In Preaching Articles: "First Things First"

How Pastors And Parents Can Help Children Benefit From The Sermon

By Erik Raymond on Oct 13, 2025

Erik Raymond suggests some things he has done as both dad and pastor to help kids hear and understand the message in “big church.”

Tags: Forgiveness, Preaching, preaching

Pastors: The Ceo Has To Go

By Derek Vreeland on Aug 23, 2023

I feel the impulse to forsake the pastoral vocation of word and sacrament, prayer and disciple-making, in favor of becoming a CEO who gets things done.

Tags: liturgy, Theology, church and business, consumerism

10 Preaching Mistakes Everyone Can Avoid

By Jared Moore on Jun 8, 2020

If you want to help your hearers focus on God and think on God when they leave your sermon, here are 10 things that you cannot do.

Tags: Preaching, mistakes, preaching

Improve Your Preaching In 5 Easy Steps Right Now

By Erik Raymond on Aug 17, 2020

Every preacher wants to get better. Erik Raymond offers five things you can do right away to impact your next sermon.

Tags: Preaching

11 Mistakes That Take Your Preaching Focus Off Jesus

By Jared Moore on May 7, 2023

If you want to help your hearers focus on God and think on God when they leave your service, then here are 11 things that you cannot do.

Tags: Jesus, Preaching, mistakes, focus, preaching  (view more)  (view less)

How Smart Preachers Help Propagate Dumb Ideas

By Larry Osborne on Jun 11, 2021

Smart people can believe some really dumb things. What's worse--I think I've taught some of them from the pulpit.

Tags: advice, cliche, platitude, preaching, Preaching  (view more)  (view less)

If Your Church Is Drifting And Stuck, Should You Try To Change It From Within?

By Jonathan Herron on Jan 11, 2022

What do you do if you’re a frustrated support staff member of a visionless church? Do you try to change things from within?

Tags: Church and change, church planting, Church Death, pastoral leadership

Promote Jesus: Not Personality, Professionalism, Or Brand

By Joe Hoagland on Jan 17, 2022

The church can learn a lot from worldly business and marketing trends but many times churches and church leaders end up promoting the wrong thing.

Tags: Jesus, focus on GOD, Pastoral Character, church marketing

A Preaching Q&a With David Platt

By David Platt on Feb 14, 2025

Michael Duduit interviews David Platt about his sermon prep process and the most important things he has learned about preaching over the years.

Tags: Preaching, Learning, preaching

8 Ways To Make Your Church More Accessible

By Rod Arnold on Mar 13, 2025

Here are some smart, practical things you can do to connect with more people in your community and give them a chance to get to know your church.

Tags: Love, Forgiveness, Church, Compassion, Preaching, Together, Church General, Evangelism How To, preaching, church, love  (view more)  (view less)

Dangerous Assumptions That Will Kill Your Message

By Dr. Larry Moyer on Jun 21, 2021

Assuming the wrong things can cost us our audience. There are five dangerous assumptions in preaching. The damage they do may vary, but the fact that they are costly does not.

Scripture: 1 John 4:1-7

Tags:

Why Authentic Preaching Could Be A Trap

By Maurilio Amorim on May 14, 2020

Maurillo Amorim: "I hope we are not creating a culture that encourages people to be authentic about their sins but excuses them from doing the hard work of making things right."

Tags: Preaching, preaching

Do You Know Your Pulpit Blind Spots?

By Sherman Haywood Cox on Feb 12, 2023

Are you preaching the same thing over and over again but don't know it? Sherman Cox offers practical steps to avoid this often overlooked preaching rut.

Scripture: Ephesians 4:13

Tags: Preaching, preaching

7 Biblical Helps For Preaching On Divorce And Remarriage

By Kevin Deyoung on Mar 10, 2019

Kevin DeYoung: "The hard thing is to take a few biblical principles about marriage, divorce and remarriage and then try to apply them prayerfully and wisely to a thousand different situations."

Scripture: Mark 10:1-12, Isaiah 37:1-20

Tags: Preaching, Divorce, Principles, Divorce & Remarriage

This Killed Kodak And It's Coming To Your Church

By Karina Kreminski on Apr 10, 2024

It saddens me that some people see the need for change in the church, yet God’s people keep doing the same thing as if minor tweaking will stop the decline of the Western church.

Tags: Transformation, Culture, Missional, church culture, culture  (view more)  (view less)