How To Write A Sermon

8 Core Beliefs That Have Shaped My Preaching and Ministry

It’s vital to have a philosophy of preaching and ministry. Yet, I don’t think this is something you create all at once. Instead, I think it comes to you as you grow and gain experience in preaching, serving and life in general.

Today I’m feeling a bit reflective.

I’ve written down eight core beliefs that have shaped my preaching, leadership style and ministry.

In this post I share these deep beliefs that serve as guiding principles to my approach to sermons and all things ministry.

BELIEF #1: SWEAT THE SMALL STUFF.

Little things matter. Details matter.

When people ignore the little things they go to jail, get fired, lose control, squander their health and wealth, end up divorced and so much more.

I believe we SHOULD focus on the little things. Why? Because little things matter. The little things are the BIG things.

Most people shrink from throwing their life all away at once. But they think little of wasting it one hour at a time.

Jesus said, “Go make disciples and I will build My church.”

Instead, we face the temptation to focus on building the church and let someone else worry about making individual disciples.

We want to focus on church growth. These are BIG items. It’s so easy to get consumed with the BIG PICTURE that we forget all the individual faces and names that Jesus calls us to serve along the way.

Jesus told the parable about the shepherd who left the 99 to find the 1 who was lost.

Too often we’re tempted to leave the 1 to focus on the 99. What happens then? Pretty soon we have 98.

Then we rinse and repeat. We focus on the 98. What happens next? Now we have 97.

Do you see a pattern here?

Let’s look at it from another angle.

Jesus said, “If you are faithful with little, you can be trusted with much.”

I believe this is true in every area of life. If we are faithful and responsible with the little finances we have, sooner or later, we will have more finances.

If we are faithful and responsible to lead the few people following us, sooner or later, we have will have more people to lead.

If we are faithful and diligent to preach our best to the people who come to listen to us every Sunday, God will eventually bring more to people to listen.

I made a decision early in ministry always to prepare the same whether I was preaching to 5 people or 5,000 people. I’ve done both. I’ve spoken to a handful of people and I’ve spoken to packed auditoriums.

Sweat the small stuff. Don’t be lazy. There are no little things. They’re all BIG.

Someone told me once, “Randall, always mow the back yard just as good as the front.”

Now, he wasn’t really trying to give me landscaping tips. He was trying to teach me an important leadership principle.

What he was saying is this:

Don’t just focus on the public areas of your life that people can see. Just because people can’t see it, doesn’t mean it’s not important.

When we are faithful with the little things it strengthens our spiritual muscle. Over time we grow in strength to lift heavier and larger spiritual tasks.

If you want God to entrust you with larger spiritual tasks, be faithful with the seemingly insignificant, menial and little tasks he asked you to steward first.

Sweat the small stuff. Because it’s all big.

BELIEF #2: DON’T GIVE ACCORDING TO NEED. GIVE ACCORDING TO THE POTENTIAL TO DO GOOD.

I’m talking specifically in regards to ministries inside and outside the church.

Don’t be a reactionary giver when it comes to helping ministries both inside and outside your local congregation.

A year or two ago I had a meeting with several pastors. A local para-church ministry was struggling financially. One of the pastors recommended, “I think our churches should help them financially. It’s an important part of our community.”

I responded, “I know that ministry has been sinking financially for several years. If we help them today, what have we done to change the big picture for them? What’s to keep it from happening again a year from now?”

Frankly, that struggling ministry had a reputation for not focusing on the little things. That neglect had now caused them some big headaches.

I recommended to give money to another para-church ministry who didn’t NEED it.

Hear me clearly, when I say they didn’t NEED it, all I mean is this… they weren’t going to collapse financially if we decided NOT to give them any money.

Don’t give according to need, give according to a ministry’s ability to do good.

On average, it’s better to invest precious resources not into ministries that are on the verge of collapsing if we don’t come through for them, but instead on the ministries who have managed themselves well and are poised to do good.

