4 Steps from Good to Great Preaching

Kenton Anderson
Preaching.org

 

Most people can recognize a good sermon when they hear one, though they might have difficulty articulating why. For those of us who try to preach those “good sermons,” it is useful to understand what it takes to get those positive responses from our listeners. 

Of course, listeners vary and have different things that they are looking for in a preacher. A listener’s theology will determine his or her sense of the sermon. Those who are committed to a high view of Scripture might expect something different than one committed to a more active view of the work of the Holy Spirit. Learning style is a factor in considering the effectiveness of a sermon. Some listeners learn best through reflection; others prefer a more active and participatory approach. Culture will affect one’s evaluation of a sermon. Where we come from, what generation we belong to, our denomination, our economic situation, and our gender all play a part in determining the kind of preacher we best respond to.

Still, if preaching is preaching, there are certain things that can be said across the board. If the following things are in place, we can be fairly confident that our sermons will be well appreciated and lead to the kinds of responses we expect. These, then, are the factors that result in “good” and maybe even “great” preaching.

A good sermon is rooted in the Bible. A sermon ought to find its footing in the Word of God. Many fine things could be said by a preacher, but if the listener doesn’t feel that the sermon has been helpful in engaging the Bible, it falls short as a sermon. This means that the Bible will be used as more than window dressing or as a jumping-off point. The Bible will govern the sermon and be the source of its big idea if the sermon is any good. Good preachers understand that God still speaks through his Word. The Bible is the one instrument that God has promised to bless. When it comes to good preaching, the Bible is where the power is.

A good sermon helps people hear from God. This is as helpful a definition of preaching as I know. Preachers work to connect people with the voice of God. If a listener does not sense that she or he has been in the presence of God and heard something meaningful from him, then the sermon could not have been that good. As such, the sermon does not have to fit any particular pre-fab form. The sermon as a medium can flex to respond to the interests and concerns of any culture and situation. If it helps people hear what God is saying, it is a good sermon, regardless of the preacher’s style. This underlines, of course, a dependence on the Scriptures.

A good sermon will be easily understood. Some preachers seem to confuse complexity with depth. In my experience, it is the simple truths that are the most profound. Listeners can understand good preaching. Good preachers work to understand the language, the culture, and the interests of those to whom they preach. They work hard to clarify and unify the presentation so that there will be no confusion about what they are trying to say. In most cases, good sermons offer one idea – an idea big enough yet simple enough for listeners to appreciate and apply to their lives.

A good sermon exalts the person of Jesus Christ. We are Christian preachers, which means that every sermon we preach will exalt the person of Jesus Christ. While not every text is directly Christological, I believe that every sermon ought to be. What are we saying that a Jewish priest couldn’t say? What are we offering that goes beyond what people hear on Oprah? At the end of the day, Christian preachers offer Jesus Christ as the hope of mankind. A good sermon will be sure to make that clear.

These four principles apply to any good sermon I have ever heard. A good sermon will integrate the person and presence of God with the person and presence of the preacher. The divine and the human collaborate in the mystery that is good preaching.

Dr. Kent Anderson has been a full time pastor for eleven years in Calgary, AB, Richmond, BC, and Prince Rupert, BC. He now serves as a teacher of preachers at Northwest Baptist Seminary and the Associated Canadian Theological Schools (ACTS) of Trinity Western University in Langley, BC. Learn more from Kent at his website, Preaching.org, a forum for the discussion of the many and varied intersections between preaching and culture.

4 Ingredients of a Home Run Sermon

By Rick Ezell
http://www.rickezell.net/




Can your preaching hit a home run week in and week out? Sunday comes every seven days whether your sermon is prepared or not. Can a preacher be at peak performance each Sunday (or weekend)? Don Sunukjian of Talbot Theological Seminary thinks so. He says, “Preaching will always be effective if it does four things: One, it must have a biblical substance. Two, people must track with the preacher. Three, it must be interesting. Four, it must be relevant. Do all four and you will have good preaching. None of the four depend on ‘whiz-bang stuff.’”





