How to prepare a sermon
I am sure we have all heard that a preacher only works one day a week…As a Pastor, I assure you that a man called by God cannot get everything done in one day that needs done!
I have also been asked how I prepare a sermon… and how much time it takes…To do it right it takes me about 10-15 hours a week for one sermon.The following describes what I usually do through the week to get my sermon together…
I usually know 3 to 4 weeks ahead of what text I am going to use…
I only preach one “sermon” a week..Wednesday evenings and Sunday evenings are Bible study. Both are very interactive in which I am teaching the church how to study the Bible.. we pick a text, and just have fun tearing it apart to learn from it.. some weeks we go 3-4 weeks on the same verse! The church loves this… and they are growing..
But…This is my usual sermon building week….
Monday (my usual day off, yeah right!! lol)- Pray, read, pray, re-read, pray re-read the text in my quiet time.
Tuesday Start picking it apart by words, context, cultural influence, other scriptures…read commentaries..other sermons..Etc…
Wednesday… devoted to Wednesday night bible study… but in the back of my mind, looking for illustrations from real life…
Thursday… Back to Sermon…. Outline the meat of the sermon… sometimes 3 (or more) pointer.. sometimes an acrostic… sometimes storyline if preaching on a biblical character..etc
Friday... complete outline with opening illustration and closing applicational illustration.. I also start putting together my powerpoint slides based on my outline…
Saturday… complete powerpoint with transitions, pictures, etc… Print out slides and go over with my son either Sat night, or early Sunday morning.. He runs my powerpoint while I preach away…
Sunday… Go over sermon early… make sure everything works… go to church, and watch the Holy Spirit work…Sunday afternoon… work on Sunday night Bible Study…But usually I just bring up a topic or text, and I never know where the church will go with it.. so I don’t prepare too much except to learn the definitions of the words, context, etc… This keeps me on my toes!
Thank God for e-sword.. I have it on the wall as we discuss the scriptures… so if we have a question I can’t answer, we dig into it…
Then on top of all this, I teach free guitar lessons at church, teach a Sunday School class, help direct our association’s youth camp this year, hospital visitations, other visitations… phone calls, (both pleasant and not so pleasant), emails (both pleasant and unpleasant), counseling, checking on people that miss a couple Sundays, getting my announcements together for the Bulletin, other administrative work, associational meetings, committee meetings, helping with the youth, events with the activity group, planning for the future events, making sure the church is staying true to it’s vision statement, plus all the other pastor duties that always need done!
For entertainment, I like TVland, and computers.
Could you imagine doing all of this in one day?
But we all know the preacher only works one day a week…
Saturday, September 29, 2007
Some more...
Are you the Image of Christ?
When God finishes with us we will be the image of Christ.
Here are a few questions to ask yourself:
Are your eyes Christ like? Do you look at the same things Christ would? Do you look at other people the same way Christ would look at them? Do they see Mercy in your eyes? Or do they see hatred?
Are your Ears Christ like? Do you listen to Gossip? Do you listen to the things Christ would? Do you even listen at all… He that has ears, let him hear
Is your Mouth Christ like? Do you spread Gossip? Do you say words you shouldn’t? Do you control your tongue? Do you speak the words of Christ to others?
Are you hands Christ like? If you were to look upon Christ’s hands you would see scars left there by those nails… scars that now symbolize the Love He had for us…When others see your hands do they symbolize the love you have for them… IOWS, do you help others?
What about your feet? The Bible says that the preacher’s feet are beautiful…. {My wife disagrees} lol Seriously, the Bible says that because we use our feet to spread the gospel to the world…Do you spread the gospel while you are on the go?
These are just 5 areas in which we can become more Christ like…. there are many more areas… but I am convinced that if Christians would just master these areas the world would be a different place!
Su-she the fish
A Story…There once was aGoldfish named Su-she….(an exchange fish from Japan)Su-she never was satisfied…She always wanted more.You could feed her 3 times a day, and she wanted fed 4 times…You could buy her new gravel, and she wanted marbles…You could buy her a new house to put in her bowl, and she wanted the castle..But the one thing Su-she dreamed about…Was…Living outside that bowl!Day by day she watched people through her little glass window…They could walk from room to room,They could talk to each other..They could walk out the door..And she could hear them talk about going to the mall.And there she was…Stuck in a bowl…All she could do was swim in circles!AlthoughOn Sundays she would pretend she was her favorite NASCAR Driver,Tony Stewart…She loved the color of Tony’s Car!!And she couldn’t wait until Sundays…As the race was going on, she would pretend she was Tony…She would go around and around until she hit the side of the bowl!!! Then she would try to blame someone else!!!But ANYWAYOne day she devised a plan…
She heard her owners talk about going to the mall…So she thought to herself….”Today I am going to be a free fish!!!, no longer will I be shackled to this bowl full of water… If they can be free, I deserve to be free also… So when they leave…I am out of here!!”
