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THE SERMON TEXT

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ken preaching

 

 

 

 

 

 

(MORMON SCIENTIST DISPROVE MORMONISM THROUGH DNA,

AND THE LACK OF LINGUISTIC,AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svfxSscxh8o)

By Ken Blue

Several fallacies surround the idea that the text determines the sermon. It does not. For example, if you are going to preach a wedding, you already know the occasion and the subject. You now search for a text to support the event. The same is true with the funeral. You begin your search for a text you feel appropriately supports your purpose. When you preselect a topic to teach, you then search for scripture to support it. In each case, the event or topic dictates the scripture you will use.
Almost every sermon by Dr. Jack Hyles was a topical message. It would be difficult to find a sermon by the great Charles Spurgeon that is not topical in nature. The 500 sermons by DeWitt Talmage are all topical. Most of the messages by the prophets, by the Lord Jesus and by the Apostle Paul were topical. So, the assumption that the best method is the verse by verse expository method will not stand the test of Scripture.

Having said that, let us not assume that book studies or expository preaching should be neglected. They should not. I believe every book in the Bible should be taught and preaches. Doctrinal and word studies are important. The problem facing many pastors is that they have not learned how to make these studies relevant and helpful to the believers or the lost. They are dispensers of information but not agents of transformation.

When preaching books of the Bible, it best to look at the paragraphs within the chapter and then seek for the one point the Holy Spirit is teaching. The topic should be extracted from the paragraph; the surrounding verses will support your topic and purpose for the message.

Some books do not lend themselves to the above method. Two of these are Leviticus and Proverbs. When dealing with books like these, it is best to look for a topic and then cross-reference to other passages within the book to support the topic or subject.

For the beginning pastor, it is best to choose the smaller books to teach. Stay out of the deep waters until you learn to swim. Don’t be a parrot, simply regurgitating what others have said. Before you study for your sermon, pray and ask God to show you things He wants you to emphasize. The average preacher is preaching in the third person, at people, not to them. What I mean is, he stands before others telling them about people and events that have no relevance, significance or bearing on their daily lives.

As you can see, the text may or may not determine the sermon. If one chooses the topical method only, people will not understand the structure and dispensational nature of God’s Word. So, mix it up. Unless a pastor has mastered the expository method of preaching, he must take care, least he become too “teachy” and stunt the growth of his members and membership growth.

ALBERT BARNS ON PREACHING

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arrors target

Posted By Ken Blue

Many preachers have no objective for the sermons they preach, other than to preach the sermon. They have no thought-out purpose, thus they expect little or no results. They are seldom disappointed. This article, written by Albert Barns, deals with the skill and preciseness that every pastor should learn to perfect as he asks the question, “Why am I selecting this subject, and what results do I expect from it?”

“Men who preach should endeavor to understand the nature of the mind and of the moral feelings, as really as he who would inflict a deadly wound should endeavor to understand enough about anatomy to know where the heart is, or he who administers medicine should endeavor to know what is adapted to remove certain diseases. And he who has no belief in the efficacy of truth to produce any effect, resembles one who should suppose that all knowledge of the human system was needless to him who wished and who should cut at random– to perform a surgical operations piously leaving it with God to direct the knife; or he who should go into a hospital of patients, and administer medicines indiscriminately-devoutly saying, that all healing must come from God, and that the use of medicine was only to show its own weakness! Thus many men seem to preach. Yet, for aught that appears, truth is just as wisely adapted to save the soul, as medicine is to heal the sick; and why, then, should not a preacher be as careful to study the nature of truths and its adaptedness to a particular end, as a student of the healing art is to understand the adaptedness of medicine to cure disease? The true way of preaching is, to feel that truth is adapted to the end in view; to select that which is best fitted for that end; to preach as if the whole result depended on getting that truth before the mind and into the heart, and then to leave the whole result with God–as a physicians with right feelings, will exert all his skill to save his patient, and then commit the whole question of life and health to God. He will be more likely to praise God intelligently who believes that he has wisely adapted a plan to the end in view, than he who believes that God works only at random.”-Barns Notes

 

THE POWER OF USING POWERPOINT

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powerpoint

 

 

 

 

 

 

By Ken Blue

 All appears quite on the home front. The brethren who were vehemently against PowerPoint have evidently seen the light, or retreated into a cave. There is no need for fear. There never was, but anything new terrifies the brethren, until they can convince others they came up with the idea. So, do thy self no harm.

 If your church is small, and you seldom have visitors, PowerPoint will be of little value to you. Most churches of a hundred or less operate as a family atmosphere. All the members know each other by name, they are one happy family, and many hope it stays that way. Everyone has access to the pastor, and he loves it. In addition, all the members bring their Bibles, and can find the books with ease. If you don’t have visitors, and your church is not growing, you may not need Power Point.

