God grows His church by growing people.

Introduction God grows His church by growing people. God grows His church by growing the people and preacher in worship.

Overview of the Day Devotional Message and Messenger Psalm 40:1-3 The Transformation Ten Principles of Preaching Ten Ways to Avoid Boring Sermons

Devotional

The Messenger and the Message Preaching Preaching is the sacred art through which God transforms the messenger through a deepening spirituality and the study of His Word so that the message transforms the life of those who hear.

The Messenger and the Message Have these people’s lives been transformed as a result of the preaching and worship?

Psalm 40:1-3 Psalms 40:1 I waited patiently for the LORD; he inclined unto me and heard my cry. Psalms 40:2 He brought me up of the horrible pit, out of the muddy clay and set my feet upon a rock and established my goings. Psalms 40:3 And He has put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God. Many will see it and fear and trust in the LORD.

The Transformation Psalm 40:1 I waited patiently for the Lord And He inclined to me and heard my cry. Stage 1 Waiting Crying

The Transformation Psalm 40:2 He brought me up of the horrible pit, out of the muddy clay and set my feet upon a rock and established my goings. Stage 2 Raising Going

The Transformation Psalms 40:3 And He has put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God. Many will see it and fear and trust in the LORD. Stage 3 Singing Praising

The Transformation Psalms 40:3 Many will see it and fear and trust in the LORD. Stage 4 Trusting

The Transformation Singing Praising Raising Going Hearers Trusting Waiting Crying Preacher

Date Text Title Theme 4/1 Dan. 1 Give me Rice or Give me Death By Diet 4/8 Dan. 2 The Man and the Rock By Prophecy 4/15 Dan. 3 Aircon in the Furnace By Integrity 4/22 Dan. 4 Sin has an “I” in it By Humility 4/29 Dan. 5 The Last Night on Planet Earth By Holiness Ten Principles of Preaching 1. Prepare Early—at least monthly/quarterly Title: The Last Night on Planet Earth Theme: “How to Get Ready for Jesus to Come”

Ten Principles of Preaching 2. Preach from one text, keep away from topical sermons and don’t use too many texts.—Topical and sometimes evangelistic sermons tend to be more like giving a Bible study than preaching. At times this is necessary when preaching a doctrinal sermon, but even then, have only one main text and limit yourself in the use of texts in the sermon.

Ten Principles of Preaching 3. Practice the Sermon—Know how you are going to start. Make it short and interesting. 4. Work on the Transitions—Know how you are going to get from one point to another without you or the congregation getting lost. 5. Work on the Conclusions—Know how you are going to end both the sermon and the service and then let the people go.

Ten Principles of Preaching 6. Personal illustrations are better than the ones you get from books—Many people will not remember your sermon but they will remember your illustrations. Illustrations from books can be helpful but the best stories and object lessons are the ones that you have either personally experienced or found.

Ten Principles of Preaching 7. Make Sermon Notes—Make sermon notes for yourself and the congregation if you can. Decide on whether you are going to use a manuscript, outline or some other way to guide you in the sermon. 8. Go over the Sermon—Whatever way you find it the most helpful, go over the sermon in your mind or preach it to the wall. The better you know what you are going to say before the sermon, the more free you will be to deliver the message.

Ten Principles of Preaching 9. Be Physically Fit—It takes alot of energy to deliver the sermon. Take care of your health so you will be able to speak forcefully on the Sabbath. 10. Find Your Own Style—Find a style of preaching that is comfortable for you. Learn from other preachers and adapt their best points to your style of preaching.

Ten Principles of Preaching Get in your groups and discuss: 1) One of the ten principles of preaching you already practice. 2)One of the ten principles of preaching you need to start practicing.

Ten Ways to Avoid Boring Sermons 1. The issue of sermon length—If you are bored with a sermon after the first five minutes it is already too long. A very interesting sermon of one hour is not too long. 2. Condense the presentation—Most long boring sermons could easily be made much shorter and much more interesting.

Ten Ways to Avoid Boring Sermons 3. Condense the illustrations—Be careful not to over illustrate your sermon. People get the point far before the preacher usually does. 4. Make preaching an event—Strive to make preaching something special and memorable. Do or say something that will impact the hearers.

Ten Ways to Avoid Boring Sermons 5. Become more animated in your delivery—Most preachers are too stiff in their sermons. At times you need to speak with all the earnestness you can. 6. Vary the tone and pace of the sermon—Don’t always speak with either low or high volume or a fast or slow pace. Varying the tone and pace of the sermon accentuates the highs and the lows.

Ten Ways to Avoid Boring Sermons 7. Give Short Object Lessons—Object lessons rivet the attention of the hearers but make them short and interesting. 9. Tell the Bible story in a different way—If you are preaching on a well-known Bible story then tell it in a different way or bring out some new insights that nobody has heard before.

Ten Ways to Avoid Boring Sermons 9. Stand up, Start up, Sit Down—In most really good sermons the church members want to hear more. Develop the reputation of being a short, interesting speaker and you will be invited to present in many places. 10. Make creative altar calls—Don’t always speak with either low or high volume or a fast or slow pace. Varying the tone and pace of the sermon accentuates the highs and the lows.

Ten Ways to Avoid Boring Sermons Get in your groups and discuss: 1) One of the ten ways of avoiding boring sermons you already practice. 2)One of the ten ways of avoiding boring sermons you need to start practicing.

God grows His church by growing people.