Preparing to Preach
The calling or desire to preach can only be placed by God.
God has called many, but many have refused the call.
You can receive or reject the call.
Seek the Will of God in this matter for your life.
2 Peter 1:10
“Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall:
Do not let yourself, or a person to limit you in this matter.
To talk you into or out of, the ultimate question is what is Gods will.
You could become a full time preacher or a just an occasional speaker either case is between you and the Lord and Gods calling upon your life, don’t LIMIT GOD!
Psalms 104:4 NIV
He makes winds his messengers, flames of fire his servants.
YOU cannot change the desires of a person only God can do that.
You can however live, teach or preach in a way for people to see a need for change.
To be encouraged to turn to the one who can change a life.
Pray to become a fine surgeon not a butcher.
3 Mentalities:
“I” can or “I can’t”:
Both are wrong mentalities, and need to be corrected.
“I” can’t do this
Limits God on what God can do.
“I got this”
Rests on your own ability and talent
Pride
I can’t do this:
The right mentality is:
Lord I cannot do this without you I need you to come and take full control I surrender to you; your will be done.
Speaking in Public is one of the biggest fears most people have.
It is estimated that approximately 77% of people are afraid to speak in public.
Some psychologists trace extreme cases of stage fright to childhood trauma.
Others say that fear of public speaking builds gradually over time as we avoid every opportunity to speak.
Still others point out that fear of public speaking may be a by-product of low self-esteem and a fear of being judged harshly.
I have read articles from famous Christian magazines, pastors etc. that have said if a person does not have good speaking ability that they should not be allowed to preach.
I totally disagree with that as Moses had a problem speaking and yet God still used Moses for His Glory.
It is not your ability to speak but rather Gods anointing that makes the difference!
No one person becomes a gifted speaker without practice.
Everyone started somewhere.
Had my Pastor listened to this kind of garbage many souls would have been lost.
EX. As a young Christian the Co-Pastor would call me up to pray for the offering.
I had such a fear of speaking I could not go up behind the pulpit to pray but rather faced the pulpit as he handed me the microphone down to where I was. I faced the pulpit and had my back turned to the people frozen in fear.
The pastors didn’t give up on me but continued to work and train me.
Creating opportunities for me to speak.
1. Message must be something that is a need
a. The right message for the right time the right people.
b. Needs to meet the need, this is not debate time.
c. Best message is one that you are successful in.
d. You can’t preach on tithes if you are not giving tithes
e. You will often times find you have lived or experienced the message
f. God will often times speak to you in your own message
g. You can share your success and victory
h. Or an area you have not been successful in but must give answer as to why and what you could have
done to be better
a. (BE VERY CAREFULL IN THIS AREA).
g. Must be relevant to the audience you are preaching to.
h. If you present a problem, you must give the solution.
2. Preparation:
Never use the pulpit as an area to make it personal.
For any other purpose.
This is not the place to settle a personal situation with someone.
The Altar and the Pulpit represent the Holy of Holies, never take this lightly.
Life or death is found here.
Pray to become a fine heart surgeon not a butcher.
To be able to speak into the Spirit of a person, to bring Life.
Preparation (Cont)
God has given His best JESUS give God your Best!
A) Spiritually:
a. things are right between you and the Lord.
B) Mentally:
a. must be focused on the task at hand and allow God to speak to you and threw you.
C) Physically:
a. Get rest before and after you speak.
b. Sometimes rest can be the most spiritual thing you could do.
c. We can’t function well if we are worn out.
D) Prayer:
a. Pray for the right message at the right time.
Ex. ( Father in the Name of Jesus give me the right words for the right time, a message directly from your
Throne for such a time as this. )
b. Pray for everything and everyone involved in the service.
c. Pray for the Anointing of the Holy Spirit on the altar call, the altar, the greeters, the director, in essence
everyone and everything used in that service.
d. Ask God for confirmation for the message you feel that God is leading you in.
e. God will Confirm your message especially for the new preacher
It might come through someone else’s message a small portion of scripture.
EX. As a new preacher I would ask God to confirm the message, in a service someone would share a small part of the message I believed was from the Lord.
As time went I kept doing this and each time a little more of the message I believed was from the Lord was shared until one day the Preacher preached my whole message Title, Scripture and Points and I felt the Lord speak to me You know when it is me. Consequently, I had to begin to prepare another message.
But still ask. When you know that it is from the Lord You can proclaim with Boldness, and Authority.
E) Study:
Know your subject
2 Timothy 2:15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly
dividing the word of truth
Study Resources
a. Commentaries:
Matthew Henry
Charles Spurgeon
John Wesley
And many more great resources
b. Study Bibles
c. Ask the Pastor questions if you don’t know or are not sure, he doesn’t know it all but might be able to help.
