Even if you have served as a pastor only two or three years, you’ve already preached a significant number of sermons—probably well over 130 or so. And, if you’ve been in ministry as many years as I have, well the number of sermons simply becomes staggering.
As we prepare our sermons, one thing that we ministers don’t always think about is the need to make certain we include the emotion of the Scripture text on which we will base our sermons. I know that it took me a while before I recognized that the mere recitation of facts alone did not necessarily move the people in my congregation along the pathway of their spiritual formation. But, once I began to include the appropriate emotion found within the passage of Scripture I had chosen, suddenly the people began to experience a much more accelerated spiritual growth.
Certainly an overabundance of emotion can become a stumbling block for many. But, finding a good balance between concrete information and heartfelt emotion can give a sermon new life and vitality.
If you would like to hear more about this particular subject, I invite you to click the link on this page that will take you to my Sermon-Coach website. Once there, you can listen to Podcast 219. In that Podcast, I explain a bit more about how important emotion can become in crafting a life-transforming sermon. And, I offer some very practical suggestions as to how you can draw the emotion from the Scripture text and place it appropriately in your sermon.
We want to help the people God has placed in our charge to grow in their walk with Him. Therefore, we should no shy away from anything that will help us accomplish the nurturing role that God has given us in the lives of His children.
I continue to receive many positive comments about my latest book entitled The Sermon Sucking Black Hole—Why You Can’t Remember on Monday What Your Minister Preached on Sunday. This book is now available at Amazon.com by clicking here.
This book gives some solid tips to the people sitting in the congregation to help them remember what you’ve said from the pulpit when they come to worship services in your church.
Please click here to visit David Mains’ Sermon-Coach.com website.
You will also find a variety of resources for pastors and congregations at the Mainstay Ministries website. Please click here.
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