As a preacher I know I have one of the most important and difficult jobs in all of the world. God has called me to communicate his word on a weekly basis with his church.
A few years ago I had an eye opening experience. It was Monday morning, in my heart I thought that I had preached the doors of the church the day before. I sat down with one of my friends for lunch. I asked them what they thought about one of my main points. They told that they didn’t remember much from the sermon.
The bubble of pride in me popped at that moment. My grandiose thoughts of being the next Billy Graham were dashed. I came to realize how little a sermon meant to the average church member. My sermons were simply filler in the average church person’s weekly duties.
After this experience I changed my style of delivery completely. Out of this watershed moment I realized how much more I would have to do to gain and hold a persons attention. My job is to do more that simply communicate the Word of God. My job is to do whatever is necessary to gain the attention of my church and communicate God’s word so that they absorb it.
It’s my goal now to create a moment in every sermon where every member goes home talking about God’s word. I realize that in illustrating God’s word good stories and anecdotes are not enough, the church must experience what God’s word says.
Think about Jesus. He hardly ever got up and said “please turn in your Bible to this chapter and that verse.” When Jesus taught he said “look at that tree”. Jesus taught in such a way that the learner experienced what He taught. If our God taught in this way, perhaps there is wisdom in that approach.
What’s the most memorable thing you remember from a sermon? What makes it memorable?
