In preaching, whichever camp you choose to set up your homiletical tent in, be sure to benefit from what is good about the other group too.

 If my heart is concerned about what people think of me, I may well be blind to the truth of the text I claim to understand and then proclaim to others.

Let’s think about two defining moments in sermon preparation that tie into the transition between passage study and message formation.

Every little detail of your preparation will build the character of the message, but the defining moments will fundamentally change the outcome of your process. 

Learning to think clearly about your own thinking is a critical skill for the preacher. Study more. Study longer. Study humble. Study persistently.

Christmas services are just a few weeks away. Let’s take a new angle, dive into the Bible and preach with hearts spilling over.

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

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.

A familiar text may require less exegetical work, but be sure that your listeners are getting fresh preaching because you have prepared your heart as well as your message.

Prepare and preach a sermon that has a fingerprint as unique as the passage it is based on.

John Stevens, National Director of FIEC, explained in a FOCL webinar how to deal with Old Testament texts related to violence, in order to answer the apologetic questions that they raise.