Harry Emerson Fosdick wrote an article for Harper’s Magazine entitled What’s the Matter with Preaching?. In the article Fosdick, former pastor of the famed Riverside Church in New York, gives his principle…
Category: Planning
Practical or Doctrinal Sermons?
The Biblical Preaching Blog has a post up that decries how some seek to break the practical from the theological in sermons. He tells the story of a preacher who said: I…
You Got A Theme – How Do You Get A Sermon?
OK, this is one of those questions where our practice is often at odds with what we say we do. What am I talking about? The big question, WHAT COMES FIRST, THE…
Preaching To Those Who Hear
On the Biblical Preaching blog, the author is currently in a series about the different listeners in our sermons. Who is listening? There is the community of faith, not yet believers, angels,…
How to Use Another Person’s Sermon
Ok. You have less than a day. You have waited until it is very late. At this point you have a few options and none of them are good.
Is Your Preaching One Sided?
Warren Stewart, in Interpreting God’s Word in Black Preaching, writes: He or she who interprets and preaches the Word must identify with the Word in such a way that the Word will…
Are You Feeding The Sheep or Bleeding On The Sheep?
One of our readers, C. Johnson, wrote a perceptive comment which reads in part:
To a large degree, what is said, heard and done (in the pulpit) is all prepackaged. Even the words that are used, are for the most part scripted long before a text is exegeted and expounded.
and further
Too many who populate pulpits reduce the Bible to the script of the people we serve and as a result, lead them into both mediocrity and blindness.
Using the Pulpit to Beat our Enemies
Is Your Mouth Open? Preachers and Proclamation
H. Beecher Hicks in the second chapter of his book Preaching Through a Storm has a sermon entitled How to Silence a Preacher; or, Shut Your Mouth!. Rev. Hicks preached this sermon…
Something to Say or Say Anything
Lowell Erdahl, in the book Best Advice for Preaching, quotes someone who said: “There are two kinds of preachers–those who have to say something and those who have something to say!” A…
How To Analyze A Sermon
I will never forget my first homiletic class where the instructor told us to “analyze a sermon.” I had no idea where to begin and the whole idea seemed difficult. But I…
Five Benefits of Sermon Planning
Many preachers have preached sermons that were not prepared from making use of sermon planning. Often the sermon lands us in Flunkersville and we resolve never to be in this position again….
The Importance of Staying Ready
One preacher asked me if he should accept last minute invitations to preach. As an associate minister in a church where other preaching associates received most of the preaching opportunities, this preacher wondered about accepting such invitations.
Let the Bible Lead
Some of us are guilty of using the text. We have the idea we want, we find the text that appears to say what we want it to say. And then we…
Evaluating a Sermon Outline
There are multitudes of sermon outline sites. Some of them require you to pay for the outline, others are membership sites that give you access to thousands of outlines, and still others are completely free.