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  • A Difference Making Ministry for Any Christian

    A Difference-Making Ministry for Any Christian

    The experience of preaching is very different from the front than from the back, when facing the congregation than when facing the preacher. The congregation faces one man who is doing his utmost to be engaging, to hold their attention, and to apply truths that will impact their hearts and transform their lives.

  • When the Sermon Fizzles Instead of Sizzles

    When the Sermon Fizzles Instead of Sizzles

    The sermon fizzles instead of sizzles. The text seems to become opaque rather than clear. The illustrations fall flat while the application somehow fails to strike the heart, the mind, or the hands. The pastor seems distracted and discouraged while the congregation seems uninterested and unmoved. I expect we have all sat through a few…

  • Where Did All This Expository Preaching Come From

    Where Did All This Expository Preaching Come From?

    There’s no doubt that, at least within Reformed churches, this is an age of expository preaching—of preaching sequentially through books of the Bible while always ensuring that the point of the text is the point of the sermon. Yet you do not need to look far into history to find that it was not always…

  • Why Are We Often So Boring

    Why Are We Often So Boring?

    Sometimes a book obscures its subject behind a clever or even misleading title. Sometimes, though, it just goes out and says it. And that’s very much the case with Bob Fyall’s Why Are We Often So Boring?. Having dedicated his life to both preaching and training others to preach, he has collected his thoughts and…

  • A Few Handfuls for Weary Little Listeners

    A Few Handfuls for Weary Little Listeners

    Ray Van Neste recently appealed to pastors to ensure they don’t neglect the children in their preaching. “Preacher, don’t assume children can’t or won’t listen,” he said. “Many things will escape them, but they understand more than we give them credit for.” Hence, “you should speak to the children in your sermons.” I very much…

  • R. C. Sproul

    Why R.C. Whispered Instead of Shouted

    It was still the early days of what came to be known as the New Calvinism or the Reformed Resurgence. The Together for the Gospel Conference had been formed in 2006 and now, in 2008, was gathering for the second time. The four founders were joined again by guests John Piper, John MacArthur, and R.C.…

  • Prayers To Pray While You Preach Lead and Sing

    Prayers To Pray While You Preach, Lead, and Sing

    Those who preach or lead during corporate worship services will probably be familiar with the strange phenomenon of having multiple “tracks” playing in your mind at once. Even as you preach the sermon or lead the songs, your mind may be flitting about from the distraction of a crying baby to the fear that you…

  • The Rules for Alliteration

    The Rules for Alliteration

    Strictly speaking, to alliterate is to provide a list of words that begin with the same letter or sound, as in “Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.” In a broader sense, to alliterate is to form an outline using similarly-sounding words or phrases. It is a device that, in theory, helps readers to…

  • Preach

    To the Young Man Who Has Been Asked To Preach for the First Time

    I’m really excited and really encouraged to hear that you’ve been given the opportunity to preach this Sunday. And, frankly, I’m not surprised—I’ve seen how seriously you’ve been taking your faith, how faithfully you’ve been committing yourself to the Word, and how you’ve grown in your ability to communicate. Pastors should notice young men who…

  • Better Ways to Frame Your Sermon

    What’s the Point? (Alternative Ways to Frame Your Sermon)

    As a Baptist, I’m plenty accustomed to hearing three-point sermons. As a Baptist preacher, I’m plenty accustomed to preparing and delivering them. But as time goes on and I (hopefully) grow in my ability as a preacher, I find myself trying to avoid the use of the word “point” and to replace it with alternatives…

  • Bible

    When Christians Just Don’t Read the Bible

    A recent study sponsored by LifeWay Research and highlighted by Facts & Trends shares some unfortunate but unsurprising results: “A third of Americans who attend a Protestant church regularly (32%) say they read the Bible personally every day. Around a quarter (27%) say they read it a few times a week.” They divide the results…

  • How I Prepare a Sermon

    How I Prepare a Sermon

    I have enjoyed reading articles by various Aussies as they tell how they prepare their weekly sermons. I always find it beneficial to hear how others set about the task and thought I’d add my voice to the mix. The point in this article and the others is not to suggest that one method is…

  • Peril on Both Sides

    Peril on Both Sides

    I’m thankful that preachers are increasingly aware of the Bible’s big picture and are preaching accordingly. I’m grateful to see preachers focused on understanding and explaining how the Bible is a cohesive, coherent book, and doing this by exploring the many connections within it. This compares favorably with using the Bible as little more than…

  • sermon

    What Makes a Sermon Difficult To Listen To

    I am closing in on my forty-third birthday and have been a churchgoer all my life. A bit of simple math shows that I’ve probably listened to somewhere around 4,000 sermons over the course of my life (which undoubtedly means I should have far more knowledge of the Bible than I do and should be…

  • Preaching a Sermon, Not Leading a Bible Study

    How to Encourage that Preacher

    While it’s always a joy to be encouraged by others, not all encouragement is created equal. Thinking through the right and best words can make the encouragement greater to both the one offering it and the one receiving it. Having spoken to many preachers and having preached a fair bit myself, I began considering the…

  • Photography

    No Excuses for Preaching Bad Sermons

    When I was a teen, I went digging around the attic one day and found my dad’s old camera. Just finding it there sparked an interest in photography and I decided to learn how to use it. I quickly discovered, though, that photography is not easy. At least, in that era it sure wasn’t. I…

  • Five Great Benefits from Preaching

    One of my favorite things to do is to read old (or older, at least) books and to uncover the treasures they so often contain. There is something so challenging and so affirming about digging into a book that is hundreds of years old, yet speaks insightfully to the present day. Recently I’ve been enjoying…

  • God Is For God

    Matt Chandler’s Radical Reminder that “God Is For God”

    It takes two ingredients to deliver a message that really sticks. It takes the right message and it takes the right time. Matt Chandler’s 2012 sermon “God is For God” is an example of this kind of timely message. When I announced this Great Sermons Series, it did not take long for a whole lot…

  • Preaching a Sermon, Not Leading a Bible Study

    One Way To Make Sure You’re Preaching a Sermon, Not Leading a Bible Study

    I love Bible studies. I love sermons. Both have their place and both can be tremendously beneficial in the life of the church and the spiritual diet of the believer. But I’ve observed that some sermons are actually Bible studies and some Bible studies are actually sermons. Though I will grant there can be a…