Sermon Preparation

The greatest ministry responsibility of a pastor’s life is noted in Acts 6: “But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word” (Acts 6:4).

It is to be hoped and presumed that all of us study for our sermons, that we are careful to say what the Bible says and not what we want it to say, and that we give our people good, solid, Scriptural truth. You, like I, however, may have had the experience of preaching a message that is biblically sound, carefully outlined, and seems to fall flat.

My conversation with preachers across the country persuades me that for many of us, finding “something to preach” Sunday after Sunday can be a difficult and frustrating task. It need not be so. Perhaps the following suggestions will help.

Why is it that when Tom Farrell preaches, there is just usually a period of time where it’s really quiet? Have you ever heard this saying: a message in the head reaches the head, and a message in the heart reaches the heart? Go one step further, preachers: a message from the conscience reaches the conscience. Once you’ve reached the conscience of an individual, that’s when the life is going to be changed.

William Ball was a constitutional lawyer in the early 70’s that stepped up to the plate for Christian schools in America. He fought cases all the way up to the U. S. Supreme Court. I was a “young buck” just coming out of college at the time, and somehow I ended up getting to have dinner with Mr. Ball. He said something rather profound.

Apart from the power of the Holy Spirit, you don’t have a sermon, you just have a lecture. I learned many, many years ago I cannot preach without the power of the Holy Spirit.

The origin of my messages is always the text. I like to preach through a series because the people are not only hearing a message, but they are getting the entire context of several passages. For instance, I recently preached through the life of David. Each week, the background for that week’s message came from last week’s message.