G) Practice:
a. Practice Speaking in front of mirror
b. Billy Graham would go to a place all alone and practice His message preaching to an oak tree.
c. It is said He would practice each message 25 times before He would preach
d. You can study other speakers, look for speakers that you considered very successful.
e. Study their speaking, their mannerism, their control of the platform they speak from.
f. But be YOURSELF
. Ex. After a Benny Hinn conference one of the Pastors started to copy Benny Hinn they began to call
him Bobby Hinn.
Study other speakers to learn from their speaking.
But don’t try to mimic them or become them
3. Types of Preaching
a. There are many types of preaching
b. KEEP it simple so your audience can understand.
c. You must find your style that God has created and equipped you for.
1. Expository Preaching
Share background:
Political Environment
Social Environment
Customs and traditions of the time
Tie it into how does this relate to the current events
2. Teaching/Instruction
3. Correction
4. Could be a word of encouragement
always give hope!
5. Or All in one
4. Presentation
a. Raise lower Voice
b. Eye Contact
1. Might not be able to look at people directly in beginning.
2. If Eye contact is made be careful not to make a person feel as if you are dealing directly with them.
c. KISS keep it simple stupid.
1. Need to be able to speak to your audience.
If they don’t know the meaning of words explain the meaning of certain key words.
(They might not know what the word for atonement means)
d. Proper use of Microphone.
5. Notes:
a. Write, rewrite, rewrite
b. Neat readable
c. Size of text that you can read from the pulpit.
If you need glasses wear glasses.
d. Order that flows (make sense)
e. Numbers on your pages.
To recover if notes get mixed up.
6. Recovery:
Dealing with distractions
1.The ability to recover
a. People’s attention from distractions.
b. Outside noise, Inside noise, equipment failure
c. anything that might distract a service
d. You might have to stop speaking and give a moment for the distraction to be addressed.
7. In and out of Season
2 Timothy 4:2
Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience
and careful instruction.
a. Be prepared at all times.
8. Responsibility:
We are responsible for what we preach or teach or what we do not preach or teach.
James 3:1 states that we will be held to a greater level of accountability.
Ezekiel 33:1-9
As a preacher you cannot go by your feelings.
Feelings change.
I don’t feel like preaching today, I’m going through stuff.
(Suck it up buttercup we are all going through stuff even the people you are preaching to.)
You will be tested in this area.
EX. One morning scheduled to preach my wife and me got into a disagreement and while I tried to settle the disagreement she remained unreceptive facing the pulpit, facing her I told the Lord I cannot preach like this please resolve this conflict. I made a serious attempt to resolve the conflict.
I felt as if the Holy Spirit told me It is not the peoples fault or the Lords fault you are going through this. And if you do not face this Satan will have your number and you will continue to go through this testing until you pass it. Now I can’t imagine every Sunday morning going through this! I did what God had called me to do, and immediately after service my wife had a change I heart and peace was once again restored. God was testing me to see if I would be faithful. Keep in mind I did sincerely try to make things right in our relationship before ever getting behind the pulpit.
9. Altar Call:
1. Always have an Alar Call.
2. You can have three types of people in service.
a. Lost:
a.. Never received Christ
b. Backslidden:
a. Not living a life pleasing and honoring the Lord
c. Saved
Minister to all 3
10. Discouragement and Spiritual Attacks
a. You cannot get discouraged because people do not respond the way you expected.
God’s word will not return void.
b. Moses went before Pharaoh many times before Pharaoh responded to the message.
c. You cannot change the desires of a person only God can do that.
a. You can however live, teach, and preach in a way that people see a need for a change.
You are the salt of the earth.
d. Satan will often whisper in the ear give up, stop, or you do not belong here.
e. Satan will use anyone or anything to try to bring you down.
e. Don’t allow discouragement to stop you!
f. Each time you fulfill the responsibility you have defeated the enemy one more time!
g. There will be times after speaking I should have said this, done this or that.
a. It can be something to learn from for the next time,
b. or it could be a matter of simply trusting God that what needed to be said was said as a surrendered
servant of the Lord.
c. Anytime we do something for God the enemy will always attack until he finds he cannot stop you!
Remove me Oh Lord and use me as a vessel for your Honor and Glory that no man should boast! I need you Holy Spirit give me the right words to speak!
There can come a season that as ministers of the Gospel we must remove ourselves from the pulpit in order for renewal we must be sensitive in this matter.
Don’t allow yourself to burn out and die you do no one any good.
What you are is what you impart to people.
After preaching get back into prayer and the word.
Get filled back up
Elijah/Jezebel 1 Kings 18-19
Remember only Jesus was 100 percent 100 percent of the time.
Every preacher has had times of missing the mark.
11. Praise:
Proverbs 12:21 NIV
The crucible for silver and the furnace for gold, but people are tested by their praise.
A man is tested by the praise
(Pride)
Or the lack of a pat on the back.
Keep learning.. Keep preaching!
Remember only Jesus was 100 percent 100 percent of the time.
Every preacher has had times of missing the mark.
Do your best, let God do the rest and Be Blessed!!
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