How do you avoid a dull sermon? What can you do to help the congregation understand your sermon? In this video Pastor Cox provides the answer.
Category: blog
Are You a Preacher or Motivational Speaker?
Interestingly, some preaching that is considered great by many is nothing more than a motivational speech. It might be true, it might even be helpful. It may help you succeed at work. But too often all one has done is changed the title from the latest pop-psychologist’s seminar from “how to succeed” to “hot to fulfill God’s purpose” where God’s purpose is defined as “succeeding in this life.”
How To Preach on Issues
There are many issues to preach on. However, sometimes when we preach on issues we are not really preaching sermons. What we say may be enlightening, it may be helpful, but is it truly a sermon?
In this article, I want to give some rules to keep in mind when preaching on issues.
It is Still a Sermon
Importance of Style
Some have said that I spend too much time writing about “style.” These individuals say that what is important is not the “style” but the “content.” They argue that one of the greatest problems with much African American preaching is spending too much time worrying about the style.
Style Affects Listener Understanding
How Long to Preach
This is a very good Question. It is too bad that there is not a universal answer. It is highly dependent on where you preach. For example, there are some contexts where preaching longer than 20 minutes may cause people to start fidgeting. There are other contexts where the people would feel cheated if you only preached for 20 minutes. While there is no universal answer to the question, there are some principles to keep in mind.
Exegeting the Text for Relevant Preaching
Frank Thomas, in his important book They Like to Never Quit Praisin’ God: The Role of Celebration in Preaching writes:
When Celebration Goes Bad
One of the problems that often rears it’s head in African American worship is when celebration is abused. Martha Simmons referred to this dynamic among some whoopers as the “dark side of Whooping.” This is when the power of whooping is used to mask a preacher who has not done his or her work to provide a solid presentation.
Quick Sermon Example
Here we provide an example of putting a partial sermon together quickly. The method can easily be expanded to create a full sermon.
The Preacher’s Dilemma – Preparation or Trust
Gardner Taylor writes:
The heart of the preacher’s dilemma is how to trust God wholly and at the same time to prepare diligently…Most of us discover that sermons are born of a mysterious romance between preparation and inspiration.
Preaching as an Asault Against the Obvious
William Willimon continues to challenge my preaching and preaching training in his helpful work The Intrusive Word. He writes on page 73:
Constructing a Community
Walter Brueggemann writes in the book Testimony to Otherwise: The Witness of Elijah and Elisha an page 5:
A Tale of Two Preachers
1 Corinthians 13:11 states, “When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.” The other day, I reflected on two preachers. Both were considered great preachers during their college years. One preacher used to put together pieces of the “shouting portions” of other preachers and parlayed that into many speaking engagements. However, over the years, his preaching has gotten much more sophisticated. He continued to work on his preaching.
Surface Needs or Deeper Needs
Marva Dawn in her helpful work A Royal “Waste” of Time writes
Many of the bad decisions that are made about worship touch only the surface needs of our society and not the hidden influences or powerful forces that make true worship both difficult and essential.