In Preaching Articles: "up your game"

Reading Your Bible Relationally

By Lance Witt on Jun 18, 2022

Growing in knowledge is important, but knowledge without relationship is dangerous. That was one of the big issues Jesus had with the Pharisees. They had biblical knowledge but their heart was far from God.

Scripture: Hebrews 4:12

Tags: Scripture, Personal Growth, Quiet time, pastoral leadership

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)

Finishing (Your Sermon) Well

By Michael Voll on Dec 5, 2022

Come Sunday morning many times we preachers fill our sermons with funny stories, but forget to point to the ultimate story of Jesus Christ.

Scripture: 2 Timothy 2:15

Tags: Teaching, Preaching, illustration, application, pastoral leadership, sermon prep, preaching Christ, preaching the gospel, Sermon Prep, preaching, teaching, Sermon prep  (view more)  (view less)

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

Do You Know The 4 Pillars Of Guest Preaching?

By Pete Wilson on Jan 6, 2023

Pete Wilson: "Don’t make controversial statements the church staff is going to have to clean up later."

Tags: Communication, Teaching, Preaching, Church General, communication, preaching, teaching  (view more)  (view less)

Listen To One Of Dallas Willard's Last Messages

By Dallas Willard on Sep 23, 2023

Right up until his passing, Dallas Willard encouraged preachers and pastors to focus on what's most important.

Tags: Final, Last, dallas willard

Bad Theological Analogies, Brought To You By St. Patrick

By SermonCentral .com on Mar 16, 2021

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

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

By H.b. Charles, Jr. on Aug 22, 2019

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

Tags: 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)

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)

How Did John The Baptist Prepare For Christmas?

By Jimmy Gentry on Dec 23, 2022

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

Scripture: Matthew 1:15-25

Tags: Preaching, preaching

Your Mother's Day Sermon, Pastor

By Joe Mckeever on Apr 30, 2020

Why is it so difficult for pastors of all ages to preach Mother’s Day sermons? Pastor-to-pastors Joe McKeever gives some assistance.

Scripture: Luke 1:26-56

Tags: Holidays, Preaching, pastor, mothers, mother's day  (view more)  (view less)

Preaching Tip: Encourage Your Audience

By Peter Mead on Mar 25, 2020

Everyone needs encouragement. And yet, strangely, it's often absent from a significant amount of preaching.

Scripture: Proverbs 29:25, Romans 15:4-5

Tags: Preaching, encouragement, Church Growth