A lot of preachers seem to scan their preaching passage for gospel words and then essentially preach the same message every week. Their messages may be doctrinally sound and evangelistically clear, but they and their listeners are impoverished by this approach.
Every passage is unique. Instead of scanning the passage for gospel words or harvesting imperatives for applicational teaching, my advice would be as follows:
Study the passage and seek to really understand it. Don’t jump off that pursuit just because sermon material shows up in the text. Keep studying and really seek to understand the passage. Then prepare and preach a sermon that has a fingerprint as unique as the passage it is based on – so that every message is unique!
This approach will bless the preacher because you will enjoy the richness of God’s Word far more and find that God stirs your heart with layer upon layer of biblical truth. This approach will bless the listener because they will not grow tired of hearing the same sermon dressed up in different clothes every week. Instead they will start to appreciate the uniqueness of each passage, the beautiful diversity of Scripture, and the multi-faceted and highly relevant wonder of God’s character.
Biblical Preaching 
Hey Peter, great thoughts, as always. I love your blog. I do wonder about one thing though: In some passages, if you do your work right (a unique, focused message that really lifts out the essence of the text itself, and not some superimposed agenda), wouldn’t that make it somewhat difficult to preach a different message from the same text?
Thanks Casey – I don’t think so. I think we should always do our work right and get a unique, focused message that really lifts out the essence of the text itself. But that is only half of the process. We then need to consider the listeners and the occasion of preaching the text. That listener sensitivity will make each presentation of that same text different … still faithful to the meaning and uniqueness of the text, but also unique to the occasion.
Hi Peter,
First timer here.😁
I’ve just started preaching and was in awe when our Pastor asked me to preach.
I’m at the point of learning to walk in this calling.
I’m glad I came across your post because it reminds me of my approach.
I study until I can not only get the message but something from it I can personally relate to.
I’ve been told I’m raw but have a powerful message because I speak a lot on my shortcomings, failures, and struggles to die to self.
Pastor tells me not to change a thing because people can relate.
Thanks for the insight.
Thanks Vernon, welcome to the site!