It’s a sound leadership principle: Don’t give according to need. Give according to the ability to do good.

BELIEF #3: PASTOR THE KIND OF CHURCH YOU THINK WOULD BE FUN TO ATTEND.

Stop going to conferences every five minutes to try to figure out how the latest mega-church structures their worship flow, what kind of music they have or whether they use latest multimedia in their services.

Stop trying to be like everybody else.

Ask yourself the question, “What kind of church would I like to attend?”

When you find the answer to that, move slowly to create that atmosphere.

Seriously, design the worship services around what YOU like.

If I like it, the people God designed me to reach will like it too.

Be the person and leader God created you to be. Stop committing idolatry by trying to be exactly like someone else’s church.

Churches shouldn’t be like Applebees. We don’t have to have the same menu, same worship style, same everything in each and every town we visit.

Be an original.

BELIEF #4: DON’T DROWN IN A BATHTUB.

I don’t want to drown in a bathtub.

I don’t want to drown in 6 inches of water.

Get into the deep waters. Take risks.

I pray the bathtub prayer frequently: “Lord, don’t let me drown in the bathtub. Let it be said of me, when they last saw me there was a 100 feet of water over my head.”

Lloyd Ogilvie asked, “What could we attempt for God if we weren’t afraid of failure and money was no problem?”

Why not try to kick a dent in history? Why try to survive? Doesn’t the gospel say we don’t have to survive?

You will never discover new oceans if you’re not willing to lose sight of the shore.

You’ve got to take risks in leading a congregation.

That’s what leadership is.

Leadership is movement. It’s moving people from point A to point B to point C to point infinity and beyond.

I do not advocate foolish risks. The Bible talks often about steering clear of foolish decision-making.

A life of foolishness does not lead to happiness or sustainable churches.

Don’t take foolish risks. But still take risks.

Take well-informed, prepared and worthy risks. Do your research. Take your time. Listen to objections. Build consensus. Pray together. But once you’ve done all that… pull the trigger. Aim for the target.

Unfortunately, some pastors and churches proceed this way: “Ready, aim, aim, aim, aim, aim, aim, aim…” They never FIRE!!! They are like the ones Paul grew so frustrated with in 2 Timothy. He scolded people who were “always learning but never coming to acknowledge the truth!”

YOU HAVE TO MAKE A DECISION. YOU HAVE TO ACT!!!

Some pastors spend their entire ministry in the information-gathering stage. They are constantly reading another book, attending another conference, taking their leadership board through another needs-assessment, developing congregational core values or rewriting their church’s mission statement.

For some of you I’d say, “Forget that stuff for the moment. No more aiming.”

Instead, I’d say do this, “Ready, FIRE, aim.”

Do something.

Get out of the bathtub and into the ocean.

BELIEF #5: IN YOUR PREACHING, ERROR ON THE SIDE OF GOING TOO DEEP INSTEAD OF TOO SHALLOW.

Don’t treat people like they’re dumb.

Shallow preaching creates shallow Christians.

Someone once said that sermonettes create Christianettes.

I’m not talking about the length of our sermons. A sermon can be 10 minutes in length but still be very deep. Some of Jesus’ teachings were very, very brief… but deeply profound.

On the other hand, a sermon can ramble on for 45 minutes and still only be 2 inches deep.

Don’t confuse “deep sermons” with “hard to understand” either. I’m not saying we should constantly use complex and ornate words in our sermons. Words like soteriological, dispensationalism, transubstantiation and the like.

We need to give deep content but in the language of the masses. That’s what the Bible does.

The New Testament was written in koine Greek. It wasn’t written in classical Greek that only the most educated in Jesus’ day could speak. No. The New Testament writers penned it in koine Greek. It was the language of the masses. It was the language of the common person. It was the language that the ordinary person would use every single day.

Calvin Miller writes:

I wanted the language of my sermons to be street language! The sermons we ought to preach should be informed by seminary education, but they should be pre-seminary in their style. More of our preaching ought to come from that place where we were when we were called to preach!¹

I visit churches from time to time.

