We’ve looked at the important issues in voice and non-verbals over recent days. Both of these have to reinforce and support the work being done by your words when you preach. But before we move on, just a couple of comments on the verbal aspect of delivery . . . the words you choose to [...]
Archive for the ‘Stage 8 - Message Detail’ Category
Verbal Variations
Posted in Christianity, Delivery, Homiletics, How to . . . ?, Preaching, Religion, Stage 8 - Message Detail, tagged Expository Preaching on July 11, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Application: Specific Not Facile
Posted in Audience Analysis, Christianity, Homiletics, Preacher's Personal Life, Preaching, Religion, Stage 3 - Passage Purpose, Stage 5 - Message Purpose, Stage 8 - Message Detail, tagged Expository Preaching on July 3, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
When it comes to the application of a message, there are many options. One is to ignore it completely and leave it up to the Holy Spirit (not a good option since it’s part of our job as preachers . . . by this logic why do we preach at all?) Another is to be [...]
Why Why Matters
Posted in Audience Analysis, Christianity, Homiletics, How to . . . ?, Preaching, Religion, Stage 2 - Passage Study, Stage 3 - Passage Purpose, Stage 5 - Message Purpose, Stage 8 - Message Detail, tagged Expository Preaching on July 2, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
The question “why?” is critical for good preaching.
Why did the author write the passage? Wrestling with the intent of the author is critical if the goal is to understand the passage. This means not only asking “what does the passage say?” – that is, content. But also asking “why did the author write it?” – [...]
Definitions
Posted in Audience Analysis, Christianity, Homiletics, Preaching, Religion, Stage 8 - Message Detail, tagged Expository Preaching, Theological Definitions, Theological Terms on June 27, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Definitions matter. They matter theologically. They matter personally. They matter in preaching. I’m not talking about the definition of preaching – although that is a fine word to wrestle with! I’m talking about the basic building blocks of the faith.
As preachers we need to think about the definitions of words and often we need to [...]
True Topical Takes Time
Posted in Christianity, Homiletics, Preaching, Religion, Stage 1 - Passage Selection, Stage 2 - Passage Study, Stage 5 - Message Purpose, Stage 7 - Message Outline, Stage 8 - Message Detail, tagged Expository Preaching, Expository-Topical Preaching, Subject Preaching, Topical Preaching on June 26, 2009 | 2 Comments »
Some churches apparently have “topical sermons” every week. Apparently some preachers think they are easier to prepare and easier to listen to. Yes and no. A topical message is easier to prepare if you are simply wanting to say your own thing and bounce off a couple of verses along the way. A topical message [...]
Excitement Is Both Taught and Caught
Posted in Christianity, Delivery, Homiletics, How to . . . ?, Preaching, Religion, Stage 8 - Message Detail, tagged Expository Preaching on June 24, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
There are many exciting parts of the Bible. Last night I was leading a seminar and we thought briefly about the story of Acts. That’s exciting. The problem we have, though, is decades of familiarity combined with a stoic tendency in traditional church settings. Many of us have heard the stories since childhood, and sadly, [...]
Where Is The Burden of Authority?
Posted in Christianity, Delivery, Homiletics, Preacher's Personal Life, Preaching, Religion, Stage 8 - Message Detail, tagged Expository Preaching on June 23, 2009 | 3 Comments »
When we are preparing a message there are many ingredients. Biblical explanation, various forms of illustrative support materials, a variety of means of communicating application, etc. A question worth asking ourselves is “where is the burden of the authority in this message?” By this I mean, what part of the message carries the authority of [...]
Reflect, Record, Relax, Renew
Posted in Christianity, Delivery, Homiletics, How to . . . ?, Preacher's Personal Life, Preaching, Religion, Stage 8 - Message Detail on June 22, 2009 | 2 Comments »
Monday morning. For preachers it’s the day after Sunday (I suppose that’s true for others too?) Whether you are privileged to be in a paid ministry position, or privileged to have “normal” employment, Monday is an important time for a preacher. My suggestion:
Reflect – Take a few minutes at some point to prayerfully reflect on [...]
