The translation, which my friend so enjoyed, and which has its funny side, was distracting him. A passage which should humble him before God’s throne, was making him giggle because it felt quaint.
Category: preaching
By the time I put my pen down I have rarely felt so flat and uninspired in what I had planned to say. Do you ever feel like that about your sermons? Thought so.
Even though I allocate the same total number of hours, I do not use them in the same way. Experience has taught me where I can improve. So here are eight ways my sermon prep has changed over time.
Your car mechanic will say if your wheels need balancing. Your doctor will tell you if your insulin’s out of balance. Who’ll spot if your preaching is off-centre?
If we become more attentive to our decisions to act and to the feedback, we can improve more carefully.
Artists and musicians produce dazzling and original works from a limited source. We have a dazzling gospel – so how come it produces such predictable preaching?
When I illustrate, I’m looking for echoes of plausibility, and they are most plausible when they are fresh.
Our illustrations often don’t really work. Here are 11 danger signs.
When you hit on a secret sauce by accident, it’s worth jotting down what went into it, so that next time you can make it on purpose.
I do wonder, sometimes, if we go too hard with our plans too early, and the result is that we feel trapped by them.
The Prime Minister’s ‘frog-in-the-throat’ moment will be something that any preacher will know. It feels as though your entire speaking system has gone on lockdown. So what to do?
How can we be culturally ‘invisible’, so that people can hear what we’re saying with a minimum of interference?
I took the passage to a local coffee shop, and watched the customers. What does this passage have to say to 21st century urbanites, most of whom gave up on the god-idea years ago? How does this prise open their questions, address their fears and hopes, shift their distracted focus onto Christ?
How do preachers choose the most suitable passage to preach on? Here are my four criteria.
We are pastors, and when we have a hard message, and we know the effect it will have, our hearts shift.
A long time ago, in a cinema far, far away, I learnt a critical lesson about preaching at Christmas.
I hear preachers talking about their sermons as if they’re concept cars, pretty and accurate, gorgeous – but never taken for a real drive, in the rush hour, to do the shopping, in the rain. With the kids acting up in the back.
As preachers and church leaders, we get to help people decide each week to put Christ first. And when we preach we should plan to be specific.
There are many differences between most of us and Billy Graham. But here’s a critical lesson we can all take to heart.
Why ever wouldn’t you want to evangelise? And I know the answer: it’s because of the push-back that we anticipate, brace ourselves for, practice feeling the pain for, and therefore fear. As Bill Hybels puts it, “We say people’s ‘No’ for them.” So what’s the answer?
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