I don’t hear a lot of heresy in the church from the pulpit. Never once have I heard the pastor say in a sermon, “I just wanted to say that this Bible stuff is total bologna.” I’ve never heard her or him say, “Our Elder Board met last week. We decided that Jesus really isn’t the Messiah.”

But some of those same churches I walk away from the worship service thinking, “I didn’t hear anything I disagree with. But I didn’t hear anything that compelling either. The sermon was basically a kindergarten-analysis of a verse or two mixed in with some jokes, videos and powerpoint.”

Where is the biblical substance? Where is the content? What are we afraid of?

Many churches are dying. But they aren’t dying from heresy. They’re dying from starvation. Move on to the deep things of God.

In 1 Corinthians Paul gently reprimands his listeners, “You should be beyond the milk of the Word by now. You should be eating spiritual steak by now. But you can’t. You’re still infants in Christ. This isn’t good. You’re not growing up.”

That could be said of many sermons I’ve heard.

Don’t treat people like they’re dumb. Offer them substantive, deep and Biblical preaching. You might be shocked at how much your congregation hungers for that kind of diet.

BELIEF #6: ONCE A YEAR A PREACH A SERMON THAT EVEN YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND.

This sounds ridiculous, I know. But I think it’s good advice.

One time a year preach a message that is so big, so grand that no one understands a bloomin’ word you said… including yourself. People should leave the service thinking, “Do you have a clue what he was talking about for the last 30 minutes?”

Every once in a while we need to remind ourselves just how BIG God really is. His ways are infinitely higher than ours. HE IS GOD, we are not.

John Wesley said that a God that is fully comprehended by all isn’t much of a God at all. His point? Don’t ever, ever think that we have God completely figured out. We can never put God in our little box.

Now, if your congregation leaves every Sunday asking, “What in the world was he preaching about today?” – you’ve got altogether different problems to solve.

Don’t let your listeners ever lose the sense of God’s majesty. God should always amaze us. Don’t ever let your listeners grow bored with God. If they do, something is profoundly wrong.

BELIEF #7: GOD CAN WRITE STRAIGHT WITH CROOKED LINES.

God doesn’t have a ‘take it or leave it’ attitude when it comes to our mistakes and weaknesses. He has a ‘take it and weave it’ mindset. He takes our mistakes and shortcomings and weaves them back into our lives and uses it for his kingdom purposes.

Major on the sovereignty of God.

I firmly believe God isn’t so concerned about getting me somewhere as he is in making something of me in the process.

I don’t pray very often to know God’s will. Just telling you the truth.

No, I don’t often pray to know God’s will. Instead, I pray to know God.

If I know God then his will becomes more and more clear in my life.

So don’t seek perfection. Just seek obedience.

The Christian secret to a happy life and the Christian secret to effective leadership are one in the same: FIND GOD’S WILL AND DO IT.

Once we find God’s will, we find direction for his will. Vision comes from submission to God.

If you don’t sense God leading you, ask yourself, “What was the last thing God told me to do? And then did I do what he told me?”

God puts one thing on our plate at a time.

Remember, vision comes from submission to God.

BELIEF #8: DON’T OVER-SPIRITUALIZE. THE PRACTICAL IS IMPORTANT.

Lots of prayer won’t cover poor leadership habits and laziness. Be a grinder. Develop a strong and consistent work ethic. Grind through details. Develop a weekly schedule so you know what you need to accomplish every Monday morning, and Wednesday afternoon, and Thursdays at 11am. Don’t leave your schedule to the wind.

Some time ago I developed an ideal work week. I created a weekly pattern that serves as a template for me. It maximizes my effectiveness.

Yes, things change. Yes, emergencies occur. Yes, at times the schedule gets out of whack. But it doesn’t happen nearly as often as you might expect.

