Thoughts on Preaching from David Palmer (2)

This is continued from our previous post: 

6.       Make sure that you can answer in one sentence this question: “What am I preaching about?”  This is harder than it seems.  If you are not absolutely clear about this, then your hearers have no chance.  You cannot preach two sermons at the same time.  You should be able to give one sentence with a subject and a predicate.  It should be closely connected with your passage.  I usually am able to articulate this sentence about half way through my preparation and then it guides how I structure the sermon. 

7.       About three quarters of the way through my preparation, I am ready to ask this important question: “How will the Devil be defeated by this sermon?”  I have enough exegetical content in my blood and have waved the sword in my study so that I am ready for battle.  The battle is between you as the representative of Christ and “the strong man” who struts confidently around Christ’s people trying to keep them under guard and in the grip of lies.  The battle is not between the preacher and the congregation!  Asking this question will keep you from being too nice in the sermon.  People are living out of lies that hurt them and those around them.  The Word of Christ comes to set them free.  This is often unexpressed directly when preaching, but you must be conscious of the fact that you are seeking to take enemy territory in every message.  This will give you urgency as you preach Christ.

8.       I don’t mind the word “application”, but I find it too tame.  The sermon is not a moral lesson to be applied.  It is a call to action.  This takes prayer and knowing your people to call them forward concretely unto what Paul calls the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among the nations (Romans 1:5). “What is Christ calling me, and then us, to do in this text?”

 9.        Illustrations should advance not decorate the sermon.  Don’t let a good story overtake the text about Christ. Be intentional in spreading your sources of illustration across the centuries, from global voices in the church, from people who are like you and those who are not.  Make sure some illustrations about yourself illustrate also where you fail.  Make sure to ask people in the congregation (and your own family) for their permission to use an illustration about them.      

10.       Never assume an overfamiliarity with the text.  Even in a passage like John 3:16, preach as though you yourself had been there.  This is communicated with the use of the present tense and the regular use of the first person “I” or “we” rather than the third person “he” or “they.”