Is Preaching Still A Joy?

I love to preach! After all these years I still love to preach! Do you? Now, I must admit I don't always enjoy the preparation to preach--but the preaching moment is awesome. I still feel the butterflies before I begin to preach, I still have that bit of preacher nervousness, and I am still praying like mad, "Lord, if you don't show up in this sermon....?"

If you have lost the joy and love of preaching you just might need to revitalize and hang around some people who still have the joy to preach. I believe hanging around others who enjoy preaching is contagious. Preachers need to fellowship and encourage one another. We are all on the same team: Jesus' Team!

If you feel your preaching is stale I recommend a retreat with just you and God. We can all use a spiritual retreat to reconnect with God. That might sound strange, but with the hectec schedules--we can often times neglect our time with God.

Don't forget Prayer! Prayer is essential to the preacher's life. If you are not praying you may be preaching on spiritual scraps. In his book Deep Preaching, Kent Edwards emphasises the necessity of prayer in the preacher's life and in the preparation of our sermons.

I don't know about you, but as I explained to some members of the congregation that it is nothing to spend 20-25 hours a week in preparing a sermon. Sermon preparation takes time...you've got to have time. You can't do everything, you've got to reserve time to prepare a sermon and commune with God.

I encourage preachers to read. I read at least one good book on preaching every year. I may read others but at least one good preaching book a year. Sometimes I go back and read preaching books that I have read earlier. It's just a way of refreshing and recharging the preaching I've been called to do.

Speaking of call. Remember that sense of "calling" that comes from God. All of us have to have that sense of calling to do what we do week in and week out!

How do you keep that joy and excitement in your preaching? Love to hear from you and your comments may bless others who are laboring in preaching!

Who Are You Trying To Please With Your Preaching?

Abraham Lincoln quote, "You can please all of the people some of the time, some of the people all the time, but you can't please all of the people all of the time."

That's the kind of wisdom every preacher needs to remember. I don't care how well you preach or how long you have worked on your sermon, you will not please everyone. I remember a sermon by Dr. Tony Evans, Pastor of Oakcliff Bible Fellowship, in Dallas, Texas said that early in ministry he tried to please everyone. He was wearing himself out, and could not please everyone. Ultimately he realized that in ministry his objective is to be pleasing to God.

For those of us who preach, we would do well to heed that wisdom. You and I are called to please God. That in itself is a gigantic order! I remember when I began preaching many years ago I would get extremely nervous, because I was trying to please the Senior Pastor. He never put pressure on me or criticized me in my preaching. It was self induced stress and drama all on my own. I so respected my pastor that I wanted to get that "adda-boy" approval, much like a son from a father.

One morning as I was driving to Church to preach the morning sermon I had thunder in the belly, stressing to the max, then all of a sudden God spoke to my heart. The heart conversation went like this:

God: "Who called you into ministry?"
Me: "God you did!" God: "Well, who are you trying to please?"
Me: "Oh, I want to be pleasing to you."

At that moment I took my eyes off my pastor and put them on God. I removed my pastor off the throne and God was there. That moment many years ago--freed me from the earthly stress that I had put myself under.

Again, my pastor never did anything to stress me out, I put my self under that stress, by wanting to please him.

Now, I still get a little stressed before I preach. The knees still knock. But the reason is different. I am trying to please God by being faithful to His Word! It is a whole different dynamic.

In your preaching, who are you trying to please? You will never please everyone all the time, but you have to strive to be pleasing to God. Some days you will preach messages that will "disturb the comfortable and comfort the disturbed." It just goes like that, be blessed and preach the Word!

Preachers Need To Pray!

This may seem like a shock that I would write this: "Preachers need to pray." Many years ago, one of the preachers that I highly respect and admire, who I will not name, shared with me that they did not have much of a prayer life. They were not bragging or boasting, but very soberly and reflectively shared that they did not have much of a prayer life.

