Baptist Worship, Ordinances, and Preaching — Unit 8: Preparing and Delivering the Sermon

Key Verse

"Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." (2 Timothy 2:15, NKJV)

Learning Objectives

When you finish this unit, you should be able to:

1. Explain why preparation and dependence on the Holy Spirit belong together.

2. Describe the preacher's private life as the base of his public ministry.

3. Follow a practical sequence for preparing a sermon, from choosing a text to writing the outline and application.

4. Give basic guidance on delivery, including voice, notes, and speaking to hearers who use English or Spanish as a second language.

5. Answer common objections about preparation, borrowed sermons and polished speaking, and name the companion resources CTS offers.

The Voice of This Unit

This unit is written from inside the Baptist tradition, for Baptist pastors, many of whom serve with little time and few books. It is conservative: the preacher's task is to bring the message of Scripture faithfully, and any skill he gains serves that aim. Where Christians differ on a point of method, we state the other view fairly and then give our answer. The Baptist tradition of the pulpit was described in Unit 6, and Unit 7 told the stories of some of its great preachers. This unit is the bridge from the idea of preaching to the work of preaching.

Two Companions for This Unit

CTS offers more help on this subject than one unit can give. Students are encouraged to take the separate WiseSpeak preaching course offered by the seminary, which teaches a full method for building and delivering sermons. They are also encouraged to read John A. Broadus, On the Preparation and Delivery of Sermons, which serves as a companion textbook. This unit does not repeat or replace either one. It gives the general steps that Baptist preachers across the world have followed for generations, so that a pastor who has not yet studied any method has a place to begin.

Why Prepare?

Some believers think the best sermon is the one that comes with no effort. They quote the promise of the Spirit to speak for believers when they are brought before rulers. That promise was given for a particular moment of persecution. It does not tell the pastor to enter his pulpit every week with an empty mind.

Scripture shows a different pattern. "For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the Law of the LORD, and to do it, and to teach statutes and ordinances in Israel" (Ezra 7:10). Notice the order: seek, do, teach. Ezra studied, then lived the Word, then taught it. Paul wrote to Timothy, "Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you" (1 Timothy 4:16). He also told him to be diligent so that he would not be ashamed and could rightly divide the word of truth (2 Timothy 2:15). A man who prays for the Spirit's help and then works hard at the text is not working against the Spirit. He is asking the Spirit to bless the labor that He has commanded.

The Preacher Behind the Sermon

The first work of preparation is not on the paper. It is in the heart. A sermon is the overflow of a life with God. If the preacher does not himself hear and obey the text, he preaches with a divided mind.

Three habits support the preacher.

Prayer. Pray for the text, for the people, and for yourself. Ask God to open the passage to you before you open it to others. Spurgeon taught his students that a preacher who does not pray privately will be weak in public.

Holiness. Paul told Timothy to be "an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity" (1 Timothy 4:12). People remember a pastor's life longer than his sermons. A sermon that his life contradicts does harm.

Reading. Paul also told Timothy, "Till I come, give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine" (1 Timothy 4:13). A pastor should read the Bible daily for his own soul, not only for his sermons, and should read good books as he can.

A Practical Sequence for Preparation

The following steps have been used, with small changes, by Baptist preachers in many countries. Adapt them to your situation.

1. Choose the text and the series. Plan ahead. A pastor who chooses his text on Saturday night is always in a rush. Many pastors plan a series through a book of the Bible, which spares them the weekly question of what to preach. Others plan around the Christian year or the needs of the church. Whatever you choose, know your passage at least a week before you preach it.

2. Read the passage again and again. Read it slowly, aloud if you can, and in more than one translation if you have them. Write down what you see: the people, the actions, the repeated words, the commands, the questions. Do this before you open any commentary, so that the Bible itself speaks first.

3. Study the setting. Ask who wrote it, to whom, when, and why. Look at what comes before and after. Identify the kind of writing: law, history, poetry, proverb, prophecy, gospel or letter. Study key words by comparing how the Bible uses them in other places. Scripture explains Scripture, and a clear passage helps with a hard one.

4. Use helps with care. Now consult commentaries, study Bibles and word studies. They are gifts to the church, and a pastor with few books should choose a few that are sound. Remember that these are helpers, not masters. If a book contradicts the plain sense of the text, trust the text.

5. Find the central idea. Write one sentence that states the main point of the passage. Then write one sentence that states what you want the church to believe or do because of it. These two sentences are the backbone of the sermon.

6. Build the outline. Let the divisions come from the passage, as taught in Unit 6. Use simple headings that people can remember. Three or four main points are usually enough. A sermon with a dozen points loses the listener.

7. Add explanation, illustration and application. Under each point, ask three questions: What does this mean? Is it true? What difference does it make? Explanation answers the first. Proof from other Scripture answers the second. Application answers the third. Illustrations are windows that let light into the room, but they must not become the room itself. Keep them true, short and fitted to your hearers' lives. Do not use a story as if it happened to you if it did not.

8. Prepare the beginning and the ending. The introduction should show why this passage matters to these people and lead them to the text. The conclusion should return to the central idea and call for a response. Many sermons are spoiled by an ending that rambles. Know where you will land.

9. Prepare notes you can use. Some pastors write the whole sermon; others write a full outline with key phrases. Either is acceptable. Write clearly, in large letters, so that you can see your notes at a glance.

10. Pray over the finished work. Read it through. Cut what is unclear. Ask whether you have said what the passage says, and whether Christ is honored.

