I’ve been listening to sermons for over 40 years now and attempting to preach for over 20 years.
There are so many master preachers who have written volumes over the years on the subject of great preaching. I have learned a great deal from all of them. Although I do not consider myself among their ranks, I do have a few tips I have picked up along the way that I like to share with budding preachers.
Here are my 8 principles of great preaching…
1. Be biblical
I know, I know this goes without saying and yet my commitment to the Bible demands that I start here. The job of the preacher is to communicate God’s unchanging truth to an ever-changing world. It doesn’t make any difference if you share God’s Word verse-by-verse or verse-with-verse. It does matter that you share His verse.
The job of the preacher is to communicate God's unchanging truth to an ever-changing world Click To Tweet
A young lady once asked me if I ever used borrowed material for my sermons. I answered, “Honey, we’re ALL using borrowed material. It’s called the Bible!”
2. Begin questionable
I don’t mean start with a questionable beginning. Although I do that all the time. I mean start by answering the most important question.
Like it or not, in the first five seconds of your sermon, every person is asking, “Why should I listen to you?” Or, “What does this have to do with me?”
Before you exegete the text, exegete the people.
The way I do this is to ask myself, “What is the biggest problem my people are trying to solve?”
We already know that the Bible has the answers to life’s greatest questions, but they don’t.
Begin each sermon by helping them see how this message could be the answer to their biggest problem!
3. Bridge the timeless principle
The most challenging task of a preacher is helping people bridge the ancient text with their modern lives.
Don’t try to impress people with your biblical knowledge. Rather, seek to impact them with unchanging truth.
Don't try to impress people with your biblical knowledge. Rather, seek to impact them with unchanging truth. Click To Tweet
I know every preacher “knows” this yet many seem to discard it when they start diving into the text. It’s as though they’re trying to redeem their seminary tuition.
I live on the Delmarva peninsula on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. When I need to get to Maryland’s western shore I have to take the Chesapeake Bay bridge. The bridge spans 4.3 miles.
Picture this. The eastern shore is the timeless principle. The western shore is the biblical passage. You are building a bridge from both sides at the same time; meeting in the middle of the bay. This is great preaching.
Some passages demand that you build longer on the western side to focus more time on the historical, cultural and/or geographical elements of the text. A complicated passage may need 3 miles of western bridge compared to 1.3 miles of eastern. But make sure to interlace a mile of western bridge with a 1/4 mile of eastern bridge.
In other words, don’t spend 30 minutes explaining the history of the Amorites and then try to tack on 5 minutes of application. They won’t wake up to catch it.
4. Make it simple.
A comment that I often hear from people at my church is, “Preacher, I like how you bring it down to my level.” I take that as a high compliment.
Choose clear over clever every time.
Your study should cause you to know the text so well that you can say it simpler, not harder.
Help the audience to feel closer to the people, places, and problems found in the Bible. They should walk away thinking, “Man, the people in the Bible were just like us.”
Preach in such a way that leaves them impressed more by the spiritual truth than by the speaker’s knowledge.
Using what’s confusing means your sermon is losing. My old preaching professor used to say, “Put the jam on the bottom shelf so anyone can reach it.”
5. Paint it personal
When I first started preaching, I’d spend hours searching for that perfect gut-wrenching, leave ’em weeping in their seats, illustration. I found a few here and there. But when I became a pastor and needed to churn out 52 messages a year, I quickly realized I was going to have to rethink my sermon illustration strategy.
Over time, I found that the most helpful illustrations for my people are the stories from my own journey. So I began sharing my faults, fears, failures, and frustrations. And people were encouraged.
The best preaching is truth through personality.
Share your personal struggle with living out God’s incredible promises and principles. Give your people a model they can mimic.
The trick is to be real. Not some fake version of Christianity that no one can live up to. But an authentic model that they can relate to.
I’ve learned that they may not remember your points, but they’ll never forget your stories. So be vulnerable.
6. Watch the emotional
Preaching is about taking people on an emotional journey as much as an intellectual one. Lean too heavy on either side and the audience gets uncomfortable.
I like to think of preaching like taking people on a roller coaster ride. It should be enjoyable, but avoid extremes. Don’t jerk the riders around so fast and so much that they feel exhausted. By the same token, the ride shouldn’t be so dull that you lull them to sleep.
Great preaching is shooting for emotional balance. Learn to show enthusiasm without making them think you’re crazy. Weep without becoming whiny. Softening the edges helps the audience enjoy the ride.
Also, recognize emotional rhythm. Audiences can only withstand high emotional tension for so long (good or bad).
Great preaching builds tension and then releases the pressure (usually with humor). Then repeats.
7. End applicable
The question every preacher must answer is, “Am I preaching so that my people will know more or grow more?”
People grow spiritually when they are able to take the truths of the Bible and apply them in their daily lives. But, they’ll never take the next step if the directions are unclear. That’s why the most important element of the sermon is the call to action.
I never finish preparing a message without saying to myself, “So what!?”
So what are they to do if what I just said is true?
I’ve discovered that the most powerful sermon application is JUST ONE STEP.
When I have 2 or 3 applications the message becomes diffused and people get confused.
8. Keep it ephemeral!
Okay, that was on purpose. Yes, I meant to violate #4.
The right word to use for this point is SHORT.
People cannot endure long sermons. I know I can’t!
Often preachers write this off as the fault of the audience when more often than not it’s the fault of the preacher. We try to say too much and then go too long.
I spend almost as much time taking stuff out of a message as I did putting it in.
If you want your message to be powerful, then remove the unnecessary. Cutting it down to what most accentuates your main point is the secret sauce of great preaching.
My messages are usually around 35 minutes. Approximately 7 minutes of introduction. 21 minutes of content. And then 7 minutes of message wrap, call to action, and closing prayer.
Remember, the point of great preaching is not to inform, but to transform.
The best way to transform our people is to transform our preaching.
Peter
Posted at 22:00h, 09 AprilWe sure need the Anointing of God on our preaching and teaching today.
Brian Moss
Posted at 00:07h, 10 Apriltotally agree Peter.
Tim
Posted at 01:42h, 11 AprilIs there a role for lay preaching in your opinion? Can lay preachers do ‘Great Preaching’?
Brian Moss
Posted at 01:57h, 12 Aprilabsolutely! Pretty sure Jesus was a “lay preacher.” 🙂
Scott Creager
Posted at 03:21h, 12 AprilI would add, great preaching should be bold and fearless, but tactful. Try not to offend, but don’t avoid an issue either. Example : Our country is saturated with sexual immortality, yet it seems very few sermons speak against. Ref. Joshua 1:6-9
Louise Batchelor
Posted at 15:09h, 13 AugustI’ve been attending ORBC for just a little over a year now and the sermons that transformed my actions included an illustration (using marbles to represent time), a prop (the carrot & cross construction hat) or a physical example (the envelope budgeting system). Most listeners need to SEE the image to remind them of the biblical principle that was being taught. “A picture is worth a thousand words.”
Brian
Posted at 17:21h, 13 AugustHaha. One of my deacons told me, “You’re the prop preacher!” I wish I could think of more of them.
Joseph.
Posted at 10:19h, 20 JulyGreat article, thank you foe sharing the insights