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Archive for the ‘Religion’ Category

Does It Make Sense?

Posted in Audience Analysis, Christianity, Delivery, Homiletics, Preaching, Religion, Stage 8 - Message Detail on September 2, 2010 | Leave a Comment »

It seems obvious, but it needs to be said.  When we speak we need to make sure we make sense.  There are various reasons why we may not make sense to our listeners.  Here are a few to be aware of: 1. Obscure Language – If you obfuscate using technical, rare or archaic vocabulary, then [...]

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Preaching and Training

Posted in Audience Analysis, Christianity, Homiletics, Preaching, Religion on August 31, 2010 | 1 Comment »

I am a huge advocate for biblical preaching.  But I don’t think preaching covers all the bases as far as training and equipping is concerned.  It would be naive to think that a sermon or two every week for decades will equip a church As leaders of churches we need to think carefully about the [...]

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Points of Pride

Posted in Christianity, Delivery, Homiletics, Preacher's Personal Life, Preaching, Religion, Stage 8 - Message Detail on August 30, 2010 | Leave a Comment »

I suspect that if we’re honest, we’d all admit that preaching leads to numerous battles with pride.  Perhaps not every time, perhaps not in the same way as each other, but there is an inherent danger that points of pride will peek through when we preach.  Much of this may be an internal battle unseen [...]

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Sad Separations

Posted in Christianity, Homiletics, Preaching, Religion, Stage 3 - Passage Purpose, Stage 5 - Message Purpose, Stage 8 - Message Detail on August 27, 2010 | 2 Comments »

Here are three separations often occurring in pulpits that are sad, to say the least: The separation of leadership and preaching – I’ve mentioned this before, probably after reading Michael Quicke’s 360-Degree Leadership.  In some churches, especially those that have to, or choose to, rely on visiting speakers, there is an unfortunate separation of preaching [...]

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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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Creative Series

Posted in Christianity, Homiletics, Preaching, Religion, Stage 1 - Passage Selection, tagged on August 20, 2010 | Leave a Comment »

It’s easy to fall into a rut with planning a series.  Either a whole book, or a whole section, divided equally into chunks.  But there can be variety in a series. How about a survey message to start and/or finish? Giving people a sense of the whole will help with the parts. Why not linger [...]

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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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When Expository Preaching Almost Isn’t

Posted in Christianity, Homiletics, Preaching, Religion, Stage 6 - Message Idea, Stage 7 - Message Outline, tagged on August 18, 2010 | 2 Comments »

One approach to preaching a text is a particularly well worn path, but at times it verges on leaving the territory of the expository.  If done well it doesn’t leave the territory, but it sometimes gets close to the fence.  Let me see if I can help you see what I mean. Imagine you have [...]

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Keswick Reflections

Posted in Christianity, Homiletics, Preaching, Religion, tagged on August 17, 2010 | 3 Comments »

I had the privilege of attending the Keswick Convention for the first time this year.  I had a little role in the young adults stream – K2.  But I also got to enjoy the Bible readings and evening celebrations, as well as a couple of afternoon sessions.  I have to say, I have become a [...]

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Why Do You Preach – Part 2

Posted in Christianity, Homiletics, Preaching, Religion, tagged on August 16, 2010 | 4 Comments »

I enjoyed a passing point made by Derek Tidball recently at Keswick.  Here’s the text: “Therefore, since through God’s mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart.”  (2Cor.4:1) Derek pointed out that we live in a culture saturated by meritocratic thinking.  You have to have a certificate to be able to everything.  The [...]

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Why Do You Preach?

Posted in Christianity, Homiletics, Preacher's Personal Life, Preaching, Religion, tagged on August 14, 2010 | 2 Comments »

Somehow I think the shorter the better for this post.  Let me quote Paul Mallard who I heard recently at Keswick.  “Do not preach because you love preaching.  Preach because you love Jesus.”

