Connecting to the Past and Present 6.25.2026

     I have been preaching long enough that when I begin a new sermon series—as a part of the initial research phase, I will browse through and skim my previous work on the texts for that series. My preaching from the Gospel of John this year consists of three distinct passes through the book. I think I have mentioned this before—just trying to get y’all up to speed. My first pass ended at Easter with the resurrection. The second pass begins next week, and it will focus on the “I am” passages and other texts that deal more directly with the divinity of Jesus. 

    This week I continue the transition back to “full-time” work on Johannine materials. And it begins with my old sermons along with all the persevered research behind entire series and individual sermons that I have preached over the last 30-40 years. Some of those years had a single theme and the arc of those messages and how texts were applied moved a different direction from my planned approach for the rest of this year. Still this review period is increasingly necessary and can be very fruitful. 

    It’s not just a matter of avoiding repetition. Sometimes the yearly trajectory required me to exegete larger passages of scripture. In revisiting those old sermons, I routinely find that the exegesis was adaptable to other concepts and applications. Often each section of a previous sermon could be reedited, reframed, and expanded into a differently applied message. 

    To reap the benefit, you gotta do the work. In this case the work is a matter of connecting your past work to the present. And that is only possible if you have been diligent in recording, filing, and organizing your work. Rules and tools. We can’t live without them. Here is some brief advice regarding choosing your tools and following your own rules. 

Document Properly

    Write down everything. DATE the pages in your notebook, journal, or Word Processing program! If you do a good job of documenting your work you will be able to look at your dated, outlined, thorough notes and get your bearing. If you don’t date, don’t write down Bibliographic information, don’t attribute quotations, and clearly label your own reflections and musings how in the world will you keep things straight?

    Why do so much work that is simply swept away when you are finished? Why invest your time in digging so deeply only to abandon the wells after they are dug? Work hard for the treasure you have and then leverage it by leaving a properly documented paper trail. (FYI...I’m going to call it a “paper trail” even though for many of us there is little to no paper involved).

File Intelligently

    The basis of your filing system should be simple. Do not make it any harder than it needs to be. Be intentional. Create a system and follow it. Yes, modern computers are fast, and you can let the computer do much of the work and simply use the search function to find things. You use the tool. Use it your way. Leverage the power of the systems you use to work more efficiently and effectively—but own your own work.

    I think it is best at the root level to file chronologically. You may occasionally move some things around or make duplicates of documents, or need to keep a few (minimal, please) items on your computer desktop, but at the highest level keep things simple. By filing chronologically at the top-most level, then appropriately by ministry area as needed you will save yourself time and, following the analogy of traditional analog filing systems, you will have like materials clustered together.  

Differentiate Work Product from Deliverables

    People will hear or read your sermon live or via a streaming medium. At some point in the future, you will be doing what I’m doing now, reviewing your past work to see how it can impact what lies ahead head. You will thank yourself for leaving a quality paper trail that you can easily follow to reconstruct your work, reconfigure your writing, and recycle your research. 

    That means you need to differentiate your work product from your deliverables. This not is not a common description we use to describe our work process or the varied outputs for writing sermons. Yet they are very applicable. Reading notes, scribblings, sketching, and personal asides provide a very personal and messy perspective on the creative process. As we move through multiple drafts we leave behind usable material for the future. No one wants to or should need to read that material unless and until your biographer is recounting your intellectual journey! Just for the sake of argument, let’s leave that aside and agree that each of us leaves a lot of material lying around as we work. Some winds up on the “cutting room floor. Some is immediately repurposed into other ongoing projects. Some of it just piles up on analog or digital desktop You and I write words, edit sentences, mull over paragraphs, and draft entire sermons that no one ever hears. But that material is still valuable to you. When you file, as you complete your final manuscript make sure that you can follow the trail. 

    We preach and teach the story of Jesus to increase His Church and to guide and strengthen disciples. This important task requires the best of our attention and energy. A lifetime of this work is challenging and exciting. Good work habits help us remain focused and productive while laying a foundation for sermons and lessons to come. A simple process for preserving all our work, from first notes to final manuscript is a growing resource for productivity and peace of mind.   

Some Change of Pace 6.18.2026

     Reviewing and tidying up are focused on externals. We review to see where we have been so that we can move forward into our preaching calendar with confidence. We tidy up our control systems to make sure we can maintain control over the rules and tools that help us to manage our time. Today I want to discuss how a change of pace can help clear our minds so that all that redeemed time has mental bandwidth to do its thing. 

