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I’ve been working on a sermon series idea for the three-week window between the start of school and Labor Day. It’s a strategic time because everyone is back from summer vacation. Yet I don’t want to begin my fall sermon series until after Labor Day. Here is my plan . . .

If you’re still trying to find a sermon series for summer, here is an idea . . .

Hey, I’m back! After a month-long hiatus, I’m back in the blogosphere. Last week, my journey through the book of Judges brought me to an incredible story which addresses the issue of God’s response to violence and injustice. It was timely for our church because twenty-four students have been murdered so far this school year in the Chicago Public School system. Although we live in a relatively safe North Shore neighborhood, issues of violence and injustice are never far from peoples’ minds. If you plan to address this issue at some point (and you should!), you might preach this story.

It's been a couple weeks since I've posted blog entry, but that's because I'm in the middle of some vacation time. Even though I'm standing in Montana's Madison River with my fly rod in hand, I'm still thinking about preaching! I'll start posting again towards the end of April. But in the meantime, here are a few thoughts. . . .

I love it when God uses a sermon I’ve preached to challenge me as much as it challenges anyone else. That’s been the case with the sermon I preached a couple days ago on Easter Sunday. God keeps impressing one of the ideas from the sermon on my heart and mind.

This week, I’m reading through Matthew’s account of ‘holy week.’ I began on Palm Sunday with Matthew 21, and I’ll finish on Easter Sunday with Matthew 28. Today’s reading in Matthew 23 is a sobering challenge for all who will preach Scripture this weekend on Good Friday and on Resurrection Sunday.

Someone asked me recently if I tend to preach expositionally or if I tend to preach in a way that connects people to the vision of our church. My answer was: “Yes.”

I take preaching seriously. It’s weighty responsibility, and there’s much at stake when a preacher stands and declares “Thus says the Lord.” But sometimes, my words get tangled up, and I say something that evokes laughter rather than conviction.

Sermon block happens. It just does! I have days where I can’t make any headway. The text does not make sense. Or I can’t figure out how to structure the sermon. Or I’m not seeing how the text connects to the lives of my listeners. How does a preacher struggle through sermon block? Here are a few practices which help me.

Like most preachers, I have a somewhat predictable rhythm to my sermon preparation. I like to complete my exegetical work by mid-day on Tuesday, finish a sermon outline by Wednesday, create the introduction and conclusion by Thursday noon, and then write out a manuscript or detailed outline by Thursday. Ideally, I take Fridays off. Then I tweak and adjust and practice the sermon on Saturday. It’s a helpful rhythm. But the process rarely plays out the way I expect.

Last week, I discussed preaching a year-long series on the entire Bible. If you plan to preach through the Bible in a year, there are several resources which you might find helpful.

Thanks to everyone who joined the discussion on my previous post, “Preaching Through the Bible in a Year.” Some participants raised a concern about this approach being too general or superficial. I appreciate this concern, so let me address it today. I’ll save my list of resources for a future post. Let’s wrestle first with how to keep a year-long series on the entire Bible from being so general or superficial that it becomes ineffective.

Last week, Ben, a student in my preaching class at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, asked me how I would go about preaching through the Bible in a year. He envisions devoting every 5th year of his preaching ministry to taking people through the entire Bible. I have some ideas about this, because I’ve actually been considering such an approach.

Previously I’ve shared my conviction that preachers should preach as if their whole neighborhood is present (see July 31, 2007 post). I was delighted to hear Mark Driscoll affirm this conviction during a recent seminar on “Preaching the Mission.”

The end of the semester is still a few months away, but I’m already making plans for a “Back to School” series. I’ve never done anything like this before, but as I was firming up my preaching calendar for the rest of the year, it occurred to me that this approach might work.

We got dumped with a foot of snow in Chicagoland two days ago, so I’m happy to think about summer! But preaching, rather than weather, is what’s on my mind. What are preachers to do when their people are ‘in and out’ the whole summer? Is it possible to preach a sermon series even though half the congregation may have missed last week’s sermon and will probably miss next week’s sermon, too? Let me share how I approach this.

Two days ago I began a series on the book of Judges. Because Judges seems like such an odd choice for a sermon series, I did some things differently to create an interest factor.

Two major cultural events will take place in the next few days: the Super Bowl on Sunday and the presidential primary elections in twenty-two states on Tuesday. For many, Super Sunday and Super Tuesday will eclipse the worship of God. As preachers, our responsibility is to let the worship of God inform these events. Will your preaching this weekend address either one or both?

Lately, I’ve been paying more attention to setting up the reading of the Scripture I’m about to preach. In some traditions, preachers will read the entire sermon text before giving any kind of introduction or explanation. But I wonder if our listeners listen better when we have prepared them for the reading?