1. Does my sermon have a biblical basis? 



Bryan Chapel, President of Covenant Seminary and professor of preaching, states, “I remain convinced that an expository approach is the most fruitful as the mainstay of a pulpit ministry (and I rejoice in the recent spate of books re-endorsing this biblically committed approach), but always we can learn from other communication fields how people hear and how better to minister God’s Word to them.” Ron Allen, professor of preaching at Christian Theological Seminary, Indianapolis, IN, affirms the resurgence of the expository model, “I am convinced that expository preaching continues to be the most reliable way for sermons to accomplish their fundamental aim. However, I also know that doctrinal messages, topical sermons, and various modes of experimental homilies can accomplish the purpose of preaching.” While there is not one right style of preaching, any more than there only one right style of Scripture, the emphasis on Scriptural authority is essential to hitting the sermon out of the park.





2. Are people tracking with me? 



The primacy of preaching must continue to be central in our churches, and the purpose of preaching must remain biblical in the truest sense of the word if it is to continue to make a difference in the world on this side of the apocalypse. Yet home-run sermons must come from the heart of the preacher delivered to the heart of the hearer. Preaching is still a face-to-face and a heart-to-heart encounter. The preacher, therefore, must be committed to integrity, authenticity, and transparency. People track with realness and authenticity. When the preacher speaks from biblical authority on real life issues from a broken and contrite heart, never will the preacher lack for an attentive audience.





3. Is the sermon interesting?  



The “whiz-bang stuff” that Sunukjian refers to is the use of technology. If anything has changed dramatically in preaching in the last 20 years, it has been the onslaught of PowerPoint, video clips from movies punctuating sermons, preprinted note-taking outlines, props, and anything to hold the listener’s attention. Sunukjian is not persuaded that people have short attention spans. “People will watch a movie for two hours and not get bored,” he asserts. Good preachers will hold the listener’s attention for 45 minutes. Sunukjian advises preachers to observe the preachers on television who are preaching to large audiences in their churches and even larger audiences through the television media, and none are using technology in their preaching.





4. Is the sermon relevant? 



Preaching has to be relevant, addressing the needs of the audience with an undisputed message and clarity. Granted, relevancy is not easy. It requires study, preparation, and concentration. But if people matter to God, and to us, then we will communicate with them so that the sermon touches them where they live. I have discovered that when I know my audience better than they know themselves and then address the issues and concerns of their lives, my message has a better chance of hitting home. My words, while not eloquent or grandiose, gain a hearing because I am speaking to the real life hurts, pains, and needs of the listening audience.

A Preaching Q&A with David Platt

By Dr. Michael Duduit
Executive and founding editor of Preaching magazine and the founding dean of the Graduate School of Ministry at Anderson University in Anderson, South Carolina. He holds an M.Div. from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and a Ph.D. from Florida State University.

David Platt, pastor of The Church at Brook Hills in Birmingham, Alabama, is one of the best-known young preachers among evangelicals today.

Preaching Magazine: If we were to come to a typical weekend service at Brook Hills to hear you preach, give us a sense of what that would be like. I know you're an expositor, so you have a strong emphasis on the biblical text; but tell me what one of your sermons typically would be like.

David Platt: I hope that it would be clear from start to finish. When I get up to preach, the Word is primary; the Word is driving this picture. I don't say this to be cliché or trite, but I have nothing to bring to the table as the pastor before this people apart from His Word. My entire credibility, any authority I have to speak before them, is based on being tied to His Word. So I hope that if you were to come to Brook Hills, you would hear a Word-saturated sermon.

We would dive into the text, almost always one particular text. We'll go all over the place to understand what this one text is saying as we look at this particular text in the context of biblical theology. I hope you would see the text as primary. I hope the sermon would lead you to love and enjoy more greatly the supremacy of Christ. This year I'm preaching on different texts each week that we have read through in the week prior, just to see how everything in redemptive history is pointing us to the greatness of Christ.

You'd be there a little while. The sermon would last about 55 minutes or an hour. I give our folks notes they can fill in as they walk through the text. My prayer is that in preaching they would not just see the wonder of the Word but would learn to study the Word in the nature of how I preach it.

I don't use a ton of illustrations. I don't feel like I have time sometimes. I probably could do a better job of this to be honest. I think it would be pretty heavy on explanation; and I think once we do end up at an explanation, it provides the platform for pointed application. So I want to do illustration and argumentation along the way that is going to help support that, but I want explanation to be primary.

