As you make final preparations for preaching this weekend, maybe these questions will help you evaluate your work thus far. If you recognize room for improvement, spend some time with the Lord before you preach.
- What aspect of my preaching do I most want to improve this week? This question isn’t the most critical one, but it’s still important. Preachers who never consider their own need for improvement can be stale at best, arrogant at worst.
- What’s the central truth of the text I’m preaching? If you can’t state it clearly, it’s likely cloudy in your sermon, too.
- What specific application steps do I want others to take based on the sermon? Again, a failure to identify specific steps may result in listeners who do little with the text after hearing the message.
- What intentional change have I made in my life as a result of my sermon preparation? Even if your change is simply a renewed, deepened commitment to God, your preparation isn’t complete until the Word affects your life.
- How much have I prayed about both the preparation and delivery of the sermon? If your praying is only perfunctory and shallow—or if it’s focused on prep but ignores delivery—it’s not enough. This task is too important to pray little.
- Is this sermon the result of my intentionally focused time to seek God and His teachings?Sometimes, our sermon is the result of only hard work—not the result of doing the work out of spending real time with God.
- Will my introduction be interesting to my spouse? To my children? If you can grab the attention of those who know you best, you’ll likely grab others as well.
- How long do I plan to preach—and how long will most attenders actually listen? You’re not intentional enough if you can’t answer the first question—and you might not be pastorally and contextually aware enough if you can’t answer the second one.
- What part of this message will be most difficult for me to explain or apply? Answering this question now will guide your praying and help you focus your final preparations.
- Did I lean more on God or on myself as I prepared this sermon? All of us need to be honest with ourselves in answering this question.
Frankly, these questions have pushed me to re-think some things this week before I preach on Sunday. How about you?
I had never thought of praying about BOTH preparation and delivery. That point was most helpful to me.