When I heard this, my heart sank. It was like superman just disclosed his kryptonite! It was as if someone just let the air out of my balloon! But as I look back on that conversation I appreciate the transparency and humility required to make that statement.

Preachers we need to pray! In my short preaching ministry over the last almost twenty years--I have been driven to my knees. I really don't know how we can survive the daily grind of ministry without prayer. I don't need to tell you about the benefits of prayer. But that hymn keeps coming back to my remembrance that includes the phrase, "Oh what needless pain we bear, all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer..."

Prayer is like including fruits and vegetables in your diet. You may not notice it day to day, but there are short and long term benefits. Spiritually speaking, a daily habit of prayer provides short and long term benefits.

For me prayer keeps me centered on Christ Jesus. Prayer helps me not to rely on my own intellect and ability in preaching or any other ministry task. The congregation that God has blessed me to pastor is a tremendous congregation, and if we aren't careful we can do a lot of things without God. Prayer helps us to keep the congregation centered on Christ Jesus and to know that without Christ we can do nothing.

Particular in preaching, I pray during the week about the sermon preparation and delivery. I pray before I start the sermon preparation; I pray periodically during the sermon preparation (especially when I'm stuck); I pray for illustrations; I pray for just the right way to say what God has laid on my heart; I pray to remain biblical; I pray for the Holy Spirit to quicken me when tempted to say what the text does not say! I even pray for the titles of messages. After all, this is holy work! We need to make sure that we invite God into the study as well as in the pulpit.

Recently I was stuck and couldn't come up with a title for a message. A title that would catch the congregation's attention and yet not give everything away. I prayed!Then one of our Associate Pastors came by my office and in the midst of our conversation, the title for the message came out of that conversation. That was not an accident, that was God answering the prayer.

Before I rise to the pulpit I ask God to forgive me of my sins so nothing would block or hinder the preaching moment, that moment of truth. I pray for energy, especially as I approach the third sermon on Sunday. I pray, "God this is my third sermon, but for the congregation it is their first sermon and may be the only sermon they hear this week. Dear Lord give me the strength and energy to preach with your power."

If you haven't figured it out, I am afraid to approach this sacred work (preaching)without prayer. There are so many "good" things that will steal our time with God. Preachers, we must religiously guard our prayer time. Don't be embarrassed to postpone or delay a meeting because your in prayer. It is good to have a preacher that prays! The title by Bill Hybel's book says it all: "Too Busy Not To Pray" http://tiny.cc/qnOeF.

Just think of Jesus' model, he was constantly stealing away to pray. If it was good enough for Jesus, it is absolutely necessary for us that we pray! And for you who are naturally gifted to speak well--I pray for you! The enemy will tempt you to go it alone.

Know that you are not alone, you are part of God's remnant, keep praying! As you prepare the sermon this week, add more prayer.

By the way, do you feel you get enough prayer time surrounding the preaching process? Leave a comment and let me and others know, thanks.

The Purpose Of Preaching?

The answer to "What is the purpose of preaching?" might seem obvious. We preachers spend hours in study and preparation to have a sermon to preach. If someone were to observe us from start to finish, it might look like that our goal is to prepare the perfect sermon.

Not being a heretic, but the end result of our preaching is NOT a Perfect Sermon! I remember that I had fallen into the track of trying to develop, prepare, and preach perfect sermons. Not that I articulated it that way, but if you observed my approach in preparation, study, and the intensity involved it appeared that I was motivated to concoct "the perfect sermon."

The reality is that even if I were given a perfect sermon, it would not be perfect any longer after I preached it.

If our objective is not a perfect sermon, then what is our goal?

Dr. Timothy Warren of Dallas Theological Seminary says that, "perfection is not our goal... Our goal in preaching is to stimulate faith and motivate life change for the glory of God."

Now by all means we must be faithful to the text; do our study; take time to prepare the message; and spend time preparing the delivery of the message. But the end goal is not for you or me to prepare a perfect sermon. Relieve the stress and tension!

