Why Sermons May Be Well-Written and Well-Delivered        Draft 2  Spring 2021

The Apostle John, inspired by the Holy Spirit, writes: “In the beginning was the Word….”.

We receive the Living Word through His Word, the God-breathed, written Holy Scriptures.

For example, Deuteronomy records the sermon(s) of Moses based on his listening to the LORD.

The Prophets, Major and Minor, wrote down their sermons in proclaiming the Word.

Our Lord Jesus quoted and applied the Old Testament.  For us freely to receive obedient and saving faith in Him, His parables, sermons, teachings were written down, under the Holy Spirit’s inspiration, according to solid tradition, first in Hebrew by Matthew Levi as an eye-witness, Mark from the preaching of Peter, Luke in his orderly account, and John as eye-witness.

The Epistles of Paul, Peter, James, John, Jude, and the Book of Hebrews are mostly sermons, in letter form, to be circulated, and read out loud, among the churches, even to this day.

Based on the sermons in the Old and New Testaments, the apostles, evangelists, pastors, teachers, over the generations, are to keep on, today, proclaiming Christ Jesus working through His Holy Scriptures to convict us of our sins and to free us for gladly serving Him with others.

Beware straying from the Holy Bible, spinning our own self-creative, innovative interpretations, our own individualist meanings, our own distractible stories.

Beware the trends of commercial announcements, excessive celebrations, idiosyncratic liturgies, and less than scriptural music, reducing the sermon to a brief devotion, homily, meditation, or stand-up comedy, in the one ditch.

Beware the other ditch: skyscrapers of stories piled up, lectures with or without power point,  emotive long streams of consciousness, unprepared spontaneous heart-felt ramblings, stirring up and riding a hobby horse, self-promoting sets of skits, inspirational self-helping motivational speeches, manipulating of people’s emotions, and seductively playing to the cameras.

From the chosen Holy Scriptures, solidly translated and well-read, the children’s message and sermon need to be well-drafted, critiqued, at times by family and friends, well-written for focusing heart, mind, strength and soul in applying the Law and the true Gospel.  Whether solidly committed to memory or not, the sermon certainly needs to be audibly, clearly, meaningfully, personably well-delivered, with good eye-contact, and appropriate body language.   

The sermon manuscript can be made available for the hard of hearing, the home-bound, and for those who would like to reflect upon and share with others.

Blessed are the churches, where the people take to heart the Holy Scriptures, explained and carefully applied, through the sermon, well-written, from the heart, well-delivered, to reach the hearts of those listening with ears to hear the Word proclaimed, by the Lord’s grace and truth.