Intermediate Preaching

“Intermediate Preaching”

“Miscellaneous and Sundry Preaching Information ”

-Lesson #5-

by Art Wallis

Introduction: We are already over ½ way through with the material in this Intermediate Preaching class. The purpose of this class is to help bridge the gap between the original Basic Preaching materials and the original Advanced Preaching materials. The need for additional information is always present. This material, that we are now studying, was designed to not only help those of you who are going through the preaching classes for the first time, but also to help fill in some of the gaps of information needed by those of you who have already gone completely through all of the preaching and evangelism class materials that I have written thus far. If this material helps you to more easily prepare and deliver sermons, it will have met its goal.

HINT FOR THE WEEK: It is especially beneficial for someone who preaches on a fairly regular basis to have some sort of hobby. Every person needs something to help relieve tension…a good hobby can help do that for you!

1. Once you are on the field (that’s preacher talk for working full-time as a preacher) you need to get up early and be seen in the community, especially if it is a smaller or medium sized community where everyone knows what everyone else is doing! You may want to go down to the local coffee shop and have coffee and donuts with the locals there. You may want to go to some of the school programs at the local schools, even if you don’t have children or yours are already grown.

2. It is possible to develop a sermon in connection with a holiday, without having to become unscriptural about the materials you present. I have a sermon titled: Wise Men Still Seek Him. While this sermon will preach especially well during the winter holidays, yet the content of it is broad enough that it will preach well at just about any time of the year.

When you are writing your sermons, make sure that they are not TOO DEEP for those who will be listening to you preach them. If you are over the educational level of the congregation, you will bore them. If they can not follow your line of thought, you have not preached.

Here I will give you short 3 point sermon for Labor Day from my college class notes:

Work is duty.
Work is the means of development (mental, physical, spiritual)[God increases what we use for Him].
Work determines man’s destiny.

Here is a short 4 point sermon on who Christ was:

Great teacher
Great physician
Great preacher
Son of God

When you are trying to write your outline so you can remember things, it will help if you can put them into chronological order.

When you are giving a funeral sermon, you should try to make it evangelistic. You do not have to go overboard like some of the denominations do, but it might do some good as those at the funeral may be considering their own mortality and eternal destiny. A good book with some funeral and wedding outlines in it is “Murch’s Minister’s Manual” by James Deforest Murch.

When we run into a mental block or a mental wall, we must pray to God through Christ so that His Spirit might help us put together the materials we need to have a good sermon. He can help our minds to make sense of numerous Scriptures as we read them and they begin to go together like pieces of a puzzle.

There are obstacles and dangers to a minister in the work of ministry. You may be so busy helping others that you don’t take time for your own prayer, Bible study, and meditation. (I Cor. 9:27) There are dangers in counseling women. Many good men have fallen into temptation and it has ruined their lives, their marriages, and their ministry. If you are going to counsel a woman, you should have your secretary there, or preferably your wife. This is one of those times that a preacher and his wife as a team working together to counsel would be good.

The office of elder is the highest position in the church to which a man can attain. It is a goal that all should seek after, though only a few good men will ever attain it in their lives. Even if you realize that you can not qualify, it is a good goal for godly living for all Christian men. The qualification for the wives is also a good goal for all Christian women to strive toward. “It takes a congregation at least 20 years to grow a good crop of elders.”

There are some results from trusting God that we need to consider:

Christ-centered life

Empowered by the Holy Spirit

Opportunity to Introduce Others to Christ

Have a Prayer Life

Trust and Obey God

Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Faithfulness, Goodness

All things work together for good for those who love God.

We walk down many roads in life: The Road to Damascus (road of spiritual awakening), The Jericho Road (road of service), the Via Dolorosa (road of sorrow and pain)

“When life knocks us down to our knees, we find we are in a position to pray”. – Ethel Barrymore

Some Rules of the Pulpit:

Never let anything distract you.

Don’t leave the pulpit unless necessary (illness)

Dress appropriately for the sermon message (check out “modest and modesty” in Vines)

Never hide behind a pulpit to air your pet peeves.

Use good grammar. (Practice on your grammar in speaking, your inflection and intonation.)

Don’t worry about the delivery of your message, if you have prepared yourself properly for it, the Holy Spirit will guide you.

Don’t lean on the podium.

Don’t force your gestures.

Do keep good eye contact with the congregation.

Do try to act like you mean what you are saying. If it’s your sermon, you will be able to express yourself well.

Have passion in your preaching!

Don’t spend time majoring in minors.

Don’t preach on hobbies (your personal preference of topic that you preach to death)

A marriage is either going to be a “Duet or Duel”. The wedding is 10 times harder to do than a funeral. Marriage is a union. If the one of the engaged couples can’t get the other one to go to church with them BEFORE they are married, you probably won’t get them to go AFTERWARD, either!

16. There are three ways to avoid laziness as a preacher:

Keep busy working with people, on sermons and lessons, etc.
Have a calendar of events for the day to do and do those things. (lists)
Use all of the time during your day wisely (kill time by working it to death)

17. Three rules to avoid laziness in sermon preparation:

Take notes while you read.
Have a set time to work on your sermons.
Be eager in wanting to write a sermon that will help the church people.