Preaching: Do you primarily preach in series?

Platt: I do. This year is a little different because we're walking through Scripture, so I'm preaching on different texts every week from which we've been reading this year; but even then, we've divided it into different series based on different epics, so to speak, and redemptive history. Before that, I preached through James, Ruth, etc. I've done a good bit on addressing some issues in the church that I thought pastorally needed to be addressed.

We've walked through more topical series but with textual sermons. I preached a series on worship, but we were in one text each week. Each week we'd spend time in one text, look at what this text is saying, then how it forms my understanding of worship. So it wouldn't be as much of a topical sermon as much as it would be a topical series with textual sermons.

Preaching: Typically how long do you spend preparing for a message? What does your preparation process look like?

Platt: I'll readily admit that I'm a bit spoiled in this because I only preach one sermon a week. I know a lot of my friends who preach three, four sermons a week. Preparation time can't look the same for that, but only having to preach one text a week gives me the liberty and the opportunity to spend between 20 and 25 hours—sometimes less, sometimes more—in the text during the week.

To start with, I'll overview the process, reading through the text, wanting to internalize that text as I pray through it, as I let it penetrate my own heart. Then I begin to work with the various tools in my library, studying different facets of the background of words, phrases, movements, and narrative; then working through from there, counter theories and that sort of thing and compiling all that together.

When it comes to the divisions of the sermon or movements in the sermon, my goal is to have an outline for the sermon by Thursday. Then I write from there; from the outline, I write a full manuscript over the course of Friday and Saturday; and on Sunday morning, I take the manuscript and put it into a document that I'll take into the pulpit with me in which I don't have every single word but have pretty much everything I'm going to say—just kind of shorthand written out. I won't take a full manuscript with me into the pulpit, but I will take a pretty extensive picture of notes with me.

Preaching: What are some of the most important things you're learning about preaching these days?

Platt: I would say I'm learning first and foremost to trust the Word of God to do the work. As I look at what God is doing in my own life, as well as the lives of this church that He's entrusted to me to lead, it is clear that only His Word can bring about transformation and life change. To see that His Word is good for conforming people to the image of Christ, for going into making radical changes in their lives, only the Word can do that—not my opinions, thoughts or ideas, but the power of the Word, the effect of the Word in that wisdom that is found in the Word.

As a young pastor, I've got so much to learn. But it's such a great encouragement and source of confidence to know, "OK, I can try to chart out what to do next for this or that in the church," but if I let the Word lead, guide, direct—and even systematic study of the Word, whether it's this year just walking through the entire Bible or as I anticipate what we'll do next year, what vital book we might dive into next—just to know His Word is going to address what is needed in the context of the people I lead.

So a trust, a confidence in seeing the transformative effect of God's Word, these are the main things the Lord is teaching me right now. He constantly is humbling me in His Word as pastor, and more importantly as a follower of Christ. I've got a lot to learn. I'm like Solomon in First Kings. I'm really a child, and I don't know how to carry out my duties, so I'm grateful for the sufficiency and power that's found in His Word to be strengthened in the middle of my weakness.










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The Power of Vivid Description

By Peter Mead

As you preach a text of Scripture, look for ways to help listeners see what it is saying.  Too often our preaching is merely propositional.  That is, we trade in truth statements.  But God knows that the truth enfleshed is what will transform us.  This is why He sent the prophets.  This is why He sent His Son.
This is not to suggest that there is somehow a different message that is “enfleshed” as opposed to “truthful”—that may be the case with some, but I certainly don’t advocate that.  What I am suggesting is that verbal constructs will often pass by the listeners without really registering.  Take that same truth and help people to see it in action.

This can be in historical action—i.e. the world of the text.  Tell a story so it can be seen on the internal screen of the heart.  Preach a poem so the visual imagery is powerfully presented.  Present a discourse passage in the narratival tension of its original occasion.

Also this can be done in applicational color.  That is, help people to see in vivid everyday terms how this passage’s truth will look when it is worked out in daily life and experience.  This doesn’t require to-do lists, but it does require vivid description.

I’m convinced that one of the key ingredients for effective preaching is effective and vivid description.  Practice it.  Learn it.  Dip into the descriptive communication of effective preachers, or storytellers, or novels.  Do what it takes to better engage your own imagination, and then the imagination of your listeners.  Truthful preaching is vitally important.  Truthful preaching enfleshed in vivid description is massively powerful.

