Certainty 10.16.2025

    Certainty really begins by being able to see what the end will be when you are starting. To think into, over, beneath, between, around, and through a Biblical text gives us clarity as we prepare a message to proclaim the truth of the text. To analyze what a text says-to take it apart and reassemble it. To see it organically and synthetically so that you may preach it authentically, takes time. Certainty is a function of time as much as any other factor. 

    And when we talk about time there are a few variables which are not very variable. We all have the same amount. In ministry most of us set our own schedules, allocate our study time, and pursue other necessary ministry tasks. The biggest task of all is preaching and teaching Scripture. This task should not only take the best of our time but the bulk of it. 

    How do we follow the Pauline prescription to “make the most of” or “redeem” the time? For many answering that question is the brass-ring of ministry. For some it is an elusive mystery lost in the many traps of good things that distract us from the one best thing. And for still others it is simply not true. They entered ministry with some other agenda than that found in Scripture. I really don’t have anything to say to those individuals. For the rest, hoping to make the most of their time in both the quality of the sermons they preach, and the depth of their study time here is the advice. Start as early as possible. 

    I routinely write here (rant, if you prefer) about sermon calendars and time allocation. I discuss planning, preparing, processes, and practical approaches. Nothing I (or anyone else for that matter) says will do any aspiring preacher any good if he or she does not allocate enough time for the task. Most of that time allocation is for work today that will only be realized over the visible horizon of tomorrow, or next week, or even next month. 

    The sooner you start the deeper you can dig. The sooner you start the wider the amount of water you can fish. The sooner you start the more detours you can explore. You may be getting tired of this, but I have buckets full of metaphors for you, all addressing this one issue. 

    It is best to have all the education you can, but the learning is wasted if time is not invested wisely. Shelves full of books are a poor investment for someone who can “Never find the time” to read. A group of helpful colleagues is a crutch if all you ever do is purloin their ideas or steal their completed work. Many of the bad things in the preaching ministry can be fixed and a lot of the poor sermons eliminated by the simple addition of a good alarm clock, to your inventory of tools. There are a few more helpful tools, of course. A well-crafted Task list that prioritizes preaching at the most basic planning stage. You also need a good daily/weekly/monthly/yearly calendar and an understanding of how it works and how you should work it. Virtually everything that you need to do a better job of doing this job is either on a shelf behind you or a computer in front of you. These personal management tools can help you acquire a laser focus on doing the right things, the right way, in a timely fashion. The use of “Timely” in this case indicating. START EARLY!

    If you don’t start early, you don’t have enough time to explore various approaches to individual texts. Without enough lead time you won’t be able to sketch out alternative approaches to outlining and presenting the information in a text. Your messages will be as dry as bread that has insufficient time to rise before it is baked. When you give yourself a cushion you allow yourself the room to make mistakes without the risk of carrying those mistakes into the pulpit. Cushion allows you to explore your own language, to consider how you want to approach a topic or phrase an issue in the sermon. If you’ve got enough time you can write, read, edit, discard, rewrite, change, and finally settle on your wording. 

    You must start early, or you won’t have the time to be your best. If you don’t have time to be your best, more often than not, you will feel rushed and underprepared. Even if the message works you will wear yourself out overlooking obvious deadlines (Sunday comes every week) that only became deadlines because you didn’t plan far enough ahead and did not start early enough. 

    If this sounds like too much of a rant to you, perhaps the advice I’m giving hits a little too close to home. It has been my experience that most preachers who agree with me work this way and are dumbfounded by persons who wait till the last minute. 

    Is that an objection I hear from out in internet world? Yes, it is. “What about bi-vocational or part time preachers?” In that case starting early is even more important. Most of my process-driven preaching model was developed when I was bi-vocational myself. By starting early and preparing a vigorous plan you avoid the bi-vocational reality of limited time. 

    Let me state this again though it may seem trite. Sunday is always coming. Every week When one Sunday is finished the next is just over the horizon. We don’t plan to displace faith but to demonstrate it. It is presumptuous to expect the Holy Spirit to deliver us from sloth. It is arrogant to assume that we don’t need to manage our time. It is silly to think we are not bound by the same chronological constraints that bind every human. 

     In 1 Timothy 3.1 Paul calls pastoral ministry (Elders, Deacons, Deaconesses, Teachers, Preachers, et al) a noble task.  Our part of that task is proclaiming the unsearchable riches of Christ. We honor the nature of the task by getting an early start on this most important of assignments. You may not like the admonition, but I guarantee you’ll love the outcome.