Preachers must know themselves, if they are going to be effective preachers of the Gospel. Why is this? The reason is that many preachers can fall into the trap of preaching only to themselves rather than preaching to the people.
Audio 33 – The Wellspring of Life -Zachary Mills
The power of life and death is in the tongue.
Audio 32 – Two Preachers
Which of these two preachers are you? Are you the one who continues to get better or the slothful one?
Entertainment and Worship
Marva Dawn, in her work A Royal Waste of Time writes:
If television is causing people to be dissatisfied with the worship of our churches, should we change worship to be more like television — or should the splendor of our worship cause people to ask better questions about television?
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.
Preaching Matters
Charles E. Booth wrote: “Therefore, the serious revivalist should always seek to preach as as if life or death hangs in the balance.” He was writing specifically about the revivalist, but it can actually refer to any preacher’s sermon.
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.
Audio 30 – Finding the Perfect Sermon Illustration from Your Own Experience
How do you find the perfect sermon illustration? Pastor Sherman Haywood Cox II answers this question in this short audio presentation.
Audio 29 – The Easy Sermon Resolution
The easy sermon resolution. Do your sermons take seriously the reality of pain?
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
Slow Down and Listen to Preach Effective Sermons
Kirk Byron Jones, in his book Jazz of Preaching writes: “Slow down and listen in life, in sermons preparation, and in the pulpit.”
Preaching for Transformation
James Harris writes:
Those who worship God week after week should not display the same actions and behavior as those who do not. Their perspective and attitude should change, and they should also be able to help to change others.
God’s Grace or Mere Methods?
Willimon, in The Intrusive Word: Preaching to the Unbaptized writes:
The challenge of being an evangelistic preacher is the precarious willingness to allow God to use us to assemble the church, which is often a church we would not have assembled if assembling a church were only a matter of methods of church growth rather than a matter of God’s grace.