I’ve devoted the month of January to preaching four sermons on the letters to the seven churches in Revelation 2-3. Four . . . seven . . . how does the math work for this? I got this idea from Dr. Grant Osborne, a professor of New Testament at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School.

When you preach, is it better to preach with or without notes? Andy Stanley discusses this issue in chapter 14 of Communicating For A Change.

Andy Stanley encourages preachers to “slow down in the curves.” In terms of sermon structure, this is one of the most critical practices for keeping listeners engaged.

Have you ever had a great idea for a sermon, only to discover from further exegetical study that your sermon text actually undermines your idea? It happens! But this will not leave you stranded on the island of misfit sermons. According to Andy Stanley, this creates potential for your sermon to be even stronger than you initially thought it would be.

Andy Stanley refuses to stand up and preach until he knows the answer to two questions. He reveals these questions in his newest book, Communicating For a Change, which is co-authored with Lane Jones. The questions are (drum roll, please!) . . .

Ajith Fernando makes a probing comment about preaching in his recent book, Jesus-Driven Ministry. He begins by observing that the most common response he hears to sermons he preaches in the West is: “I enjoyed that sermon.” Then, he offers this assessment:

My son, Ben, and I are planning to spend the next couple months reading the book of Romans together. This morning’s reading in chapter 1 reminded me why I am eager to preach the Scriptures in 2008.

If you’re thinking about reading through the Bible in 2008, or if you’re going to encourage your congregation to do so, here is some information which you might find helpful. I ‘did the math’ several years ago, and I’ve used this data to create a variety of plans to read through the Bible in a year.

I offer this information in the spirit of James 1:22-25 which makes it clear that people who are blessed by God are those who listen to the Word (intake) and then do it (output).

My gift to you on this Christmas Day in 2007 consists of some thoughts which will nourish a preacher’s soul. For these thoughts to form in your mind, you’ll need to listen to a haunting Christmas song sung by Bing Crosby, reflect on an essay by C. S. Lewis, and focus on what one New Testament scholar describes as the moment to which the whole Bible points.

The news that singer-songwriter Dan Fogleberg died earlier this week stirred something inside of me. Part of it had to do with some limited contact I had with Dan’s father, the “leader of the band,” during my high school days. Part of it had to do with the cause of his death. The exact same illness which took Dan’s life took my father’s life five years ago. But an even bigger part of the soul-stirring had to do with the gospel of Jesus Christ that you and I have the privilege of proclaiming week after week.

“Where do you find time to read?” I frequently get asked that question by fellow preachers or preacher-in-training. Quite frankly, I never read as much as I’d like to read. A line from a Michael Card song – taken out of context, I’m sure! – is my mantra: “So many books, so little time.” Still, I have found at least a couple disciplines which work for me.

For the last month, I’ve been using a helpful new study tool during my sermon preparation. This resource took over ten years to complete, and it amounts to 1161 pages of text, not counting the indexes. Yet, I love it because it’s concise and user-friendly.

Transparency by the preacher makes a powerful impact on listeners. You know that, and I know that, too. Yet, I was still surprised last Sunday at the effect of sharing a brief internal struggle which played out in my mind a few days prior to my sermon.

A challenge I face in my Advent sermon series from the book of Revelation is helping listeners understand how apocalyptic literature works. The same challenge surfaces when preaching from Daniel or parts of Ezekiel. But I’ve discovered an analogy which really connects with people and promotes understanding!

In recent years, I’ve preached Advent sermons on the birth narratives (Matthew 1-2, Luke 1-2), on Old Testament prophecies of the Messiah (Isaiah 9, Micah 5, etc.), and on biblical themes from The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe in the Chronicles of Narnia. I needed to prepare something fresh this year, so I’m doing an Advent series from the book of Revelation.

Philip Pullman, author of The Golden Compass, made a curious statement a few days ago in a response to critics of his book and the soon-to-be-released film based on it. According to a BBC News story earlier this week, Pullman dismissed accusations that his film promotes atheism and denigrates Christianity by claiming: “I am a story teller. If wanted to send a message I would have written a sermon.” Are you kidding me? As a preacher who prepares a sermon every week, I am shocked by this statement!

The Golden Compass, a movie based on Phillip Pullman’s book by the same title, opens in theaters on December 7, 2007. It’s creating a stir because Pullman, claims Laura Miller in The New Yorker, “is one of Britain’s most outspoken atheists.” Two years ago, BBC News reported Pullman’s criticisms of The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe – the first movie in ‘The Chronicles of Narnia’ series by C. S. Lewis. According to BBC News, Pullman’s own trilogy, ‘His Dark Materials,’ “tells us of a battle against the church and a fight to overthrow God.” The Golden Compass is the first book – and now movie – in this trilogy.

Should pastors address this movie in their preaching? My answer is, “Yes, but.” Let me explain.