Make sure YOU HAPPEN TO YOUR SCHEDULE. If you don’t, YOUR SCHEDULE WILL HAPPEN TO YOU.

For me, I know every Monday morning at 10:30am I’ll be outlining a scripture passage for a sermon. I know, for example, I’ll be returning emails and phone calls from 3-4pm that same afternoon.

I know every Wednesday morning I dedicate an hour to work on stewardship related tasks such as writing thank you notes to new givers, planning giving talks that we’ll share before the Sunday offering time, scheduling finance team meetings and the like.

Don’t over-spiritualize every aspect of ministry. A very, very important part of leadership, developing consistently effective sermons and ministry in general, is consistently, day after day and week after week grinding through the work habits that create greatness.

So there you have it.

These are 8 beliefs that hold a monumental influence over my preaching and leadership style. They influence me in a million small and big ways.

I’d love to hear to hear some of your core principles. Let me know what you’ve learned along the way.

Your Sermon Coach,

Randall Garing

1. Calvin Miller, Marketplace Preaching (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1995), 40.

May 10th, 2012 | Category: How To Write A Sermon, Sermon Creation, Sermons| No Comments »

Easter Sunday Asssessment

I hope your Easter Sunday was amazing! This year was one of the best Easter Sunday’s I can remember…Maybe the best Easter Sunday Ever?

After putting together the series 4 Dreaded Easter Sermon Mistakes Pastors Must Avoid and posting the Easter Sermon Manuscript I preached (this was time sensitive) I decided to shoot a quick video for you.

In the video I provide kind of a “post-game” analysis of my sermon and how well it was received. Also, I share a short story about what happened at the end of our worship service.

In addition to that I cover 3 really important Easter Sermon Challenges….

1. WHY the Easter sermon is such a challenge
2. HOW to overcome that challenge
3. WHAT to do to get your listeners to respond at the end of your sermon

There is a lot of really powerful stuff in this video. So, be sure to take advantage of it.

Click Here To Watch The Video Now!

Your Sermon Coach,

Randall Garing

April 11th, 2012 | Category: Easter Sermons, How To Write A Sermon| No Comments »

Caution: Hot Sunday Sermons Coming Through

I’ve mentioned to you in some of my past blog posts and messages that if you have a controversial or problematic element in a Bible passage you should OPEN your Sunday sermon by drawing attention to it.

I know that’s counter-intuitive.

Probably, by nature, we’d rather NOT draw undo attention to the sensitive issue.

Have you ever heard of the concept of turning your weakness into a strength?

How To Serve Up Hot Sunday Sermons

Lead With the Controversial or Problematic Concept.

That’s what you do when you take the most troubling or problematic concept of a passage and lead with it. It all but guarantees your listeners will be VERY, VERY INTERESTED in the sermon.

Anything in a passage where your listeners might think to themselves, “What? I can’t believe Paul said that! Is he crazy????”

“How could Jesus do that? That makes NO sense!!!”

Open your sermon with THOSE feelings. If you do, your congregation will be ready to LISTEN to the end.

Here’s an example of what I mean. I’ll give you the Scripture address so you can look it up later.

If I was preaching on Matthew 13:12-15 here’s how I would open the sermon with the controversial element:

Today we’re going to look at a passage where Jesus says he intentionally preaches in such a way so that people WON’T understand him. And if they can’t understand him then they will never turn to him. They will never be healed and forgiven.

Then you could expand on this in the introduction asking questions like, “Is this the Jesus you grew up learning about? How is this a God of love? I thought the Bible said that it’s not God’s desire that any should perish? It sure sounds like Jesus wants some to perish.”

MY POINT: Not every passage has a controversial element like this. But if it does, then LEAD WITH IT.

TAKING YOUR WEAKNESS AND TURNING IT INTO A STRENGTH.

It works not just with controversial elements, it works with elements that might seem boring or irrelevant to your congregation as well.