    We need a change of pace to help us keep the edge. We are nearly half a year into studying, thinking through, and writing about specific texts and themes.  As we move through our sermon calendars we read, study, make notes, do the research—all of which can dull the mental edge we began with. Like you, I still have quite a lot to do before I’ve written all and said all I intend to say in 2026. I have two more sermons in Proverbs and then the rest of the year will be taken up with more preaching from the Gospel of John and a brief series from 1 John. I have pretty much been on this Johannine glide-path the entire year and when studying the same basic subject(s) it is common to lose emotional enthusiasm, mental flexibility, and intellectual sharpness for the project. And I’ve not even mentioned plain ol’ fatigue or waning curiosity which are also lethal to good study and preparation. 

    The best remedy I know of is changing the pace of what you read and consider. These suggestions are not typical, and some might think that they are out of place in a preacher’s study. I disagree. We need to be sharp. We need to be curious. We need to be able to think critically. We need to be creative. We need to be flexible. We need to be engaged. The best way to accomplish these tasks is to find something to occupy our minds that keeps the synapses buzzing without just adding to the mental load of preparing sermons, lessons, essays, and presentations. It is not selfish or indulgent to keep your mind occupied and engaged with materials that do not dovetail into explicit, ongoing work. Consider the following. 

Reading for Profit and Pleasure

    Let me put it this way. You cannot read for “prophet” if you never read for “profit”. Some investments do not have an immediate return and if you don’t do that broader reading eventually the plumbing will get gummed up. 

    What interests you? What makes you laugh? Are you curious about history or architecture, archaeology or mythology? Read those books. Sit at your desk, engage with a text that does not immediately address something you’re preparing to speak about. Take notes, file them, and sit on the information.  

    Preachers need to know about Theology and History. Keep a list (or stack) of books to be read. Make sure that many of those books address broad hermeneutical and theological questions. These are the ones that slip through the cracks when you need to get cracking on this week or next week’s message. Read, learn, and file. At some point you will come back to those notes and find profitable data that will help you better forth-tell God’s Word. 

    God bless you if you live somewhere that still has a real newspaper. Read the thing. In detail. It will help you learn more about your community and region. The newspaper murderers did not realize that there was more to a local paper than advertising and obituaries. With many local radio stations serving primarily as outlets for media conglomerates the radio news is often thin and useless as well. Reading for profit and pleasure was once the sign not only of an educated person but of a person that was interested in the world. 

Rereading for Engagement

    What books helped to form your intellectual approach? What have you read that caught your imagination?  When was the last time you went through one of them? Do you have annal re-reads? Re-engaging with things you have read in the past not only keeps the information fresh, but it also reminds you of how a book contributed to your mindset. Pull quotes and write them down as a To-Do. They will remind you of contributions others have made to your thinking. 

    Throughout the week I have quotations that come up in Things, my task application. Little reminders of the ins and outs of ministry, the nature of learning, the importance of craft. None of these quotations are literary gems. They just remind me that many formative geniuses learned early on to not be impressed with their own genius. 

    I used to re-read The Lord of the Rings and The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy every year. The former because it is profound, the latter because it always makes me laugh. I reread William Martin’s Cape Code at least every other year because it launched an interest in and had a shaping influence on my approach to Puritanism and American Theology. 

Listen to some Different Music

I grew up in the 1970’s. I like the music of my generation. Like everyone else I think we had the best music. I’ll listen to it in my truck, and every once in a while, in the office, but generally I cannot work while playing music with words. 

I also like classical music. My favorite composer is J.S. Bach. Over the last 15 years I have also begun to discover contemporary composers such as (Arvo Pärt, Max Richter, John Tavener, Vladimir Martynov)with a focus on Holy Minimalism (You’re going to have to look that one up). Now, with the genius of Spotify I am able, nearly every week, to identify composers and performers whose musical output matches my listening habits in my study. Rarely does a week go by without discovering some new music.  

When we discover new things—musicians, composers, authors—we create a fertile environment for the intellectual curiosity necessary for growth. Incurious preachers preach incurious, cautious messages. When I am incurious, I find it difficult to look at familiar texts with fresh eyes. This makes me a very boring preacher. 

Let me close with this. We all occasionally get into ruts. Going over the same ground, using the same processes we become bored without selves and incapable of noticing the boredom we generate in others. When we find ourselves in that kind of a rut the task is to get out. Better still we need to work in such a way that getting into a rut is an accident—rather than a deliberate decision. Changing pace helps keep us on our toes so that we can focus on the task and hand and be at our best every time we enter the sacred desk.  