How to End a Sermon?

Finish Your Sermon Strong: 10 Mistakes To Avoid

Peter Mead

Finishing a sermon is neither easy nor natural. There are plenty of ways to crash a good sermon; I’d like to offer a few I’ve observed in myself and others.

1.       The “Searching for a Runway” Conclusion — This is a common one that we fall into when we fail to plan our conclusion before starting to preach. As the sermon wears on, we become aware of the need to land the plane but have to search for a decent runway on which to land it. Consequently, as we’re coming in to land, we remember that we haven’t reinforced a certain element of the message, so we pull out of the descent and circle around for another attempt. Next time in, we think of half of a conclusion that might work better and so pull out again, circle around, and turn in to another possible landing strip. Needless to say, passengers don’t find this pursuit of a better runway to be particularly comfortable or helpful. When the message drags on a couple of minutes (or ten) longer than it feels like it should, any good done in the sermon tends to be undone rather quickly!

2.       The “Just Stop” Conclusion — There are some preachers who don’t seem to be aware of the possibility of a strong finish and so don’t bother to land the plane. It simply drops out of the sky at a certain point. Once all has been said, without any particular effort to conclude the message, it's suddenly over. This is a particular danger for those who go on to announce a closing hymn, I find.

3.       The “Overly Climactic” Conclusion — At the other extreme are those who know the potential of a good finale and so overly ramp up the climactic crescendo in the closing stages. After preaching a ho-hum message, they suddenly try to close it off with a fireworks display that will leave everyone stunned and standing open-mouthed with barely an “ooo-aaah” on their lips. Truth is that if the message hasn’t laid the foundation for such an ending, then people will be left stunned and unsure of what to say: “Uuuugh?”

4.       The “Uncomfortable Fade” Conclusion — Perhaps the domain of new, inexperienced, and untrained preachers, this follows the general comfort rule of preaching: If you are not comfortable in your preaching, your listeners won’t be either. So the message comes to what might be a decent ending, then the speaker, well, sort of, just adds something like, “That’s all I wanted to say, I think, yeah, so…” (like this paragraph, 20 words too long!)

5.       The “Discouraging Finale” Conclusion — Another tendency among some is to preach what might be a generally encouraging message but then undo that encouragement with a final discouraging comment. People need to be left encouraged to respond to the Word and to apply the Word, but some have a peculiar knack for finishing with a motivational fizzle comment.

6.       The “Machine Gun” Finish — Wildly fire off a hundred different applications in the final minute in the hope of hitting something—no depth, very shallow, badly aimed, rarely hits the target, and often has nothing to do with the passage.

7.       The “Salvation by Works” Finish — After preaching the wonders of God’s grace in Jesus Christ, undermine that grace by throwing doubt on their own salvation because of their sin or not doing the application you suggest.

8.       The “Left Field” Finish — Where the conclusion and/or application has very little to do with the passage, your sermon, or anything else.

9.       The “Not Again” Finish — Where (for some funny reason) the conclusion is the same as every other conclusion you’ve given for the last three years. It also happens to be your hobby horse and is often one of “pray more, give more, evangelize more, read the Bible more, and come to church more.”

10.    The “Gospel out of Nowhere” Finish — Where the preacher feels the absence of the gospel in the message and so levers it in at the conclusion without any sense of connection to what has gone before. (To a thinking listener, this may feel a little forced and intellectually inconsistent.)

And while I'm at it, here's a bonus:

11.    The “Tearjerker” Finish — Where the speaker seeks to cement emotional response by throwing in a random and largely disconnected tearjerker of a story (perhaps involving a child, an animal, a death, or whatever). Strapped to this emotional bomb, the preacher hopes the truth of the message will strike home (even though in reality, the truth will probably be smothered in the disconnected emotion of the anecdote).