I recently preached a sermon on Matthew 1:1-16. If you don’t recognize it, it’s the genealogy of Jesus’ earthly family.

I don’t need to convince you that when most of your congregation comes to Matthew 1 in their daily devotions, the breeze through the first 16 verses because it makes them yawn.

Here’s a portion of an actual email I sent to our congregation promoting this upcoming sermon. Notice how I turn my “weakness” into a “strength.”

____________________________________________________

Good Morning Everyone!

I thought last week’s service was a GREAT launch to our Christmas emphasis this month!

This Sunday we are going to answer the question, “What is the PURPOSE of Christmas?”

To do this we are going to read, very possibly, the LEAST read passage in the entire Bible. Truthfully, almost no one reads it. Your eyes gloss over when you stumble upon it.

I realize this is probably the worst way imaginable to promote this Sunday’s sermon by telling you we are going to read one of the most “allegedly” boring passages in the Bible.

But there is MUCH, MUCH, MUCH more in this passage than meets the eye.

Any idea what passage of the Bible it is? Inquiring wants to know.

Email me back with your response if you think you know!

See You Sunday at 10:30am!

Pastor Randall

So take this instruction and use it in your ministry setting. I hope this gives you a bit more courage and a more detailed skill-set to handle those problematic and controversial passages of the Bible and consistently serve up Hot Sunday Sermons.

Happy Preaching!

Randall Garing

P.S. So, what do you think? Can you use this strategy to serve up some hot sermons? Post your comments below…

February 17th, 2012 | Category: How To Write A Sermon, Sermon Creation, Sermon Ideas, Sermon Secrets| No Comments »

4 Steps To Get Your Listeners Out of the Pew & Into the Game

I recently received a great email question that I think can help others.

Bill S. writes:

Dear Coach Randall,

My challenge would be to create sermons that would challenge my congregation on becoming more engaged with serving and caring for those who are poor, orphans and widows, etc., bringing PHYSICAL help other than just PRAYERS.

- Bill

Bill asks a really great question.

The reason it’s such a good question is because every pastor and teacher of the Bible has wondered, “God, how can I get my congregation actually to OBEY your Word?”

Any of us who has stood behind a church pulpit or opened a Bible in front of a congregation has had that nagging feeling from time to time. “Lord, I know people are listening to my message, but is anybody actually DOING anything as a result?”

So, how can we create sermons that move our congregation beyond merely LISTENING to DOING?

You must do several things. They are all important.

First, The Most Powerful Sermon You Can Preach Is The Sermon of Personal Example.

St. Francis said, “Preach the gospel at all times and if necessary use words.”

A friend of mine did his doctoral dissertation on the leadership qualities of the apostle Paul. He told me that when he started to research his project that his goal was to find Paul’s “leadership secrets.” He wanted to discover what made Paul, arguably the greatest leader in the New Testament (other than Jesus of course).

Do you know what my friend discovered?

Paul’s greatest leadership secret was the power of personal example. Paul never asked his listeners to do anything that he wasn’t first doing himself.

Paul told his listeners, “Even if you have to suffer for Jesus, it’s worth it!”

Then they received letters from him while he sat in Roman prisons or was confined to house arrest because he stayed faithful to Christ.

That’s a powerful sermon.

Paul told his congregations, “Be generous givers!” Then at the same time they saw Paul refuse to take a dime from them for any personal expenses. He paid for his own meals, own travel, own lodging just so he would not be a burden on these brand new churches.

That’s a powerful sermon.

Pastor, the easiest way to get your congregation involved with caring for the poor, orphans and disenfranchised in our world is for them to see YOU caring for the poor, orphans and disenfranchised.

The greatest leadership principle I ever learned was, “People DO what people SEE.”

It’s hard for people to argue with your sermon when they see their pastor obeying that sermon.

(Now, that is a powerful statement….Better read that one again)

That’s the first place to start. Lead by example. You must be DOING what you want your listeners to BECOME.

