The Holy Spirit and Your Preaching – Part 2

/ Peter Mead / 4 Comments

Thankfully preaching is not just you and your listeners. It’s so much bigger than that. Your preparation is critical stewardship before God. Their openness to listen is also a vital stewardship of their opportunity. But there is also the Holy Spirit:

The Spirit of God is at work long before the sermon passes through the air. The work of God in the people of God is constant. Our privilege is to be a tool in that greater work. So long before we stand to preach, the Spirit of God has already been working in peoples’ lives – drawing them to Christ, convicting them of sin, disciplining believers, orchestrating life’s circumstances and so on.

The Holy Spirit is critical in the delivery of the sermon. The older writers referred to the “unction.” Today we might refer to the “anointing.” The fact is that true preaching goes beyond our preparation and ability (both of which require of us good stewardship), to have a contagious vibrancy that can only be credited to the delivery taking place in the power of the Spirit. This is not something that can be stirred up by our own pre-delivery ritual, but can surely be harmed by our character, motives, attitude – by sin.

The work of the Spirit continues after the sermon is finished. Thankfully it is not our responsibility to follow up on every individual in minute detail, convicting, encouraging, filling, urging, etc. When we lay our effort before the throne, God’s work presses on. Praise the Lord.

The Holy Spirit and Your Preaching – Part 1

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When it comes to preaching, it is easy to refer to the Holy Spirit by way of excuse. How simple to bring in the Holy Spirit as an excuse not to do some difficult aspect of preparation, or to cover for a lack of attention to some aspect of the preparation process. This is very unfair. Preaching is a spiritual work, and so the Holy Spirit must be given His rightful place. Here are some thoughts that will probably stimulate other thoughts:

Preaching is our work and God’s work, not one or the other. Our responsibility for the mechanics of sermon preparation in no way negates the Holy Spirit’s role in the dynamics of sermon preparation. Likewise, the Spirit’s role in bringing fruit from the preaching event does not remove our responsibility to participate fully.

The foundational concern is the spiritual walk of the preacher. Everything that the Bible teaches in relation to the spiritual walk of a believer is also, and especially, true of the preacher. This relates to character, to life choices, to prayerful preparation for ministry and so on. This means walking in step with the Spirit, not grieving the Spirit, fanning into flame the gift of the Spirit, and living a life controlled by the Spirit.

The preparation process involves the Spirit at every step. Every stage of the process could be prefixed with the term, “Prayerfully. . .” We must prayerfully select the passage, prayerfully study the passage, prayerfully determine the author’s idea and so on. We should not work in a personal vacuum and then merely ask for God’s stamp of approval just prior to delivery.

(Ramesh Richard has a helpful appendix on the Holy Spirit and preaching in Preparing Expository Sermons which influenced this post.)

Is Paper PC?

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I teach people to use a series of sheets of paper when preparing a sermon, just as I learned from my first preaching professor, John Wecks.  The sheets allow you to catalogue thought in appropriate compartments.  They allow you to write a thought and put it aside until it is time to consider that element of the sermon.  Let me list the sheets I would suggest.  Then I’ll suggest reasons to use real paper or virtual paper on the PC.

The Sheets – The first one to be used is the “Questions of the Text.”  Use this on your first read through and list everything that is not clear.  This sheet will be very helpful as you finish your sermon and prepare to preach it.  See previous post on this subject – August 14th.   Then I’d suggest sheets for exegetical notes (multiple sheets may be required), author’s idea, author’s purpose / sermon purpose, notes on congregation, sermon idea, sermon structure, possible illustrations, areas of application/pictured relevance, introduction, conclusion and then the manuscript (multiple sheets required).

Why go with paper? – No matter how much our computers improve, there is still something special about a desk covered in open books and paper.  So much sentimentality for one so young!  Some people may find the paper approach helpful, others may find it necessary.  It works.  In fact, I would suggest working on paper until it becomes a familiar process.  Then, if you like the reasons given below, shift over to the PC.

Why use a PC? – I suppose some comment about saving the rainforests would be a pc comment about use of a PC.  To be honest, my motivations are more selfish.  If it is on PC then I have a lasting record (as long as I back-up my files).  I have the ability to cut, paste, edit, etc. I can actually read what I have written!  I can cut and paste the Bible text from Bible software, quickly study the original languages and paste in helpful comments from commentaries and lexicons.  I sometimes have a list of unused potential illustrations that can be mined when preparing future sermons.

The PC is a helpful tool, but a Bible, some paper and a pen work amazingly well too!

TIM Too

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I previously shared five areas of life and ministry that must be watched as we pursue Total Integrity Management. Here’s one more worthy of pondering:

Do you allow time for the text to work in you first? If you have a schedule that means every message is prepared at the last minute, this is a problem. Last minute may happen sometimes, but is it last minute every time? We need to schedule some gap so that we can study a passage and then allow it to soak for a while before considering how to preach it with relevance to others. Perhaps you should consider a 10-day lead up instead of a 5-day approach. Haddon Robinson, and others, suggest this. Do some initial reading and exegetical work the Thursday ten days before you preach. You can then set it aside until the following Monday or Tuesday, but it will have had some time to soak in. Perpetually rushed preparation is an integrity issue. We must allow time for the passage to work in us, so that through us, we can deliver God’s message with integrity, to others.

