A long time ago, in a cinema far, far away, I learnt a critical lesson about preaching at Christmas.
Category: preaching
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?
Cal Newport helps us see how to restrict ‘shallow work’ and its distractions, to work productively, and at depth.
Let me ask you the obvious question: have you ever actually read Jeremiah? I don’t mean, have you read the famous bits, and I don’t mean have you read it sequentially in your quiet times over a series of weeks. No, I mean, have you read it, all the way through, in a sitting.
Me neither.
So, by way of going back to basics, here’s how I approached a whole book – by some estimates, the longest book in the Bible.
Our politicians have just refused to speak for 48hrs, and deprived themselves and us of leadership. We preachers can and must do better.
Several times recently I’ve seen Christians caught out by video clips on the web , saying things which were, with hindsight, not what they should really have said. How can we minimise the risk of this happening to us?
In Paul’s mind the potential elder must show a double gifting from Romans 12: an ability to teach must be partnered to an ability to lead.
Churches, like any human organisation, cannot operate long-term as shapeless, improvised groupings. And even though an occasional New Testament scholar will suggest that the first few decades of the church had an exciting, free-form style, which only much later hardened into a hierarchy, when we turn to the New Testament, we can see that the experience of the very first Christians was much more complex.
Every so often I go away on a conference to sharpen my preaching skills – in fact, I’m on one at the moment. Something like this has popped up in my diary every year since – well, since a long time ago, and it is one of the top two things that help me improve.
No matter who makes up you congregation, they all have one question as you begin your sermon; and no matter how you do it, you have to answer it somehow. Fail to acknowledge the question, and you have set yourself for a long-term battle to win and keep their attention. I missed this for years.
This week has given me the preacher’s headache: a really, really difficult passage. One of those ones where the commentaries delight in saying, ‘This is one of the most problematic texts in the canon’. One where you start to wonder if you will have anything useful to say come Sunday, or if anyone will notice
You’ll need to open this page to access the Soundcloud file.
I’m not a big fan of the theory that the Bible is full of jokes. I was brought up in a church culture where Christian drama groups were all the rage, and they tried to persuade us that the man with the plank in his eye was a funny idea. It wasn’t. In the Bible,
‘I just teach the Bible.’, he said, glaring at me. In a tone that was slightly defiant, slightly challenging, and – if I’m honest, slightly intimidating. Slightly arrogant, too. I still bristle, years later, as I remember the direct gaze, implying that he spent all his days either with his nose in books, or preaching
My Carol service talk, True Truths vs. Tinsel Truths, is available online. You’ll need to open this post, and then the link here will be live.
‘Cutting to the Heart’ is now out, and available from 10ofthose here. It is also available as a Kindle edition for both UK and US Overseas, go to Amazon..
“Cutting to the Heart’ now available in both paperback and ebook form. Publisher’s Description On the Day of Pentecost, when the apostle Peter addressed the crowd, the people were ‘cut to the heart’ and asked how they should respond to what they had just heard (Acts 2:37). According to the letter to the Hebrews, ‘the
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