18. Avoid laziness in your spiritual life:

If you are lazy in your spiritual life, the congregation will see your spiritual laziness. It will show in the poor quality of your sermons and lessons.
If you are lazy in your spiritual life, it sets a wrong example that the congregation will follow. If you are spiritually lazy, the congregation will be also.
“Napoleon said, ‘I may lose battles, but no one will ever see me lose minutes, either by over-confidence or laziness.’” – from college class notes

Dealing with your personal religious library: buy only books that you will really need, such as concordances. You should always go for “quality” not the “quantity” of books in your preaching library.

20.”In the spiritual pilgrimage of the years there is loneliness, but thank God for the discipline of His service wherein we can grow.” – from college class notes

21.“If we are not to flee the Christian ministry and resign, we should not ask for a life of ease, but hardship, for our symbol is not a cushion but a cross! We shall have to fight against this sort of thing all of our lives, but Christ is our ally in the work and the fire can ever be kept burning on the altar; it need never go out.” – from college class notes

“We need to realize that we must be good men, for the office does not sanctify the person but the person the office." – from college class notes concerning the work of the minister as a divine vocation.
“Never forget…We are not paid to preach: we are given an allowance to be free to preach. We are not in the employ of the church, but the servants of God and your ‘servants for Christ’s sake.’” – from college class notes

“Keep in mind the divine calling in the pressure of daily work in God’s service. The temptation to give up is ever near when the minister sees little return for his effort. Or, when he is challenged by one of the world who makes light of his work. John Wesley…’Your business is not to preach so many sermons, and to take care of this or that society, but to save as many souls as you can.’” – from college class notes

“Never forget the Power of the Gospel which we preach. Rom. 1:16 If we have any doubts as to whether the Gospel of Christ is equal to the great task which He claims for it, then we should not enter the pulpit.” – from college class notes

A man named Adam Clarke has written a series of Bible commentaries around the year 1800. He is not from the restoration movement, but he was a lifelong preacher who had a pretty good grasp of what the duties of a preacher are. I am including his “A LETTER TO A PREACHER” as a supplemental page to this lesson for you to read. Turn to the next page, please. He is not necessarily scriptural on all points, but he still gives the essence of what it takes to make a preacher. His mention of being “merciful to your beast” (i.e. horse, donkey, or mule) pretty much dates him.

CONCLUSION: To properly close out this lesson, perhaps we should consider what the Apostle Paul told the young preacher Timothy what the work of the preacher is from 2 Timothy 4:2 NASB: “preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction.”

NOW GO THOU AND DO LIKEWISE!

Thank-you for taking this course, we only have two more sessions in this Intermediate Preaching class.

“A LETTER TO A PREACHER”

By Adam Clarke

(Written in 1797)

You are engaged in the most important work in the universe. Your call is not just to instruct men in doctrine and duties; but to convert them from sin to holiness.

1. The spirit in which the minister should do his work.

1. Be diligent, never while away the time.

2. Be serious, let your motto be “Holiness to the Lord.”

3. Converse sparingly and cautiously with women; particularly young women.

4. Believe evil of no one - - take heed. (Remember the judge is always supposed to be on the prisoner’s side”

5. Speak evil of no one.

6. As the preacher of the Gospel you should be the servant of all.

7. “Be ashamed of nothing but sin; not of fetching wood or drawing water, if time permit, nor of cleansing your own shoes, nor those of your neighbors.”

8. Be punctual, do everything exactly on time.

9. Remember your chief work is to save souls.

10. “It is not your business to preach so many times, merely, or take care of this or that society; but to save as many souls as you can; to bring as many sinners as you can to repentance, and with all your power to build them up in that “holiness, without which they cannot see the Lord.”

2. Similar advices relative to preaching.

1. Never disappoint a congregation.

2. Begin and end precisely at the time appointed.

3. Always suit your subject to your audience.

4. Choose the plainest texts you can.

5. Take care not to ramble.

6. Be sparing in allegorizing or spiritualizing.

7. Take care of anything awkward or affected in your gestures, phrases or pronunciation.

8. Beware of clownishness.

9. “Be merciful to your beast; not only ride moderately, but see that your horse is rubbed, fed and bedded.”

10 Everywhere recommend cleanliness. “Cleanliness is next to godliness.”

111. Concerning your behavior in the pulpit.

1. Go from your knees to the Chapel. Carry your authority to declare the Gospel of Christ, not in your hand but in your heart.

2. Never assume an air of importance while in the pulpit, you stand in an awful place and God hates proud men.

3. Avoid all quaint and fantastic attitudes.

4. Do not gaze about on your congregation, before you begin your work.

5. Endeavor to gain the attention of your congregation.

6. The pulpit appears to me analogous to the box in which the witnesses are sworn in a court of justice, “To say the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.”

7. While praying keep your eyes closed. Speak as to be heard. Address the Diety simply.

8. Read your text distinctly - - have it well in mind and cover material carefully.

9. In whatever way you handle your text, take care, when you have exhausted the matter of it, not to go over it again.

10. As to the matter of your preaching, I will only say, preach Jesus, preach His atonement, preach the love that caused Him to die for the redemption of a lost world; and through Him, proclaim a free, full, and present salvation, provided for every human soul; and God will bless your labours wherever you go.