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Familiarize yourself with the Text
As emphasized in the first part of this subject, any sermon that is not Bible-based is not a word from the Lord. Let me go on then and say that you must not only preach your Bible but you must know it – very well. Particularly that portion of Scripture that you will be speaking from. Read your verse(s) again and again. Then you repeat the same process until your mind knows exactly what it says even without looking. For this reason, I also recommend an easy-to-read Bible translation. We Africans love the King James Bible yet our bad English does not allow us to properly read nor understand that old language of the UK. Certainly, the KJV is an excellent translation that I also like, yet I do not recommend it to the average African preacher. How about you look for something that you will easily grasp so that you can even fluently read it to the public. I am always embarrassed by ministers who stumble and stammer when trying to read their own verse that they chose. Therefore, familiarize yourself with your Text before you take it to others.
Your preaching must be God-exalting and Christ centred
How do you feel if I say I have a word from God, then I spend an hour of your time boasting about myself and my achievements, and how great I am as a man of God? How do you feel if I make every sermon a weekly update of what I do with my wife and family? This is exactly what many ministers do today. Somehow they are always the heroes of their own messages. Some are they who annoy Christ’s sheep with their bragging about other “men of God” that they are impressed with. As if Christianity revolves around the personalities of other humans. No mani, that is all wrong. God’s people are interested in God. He created them. He saves them and He is the one who sustains them in their everyday walk. Let your preaching be God-exalting. Learn from the book of Psalms and only talk about who God is and what He has done. Then you shut up and sit down. Secondly, good preaching is that which is Christ-centered. Ask yourself this: after you have finished your message, what are people left within their minds and hearts? Is it those long stories about what is happening in the world or it’s about Christ the Redeemer; who He is and what He has done for us on the Cross? I support Charles Spurgeon when he says, “No Christ in your sermon? Sir, go home and never preach again until you have something worth preaching about.” The best thing you will ever learn is how to preach Christ through all your messages.
Preaching and prayer
Always the order in Scripture is reversed; prayer and preaching. It means good preachers are those who depend upon the power of the Spirit for success. Think about this statement, “No one can come to me unless the Father draws Him” (John 6:44). It means it doesn’t matter how well-studied our sermons are, no one will move unless the Spirit of life breathes into them. You might as well go into a mortuary and preach to those cold guys. Hence you need to be filled by the Spirit yourself and He needs to work on the hearts of your hearers. Just as the Lord opened Lydia’s heart to pay attention to Paul (Act 16:14). My appeal, therefore, is prayer. We need ministers who are staunch lovers of prayer. Especially in private but also together with other brethren. This is where power in the pulpit comes from.
Preach seriously and sincerely
I am a bit worried about the growing number of comedians in our society, now in the Church. It’s because the world around us takes comfort in superficiality and anything that can keep our minds disconnected from reality. Yet it scares me when I see the same kind of playfulness in the house of the Lord. The real problem is in the pulpit. Ministers are evident by the way they preach that they are no longer convinced in their hearts that life is serious and God is serious because eternity is also serious. For once we need a preacher who is going to stand and preach truthfully and sincerely. Comrades, some people who sit under our sermons will live to hear us for the last time on this earth. Hence you owe it to them to speak like you mean what you say and say it like you mean it. Neither preach to others what you are not willing to do yourself nor hide any truth that is necessary for their salvation no matter how hard it is to say it. The most insincere sermons I have heard, of course, is at funerals. Imagine, you are given a once-in-a-lifetime chance to reach people with the truth; at their weakest and perhaps most attentive time, and you don’t do it. Instead, you stand like a clown and speak as if everyone will enter heaven; we are all okay, let’s just try to do good like this dead relative of ours. That is a serious crime before the very King you claim to represent. Insincere preachers have got no love for people, the well-being of their salvation and the glory of God, but they are only concerned about themselves and what people think about them. It’s bad.
Back your preaching with your life
Remember this saying, “Actions speak louder than words”? That is very important in all your preaching efforts. People are not so much interested in what you say, but in who you are in terms of godliness, integrity and commitment. I can’t emphasize this enough. Your sermons speak to people but your life screams to them. Therefore, before you ever prepare a message for others, God must prepare you – character and attitude. I have seen a few brethren who attend church whenever they like and sit at home when they are not in the mood. Miracles happen because the same guys find themselves standing to preach, and guess what? Whatever they preach about is nothing more than a sounding brass and a clanging cymbal. How sad. Imagine if that was you.
Always aspire to improve
Preaching is so hard such that it has no master. We all need to improve. The best way to do this, of course, is to be your own critic. Always evaluate your sermons afterward. Identify your shortcomings and give room for growth and development in your delivery. Also, it’s not so embarrassing to ask for honest opinions from other close believers after you preach. They will kindly show you some of the improvements that your preaching needs.
I conclude this way: If you are not willing to take your preaching tasks seriously so that you can rightly divide the Word of truth, God will raise someone who will do it. In fact, there is already a new generation of ministers who are starting to preach that true Gospel that many have been avoiding. As for me, my greatest desire is not to be loved by the religious crowd, but to use every preaching opportunity as a fearful privilege and to do what I believe is right, so that when my time is up in this world, I will go on to receive my reward as a good and faithful servant. This is the end.
Sinothi Ncube
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