The Day I Ruined a Sermon

The worse fear for a preacher ! Preaching a sermon and knowing that the congregation does not appreciate what you are saying or are totally confused by what is being preached. I even heard a “What?” from one of the pews. It was then I knew that this sermon had no destination and I hurried myself to finish and come down from the pulpit.

So after I shook the hands of the church members, I asked the question anyone who preaches a bad sermon asks, “Where did I go wrong?”

The answer gave me 3 answers or I can say 3 points that lead to how I preach now. I must say that even though the event was extremely embarrassing as I was in my home church and had my family in the congregation, I learned from it. I learned to learn from my mistake so that I am in constant improvement. I’m thankful for the failure as it has been one of my best teachers. So here are the 3 points I learned:

  1. Never rely on your own public speaking skills, charisma, or experience as a reason why you have an intriguing sermon. Now these qualities are great and help enhance a sermon’s quality they are not the engine of the sermon nor the reason why you are a preacher. The reason is that you were called by God! Therefore, The Holy Spirit needs to be present in you and your word. A preacher must be seeking God daily in order to preach God’s word !
  2. Prepare and Practice your sermon ! Know the audience you are preaching to, know the issues and social climate of the church. Now under the guidance of the Holy Spirit write your sermon and practice it. Now some preachers are outline preachers and that is fine (As I am one of them) but this means you need to be practicing twice as much as a writer. In other words the best sermons I have preached I can preach from memory. Audiences are immediately turned off from an unprepared preacher and leads them to tune out or say “WHAT?”
  3. Never be satisfied ! Have you preached a sermon and heard from 20 members exclaiming how wonderful the sermon was? Now this may be sincere compliments from these people but do not feel as though you have preached the best version of the sermon. Be open to criticism, in fact look for it. Also continue to study scripture and methods of preaching to improve every sermon.

In conclusion, always look to improve for it is a great responsibility to be a preacher. God needs no one but calls his children to serve Him not out of necessity but out of love. Now this is an amazing privilege, one that should not be ruined.

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Written by

Theology Student, Youth Minister, Seventh Day Adventist, Father & Husband https://www.facebook.com/eric.h.jeanbaptiste

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