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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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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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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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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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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I was talking to one of our readers during my office hours and the subject came to the preachers who get all the invitations. In some cases they are the ones who tell people about the car, house, job, spouse, etc that you are guaranteed when you plant a seed or are obedient to the gospel of Jesus Christ. He talked about the problems with such a theology, and he was concerned that so many people want to hear that message.
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You have been called to preach, but it seems that your opportunities to preach are slim to none. You see your other associate colleagues who have more invitations than they can even fill and yet you have only preached twice in the last year. You are beginning to wonder if the call is real. You also might be allowing envy to cause you to talk about other preachers who are getting invitations.
It can be frustrating and we must take some active steps to make this season of waiting valuable and profitable. if you find yourself waiting for your opportunity, I would encourage you to do the following important things:
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This is another one of the most popular questions. Whenever I have a seminar or receive questions through the mail, someone asks, “How do I know my sermon is ready for preaching.”
This is a very important question, but often our own misunderstandings of what “ready to preach” means can cause issues. For example, “Ready to preach” does not mean that the sermon can not be made better with more thought, study, and prayer.
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I have referred to the power that lies in the parables. They are like dynamite that can blow up at any time. We do well to tread lightly around these powerful stories that attack our complacency. Sometimes when I say things like that, preachers chalk this up to simple hyperbole. They see the parables simply as a story that illustrates various aspects of truth, like many other stories.
I don’t have a big problem when people disagree with me. That will happen from time to time. Actually, disagreements help me immensely. I learn a lot from disagreements. No, it is not disagreements that I hate most, what I hate is to be misunderstood. Sometimes the misunderstanding comes from the imprecision of the English language. Sometimes, it comes from the hearer not listening carefully. Sometimes, it comes form the hearer not having the full context of my work to understand what I am sayng.
But then sometimes it is due to my own mistakes in articulating my understanding. But be that as it may, I wanted to talk about a recurring theme in my work that is misunderstood by many.
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A little while ago, a preacher called me and asked me about his idea for a sermon. He wanted me to critique his sermon idea and give him pointers on how he should proceed. Before he started talking about his idea, I asked him, “What is the scripture that you are going to use?” The preacher then told me, “I have a sermon, maybe you can help me find a scripture so that I can preach it.”
Now I do recognize that sometimes the theme of a sermon comes before you actually have a scripture. But, once you have a scripture, your idea will no doubt be modified. In some places your idea will be amplified. In other places, your idea will be totally changed. In other words, you don’t have a sermon if you don’t have a scripture. Maybe a good motivational talk. Maybe a valid business lecture. You may “wreck the house.” But if you ain’t struggled with the scripture, we have something else other than a sermon…
A few years ago, I attended a workshop entitled: “Authentic Patience: Improvisation and Preaching.” The presentation was by Rev Mark T. Davis who is the senior pastor at First Presbyterian Church in Boise Idaho. Rev. Davis has an interesting sermon methodology that relies on riffs and improvisation like a jazz musician.
The first step in Davis’ methodology is to become saturated in the text. He reads the text with two “teams” beginning 6-10 weeks out. This is a group of members that Davis has set up to help him in his sermon preparation. The group reads the text and state everything that comes to their minds and the things that jump out of the text.
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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 [...]
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 [...]
We are going to begin a series of posts about the myths of Black Preaching. There are a number of these that we need to clarify if we are going to understand how black Preaching helps us. the first of these myths is that Black Preaching is primarily about preaching style. Often when one thinks [...]
It is interesting how many budding preachers turn on the television and think that copying the various personalities is effective preaching.  They end up with superficial copies of some preachers. Sometimes they even copy preachers with incorrect or superficial theology. So you end up with a superficial copy of a superficial original. Certainly I am [...]
I was talking to a laymember the other day who was very excited about a sermon he had heard. The member gave me all four of the points of the sermon and was excited about applying the sermon to his daily life. Interestingly enough, he searched on the internet to try to find this sermon [...]
Don’t Commentate….Preach!
Peter Mead is running a series on his helpful website on the subject of “Preaching Epistles.” People ask me to bring different perspectives, so here is one that I read from time to time.
At any rate, one of his points for preaching epistles effectively is:
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