Intersecting “Life Experiences” – 3
Posted in Christianity, Homiletics, How to . . . ?, Preaching, Religion, Stage 8 - Message Detail, tagged Expository Preaching, Preaching illustrations, sermon illustrations on June 20, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Just a few practical thoughts on the issue of finding and using “illustrations” in preaching:
Bring Description to Life, Not Just Application –Listeners will tell you that you have great illustrations in your preaching, even if you technically have none. If you are effective in your description of the narrative, the life situation of the author, [...]
Intersecting “Life Experiences” – 2
Posted in Audience Analysis, Christianity, Homiletics, Preaching, Religion, Stage 8 - Message Detail, tagged Expository Preaching, Preaching illustrations, sermon illustrations on June 19, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Continuing on from yesterday’s post. How can we who struggle with generating “illustrative” materials do better in this regard (to keep preaching from being historical lecture)?
Prepare Messages with Personal Sensitivity – As you prepare a message, look at your own life. Where do you see the sin, the struggles, the doubts, the hopes, the joys, [...]
Intersecting “Life Experiences”
Posted in Audience Analysis, Christianity, Homiletics, How to . . . ?, Preaching, Religion, Stage 2 - Passage Study, Stage 8 - Message Detail, tagged Expository Preaching, sermon illustrations, Preaching illustrations on June 18, 2009 | 3 Comments »
Thanks to Sarah for commenting on the post about Illustration Saturation. As I mentioned in the post, many of us struggle with finding and using “illustration” material. Sarah asked how to improve at intersecting life experiences with the text. Here are a few random thoughts to get us going. Certainly this is no developed strategy, [...]
Illustration Saturation
Posted in Audience Analysis, Christianity, Delivery, Homiletics, How to . . . ?, Preaching, Religion, Stage 8 - Message Detail, tagged Expository Preaching, Preaching Anecdotes, Preaching illustrations on June 16, 2009 | 2 Comments »
I’d like to ponder those things generally known as “illustrations.” I tend to refer to them as “support materials” to recognize their function. Or even better, I prefer to call them what they actually are, either “explanations” or “proofs” or “applications” since that forces me to be purposeful in how I use them. Notice I [...]
Preach for Faith – Lennox II
Posted in Christianity, Homiletics, How to . . . ?, Preaching, Religion, Stage 5 - Message Purpose, Stage 8 - Message Detail, tagged Apologetic Preaching, ELF, European Leadership Forum, John Lennox on June 9, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Yesterday I was reflecting on Dr John Lennox’s concerns as Christians add fuel to the fire of Richard Dawkin’s faulty logic. Faith, by his definition, is knowingly trusting in something which cannot be proven – believing against reason. Yet Lennox yearns for people to understand that the faith is always a response to fact, and [...]
Preach for Faith – Lennox
Posted in Christianity, Homiletics, How to . . . ?, Preaching, Religion, Stage 8 - Message Detail, tagged ELF, European Leadership Forum, John Lennox on June 8, 2009 | 1 Comment »
I was not alone in really appreciating John Lennox’s preaching and teaching at the recent European Leadership Forum in Hungary. As someone who has been focused on debating Richard Dawkins and other “new atheists” in recent years, Dr Lennox has a lot to say about faith and apologetics. He points to a foundational plank in [...]
Preach for Faith
Posted in Christianity, Homiletics, How to . . . ?, Preaching, Religion, Stage 3 - Passage Purpose, Stage 5 - Message Purpose, Stage 8 - Message Detail, tagged Expository Preaching, John Lennox, Christian Faith on June 6, 2009 | 1 Comment »
Probably it’s a combination of attending an apologetically driven conference and being scheduled to preach on faith this Sunday, but I’m pondering preaching for faith. I suppose that is always close to the heart of the matter in Christian preaching. Anyway, here are a couple of thoughts, although this could be a series of posts [...]