 On other hand, if you have visitors each Sunday, PowerPoint can be a great advantage, and should be used. Keep in mind that most visitors are self-conscious, and your church is a strange environment for them. They do not want to be pointed out, nor embarrassed as they fumble through the Bible in an attempt to keep up with the pastor. So, if you want your church to grow new converts, make it easy for visitors and new members to follow you. You want your visitors to return next Sunday. Give them a reason to return.

Wisdom will dictate that you put your sermon outline, sub points, and Bible verses on Power Point. The benefits of doing this far exceed your fears. It is better to make is easy for people to trust Christ than it is to try to teach them to find verses in the Bible before they are saved. Win them first, and then teach them. Preaching and teaching is an educational process. You should use every tool available to reinforce your teaching. Power Point, and handouts will do that.

Now, for those who fear that people will not learn how to find the books in the Bible, and that is the excuse many pastors use, the key is to not put the verses up on PowerPoint in the evening service. Visitors seldom attend these services.

Pastor seldom give it a thought that most believers in both Testaments did not have a Bible in their hand. The priest or the preacher read aloud, and the people listened. So, don’t get the idea that the Bible is a fetish that must be held in your hands. It is the Word of God, no matter how it is proclaimed.  

 

You should not throw the baby out with the bath water. Learn how to balance your ministry so you can best help those who attend. However, you should create handouts of your sermon, and let the people fill in the blanks. Yours is a teaching ministry. Let wisdom guide you instead of fear.

Creating an outline, and putting Bible verses for PowerPoint will require a little more effort on your part. However, the benefits far outweigh the time invested. Don’t allow PowerPoint paranoia  to paralyze you. I believe there are two reasons pastors refuse to do the above; it requires work, and they are lazy, they fear what other pastors will think and say.

 

THE SERMON

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THE SERMON

 

By Ken Blue

The sermon is never an end in itself, but rather, the means to an end. The question that should be asked concerning every sermon is, “what end do I want to achieve?” I am confident that the only goal of many pastors is to preach another sermon, because that is expected of him. Their only purpose is to promulgate the truth with no other objective in mind.

We must ask the question of ourselves, what do I want people to know, be, or do as a result of this message? The sermon should be developed in such a manner that the above will be achieved. The proposition, ( the point to be discussed or maintained in argument usually stated in sentence form near the outset), should be stated somewhere at the beginning of the sermon. Everything thereafter must support that purpose. Avoid making the sub-points little sermons. Each point must support the title of your sermon. The minor points under these should consist of supportive text and illustrations to illuminate the sermon purpose.

The five major parts of a sermon are:

1. The title of the message.

2. The text supporting the message.

3. The introduction to the message.

4. The body or argument of the message. (The argument will have from two to seven sub-points.)

5. The conclusion of the message.

If one is preaching through a book of the Bible, it will help if he finds a Bible with paragraph markings, and then develop the topic within the paragraph. Don’t assume that the more Scripture one has in a sermon, the more effective it will be. It is best to have one objective to accomplish, and then convince the people to accept it. A running commentary from verse to verse gives more information than one can digest.

Sermons fall into several categories. Most pastors use a computer today. I suggest that they create a sermon folder, and then create folders within it for each book study, topics, series, etc. Save your work for future use. You could also create a template, as below, with the five parts of a sermon, and then use it for each sermon you develop. I hope these thoughts help someone.

 

 Date:

Subject:

Topic:

 Title:

 Text:

Introduction:

OUTLINE:

I.            

A.          

B.           

II.          

A.          

B.           

III.        

A.          

B.

Conclusion:

SOME TIPS ON PREACHING

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By Ken Blue

Sometimes we confuse ourselves with the importance of the message. It is the message that is all important. I have seen men who were more in love with the telling of the thing, than they are with the thing they tell.

One young man prayed just before his sermon, “Lord, help me to be nothing as I preach.” An old saint on the front row was overheard saying, “Take it by faith, you are nothing.” Another young preacher bounced with pride  to the platform. On his way up, he slipped and fell. He hung his head in shame and embarrassment  as he came down. Someone told him if he had gone up the way he came down, he could have came down the way he went up.

There is no place in the pulpit for pride, arrogance, brashness, rudeness, or crudeness. Like John the Baptist, we are nothing more than a voice, and that involves wind.

The following article was provided to me by one of my sons. I should be a reminder to all of us.

“I had a professor one time… He said, ‘Class, you will forget almost everything I will teach you in here, so please remember this: that God spoke to Balaam through his ass, and He has been speaking through asses ever since. So, if God should choose to speak through you, you need not think too highly of yourself. And, if on meeting someone, right away you recognize what they are, listen to them anyway’.” ―Rich Mullins.

Some creatures make themselves asses. Some are born as such. Know the difference and go on with your ministry.