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 executive decisions every preacher must make. Preachers are ministers of the word (Acts 6:4). Literally, we are servants of the word. As a result, there are fundamental elements of pulpit ministry over which we have no control. We have no authority over the biblical message we proclaim. We have no authority over the response of the hearer. We have no control over the ministry of the Holy Spirit as we preach But there...

  Welcome to The On Preaching Podcast, the podcast dedicated to helping you preach faithfully, clearly, and better.  In this episode, we discuss how to structure a sermon. Good, clear, sound and sermon structure is key to effective preaching. But sermon structure must stay in its place. You do not want to preach a jellyfish sermon, with no structure. And you do not want to preach a skeleton, with no life. How should you structure your sermon for effective preaching?  Structure the sermon based on the text. Structure the sermon around one main idea. Structure the sermon for clear communication....

  Welcome to The On Preaching Podcast, the podcast dedicated to helping you preach faithfully, clearly, and better.  In this episode, we discuss the use of Bible commentaries in sermon preparation. Make friends with several good commentators. Find the best commentaries on individual books of the Bible. Use different types of commentaries. Consult commentaries toward the end of your study. Make strategic use of Bible commentaries. Do not read too many commentaries. Remember that no commentary is the ultimate authority on scripture. View commentaries as a sermon preparation tool. Though shalt not steal! Preach the Word, not the commentary.  ...

  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...

                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 five neglected tools for sermon preparation. Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. - 2 Timothy 2:15 Every workman needs tools to accomplish his work, including preachers. Especially preachers. Books are a preacher's tools. Effective preaching requires specialized tools. But no preacher should neglect the most...

Welcome to The On Preaching Podcast, the podcast dedicated to helping you to preach faithfully, clearly, and better.  In this episode, I want to offer several answers to the question of how long your sermons should be. Congregations' views on sermon length have changed. Should yours? There was a time when, if I was asked how long my congregation's worship services lasted, I answered, "Until they are over." If asked how long I preached, I answered, "Until I'm finished." Those were bad answers twenty years ago. They are even worse answers now. Time is your members' most important commodity. It is...

Welcome to THE ON PREACHING PODCAST, the podcast dedicated to helping you preach faithfully, clearly, and better. I was introduced to the ministry of Ray Pritchard through his book, In the Shadow of the Cross. I have followed his ministry ever since. Looking up his church website, I found links to sermons manuscripts and his blog. Ray was the first pastor who blogged that I knew. And I read him every day. In fact, blame Ray Pritchard for me being a blogger! After missing some days of checking his site, I logged on to discover that he had resigned his...

The preacher was a well-respected pulpiteer. The sermon was doctrinally sound. He seemed to preach with sincerity, reverence, and passion. But the sermon felt like we were driving on a flat tire. What went wrong? At the end of the service, the friend sitting next to me leaned over a said, “He had four alliterated points with three sub-points each. I don’t care what you say, he had sixteen points!” Yep. That’s what went wrong. A good sermon has purpose, unity, and movement. Well-crafted structure makes this possible. But an overcooked structure messes up the whole meal. On the other...

“So what do you do for a living?” I have a new answer to that question: “I write sermons.” Occasionally, an alert listener will reply, “You only write sermons? Do you preach them?” Then I give the punchline. “Sure, I do. But it’s hard to remember that part. As soon as the sermon is over, I have to start writing the next one!” That’s the life of a pastor. We have the joyful burden of weekly preparation. To keep your head about water and become effective you have to learn to hack the process. You need a system for Bible...

Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. – 2 Timothy 2:15 A pastor’s primary responsibility is to preach and teach the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ (2 Tim. 4:1-5). Faithfulness to this holy charge requires personal devotion, diligent study, and laborious preparation. Sermons don’t grow on trees! Well, biblical, Christ-exalting sermons don’t. Good preaching is hard work. But how do you get from text to sermon? What steps should a preacher take to preacher a sound, clear,...

The sermon title is not the most important part of a sermon. And choosing a title is not an essential part of sermon preparation. Some preachers slap any title on the sermon after the hard work of preparation. Others decide not to give the sermon a title at all. This is understandable. It is also unwise. Your sermon needs and deserves a good title. To present a sermon without a title is like trying to sell a book with no title. The title promotes the content. It is the first impression the congregation will get of your message. It gives...

We were hanging out at the church, waiting for the afternoon service. An unidentified woman pulled up. She was there to pick me up for the service I was schedule to preach at her church that afternoon. My father had told her pastor I would preach the meeting. But he forgot to tell me! So there I was. On my way to preach. Barely in my teens. Scared out of my wits. I preached the story of David and Goliath. This was my introduction to preaching without notes. A baptism by fire. More than twenty-five years later, I am used...