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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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When the Coughs Drop

Posted in Audience Analysis, Christianity, Delivery, Homiletics, Preaching, Religion on August 12, 2010 | 1 Comment »

As a speaker you should be able to sense the level of focus of your listeners.  Before you say they always listen well, I would encourage you to follow this advice.  Try being in the crowd and listening, observing, sensing what is going on around you among the listeners.  If you have the privilege of [...]

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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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Have I Mentioned This Before?

Posted in Christianity, Homiletics, Preaching, Religion, Stage 6 - Message Idea, Stage 7 - Message Outline, tagged on August 10, 2010 | 1 Comment »

I suspect somewhere in more than a thousand posts on here, I have mentioned once or twice about the importance of unity in a message.  Order is often present, if only by virtue of the progression of the text.  Progress is sort of present, inasmuch as the number of verses are running out, as is [...]

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How is Your Preaching Toolbox?

Posted in Christianity, Homiletics, Preacher's Personal Life, Preaching, Religion, tagged on August 9, 2010 | 2 Comments »

So I started into Spurgeon’s Lectures and got about, well, more or less, about a page in before I was “arrested” by his helpful thinking.  Here’s a taster … We are, in a certain sense, our own tools, and therefore must keep ourselves in order. If I want to preach the gospel, I can only [...]

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Beyond Identification

Posted in Christianity, Homiletics, Old Testament, Preaching, Religion, Stage 2 - Passage Study, Stage 3 - Passage Purpose, Stage 5 - Message Purpose on August 6, 2010 | 1 Comment »

Yesterday I wrote about how narratives do engage us through identification and disassociation.  We can’t avoid that reality – it drives the popularity of movies, of bedtime stories, of Sunday School stories, of family fireside reminiscences, etc.  But biblical narrative always offers something more.  Our challenge as preachers is to be sure to always go [...]

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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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Precision in Spoken English

Posted in Christianity, Delivery, Homiletics, Preaching, Religion on August 4, 2010 | 2 Comments »

Yesterday we addressed the uncomfortable issue of verbal pauses.  Uncomfortable for us when we discover we use them.  More uncomfortable for listeners when they can’t avoid the fact that we use them!  So what to do?  Diligently stop ourselves from using them every time they start to spring forth?  Perhaps.  Maybe electric shock treatment would [...]

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I Mean, Just, Really

Posted in Christianity, Delivery, Homiletics, Preaching, Religion, tagged , on August 3, 2010 | 1 Comment »

It’s been a while since I mentioned verbal pauses, so why not?  A verbal pause is a space filler.  It isn’t a productive and healthy pause – that requires space and silence.  It is a filler.  It keeps anyone from hearing the silence that scares some public speakers and threatens some domineering monological conversationalists (i.e. [...]

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Moving Day . . .

Posted in Christianity, Homiletics, Preaching, Religion on August 2, 2010 | Leave a Comment »

Today we are moving two hours west to a new home, new town, new church.  We value your prayers as we make this adjustment after almost six years in our last church situation.  I’ve typed and pre-loaded this message on here to suggest that you take a look at the new post over on the [...]

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Okay, One More Spurgeon Quote

Posted in Audience Analysis, Christianity, Homiletics, Preacher's Personal Life, Preaching, Religion, Stage 5 - Message Purpose, tagged , , , on July 30, 2010 | Leave a Comment »

Honestly, I’m at Keswick this week, moving on Monday, and a little overwhelmed, so I am resorting to an easy source for quality thought-provoking material.  Spurgeon.  Following on from yesterday and thinking about preaching to save souls, here’s a blast worth receiving: If we ourselves doubt the power of the gospel, how can we preach [...]

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Preacher, Use Strategy

Posted in Audience Analysis, Christianity, Delivery, Homiletics, Preaching, Religion, tagged , on July 29, 2010 | Leave a Comment »

I typically teach with reference to the arrow and the target (i.e. the main idea and the message purpose respectively).  In order to deliver the arrow to hit the target, strategy is necessary.  This might mean preaching in the clear and logical manner of a deductive message, or it might choosing the slightly trickier, but [...]

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