Preaching multiple texts can derail your sermon. It should be very clear to everyone who is listening what your main point and your main text is. If you have too many competing points or too many texts, the people will get lost and will simply choose one of the points to focus on, or check out and wait until you start whooping (or whatever kind of celebration you do) to check back in…
Category: Planning
When Is Preaching More Difficult Than It Should Be?
John Claypool, in Best Advice for Preaching said that when we use preaching to get something for ourselves, rather than to give as an act of love, then the sermon will have great tension. And I agree…
Transforming Grace
Preaching Doctrine or Unique Denominational Teachings
This is a common question. How do I preach doctrine. We have some beliefs as Christians that we need to preach. Doctrines such as the deity of Christ, Salvation by Faith, and perhaps the Trinity.
Related to this are the questions from various tradtions. For example, a Pentecostal asked about preaching on the Gifts including speaking in tongues. An Adventist asked about preaching the Sabbath. A Holiness person wanted to know about preaching on Biblical Holiness.
Common Way of Preaching These Things
Preparatory Plan – Supercharged Sermons Phase 1
In the next seven posts we will take you step by step through a system of sermon preparation that is based in the African American Tradition. I have called it the “Supercharge Your Sermons” system. The first phase is to have preparatory planning.
Prayer and the Pulpit
Sometimes you will find a preacher who studies impeccably, the preacher brings together sermons that make the people shout and holla. The preacher gets invitations to preach in many locales, but there is no lasting change among the hearers. They come, shout at the entertaining presentation and leave. There can be many reasons for such an outcome. However, one of the primary ones is a lack of prayer.
Where Does Your Wisdom Come From?
The Connection of Style to Substance
James Harris, in Preaching Liberation, writes:
I am suggesting that style and substance are partners in preaching liberation. The way the sermon is preached–the style of delivery, the involvement of body and mind, the engagement of the audience, the rhythmic crescendos and decrescendos of the voice punctuated by staccato cadences and words uttered in musical style–all this is, to a degree, as important as the substance of what is being said.
The Kingdom is not Good News for Everyone
James Harris, in Preaching Liberation writes:
Jesus didn’t come after John Inquiring about a consensus of beliefs or taking an opinion poll in order to tell folk what they wanted to hear or reinforce what they had already heard. No! Jesus didn’t come “shucking and jiving,” not even praying and singing…He came with a message–a message from God and the power of the Holy Spirit.
Sermons as Medicine
Paul Scott Wilson, on page 22 of the first edition of the book The Practice of Preaching quotes Phillip Brooks at length in writing:
The Necessity of Getting With the People in the Sermon
The preachers who preach truly great messages often come into the lives of the people. Listen to the preachers who really touch their congregations. Listen to the illustrations used. They are illustrations from regular life. They are illustrations that we all can understand.
The Pulpit is no Place for Busywork – Say Something!
You ever been on a job where looking busy was more important than actually accomplishing anything? Many of us at times have succumbed to the temptation to simply look like we were doing something rather than actually doing something. Those of us in the internet world know about spending time on facebook or checking our email versus actually writing the next article and/or recording the next audio. Busywork is a codeword for working but doing nothing. It is a hidden waste of time in that you are doing something, but you accomplish nothing.
Pathetic or Transformative Relevance
James Forbes, in his very helpful work The Holy Spirit and Preaching writes: “Preaching under the anointing of the Spirit deeply touches the hearer, evoking either acceptance or rejection of the gospel.”
Sometimes We Motivate Rather than Preach
Breaking the Theology Down for the People
Olin Moyd, in The Sacred Art: Preaching and Theology in the African American Tradition wrote:
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.
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.