Wednesday, July 13, 2011
LISTEN...
Neil Craigan carries advice from Richard Baxter on how to listen to a sermon. It's good advice, but as someone that has consumed far more sermons than he has preached, I have to say that there ought to be similar pithy comments on how to preach a sermon. Let me offer just a few thoughts of my own.
If you can tell that I have sat through my share of lousy sermons, well, let's just say I tire of preachers that demand the attention of a preacher without earning it.
- It's not about what you think - it's about what God thinks. While the church;s rules give you complete sway over what you say, you'd be best to vet what you're thinking about doping with some others. God tends to speak through a majority.
- Another way to make sure it's about what God thinks - exposit scripture, don't just hand out good advice.
- It's about communication, not intellect. If you have proven how smart you are, but that is the biggest single take-away, you missed the point. Vocabulary, sentence structure, even number of points matter.
- Listen to your congregation and talk about what they are talking about.
- Gaining audience is not in the sermon, but the rest of the week.
If you can tell that I have sat through my share of lousy sermons, well, let's just say I tire of preachers that demand the attention of a preacher without earning it.
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