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Archive for the ‘How to . . . ?’ Category

Where Does Christ Fit?

Posted in Christianity, Homiletics, How to . . . ?, Old Testament, Preaching, Religion, Stage 3 - Passage Purpose, Stage 4 - Passage Idea, Stage 5 - Message Purpose, Stage 6 - Message Idea, Stage 7 - Message Outline, Stage 8 - Message Detail, tagged on August 26, 2010 | 1 Comment »

When you are preaching the Old Testament, there should always be a radar bleeping in your heart regarding where Christ fits into the message.  Some will suggest that every message must be entirely and purely about Christ, whatever the text was originally intended to convey.  I feel this approach can bring our view of the [...]

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Full Sentence Points

Posted in Christianity, Homiletics, How to . . . ?, Preaching, Religion, Stage 7 - Message Outline, Stage 8 - Message Detail, tagged , on August 25, 2010 | 2 Comments »

Why do I recommend preachers have full sentence points?  Or to put it another way – what is the problem with single-word points? After all, a series of three or four single words can be memorable, both during the message and potentially after it.  So why not just give single word “points” as the message [...]

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10 Ways to Make Your Listeners Uncomfortable

Posted in Christianity, Delivery, Homiletics, How to . . . ?, Preaching, Religion, Stage 8 - Message Detail on August 23, 2010 | 1 Comment »

Someone said preaching should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable.  Here are ten ways to make your listeners feel uncomfortable as you preach, but not in the right sense of the term: 1. Give off non-verbal signals of nervousness. Wring your hands, pace uncontrollably, fidget as you preach, breath shallow, avoid eye contact, flit [...]

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Illustrations and Interest

Posted in Christianity, Homiletics, How to . . . ?, Preaching, Religion, Stage 8 - Message Detail, tagged on August 19, 2010 | 4 Comments »

Illustrations are an interesting subject.  Actually, my concern is that often illustrations are seen as the source of interest in a message.  Therefore the best speakers, that is, the most interesting, are those who seem to be a repository of well-researched illustrations.  But here’s my concern – do we rely on illustrations to be interesting? [...]

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Why Did the Coughs Spread?

Posted in Audience Analysis, Christianity, Delivery, Homiletics, How to . . . ?, Preaching, Religion, Stage 7 - Message Outline, Stage 8 - Message Detail on August 13, 2010 | 2 Comments »

Yesterday I shared about the contrast between the attention of the crowd one night and the significant distraction the next night – same venue, same weather, same chairs, different speaker.  Perhaps something here might be helpful to you.  Why were they distracted? 1. It felt like a commentary with added anecdotes. It was like a [...]

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Simply Good Preaching

Posted in Christianity, Delivery, Homiletics, How to . . . ?, Preaching, Religion, Stage 4 - Passage Idea, Stage 5 - Message Purpose, Stage 6 - Message Idea, Stage 7 - Message Outline, Stage 8 - Message Detail, tagged on August 11, 2010 | 2 Comments »

Someone has said that you know it was a good sermon when you find yourself asking how the preacher knew all about you.  That’s a nice sentiment that points to the importance of applicational relevance in preaching. Now allow me to give you my statement.  This is not a complete statement, or a forever statement.  [...]

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The Identification Situation

Posted in Christianity, Homiletics, How to . . . ?, Old Testament, Preaching, Religion, Stage 5 - Message Purpose, Stage 8 - Message Detail, tagged , on August 5, 2010 | 1 Comment »

One of the secrets of the success of narrative writing and storytelling (whether that is historical narrative, fiction, fantasy, film or whatever) is the power of identification.  When you read, hear or see a story, you naturally find yourself either identifying with or disassociating from characters in the story.  If you are left cold, it [...]

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And Now For The Next in the Series

Posted in Christianity, Homiletics, How to . . . ?, Preaching, Religion, Stage 1 - Passage Selection on July 15, 2010 | Leave a Comment »

A little double entendre in the title.  I want to write briefly about sermon series.  But this is also another in the series of posts started yesterday.  In that post I suggested that we shouldn’t be overly dogmatic about whether we project the text or not.  I have my opinions, obviously others have theirs too.  [...]

