Sermon Preparation Quotes

The temptation is for us to share our own opinions, our own thoughts and to speak from the whole realm of possibility. We can't do that as pastors. We need to have a strong voice of conviction, and the way we can do that is through Scripture.

A sermon is a valuable thing now and so impressive when you do hear a good one - and there is a lot of failure in the attempt; it's a difficult form - is because it's so seldom true now that you hear people speak under circumstances where they assume they are obliged to speak seriously and in good faith, and the people who hear them are assumed to be listening seriously and in good faith.

When it comes to sermon writing, generally there are two problems. Some preachers love the research stage but hate the writing, and they start writing too late. Others don't like doing research, so they move way too fast to the writing part.

Maybe you've had the experience where somebody's asked you a question and you give an answer, then later in the day you think, "Oh, I wish I'd said that!" I tend to journal these things and put the answers in sermons.

The half-baked sermon causes spiritual indigestion

I can not understand why ministers presume to deliver sermons every week at appointed hours because it is humanly impossible for inspirations to come with clock-like regularity

Some clergymen make a motto, instead of a theme, of their texts.

Preach to yourselves the sermons which you study, before you preach them to others.

Nothing is text but what is spoken of in the Bible and meant there for person and place; the rest is application; which a discreet man may do well; but it is his scripture, not the Holy Ghost's. First, in your sermons use your logic, and then your rhetoric; rhetoric without logic is like a tree with leaves and blossoms, but no root.

My father was a no-nonsense, dedicated, and focused minister, and there was usually a sermon he needed to prepare for or a Scripture he needed to study, and that always came first.

I used to tell people when I preached at a church, 'If you want a great sermon, be a great audience.'

The stupid texts of the Bible - from which, be the talents of the preacher what they may, only stupid sermons can be preached.

Preachers prepare with this fear: 'Am I going to be able to fill the time?' The audience never worries about that.

Alas for the unhappy man that is called to stand in the pulpit, and not give the bread of life.

Preaching is the pastor's main work, and preaching is heart work, not just mental work.

Dr. Boice's commentary series is a treasure for the church and for her pastors. No expository preacher can afford to be without it.

Once in seven years I burn all my sermons; for it is a shame, if I cannot write better sermons now than I did seven years ago.

I remember the first sermon I ever preached. I had four sermons. I preached them, all four in ten minutes. And that was the beginning, in a place called Bostwick, Florida, in northern Florida, in a little tiny church, and on a cold night, about 40 people. And I was so nervous.

One thing that helps to stretch me is to listen to other preacher's sermons. Every year, I will listen to at least ten other preachers, both to hear God speak to me, and also to evaluate their preaching to see what I can learn and how I can improve my own preaching.

Advice to aspiring ministers: Get in the Word. Stay in the Word. Master the Word. And for heaven's sake, preach the Word!

Preaching is not the performance of an hour. It is the outflow of a life. It takes twenty years to make a sermon because it takes twenty years to make the man. The true sermon is a thing of life. The sermon grows because the man grows.

I'm first a pastor and then a writer.

There are usually multiple messages that could be preached from the same text.

The best sermon is preached by the minister who has a sermon to preach and not by the man who has to preach a sermon.

The character of our praying will determine the character of our preaching. Light praying makes light preaching.