In Preaching Articles: "Up Lift"

The Dirty Truth About Honoraria

By John Stackhouse on Nov 1, 2025

Count up all of those hours: Is that what we really think our preachers are worth?

Scripture: Mark 16:1-20, Colossians 2:1-10

Tags: Preaching, honoraria, Worth, spiritual health, preaching  (view more)  (view less)

Absorbing Correction: A Mark Of A Mature Man

By Brandon Cox on Dec 13, 2023

"If you want to grow up on the inside, then you have to get more comfortable with correction."

Scripture: Job 5:17-18

Tags: Marriage, leadership, Rebuke, CORRECTION, Humility and Pride, Growing in Faith, Taking Feedback, Receiving Correction, Leadership  (view more)  (view less)

Jesus Illustrated His Sermons: Shouldn't We Follow His Example?

By Justin Trapp on Dec 28, 2024

Discover how one of our Lord's faous sayings was actually a vivid, up-to-date illustration.

Tags: Preaching, preaching

When People Compare Pastors

By Charles Stone on Mar 27, 2021

Many pastors secretly struggle with measuring up to very successful pastors and churches. It’s tough, but it comes with ministry. People compare pastors. In this post I suggest a few ways to deal with this “measure up mentality.” I begin with one pastor’s experience.

Scripture: Psalm 62:5

Tags: Discouragement, Approval, Comparison, High expectations

Pride Comes Before A Bad Sermon

By Tim Raymond on Feb 23, 2026

By all means, do your best in the preparation and delivery of your messages, but leave the results entirely up to God.

Scripture: Proverbs 16:18, James 5:17, 2 Corinthians 1:8-9, Galatians 6:2

Tags: Preaching, encouragement, Pride, preaching, Encouragement  (view more)  (view less)

Bad Theological Analogies, Brought To You By St. Patrick

By SermonCentral .com on Mar 13, 2026

The problem with using analogies to explain the Holy Trinity is that you always end up confessing some ancient heresy.

Scripture: John 5:1-16

Tags: Preaching, Theology, analogy, St Patrick, preaching  (view more)  (view less)

Guest-Preaching Has Risks: For The Church That Invited You

By H.b. Charles, Jr. on Feb 17, 2026

The cardinal rule: As a guest preacher, don’t make a mess for the pastor to clean up when you leave.

Tags: Preaching, preaching

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)

Preaching Can Be Bad News, Too

By Sherman Haywood Cox on Sep 2, 2021

The fact of the matter is that the Kingdom of God is near. It is not good news to those who do not wish to give up all for the kingdom.

Tags: Preaching, Good News, Kingdom of God, bad news, kingdom of God, preaching  (view more)  (view less)

Jokes In A Sermon: Six Checkpoints For Every Preacher

By Nicholas Mcdonald on Aug 19, 2021

It may seem like the perfect way to lighten up a sermon, but perhaps you should run it through this helpful checklist.

Scripture: 2 Peter 3:3-4, Luke 8:22-25

Tags: Preaching, Good News, Appropriate, joke, joking, insensitive, preaching  (view more)  (view less)

How To Preach To Old(Er) People

By Rachel Wrenn on Oct 24, 2025

"Mildred" loves the Lord, shows up early for service--and falls asleep nearly every week. What to do?

Tags: Preaching, preaching

13 Benefits Of Putting An Expiration Date On New Ministries In Your Church

By SermonCentral .com on Jan 12, 2024

Here's a great way open your church up to innovative new ideas by minimizing the risk – or at least the sting – of failure.

Tags: Preaching, preaching

How Did John The Baptist Prepare For Christmas?

By Jimmy Gentry on Dec 10, 2025

How would John the Baptizer respond if he were to show up during Advent in any given city in America today?

Scripture: Matthew 3:13-17

Tags: Christmas, Worship, repentance, prepare, john the baptist, Repentance  (view more)  (view less)

Do We Preach A Grace That's Too Small?

By Ray Hollenbach on Nov 30, 2024

We've lined up the chairs in neat little rows and called it grace. We never noticed: it has broken free.

Scripture: Numbers 4:1-4

Tags: Grace, Preaching, King, Tyrant, too small, grace, preaching  (view more)  (view less)

Great Preacher = Great Leader? Not So Fast

By Adrian Pei on Mar 16, 2023

When a leader admits his or her weaknesses in front of an audience, I think to myself, "That's great ... how will you follow that up?"

Scripture: 2 Timothy 1:7-10, Matthew 21:18-22

Tags: Preaching, Maturity, skill, great leader, preaching  (view more)  (view less)