That brings us to the second step that will lead your congregation from just LISTENING to DOING.

Second, Use Your Sermon to Cast Vision.

Many pastors make the mistake of making all their sermon applications personal and individual in nature. DON’T DO THIS!!!!!

For example, we say in our sermons, “The Bible tells us to care for the poor. What are you doing at your work to care for the poor? In your neighborhood, what poor people are you serving?”

Don’t get me wrong. Individual applications are good. But they miss the MOST IMPORTANT ONE.

It’s my firm belief that it’s more important to give CORPORATE APPLICATIONS.

If I was preaching a message on helping the poor, I wouldn’t give very many individual applications. My focus would be on how the entire church working together can corporately obey this passage together.

For example, in my sermon I might say, “The Bible tells us to care for the poor. Is our church known in our community as the place that helps the poor? What can we do together in the next few weeks that would add to our reputation that our church cares for the poor in our community? Well, one way is for everyone here to bring 1 can of food with them each week to church for the next four weeks. At the end of the four weeks we will take these cans and donate them to the local food mission in our community.”

See what I did there… I just gave my congregation a practical way to help the poor. But it’s also something the entire church can do TOGETHER.

At the end of the four weeks count the cans. Then celebrate with your congregation in the worship service. Make a big deal out of it. You should!

Say, “Together our church collected 1,000 cans for the poor in our community. We helped to stop hunger in our community for a month. Look at what God did through us. Before we bring these cans to the food agency, let’s take a moment to pray and dedicate these cans of green beans and carrots. May our gifts bring honor to God!”

Don’t forget this step. Make corporate applications instead of only individual applications.

If done properly, corporate applications begin to cast vision to your congregation.

The easiest way to expand the vision of your congregation is to give “congregational” applications of sermon points instead of “individual” application points.

Let me give you the third way to move your congregation from LISTENING to DOING.

Third, Start Small.

Start small, then build slowly from there.

If your congregation has no history of helping the poor, don’t expect them to give away a million dollars just because you mentioned it in a sermon.

Start small.

Achieving one SMALL goal is much better than not achieving one LARGE goal.

Fourth, If You Want Your People to Move From LISTENER to DOER Then Stop Using Sermon Illustrations So Much.

Instead, answer the question, “What would it look like to for us to care for the poor in a realistic and practical way? What does it look like to care for the poor in real life?”

Then, in your sermon, share those real-life examples. People need to SEE (not just hear) what your talking about.

When people SEE what you’re talking about they are much more likely to DO what you’re talking about.

Instead of telling sermon illustrations about how light bulbs are made, or the aero-dynamics of planes, or how birds fly in “V” patterns… show your people EXAMPLES of how to obey the particular scripture for the day.

Illustrations may make your sermon more interesting.

Who doesn’t like to hear a good story about a dog rescuing someone or an interesting tidbit about the Queen’s Royal Army?

But these stories, although interesting, do nothing to SHOW your listeners HOW to apply the scripture.

In my sermons I regularly give scenarios of what it would look like for people to obey the particular scripture that my sermon is based on. Say for example, in my sermon I say, “You may have committed all kinds of sins. You may have all kinds of regrets. But Jesus doesn’t care who you WERE, only who you ARE. Today it’s time to overcome your past sins. Today it’s time to overcome your past mistakes.”

Now I can say that but my listeners think, “That sounds great pastor. But what do you mean? What does it look like for me to overcome my past sins right now?”

So the way I help my congregation move from just being a LISTENER to becoming a DOER is by SHOWING them what I mean.

I would briefly sketch out a few simple scenarios of what it looks like for them to humble themselves before Christ and overcome their sins:

Maybe you’re the husband in the later years of his life who says, “Lord, I never took spiritual things seriously. It never seemed that urgent. Now, the years have gone by. In many ways I’ve squandered away my life. What do I have to show for it? Lord, I’m so sorry.”

