Questions every preacher should ask about his sermon
- Is the main point of the passage clear?
Do all your points and examples help support the main point of the text? Do you have content in the sermon that is not necessary and distracts the listeners from the main point and its applications for their lives? Preaching a sermon is different than giving a science lecture in school that just presents information. Our goal in preaching is not to explain every detail of the text. Our goal is to proclaim the main message of the text, show how it points to Christ and the gospel, and give examples and specific ways of how our hearts and lives should change to obey God’s word.
- Is the message of the gospel clear in the sermon?
The gospel is the power of God for salvation. So our sermon should lead people to glory in the cross of Christ. People should be led to love Jesus more after hearing the sermon. The gospel message is not just important for unbelievers to hear so they can be saved. It’s more than that, the gospel message is essential for every believer to know more deeply as we live our lives through the power of the gospel.
- Does this sermon call unbelievers to repent and place their faith in Christ?
Just teaching information about the life of Jesus is not enough. We must call people to repent of their sin and stop trusting in their own good works to make them right with God. We must call people to make a decision to trust in Jesus alone for salvation. Remember when we call people to surrender to Jesus, we should warn them of the cost of following Jesus, but also say how it is worth losing everything to gain Christ.
- Does this sermon confront Christians in their sin and call them to repentance?
Because God has given believers his Holy Spirit to live in us, true Christians should always be fighting sin in their lives to grow in godliness. So our sermon should call Christians to turn away from sin in their life through the power of the Holy Spirit. Don’t be afraid to point out specific sin. Even give examples in your own life of sin that you need to repent of. Point people to the power of the Holy Spirit living in them to overcome their sin and also encourage the church to help each other fight sin in each other’s lives.
- Have I given clear ways to apply the main point of the passage in their lives?
Do not spend 40 minutes explaining every detail of the text, and only 5 minutes telling the congregation how to apply it to their lives. A main job of the preacher is to help the listener know, “How should I put the word of the Lord into action in my life?” Also, make the applications be connected to the main points from the passage. Think about giving applications for different types of people in the congregation. For example, give applications specific to mothers, husbands and wives, single people, and believers in a family of non-believers. Finally, don’t just teach the church to apply the sermon individually, but also to one another, by loving one another in the church as Jesus loved us.