Delivery

Broadus gave careful attention to delivery as well as to preparation, and Spurgeon spoke to his students about voice and manner. The Baptist tradition has generally preferred speaking from a prepared outline or light notes, with the eyes lifted to the people, over reading a manuscript word for word or reciting a memorized speech. The aim is to speak to the people, not to read at them. The following simple guidelines may help.

Speak with a natural voice. Do not shout to seem spiritual, and do not mumble. Speak as you would to a friend whom you respect, a little louder and clearer for the room. Rest your voice during the week and drink water.

Use your whole self. Look at the people. Let your face show what you are saying. Use gestures that come naturally, and avoid repeated, nervous movements. Stand with your weight balanced and your Bible open.

Control your time. A sermon that is too long hides its message. If you know that your church can attend to about thirty minutes, plan for twenty-five. Practice aloud once, with a clock, before you preach it.

Speak simply to second-language hearers. In many Baptist congregations, hearers know Spanish, English or another language as their second tongue. Use short sentences and common words. Explain terms such as "justification" and "propitiation" with a plain phrase. Repeat the main point. Pause to let the idea sink in. If you preach with an interpreter, speak in short units, look at the congregation rather than at the interpreter, and avoid jokes that cannot cross a language.

Depend on God as you stand to preach. Before you begin, pray silently. Paul said that his preaching came "in demonstration of the Spirit and of power" (1 Corinthians 2:4). No amount of skill replaces the Spirit's work, and no lack of skill excuses careless preparation. If you forget a point, do not panic. Return to your central idea and continue.

Welcome help. After you preach, ask a trusted deacon, your wife or a fellow pastor for honest feedback. Ask three questions: Was it clear? Was it true to the text? Did it reach us? Receive correction without defending yourself.

Objections and Our Answers

Objection 1: Careful preparation shows a lack of faith in the Spirit.

Some say a spiritual man can just open his mouth.

Our answer. The Spirit inspired the Scriptures through men who studied and wrote, and Luke began his Gospel by saying that he had investigated everything carefully (Luke 1:3). The Spirit can speak through unplanned words, and we should be ready for that. But the usual pattern in Scripture is diligent labor under the Spirit's guidance. Ezra prepared, Paul told Timothy to study, and the pastor is told to be diligent.

Objection 2: Paul refused to use eloquence, so a polished delivery is wrong.

Paul told the Corinthians that his message was not in persuasive words of human wisdom (1 Corinthians 2:1-5), and some conclude that skill in speaking is unspiritual.

Our answer. Paul was rejecting the use of clever speech to win people by the preacher's own power. He did not reject clarity. He asked prayer that he might make the gospel plain as he ought to speak (Colossians 4:3-4). Skill that serves the message is a gift. Skill that draws attention to the speaker is a danger. We may seek to improve our speaking while giving all glory to God.

Objection 3: A busy pastor may borrow sermons from other preachers.

Today a pastor can find sermon texts and recordings from other speakers in print and online. Some defend using them as they are, because the truth belongs to all.

Our answer. Study the work of others freely. It is wise to learn from commentaries and sermons. But to preach another man's sermon as though you wrote it is dishonest, and it also leaves the people with someone else's word and not yours. A sermon should come from your own study of the text and your own knowledge of your church. If you use a thought or a story from another, say so when it is important to do so. Baptist pastors, who answer to a local congregation, should be known for truthfulness.

Objection 4: A bivocational pastor has no time for all these steps.

Many pastors work full-time at another job.

Our answer. This is real, and no one should be shamed by it. Adapt the sequence. Read the passage every morning for a week. Make notes on the bus or during a break. Spend one longer session writing the outline. Use fewer helps. The Lord does not ask a pastor for more time than he has, but He does ask for faithfulness in the time he has. Spread the work across the week rather than leaving it all for Saturday night.

Pastoral Application

Pastor Daniel works as a driver during the week and pastors a small church on weekends. He tells his friend, a fellow pastor, that he feels he is failing because his sermons feel rushed. His friend asks him to describe his week.

They plan a better pattern. On Monday morning Daniel will choose and read the next passage, and he will record a short voice note about what he sees. On Wednesday evening he will spend an hour with the passage and one commentary and write his central idea. On Friday he will write his outline and a short plan for the opening and closing. On Saturday he will read the sermon through aloud, once, and pray over it. After the service on Sunday he will ask one deacon, "What was one thing that was clear? What was one thing that was not?"

Within two months Daniel notices that he is less anxious and that his sermons are shorter and clearer. He still has little free time, but he is no longer preaching on empty.

Summary

Preparation and dependence on the Spirit go together, as the example of Ezra and the instruction to Timothy show. The preacher's private life of prayer, holiness and reading is the base of his public ministry. A practical sequence for preparing a sermon includes choosing the text early, reading it repeatedly, studying its setting, using helps with care, finding the central idea, building an outline from the text, adding explanation, illustration and application, planning the opening and the ending, preparing usable notes, and praying over the finished work. In delivery, the Baptist tradition has favored speaking to the people from an outline or light notes, with a natural voice, attention to time, simple speech for second-language hearers, and reliance on the Spirit. The objections that preparation shows a lack of faith, that polish is unspiritual, that borrowing sermons is harmless, and that busy pastors cannot prepare each have a clear answer from Scripture. For deeper training, students are directed to CTS's WiseSpeak preaching course and to Broadus's textbook.

Further Reading

• John A. Broadus, On the Preparation and Delivery of Sermons (first published 1870), a companion textbook for CTS preaching studies.

• Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Lectures to My Students (public domain).

• The CTS WiseSpeak preaching course, offered separately by the seminary.

• John Bunyan, The Pilgrim's Progress (public domain), as an example of plain speech.

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