Sure enough…Within the hourThe owners left to go to the mall…
Su-she thought to herself, “Here’s my chance!”
So she backed up as far as she could go into the lower corner of her bowl…Then as fast as she could, she swam towards the top of the water…Then….Up and out of the bowl she flew!!!Su-she felt the exhilarating feeling of flying for the first time in her life…
She began singing,
“Free at last, Free at last, Thank God almighty, I’m free at last!!!” But then…Ka plunk!!!Su-she hit the floor!!There she lay gasping for air!
And what she thought was freedom…Was actually Death!!!She forgot about one thing….
The Cat!!!
The lesson here: Sometimes we think life would be better “If only ________” (You fill in the blank)
But when we get what we think we want it is a whole lot worse than what we had.
Grass is not greener on the other side of the fence… it is an illusion!
When God finishes with us we will be the image of Christ.
Here are a few questions to ask yourself:
Are your eyes Christ like? Do you look at the same things Christ would? Do you look at other people the same way Christ would look at them? Do they see Mercy in your eyes? Or do they see hatred?
Are your Ears Christ like? Do you listen to Gossip? Do you listen to the things Christ would? Do you even listen at all… He that has ears, let him hear
Is your Mouth Christ like? Do you spread Gossip? Do you say words you shouldn’t? Do you control your tongue? Do you speak the words of Christ to others?
Are you hands Christ like? If you were to look upon Christ’s hands you would see scars left there by those nails… scars that now symbolize the Love He had for us…When others see your hands do they symbolize the love you have for them… IOWS, do you help others?
What about your feet? The Bible says that the preacher’s feet are beautiful…. {My wife disagrees} lol Seriously, the Bible says that because we use our feet to spread the gospel to the world…Do you spread the gospel while you are on the go?
These are just 5 areas in which we can become more Christ like…. there are many more areas… but I am convinced that if Christians would just master these areas the world would be a different place!
Su-she the fish
A Story…There once was aGoldfish named Su-she….(an exchange fish from Japan)Su-she never was satisfied…She always wanted more.You could feed her 3 times a day, and she wanted fed 4 times…You could buy her new gravel, and she wanted marbles…You could buy her a new house to put in her bowl, and she wanted the castle..But the one thing Su-she dreamed about…Was…Living outside that bowl!Day by day she watched people through her little glass window…They could walk from room to room,They could talk to each other..They could walk out the door..And she could hear them talk about going to the mall.And there she was…Stuck in a bowl…All she could do was swim in circles!AlthoughOn Sundays she would pretend she was her favorite NASCAR Driver,Tony Stewart…She loved the color of Tony’s Car!!And she couldn’t wait until Sundays…As the race was going on, she would pretend she was Tony…She would go around and around until she hit the side of the bowl!!! Then she would try to blame someone else!!!But ANYWAYOne day she devised a plan…
She heard her owners talk about going to the mall…So she thought to herself….”Today I am going to be a free fish!!!, no longer will I be shackled to this bowl full of water… If they can be free, I deserve to be free also… So when they leave…I am out of here!!”
Sure enough…Within the hourThe owners left to go to the mall…
Su-she thought to herself, “Here’s my chance!”
So she backed up as far as she could go into the lower corner of her bowl…Then as fast as she could, she swam towards the top of the water…Then….Up and out of the bowl she flew!!!Su-she felt the exhilarating feeling of flying for the first time in her life…
She began singing,
“Free at last, Free at last, Thank God almighty, I’m free at last!!!” But then…Ka plunk!!!Su-she hit the floor!!There she lay gasping for air!
And what she thought was freedom…Was actually Death!!!She forgot about one thing….
The Cat!!!
The lesson here: Sometimes we think life would be better “If only ________” (You fill in the blank)
But when we get what we think we want it is a whole lot worse than what we had.
Grass is not greener on the other side of the fence… it is an illusion!
Posts from Previous Blog
Hello all. I deleted my previous blog due to personal reasons..
So for a few weeks, I will post some of my previous blog's stuff just to get it here...
Thank you for taking the time to read...
Prayer
I can’t believe it has been this long writing a post!!I have got to write more…
But we have been busy at church.We have started a small group study on prayer on Tuesdays or Thursdays at 1 pm.We are using John Maxwell’s book, “Partners in Prayer”And we have seen a lot of prayers answered over the last 4 weeks…Cancers disappear, relationships healed, and church problems vanish…All because of prayer.
Prayer is powerful…
Praise God!!!!!
more later
So for a few weeks, I will post some of my previous blog's stuff just to get it here...
Thank you for taking the time to read...
Prayer
I can’t believe it has been this long writing a post!!I have got to write more…
But we have been busy at church.We have started a small group study on prayer on Tuesdays or Thursdays at 1 pm.We are using John Maxwell’s book, “Partners in Prayer”And we have seen a lot of prayers answered over the last 4 weeks…Cancers disappear, relationships healed, and church problems vanish…All because of prayer.
Prayer is powerful…
Praise God!!!!!
more later
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