Sermon Handouts and Listening Notes: Pros and Cons
To do or not to do, that seems to be the question when it comes to sermon handouts and listening notes.Every pastor has their own opinion on this topic. Some avoid sermon notes because they feel it restricts their freedom during sermon delivery. If they provide an outline of their sermon and then opt to skip over some points, everyone in the room knows. Gotcha.Others like the benefit of printed sermon notes for the exact opposite reason: it gives them the opportunity to provide additional content that they won't have time to cover in their sermon, but can provide in the notes.Regardless, as we saw in the post on Learning Styles, when it comes to preaching and teaching, it's not about you. Your question should not focus on what you want or prefer, but on what will make you a better preacher and what will help your congregation learn more from your sermon.Here are some quick pros and cons (from my perspective) concerning sermon notes:
Pros of Sermon Notes:
It is an easy way to engage more learners because you are using a different medium (the written word) to communicate.
It gives your congregation an opportunity to engage through notetaking. Research shows that hearing and writing helps learners stay focused for longer periods of time.
It gives your congregation something to take home and to archive to help them as a disciple and growing student of the Word of God.
It allows you to put text on the handout and use PowerPoint for graphics, visuals, and videos.
It allows you to show cross-references in the Bible which you can point to during your sermon without causing everyone to turn to the verse in the Bible.
Cons of Sermon Notes:
It is tempting to provide too much, thus causing people to read your handout during your sermon rather than listen and engage.
If you use fill-in-the-blanks, you can cause people stress if they miss a blank and have an empty space in their notes. Some overly perfectionistic people have been known to drop dead at moments like these. (Not really.)
It can cause pastors stress if they don't get everything covered in a sermon and everyone in the congregation knows it because they have your notes in front of them.
Creating worth-while sermon notes is an extra step in the sermon preparation process that can get side-stepped too often. The result will be lame excuses for sermon notes that have the title at the top, the date, the text, and three lines of text that say Point 1, Point 2, Point 3 with a lot of space.
What's my advice on providing sermon notes?
I am in favor of the practice. Again, thinking as a teacher, I know that this extra step provides a significant learning opportunity for a wider variety of people. I will almost always provide a handout of some sort or a link to an online handout. This gives me the opportunity to provide a much more in-depth learning experience where I can connect people to many of the resources and research I used in developing the lesson. I also like that it provides an "as-needed" resource for those who want to dig deeper, but it provides the basics for those who are there just for the potluck but hope to pick up something from the teaching. So, in short, I'm a fan.
How Can You Make Your Sermon Notes Better?
Here are some tips that will help you create better sermon notes that will engage your congregation:
Don't use a lot of fill-in-the-blanks. This works better for older congregations, but for anyone 35 and younger, this will seem tedious. Plus, it often causes people to micro-listen for the word to go in the blank and miss the bigger narrative of your teaching. TIP: If you do prefer a lot of fill-in-the-blanks on your handout, be sure to provide a link at the bottom where they can go online and see an answer key with all the blanks filled in.
Stick to one page. There really isn't any need to provide more than a one-page set of notes. That's plenty of room. If you want to provide more content, then put a link at the bottom of the page that will take them to an online version of the notes, where you can link to other resources. (Make sure to make the link simply. Many will access this on their phone or tablet, so typing in a 200 character URL will only frustrate. If you have the skill, provide a QR code with the link.)
Provide space for notetaking. Rather than provide a point-by-point outline of your sermon, give the broad points with room for notetaking. Keep in mind, however, that you want to provide more than just Point 1, Point 2, and Point 3 with whitespace. That's not helpful.
Be sure to include the exact wording of key points or take home truths you will reference during your sermon. If you have a summary statement in your sermon or a list of key points you want people to focus on when they leave, be sure to provide these on the sermon handout word-for-word. It will frustrate people if your summary is five key sentences and they can't write fast enough to keep up with you, but you are telling them this is important... remember these points. Give it to them. Don't make them hunt for it or come up to you have the service and ask you to repeat them or force them to frantically try to snap a picture of your PowerPoint slide.
