Leadership. Preaching. Ministry. theology.
G. Campbell Morgan taught his disciples to read a book of the Bible fifty times before you ever preach it.[1]
This takes time. A large block of uninterrupted time early in the morning is usually the best. There is an excellent interview between C. J. Mahanay and Mark Dever on this necessary step. Mark Dever says that he first reads and rereads the passage that he will preach and spends about 35 hours a week in sermon preparation.
Read moreI once said to a friend, “I’m reading the Psalms.” He replied, “I am living the Psalms.” My friend was a young preacher whose wife was divorcing him. He was going through deep waters and was finding comfort in the Psalms. David the main contributor to the Psalms wrote many of the Psalms out of great affliction, such as, when he was fleeing as a fugitive from jealous King Saul or dealing with the rebellion of his son Absalom.
Read moreThere was a little shoe repair store in the town we live near for fifteen years which we drove past many times. The owners had a small sign hanging outside their front door that I read very often: "If the shoe fits, repair it." That is an example of the genre of Hebrew Poetry that we are studying in the book of Proverbs.
Read moreI got the idea for “The Factual Data” sheet from reading that Warren W. Wiersbe’s homiletic teacher, Lloyd Perry used a generic “Factual Data” sheet for all sermon preparation. I have adapted “The Factual Data” sheet to the different genres of Scripture instead of one size fits all. I have a "The Factual Data" Sheet also for Pauline Epistles, Narratives (Genesis and Nehemiah), Gospels (Mark), and Hebrew Poetry (Psalms and Proverbs).
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