preaching

Pastor, This Easter, Preach Like Jesus

Most of you read the title and thought, ” Yeah, I wish.” I know, none of us will preach as well as Jesus this Sunday or any other Sunday. It isn’t even the goal of a preacher to preach as well as Jesus, but to point toward Jesus. However, you should have it as a …

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Preach With Your Voice

The medium is the message. No one wants to hear you stand up and give a Billy Graham impression. You’re not Billy Graham. But, you can preach God’s word. He has called you and gifted you. He’s set you apart for this sacred task. You don’t have to be anyone else, just be you, the man that God has called. Trust that he knew what he was doing when he gave you this task, and go preach his word with your voice.

Preach With Tenderness

We must preach with the broken in mind. There are prideful men and women in every congregation that need to hear the stinging words of rebuke directed toward Pharisees, but there are also men who have been destroyed by demons and women who have been abused by men. Jesus met a woman by a well in Samaria. She was an outcast who bounced from house to house. We don’t know her whole story, but it is possible that in our day and time she might be known by a different term: abuse survivoror even trafficking victim. We know is that as Jesus looked at this woman, he saw something different than everyone else who looked at her. Jesus saw her as a broken person in need of a savior. He didn’t paper over her sin as though it didn’t exist, but he didn’t discount her struggles and pain either. Jesus was honest and forthright, but he was compassionate and kind. He preached the gospel to her with tenderness and compassion. The Shepherd of Israel found a wayward sheep and lovingly brought her into the fold.

Pastors, Preach to Your People

Preach to the real people in the pews. God has called you, not only to be their preacher, but to be their pastor.

Why Does Sermon Prep Take So Long?

If any of you believe that God has put you on on the planet to keep me humble, just know that you have to compete with my children. Here are a few examples from the past: Yeah, but you’re not like a “real” doctor. Why is your tummy squishy? Daddy, why is your beard so …

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Steps to Broaden Your Ministry Platform

 Many of you who are reading this just came back from the Southern Baptist Convention where you rubbed shoulders with the pastors you want to be just like. If we are honest (and not careful), we will also admit that we rubbed shoulders with some pastors we are jealous of. It can be easy to …

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Preaching: The Middle School Boy Syndrome

Nothing else smells like middle school boys. They begin middle school with a particular odor, forgetting deodorant as often as they remember it. They end middle school smelling just just as strongly, but no longer of body odor–they have discovered their body odor and now work to mask it in gallons of cologne and body …

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Three Tiers of Worldview Preaching

As faithful preachers, our proclamation must be built around the objective truths of the gospel and our experiences of finding fulfillment in the Christian worldview and disappointment in secular worldviews. This is worldview preaching—preaching that works to supplant secular worldviews and the replace them with the Christian worldview. In our post-Christian culture, many of our …

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5 Steps to Better Preaching

Preaching. It is not the only thing that we do as pastors, but it may be the most important thing we do as pastors. Nothing you do on a weekly basis affects the entire church the way that preaching does. Additionally, the ability to teach or preach is the only distinguishing mark that separates pastors …

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Book Review: The Power of Habit

I was in Boston a few weeks ago and had an opportunity to visit Harvard and its bookstore. When visiting one of the world’s leading educational institutions, the bookstore is intuitive about the way that Harvard is shaping the world. Unfortunately, I was unable to spend nearly as much time as I would have liked, …

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