Provide a short quiz at the end of your sermon handout. Believe it or not, a quiz is an excellent teaching method to help people process and learn information. Even though we hated quizzes when we were in school, for adult learners in a church setting, a quiz can be fun. It's almost like a game or puzzle at the end that will challenge them to see if they learned the key points of your sermon. As with the fill-in-the-blanks option, be sure to provide an answer key someplace so they can check their answers.
What about digital sermon notes?
More and more you see people using their phones instead of a bible during the sermon. Personally, I've come to think this is not a good idea. Again, there is a significant amount of research that is showing the value of analog tools (books, notebooks, paper, pen) when learning.
As you get familiar with your Bible, your brain will actually begin to associate the page location and text with lessons you've learned while reading a portion of Scripture. Moreover, based on personal observation during sermons, I believe a phone is much more of a distraction during a sermon than we realize.
People will open a Bible app at the start of the sermon, but all it takes is one notification of a new Facebook or text message and their mind is off to the races. Even if they are disciplined enough to not follow the notification, the short interruption will take them off course as far as learning is concerned.In addition, I do not believe digital notes are very practical, especially on a phone.
Unlike a computer, that truly can multitask and you can have several apps open at a time, mobile devices tend to fake multitasking when in truth they are not. If you are reading your Bible on a tablet and then switch to a notetaking application to make some notes, you can see your Bible reload when you return to it. Likewise, with your notetaking application. Unless you are a true geek and both comfortable and familiar with notetaking on a digital device, it can be confusing, especially for older folks.I am a fan of providing a digital copy of your note sheet. I believe this is an excellent way to connect people with additional resources and it is another step in your quest to develop a long tail.
Learning Styles: How to Lose More Than Half Your Audience Before You Start
Think back for a moment to your high school or college days. What classes would you label your favorites? Why?Now think about how you enjoy learning today?
Do you like to learn in a solitary environment where it is just you and a book and you can think deeply?
Do you like to learn in a small group where there is a constant exchange of ideas and flow of discussion around a topic?
Do you like to learn by watching a video or seeing a lot of pictures and graphics to accompany a lecture?
Do you like to learn by working in a lab where you can try and experiment and get your hands dirty?
Depending on how you answer one of these questions will help point you to your learning style. What is a learning style? Quite simply, this is how we receive and perceive information. It is how we process and learn new knowledge.Like other aspects of our individuality, personality style, for example, our learning style is unique and contributes much to who we are as a person.There are dozens of various models that help describe a person’s learning style. I prefer Fleming & Mills VARK model for its simplicity. VARK stands for Visual, Aural, Read/write, and Kinesthetic sensory processes for learning information. In summary, these various styles are described as
Visual (V):This preference includes the depiction of information in maps, spider diagrams, charts, graphs, flow charts, labeled diagrams, and all the symbolic arrows, circles, hierarchies and other devices, that people use to represent what could have been presented in words. This mode could have been called Graphic (G) as that better explains what it covers. It does NOT include still pictures or photographs of reality, movies, videos or PowerPoint. It does include designs, whitespace, patterns, shapes and the different formats that are used to highlight and convey information. When a whiteboard is used to draw a diagram with meaningful symbols for the relationship between different things that will be helpful for those with a Visual preference. It must be more than mere words in boxes that would be helpful to those who have a Read/write preference.
Aural / Auditory (A):This perceptual mode describes a preference for information that is “heard or spoken.” Learners who have this as their main preference report that they learn best from lectures, group discussion, radio, email, using mobile phones, speaking, web-chat and talking things through. Email is included here because; although it is text and could be included in the Read/write category (below), it is often written in chat-style with abbreviations, colloquial terms, slang and non-formal language. The Aural preference includes talking out loud as well as talking to oneself. Often people with this preference want to sort things out by speaking first, rather than sorting out their ideas and then speaking. They may say again what has already been said, or ask an obvious and previously answered question. They have need to say it themselves and they learn through saying it – their way.
Read/write (R):This preference is for information displayed as words. Not surprisingly, many teachers and students have a strong preference for this mode. Being able to write well and read widely are attributes sought by employers of graduates. This preference emphasizes text-based input and output – reading and writing in all its forms but especially manuals, reports, essays and assignments. People who prefer this modality are often addicted to PowerPoint, the Internet, lists, diaries, dictionaries, thesauri, quotations and words, words, words… Note that most PowerPoint presentations and the Internet, GOOGLE and Wikipedia are essentially suited to those with this preference as there is seldom an auditory channel or a presentation that uses Visual symbols.
