8 Hours or Less

So what is the difference between appealing to people’s emotions and trying to manipulate them? The biggest difference has to do with the motive of the preacher. When you start to utilize a formula meant to invoke the “right response” from people, you’ve crossed the line from appealing to manipulating. If you preach long enough, you’ll start to rea

Walk them through the sermon. It’s amazing how talking through your sermon in this early stage begins to embed it deep into your heart and mind.

My goal is to immediately help people see a specific pain point they may be ignorant of and then help them lean into the reality of the tension it causes.

Sharing the load produces a better end product. Remember, we are not simply after speed and efficiency. Anyone can crank out a lousy sermon in a few hours. There’s no skill in that. We’re after more: faithful sermons and better sermons.

The second is to climb inside the heart and mind of the author, with the help of the Holy Spirit, and form your points from his.

The riskiest part of every sermon is always the illustration. It either clarifies or confuses. There is no middle ground.

Setting clear daily milestones for my preparation has alleviated the wondering and worrying. I not only work a little bit each day, but also have specific goals for each day that keep me on track.

The close of your sermon is an appropriate point at which to drive people to the specific demands of the text. I want people headed home each Sunday still wrestling with their need to put into action what they’ve just heard in God’s Word.

You have to know the author, the audience, the setting, and the purpose for which it was written. You have to understand how all the other material surrounding the text informs the way you read and understand it. These are skills all Christians should employ every time they read Scripture, not just when preachers preach.