Suggestions for Preachers

Pastor to Pastor -- Suggestions
for preachers!

There are some hidden enemies of preaching!

1. The first enemy is the preacher’s obsession with preaching great sermons.

The notion of a great sermon, either constantly or occasionally haunting the preacher is fatal. The sermons of which nobody speaks ... are the sermons that do the work, that make men better men, and really sink into their hearts. Even compliments can be damaging... preaching becomes a work to receive such.

2. Another insidious enemy is the snare of statistics.

Perhaps the church attendance is on the increase, lost sinners are being converted, and people are uniting with the church. Certainly this kind of success must prove that our preaching is drawing men and women to Christ and the local fellowship. We have arrived! Now pride will probably set into our lives??
We dare not measure the quality of our sermons by the quantity of the statistics. If we do, we might become either too elated or too depressed, and both pride and discouragement are sins.

3. One of the most dangerous enemy of preaching is the imitating of some preacher we admire. Every minister has a shelf of homiletical household gods.

4. Here is another enemy: When the preacher has an axe to grind. The sermon is heading for the slaughter. Many congregations want anxiously for the first sermon after the monthly board meeting.

5. Our last enemy is suddenness:

Suddenness, Charles Spurgeon said, leads to shallowness., and he was right. Sermons are not manufactured, they grow; and they cannot grow unless we give them time to grow. We don’t build sermons the way little boys build model airplanes. We nurture them; and that means taking time to meditate, pray and cultivate the seed of the Word of God planted in our lives.

The Primacy of Preaching!

Preaching was our Lord’s main business, and the most important task of the Christian pastor is the task of preaching the Word. He will have other duties, but his main business is preaching.

The minister of the Word must be prepared to preach it whether the circumstances are favorable or unfavorable, convenient or inconvenient, opportune or inopportune. He must always be ready to herald the Salvation message and to feed the flock of God.

There is never a closed season for preaching the Gospel of Christ. The preacher is always on duty. The message and mandate is clear; so each one must get on with the job and preach the Word.

Nothing substitutes for true Biblical preaching. The history of Christian preaching has proved that God’s ministers held a towering place in the life of the nation where they preached and taught His Word. Preaching has occupied the most prominent place in the propagation of Christianity.

Avoiding The Personal Pitfalls of Ministry!

1. Personal attack by Satan: Luke 22:31,32

2. Past Failure -- Simon Peter had failed miserably. Swore, denied, etc. Failing does not make you a failure. Quitting does! Simon Peter was going to catch hundred and fifty pounders by the hundreds. Don’t quit!

3. Prayerlessness! Simon Peter slept when he should have been praying. Prayer is primary to your personal strength, your success with your family, and to your ministry. Acts 6:4 tells us that later on Simon Peter learned its importance. Prayer must precede ministry! Your life as well as your ministry will be powerless without prayer.

4. Putting Down Your Cross -- Things that destroy us -- lust, lucre, leadership conflict, loss of desire for the ministry, lunacy, looking for greener pastures.

5. Pointing to Others -- II Cor. 10:12

6. Powerlessness -- John 20:22; Romans 6; Gal. 2:20; Acts 1:6; Acts 4:31

7. Passionless Service --

Once More With Feeling!

Preaching is not just giving a message! Preaching is the art of making a sermon and delivering it! Why, no, that’s not preaching. Preaching is the art of making a preacher and delivering that!

Michael Tucker a pastor in Colorado, writes of an effective preacher. “Preaching must pump his heart until he lives and breathes the message. The message will hound him, drive him, even explode within him. So great will be the desire to preach that he will find it difficult to wait for the time to deliver the message of God.”

Revivalist George Whitefield preached with intensity. He wrote to a friend, “Speak every time as if it was your last. Weep out, if possibly every argument and as it were, compel them to cry, -- Behold how He loves us!”

There are three levels of sermon preparation:

1. The first is mouth-to-ear preaching!

That’s when a man is greatly concerned about the choice and organization of his words. He is conscious of the need for good illustrations and vivid descriptions. He is careful to work on key phrases and unique expressions. A typical listener responds, with “What a lovely sermon. I really enjoyed it.!”

2. Then there is head-to-head preaching!

It stimulates thought and challenges the minds of the listeners. The preacher aims at being well organized, theological accurate, and enlightening. At the door he hears, “That was a great sermon. I never thought of that before.”

3. In soul-to-soul preaching

The preacher spends hours preparing his message but equal time preparing his soul. Only this kind of preaching results in conversions and personal holiness.

We must become intimately aware of the three personalities involved in the preaching event:

1. There is God ! I Pet. 4:11
2. There is the listener! John 4:34-36; Matt. 9:36-38
3. There is the preacher!

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