One of the methods I am using now to keep my preaching fresh is to use the gift I believe I have been given. What I mean is this.
Often I will read a passage of scripture, and as I am reading it, thoughts come into my mind of how I would preach it, what I would say.
It sometimes frustrates me when I sit in front of an empty screen and that same sense of ‘flow’ does not come.
So what I have done lately is print off the scripture (thankyou Biblegateway) and take that piece of paper into the Ministry Centre here and actually start preaching from it! No commentary, no internet, no computer. I will jot down my notes from that 10 or 15 minutes onto the printed out scripture page.
It has really helped me use the gift of preaching I believe I have into my preparation time.
Some of my best sermons have been preached without spending much time in front of the screen – just spending time in prayer and the word. Good prep, Mark.
I’ll bite! I witnessed Alex preach powerfully in India, with little preparation.
Mark, I’ve been pondering a couple of things in relation to this. Usually when I prepare to preach, I preach it at home as I go, often as I’m praying about it – and then the preaching flows. I suppose I then go back to the computer screen. I know when I have authority to preach because of the anointing I have (my sense of the Lord’s presence) when I prepare in this way, even if I don’t ‘feel’ anything in particular when I preach it for real. Sometimes I preach the message quite a few times, until the ideas and language are embedded – then I don’t need the notes much!
I’ve tried making audio recordings of ideas that come to me too, instead of writing things down. Just recently I’ve been wondering about the merits of speech-to-text software, and thinking that this could be a possibility for preachers!? (In one church I used to work at, the Senior Pastor would simply preaching to his secretary who took everything down in shorthand, and type his sermon for him. I don’t suppose many pastors have that sort of luxury!)
But taking a different tack. I would say the way to keep the preaching fresh is to keep our relationship with the Lord fresh – the indwelling Word in particular. If (the word of) Christ dwells in our hearts richly by faith (Eph 3.17, Col 3.16) then our preaching is likely to be powerful and effective.
And then there’s the practice of preaching to imaginary crowds like trees, or pictures of mobs of people pinned to the wall 🙂
Just some thoughts for discussion!
Some good thoughts there Steve, thanks.
there is something different about the discipline or rigour of preaching once a week…every week.
The need to keep it fresh tightens when you are preaching regularly…