It has been said that sermon preparation is an art. Just like a mechanic working on a car or a farmer working the fields or an electrician wiring a house or a builder driving nails; there is a specific skill that goes into the creating of a sermon. To begin, the sermon maker must be one who is called of God. It is a specialized skill given only to those whom God has called to such a ministry. When it comes to the art of the sermon there are four basic aspects to consider: the power of the sermon, the preparation of the sermon, the planning of the sermon, and the presentation of the sermon.

                The Power of the Sermon. The power of the sermon must flow through all the other aspects of sermon making. The power I speak of is the power of the Holy Spirit. The development of a sermon begins and ends with the Holy Spirit. The man who attempts to preach apart from the power of the Holy Spirit is a dangerous man. No matter how elegant his words may be, without the Holy Spirit, they are empty and vain. I have read many books (possibly hundreds) on the subject of preaching. The one that has had the greatest impact on my ministry is a book by Keeney Dickenson. The book is called Spurgeon: the prayer-powered pulpit of the prince of preachers. It is an examination of the life of Charles Spurgeon and his habits involving sermon preparation. They key component in Spurgeon’s ministry was simply the Holy Spirit. There is a huge difference between a Spirit-filled pulpit and an academic pulpit. Spurgeon is known to have said, “I would sooner die a thousand times, than lose the helpful presence of the Holy Ghost.” Dickenson writes, “To prepare your sermon apart from intimate interaction with God is not just an awful shame. It is an absolute sham.” The power of the Holy Spirit that comes through an intimate walk with God is a prerequisite for any sermon. The sermon must come from the heart. It must first speak to the preacher before it can be preached to others. The power of the sermon is found in the constant work of the Holy Spirit in the life of the preacher throughout his preparation, planning, and presentation.

                The Preparation of the Sermon. Every preacher has their own niche. Every man is different and learns and grows in different ways. Therefore, there is no real right or wrong way to prepare a sermon as long as it comes from the Holy Spirit. However, there are several pointers I can give you from my own sermon preparation that may be helpful to you.

                First, preparation begins on your knees. Prayer is the starting and ending point in sermon preparation. It is essential for the preacher to have a strong prayer life. Prayer is something that must be continuously cultivated. I regularly examine my prayer life and look to improve and to have a greater commitment to prayer. Typically, I spend at least one hour every day in concentrated prayer. I am afraid this is never enough and I often feel ashamed that I only give one hour a day dedicated to prayer. However, in addition to a dedicated hour of prayer, I also try to maintain an attitude of prayer throughout the day. I ask the Holy Spirit to help me to be sensitive to His leading and when He lays something on my heart, to stop and pray in that moment. When it comes to sermon preparation, it begins with preparing the heart. It is in this time of prayer when I am most in tune with the Lord. It is in this time that the Holy Spirit brings to my mind scriptures that I have studied and begins to work in me and lead and prepare me to preach His Word.

                Secondly, preparation is continuous. Some may have the notion that a preacher basically week to week decides what he should preach and how he should preach it. Some may think the preacher doesn’t decide what to preach until a day or two before the delivery of the sermon. This may be true for some preachers, but in my opinion, sermon preparation cannot be on the spur of the moment or rushed. Sermon preparation is enveloped in life preparation. It is daily walking with the Lord. It is constantly learning and growing. God has a way of speaking to you both through His Word and through the daily circumstances of life. This is why the preacher must allow himself to be vulnerable. The sermons that finally make it to the pulpit are sermons God put in the heart of the preacher days, weeks, months, or even years previously. It is things God has taught the preacher. Essentially, the sermon preaches to the preacher before it is preached to the congregation. Therefore, preaching a sermon can often be very personal and open because it is something God has worked on in the heart of the preacher long before the sermon is preached. This is why I say preparation is continuous. There may be something God is teaching me now that He may lead me to preach a year from now. The Word of God must convict me before it can convict those I preach to. The Word of God must change me before I can expect it to change others. Therefore, my preparation is continuous as I walk with the Lord daily.

                Finally, preparation involves work. As the Holy Spirit works in the heart of the preacher, the preacher must take what the Spirit gives him and work it out. He cannot just simply come to the pulpit empty handed claiming the Holy Spirit will just speak through him. The Holy Spirit speaks through the Word of God. Therefore, the preacher must be a student of the Word. It involves a high level of study and research all empowered by the Holy Spirit. My sermon preparation is constant. In other words, I am constantly working on sermons. Some of those sermons may never be preached from a pulpit. Others may be preached years from now. Some may be preached that very week. It all depends on how the Spirit leads. Whatever the case, sermons are being worked on constantly. For me, it begins with simply reading God’s Word. I’ll read the scriptures for myself and will outline the text and journal what God is teaching me through the text. As I pray through scriptures that I have read, the Holy Spirit will lay upon my heart those of which I should take to the next level of preparation. The second level, for me, is to write a sermon manuscript. I take the outlines and the journals from what God has been teaching me and I work on a sermon manuscript (similar to working on a research paper). Usually, I will start a word document and also open up a Bible study software called Logos. Keep in mind, it is at this level of preparation that I am taking what God has already taught me through personal Bible Study and digging deeper. It is at this time that I may consult various commentaries for confirmation and clarification and different points of view. This is also where I may examine the language of the text to discover the true original meaning. I may also research the background and context of the text. Through that level of study, I write out a manuscript sermon. Years ago, the Lord led me to start a blog. Little did I know that it would grow into a ministry itself. Every year nearly 100,000 people on average visit my blog. I occasionally receive emails from folks who access the website with questions about the Bible. It is a ministry in and of itself. In my sermon preparation, once I have completed and reviewed the sermon manuscript I will post it on my blog to provide encouragement for my readers. Now, that sermon may or may not be preached from a pulpit. It may be months or even years later before the Holy Spirit leads me to preach that sermon. However, I must trust in His timing. Not long ago, I was preparing to preach and I realized the sermon the Spirit led me to preach was something God prepared in my heart a year earlier. However, current events in the church made that sermon very relevant for that very week. Little did I know what God taught me and the sermon I prepared a year earlier was just what the church needed on that particular week. This is how the Holy Spirit works! Getting back to the process and work of sermon preparation: the next step after the sermon manuscript, I will create an outline to use in the pulpit. Usually, this is done the week that the Holy Spirit leads me to preach it. After that, I will practice the sermon throughout the week multiple times to work on the presentation. The most important work of sermon preparation, however, is praying through the text. Listening to the Holy Spirit speak to me. On the night before and the day of the sermon, I will often put my notes aside and just read the text over and over and let the Holy Spirit speak to me one last time through the text before it is preached. As mentioned earlier, the Holy Spirit is the key component in sermon preparation.

