Need Tips on Preaching

[JT912]

So praise God I'm excited to be an associate pastor for my church and God has opened some doors to preach but I have issues with it. I pray and pray and pray I hear God speaking but then when it comes to preaching it's like all of that inspiration and study during the week evades me in the pulpit. I understand and always pray that the Holy Spirit takes over so I feel like my heart is in the right place but there just isn't a flow when I speak. It's awkward embarrassing and just painfully humiliating. My pastor says God will give me the words to say and just to let Jesus use you but what do you do when that doesn't happen? I don't doubt my vocation or calling and feel and know that God has me in this position but I don't know how to deal with this. I understand that I need more practice and maybe I'm just being to hard on myself but I'm just posting here to see what you all think. So if you preach with fire and passion effortlessly help a brother out lol. How do you all prepare before preaching?

 

[Willie T]

May I ask why you are desiring to teach with "fire and passion"? Would you be able to direct us to one of Jesus' teachings that you feel had that particular kind of delivery?

 

[JT912]

Because I am a passionate person and passionate about the gospel of Jesus Christ! All throughout scripture there are examples of Jesus being passionate but most importantly if you ask me God demonstrates His great passion for us by stepping out of eternity temporarily leaving divinity behind to reconcile the entire human race back to Himself! That takes some extreme passionate love to do something like that. So for me I understand Jesus' passion more so from what the bible teaches us about His passionate nature as opposed to scriptural examples within Jesus' ministry and that which is in the gospels. Jesus said to his disciples after he rose from the dead that He showed them all the places in scripture that testify about Himself so then that tells me that it would be a mistake to limit the revelation of Jesus' ministry through the gospels since the gospels are only a fraction of what is contained throughout the whole bible.

 

[thatforumguy77]

First time preacher. Verily, verily!

Well, you should remember that preaching, first of all, is an extended testimony with the intention to teach, rebuke, exhort, or all of the above. As such, it is as much a personal revelation to the speaker, as it is a revelation to the listeners. About teaching in general however, read the book of Titus 2. Paul teaches his young protege on how to teach.

In everything set them an example by doing what is good. In your teaching show integrity, seriousness and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned, so that those who oppose you may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say about us... These, then, are the things you should teach. Encourage and rebuke with all authority. Do not let anyone despise you. (Titus 2:7-8, 15)
​

Fire and Passion is optional, it depends on the type of person you are. I know good pastors who speak slow and deliberate, while some speak in monotonous drawls, while some speak in fiery arguments. Yet they remain good not because of such, but because of what they speak. And what they speak is undoubtably God's Word.

Practical advice though, in public speaking:
1. Choose a subject you are passionate about. Think about it. Deliberate. The more passionate you are, the more you can address it with fire.
2. Prepare. Write it out, put it in a tablet, a piece of paper, in bullet form, and perhaps also put it in a powerpoint presentation. The small delays in changing frames and reading what you wrote in the screen gives you precious seconds to catch your thoughts.
3. Speak slowly and clearly. Precious seconds. Also, this is what Paul says about speaking Soundly, and Serious. There are some pastors that use jokes, but those are just used as punctuations in the speech. It is in the serious moments that God's spirit can convict a sinner to repent.
4. Prepare a few stories that would best portray your subject. Make sure it is relate-able. Some can be funny, some serious. That said, don't joke if you don't have the talent for it. Or else: awkward silence.
5. Address the audience directly. If you know someone in the audience, speak as if you were speaking to them. This allows contact. Choose three, one in your left, one in the center, one in your right.
6. Have authority, as Paul says. Now, don't misunderstand this authority. Don't use the pulpit to boss around, but speak as if you know what you are talking about. Don't give them doubt that you are anything but authentic.
7. Empathize. Remember that you must balance encouragement and rebuke. I know some pastors that like rebuking too much, even when it's the time to encourage a discouraged Christian. Suffice it to say that their preaching would have an ill effect because of that lack of empathy.
8. Pray. Yeah. Very important this one.

 

[tturt]

The preparation should also be spiritual. Just beforehand, spend some time alone for reflection with Yahweh including repenting and asking Him to cleanse you, guide you.

 

[contango]

So praise God I'm excited to be an associate pastor for my church and God has opened some doors to preach but I have issues with it. I pray and pray and pray I hear God speaking but then when it comes to preaching it's like all of that inspiration and study during the week evades me in the pulpit. I understand and always pray that the Holy Spirit takes over so I feel like my heart is in the right place but there just isn't a flow when I speak. It's awkward embarrassing and just painfully humiliating. My pastor says God will give me the words to say and just to let Jesus use you but what do you do when that doesn't happen? I don't doubt my vocation or calling and feel and know that God has me in this position but I don't know how to deal with this. I understand that I need more practice and maybe I'm just being to hard on myself but I'm just posting here to see what you all think. So if you preach with fire and passion effortlessly help a brother out lol. How do you all prepare before preaching?