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Job Description?

Posted in Christianity, Homiletics, How to . . . ?, Preaching, Religion, tagged , , , on July 14, 2010 | Leave a Comment »

I recently enjoyed reading The Trellis and the Vine by Colin Marshall and Tony Payne.  In the book they suggest that the role of the pastor has shifted from religious service provider to CEO in many churches.  But they also suggest there needs to be a further shift, to trainer (i.e. multiplier of disciple making [...]

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Should Bible Text Be Projected?

Posted in Audience Analysis, Christianity, Delivery, Homiletics, How to . . . ?, Preaching, Religion, Stage 8 - Message Detail on July 13, 2010 | 6 Comments »

This is the kind of question that can easily become a strongly held conviction.  But should it? Well, people do benefit from seeing the text, and seeing it in the same translation as the speaker, and without the hassles, distraction, or potential embarressment of having to look it up in their own Bible, which of [...]

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A Reader, A Wise Reader

Posted in Christianity, How to . . . ?, Preacher's Personal Life, Preaching, Religion, tagged on July 8, 2010 | 1 Comment »

Preachers need to be, as well as many other things, readers.  But unless you are single and financially set for life, you probably don’t have as much time as you’d like for reading.  Join the club.  So this post includes some thoughts, then perhaps you can share your suggestions and experiences too. 1. Reading book [...]

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Preview for Clarity

Posted in Audience Analysis, Christianity, Homiletics, How to . . . ?, Preaching, Religion, Stage 5 - Message Purpose, Stage 6 - Message Idea, Stage 7 - Message Outline, Stage 8 - Message Detail, tagged , on July 5, 2010 | Leave a Comment »

Some people like to take the complexity and intricacy of preaching and turn it into a one-size fits all template.  This is unfortunate because preaching has so many variables to be enjoyed and utilized.  Take, for instance, the preview.  As part of the introduction to a  message, the preacher may choose to give an outline [...]

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Pre-Sermon Review – A Strange Idea?

Posted in Christianity, Delivery, Homiletics, How to . . . ?, Preaching, Religion, tagged on June 28, 2010 | 2 Comments »

I don’t know of many churches that require it, but I do see many that should consider it. Too often we leave the preacher in a very lonely spot as far as preaching is concerned.  The sermon is prepared and delivered, and then everyone gets to think and evaluate and critique and respond and so [...]

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What To Do With Extra Material?

Posted in Christianity, Homiletics, How to . . . ?, Preaching, Religion on June 18, 2010 | 1 Comment »

A couple of years ago I wrote about the preacher’s cutting room.  It is normal to finish a sermon and have material left over, content that was not shared.  If we are honest, some of it was not shared because it was not worth sharing, or because it might cause an unnecessary stir.  But some [...]

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Guest Post – On Re-Using Old Material

Posted in Christianity, Homiletics, How to . . . ?, Preaching, Religion, tagged on June 17, 2010 | Leave a Comment »

Here’s an email I received from John Bell.  I asked if I could simply include it here as a guest post and he kindly agreed: Dear Peter – Thanks for responding to these things. I really appreciate your thoughts. Your comments about using others’ thoughts in our own preaching are very helpful. I particularly like [...]

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An Idea – Discuss: Permissible Plagiarism?

Posted in Christianity, Homiletics, How to . . . ?, Preaching, Religion on June 16, 2010 | Leave a Comment »

Another suggestion was made in reference to Monday’s post.  Let me quote John’s suggestion in full: ‘Appropriate re-use’ of others’ ideas. Of course the question is what ‘appropriate re-use’ might mean, but if I’ve heard a sermon on a passage that was very effective and faithful to the text, or I’ve read a commentary that [...]

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When Time is Short

Posted in Christianity, Homiletics, How to . . . ?, Preaching, Religion, Stage 1 - Passage Selection, Stage 5 - Message Purpose, Stage 7 - Message Outline, Stage 8 - Message Detail on June 14, 2010 | Leave a Comment »

A good friend wrote the following: As I anticipate teaching preaching overseas, I realize that I need to take seriously the lack of time that these pastors have for sermon prep. I feel like my training has prepared me well both to practice and to teach a strategy for preaching that requires quite a bit [...]