Kinesthetic (K):By definition, this modality refers to the “perceptual preference related to the use of experience and practice (simulated or real).” Although such an experience may invoke other modalities, the key is that people who prefer this mode are connected to reality, “either through concrete personal experiences, examples, practice or simulation” [See Fleming & Mills, 1992, pp. 140-141]. It includes demonstrations, simulations, videos and movies of “real” things, as well as case studies, practice and applications. The key is the reality or concrete nature of the example. If it can be grasped, held, tasted, or felt it will probably be included. People with this as a strong preference learn from the experience of doing something and they value their own background of experiences and less so, the experiences of others. It is possible to write or speak Kinesthetically if the topic is strongly based in reality. An assignment that requires the details of who will do what and when, is suited to those with this preference, as is a case study or a working example of what is intended or proposed.[note]The VARK Modalities.[/note]
It is important to note that there are no hard boundaries between the various modalities. Most people will find they are a blend of two or more learning styles.
How Learning Styles Impact the Church?
Pastors, typically, in my experience, pay little attention to learning styles when developing their sermons and teaching materials. Visit most churches in America today, and you will find a delivery style that is almost 100 percent formatted for auditory learners. Yes, you may throw a few PowerPoint slides up on the screen, but, again, most pastors stick to words only on their “visuals.”
You know what I’m talking about, too. It’s when you see a PowerPoint slide with an ENTIRE CHAPTER of Scripture crammed onto the screen. That, my friend, is not a visual. In fact, I would go so far as to say that, based on the definitions above, any PowerPoint slide that is text only is not a visual, it is just words on a screen.
A visual is a picture, graph, or video, something that touches the emotions. Words on a screen do not count.
Please understand: no matter how engaging your speaking style might be, it is a fact that if you only approach your teaching methodology from an auditory perspective, you will lose half your audience.
How Can You Begin to Address the Various Learning Styles in Your Church?
One of the most helpful books to address this topic specifically for pastors is The Power of Multisensory Preaching and Teaching: Increase Attention, Comprehension, and Retention by Rick Blackwood (2009).
Blackwood identifies five benefits of learning to be more “multisensory” in your preaching preparation and delivery:
Gains audience attention quicker and holds it longer
Brings greater clarity to teaching
Generates long-term retention
Encourages application
Makes teaching and learning fun
In the epilogue to his book, Blackwood shares a powerful story of how remembering the learning styles of your audience can take a good sermon to a great, impactful sermon:
I am writing this on Christmas Eve night just following our 2007 Christmas Eve service, and tears are welling up in my eyes as I type. Mind you, my manuscript for The Power of Multisensory Preaching and Teaching has already gone to the publisher, but I hope they allow me to add this story. Here’s what happened.
Tonight, Pastor Eric Geiger spoke during our Christmas Eve service. I decided to sit in the rear of the auditorium so I could experience a Christmas worship service for the first time in many years. There are many experiences we pastors miss, simply because we are busy speaking while the Holy Spirit is working in the audience. This was one experience, however, I was destined to see. Follow the events.
As the music portion of the worship drew to a conclusion, a young couple came in and sat at the rear of the auditorium. They were just in front and to the left of where I was seated. With them were their two little boys, both of whom took their seats between the wife and husband. Within minutes, a life-and-death struggle began to unfold before me … an eternal life and eternal death struggle.
Eric began to teach from Luke 19:10, “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.” The message was a powerful unpacking of the Christmas rescue mission. As he taught, however, I noticed this husband never looked up to make eye contact with Eric. In fact, he appeared hell-bent on not looking up. He looked down, instead, at his wallet and busied himself by shuffling his credit cards and money. At the same time this was going on, I could tell his wife was a believer. It was clear that she had invited him to the service in hopes that he would meet the Savior.
As Eric spoke the wonderful message of rescue, the wife continually reached her hand across the two little boys over to her husband’s shoulder. Lovingly and pleadingly she admonished him to look up, but he refused. Interestingly, I could tell he loved his wife, but it was clear he didn’t want to be in church. Perhaps, he came only to humor her or to get her off his case. At any rate, twenty minutes went by, and the young husband continued to bury his face in his wallet. By now, his wife looked as if she was dying within. It was clear he was not going to connect to the message or to Christ.