The question we should ask ourselves is does this sermon stimulate faith and motivate life change to the glory of God? That doesn't happen without the work of the Holy Spirit in the midst of our preparation and preaching.

I'm sure this has happened to you. There have been sermons that I spent twenty to twenty-five hours preparing, and yet they dropped like a bomb! And there have been sermons that I had ten hours or less to prepare and they were like the Fourth of July! (That's not meant to be a reason to slack off in our study and preparation!) It shows it's not about you or me. Even our preaching is about God!

We should do the best we can in study, preparation, and delivery of the sermon message. We should pursue preparation with a passion, but not for you or me to prepare a perfect sermon.

The sermon is only perfect in the hands of God! when His will is being accomplished in the moment and/or years down the road.

I once heard a preacher say, we preach not for information, but for transformation!

Be encouraged and preach the Word!

Preachers Need To Listen!

Yes, we preachers need to listen! We spend so much time talking, speaking, and preaching, we need to be reminded that we also need to listen.

We need to listen to God. How do we do that? We listen to God through prayer. If you think about the earthly ministry of Jesus, we find Jesus constantly in prayer. Even the disciples implore the church about needing time to pray as they study the Word. You and I also need time to be in prayer. And something I've learned not too long ago, there are times I just need to "shut-up" before God. Yes, sometimes we just need to "shut-up" before God so we can hear God speak to us.

We need to listen to the audience. By listening to the audience, we can be more sensitive and more aware of their needs, their struggles, their issues of life, and their spiritual disposition. By listening to those to whom we preach God can speak to us as to what we ultimately preach to His people.

We need to listen to the Scripture. As we read the Scripture for enjoyment, devotion, and/or for preparation of sermons, we need to "listen" to the Scripture. Listening to the Scripture means that we step into the time machine and travel back to the ancient time, and mingle with the time, seasons, the culute, and the ancients. We imagine the smells and the tension. We vicariously experience the ancient text. As we become intimate with the Scripture, we no longer just tell the stories of the ancient text, we re-live them in the here and now. We bring to life for the audience that which has long since died.

We need to listen to other preachers, "good" preachers. Good preachers know how to effectively communicate to the modern audience. Listening to "good" communicators will help us in communicating to the audience that God gives us. Listening to others preach, is not imitating, but refining the rough edges in our own communication.

The audiences which we stand before are exposed to great communicators from television, movies, videos, and the Internet. Not that we are entertainers, but we are communicators of the most meaningful and powerful Word (God's Holy Word).

Be encouraged, as we do all of our listening, let us work to communicate well so that our listeners will listen and not tune us out!

Who are some of the preachers you listen to that help your preaching? (Let me know)

Preachers Need To Keep Reading!

I remember talking to a fellow preacher and was surprised that he said that he didn't read any books. If it's one thing I've learned from my journey, it's that I will always be a student, and students have to read. And our reading is not limited to the Bible. We never stop learning!

I strongly recommend reading one or two good books on preaching each year. Yes, there can be some or much overlap, but there are many benefits. For me, one of the biggest benefits is that it reminds me of some of the little things that I tend to forget when I'm in the weekly grind of preaching.
It refreshes me to the God given assignment of preaching. It reminds me of the higher calling of preaching. It keeps the fire burning bright. It's like having a dialogue with a fellow practitioner. It gives me an opportunity to try new elements in my preaching. It can keep you fresh for the congregation, especially if you've been in the same congregation for a few years.

I've listed some of the books that I recommend you read if you haven't already. It's just a few of what feels like a "zillion" books I've read on preaching.

Another reason I recommend reading one or two good preaching books each year? I want to be the best preacher that God has equipped me to be! Therefore I read, and just like my golf swing I'm never satisfied! There is always room to improve. I don't want to slice or hook God's Word in my preaching, therefore I read. As preachers let's keep reading!

(Be encouraged!) The Preachers' Notepad