Whichever way you plan your church Christmas schedule, you do need to pray for sensitivity to a set of potential people present.

The church slowly but surely tends to move away from the gospel just as our bodies slowly but surely move away from health.

What may stir pride in the preacher? When might we be vulnerable to this great enemy?

Children have vivid imaginations. When you read them a story, they can see it happening.

We run the risk of making the humour a feature of the message, and sail very close to being an entertainer, which is a far lesser calling than being an engaging authentic proclaimer of God’s Word.

Once you have prayed, wrestled, tried, failed, corrected and tried again, you may eventually arrive at a golden destination: an understanding of the text’s details in context.

Our understanding of anointed ministry should be rooted in a thoroughly biblical understanding of the work and person of the Holy Spirit.

When an epistle does its work, it can really work in the heart and mind of a listener.

A good preacher of poetry does for listeners what a gallery guide might do for me: lead me beyond first impressions, cause me to slow down and start to feel with the artist.

When a narrative does its work, it can really work in the heart and mind of a listener. 

Preach to the people in front of you, but prayerfully ponder how the Sunday sermon can shape more than just that moment.

We not only come to faith at the foot of the cross, but we also become mature in its shadow.

We represent God not only in what we say, but also in how we say it. 

Myth 8: Since preaching is not a performance, as long as the content is good, delivery doesn’t matter.

Myth 7: A sermon is the output of a mechanical process.

Myth 6: A sermon is just the sum of its parts.

Myth 5: Only well-prepared sermons get blessed.

Myth 4: If the sermon is true, all is well.

Myth 3: If a sermon is really good then listeners will not be offended.

Myth 2: If it bears good fruit then it is a good sermon.

Myth 1: Since the preacher was led by God in the preparation, it would be wrong to evaluate the sermon.

It will be through spending time looking at Jesus that we will lose our appetite for self-promotion.

The fulfillment of God’s great sin-conquering, life-giving, problem-solving, Satan-defeating, promise plan was Mary’s son, baby Jesus.

We can make no greater investment of our resources than to help churches become infectious communities of gospel-gripped people.

You can preach the landmarks of a Bible book over the course of a few Sundays.