Tidying Up 6.11.2026

    It is impossible to outrun paper. Regardless of your level of digital immersion, someone will eventually hand you a slip of paper, a card, an envelope, or a napkin with a crucial bit of information recorded upon it. If you are careful and thorough you will enter that information into a more formal retention system. You may also misplace or lose it or quickly glance at it and discard it. I know because I’ve done all three. To avoid misplaced data, notes, and memoranda it is necessary to routinely tidy up one’s physical and mental workspace. 

    This kind of tidying up signifies something different to virtually everyone who sits at a desk and “pushes paper.” There are some who cannot function unless there are dangerous-looking piles of paper about to explode off every flat surface. Other’s find anything extraneous distracting and try and remove everything from view except for what they are working on at that specific time. My interest is on neither extreme. From a rules and tools standpoint tidying up is more a matter of trusted systems being ready to go at a moment’s notice. Let’s talk about those processes for a moment.

    Computer(s), iPad, and phone tend not to be my first choice when receiving or recording information. There will almost be a hand-scribbled note of some kind that is the first step in remembering and acting on information. On my person at all times there is a notebook. My preferred pocket memoranda book is a Field Notes brand memo book. I have a decade’s worth of supply and a drawer of completed books. Prior to the Field Notes brand, I used a number of different models, some smaller, and few larger. The Field Notes books are the right size to have on hand all the time, tough enough to last, but not so precious that they need to be babied. It’s a pocket notebook for crying out loud. 

    I had to start a new one yesterday. Filled out the “common” (my wife’s personal information and all her ring sizes) information in the back, my personal data in the front cover and immediately started keeping my typical, daily diary-notes. One addition I made this week was I brought a date stamp for my notebooks. 

    I also always have a notebook on my desk. My preferred book being a Field Notes Pitch Black 4 3/4x7 notebook It is big enough for sermon starts, outlines, essay thoughts, blog titles, and general intellectual mayhem, without taking up too much room. In the past this was almost always a composition book, and prior to that a legal pad. I abandoned legal pads because they were not good for permanent or semi-permanent retention. It was too easy to tear off a sheet for someone who came to a meeting unprepared, and being top bound it was harder to store them. 

    The third input item is a…YES, Field Notes 56-week undated planner. There are a few  things I honestly don’t like about these date-books, and when it is time to get ready for next year, I’m always looking at other options. For example, in these date books the week starts on Monday, so I  have to use a ruler to make lines sectioning off enough time for a busy Sunday. There is simply not enough space allotted each day to use this as my primary calendar. I use it to write the top 3 items from my Today list in Things, a few time dependent thoughts and random drop-ins. 

    None of these notebooks are for long-term retention and storage. (Though I do, of course, file them) At various times during my day, entries which are written are given a proper digital home. Time dependent items are transferred do my detailed calendar on my computer; tasks are put into my project lists. Contact information goes into an appropriate computer application. Everything syncs and is available at a moment’s notice across all my devices.

    I know that many of you are thinking “So Bob, do you have control issues?” or “Bob, have you taken too many shots to the head?” 1) Not control, visibility.  2) Lots of shots to the head, all unrelated to this issue.

    These tidying up thoughts are all directed to the single idea that you need to keep track of what you are doing. You need to make thorough notes. You need to be constantly tending the garden of thoughts, ideas, inputs, meditations, musings, and modeling that make for good preaching. And when all that “brainstorming” is done you need an accessible record from which you can better direct your formal work. There is nothing worse than having a great idea go to waste because you were never able to make a note to flesh out at a later, more convenient time.

    It is mid-year. We began discussing performing a sort of a “half-time” review last week and this topic goes hand in glove with it. What we need to review is our systems and the material contained in them. One of the little things I have started doing just this year is to put wavy vertical lines through time-dependent memoranda in my notebooks—not enough to keep me from reading what was written, just a quick visual reminder that that particular item has been completed or the information has been fitted into a longer term system. I’ve also tried to do a bit of indexing of each book to track sermon, essay, and lesson ideas.  

    One final thing before we close for this week. This mid-year tidying up and review time is also a good time to look at your routines and rituals. Here are some suggestions.  First, how do you begin and end your day? Do you just sort of slide into your morning without any forethought? Is every day different? I think it is good to have some kind of beginning and ending routine to keep things orderly throughout the work week. Next, ask yourself how you handle interruptions. Some interruptions are nothing more than that—there is nothing else at stake other than stopping what you are doing. Examples would be unsolicited phone calls, deliverers, inquiries, and items to redirect to others. Other interruptions require focused attention and even possible follow-up. If someone walks through the door and needs some kind of pastoral attention, if a text, call, or FaceTime rings in with a ministry focus I make a note. I write it down whilst it is occurring and then after it is completed, I document it and determine what follow-up is necessary. I enter a task in my task manager and record it in the calendar.   