TIM in the Preacher’s Life

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Does TQM mean anything to you? These three letters were indelibly marked on my brain in university. I studied business theory when TQM was a big deal. Total Quality Management. The letters are stuck in my head even though the theory is not. However, I’d like us to consider something that matters to us as preachers – TIM. Nothing to do with Paul’s apostolic representative in Ephesus. Total Integrity Management. As preachers we must manage our lives and ministries for total integrity. This reaches far:

1. Personal life. We must be people who are above reproach, living lives that bear the scrutiny of watching eyes. This relates to relationships, fidelity, private interests, hobbies, tax payments, internet use, everything.

2. Preparation for preaching. We should do the study and preparation that people believe we do, and that we suggest we do. There may be short-cuts, and some may be legitimate at times, but watch your integrity. It is legitimate to learn from other preachers, perhaps even to use their wording of an idea, or illustration. But when you take, give credit where appropriate. If you short-circuit your ministry by lifting entire sermons off the internet, at least be honest about it and don’t give the impression you’ve been poring over the text for yourself.

3. The sermon’s connection to the text. We must have the integrity to be sure that our message is legitimately derived from the text we use. There is no excuse for springboard preaching, where the text is a launching point for our own thinking.

4. Illustrational material requires honesty too. It is fine to make up a story, Jesus did it. But be careful not to be dishonest in doing so. You know how to convey a story so people know it is fictional. If you didn’t experience it, don’t act as if you did. If our integrity is compromised in a small story, it is compromised. Even if a story is true, but is very bizarre, be careful. No matter how much you affirm its veracity, if people doubt it, then your integrity is undermined. Is it worth it for that story?

5. Emotional manipulation is not our trade. If the text is genuinely moving, let it do its work. But we are not charlatans who play with emotions to manipulate responses from our listeners. You know if this is a temptation or not.

We need to go for TIM. Ultimately, your integrity is your responsibility. Besides you, only God knows what’s really going on. Ask Him to convict you by His Spirit and keep your TIM on track.

The Multi-Preacher Church

/ Peter Mead / 2 Comments

Many churches have one preacher and the pulpit is a protected zone.  Other churches have a pulpit that is shared between several speakers.  Some churches have to give their pulpit to visiting speakers in order to function.  Following on from the two posts on multi-speaker series, here are a few more thoughts:

1. Protected pulpits can be shared more.  If you’re a pastor who always does all the preaching, perhaps it’s time to loosen your grip.  Is there another pastor in town you could switch with periodically?  Who are the gifted individuals in the church that you could encourage and train to preach now and then?  It’s ironic that some pastors feel threatened by this, but in reality they could be saving their own future.  A protected pulpit will need filling if you are out of commission through illness or family crisis.  If there are two or three men in the church that you’ve trained, then they could keep things ticking over for you.  If there aren’t, then the church will have to look outside, which could mean calling a new pastor.  Having said that, if you’re trying to protect your office by your own effort, perhaps it’s time to move on anyway?

2. Develop the preachers within.  It is healthy for the church to have individuals developing and using the gifts they have.  So seek out those who have potential to preach and then develop them.  If they aren’t ready for your pulpit yet, is there a struggling church nearby they could be a blessing to in the meantime through semi-regular visits?  As well as in-house training, why not use church money to send them on a formal preaching course at a local seminary, or a one-off event (see “Preaching Course” tab at the top if you live in the UK).

3. Use once a year speakers carefully.  If you have individuals that can preach, but do so very infrequently, be careful which Sunday you give them.   It may be tempting to give them a stand alone service like Easter Sunday, Christmas or Mother’s Day.  After all, they can prepare for months, the material is not complicated and they aren’t bound to the constraints of a series.  However, remember that those are days when visitors will be in church.  It would make more sense to give visitors a taste of the more regular preachers. 

4. Use outsiders carefully.  Some churches have no choice but to use outside speakers.  But I am surprised by some churches that choose to use outside speakers more than necessary.  Be careful to select wisely.  Be careful to promote wisely.  I’ve seen it more than once where an outsider is coming in to “preach evangelistically” and the church has been encouraged to “bring friends” – only to have a very uncomfortable or disappointing experience.  If you do use an outsider for an evangelistic event, communicate repeatedly and in detail with both the speaker and the congregation.  A contact with a neighbor may take months or years to nurture, so to have that work wasted by an uncomfortable evangelistic service is very painful . . . and that church member won’t be rushing to bring outsiders in the future.

Tell Me Why I Don’t Like Mondays?

/ Peter Mead / 6 Comments

Donald Sunukjian suggests that for men, preaching is the closest we ever come to giving birth (ladies reading this – you’re right, we have no idea!) He talks about this thing growing inside and then finally coming out in an intense delivery, followed the next day by the post-partum blues.

Maybe some preachers always feel refreshed and revitalized after preaching. Maybe some can’t wait to get stuck in to work the next day. But for those of us that are sometimes spent after preaching, what should we do with our Mondays?