Then, however, Eric began to make a point about a certain United States Marine, Dave Karnes, whose bravery and rescue mission was documented in the Oliver Stone movie World Trade Center. After briefly describing the true event, Eric had the media team launch a series of video clips from the movie.
HE LOOKED UP!
Folks, as soon as that clip came on the screen, this young husband looked up! I couldn’t believe my eyes! It was the first time he had paid attention in the entire message. I watched him like a hawk, and I prayed for his soul. Here is the story behind the film clips, and this is the drama he witnessed as the film rolled.
Dave Karnes, an ex-Marine turned businessman, saw the World Trade Center events unfolding on television just like the rest of us did. As he watched, however, he felt compelled to go down to New York City to help out. The film clip shows the moving words of President Bush telling the nation that we are under attack. As the President spoke, the former Marine said, “I have to go down there to help.”
From there, the film chronicled the response of Karnes as he prepared for his mission. First, he went to church to pray. Next, he went to the barber and had his head shaved Marine-style. Finally, after putting on his military garb, he got in his Porsche and drove 120 mph down to lower Manhattan. By the way, I checked the attention of the audience at Christ Fellowship—every eye was riveted to the screens.
The next clip moved seamlessly to the wreckage of the World Trade Center. The ex-Marine was allowed to go inside the rubble of the buildings. The film follows the Marine as he shines his flashlight in the darkness and calls out to any survivors. Suddenly he hears a trapped man call out in the darkness. The man was Will Jimeno, who along with John McLaughlin had survived the tragedy.
Jimeno screams out to the Marine, “Please, don’t leave us! Please, don’t leave us!” The Marine then said something I’ll never forget as long as I live: “Sir, we are the United States Marines. You are our mission!”
The young husband in front of me never took his eyes off the screens. He was locked in. Then, Eric began to draw the connection between the rescue mission of that Marine and the rescue mission of Christ. He said this: “If you are here tonight and you have never trusted Christ, you need to know that you are in danger of being lost forever. You are in danger of being separated from God forever. Christ came for the express purpose of rescuing you. You are his mission.”
At that exact moment, the husband reached over to his wife and touched her on the hand, signaling that he was under conviction. His wife’s eyes filled with tears and so did mine. Eric then called for a commitment, and I watched as this man prayed to receive the Lord. Later he filled out a communication card.
Then, at the conclusion of the service, I saw one more thing that blew me away. To close out the service, our congregation sang the song “Rescue.” Almost everyone raised his or her hands in praise to God. This young man, who had just trusted Christ, slowly raised his hands and tried to sing the song with us. I felt like a silent observer to the rescuing work of the Holy Spirit.
But don’t miss the point: The man was totally disconnected until that visual video was introduced. The Holy Spirit used that clip to draw that man to Christ. Mind you, Eric is a phenomenal communicator in his own right. But it took a visual aid to grab this man’s attention. I suppose it will be easy to criticize what I saw, but think of this: If this man were your friend or your child or your husband or your wife, would you be so critical? Or would you praise God for Eric’s passion to do whatever it takes to connect to the unsaved of our world?My prayer is that you will witness this kind of effect as you use multisensory teaching. My prayer for you is that you will have similar stories that change the lives and destinations of people forever.[note]Rick Blackwood, The Power of Multi-Sensory Preaching and Teaching (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 2008), 189–191.)[/note]
One of the most difficult hurdles we must cross as pastors is to acknowledge that perhaps, just perhaps, the way we are doing things, and the way we have done things for a long time, are not working great. Maybe they are working, but, in our heart-of-hearts, we know that it could be a lot better.
Educator Stephen Brookfield offers a powerful challenge to all teachers and pastors as they consider their communication style:
Sooner or later, something happens that forces the teacher to confront the possibility that they may be working with assumptions that don’t really fit their situations. Recognizing the discrepancy between what is and what should be is often the beginning of the critical journey.[note]Stephen Brookfield, Becoming a Critically Reflective Teacher (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1995), 29.[/note]
Evaluating Your Sermon Series
Getting honest feedback about how you are doing as a teacher is invaluable. In a classroom environment, how your students are learning can provide feedback on how you are doing as a teacher. In a church setting, getting relevant feedback can be difficult, unless you ask for it.