    “Why Bob? Why are you telling us this?” Some of you already know these things and do them. I’m just confirming what you already practice. Others will read this who are just beginning in ministry, and they need guidance as to how to properly document their work. Some are in between but perpetually behind either because they were not taught or because they have simply learned bad habits. We can all do better. I am constantly reviewing, recalibrating, and refocusing daily routines to redeem the time available for ministry. Simply taking a couple of hours to reconsider the rules and recalibrate the tools can yield enormous reward going forward. Doing ministry well is worthwhile and a part of that process is remaining focused.  

Mid-Year Review 6.4.2026

    If the year had 13 months we could take a whole month for planning, preparing, previewing, reviewing, game planning, and workshopping our daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly work. That is not the year we were dealt.  We have what we have, and we must work with what we’ve got. Right now, Summer is waking up around us with a different feel and focus. The best time for a Mid-year review is at the beginning of summer before we need become involved in summer ministry activities (camp and VBS) or deeply focused on the busy fall season. 

    I want to take some time this month to discuss not only the point of reviewing our work (what have I accomplished) but also the process of reviewing our work (how have I worked). I think that this second question is of vital importance not only to ensure that we are working on what is most significant but so that we devote our best energy to the basics of preaching and teaching and the vast amount of time in study it takes to execute this teaching office well.  The point of reviewing anything is improvement. If we take a considered look at both process and performance, we can identify what needs to be changed, what needs to be emphasized, what needs to be excised from our work. There are three observations I want to make about reviewing our work as pastor-preachers this month. 

Revisit Wins and Losses

    What worked? What failed? What looked good on paper and fell apart during execution? Assuming you take the time to put together a well-considered sermon calendar this is not so much second guessing as it is after the fact editorial work. 

    Preaching can be tough because many of the messages a preacher would chalk up as “losses” have greater impact than we would imagine when we are preparing or presenting them. A faithfully executed message—even if it fails to impress the preacher often has impact on those who hear it. 

    Our other areas of ministry; leadership, pastoral care, programming, and professional development can be more objectively evaluated. My share of the programming is largely determined by others. This is the question “did I execute the assignment I was given?” Pastoral care is determined by the nature of needs that present themselves. Planning and leadership are shared, so my central concern is administrative and day to day operations. The effectiveness of some professional work (attending a conference) is a matter of determine whether the event was worth the invested time, talent, and treasure. 

    Celebrate what worked. Figure out why failures failed. Use your interrogatories (who, what, where, when, why, how) to clarify what needs to be fixed; Continue with the mission. One further thought. Visit the past. Don’t dwell there. The purpose of this quick trip into past performance is improvement not punishment or perfection. 

Reconsider Choices

    This needs to be more than considering whether one-off decisions were correct. Look at your preaching and teaching calendar and think through the choices you made about content. Are you accurately teaching God’s Word? Are people getting a balanced diet? In your preaching do you make a case for what you are preaching, why you are preaching it, and how you are preaching it? 

Working from a proper Sermon Calendar requires making choices months in advance. The trajectory of your study gives guidance for the content of individual messages. Life is tricky and the world constantly changing around us. Reconsidering our choices is not second-guessing. It is not a chance to abandon the plan and make a different choice. It is just an opportunity to reconsider past choices, grow in wisdom, and correct your future course when that future arrives. 

Reaffirm Priorities

    “What is the most important investment of my time right now?”  A preaching calendar affirms the course of study for your congregation for a full year. A pastoral care plan must be flexible because the needs of people and the realities of your congregation are different from mine. A preaching plan can be more rigid because there are fewer variables. Many of the other items we need to accomplish include variables, opportunities, difficulties, dilemmas, and considerations outside of my control. When a contractor needs some of my time during a busy morning to help him gain access to what needs fixed It is something that must be done—but hardly planned. 

    A key development is to examine our task list and calendar to try and determine whether the shape of most workdays helps you to reaffirm the central priority of ministry—preaching the word. Interruptions and distractions occur but they need not keep us from giving our best time and energy to our highest priority. 

