Great sermons

PREACHERS: WHAT MAKES A SERMON “GREAT”? There are Nine Key Ingredients: 1. BIBLICITY. “Preach the Word!” (2 Tim. 4:2). The pulpit is no place for humanistic talks about your personal cultural insights. You are a messenger of Scripture. Rightly divide and expound that Word! 2. CHRISTOCENTRICITY. “We preach Christ” (1 Cor. 1:23; cf. Phil. 1:15-16). What made the apostle rejoice? “Christ is preached” (Phil. 1:18). Look closely at “The Contents Commission” in Luke 24:46-48. The command is to preach Jesus the Messiah as the Son of God (cf. Jn. 20:31), so the hearers can meet the Son of God in the Word of God and be transformed by the Spirit of God. His Gospel is the power of God to His hearers’ salvation (Rom. 1:16). 3. CLARITY. In Colossians 4:4, Paul asks the church to pray for him, "that I may proclaim it [the message, the mystery of Christ] clearly, as I should." He views clarity in presenting the mystery of Christ as a direct duty of the preacher and teacher. “A mist in the pulpit is a fog in the pew”. 4. PROFUNDITY. “If we have robbed the Gospel of the great elements of mystery and wonder and depth and paradox, then we have failed in our mission and cheated our people. The only message we have a right to preach is one so astonishing that angels desire to look into it and so profound that they have to stoop to do so” (Scottish theologian Donald MacLeod). You can be clear and still be deep! 5. INTENSITY. We preach “as a dying man to dying men”. This is the secret of great preaching: logic on fire! It was said of D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones that he made each sermon seem to be the most important thing you would ever hear. J.I. Packer said of Lloyd Jones that he had "never heard such preaching…[delivered] with the force of electric shock, bringing to at least one of his listeners more of a sense of God than any other man." 6. VITALITY. Hebrews says that “the Word of God is living and powerful” (Heb. 4:12a). God forgive us if we ever simply make it flat, boring or lifeless in our preaching! If you’re preaching a narrative portion, it should sound as if the events are happening right now, in the next room! 7. INCISIVITY. Hebrews also says that God’s Word is “sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” (Heb. 4:12b). We must preach so that God’s Spirit will use it to search the hearts, sometimes even for days, weeks or months after the message. This is where transformation (2 Cor. 3:18) begins. 8. AUTHORITY. Paul told Timothy: “Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching” (2 Tim. 4:2). When our Lord preached the Sermon on the Mount, we are told: “And so it was, when Jesus had ended these sayings, that the people were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes” (Matt. 7:28-29). Jesus preached in His own authority, we preach in His. But your message must not a dull, academic exercise as if you were still searching for the truth yourself ("Well, we really can’t be too sure, can we…”). How did Jesus preach? Read the Sermon on the Mount: He uses “you” over and over again, not “we”. He spoke directly, commandeering their hearts. He didn’t use trite phrases (“we really need to apply this to our lives”…). He preached what He KNEW to be the truth. Preach the same way! 9. SPIRITUALITY. In one sense, this is the most important. As God told Zechariah to say to Zerubbabel, "‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ Says the Lord of hosts." (Zech. 4:6). All our best preparations are for nought if the Spirit does not anoint the messenger. Whenever someone was filled, dramatically and powerfully in Luke and Acts, what happened? They spoke! The Holy Spirit, as the New Testament tells us repeatedly, is a Communicating God. He inspired the Scriptures you will preach. Give Him the reins in a life fully given over to His control, and a message given over to His empowerment and direction. We preach the greatest message as we serve the greatest (and only) God and His Son as our Great Savior! So give great preaching! Sent from my iPhone

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