At First Family, we value input from our congregation. To do so, we will use a survey from time-to-time that can be filled out online or via paper copies. Below is a sample of the survey we used for our series "When Ancient Meets Current: A Study of the Seven Churches of Revelation."
Dealing With Difficult Issues: Hebrews 6
As a Bible teacher/preacher, you need to know how to answer difficult issues, questions, and passages within the Bible. In an effort to give insight into how to deal with difficult passages, I’m providing a look inside how I tackled a particularly difficult text—Hebrews 6.Without doubt, Hebrews 6 provides one of the greatest theological challenges for the Bible teacher to interpret. Charles Swindoll calls Hebrews 6 the “Rubik’s Cube of the Bible.” Many commentators choose to either skip Hebrews 6 altogether or provide a brief overview, leaving the difficult text for others to try and explain.In his introduction to Hebrews 6, J. Vernon McGee notes,
This chapter, by all odds, contains the most difficult passage in the Bible for an interpreter to handle, regardless of his theological position. Dr. R. W. Dale, one of the great minds in the earlier field of conservative scholarship, wrote: I know how this passage has made the heart of many a good man tremble. It rises up in the New Testament with a gloomy grandeur, stern, portentous, awful, sublime as Mount Sinai when the Lord descended upon it in fire, and threatening storm clouds were around Him, and thunderings and lightnings and unearthly voices told that He was there.
Every reverent person has come to this section with awe and wonder. And every sincere expositor has come to this passage with a sense of inadequacy, and certainly that is the way I approach it.[1]
Many have offered an explanation to Hebrews 6, but in the end, the best answer may be “I’m not completely sure, but here’s what I believe based on my understanding of what we do know about God’s character.”
Proceed with Caution
That statement drives my perspective on dealing with difficult, thorny theological issues. This is not to say that we should not struggle to find good answers to difficult questions, but it is more of a caution: I want to resist placing God in a box so that the mysteries of God make sense to my finite mind. I except that there are many aspects of God’s character and workings that are left shrouded in mystery, and to forge an answer that makes sense to me may, in the end, only diminish who God is in both my mind and the minds of those under my teaching.
My Perspective on Hebrews 6
After studying extensively the many theories of interpretation of Hebrews 6, here’s where I’ve landed: I believe the writer to the Hebrews is describing true Christians in verses 4 & 5. The words he uses are spoken with certainty:
4 For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, 5 and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come,
The Writer Is Referring to True Born-again Christians
While there is debate among commentators and even among our pastors at First Family, I believe the writer is referring to true, born-again Christians. Many argue, for example, that the writer is not referring to true believers, but only to those who have nibbled at Christianity. They point to the words “tasted” used in vs. 4 & 5 and suggest that these were people who never fully digested the gospel and/or the heavenly gift. The problem is that the same word (geuo) that is translated “tasted” in 4 & 5 is used in Hebrews 2:9 when the writer tells us the Lord Jesus tasted death for everyone. No one would argue that when Jesus tasted death, he only nibbled at death and never really died.
Likewise, the word translated “enlightened” (photizo) is the same word used in Heb. 10:32 where the writer declares, “But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings…” No one doubts that in this reference the writer is referring to believers and to their salvation experience.
If we approach this passage and try to prevent our theological leanings from influencing our interpretation of the Scripture, it is difficult not to accept that the writer is referring to fellow believers in vs. 4 & 5.
The Dilemma: Can True Believers “Lose Their Salvation”?
The dilemma comes in v. 6 when he notes that if they then have “fallen away,” it is impossible to restore them again to repentance. Read simply, it appears what the writer is saying is, “It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened (saved), and then turn away, to be restored again.”The problem with this simple explanation is that this is contradictory to many other passages that teach the eternal security of the believer. (See John 5:24; John 10:27–28; John 6:37–40; John 6:44–47; 1 Peter 3:2; 2 Cor. 5:1; 1 John 2:19.) At First Family, we believe completely in the eternal security of the believer. We believe that when you are born into the family of God, there is nothing that can take you from Him, even your own rebellion.
I’ve often compared this to the physical relationship a parent has with a child. A son may wander far from his mother and father, but there is nothing that can erase the fact that he was born their son. He is part of their DNA. So it is with spiritual life.