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Preaching to Youth

Posted in Audience Analysis, Delivery, Homiletics, How to . . . ?, Preaching, Religion on June 12, 2010 | 2 Comments »

I received an email from Peter who was asking about preaching to youth.  Now I don’t know the setting of that message, the age of the youth, their culture, etc.  So my response has to be non-specific, and honestly, more focused on my cultures (US/UK).  Nevertheless, here are some thoughts, perhaps you could add others: [...]

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Borrowed Light

Posted in Christianity, Homiletics, How to . . . ?, Preacher's Personal Life, Preaching, Religion, tagged , on June 9, 2010 | Leave a Comment »

Thielicke, speak to us about Spurgeon . . . For Spurgeon the really determinative foundation of the education of preachers was naturally this work on the spiritual man.  The education of preachers must not be directly pragmatic; it must not be immediately directed to preaching as its goal.  Otherwise the process of education becomes an [...]

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Some Thoughts on Preparing to Preach Psalm 22

Posted in Christianity, Homiletics, How to . . . ?, Old Testament, Preaching, Religion, Stage 2 - Passage Study, Stage 4 - Passage Idea, Stage 5 - Message Purpose, Stage 6 - Message Idea, Stage 7 - Message Outline, Stage 8 - Message Detail on June 5, 2010 | Leave a Comment »

This is not a complete post, but it may be helpful.  I received the following question from a good friend: I have been asked to preach on psalm 22 and am at the moment soaking myself in it to try and make sure I understand the message, the structure and what God was saying then [...]

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When Order Matters

Posted in Christianity, Homiletics, How to . . . ?, Preaching, Religion, Stage 5 - Message Purpose, Stage 7 - Message Outline, Stage 8 - Message Detail on June 3, 2010 | 1 Comment »

Sometimes the points in a message can be given in any order.  Sometimes order matters. 1. When wrong order of content loses listeners I remember Don Sunukjian explaining how in preaching, because we increase the time taken to explain the elements of a sentence, we sometimes need to reverse the order.  For example, I can [...]

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Personality Excuses

Posted in Christianity, Delivery, Homiletics, How to . . . ?, Preaching, Religion on June 1, 2010 | Leave a Comment »

Phillips Brooks once famously defined preaching as “Truth through personality.”  Today the word “personality” is sometimes used in a more restrictive sense to refer to the quirks of an individual.  “Oh, that’s just his personality” we sometimes say.  Now when it comes to preaching, there is a potential tension that can surface.  The tension is [...]

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Drumroll Please . . .

Posted in Christianity, Homiletics, How to . . . ?, Preaching, Religion on May 30, 2010 | Leave a Comment »

At the risk of beating a drum to the point of creating a drumroll effect, I need to re-address something I’ve written about numerous times before.  I say “I need to” do this not because you need to hear it, but because I need to say it.  I just read an article about expository preaching [...]

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But Wait, They Can See My Notes

Posted in Christianity, Delivery, Homiletics, How to . . . ?, Preaching, Religion, Stage 5 - Message Purpose, Stage 6 - Message Idea, Stage 7 - Message Outline, Stage 8 - Message Detail, Uncategorized, tagged on May 27, 2010 | 2 Comments »

Yesterday I wrote about some of the challenges that come from our listeners not being able to see our notes.  We preach orally, but tend to prepare in literary forms (manuscript, indented outlines, etc.)  I mentioned the issue of transitions – very different animals in spoken than in written communication.  I mentioned the need to [...]

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Because They Can’t See Your Notes

Posted in Christianity, Delivery, Homiletics, How to . . . ?, Preaching, Religion, Stage 5 - Message Purpose, Stage 7 - Message Outline, Stage 8 - Message Detail, tagged on May 26, 2010 | Leave a Comment »

I suppose it is obvious, but sometimes obvious things need stating.  When we preach we are communicating orally.  People hear us, and usually can see us, but they can’t see our notes. What difference does this startling realization make to our preaching?  Well, it should cause us to pay particular attention to the following: 1. [...]

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