Lesson 5: Delivering What You Prepared

BY VINCE OLAERLEAVE A COMMENT

Now we have come to the point of implementing what we have written. It is now the time
to get ready and preach what we learned from our study. In this chapter, we will talk
about the things to prepare before preaching and the things to remember and to
while preaching.

Preparing Your Sermon Manuscript

Some pastors don’t prepare sermon manuscripts. All they do is to write the outline of
their sermon. However, I would still recommend that you write a sermon manuscript
because if you use to write it, you can still use it for many other things such as blogging,
documentation of sermons by your Church, and book writing in the future.

These manuscripts can be a good source of knowledge in the future. As for my

experience, I used my manuscripts in my blogs, authored ebooks, training disciples, and
even writing books. These sermon manuscripts can be useful more than you can
imagine.

Being now in the modern world, the use of computer now is almost a necessity. This is
why I strongly suggest that you encode your sermon manuscripts and print it if you
know how to use the computer, at least for typing purposes. This will enable you to save
a hard copy of the hardwork that you just did. Furthermore, the digital format of your
manuscript can be used for blogging, making ebooks, and even starting a future book.

What to Wear in Preaching?

About 15-20 years ago, most preachers would still prefer and sometimes will not preach
unless they are wearing long sleeves, coat and tie. In the Philippines, most pastors will
wear “Barong” in their preaching engagement.

Today, some new breed of preachers doesn’t pay too muc attention in the clothes they
wear. I have seen preachers who preaches wearing a T-shirt, Jeans with some slashes
on it, and a Sneaker style of shoes. It seems that wearing respectable clothes are no
longer important for the young generation of preachers.

However, as for personal advice, I think wearing respectable clothes is still a lot better
and more dignified for a preacher. We have to remember that as preachers, we are
delivering God’s word. We are not just mere persons who were called out of the blue to
deliver the message. Most preachers in our days now were ordained, which means they
are expected to be more respectable performing their duties as pastors.

I also believe that wearing the best clothes that we have in preaching is a show of
respect to the King of kings and Lord of lords.

Posture, Gesture and Voice

In delivering your sermon, there are three main things that you have to remember.

Good Posture. Since grades school, good posture is being thought in the school. Not
only in the way we sit and walk, but also in the way we stand. A preacher (granted that
he doesn’t have any deformities) must learn how to stand erect but normally.

Standing erect doesn’t mean that you must stand like a soldier, it just mean that you
have to learn how to stand in a dignified way. A good poise puts the audience at ease.
A preacher who acts awkwardly, seems to be uneasy, or stiff, will also make his hearers
uneasy. We have to remember that we are infront, and psychologically how we appear
infront of our audience also affects their perception about us. In addition, a preacher
ought to act with freedom and ease maintaining a good poisture.

Gestures are the things that we act normally. There is no fix rules on gestures like the
good posture. But whatever we do infront should be normal, not offending. One good
rule is to “be natural”. There is no greater thing to be like in delivering the sermon than
to be natural in delivering it.

Some preachers especially those who are still practicing to be one, tend to forceably act
faking his gestures which also draw attention to his audience. A preacher needs to learn
how to incorporate his normal gestures with his sermon as if they are one.

Avoid mannerisms. Things like swinging your arms unnecessarily, scratching your head,
standing at one feet, are forms of mannerisms. Things like these are not good to look in
front.

Voice should be loud enough to be heard by all, this is the main rule of thumb in your
voice. Most churches now use microphones which is already a big help for the
preachers. But there are churches that do not have any sound systems especially in
churches that you will find in rural areas where the only instruments that they have is
the guitar. If you’ll be preaching in churches like this, I suggest that you follow the rule of
thumb.

If possible changing tones of voice to give a strong emphasis to the main points will be
very helpful. Monotone preaching is boring to hear and will look like a classroom lecture
type. Preachers should practice the changing of tones so that the atmosphere
during preaching will be alive and your audience attentive.

Taking Care of Time

In Biblical times, especially during the time of Moses, it probably took them hours and
hours whenever Moses speaks with the Israelites about the Law. Jesus teaches people
for hours, and there were even incidents that it even falls at night time.

In the post-modern world however, most preaching has a limited time. An

average preaching time in a church is about 30-45 minutes. In addition, the average
tolerable time for your audience to listen to you attentively is of the same time.

A too short sermon will leave your hearers hanging while a too long sermon will distract
your audience to boredom. So you may want to really take care of time.

Here’s a sample time budget for a sermon. Granted, that you have a 3 point sermon;

Introduction 2 minutes

Point 1 3 minutes
Illustration 2 minutes
Application 2

Point 2 3
Illustration 2
Application 2
Point 3 3
Illustration 2
Application 2

Conclusion 3
Illustration 2
Application 2

Total minutes 30 minutes

Please note that the time can still be stretch to about 40-45 minutes. This is just an
average presentation of what you can do for your sermon time budget.

Do’s and Don’ts While Preaching

Here are the things that you should remember while delivering your sermon.
 1. Always maintain a good poisture while standing in front of the pulpit.
2. Maintain a good eye contact so that your audience will feel that you are talking to
them. Having a good eye contact will help make your hearers attentive all through
out your sermon.
3. Make your voice loud enough that people behind are able to hear it.
4. Avoid mannerisms as much as possible. Mannerisms can distract your audience
and will make them feel uncomfortable.
5. Do not use vulgar illustrations especially that touches about sex.
6. Do not use vulgar words for no matter how acceptable it is in the community, it is
always not acceptable in delivering the word of God.
7. Do not confess in front of the people that you haven’t studied so much, or you are
not having devotions anymore. Doing this is humiliating yourself in public because
you are expected to deliver God’s message yet, God’s word is not true to your life.
Therefore, your audience doesn’t have any reason to listen to you.
Furthermore, preaching time is not a time for preacher’s confession.

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Biblical Preaching, Second Edition

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Haddon Robinson’s Biblical Preaching has become a modern classic on the

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Preparing Expository Sermons: A Seven-Step Method for Biblical Preaching

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