Dear Sermon-Coach Member, August 25, 2010
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YOUR SERMON-COACH PREACHING TIP
Preaching with Authority, Ability, Weight, and Power
Last week, I wrote to you and confessed, “I have preached many times. Seldom have I come anywhere near sensing that my listeners would say my words, like Christ’s, had ‘authority and ability and weight and power.’”
What then is the secret to this kind of preaching that is Christ-like and therefore amazes listeners because of its authority and ability and weight and power? (I suppose other descriptive words could be added such as “relevant” and “inspiring.”)
I’m thinking about the few preachers I’ve heard who in my mind manifest this unique Christ-like skill. I don’t believe the key is their intellect or their ability as a communicator. They are all smart individuals while at the same time often being what I would call “profoundly simple” in what they say. Then they are anything but boring. But again, I don’t sense that these are the special qualities that make them uniquely like Jesus.
The closest I can come to what I am looking for is an intensity of conviction. These special men and women believe they truly have been given a timely word from the Lord himself, and it is imperative that what they have to say is heard.
Theoretically speaking, I suppose most ministers believe what they are preaching in some way equals “God’s Word”. But they are not driven by a passion that says to their congregation, “You must listen closely because I speak on God’s behalf!”
There is no question but that Jesus believed his words were literally those of his heavenly Father’s. To a slightly lesser degree, so did the Biblical prophets. I suspect that the contemporary ministers on my current short list sense this same sort of sacred responsibility. They aren’t just preparing and preaching “another sermon” because it’s another weekend. They are agonizing over how to live close enough to the Lord to be convinced that they have clearly heard His voice. And, they will then faithfully communicate precisely what it is He has told them to say with an intensity of conviction. For a listing of my most recent preaching tips, please click here to view my Blog.
New Sermon Starter From Micah 6
Sermon in a Sentence: When a society begins to fall apart, it is the better part of wisdom to look to God.
Text: Micah 6:9-7:7.
Excerpt: Men know what it’s like when a baseball breaks at the seam and the cover starts to slowly work its way off. Women are only too familiar with clothing that runs or rips or reveals weaknesses. Unfortunately, even people sometimes come unglued. Their personalities fragment, and that’s always pitiful to watch. But what do you do when an entire society shows definite signs of falling apart?
That’s the unpleasant picture the Old Testament writer Micah describes in this our 7th look at his prophecies. Chapter 6 verse 9 through chapter 7 verse 7 is today’s text, and our concluding study in this series will be next weekend.
Probably the best known verse from Micah is the one we ended with last Sunday. He (God) has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.
THIS WEEK'S SUNDAY SOUNDBYTES
SOUNDBYTES are simple ways ministers can use current news items to let parishioners know they live in the same world their people do. Here's two you can use in your bulletin or your pulpit this week:
During the Pastoral Prayer
We A recent USA Today article quotes research showing that current American teens are less and less involved in church groups. Put into a few words, the message the article said teens are giving churches in our land is, “Bye-bye, we’re busy!” The president of Bama Group, an evangelical research firm based in California, put things this way, “Talking to God may be losing out to Facebook.” If such research is accurate, and I have no reason to believe it isn’t, I’m troubled, Lord. It’s just another indication that the church in America stands in desperate need of revival. Let it happen, Lord, if not for our sake, for the sake of our young people.
Announcement
This year China is on track to overtake Japan as the world’s second largest economy. Predictions are that it will replace the U.S. as the world’s largest economy as early as the year 2030. If you’re someone who is interested in global matters, I invite you to be a part of our church missions committee. I believe you would find the discussions both fascinating and relevant. The person to contact is: ______________.
PREVIOUS WEEKS' MESSAGES
New Sermon Starter From Micah 6
Sermon in a Sentence: The good required of us by God is that we do justice, love kindness and walk humbly before Him.
Text: Micah 6:1-8.
Excerpt: I remember my wife’s mother, when she was still with us, laughingly telling about attempting as a little girl to please her parents by cleaning up the kitchen. The only problem was that she put the dishes back in the cupboard and the silver in the drawers without first washing them!
Probably you recall a similar experience of trying to satisfy someone only to discover that what you did was contrary to what was wanted. That was the embarrassment of the southern kingdom of Judah back in the 8th century B.C. Unfortunately, in their case the “one they were attempting to please but didn’t”, was God!
Living in Jerusalem around 730 B.C., how does one please Jehovah? “Why anybody knows the answer to that,” the population probably would have said. “You make sacrifices at the temple the way the law prescribes. You also see to it that the traditional forms are adhered to. That’s elementary!”
New Sermon Starter From Micah 5
Sermon in a Sentence: Wise men worship God’s great ruler.
Text: Micah 5:1-15.
Excerpt: Tabloids thrive on the predictions of psychics. Never mind that last year’s forecasts proved fallible. Who’s saying what this year is apparently still very interesting to their reading public.
Well this visit I want to share an incredible prophecy—not one of my own though. The man whose words I’ll read lived in the 8th century B.C. To give you a feel of how far back that was—we’re talking of the time of Homer, the Celts moving into England, Apollo being worshipped at Delphi, and the earliest written music, a hymn on a tablet in Sumaria written in cuneiform. This is the century of the first iron utensils. 776 B.C. was when we have the beginning record of Olympic Games being held (incidentally women were not admitted, even as spectators). The traditional date for the founding of Rome is 753 B.C. And about 20 years later, in the tiny kingdom of Judah, the prophet Micah was preaching about the sins of his nation.
The book of the Bible that bears Micah’s name contains seven chapters that divide into three parts. Currently we’re in the middle section, which includes chapters 4 and 5. Chapter 4 was a definite shift from the earlier preaching against the evils of Judah and its leaders. Now Micah writes of a peaceful day in the future when his scattered people will again return to Jerusalem and “walk in the way of the Lord for ever and ever.”
New Sermon Starter From Micah 4
Sermon in a Sentence: Even as part of a nation ripe for judgment, the faithful can take comfort in God’s plans for them.
Text: Micah 4.
Excerpt: Years ago I remember my youngest son having trouble understanding the actions of a school music teacher. This man would discipline the entire class when certain of the students were unruly. I told my son that sometimes life was like that, but he still didn’t think it was fair.
I guess I could have illustrated my point by taking him back in time to Micah, the 8th century B.C. prophet we’ve been studying. A contemporary of Isaiah, these two men warned the southern kingdom of Judah of severe punishment ahead because of the nation’s sins. In fact, when we ended our visit last weekend, we had covered Micah, chapters 1 through 3, and thus for there’s been almost no cause for optimism.
The final words from chapter 3 were “Therefore because of you, Zion will be plowed like a field, Jerusalem will become a heap of rubble, the temple hill a mound overgrown with thickets.”
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Until next week,
Dr. David R. Mains
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