A few weeks ago, I listened to one of the first sermons I preached. I’m not sure what inspired me to make this decision. But unless you’re a glutton for punishment, I do not recommend you to do the same.
I can honestly say that younger me faithfully exegeted the text, but the sermon still fell flat. I can point to a dozen reasons why that was the case, but this was one of the biggest: I wasn’t preaching to the people in the room.
In other words, I had a certain person in mind — perhaps a seminary professor or my own pastor at the time — and I chose my language, illustrations, and overall feel of the sermon to impress them. So while I was technically preaching to a room full of believers in rural Georgia, I was actually preaching to people who weren’t in the room at all.
I doubt this temptation is exclusive to new preachers. We all craft our sermons with someone in mind, but we’re all tempted to make that someone a professor, a peer, or a certain group of people on social media. Read More
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