Preaching

I recently finished Timothy Keller's biography, written by Collin Hansen. In the bonus material was a lesson taught by missionary Elizabeth Elliot. She said "The speaker has three speeches: 1) The one he prepares, 2) the one he actually delivers and 3) the one his audience thinks it heard. And there's not necessarily any relationship between them." I got a real kick out of hearing her say this. It's not just funny, it's true! It's unfortunate, but what we say is not always what people hear! … [Read more...]

There are some topics in Scripture mentioned more than others (i.e. salvation by grace through faith vs works). I always cringe a little when something I've already preached on, comes up yet again in the preaching calendar. I think "Won't our people be tired of hearing this yet again?" Well, I came across something so good recently that I want to share here that has set me free from the fear of preaching on a topic I've already preached on 2-3x. The apostle Paul wrote in Philippians 3:1, … [Read more...]

Here are some habits I've gotten into that really help me with being prepared come Easter Sunday. Don't wait until the last minute to write the Easter sermon. The closer you get to Easter the more the pressure builds. Some people say they work best under pressure but whether you do or don't, you simply will not have the time to implement creative ideas the longer you wait to write your Easter sermon. Nor will you have the time to commit the message (by and large) to memory if you wait until … [Read more...]

For the first six years or so of the church I would always walk up on stage with about 10 typed pages of notes. As I preached I would turn the stack of pages up there on the pulpit with me. I was quite tied to my notes. But about two years ago we started image magnification and the feedback I got from those producing the service was that all those pages on the pulpit didn't look good on the screen. So I decided to get rid of them. I committed to walking up on stage with just my Bible, like many … [Read more...]

In this post I want to share a tip that will help you create a more powerful salvation invitation. Not too long ago I learned the concept of the preacher as witness. Here's the basic idea: A preacher is like a witness in a courtroom. And the audience is like the jury in that they will be weighing Christ’s paradigm for living vs culture’s paradigm for living. And at the end of the sermon they will make a decision for or against Christ's way. That being the case - during our weekly sermon … [Read more...]

I'm a part of a coaching network with Church of the Highlands (visit www.growleader.com for info). The other day my coach was teaching me something so helpful I had to pass it along here. It's a preaching tip. Jonathan (my coach) taught me how Chris Hodges (lead pastor of Church of the Highlands) instructs the students at their Bible College to "Dig a hole. Then throw a rope to help them out." I loved this concept and used it this past Sunday. I'm sure I could've done better but four people … [Read more...]

In a previous post I talked about the benefits of a sermon run through (to read that post click here). In this post I want to share with you the twelve questions I ask my staff after sharing my message with them on Thursday (the Thursday before I preach the message). Tell me what you liked about the message? What resonated with you the most? Why should people care about this topic? "Thanks God it's over!" or "Wow, is it over already?" If it was long, where can I cut? Are there pictures … [Read more...]

In Acts 1:8 Jesus said “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” From this verse we learn that one of the roles of the preacher is to witness for Jesus (this isn't limited to preachers, but includes preachers). In this post we'll explore what it means to be Christ's witness in preaching. Whereas as the preacher as steward is a domestic illustration, and whereas the … [Read more...]