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!