Maybe you’re the alcoholic who bemoans, “God, I’ve ruined my marriage, alienated my friends and pushed away anybody who actually cared for me at all. I’ve really messed things up. Lord, please save me from my own stupidity.”

You could be the student who says, “Jesus, I’ve been selfish. I’ve disrespected my parents. I’ve manipulated them to get my own selfish ways. Nor have I respected my body or reputation. I’ve hurt our family name by my actions and words. Now it hurts me to see how I’ve hurt them. Lord, I was so wrong.”

You’d be amazed at how painting those simple, brief scenarios SHOWS your listeners what it means to obey that particular scripture.

Remember, when people SEE what you’re talking about they are much more likely to DO what you’re talking about.

Implement these four ideas and you will preach sermons that get people off the pew and into the game!

Your Sermon Coach,

Randall Garing

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February 15th, 2012 | Category: How To Write A Sermon, Reading Scripture, Sermon Secrets| No Comments »

4 Step System to Creating Powerful Introductions

When sermon introductions work, they are a pastor’s best friend.

When the introduction of a sermon DOES NOT work… the sermon is over before it ever had a chance to start.

Introductions must grab your listeners’ attention.

Introductions give your audience a good reason to listen to you for the next 30 minutes of their life.

But introductions also need to orient your listeners to the Scripture that this specific sermon is based on.

In my mind, I always use a 4-Step System when creating a sermon introduction.

4-Step System to Creating Powerful Introductions (in this order):

(1) Engage the audience.

Lots of ways exist to do this, of course. A good rule of thumb is typically to start with the listeners’ interests instead of our own.

This is what grabs their attention.

(2) Focus the sermon.

Here’s where you narrow the focus and begin to show them where the sermon is going.

(3) Provide any necessary biblical background.

This step isn’t always necessary.

Some sermons don’t need any biblical background info in the introduction. But sometimes it’s vital to explain the background of the passage BEFORE you get to the main scripture passage in the sermon body itself.

(4) Preview the coming elements.

This is a map that you provide your listeners so they know how to follow you and listen.

It DOESN’T give them the answers to all the questions, but shows them more directly what questions you intend to answer in the sermon.

I’ve included a sample introduction of a sermon I preached recently at Life Pointe where I pastor. I’ve highlighted the various elements that I’ve just mentioned:

Engage The Audience

A few years back, Dr. D. James Kennedy wrote a book entitled, What If Jesus Had Never Been Born?

It’s an intriguing title. Makes you wonder.

How would our world be different today if Jesus had never been born?

If we had never heard of Jesus, never heard about Christmas… what would our world look like?

Some of the obvious things would be:

We’d have a different calendar. Jesus’ birth split time in two. A whole new calendar began as a result of his birth. We now mark time as BC (before Christ) and AD (Anno Domini – Latin for ‘Year of our Lord’)

Of course, no more Christmas music. No, “Joy to the Word, the Lord is Come.” No, “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing.” No, “Away in the manger, no crib for his bed.”

Some of our cities would have different names. No St. Paul, Minnesota. No St. Petersburg, Florida. Corpus Christi, Texas would go by another name too.

We never would have heard of Billy Graham or Mother Teresa.

No organizations like The Red Cross, Methodist Hospital or the Salvation Army.

Charitable giving would plummet since an overwhelming percentage of charities have Christian roots. And an overwhelming percentage of charitable giving in the world is done by Christian people.

No Princeton. No Harvard. And no Yale.

And some of our well-known phrases would no longer be so well-known:

“Turn the other cheek”

“She was being a Good Samaritan”

“Go the extra mile”

“Do unto to others as you would have done to you”

So the differences in our world would show up in lots of ways.

But there would be much bigger differences.

The world would be different in much more radical, significant ways.

The Focus of The Sermon

(FOCUS THE SERMON): The question we really find ourselves asking today is, “How did Jesus’ birth change the world?” Beyond the obvious, how did Christmas impact our world?