I've preached once in my life, so my experience is limited. (I say that so you know I'm not speaking from a place of being a regular preacher.)

When I was asked if I'd consider preaching I felt like a deer caught in the headlights. So I discussed it with the minister of the church in question and we agreed that I would speak that coming Sunday. Between being asked and talking with the minister I spent several hours in reflection and prayer regarding what I believed the church needed to hear (it's a long story leading up to me being asked to speak, which I'll spare you). When I spoke with the minister about my proposed subject matter he was happy, and so the invite was confirmed.

As a courtesy to the people listening the very least I wanted to prepare was an outline of the points I wanted to make. If I've got 60 people listening to me speak, 10 minutes of waffle means a total of 10 hours of wasted time. Having an outline also makes it much less likely that I'll digress and lose the points I wanted to make.

Since it was my first time preaching I wanted to make sure I had enough material that I wouldn't be returning to my seat after 5 minutes, and also make sure I wouldn't still be on point 3 out of 17 after an hour. So I made a list of bullet points, then wrote the text around them, and printed it. Then I read one sheet out loud and timed myself, to give an idea of how long my total sermon would last. That gave me two benefits - firstly that I had a good idea how long I'd be speaking and that it was within the guidelines I had discussed with the minister (in this particular case, to try and keep it to 30 minutes or so, and to make sure the content was material rather than padding if I was going to go much over 30 minutes), and secondly that if I lost my train of thought I had a literal word-for-word text I could use as a fallback. That fallback option would mean I could read the exact words on the page, even if only for long enough to gather myself and continue.

It's good to let the Holy Spirit work through you but I believe that if we have ample time to prepare something we owe it to our listeners to prepare. It may be that God will guide us to say something else, to add or remove points, or possibly even speak on something totally different. That said God gave us minds for a reason and it seems to me to be rather presumptuous to walk into a situation having chosen not to prepare for it, assuming that God will pick up the slack we created. I don't doubt for a minute that if we're put on the spot the Holy Spirit will give us what we need but when we have an opportunity to prepare I believe we should take it.

I've seen preachers who can talk for 30-60 minutes, holding the attention of their congregation, and do so with few if any references to written notes. I suspect when they first preached they referred to notes far more frequently.

The whole "fire and passion" thing is also something to be a little careful with. It's better to be Scripturally correct than passionately wrong. It's better to deliver a message that's packed with Scriptural truth but in a faltering manner, than confidently deliver a message that is Scripturally incorrect.

Whatever message you give should be given in love, and if you have love for the people you are addressing there should be a degree of passion evident merely in the fact you want what is best for your audience.

 

[AWorkInProgress]

So praise God I'm excited to be an associate pastor for my church and God has opened some doors to preach but I have issues with it. I pray and pray and pray I hear God speaking but then when it comes to preaching it's like all of that inspiration and study during the week evades me in the pulpit. I understand and always pray that the Holy Spirit takes over so I feel like my heart is in the right place but there just isn't a flow when I speak. It's awkward embarrassing and just painfully humiliating. My pastor says God will give me the words to say and just to let Jesus use you but what do you do when that doesn't happen? I don't doubt my vocation or calling and feel and know that God has me in this position but I don't know how to deal with this. I understand that I need more practice and maybe I'm just being to hard on myself but I'm just posting here to see what you all think. So if you preach with fire and passion effortlessly help a brother out lol. How do you all prepare before preaching?

Congrats on your appointment. That sounds amazing.

From one preacher to another.
I haven't done anything on the scale that you are doing, but as one preacher to another. I would say give yourself time to find yourself as a preacher. It's not that your lacking or less than others. This is something new and just takes time to get a feel for it.

If your anything like me, I can harder on myself than God is. Jesus is far more forgiving that I am to myself at times. Sometimes we have to learn to let go of control, and just surrender the expectations and outcomes. Really when the Holy Spirit takes over, you will preach and it will be something that people that congregation is going to need to hear. For it's God's voice speaking through you.

Finding the burden within
I didn't asked to be a preacher, nor did I want it. Yet in depths of my heart is a heavy burden, a deep hurt, of knowing what's it like to live a hollow life. A life of never knowing truth about 'who I am?', 'what I am?, 'why did this happen to me?'. No one in my life to be that teacher to show me the way to how to live life. When I hear people who are lost talk, I see my pain in them. I am literally compelled(in the beginning I could hold still in my chair) to preach and encourage them to the truth. This burden is what compelled me to preach for the first time during out reach to the homeless. I have been the guy in the background all my life, and my burden help me to find the strength stand up before bunch of people and give the Word I was given.

