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When Sermons Become Heavy Burdens: A Dozen Warning Signs

11. Our illustrations are so old, if Adam were to come back today, he would recognize them.

I suppose no one uses those old books of “one thousand sermon illustrations” any more. I hope not.

It’s been said any incident that occurred more than 20 years ago is ancient history to the average person in the pew. Twenty years ago? I was 52 years old! Man, that was like last week.

You can get by with an old story once in a while, preacher. Congregations are patient and tolerant with pastors they love. (And aren’t we glad!) But the stories that will rivet their attention speak of something recent, something you read about this week, a thing a child said to you last Sunday.

If, however, you do have a story from a half-century ago, may I make a suggestion? Don’t tell them when it happened. “Some time ago” or “One day” will date it sufficiently. The exception is when the dating of the incident is necessary to the story. In that case, go for it: “In the days when radio was king and everyone gathered in their living rooms at night to find out what was happening in the world …” “When I was a child, before hardly anyone had a television set, the kids in my neighborhood would play outside every night until dark …”

12. We can make the most exciting message in the world sound dull.

This may be the cardinal sin of preaching, to take Heaven’s good news and make it mind-numbingly boring.

That takes skill, but some of us manage to pull it off.

There are no sermon books to correct this problem. Nothing but prayer and a living, vital relationship with the Living God can drive out this demon.

The iron-clad principle to keep in mind goes like this: If, in your study, you find yourself bored with the message, it’s a sure bet your people will be bored with it, too. If this happens, stop your studying and drop to your knees and ask the Lord what He wants to do in this sermon. Whatever else we know of the preaching of Jesus, He was never boring. In Mark 3:20-22, we see three reactions to His preaching: a) crowds followed, b) his family accused him of insanity and c) the opponents slandered him. That’s good preaching!

13. We lose ourselves in our material and forget all about the people sitting before us.

OK, that’s 13 points, a baker’s dozen, and we promised 12. Here in Southeast Louisiana, we call that “lagniappe,” a little something extra for good measure.

Imagine a drawing. The pastor stands at the pulpit preaching to a full house. Now, put the letter A beside the preacher, B on the pulpit and C on the congregation.

If his focus is on “A,” the preacher is thinking about himself. If his focus is on “B,” his mind is all about the material he’s trying to convey. If the focus is on “C,” he is centered in his people and really connecting with them.

I can hear someone say: “You left out ‘D,’ the Lord Himself. We should be focused on Jesus.” And no one can argue with that.

However, for the sake of the point, let us assume the pastor is filled with the Lord Jesus, his sermon is about Jesus and the congregation loves Jesus. So, the Lord is in it all. Now, the message-deliverer still has to make a choice, whether to center all his efforts in himself, in the notes in front of him or in the people sitting before him with faces turned his way.

I vote for the latter. Let the preacher focus on the people, see them as individuals in their sitting places. Let him notice what they are doing, whether their eyes are glazing over or they are passing notes or looking at their watches or are engrossed in his every word. He will quickly develop the ability, I’m betting, to preach and pray at the same time!

Finally, brethren.

A Facebook friend said she hates the way preachers will say “finally” several times, as though they were winding up the message, and just keep right on. So, we will take the hint and stop.

There. God bless you, pastor. We love you and thank God for you. Don’t obsess about any of this stuff. Just get out there and give us and the Lord your best, and it will be enough.