Landing the Plane

Since I’ve now offered examples of how to finish weakly as your sermon finishes weekly, let’s now ponder what makes a conclusion strong:

As someone who has flown once or twice, let me continue with the airplane analogy since there are several thoughts that can be shared here. Passengers who have had a great journey with a bad landing will leave with their focus entirely on the bad landing. Passengers want the pilot to know where he is going and to take them straight there. They don’t particularly want the pilot to finish a normal journey with a historic televised adrenaline landing. Passengers like a smooth landing, but they’ll generally take a slight bump over repeated attempts to find the perfect one. Once landed, extended taxi-ing is not appreciated. A good landing that takes you by surprise always seems to have a pleasant effect.

The conclusion is a great opportunity to encourage response to and application of the message. Sometimes it is helpful to review the message flow, the main idea, and intended applications. But remember, the conclusion has to include, at some point, the phenomenon known as stopping. Review, encourage, stop.

Standard teaching it may be, but worth mentioning nonetheless: Generally it is not helpful to introduce new information during the conclusion. A concluding story? Maybe that’s OK. But don’t suddenly throw in a new piece of exegetical insight into the preaching passage or rush off to another passage for one last bit of sight-seeing.

H

addon’s Runway—One approach that I particularly appreciate and find hard to emulate is Haddon Robinson’s oft-used approach. It is evident after most Haddon sermons that he carefully planned his final sentence. He flies the plane until he gets there, and then quite naturally the plane lands on that landing strip of just ten to fifteen words and the journey is over—smooth, apparently effortless, immensely effective. As he teaches in class, it’s much better to finish two sentences before listeners think you should than two sentences after!

Post-Landing

Now a few thoughts relating to the post-landing phase of the journey. Sometimes it is helpful to have a closing song, sometimes it is helpful to have a whole set of responsive songs, and sometimes it is better not to allow the singing of a song to help people switch back into their “real world” and leave the sermon behind. Sometimes it’s helpful to leave space for silent response; sometimes that is just plain uncomfortable and overkill. Sometimes quiet music played after can help the contemplative mood; sometimes music blasting out after the meeting can switch people into a frenzied chaos of raised voice fellowship (and the journey is forgotten, I fear!).

After the sermon is over, but still within the confines of the service, sometimes it is helpful to have another person wrap things up—then again, sometimes it can be disastrous. (I can’t help but think of the “helpful” MC who undoes the impact of a global missions thrust with the typical and deeply annoying “and we can all be missionaries right where we are!” . . . thankfully no one added that to the end of Matthew’s gospel or we’d never have read the New Testament!)

Whether the analogy continues to work or not is somewhat unimportant, but these thoughts are worth pondering in our churches:

Some passengers want to get out of the plane and airport at breakneck speed. Like it or not, some people just want or need to flee from the church once things are over. It doesn’t help them to make that difficult. At the same time, no airline I’ve been on will let you leave without a friendly goodbye. Some churches put a lot of energy into greeting/welcoming teams (a very good idea) but let people slip away without human interaction after the service. On the other hand, some churches seem to put barriers to people leaving, or create an environment where people are rushed out before they need to be (the preacher at the door shaking hands with everyone can sometimes create an urgency to vacate the building).

Some passengers need to sit down and let it all sink in. This may be a slight stretch, but some airports (I’m thinking more of the U.S. ones) have seats at the gate so passengers can sit down if they need to. In churches sometimes, there is nowhere for someone to sit and soak for a while. I mentioned the music signal in some places that blasts out an indication that it’s all over now and it’s time to interact (at high volume if you want to be heard). This creates an environment very non-conducive to post-service reflection.

Some passengers need to access further information. I suppose it’s a bit like finding out about connecting flights, but how do people in church know who to go to in order to find out more? Is the preacher accessible, or is he stuck at the door shaking hand after hand and smiling at polite feedback? Is there a way to get someone to pray with? What about finding out about other aspects of church life that could be the next step after this service?

Most passengers will want to talk with someone about their journey. In the travel world, it seems like everyone is ready to say something about what they’ve just experienced (or endured) when they meet a human who actually knows them. In the church world, it often seems like everyone is ready to talk about anything but what they’ve just experienced. But actually, people need to reflect and reinforce and respond in community rather than in isolation. Does your church encourage that kind of interaction?

Today we’ve pondered the art of sermon-stopping. We have thought about weak finishes, and then about the elements in finishing strong. We’ve also considered the elements included in the service after the sermon is over. It certainly is not easy to get the plane down comfortably and effectively. I pray I have offered some constructive alternatives.