Soul Preaching Ministries — Celebrating the Sermons of the Black Preaching Tradition

Do You Preach The Theme or God’s Word?

April 26, 2013 by Sherman Haywood Cox II 15 Comments

Someone sent in the following question that I thought might be of interest to the community as a whole:

What are your thoughts on Preaching on Theme topics ( Pastor Anniversary, Church Anniversary, Women’s Day, Men’s Day, Youth Day etc.). Should I try to build a message off of the topic and/or scripture they have given to me, or should I seek the Lord for what God would have me to preach and possibly offend the Chairperson, Host person or Pastor. And if I do not preach the theme, should I apologize for ignoring their theme. Please help?

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Filed Under: Headline, Issues

Has The Formed Weapon Prospered Against You?

March 28, 2013 by Sherman Haywood Cox II 15 Comments

The Bible says in Isaiah 54:17 “No weapon that is formed against you will prosper.” Many preachers, gospel singers and Bible teachers have emphasized this text to us. We all know about the enemies that assail us. So we sing this in our songs. We rejoice at what seems to be a guarantee that weapons will not overthrow us.

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Filed Under: Devotional

Running From The Ministry But Still Preaching

March 22, 2013 by Sherman Haywood Cox II 14 Comments

Folks will sometimes say that a young man or woman who obviously has gifts in ministry is running from the ministry when she or he does not want any part of the ministry.

God has called them and instead of walking in that ministry, they want to do something else. That is a definition of “running from the ministry,” but there are other ways to run from the ministry.
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Filed Under: Preaching Tagged With: running from your calling

Strange Sermon Titles

March 14, 2013 by Sherman Haywood Cox II Leave a Comment

bigstock-Black-Pimp-Cartoon-eps-31622027

At this link you will find a bunch of sermon titles connected to the scripture. Some are not bad, some are terrible, some are bizarre. I find that looking at sermon titles can help to rejuvinate the creative juices. It might help you, but be careful, some are absolutely terrible, for example:
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Filed Under: blog, Preaching, Titles

Improving Your Craft….How Pious Ideas Can Kill Preaching Improvement

March 13, 2013 by Sherman Haywood Cox II 6 Comments

We get emails and comments all the time from readers. I love to receive them and try to answer them if I can. Many are happy with the “down to earth” and “practical” insights that I attempt to present in simple language. I try to steer clear of canned and trite teaching that people think they are supposed to hear. I attempt to give you real tools to help you in a real ministry in the real world.

Some disagree with this approach. I think disagreements can be helpful. I have learned more from disagreements than from agreements, but some of these disagreements come from a piety that does not deal with the reality that preparation for the preaching moment requires that the preacher put in some real work. No the preacher does not receive a message from God without putting forth any work whatsoever.
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Filed Under: Headline, Homiletic Theory

Asides And a Confusing Sermon

December 16, 2012 by Sherman Haywood Cox II 1 Comment

One of the greatest temptations of preachers is the unrelated point. It seems that preachers often want to add in asides while preaching their sermons. You know when preachers are on a topic and something immediately comes to mind. Instead of evaluating whether the point is relevant to the topic at hand, the preacher simply determines if the added content is true. If it is true, they present it.
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Filed Under: Preaching

Preaching With Your Senses

December 12, 2012 by Sherman Haywood Cox II 18 Comments

Preachers determine the meaning of scripture so that they can convey that meaning to the congregation in the preaching moment. Preachers go to considerable lengths to make sure that they preach the truth and not error. They study the passage within the context of the chapter, book, and even the whole cannon of scripture. In many cases, the preacher derives valid and truthful points from the text and then present those vital truths to the people. This is good, but often when you take the points from the story, you remove the ability of the people to fully experience the truth that you are presenting. But before the people can experience the text, we have to both understand and experience the text ourselves.

But how do you experience the text? Well you should do a full exegesis as you have done in the past, but I would also suggest that you might allow all of your senses to guide your understanding of the text. Yes, allow all five senses of touch, sight, sound, smell, and taste to help you ask questions of the text that you are presenting.
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Filed Under: Headline, Preaching Tagged With: Preaching, senses

Looking at the “Insignificant” Parts of the Text

September 23, 2012 by Sherman Haywood Cox II 7 Comments

People expect preachers to read, understand, and preach from the text of scripture. In some of our ecclesial and ethnic traditions we are expected to powerfully “tell the story” as we have heard and understood it in the text. This is a call to preach both the unfamiliar as well as the familiar stories. You know the stories that we have heard on many occasions.
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Filed Under: blog, Homiletic Theory, Scripture Selection

My God, My God, Why….?

September 7, 2012 by Sherman Haywood Cox II 10 Comments

On the cross Jesus uttered a fascinating sentence. We find it in Matthew 27:45-46, Jesus said “My God, My God, Why has thou forsaken me?” If you have been in the church for even a short time you have heard this quoted. Perhaps you have even heard sermons on the subject, but have you thought about that text and what it means about Jesus and what it means for us who find ourselves attempting to preach on this weekend?

Here is Jesus, who the Father calls God in Hebrews 1:8. That Jesus who is fully God is also fully connected to humanity. A connection so strong that he yelled out the cry that we also find in Psalms 22. A connection so strong that he could feel forsakenness.
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Filed Under: Black Church, blog, Homiletic Theory

Audio 48 – Allowing The Parables To Really Speak

August 21, 2012 by Sherman Haywood Cox II Leave a Comment

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The Parables have power, but how do you preach them? Do you preach them as a monument to the status quo? Do you preach them after a few minutes of analysis?

Do you preach them simply to illustrate pretty tame points in your sermons? Or do you let them attack us in our deep beliefs and thereby transform us? Check out his audio on that subject.

Download the audio at this link.

Filed Under: Audio, Podcast

Audio 47 – Is Black Preaching Just For Black Folks?

August 15, 2012 by Sherman Haywood Cox II 2 Comments

Black Preaching. “Isn’t that racist?” “Good Preaching Has No Color!” “I’m Glad Jesus Loves All Races Unlike You.”

Yep, I have heard statements like these as well as other more pointed ones. Yes, I have been called a racist for addressing “Black Preaching.”

But even some of my supporters miss what I am attempting to do with this web site. Check it out on this audio.

Download the audio at this link.

Filed Under: Audio, Podcast

Are Your Sermons Improving?

August 15, 2012 by Sherman Haywood Cox II 3 Comments

Boring lecture. Alone sleeping student in empty auditorium

Russel D. Moore has an interesting article up on his website “Moore To The Point.” Somebody contacted Pastor Moore fearful of poor preaching. The individual believed that he was preaching mediocre sermons and was not improving. You can find that article here.

Moore gives a few thoughts on the issue. First, Moore notes, your sermons are probably “really, really bad” at first. Next, you need to have your sermons critiqued by folks who know what they are talking about if you want to improve.
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Filed Under: blog, Ministry

Does Your Ministry Ever Leave The Church Building?

August 13, 2012 by Sherman Haywood Cox II 12 Comments

Preachers. I have a very important question for you. Does your ministry ever leave the church building?

You know many times we church folks act as though we have done our duty when we sit in a congregation and listen to a preacher preach or a choir sing. We may participate. We may sing heartily. We may even get a chance to preach to the people of God. But then we go home. And what happens at home? A plethora of television, sports, games, fun, and just life. We live our lives. And we should live our life, but has church made a difference? Does it affect our lives in any meaningful way? And more specifically, does it make a difference in how we relate to the hurting one?
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Filed Under: blog, Ministry