Provide Necessary Biblical Background Info

(PROVIDE NECESSARY BIBLICAL BACKGROUND INFO): The Apostle Paul writes to the Christians in Galatia. He says to them, “Jesus’ birth was no accident.”

His birth stands as part of God’s divine strategy for our world.

The TIME and PLACE of Jesus’ birth wasn’t by HAPPENSTANCE.

God knew exactly WHAT He was doing WHEN God did it.

Paul says, “But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law…” (Galatians 4:4, NIV).

It’s as if the angels in heaven ask God, “Is it time? Is it time to send your son?”

God looks at his watch and says, “Not yet. Wait for it. Wait, wait… in 3, 2, 1. NOW!”

Christmas came at the perfect point in human history. Jesus’ entrance into our world came at the perfect TIME and perfect PLACE for several reasons.

First, Jesus was born on the land bridge that connects three continents together.

Africa, Asia and Europe.

God sent his son to the one PLACE in the world that had immediate access in three different directions. This made the Gospel spread much more easily. God sent his Son to the one location on earth where Christ’s followers would have access to the majority of people on the planet.

Second, Jesus entered humanity at the precise TIME when the Roman Empire had conquered the known world.

This had a cumulative impact on Jesus’ ministry:

For the first time in human history one dominant language unified the world. Greek became the language of commerce and people spoke it in many places in the Empire. This made it easier to communicate the Gospel without all the barriers of language differences. Jesus’ teaching and preaching spread much more quickly because evangelists didn’t have to overcome all the difficulties of translation and communication. God sent his Son during this unique moment in history.

The Romans were famous for their elaborate system of roads throughout the Empire. God sent his Son at the precise moment in human history when the Romans built roads that would allow Jesus’ message to go to the whole world.

God sent his Son during the first time in history when the old mythological Greek and Roman gods were starting to lose their hold on the common people. There was a growing disillusionment and people started to disbelieve. More and more people started to have a growing spiritual hunger for something real and satisfying.

In this cauldron of place, time and events… GOD SENDS HIS SON.

The explosion that ensued was like taking a match to gasoline. Jesus’ message IGNITED into the whole world. Literally overnight.

Secular historians have said the timing and conditions were absolutely perfect for Jesus’ teaching to spread like it did. It’s like nothing the world has ever seen.

The perfect “perfect storm.”

Paul says, “This was NO ACCIDENT. God waited to send his Son until the time had fully come.”

God waited for the perfect moment in history.

Paul also tells us several things about Jesus.

He was God’s son. Jesus is divine. This is no ordinary human being.

Also, Jesus was born of a woman. We read in the Scriptures how Mary gives birth to a son, Jesus. This divine-human son experiences human suffering, human temptations, human hurts, human joys, human emotions and human pain and human loss.

Then Paul reminds us that this fully divine, fully human son was also born under law. Here the word “law” refers to the Old Testament requirements and commands. It means Jesus was born to a Jewish mother… into a Jewish nation. He lived under the authority of the Old Testament teaching. He submitted to all the requirements of the law. He SUCEEDED where others FAILED. He met PERFECTLY every requirement of the Old Testament law.

Turn in your Bible to Galatians 4.

The Preview Statement

(PREVIEW STATEMENT): Here Paul tells us WHY God sent his Son. Here he tells us how CHRISTMAS changes everything. Here we find out what Jesus’ birth accomplished on a grand scale.

From this point you would go into the body of the sermon. Everything shared in this sermon up to this point forms the entire introduction.

Creating powerful sermon introductions can be done in 4 simple steps.

I recommend this template to you. It’s very, very effective at drawing your listeners into your sermon and then positioning them to hear God’s Word for the day.

I’d love to hear what you think about my 4-Step System to Creating Powerful Sermon Introductions. So, please post your thoughts below and please retweet and like this post to share it with your friends.

Your Sermon Coach,

Randall

December 29th, 2011 | Category: How To Write A Sermon, Sermon Creation, Sermon Preparation| 2 Comments »