                The Planning of the Sermon. There are differences in every preacher as far as how he plans his sermons. Some just go week to week while others may plan further in advance. There really is no right or wrong way to sermon planning as long as the Holy Spirit is involved. For me, I try to take one day or a couple of days every year when my entire time is focused on pray and planning. Though I am not able to do so as often as I like, it is good to get away for a couple of days perhaps in a cabin in a remote area just you, your Bible, a notebook, and the Holy Spirit. It is during this sanctified time that it is good to pray for the Lord to lay on your heart what He would have you preach over the course of the next year. It may be something He brings to your mind from a past personal Bible study or it may be something completely new. Whatever the case, this time of careful planning with the Holy Spirit can be very transformative. For me personally, I try to keep a sermon calendar where I list the topics and passages to be preached throughout the year. These may or may not be sermons that have already been prepared, however, this gives me some sense as to how the Spirit is leading. In addition to this yearly planning, I try to look over my sermon calendar at least once a month. During this time, the Holy Spirit may lead me to make some changes in what is preached and when. Keep in mind, I am constantly working on sermons, therefore, I am never short of material to preach. The planning of the sermon is the work of knowing when the Holy Spirit wants me to preach a particular sermon. I still have files of sermons that I have prepared but have never preached before because the Spirit has yet to give me the greenlight. Sometimes I may be in the course of a sermon series and the Holy Spirit changes the direction one week and impresses upon my heart a different sermon that I may have prepared and even wrote a manuscript for years ago but the Holy Spirit just now says it’s time to preach it. Sometimes, the Holy Spirit may lead me to something completely new that I have never studied before. On other occasions, I may actually walk into the pulpit and the Holy Spirit gives me something else to preach other than what I have prepared. The point is that flexibility is vital in sermon planning. It is good to plan ahead, even a year in advance. However, sensitivity to the Holy Spirit is key both in the planning and in the changes to those plans. It is all a work of the Holy Spirit. He is involved in the early stages of prayer and personal Bible study. He is involved in the second phase of deeper study and writing a manuscript. He is involved in the planning of what to preach and when. It is all a work of the Holy Spirit. The preacher and the Holy Spirit together in partnership in the art of sermon making and development. It is imperative that the preacher is obedient to the Holy Spirit. He must preach what the Spirit leads Him to preach and when He leads Him to preach it. The preacher must not allow himself to be swayed by the opinions of others. He must preach what God gives Him. He must obey.

                The Presentation of the Sermon. Once the sermon has gone the long course of personal Bible study, prayer, deeper study, planning when to preach it, preparing the outline, and praying over the text over and over again; it is now time to finally preach it. My encouragement to every preacher is be yourself. Do not try to preach like someone else. God has given you your own personality and your own preaching style. You may be loud. You may be soft. You may move around. You may stand still. Again, there is no right or wrong way in presenting the sermon. The key is reliance on the Holy Spirit. You can tell a difference between a Holy Ghost filled sermon versus one that is not. You can tell by the passion of the preacher or the lack of, whether or not he is preaching something that has also been preached to himself by the Holy Spirit. Every preacher has tendencies. For me, if it is a very heavy and convicting subject, I tend to preach a little softer and try to take opportunities to lighten things up in order to show love and grace to the hearer. Other times, I may be preaching something that encourages and excites and in those times I may be more expressive. Some preachers like to tell stories and jokes to lighten the atmosphere. Personally, I have never been much of a joke teller. The key is to preach the way in which the Holy Spirit has enabled you. Be yourself. Preach with joy. Preach with enthusiasm. Preach with confidence knowing that what you are preaching is exactly what God wants you and the people to hear in that moment. Finally, when it comes to the presentation: leave the results up to God. Be assured that His Word never returns void. Therefore, just preach the Word. Preach the Scriptures. Let the Bible speak for itself.

                I have shared with you some of my personal ways of sermon preparation. Please remember, there is no right or wrong way. If you don’t plan the way I may plan or prepare the way I do; that’s perfectly okay. As a matter of fact, your way is probably much better than mine. The most important thing is reliance on the Holy Spirit. The only way you can be assured of the Holy Spirit’s work in your sermon making is that you are living a Spirit filled life. It all begins with your personal walk with the Lord. Allow Him to work in you so that He can work through you!