I share this because I believe God has put a burden inside all of us. Including you, that burden that compels you to fight and stand up for those don't know what they can do or who to go to. I encourage you to pray that the Lord reveal that burden to you, that deep hurt inside. When I preach I am not trying to be polite and share simple things, but I am fighting for their hearts and souls who can be hurting or very lost, or very blind by what is in front of them. I believe the Lord put that fighting spirit within you too.

Pray for the anointing
Just remembered, pray for the anointing to fall on you. We are created beings, a creation is a solution to a problem on earth. As the Father anointed his Son to be King of kings, and Lord of lords. He has put something in you and chosen you to be a solution to a problem on this earth. There is something inside of you that only you can bring to the table, and combine with the anointing of the Holy Spirit. God will powerfully use you to usher what you are called to do in. That inner hurt combine with the Holy Spirit leads you to what God fully put in you to do. When you combine it with the anointing, lives will be changed.

Be open to leading of the Holy Spirit
Lastly, follow the leading of the Holy Spirit. Don't be afraid to start in prayer and just open your heart to God before the congregation. Sometimes that well laid out message is not what God's going to put in your mouth. I seen my Pastor being lead down a different path than what he came in with. In doing so the Lord reached hurting people. Sometimes the Lord will put in our heart to make that alter call. Where everything seems normal on the surface. God will nudge you in the heart that someone needs prayer bad.

Conclusion
As long as you are where the Lord needs you to be. Being broken before the Lord, and praying for the anointing to fall. The Lord is going to do wonderful things in and through you. Yet always be open to where the leading the Holy Spirit is taking you. God might have something extra or different in mind that we do. Also be patient with yourself, if you are where you God placed you. It's not a matter if your going to preach, it's a matter of when God will take over. Just hang in there.

 

[iambren]

1 Reflect on what God has been speaking to your heart lately.

2 Go on a walk,take in His nature,often He will bring ideas to you.

3 Realize you will communicate the Word YOUR way;be who you are.

4 When you have your "burden" or "message" ruminate on it.

5 Find several scriptural areas where your idea is represented.

6 Read that scripture over and over/make a 3,4 point out line.

7 See in that outline experiences in your life that show's it's truth.

Now preach! Preach the outline,breath life into it's word,and be open to the Holy Spirit to add/subtract from the sermon you give.

 

[Mazvita]

I have enjoyed all the sharing. Thanks I will also put them to good us.

 

[OzSpen]

If you expect to deliver clear, biblical messages that connect with people with the information you gave in this post, I'd say that there are some missing elements.

As a beginning preacher, I would recommend four crucial elements to successful preaching - and I've been preaching for around 50 years:

1. Always preach with a full manuscript. Very few beginning preachers that I know can preach ad lib from notes. I still use a full manuscript.
2. Make a commitment early in your preaching ministry to become an expository preacher and preach your way through books of the Bible. Only do topical preaching for the occasional sermon when needed to address particular issues. The very best preaching manual I have ever read and I use it for training preachers is Bryan Chapell, Christ-Centered Preaching (Baker Academic 2005). Bryan teaches how to 'redeem the expository sermon' and part of this involves learning to gain people's attention, illustrate and draw applications.
3. Join a public speaking club so that you become a more competent public speaker. In my country these clubs include Toastmasters and Rostrum. I've lived and studied in the USA, Canada and Australia and I've heard some awful preachers. I'm afraid to admit it that there are too many incompetent preachers in pulpits who do not know how to prepare messages and then present them with confidence and clarity. Confidence and clarity some with practice and much prayer.
4. Do not bore God's people with God's word by being an incompetent public speaker. I've started a new thread in this Directory to try to address this issue with the title, 'It's a sin to bore God's people with God's Word'.

In Christ,
Oz

So praise God I'm excited to be an associate pastor for my church and God has opened some doors to preach but I have issues with it. I pray and pray and pray I hear God speaking but then when it comes to preaching it's like all of that inspiration and study during the week evades me in the pulpit. I understand and always pray that the Holy Spirit takes over so I feel like my heart is in the right place but there just isn't a flow when I speak. It's awkward embarrassing and just painfully humiliating. My pastor says God will give me the words to say and just to let Jesus use you but what do you do when that doesn't happen? I don't doubt my vocation or calling and feel and know that God has me in this position but I don't know how to deal with this. I understand that I need more practice and maybe I'm just being to hard on myself but I'm just posting here to see what you all think. So if you preach with fire and passion effortlessly help a brother out lol. How do you all prepare before preaching?

