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?

Our strength to endure obviously comes not from within us, but from someone who is at work in and through us.

Here are some concerning features of that strange authority that may be helpful to ponder.

When we preach, we should aim to use appropriate force for each goal we are trying to achieve.

The Bible has to be in charge of the message, its main idea, its flow of thought, its relevance, its goals.

Too many of us who know God and the truth of His Word are too distracted by the communications of this world to really soak in God’s Word.

Good preparation should lead to more genuine, from the heart, textually solid and sensitively targeted preaching.

We can become paranoid and give Satan credit for every little difficulty, or we can easily become complacent and act as if the enemy is impotent.

We help people with our preaching more effectively if we discern the implicit question being answered by the text we are preaching.

As we start a new year that we know won’t be simple, what should we pray about, specifically related to preaching?

This New Year we need to remember what is unchanging, so it can anchor us for the year ahead.

He is forever with us, for He still carries the lowliest of labels. It was all part of God’s plan.

The first Christmas was no fairy tale. Preach the real Christmas, and give real hope.

Let’s be captured by the grace of God as He chose to step into our messy world. Ponder the journey Jesus took from Bethlehem to the Cross.

Transitions can be treated as automatic, but by neglecting them we miss a vital part of sermonic effectiveness.

Be sure to invest study in the flow of thought and not just the theological meaning of details.

What matters is your personal walk with Jesus, not your success or failure in maintaining a specific habit.

Perhaps you feel that, of all God’s people in this continent, you are the most like Jonah at this time. You should know better, but you’ve drifted too far. God could simply give up on us, but he doesn’t. 

We must never forget that we come to a Bible passage as an outsider. A bit of digging can help us to gain greater insight into all that is being assumed or hinted at in the passage.

As preachers, let’s help people to put back together what should never have been separated at all.

Seek to speak from God’s heart to theirs: sensitively, passionately, directly, and clearly.