    I don’t think a review—whether it is undertaken at the end of the day or the middle of the year should be occasion for unnecessarily beating yourself up. There are some things we cannot control. Some choices we’ve just got live with. And many circumstances are more complicated than they initially appear to be. That means, particularly with respect to leadership and pastoral functions, that we will make decisions without full comprehension of the circumstances or contexts involved. Once again, this should remind us that we serve God—we don’t substitute for Him. 

Commitment to Biblical Ecclesiology 5.28.2026

    Things have been hectic the last couple of weeks, consequently I am behind on my writing. I did want to bring Mays theme to a close however before engaging in my plan for June. My theme in May has been A commitment to Biblical Authority. A central element of this thesis is that claiming something is “Biblical” means far more than just saying “The Bible says!”, quoting a text, or a vague claim to being Christian. 

    A commitment to Scripture as the Word of God requires a long-term commitment to accurate and clear preaching. A commitment to Scripture also requires submission to Biblical patterns of leadership. Last of all, briefly today I want to discuss how Biblical authority requires a commitment to Biblical Ecclesiology. Simply put we need to understand what the Bible says about the Church; Its founding, nature, place, and purpose. 

I mentioned in the lede that I am trying to play catch up today, suffice it to say the beginning of Biblical Ecclesiology as well as a sufficient summation is found in the second line of Matthew 16.18:

“And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” (Matthew 16:18 ESV)

 Those words clearly articulate Jesus’ vision. 

1. These words signal intent. The Church was the plan from the beginning.  

2. These words signal possession. It is His Church. 

3. These words signal purpose. 

     It is possible to make this conversation unnecessarily complicated. A commitment to a Biblical understanding d of the Church means that we acknowledge the lordship of Jesus over His Church. His intent becomes ours. We recognize His guidance, provision, and direction over the Church as His body, bride, flock, building, temple. And it means that we align ourselves with His purposes for the Church. 

    This is not rocket science. The single most important element (this is likewise true for the other commitments we have highlighted during this discussion) is humility. The spirit of the age holds humility in contempt and redefines the Church as simply another locus of human drama and power. 

    The Church is His. It belongs to Jesus. It is not subordinate to, embedded within, or reflective of any human, national, cultural, or social structure. Any claim that it is defined by those human relationships simply shows that the claimant is not committed to Biblical authority and betrays enormous ignorance of what the Bible actually teaches. In which case, conversation ends because those who imprison the Church within human structures demonstrate where their loyalty lies.

Commitment to Biblical Leadership 5.21.2026

 

    The Bible serves as the written, organizing document of the Church. We accept its authoritative guidance for both doctrine and practice. Biblical preaching makes that authoritative word accessible and understandable to the Church. Biblical leadership forms human, visible, and responsible framework for our ongoing work of ministry.  

    Much which goes under the contemporary name or description of “ministry” only appears to be in service to the Gospel. The Church has always been embedded in some historic, actual context. Incarnation is an indication that the work of salvation is accomplished in the created order. We are redeemed from sin in this setting, sometimes called “the real world.” Embracing memes or socially derived definitions of Biblical Authority and Biblical Preaching redescribes the expectations for both leading and following. It does not matter how many books are written or courses offered about servant-leadership unless preachers and other Church leaders primarily see themselves as serving both our Lord and the disciples to whom He has assigned us. 

When we discuss New Testament Leadership there are many relevant texts. Let us consider one and make a few abbreviated observations. (your writer is behind).

“Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.” (Acts 20:28 ESV)

Delegated 

    First, our leadership is delegated by God. He has chosen the Eldership the “Pastoral team”, in 21st century parlance to act for Him, in His authority as a chosen body of local leaders. While it is true that we may use specific methods to designate who these men will be, the choice of the congregation must be understood as demonstrating the mutual understanding that these individuals are delegates of God who work according to Scripture and the leadership of God’s Holy Spirit.

Representative

    Likewise, the work is representative. This function is twofold. First, leaders represent God to the people through the preaching and teaching of Scripture, enforcing of Biblical precedents for discipleship and discipline, and ensuring the reliable, routine observation of the Biblical ordinances. 

    Second, we represent the people to God as members of the local flock. We pray for them and with them. We address their needs and concerns in preaching, teaching, and counsel. We walk with them during crisis and celebration. We gather them into a comforting embrace during difficulties and speak patiently when they stray. And we function in this fashion as a representative of Christ, we are taken from within the body, to serve in the body—not over it. 

