Are You Ready?
Are you ready?
You know what I’m talking bout…
You should always have a sermon ready to preach.
“Hey Doc, I’m gonna put you on the program.”
Years ago one of my Div School classmates told a few us about an encounter at a church he was visiting.
Preach Like They Sang
I love listening to the songs of the Freedom Movement…
You know where they followed the African American Slaves and took songs from the past and altered them to speak to them and encourage them as they fought for freedom in the 60s.
Listen to this song
They took Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Round…And added some new verses…like Ain’t Gonna Let Segregation Turn Me Round…
Or
Ain’t Gonna Let Jim Crow Turn Me Round…
Or
Ain’t Gonna Let Bull Conner…
A Sermon Without Theology
Have you ever preached a sermon devoid of any theology?
No teaching about God…
No teaching about humanity’s relation to God…
No theology at all?
Well, you may disagree with me…
But I would say that is not possible…
All of our lives we are telling a story about God…
Who we think God is…
What we think God will do…
Practice Preaching Makes Perfect Preaching
Nothing…
Nothing…
Nothing beats preaching through your sermon ahead of time…
Preaching through your sermon in your practice room will let you know about structural issues in your sermon…
Preaching through your sermon in your practice room will help you find better illustrations and possible titles.
They May Shout, but do They Remember?
Some folks judge the effectiveness of their sermons by how many people are shouting or running down the isle.
Now, there should be an emotional response to our sermons, but if your people only remember they were happy and don’t remember what they were happy about then there is a great issue.
I remember a preacher telling me he was walking the halls during one of the popular preaching conferences and there were preachers practicing whooping. They were whooping “Mary had a little lamb.”
I am sure it sounds good, but your people deserve better than that. Somebody said that your content makes its own gravy, and I agree completely.
