A lot of ministry happens on fairly short notice. The weekly rhythm keeps ticking like a metronome, and it tends to get interrupted by emergencies.

Performance is unsustainable. At the same time, effective communication is worth some conscious and prayerful attention.

How vital it is to think it through, pray it through, and learn lessons in the late summer before another winter comes (whatever that may look like where you are).

He knows we are sinful when He calls us. He has a far greater work for us to do and knows that He will need to do great work in us.

As we love one another earnestly, we will benefit from each other’s grace, generosity and gifting.

The church is a beautiful blend of backgrounds, personalities and stories. We should praise God for the diversity of people brought together in the body of Christ.

May we preach so that our listeners walk away pondering the character, the heart, the goodness, the grace of God.

We can learn some basic principles that will be helpful to us as we step out into our new world with the message of Jesus today from Acts 13-14.

We can speak of the meaning of God’s Word with gracious attitudes but also with boldness.

We need to include humility in our hermeneutics as a foundational attitude. The Bible is not subject to us, we are subject to it.

We have shifted from authorities being respected, to not being respected, to being distrusted and even opposed.

The weekly emotional roller-coaster of preaching often has more low points than adrenaline highs.

Perhaps our frustrating experiences are confirmation that our ministry is actually going according to plan.

The experience of life and ministry in some foreign countries may become more relevant to life in “the West” than it would have be ten years ago.

Martin Luther’s famous 95 Theses Against Indulgences was originally a written list academic conversation starters. His questions and statements were like a string of tweets ahead of their time. They were dismissed by the authorities as errant, dangerous and divisive.

Much of ministry can feel like the agony of labour. But let’s remember the good times too. There is nothing as rewarding as seeing lives changed.

When trouble comes, the preacher gets to point people to God’s Word to find the comfort and to stir the response of faith that is needed.

Dig in the text you have, honour the author by doing so, and give your listeners the best you can from this passage.

Let’s resolve, prayerfully and passionately, to always seek to really preach the passage we claim to be preaching.

No matter how well you can communicate or how clever you are, you cannot make the Bible say something better than God made it say.

There are lots of things to be aware of between the beginning of the service and the sermon itself.

There may be some elements of a good movie that might teach us a thing or two about good preaching.

Sermon preparation may be a struggle, even a battle at times, but every moment is a privilege.

It is not possible to avoid every negative motive all the time, but we must beware lest any of these start to fester within and then characterise our ministry.

Does our preaching feel stilted? Do we sound slightly wooden, hesitant?