Many pastors traditionally take Monday off, partially for this reason. Sunday is the busiest day, but also preaching is a uniquely draining experience. So that’s a place to start. Consider rest after the emotional and spiritual exertion of preaching. While rest may re-energize, there are times when it merely exacerbates the lack of motivation. So rest, but also be active. Physical activity, exercise, has a definite effect on our emotional, mental and spiritual reserves.

Consider reading things that are “just for me” on Mondays. Spiritually uplifting, devotional, relaxing, unrelated to present sermon series kind of reading (my wife would probably suggest reading a novel).

Be extra wary of activity with a raised level of temptation. Internet surfing, movie watching, time alone, travel, etc. All are risky, especially when internally depleted. Some of these may be unavoidable (travel), or even helpful (a safe movie), but always be wary. Sin crouches and often pounces when we’re extra vulnerable.

Select your company carefully. Some people energize and motivate, while others drain and discourage. Watch who you’re with on a day that starts with depleted reserves.

Mondays matter, so plan them carefully. Then on Tuesday? You’re pregnant again.

Making a Multi-Speaker Series Work – Part 2

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A group of preachers, one Bible book, and a series of Sundays. Consider the following suggestions.

3. In a longer series, have a mid-series evaluation. It is wise to avoid a series that goes so long it starts to drag. So by longer series, I mean 8-12 Sundays rather than 4-6. A time of evaluation would provide an opportunity to get together and discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the series. An opportunity to highlight areas that could be strengthened by the group as the series continues. Perhaps a re-evaluation of the later sections in light of further study, or just a good chance to pray for each other and the messages that lie ahead.

4. Encourage the preachers to be a “team” for the series. It is so easy to preach as separate individuals, having no interaction between the speakers in a series. This is a great opportunity for a team camaraderie to develop. The speakers know what each other is putting into the series. They understand the goals, the emotions, the struggles. Perhaps encourage email and phone conversations between the speakers. Pray for one another. Really seek to stand together in the mission.

5. As a team, select one individual to wrap-up the series. In light of the team interaction, there may be one preacher especially suited to wrapping up the series. Perhaps the one with the best grasp of the whole book. Instead of fizzling to the finish, finish strong with a message reviewing the book in its entirety – a big picture finish.

6. Have a post-series evaluation. Share lessons learned and make suggestions for future series. Also, at the end of the series, or at the end of the year, put closure on the teamwork with some kind of thanksgiving and celebration.

Pulpit Prayer

/ Mike Roth / Leave a comment

In Awed to Heaven, Rooted in Earth, Walter Brueggemann writes, “Alongside that substantive act of submission and petition, prayer at the opening of class is a heavily symbol-laden act, for it situates knowledge in the context of faith. It articulates a proper ratio of reason to faith and quite practically asserts that learning takes place with a cloud of witnesses who have believed and trusted before the present company and who believe and trust presently alongside the immediate body of teachers and learners. Thus prayer at the beginning of class in a seminary is not a mere convention – though it is that. It is an act of rightly framing the instruction of the day among a body of believers or would-be believers who are unafraid of the task of learning (xv).”

Though Brueggemann’s context is one between professor and student, I cannot help but think a similar dynamic exists between preacher and congregant. Preaching exists within the context of faith. It is both an expression of and call to faith. Therefore, in both the teaching of theology and the preaching of God’s word, prayer must rightly orient the moment. With this said, I wonder to what extent we prepare for prayer as preachers vs. ad-hoc? I must admit that prayer in my sermons need more advanced thought so that I might rightly introduce and conclude my sermons – in a cloud of witnesses, in the presence of the Lord. Perhaps then, a body of believers or would-be believers would be better prepared to courageously engage the Word of Life face to face.

Making a Multi-Speaker Series Work – Part 1

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Some churches never try.  Some always must.  How do you combine a group of preachers, one Bible book and a series of Sundays into an effective series?  First, there are some potential weaknesses worth noting.  Inconsistent explanation of the book’s historical context, flow of thought or overarching idea.  Differing perspectives on the book’s purpose or theological center.  Unnecessary repetition of illustrative or supporting materials.  A lack of repetition of key series elements making it seem like random messages that happen to be from one book.  So what can be done to make it work?

1. Consider limiting the number of speakers.  Instead of rotating through six speakers in a twelve part series, cut it down to three or four (even fewer in a shorter series).  This makes for greater continuity and ownership of the series.  If your church has six capable speakers, perhaps use the others to form the backbone of the next series.  If your church does not have six capable speakers, then why are six preaching?

2. Have a pre-series meeting of the speakers.  Have the speakers read through the book and do some initial thinking on the book’s major chunks, overarching idea and purpose, preaching sections, and a rough idea for each preaching section.  This meeting could take some time, but if we place a high value on the pulpit ministry of the church, then why not?  Also share any particularly helpful resources.  For instance, I just started a series in 1st Peter at our church and found one commentary to be very strong on the historical background of the book.  It would be better for all the speakers to read that view rather than presenting several differing perspectives.

In a few days, I’ll finish the list of suggestions.