My Resolution to the Problem
So what do we do with the difficult words of Hebrews 6? I rely on what the Bible tells me about the Lord Jesus and His Character.
In John 10:27–28, Jesus tell us,
“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they shall never perish; and no one shall snatch them out of My hand.”
Jesus gives us eternal life, and He states emphatically, that we “shall never perish.” Moreover, He assures us that no one can snatch us out of His hand. No one. Not Satan, not even our own foolish rebellion.
The Anchor Holds
I also take great comfort in how the writer ends this difficult passage in Hebrews 6. He reminds us that we have reason to hope. Why? Because the source of our Hope is none other than Jesus Christ. In Heb. 6:19–20 he states,
We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek
I love the word picture he uses here–the anchor of our soul. Jesus is sure and steadfast, even in the midst of the heaviest of life’s storms.I want to leave you this week with the words of one of my favorite songs, The Anchor Holds, by Ray Boltz. They capture perfectly the hope we have in Jesus in spite of how large the sea of life is and how little our boat feels at times.
The Anchor Holds
I have journeyed
Through the long, dark night
Out on the open sea
By faith alone
Sight unknown
And yet His eyes were watching me
Chorus
The anchor holds
Though the ship is battered
The anchor holds
Though the sails are torn
I have fallen on my knees
As I faced the raging seas
The anchor holds
In spite of the storm
I’ve had visions
I’ve had dreams
I’ve even held them in my hand
But I never knew
Those dreams would slip right through
Like they were only grains of sand
(Chorus)
I have been young
But I am older now
And there has been beauty
That these eyes have seen
But it was in the night
Through the storms of my life
Oh, that’s where God proved
His love to me
(Chorus)
——————————————
Notes:
[1]]J. Vernon McGee, Thru the Bible Commentary: The Epistles (Hebrews 1–7), electronic ed., vol. 51 (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1991), 102. ↩
How Does Alistair Begg Prepare to Preach
A group of us from First Family attended the Pastor's Conference at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago last week, and I do not think I would be alone in my opinion that Alistair Begg was one of the highlights of the week. His messages from 1 Samuel 17 spoke to the deep sense in all of us that we are many times wholly inadequate for the task that in front of us.I am always curious how gifted speakers like Alistair Begg go about preparing their messages. I found this video from Billy Graham's The Cove on YouTube in which Alistair describes his preparation process. Here, in summary, are his steps:
Pray hard. Pray, pray, pray, and then pray some more.
Think myself empty. A complete brain dump. Anything and everything that is on his mind at that moment gets written down on a piece of paper. Scribbled. Sometimes it is extraneous quotes, thoughts, notes, poems, stories, whatever is on his mind. Some of the thoughts may see the light of day in the final message, but many won't. Sometimes during this process, he may begin to see some structure or form begin to take shape. This may stay through to the completion of the message, which makes the process easier, but this is not usually the case.
Read myself full. This does not imply that he will read commentaries in relationship to the text. This is where he turns to his filing system and begins reading what others have written and said about not only the text, but the themes and topics that may be found in the text.
Write myself clear. The writing process for Alistair is the key to clarity and to the ability to speak affectively and with fluidity and fluency. He notes, "as you read through what you have written, you can begin to tell if the syntax is there, and if you are connecting thoughts properly in a short amount of space. If you don't write it to read it, and you assume you can process the information between your mind and your mouth, you won't be 100 percent successful." Spurgeon said to write your sermons out for the first five years. Alistair started to do this, but decided not to stop because he realized the task never got to be any easier. He admits that because he has preached for so many years now, he could operate off the back of an envelope with a simple three point outline, but that is not is approach. He continues to write out his sermons as part of his preparation. Too often, he gets the sense that pastors are working out their sermons off the cuff while they are speaking rather than doing so during their preparation.
Be yourself and forget yourself. This is crucial, not as a sense of posture, but as a reality. This is significant because God has determined that through the lips of mere men, He will speak. If God can speak from Balaam's donkey, then He can certainly is not in need of you. The fact that God gives us the privilege and opportunity to speak is indeed a very humbling thing.
How is your sermon preparation process different or similar? What steps have you found to be helpful in your preparation to preach?