 

[sinning machine]

GOD DOESN’T CHOOSE PANSIES TO DO HIS WORK


"And as they departed, Jesus began to say unto the multitudes concerning John, ‘What went ye out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken with the wind? But what went you out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment [‘a man dressed in silks and satins?’—Williams Translation] behold, they that wear soft clothing [‘Behold they which are gorgeously appareled {dressed}, and live delicately {in luxury}, Luke 7:25], are in kings’ houses" (Matt. 11:7-8).

Is this not a taunting, sarcastic remark? He asked them what spectacle they expected to see out there in the wilderness—a blade of grass swaying in the wind? Some patsy that would be blown away by the softest summer breeze? Jesus was asking these religious sophisticates whether they thought a real man of God would look like some prim and prissy, prudish, punctilious, polished, patrician of the kings court? Is THAT what kind of a man you went out to see? Someone who would never get his fingernails dirty?

The religious leaders were offended by the rough presence of John the Baptist. But what is the Truth? What kind of a man was this John the Baptizer who was


"…clothed with camel’s hair, and with girdle of a skin about his loins; and he did eat locusts and wild honey" (Mark 1:6)?

Here’s the Truth:


"For I say unto you, Among those that are born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist…" (Luke 7:28).

 

[OzSpen]

GOD DOESN’T CHOOSE PANSIES TO DO HIS WORK

So why are there some very poor preachers in some pulpits? Are you suggesting they are 'pansies'? What's a pansy in your language?

 

[sinning machine]

So why are there some very poor preachers in some pulpits?

(a) Perhaps they correctly don't preach the un-scriptural tithing doctrine.

(b) GOD has not chosen them.

Are you suggesting they are 'pansies'?

(a) No

(b) yes

What's a pansy in your language?

Someone more concerned with appearance than substance

Here ponder this


TODAY’S RECRUITS ARE TOMORROW’S HERETICS


"Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell [gehenna] than yourselves" (Matt. 23:15).

This is pure sarcasm. Jesus said that they would scour the whole planet for just one convert that would then continue their heresy with TWICE the vigor of their teachers.

Who are the scribes and Pharisees today ?

 

[jimbattle]

2Ti 2:15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

2Ti 4:2 Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.

 

[parsley]

Congratulations on the job!

Great advice above.

1. Preparing heavily with research and practice will make you feel more relaxed -- owning the information so you can focus on multiple things in delivery. (The projector that's not working, the woman who's coughing, the tie you tied too tight, the rumble in your stomach).

2. Prepare by praying and even fasting during the week before -- that God will move in and through the people, not just through you.

3. Love. Put the word in your mind while you speak. No matter what comes out of your mouth, or how -- if you have love, people will read that as concern and acceptance and honesty. It is not just words that you deliver, but God's intent toward His people.

4. Breathe deep, shoulders down and back, head up, gut in... whatever physically you can do to relax and stand tall will put you at ease. If you start to tense up or slouch, people will see it and start giving you mistrusting looks, and then you will respond to them by coming across as less authoritative. Be bold, relaxed be yourself.

5. As others said above, don't focus on passion. You already have it. Trying too hard will appear fake. Deliver a message that means something. Remember that the Holy Spirit is not usually loud, so the sign of the Spirit moving among people does not need to be loud. Was the voice of God in the storm. (Watch an effective kindergarten teacher some time -- they can hold attention with a mysterious whisper, when another teacher can't get attention by yelling.)

6. Give people something to figure out. They want to be involved too, and challenged, but the format doesn't allow for much. So instead of just spouting out facts, give them a controversial question or something they don't fully know the answer to already. Many congregants already know a lot (not all), so it helps to engage them all.

7. Allow for the fact that you might not feel as anointed as you prepared to. There were times I've been in a form of ministry up front and God was clearly working in people, but I was not "feeling it" -- but it still seemed it needed to be that way.

There is a job to do that requires attention to multiple things, and if the people leading get caught up in the moment, they stop facilitating and become inwardly-focused. The people need a coordinator who is attentive, not just inspired.

8. Stand at the pulpit during the week. Get a feel for the view and position, so it doesn't freak you out when you need to look composed.

9. "It's awkward embarrassing and just painfully humiliating." Admitting that brings freedom. Reading how others feel that can be freeing too. I am encouraged by stories of famous singers who vomited before going on stage, preachers who slept the rest of the day, CEO's who cried in the rest room .... it's okay to be weak. And the pros still keep doing it!

Speaking exposes us to criticism, reveals too much of our person, makes us vulnerable, makes it appear we have self-appointed ourselves as experts.

​

But there is a job to do, and by God, you want to do it!