How to give a great Sermon - Church Planters' Workshop

How to give a great Sermon I came across this video from TEDS, which is a genius, think-tank kind of place. Some of the speeches on TEDS are simply amazing.

But this is not specifically for preachers or even for religion. But Mrs. Duarte gives some great advice about giving a memorial presentation. Her principles in general can be applied to we who preach and teach.

Listen to it until the end. What I see in these principles is the A. where we are (sinful, with problems), B. bliss is where we want to be (pleasing to God), and how to go from A to B. “Changing the world is a big job.“

One of the “good points” of this talk is that this lady presents us “you have the power to change the world”. Isn’t this really what we are doing as pastors? You have to communicate your idea to others (your people), and that is the problem, you have to “communicate an idea that resonates”.

Her talk focuses on limiting your talk to a single idea. This “idea” is the same thing as your sermon’s topic. I like the use of the term “idea” because a topic is very general and can be abused very easily. An idea is a communication from God to you. This is God’s message to you, and you should look at your sermon as a communication activity, and so very often, sermons as “communication activities” just fail. What this lady is dealing with is how to make a communication succeed in the purpose you give it.

Story: She explains the magical function of stories to be remembered and absorbed. We physically react when we listen to a story (if it is a good story and is well told). She examines why that doesn’t happen with a presentation. The presenter is not the “star of the show”. The audience is the hero. If they don’t “get” the idea you are presenting, then you are not effective. Making the audience the hero gets them personally involved, which is a big step towards their receiving “your message”.

The presenter is the person who helps the audience to move from where they are, to get the idea working in their life.

1. Likeable hero, with a desire.

2. Roadblock, in which the facilitator helps the hero to get through it.

3. They emerge transformed.

What is (past, problem). What could be (future, solution).

How to get from what is to what could be.

This is a contrast of what is bad about the present, and what is your idea (the solution), and the going back and forth between the two causes the audience to desire the solution. The zig-zag between the two causes an energy to build (if you present it well) that results in the audience taking you solution or idea to solve this problem of their’s. “You capture the resistance coming against you, and you use it to convince your audience.“

If you look for this dynamic in Scripture, you will find speakers who present the evil of sin (what is), and then the solution of God (what could be). The dynamic of going between the two of these is the exhortation part of a sermon, making what could become to pass.

A Call to Action.

You need to form the vision of the world with your idea. Show the utopia of living with the solution.

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Preaching to Offend no One is an article about frankness in preaching and preaching on things that need to be addressed, but many preachers shy away from these.
Topics: Comments on Brandon Cox's Article | What is the real problem? | A Profile of a Professional Man of God Preacher | Cowards are not going to make it to heaven. | Greed is the Tail that Wags the Dog | Balance
Excerpt: A good professional will do his job, however it inconveniences the people he touches. This is how a preacher who is a man of God will work. He tells his people the truth. Explaining the truth, so everybody understands it, he then motivates them to change their lives. A good preacher obeys God explicitly as much as he understands what God wants.
Preaching is like going to your doctor. A superb doctor examines you, does tests on you, and then he has a summary visit with you where he tells you all the things wrong with you, and how you need to 1) lose weight, 2) stop eating red meat, 3) get more exercise (or begin to exercise because you don't look like you have worked up a sweat since a cop pulled you over for speeding), etc. He tells you the truth, no matter how "offensive" it is.
Read the Article: Preaching to Offend no one.

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fam62 How to be a Feminine Woman examines femininity from a Bible perspective. It compares homosexuals being feminine. Topics: God created us, man, and woman. | The Spiritual Fight is within us ourselves. | A Device of Satan A Device of Satan | The Homosexual and Trans Angle | Highlighting the Woman, How She Behaves | The Crux of the Matter | To Be a Feminine Woman, She must attend to her adorning. | The Description of a Woman.
Excerpt from the Tract: 1 Corinthians 6:9 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither… nor adulterers, nor effeminate… In other words, these people were doing the opposite of what God commanded them to do. Being men and having the command to act manly (1 Corinthians 16:13 Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong), they acted like women. For women, it is the command of God that they act feminine, to be womanly. To seem feminine, these perverts usually use a dress or skirt, and they never use pants, because they know that by using pants they identify themselves being masculine, and using skirts and dress with being feminine. But it seems like an impossible thing to fathom, but even homosexuals know exactly how to identify as a woman, men being feminine, in their rebellion, and Christian women can neither define what it is that God commands them to be, how to dress themselves as women, neither how to act feminine.
How do you distinguish between a man and a woman? Pants in a man, and dress or skirt in a woman. Even common bathroom signs show this obvious point. The question is not how a woman dress should, but why don’t women, especially Christian women, dress like a woman should. It is not a matter of clarity, but a matter of no desire on the part of certain women. Are you a feminine woman? If not, why not?
Read the Tract: fam62 How to be a Feminine Woman