Why Do We Have Sermons Each Week? Series

Date Preached _____________

Where Preached _____________

Why Do We Do What We Do?

Why Do We Have a Sermon Each Week?

2 Timothy 4:1-5

In 2 Timothy 4:1-5, the apostle Paul said to the young preacher Timothy,

1In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: 2Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. 3For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. 4They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. 5But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.

A man in the church choir couldn’t sing. Several people hinted to him that he could serve in other places, but he continued to come to the choir. The choir director became desperate and went to the pastor.

“You’ve got to get that man out of the choir,” he said. “If you don’t, the choir members are going to quit. Please do something.”

So the pastor went to the man and suggested, “Perhaps you should leave the choir.”

“Why should I get out of the choir?” he asked.

“Well, five or six people told me you can’t sing,” answered the pastor.

“That’s nothing,” the man snorted, “At least 50 people have told me that you can’t preach!”

1. We have sermons to bring about life change!

Throughout the Scriptures, anytime God’s men were instructed to preach, to teach, to proclaim, to instruct, or to admonish, they were instructed to do so with the goal of seeing the lives of their hearers changed. I have had a lot of people tell me at different times boy you sure stepped on my toes today. Well that is fine unless it doesn’t produce the effects of seeing lives change or to see a spiritual growth take place in your lives. You see God gives us His word to change us and to draw us closer to Him. But we have to make the first step. We have to want to change.

If God has called me to help you grow, then my job as a preacher is to preach in such a way that you know what to do, why you should do it, and how you can do it; I think that when we hear the word of God delivered then we also have a responsibility to do something with it.

Now, granted there are many things I can do to be a better preacher. I will continue to study. I will continue to work on better delivery. I must continue to surrender my life to Christ. I must try and remove the sin in my so that it does not hinder my message. But there are also a number of things you can do. Whether you have thought about it before or not, you have certain responsibilities before, during and after the sermon that will help you to not only hear the preaching, but to make better use of the Word that is preached.

Responsibilities Before the Word is Preached

If I come prepared to peach each Sunday then God expects you to be prepared as well. but the truth is that most people don’t come to church prepared to encounter the Word of God with life-changes in mind. In fact, most people wake up an hour or two before the sermon, skip breakfast, come in with foggy heads and sleepy eyes, and leave with grumbling stomachs. With a little effort however, you can change all of that and create an atmosphere where you study the Word of God each week through a personal encounter with God. How do we do that?

Focus on preparation

I believe preparation for all of us begins on Saturday night. Don’t stay out to late on Saturday then you won’t be so tired when you come to church. When you get here and see what the scripture is then open your Bibles to that scripture and begin reading it. Then pray that this scripture will touch you in some way.

Pray for something significant

One of the greatest things you can do leading up to a worship service is to pray and trust God for His Holy spirit to fill you up. When you take time to pray, you are aligning your hearts with God’s. You are saying to Him that you want what He wants, and that you are purposing in your heart to meet with Him in His Word.