has started using words other than the key words. He should have said, " We live in an insecure world. The psalmists also lived in an insecure world. In many of the psalms, the psalmist would cry out " — not in his fear — " in his insecurity, and " — not that God would be there to meet him, but that — " God would be there to provide security. Turn to Psalm 27 " — not to see how the psalmist views God, but — " to see how the psalmist found God as his security. And we'll see what a difference it can make in our lives when we know God makes us secure. " 

It's that tracking of the same word all the way through. Getting those words in as the message proceeds is one way of gaining clarity.

Ask a rhetorical question at transitions

A second skill, as you transition from one Roman numeral to another, is to use a rhetorical question. Ask a question your next point is going to answer. I could say, " We've seen what it means to be filled with the Spirit. Once we are filled with the Spirit, certain things begin to show up in our lives. " And I could begin to talk about what it looks like. But it's much better if I transition between those points by asking a question. I could say, " We've seen what it means to be filled with the Spirit. Now, what does it look like? How does it show up? " 

Why is that a good oral clarity skill? Because the rhetorical question gives the listener a chance to refocus on the message. It enables the listener to think, I've been fogged out the last two or three minutes. But I bet for the next four minutes you're going to answer that question. It immediately brings his mind back to a point of, Yes, I'm with you again. Thanks, you picked me up again. It's a way of making the flow of thought stand out.

Restate what you've just said

The greatest skill of oral clarity is to restate something you just said. Immediately say the same thing in different words. Right away, before you go any further in the message, use other language to get across the same idea. Find different terms to get across the same concept before you say anything else. I just restated my definition three times.

Now you have to know where to do that in the message, and there are two major guidelines. One, use restatement any time you come to a new content point or a new concept. There are probably five or six times during a message when you do that. The second is any time you transition. So I will restate transitions as I'm moving to a new point, and then I will restate the new point.

For instance, in that message about the filling of the Spirit, when I asked those three questions — What does it mean, what does it look like, and how does it happen? — here's what it sounded like in the introduction:

As we look at this phrase, let's try to answer three questions. First, what does it mean to be filled with the Spirit? What does Paul have in mind? What's he talking about? What does it mean to be filled with the Spirit? Second, what does it look like? How does it show up? When we are filled with the Spirit, what do we experience? What does it look like? Third, how do we get it? How do we make it happen? What do we have to do to be filled? How do we get it?

In other words, I'm taking time to restate how the message is going to flow. Structurally, if I am giving you previews or transitions or if I am bringing up a new concept, I'll restate that sentence several times.

State your point before you explain it

Often a speaker will ask a question and won't immediately answer it, because in his mind he knows he's building up to the answer. His subpoints are a progression of thought, which will eventually arrive at the answer. It will sound something like this:

What's the third reason we should be joyful in trials? The answer is found in verses 1 through 4. In verse 1 we see that Paul came to Corinth to preach the gospel. He came to this seafaring city to present the message of salvation. He came to the center through which the sailors and merchants of the ancient world passed, knowing that if the message of Christ could take root here it would spread itself out. But verse 2 tells us no one seemed interested in listening to the message.

Now what did I say was the large point I was after? The listener has to reach back and try to remember. He's thinking, Where are you going with this? You're not answering the question.

The speaker knows he's going to explain that the lack of anybody coming to hear him drove Paul into God's presence, and God comforted his heart and told him he was everything he was going to need. So the reason you ought to rejoice in trial is because that trial is going to teach you something about the sufficiency of your God. There it is down in subpoint D. The speaker thinks, I've inductively led you to it; the listener thinks, I lost you.

So a principle of oral clarity is: Look at your Roman numeral point; then look at your subpoints; if the subpoints are a progression of thought, you've got to go deductive on that Roman numeral. Your overall sermon pattern can still be inductive, but each Roman numeral has to be put out there deductively if its subpoints are a progression.

I keep saying, " if the subpoints are a progression, " because sometimes the subpoints are a list. I may ask, " What are the results of being filled with the Spirit? The first result of being filled with the Spirit is joy. The second result of being filled with the Spirit is gratitude. The third result of being filled with the Spirit is harmony in our relationships. " I have a list and don't need to deductively say, " You're going to see that there are three results and the three results are joy, gratitude, and harmony. " On a list I go inductive on my Roman numeral, and I let the Roman numeral point build as I go through the three subpoints.

The reason you can do that with a list is because every subpoint answers the question you asked. Every subpoint has the same key words: " The first result of being filled with the Spirit is " Every subpoint answers the question, and your listener doesn't get lost.

But when the subpoints are a progression, only the last subpoint answers the question. And orally, the listener cannot wait that long for an answer. So instead, you can say: 

What is the reason you ought to be rejoicing in trial? Why should you have a sense of anticipation if you encounter some difficulty? Verses 1 to 4 are going to tell us it's because you will learn something of the sufficiency of your God. You will find out about God's ability to handle any situation. You will discover that your God is adequate for any circumstance. Let's look at it in verses 1 to 4. Notice how Paul says he came to Corinth

Now they know where you're going.

So a principle of oral clarity is if the subpoints are a progression, the superior point needs to be stated deductively. If the subpoints are a list, the superior point can remain a question.

Before reading Scripture, tell the listener what to listen for

The fifth skill of oral clarity is, before you read a passage of Scripture, tell the listener the point you're going to read. I illustrated that previously: " Why should we be joyful in trials? What can we anticipate? It's the sufficiency of our God. Let's look at verses 1 to 4 to see how Paul found God adequate for any situation. " In other words, I'm telling you what you're going to find in verses 1 to 4.

Pastors unknowingly will ask a question and then will answer it by reading the verse. We'll say something like, " What's the third time we are susceptible to temptation? Let's read verses 19 to 23 to see. " We start reading, and hearers tune us out.

If we don't tell them the answer, they say, I can't figure it out. You're going to tell me when you get to the end anyway. But I can say, " The third time we are susceptible to temptation is right after a spiritual victory. In verses 17 to 24 Paul says he found his heart lifted up with pride as soon as he had preached the gospel to thousands. Let's read verses 17 to 24 to find how Satan can come to us at a moment of spiritual victory and somehow insinuate himself into our lives. " Now they know what they're looking for. So always tell them what they're going to find in the passage before you read it.

It's hard for pastors to do this. We expect the listeners, in five seconds of reading, to pick out something it took us four hours of study to discover, and they can't do it.

Use physical movement to keep the listener's attention

A final oral principle is that physical movement has a benefit to keeping a listener. If I have three things I'm going to cover during the message, my hand is going to move from one to two to three. In fact, my body will turn from one to two to three. 

An interesting tip is to put the past on the speaker's right and the future on the speaker's left, because from the standpoint of the listener, that's the way things move. The past always moves from the listener's left to the listener's right. If you're counting off points, start from your right and end up on your left, because that's how the listener reads. 

If you put these things together, you can be clear.

Thomas Long on Biblical Preaching

Bridging the Gap Between the Bible and Our World Today. Thomas Long is the Brandy Professor of Preaching, Candler School of Theology, Emory University, Atlanta. Thomas Long  is the author of Witness of Preaching.

Dr. Fred Craddick on Storytelling in Sermon

How Fred Craddock Found His Preaching Voice

Dr. Craddock describes his voice as "the wind whistling through a splinter on a post." Here is how this master preacher learned to compensate.