Collegial

    Not everyone called to these tasks does everything equally well. Some are better at representing Christ to His flock. Others excel at representing the flock to the Shepherd. That is why the work is always collegial. It is His flock and He calls a group of leaders to function together in this capacity. 

    Not only is there a greater capacity as a group there is safety in numbers. Consider this; as I was just fetching a triple-espresso it occurred to me, that the two most familiar incidents in the Gospels where we see Apostles alone, without any of the others, are when Judas betrayed Jesus and Peter denied Him. 

    Biblical ministry in the 21st century should be based upon the same model, the same framework of shared accountability. Spiritual gifts come with great responsibility. One of the ways that God has safeguard the work of the Church is to delegate oversight to a group of gifted and able individuals who both protect the flock and hold one another accountable. Preachers and teachers who chafe under such oversight have either misread texts they proclaim to others or have chosen to ignore the Biblical mandate to be embedded in a collegial group of leaders. 

Commitment to Biblical Preaching 5.14.2026

    No one’s goal is to be non-Biblical, un-Biblical, or anti-Biblical. The problem is not the concept it’s the execution. And execution often comes down to intentional habits that yield reliable results. Virtually everything I say in this space about preaching, what I write in other books and essays, what I teach when given the opportunity to address the issues around preaching and teaching the Scriptures, virtually every address in every context will speak about intention, process, and work ethic. A commitment to Biblical preaching is in a sense, less about theology than it is about ethics. I will not dwell on this unnecessarily as I am currently composing a book-length exploration of this topic but there are a few ideas worth repeating and some which I have not yet produced detailed copy. Let’s call these—in keeping with this month’s theme—basic frameworks for fulfilling our promise to be Biblical preachers. 

Priority of the Study

    I have said more times than I can count; “You can only have number one priority.” If you are a preaching minister and your number one priority is not preaching, you will rarely allocate the necessary time for study of the Scriptures and the attendant materials which help us to proclaim it clearly and accurately. 

    If that seems harsh—I will not apologize. Not everyone is equally smart, but everyone can work hard. Good preaching flows from good study and good study requires time and commitment. If you are not committed to determined and detailed study, if you or I refuse to keep reasonably up-to-date with developments in various Biblical studies disciplines, or if we simply question the commitment to Biblical authority of those we don’t understand, eventually our ability to pronounce “This is the Word of God for us today…” withers. 

    I am not foolish and I understand the complexities of modern ministry particularly for small to medium, rural, small-town churches. I often lament to friends that regardless of how detailed my study plans are I am basically falling a year behind every month, but the issue is not one of progress so much as process. It takes time, talent, and treasure to be adequately prepared. The whole project can be undermined by laziness. Plan to study. Execute the plan. Work hard. 

Priority of Hermeneutics

    Virtually every book I read about theology or the history of doctrine, or even the differences between various theological tribes eventually comes down to hermeneutics. How we interpret scripture, how we interpret our context, how we interpret our culture. These are all interpretive actions. To be a preacher is to be a practitioner of hermeneutics in virtually every life context. 

    Now, we don’t spell it out all the time. We won’t want to explain to people that as we peruse our social-media feeds or the news we are constantly assessing both the local and cultural conversation, but that needs to be what we do. Then, as we interpret Scripture using all the tools at our disposal, we can echo God’s divine voice into the real world we inhabit. 

    Some who declare the most loudly their fidelity to the Bible fail at this. Spectacularly. Sometimes it is a failure to understand Scripture. Other times it manifests itself a failure to understand contemporary culture. Frequently there is evident guilt of both. Preaching which does not bring Scripture to bear on the Post-Modern condition may be flamboyant, interesting, and entertaining. It will not likely be life changing. 

Priority of Composition

    If you know what the Bible says and if you are called to preach that message to our contemporary setting, and you fail to be understood—then you haven’t accomplished much. You must discover your voice, and that means writing clearly and speaking as much as you can. Don’t farm out any more than you must. If you teach Sunday School or a Bible Study, investigate the text or topic in detail and compose your own material. Write sermons you have not been called to preach. Don’t be afraid of your own drafting process. Work on your craft. Someone may be in your Church for the first time this Sunday and they need to hear the life-changing message of Scripture in your authentic voice. 

    Reading the Bible, interpreting the Bible, and writing out our conclusions clearly, concisely, and capably are the building blocks of good preaching and teaching. Without those basic skills any commitment to “Biblical Preaching” is merely an ideological formality without any meaning. 

    Pray incessantly. Work hard. Study thoroughly. Write clearly. Edit mercilessly. Proclaim with confidence. Trust God to bless the results.