In Preaching Articles: "Hard Heart"

God Wants To Shape Your Wants: An Invitation To The Psalms

By John Piper on Nov 30, 2022

Try to imagine the Bible without the Psalms. What a different book it would be! What a different place the church would be. And what a different person I would be.

Scripture: Psalm 1:3

Tags: Psalms, Emotions, Heart, taste and see, Delight, Personal Growth, Delight in the Lord, sovereignty of God  (view more)  (view less)

The Preacher's First Mistake

By Bruce D. Johnson on Aug 26, 2023

If we fail to get this one right, it's hard to keep our listeners with us.

Tags: Preaching, mistakes, interest, hook, preaching  (view more)  (view less)

A Dozen Bad Easter Eggs: 12 Mistakes We Should Avoid This Year

By Joe Mckeever on Mar 31, 2020

Joe McKeever gets real with advice learned by the hard experience of many Easters.

Scripture: 2 Timothy 2:1-13

Tags: Easter, Preaching, mistakes, Fail, preaching  (view more)  (view less)

What Are 10 Things That Might Help A Pastor And His Wife Stay Married And In Ministry?

By Brian Croft on Aug 25, 2023

Marriage is hard enough, but add ministry into the mix and you have a recipe for a potential mess.

Tags: Marriage, Rest, intimacy with Christ, pastor's wife

Keeping Your Preaching Fresh

By Lance Witt on Sep 24, 2022

“Everything worthwhile is uphill. Everything that is valuable, you have to work for. No one ever coasted their way to success. Most people have uphill hopes but have downhill habits.”

Scripture: 2 Timothy 4:2

Tags: Teaching, Preaching, hard work, Preaching Help, Pastoral Ministry, Powerful Preaching, effective preaching, Never Stop Learning, preaching, teaching  (view more)  (view less)

What Every Leader Needs: Silence And Solitude

By Charles Stone on May 18, 2022

This discipline is really more of a state of heart than a place.

Tags: Solitude, Silence, Disciplines Silence, Intimacy With God

7 Ways To Do A Bad Word Study

By Nicholas Mcdonald on May 20, 2021

Sometimes it's hard to wade through the muck and know when you're being short-changed.

Tags: Study, Preaching, the word, Dictionary, fallacy  (view more)  (view less)

Why Preparing Sermons Takes Me So Long

By Joe Mckeever on Jul 31, 2020

Proper preparation is not for the faint of heart. It takes prayer, study, and practice.

Scripture: Exodus 14:8-14

Tags: Teaching, Study, Preaching, preparation, e  (view more)  (view less)

How I Write A Sermon

By Bruce Frank on Aug 17, 2020

Bruce Frank, lead pastor of of Biltmore Baptist Church, one of the top 50 fastest-growing churches in America, shares his sermon prep process.

Scripture: Ephesians 4:11-16, 2 Samuel 11:1-15, 2 Timothy 2:15

Tags: Heart, Study, Preaching, repent, BIBLE STUDY, preparation, circumcise, Sword, Reject, shaken the dust, Bible Study  (view more)  (view less)

10 Traits Of Joyful Pastors

By SermonCentral .com on Jul 5, 2025

Follow the example of these leaders. You'll find joy in the midst of the hard work and long hours of pastoral ministry.

Tags: Leader, Joy, Preaching, preach, preaching, leader  (view more)  (view less)

What To Do When You Bombed Sunday's Sermon

By SermonCentral .com on Jan 2, 2021

It’s not hard to get up and say something inspirational. It is hard to get up and rightly divide God’s Word, build a bridge from an ancient culture to our own, and then to call people to an appropriate response to God’s revealed truth consistently week after week.

Tags: Preaching, failure, sermon, Sermon, preaching  (view more)  (view less)

What Are The Internal Scripts Driving You? Part 1

By Lance Witt on Oct 9, 2023

Some of the hard work of our sanctification is dealing with some of the broken places in our lives beneath the surface…beneath the waterline.

Scripture: 2 Corinthians 7:1

Tags: Discipleship, soul care, healing emotions, deliverance from sin

Leave Your Secret Sin Behind Today

By Jon Bloom on Dec 6, 2022

God can turn a day of reckoning into a day of amnesty. But he’s calling today. Come out of the dungeon.

Scripture: Proverbs 14:12, Proverbs 23:19, Hebrews 3:13, Jeremiah 17:9

Tags: Character, Judgment, repentance, God's Grace, God's mercy, Confession of Sin, hardened heart, personal holiness, judgment, Repentance  (view more)  (view less)

The Greatest Gift You Give Your Team- Part 1

By Lance Witt on Jul 11, 2024

This week work at paying attention to your soul. Listen to your emotions. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you understand what is going on beneath the surface of all your “doing”.

Scripture: 2 Corinthians 7:1, John 16:32, John 16:32

Tags: Approval, Growth in Christ, pastoral leadership, God's Approval, Guarding your heart, motives, soul care, personal holiness  (view more)  (view less)

The Greatest Gift You Give Your Team- Part 2

By Lance Witt on Jul 15, 2024

Some of the qualities that people will applaud in your life are the very things that will wreck your soul.

Tags: sanctification, Personal Growth, pastoral care, Examine self, Time of Reflection, Guarding your heart, motives, soul care  (view more)  (view less)