How to Begin to Preach

» barton - Sermon preparation

I would like you to comment or give or things you do to begin to prepare a sermon. If we share ideas, we will all be better preachers.

-- posted by barton

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» Dubh_Sidhe - I am not a preacher...

but I would think prayer would be one of the first things.

-- posted by Dubh_Sidhe

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» StCatherine - After the prayer

for the "preacher" and the listeners,

I'd gather piles of commentaries, different translations of the Bible, sermon illustration books, etc., - libary books among my own books.
And I'd look up everything I coud find on my chosen topic - and often change the topic as I gathered info as it seemed "the spirit led." This required a lot of bookmarks and I'd end up with piles of books open to certain pages and wouldn't allow an open window or fan to blow the pages.

I'd make notes of my own thoughts and look at the outside material I had gathered, and seriously consider:

Which Bible verses, stories, quotes, etc., seem to make the point clearer, which seem to "flow" together, and which combination of "good stuff" fits the time allotted?

Depending on the my familiarity with the chosen subject, this process would usually take 4 to 8 hours. These hours would be spread over a week and I might do one practice on Saturday morning from my notes in from of a mirror. I'd be done by noon Saturday to spend the evening before relaxing and saying a few prayers.

(now that I have typed that last statement a friend of mind will probably read this and go, "I remember one time she was still working on her sermon at three a.m." ;) )

-- posted by StCatherine

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» StCatherine - On the road with revival teams

I remember times in college when I was on a "revival team" not as the "preacher" but the "testimony girl" and I'd be asked to help the main speaker.

You can't travel with loads of books, usually just Bibles. So we'd sit down as ask ourselves these questions:

We may all die tomorrow - what is the most important message we can bring tonight?

What verses best illustrate this message?

Does anybody have a story to go with this (these) verses or sermon point?

It was simple and appropriate for our "revival teams."

-- posted by StCatherine

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