On Preaching
Podcast
#136 | A Process for Text-Driven Preaching [PODCAST]
Welcome to The On Preaching Podcast, the podcast dedicated to helping you preach faithfully, clearly, and better. In this episode, H.B. talks about a process for text-driven preaching. Something drives every sermon. Because the Bible is the word of God, the text of scripture should drive and direct every sermon. How can I prepare and preach text driven sermons? Choose the text strategically. You only have fifty-two Sundays to shepherd your congregation in the truth of God's word, at best. Therefore, you cannot afford to be casual or careless about sermon text selection. Be strategic about planning your preaching. Think...
Articles
VIDEO | 50 Preaching Tips in 15 Minutes
https://youtu.be/usVcaQ1Uiw4 50 Preacing Tips in 15 Minutes | H.B. Charles Jr. In this video, H.B. Charles Jr. shares fifty practical tips to help you preach faithfully, clearly, and better. These pieces of advice address the preacher's personal devotion, sermon preparation, and pulpit ministry. Of course, these fifty pointers are not exhaustive. But hopefully you will find these helpful hints beneficials to your Word work. Plan your preaching. Start preparing as early as possible. Prepare when you are at your best. Gather tools for sermon preparation. Consult the best commentaries. Read and reread the text. Observe before you interpret. Learn to...
Podcast
#132 | My Complicated Relationship with Sermon Manuscripts [PODCAST]
Welcome to The On Preaching Podcast, the podcast dedicated to helping you preach faithfully, clearly, and better. It has been my practice to write full sermon manuscripts and then whittle them down to a set of pulpit notes. For the past several years, I have preached from the manuscript. In some ways, I feel like my preacher is improving by preaching from manuscripts. At the same time, there are ways in which I think using sermon manuscripts hinders my preaching. As I said, I have a complicated relationship with sermon manuscripts. What is my current view of sermon manuscripts? Biblical...
Podcast
#101: On Preaching with Bryan Samms
Welcome to The On Preaching Podcast, the podcast dedicated to helping you preaching you preach faithfully, clearly, and better. In this first 2020 episode of the podcast, I interview Bryan Samms, Pastor of the River City Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Florida, where he has served since 2016. A former youth pastor and professor of preaching, Samms is a faithful and clear preacher of the gospel. During our conversation, he shares parts of his ministry journey, his philosophy of ministry, and his process of sermon preparation. Enjoy! Did you find this conversation helpful? Join the conversation in the comments section. Recommended...
Podcast
#093: How Long Should It Take to Prepare a Sermon? [PODCAST]
Welcome to The On Preaching Podcast, the podcast dedicated to helping you preach faithfully, clearly, and better. In this episode, I want to talk to you about how long it should take to prepare a sermon. Some pastors spend their entire week in sermon preparation. This cannot be a good thing. If you spend all week in sermon preparation, you are neglecting other important pastoral duties. Others spend virtually no time in preparation, cramming on Saturday night to find something to say on Sunday morning. How long should it take to prepare a sermon? Time to pray. Time to...
Conference Messages
Warren W. Wiersbe Tribute | Cutting It Straight 2019
Each year, during the Cutting It Straight Expository Preaching Conference, we pay tribute to a preacher that should be known and remembered. This year, we paused to remember the life and ministry of Warren W. Wiersbe. Warren W. Wiersbe was a preacher's preacher. He was also a laymen's preacher, who made the word of God plain and clear for any person to understand. Above all, Warren Wiersbe was the Lord's preacher, a man of God who served the Lord in his generation and moved upstairs to his final reward on May 2, 2019. Wiersbe was a pastor, serving several churches...
Podcast
#090: The On Preaching Mailbag #1 [PODCAST]
Welcome to The On Preaching Podcast, the podcast dedicated to helping you preach faithfully, clearly, and better. This episode is a first. During this episode, I will draw from the "mailbag" to answer questions about sermon preparation and sermon delivery. Over the years, I have learned to preach by three means: (1) Study, (2) practice, (3) and conversation. You can learn a lot about preaching by talking to other preachers about preaching. I hope this episode will serve you in that way. I am not an expert or scholar. But whatever I know about preaching from my decades of...
Podcast
#089: How the Pulpit can Help the Pew [PODCAST]
Welcome to The On Preaching Podcast, the podcast dedicated to helping you preach faithfully, clearly, and better. Sometimes pastors struggle in preaching because they don’t take their pulpit work seriously. Others struggle in preaching because they struggle alone. But good preaching is a partnership between pastor and congregation, pulpit and pew, the one who preaches and the one who listens. The pastor preaches to help those in the pew. But the congregation can and should help the one in the pulpit, as well. Here are seven ways the pew can helpt the pulpit... Pray for your pastor. Give your...
Podcast
#069: Essential Elements of Sermon Preparation
Welcome to The On Preaching Podcast, the podcast dedicated to helping you preach faithfully, clearly, and better. In this episode, I want to talk to you about three essential elements of effective sermon preparation. There are basically two days on the preacher's calendar: Sunday and Saturday. We preach on Sundays and then have to spend another week getting ready to do it again. This is the joyful burden and delightful burden of weekly sermon preparation. To prepare effectively and consistently, you need a sermon preparation system. I call this the essential elements of sermon preparation. What are the essential...
Podcast
#066: Avoiding Indecent Exposure in the Pulpit [PODCAST]
Welcome to the The On Preaching Podcast, the podcast dedicated to helping you preach faithfully, clearly, and better. In this episode, I want to talk to you about avoiding indecent exposure in the pulpit... To illustrate is to shed light on the subject. Illustrations are like windows in a house. They let the light in. They can also let in voyeurs, seeking to eye the forbidden. There is no place for voyeurism in the pulpit. Sermon illustrations should be like letting sunlight into a window, not like putting a spotlight on a stage. Here are ten guidelines for avoiding indecent...
Podcast
#064: The Dynamics of Spirit-Empowered Preaching [PODCAST]
Welcome to The On Preaching Podcast, the podcast dedicated to helping you preach faithfully, clearly, and better. In this episode, I want to talk to you about the dynamics of Spirit-empowered preaching. I believe there are three characteristics of effective preaching: faithfulness to the text, clarity of the message, and passion in the presentation. When I speak of passion, I do not refer to some fleshly demonstration. Or the deacons in my Dad's church would call, "An outside show to an unfriendly world." I am talking about spirit-empower preaching. What are the dynamics of Spirit-empowered preaching? Godly Character Doctrinal...
Podcast
#062: My Sermon Preparation Hacks [PODCAST]
Welcome to The On Preaching Podcast, the podcast dedicated to helping you preach faithfully, clearly, and better. In this episode, I want to talk to you about my sermon preparation hacks. Every preacher should have an intentional sermon preparation process. This process should include standard elements, which include reading deeply, recording carefully, and reflecting prayerfully. But these standard elements should be personalized. As you prepare to preach, do what works best for you! What are the sermon preparation hacks I use to get ready to preach the word? I prepare a study file with all of the...