I specifically design these “Preaching Tips” to reach your emailbox on Wednesday because I know you will likely put the finishing touches on this week’s sermon either today, tomorrow, or Friday. At least that’s what I did as a pastor. I want to maximize the possible help that I can offer you by carefully timing the delivery of these “Tips.”
If you’re like me, certain checkpoints along the way to a finished sermon bring a sigh of relief. That’s the subject that I talk about this week in Podcast No. 198. And, by the way, if you want to listen to what I have to say, I invite you to click the link on this page that will take you to my Sermon-Coach.com website. Once there, you may listen to this Podcast.
By now you probably know that many years ago—in fact, not long after I began my active pastoral ministry—I created a method of sermon development that has stood me in good stead all these many years. I share the various elements of this so often that you may already be familiar with the four key steps: “Subect,” “Response,” “How-To,” and “How Long.”
The first sigh of relief for me comes when I’ve determined the “Subject” of my sermon. I depend on the Holy Spirit to help me decide what the people in the congregation need to hear on any given Sunday.
Sometimes, the “Subject” comes from a need I discern, or a topic that every Christian should hear about, and I can then select an appropriate Scriptural text. Other times, the Spirit leads me to a Scriptural text and the “Subject” flows very naturally out of that text. In either case, the role of the Holy Spirit remains critically important. And, the Scriptural text holds the place of greatest significance in my sermons.
I invite you to listen to Podcast No. 198, so that I may continue to share my thoughts with you.
I’ve been very heartened by the response I’ve had to my latest book. Because I know that not everyone has heard of it, I want to continue to call your attention to it. In many ways, this book represents the culmination of my thinking about sermon preparation and how to deal with the fact that so few parishioners remember what they’ve heard from the pulpit—even by the time they reach their vehicles in the church parking lot.
I’ve entitled this book The Sermon Sucking Black Hole—Why You Can’t Remember on Monday What Your Minister Preached on Sunday. You may pre-order the book at Amazon.com by clicking here.
As I implied earlier, this book gives information about how to make your sermons memorable. And, it also gives some solid tips to the people sitting in the congregation to help them remember what you’ve said. I’m sure you agree that, as ministers, when we share what God has laid on our hearts, we do want the people we serve to remember what we say.
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.
(333)
