Blog entries tagged Preaching

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1. My Podcast with H.B. Charles, Jr.

A few days ago I did an interview with my dear friend, Pastor H. B. Charles Jr. for his “On Preaching” podcast. We had a blast talking about life, the ministry, and preaching during a pandemic. Check it out! PS Click here to sign up for the free email sermons.

2. 58 Good Friday/Easter Sermons

We’ve put together a page with 58 Good Friday/Easter sermons. Feel free to use this material in any way that may be helpful to you, including sermon preparation or in Bible studies, or simply for your own blessing as we prepare our hearts for Holy Week.

3. How I Preach

My friend Dr. Abe Kuruvilla is a “triple doc” (MD plus 2 PhDs) who teaches preaching at Dallas Seminary and who also has an active practice as a dermatologist. He is a gifted author, preacher, and teacher. When I went to see him for a checkup several months ago, he asked me to take part […]

4. My Sermon Prep Idea

In my 27 years as a pastor, I am fairly sure that I never came up with any distinctively new approaches to sermonizing. However, somewhere along the way I developed one practice that, as often as I used it, always served me well. Before I describe it, I should say that it rests upon two assumptions.1) You don’t know a ...

5. Cutting It Straight

  Dear Praying Friends, We’re in the middle of a busy travel season. Last week while Ray was in Florida teaching James at Word of Life Bible Institute, Marlene was in California visiting Mark and Vanessa and getting some special time with Eli and Penny. On Wednesday Ray flies to Jacksonville, Florida to speak at […]

6. Pinch-Hitting at Maranatha

This Monday morning finds us in Chicago, but by tonight Marlene will be in Dallas and I will be in Muskegon, Michigan.

7. Happy Times in Sugar Grove

A lot can happen in six years.That’s what I discovered when I preached at Village Bible Church in Sugar Grove, IL.

8. What’s Wrong with the American Church?

First, give the Bad News.

9. Preach So the Children Can Understand

How to preach 51 Sundays out of the year.

10. My Favorite Books on Preaching

A young man going into the ministry asked me about my favorite books on preaching.

11. 47 Christmas Sermons

Here are 47 Christmas sermons to help with your message preparation or for your own blessing as we celebrate the Savior’s birth.

12. 40 Years of Free Bible Teaching

Get 8000 hours of free Bible teaching.

13. Like a Bowl of Soup

Soup and sermons go down better when shared with friends.

14. “That’s All I’ve Got”

If they leave, let them go.

15. Don’t Be a Sermon Stealer!

The following note arrived over the weekend:We have discovered that our pastor is preaching sermons directly from your website virtually verbatim. He has been confronted on this issue and doesn’t see it as a problem. How do you feel about this? Let me say right up front that I don’t know who wrote this or who the offending pastor migh...

16. Preacher, Get to the Point!

People are easily distracted.Preachers need to remember that.During my years pastoring three different churches, I discovered it was easy to get the attention of people in the congregation, but it was almost impossible to hold that attention for very long. We would announce some great new initiative, and for fifteen minutes it was like the second ...

17. Bad Beginnings

How NOT to begin a sermon:"I’m sorry I didn’t have time to prepare.” (Don’t tell us. Let us figure that out on our own.)"I’ve been busy this week.” (Everyone has been busy this week.)"I have 17 points I’d like to share with you.” (Don’t scare us like that.)"I"m sure ...

18. Titles That Tick

Recently H. B. Charles Jr. offered some wise counsel about sermon titles. He says that preachers don’t give enough thought to their titles. In this day of extremely short attention spans, a well-thought-out title can be the door that opens the way for a biblical sermon to do its work.Here are three general principles for choosing a good title...

19. The Third Leg

I am writing this from our hotel room in Seattle. We arrived here late last night after a longish day that started with me preaching my final message at the MEF conference in Colorado Springs. Later this morning we’ll board a cruise ship for an Alaskan cruise sponsored by Camp Forest Springs in northern Wisconsin. This starts the third l...

20. Two Sermon Libraries Added This Week

This week we added two new sermon libraries to our Recommended Resources page.The first is called Discipleship Library that I believe has been compiled by the Navigators. It contains a fantastic assortment of messages preached over the last 60 years by many of the greatest Bible teachers. As they point out, Messages presented by many outstandi...

21. Pastor, Don’t Be Stupid!

A few days ago I received a message alerting me that a certain pastor (whom I do not know) has been preaching my sermons word for word on Sunday morning. And he does so without attribution.To make matters worse, he posts the audio files online.Let me start by saying that I am a friend and supporter of preachers everywhere. I post my sermons precise…

22. 44 New Year’s Day Sermons

Since January 1 is the first Sunday of 2012, we have put together a web page with 44 New Year’s Day sermons. Please feel free to use this material in any way that you like. Use it, amend it, change it, improve it, and make it your own. Perhaps you’ll get some good ideas for a sermon. Or you may want to use it for your own devot...

23. Five Reasons to Preach the Whole Book of Daniel

This morning I finish teaching the book of Daniel to the students at Word of Life Bible Institute in Hudson, Florida. Since this is my fourth year to teach this one-week course, I’ve gotten a bit of rhythm in my teaching. Each year we start off strong with the story of Daniel and his friends courteously but firmly refusing to eat the food at ...

24. 25 Sermons for Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is a profoundly Christian holiday in that it focuses us on the God as the true source of all our blessings. As the hymnwriter said, “All things bright and beautiful, all creatures great and small, all things wise and wonderful, the Lord God made them all.” Here are 21 sermons appropriate for Thanksgiving. You are welco...

25. Two Days With the Pastors in Dalian

For the last two days Mark and I have been speaking at a pastor’s conference in Dalian, China. To put the matter that way probably makes people think of hundreds of pastors gathered in a large church sanctuary, with bright lights, a worship team, and high-powered services.That might happen in America.But we are i...