Preacher Say Something
Posted in Audience Analysis, Christianity, Delivery, Homiletics, Preaching, Religion, Stage 3 - Passage Purpose, Stage 5 - Message Purpose, Stage 8 - Message Detail, tagged Expository Preaching on June 5, 2009 | 1 Comment »
Yesterday my wife had to spend the day in the hospital having blood taken every hour. So I received regular updates by text message (SMS). She was listening to some CDs she’d been sent. Teaching on the subject of the family. I received a sort of running commentary by text message. The bottom line? This [...]
3 DQ’s – Dynamite Questions
Posted in Audience Analysis, Christianity, Homiletics, How to . . . ?, Preaching, Religion, Stage 2 - Passage Study, Stage 3 - Passage Purpose, Stage 6 - Message Idea, Stage 7 - Message Outline, Stage 8 - Message Detail, tagged Developing an Idea, Developmental Questions, Donald Sunukjian, Haddon Robinson on June 4, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Okay, that should be “developmental questions,” but they are dynamite. Sunukjian and others have followed Robinson in making quite a fuss of these three questions. I would encourage you to do the same. The questions represent the three ways in which a stated idea can be developed. There are no other ways to develop an [...]
Undermining Popular Fallacies
Posted in Audience Analysis, Christianity, Homiletics, Preaching, Religion, Stage 8 - Message Detail, tagged Bible, Bible Translation, Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown, Translation Errors on June 3, 2009 | 5 Comments »
A couple of years ago we had the relatively short-lived hype of The Da Vinci Code movie. While the hype soon dissipated, the effects of Dan Brown’s book and then the film have surely continued below the surface for many uninformed readers. How many in our churches are under the impression that Jesus’ deity was [...]
Disturbing Feedback
Posted in Audience Analysis, Christianity, Delivery, Homiletics, Preacher's Personal Life, Preaching, Religion, Stage 5 - Message Purpose, Stage 8 - Message Detail, tagged Preaching Feedback, Sermon Feedback on May 22, 2009 | 6 Comments »
Yesterday I made a passing comment about “disturbing feedback.” Let me begin with yesterday’s example and then add some more. They tend to speak for themselves. Don’t be too encouraged when you hear these kinds of comments after your preaching:
“Ooo, I never would have seen that in that passage!”
“As ever, such a rich message. I [...]
More Sneaky Landmines
Posted in Audience Analysis, Christianity, Delivery, Homiletics, How to . . . ?, Preaching, Religion, Stage 5 - Message Purpose, Stage 6 - Message Idea, Stage 7 - Message Outline, Stage 8 - Message Detail, tagged Expository Preaching, Pastoral Ministry, Church Leadership on May 21, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Last week I shared three sneaky landmines that every preacher faces in the ministry. I appreciated the good comments by Larry and Sudhir, so thought I’d bring their suggestions to the fore in this post. More landmines:
Thinking we need something new to say – Now just because a take on a passage has [...]
Preaching and Biblical Theology – Side 3
Posted in Christianity, Homiletics, How to . . . ?, Preaching, Religion, Stage 2 - Passage Study, Stage 7 - Message Outline, Stage 8 - Message Detail on May 20, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
One last time, the basic definition of “Biblical Theology” that I am leaning on for this series of posts: Biblical theology is the fruit of studying the Bible in such a way as to recognize the individuality of each biblical author, the progress of revelation over time and the unity of the canon resulting from [...]
Preaching and Biblical Theology – Side 2
Posted in Christianity, Homiletics, How to . . . ?, Preaching, Religion, Stage 2 - Passage Study, Stage 7 - Message Outline, Stage 8 - Message Detail, tagged Expository Preaching, Biblical Theology on May 19, 2009 | 2 Comments »
Here’s the basic definition of “Biblical Theology” that I am leaning on for this series of posts: Biblical theology is the fruit of studying the Bible in such a way as to recognize the individuality of each biblical author, the progress of revelation over time and the unity of the canon resulting from the inspired [...]
Preaching and Biblical Theology – Side 1
Posted in Christianity, Homiletics, How to . . . ?, Preaching, Religion, Stage 2 - Passage Study, Stage 7 - Message Outline, Stage 8 - Message Detail, tagged Expository Preaching, Biblical Theology on May 18, 2009 | 2 Comments »
Biblical Theology is a very fruitful field for preachers. Not every fruit is worth eating, of course, but there is real benefit to studying works in this field. To give a basic definition for the sake of this post: Biblical theology is the fruit of studying the Bible in such a way as to recognize [...]