I recently ran across a helpful way of describing preaching. It’s in an essay by D. A. Carson in Preach the Word: Essays on Expository Preaching in Honor of R. Kent Hughes (Crossway, 2007). In his essay, “Challenges for the Twenty-first-century Pulpit,” Carson encourages preachers to think of preaching in terms of “re-revelation.”

Our church has a Thanksgiving Eve service, and I will deliver a brief meditation on the topic of “thanksgiving” (of course!). As I’ve been preparing, it occurs to me that American believers may confuse our culture’s way of expressing thanks with the biblical way of expressing thanks.

This Sunday I’ll preach the final sermon in an expository series on Ephesians. The text is Ephesians 6:10-24, the classic passage on spiritual warfare. Here are five suggestions for preaching on this text and other texts which develop the topic of spiritual warfare.

David Jackman, veteran preacher and President of The Proclamation Trust in London, England, made this statement last week in a preaching lecture in Chicago: “Life transformation takes time. So preach over the long haul. You are a long distance runner.”

How do you draw your sermon preparation to a close? My friend, David Hansen, prays a simple prayer over and over on each Friday before he preaches. His prayer may be simple, but it’s profound. This is what David prays . . .

My friend, David Hansen, has only one rule for sermon preparation on Tuesdays. This is the day he begins studying for Sunday’s sermon. David’s rule is “Do not rush.” David insists on “spending unhurried, inefficient time with the text.”

I’ve been thinking this morning about some of the books which have ministered the most to my soul over the years. Here is a partial list which I limited to ten. None of these books can take the place of Scripture. But each one of them, in its own way, has nurtured me and shaped me as a follower of Christ. By enriching my soul, these books have enriched my preaching.

Bryan Chapell’s chapter on “A Redemptive Approach to Preaching” is a must-read for preachers! You will find it as chapter 10 in his book, Christ-Centered Preaching (Baker, 2nd edition). Last week, I read it again (for the fourth time in the last decade), and it profoundly influenced the sermon I preached two days ago on Ephesians 5:3-14.

One of the ways that I’m trying to speak to the non-believers who attend our worship services is to take a couple minutes in each sermon to address an objection to Christianity. I got this idea from Tim Keller, pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in NYC. He points out that almost every text we preach speaks to one of the major objections to Christianity.

Sermons on the stewardship of God’s created world must provide some leads for application. Here is some advice for you as you help your listeners flesh out a theology of environmental stewardship.

As a follow-up to my last post on ‘green sermons,’ here is a brief list of biblical texts for use in preaching on stewardship of God’s environment.

Environmentalism is a hot topic these days. Al Gore’s recent Nobel Peace Prize for his documentary on global warming has heated up the pressure for people to “go green.” Alright, sorry about the puns! “Hot topic” was unintentional, but “heated up” was! Anyway, is it appropriate to preach on environmentalism? If so, what do preachers have to say?

I’m a firm believer in helping my listeners apply the Scriptures to their lives. By definition, application is part of biblical preaching. Both Haddon Robinson and Bryan Chappell, authors of the classic homiletics texts for our generation, include application in their definitions. But I find that incorporating application into my sermons on a week-to-week basis is a challenge.

If you preach an Old Testament story, be prepared to work with a much larger text than usual. The so-called “David and Goliath” story takes at least 58 verses to unfold. Preaching the full story of David’s sin with Bathsheba means preaching 2 Samuel 11 and 12 together. So how do you handle the reading of such long texts?

Sermons from Bible stories often look at a human character’s behavior and ask, “To be or not to be?’ But is that really the question? Will this approach – following or avoiding the example of a character – really help us discover the theological message which the story intends to communicate? Let me give you a definitive answer: Maybe!

I’m getting ready to deliver a lecture this Thursday at Heritage Seminary near Toronto on “Preaching Old Testament Stories to a Story-Driven Culture.” Old Testament narrative literature presents several challenges to preachers. I’d like to wrestle with a couple of them in my blog posts this week. The first is the challenge of preaching Christ.

Preaching about God’s wrath often makes people angry. They claim that they want nothing to do with “a God like that.” So how do you preach on this subject when it’s right in front of you in the text? I had this challenge last Sunday when I preached on Ephesians 2:1-10. Verse 3 describes sinners as “objects of wrath” (literally, “children of wrath.”).

Let me share a great exercise for preachers. I recently stumbled across it while preparing a five-year ministry plan for the church I serve.

I’m always on the lookout for a good story or image to use in my preaching. But once I find something in TIME, in The Chicago Tribune, in a great biography, or in my own experiences, the challenge is how to store it so that I can find it later. I finally discovered a simple method which really works!

How much life should you get out of a sermon? When is it appropriate to preach it again to the same congregation? How much change should you make when you preach it to another congregation? I’ve thought about these questions during my sermon preparation this week. I’m currently preaching through Ephesians, and I still have my notes and man