Is Your Pastor a Criminal?

“A sermon without Christ as its beginning, middle, and end is a mistake in conception and a crime in execution.” – C.H. Spurgeon

It is an inside joke amongst Baptist pastors that every sermon should begin with a funny story, include a poem, and have three main points (and three points only). And, no matter what, they must alliterate. Sounds corny, right? However, you’d be surprised by how many preachers follow that formula – including yours truly from time to time – although I never use a poem.

Another Baptist pastor once told me that his three keys for successful preaching were as follows: tell them what you’re going to tell them… tell them… and then tell them what you just told them. By repeating the main points three times, he felt that they would sink in better.

As for my own sermon preparation, I usually use just my NKJV Bible, but this past week I added a Hebrew-Greek Bible, and two commentaries (one by Warren Wiersbe and one by John Walvoord and Roy Zuck).

But no matter what format you follow or what resources you use, the key – as Charles Spurgeon points out in today’s quote – is to start and end with J-E-S-U-S. As for the “meat of the message,” it had better include Jesus, too. After all, He is not only the central figure in human history, but also the central figure of the entire Bible.

The Old Testament points forward to Jesus, the Gospels tell about Jesus, and the rest of the New Testament points back at Him… with the exception of the Book of Revelation, which foretells His second coming and the establishment of the New Jerusalem.

“All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.” John 1:3 (NKJV)

“And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.” Colossians 1:17 (NKJV)

“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,” says the Lord, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” Revelation 1:8 (NKJV)

- Rev. Dale M. Glading, President