Balancing the Balancing
Posted in Christianity, Homiletics, How to . . . ?, Old Testament, Preaching, Religion, Stage 4 - Passage Idea, Stage 6 - Message Idea, Stage 7 - Message Outline, Stage 8 - Message Detail, tagged Psalm 1 on May 16, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Every text says something. No text says everything. Our task is to preach the text’s something in a way that is faithful to the Bible’s “everything”. Our task is not to preach everything from this text’s something.
Balance – you don’t want to preach something that on its own is faithful to the preaching text, but [...]
What’s Fresh?
Posted in Christianity, Delivery, Genre, Homiletics, How to . . . ?, Preacher's Personal Life, Preaching, Religion, Stage 7 - Message Outline, Stage 8 - Message Detail, tagged Expository Preaching on April 23, 2009 | 1 Comment »
If you are a regular preacher, then the chances are that you have a rhythm in your preparation. This is good in many ways. However, it also runs the risk of getting into some well-worn ruts. If you are an irregular preacher, then perhaps your preparation process lasts over several weeks. This is also good [...]
Five Major Failings – Part 2
Posted in Audience Analysis, Christianity, Delivery, Homiletics, How to . . . ?, Preacher's Personal Life, Preaching, Stage 5 - Message Purpose, Stage 6 - Message Idea, Stage 7 - Message Outline, Stage 8 - Message Detail, tagged Applicational Preaching, Expository Preaching, Preaching Applications, Sub-Christian Preaching on April 16, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Carrying on from yesterday’s two failings, here are the rest:
“3. Vague Phrasing – Preachers seem hardwired to eschew all vivid verbs and concrete nouns, with the result that they sound vague and uninteresting.”
A lack of energy in delivery, a lack of facial engagement, a lack of passion, a lack of effective sensory description and so [...]
Five Major Failings
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, tagged Expository Preaching, Sermon Introductions, Message Introductions on April 15, 2009 | 3 Comments »
I thought I’d share this list of five major failings of many preachers, according to the book that I am currently enjoying:
“1. Multiplitus – Using too many points until the sermon becomes a starburst that dazzles rather than communicates.”
Well put. When we try to preach more than one point, we quickly move from communication [...]
What Font Do You Preach In?
Posted in Christianity, Delivery, Homiletics, How to . . . ?, Preaching, Religion, Stage 8 - Message Detail, tagged Scientific American on April 14, 2009 | 2 Comments »
I just read an interesting article about a study in motivation at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. The study involved presenting students with an exercise regime. One group had it presented in plain Arial font, the other in a hard-to-read messy font. Apparently the results, in terms of motivation, were remarkable. The plain [...]
Monday Musings on Manipulation
Posted in Audience Analysis, Christianity, Delivery, Homiletics, How to . . . ?, Preaching, Religion, Stage 5 - Message Purpose, Stage 8 - Message Detail, tagged Public Speaking, Expository Preaching, Manipulative Preaching, Manipulation, Affections, Human Will on April 13, 2009 | 1 Comment »
Thought I’d follow up on Saturday’s post by sharing a quote I appreciated in the book I will name this week:
You must not fear to have affective goals for the sermon as well as cognitive goals. There is nothing wrong with trying to move the listener. It is not manipulative to seek to engage their [...]
The Whole Listener
Posted in Christianity, Delivery, Genre, Homiletics, How to . . . ?, Preaching, Religion, Stage 5 - Message Purpose, Stage 8 - Message Detail, tagged Expository Preaching on April 11, 2009 | 4 Comments »
Some preachers preach merely to inform. Perhaps they are under the impression that the mind is the control center of the human being. Perhaps that think that their task is merely educative. Perhaps they are in a tradition that reveres the intellect, but pulls away from other aspects of human complexity. Perhaps they’ve never known [...]
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