Mitch Case included this list of lessons he has learned from over twenty-five years of preaching. You can find the full article at “25 Years of Preaching the Bible.”
I count preaching to be a (sic) immense privilege and a sacred responsibility. To mark 25 years of preaching the Scripture, here are 25 lessons I’ve learned in no particular order—and sometimes the hard way!
- The whole Bible is important for the whole Christian, so preach from both the Old and New Testaments.
- The Bible is not boring, so neither should the preacher be.
- You can’t preach everything you’ve studied about a text, so a vital part of sermon preparation is determining what to exclude.
- Your personal sorrows are part of your sermon preparation.
- Some days you may not feel like preaching, but you preach anyway because the power of God works through his Word.
- Preaching must not be a regurgitation of commentaries.
- Don’t clog up your sermon with lengthy illustrations; simple and concise illustrations are helpful and sufficient.
- Growing in the craft of preaching is important, so read resources and learn from listeners (especially from other preachers) about ways you can improve your own presentation and method.
- Write a lot, either in a journal or in a document (or on Substack), because writing will fine-tune your thinking and your use of words.
- Make appeals and applications at points during your sermon, not only at the end.
- Don’t assume a faithful sermon equals a long sermon; instead, seek to treat the text faithfully and helpfully for your people, and that goal probably means the length will vary.
- Experiment whether notes-free, some notes, bare outline, detailed outline, or a manuscript works best for you, but don’t think you have to adopt the method that works best for others.
- Engage the imagination of the listeners; that will help them stay engaged with you.
- First and last words matter, so spend time thinking about your sermon’s introduction and conclusion.
- Preach your own sermons, not somebody’s sermon that you’ve found online or in a book somewhere.
- Don’t avoid preaching difficult passages or difficult books in the Bible.
- Whenever you think, “That sermon didn’t go the way I’d hoped,” thank God for the power of his Word, acknowledge that he uses his Word in ways we’ll never know, and then take a nap.
- Preaching through sections of Scripture (whether chapters or entire books) is the best homiletical practice.
- Listen to a variety of preachers so that your own style and manner of delivery develop over time—and, by listening to a variety of voices, you’ll avoid becoming a parrot of a particular preacher.
- Plan several months (or longer) of a preaching schedule, in order to establish a vision for your study and to be deliberate about what Scripture the congregation is exposed to and for how long.
- Engage in doctrinal reflection as you exposit texts, because listeners need to understand both what a passage means and the theological reasoning at play in a given passage.
- Be clear about which biblical issues are primary doctrines and which are secondary or tertiary matters.
- Pray that God will help you exult in his Word as you are preaching it.
- With the authoritative and inspired Word of God that is sharper than a two-edged sword, you don’t need gimmicks.
- Be doers of the Word and not just preachers only, for you need the sermon that you are preparing for others.