Crafting the Message

**Title: Crafting the Message: The Art and Skill of Preaching**

In today's episode, titled "Crafting the Message," we dive deep into the essential art and skill of preaching. We'll explore practical steps to enhance your preaching abilities and discuss why this topic may evolve into a multi-part series.

First, we emphasize the value of the book "We Preach" by Reverend Jerry Jones, now available on Audible. This book is a must-read for both young and seasoned ministers, especially the first chapter on the importance of being called to preach. 

In this episode, I share my journey and struggles with traditional book reading and how I transitioned to audiobooks. Despite my lack of formal Bible college education, I've developed a training regimen for the preachers and teachers under my care, providing critiques and guidance to help them improve their craft. 

We discuss the necessity of diligent preparation and continuous improvement in preaching, drawing from Proverbs 22:29 and 1 Corinthians 1:21. Skillful preaching doesn't happen by accident; it requires intentional effort and practice. 

The importance of mastering your pulpit presence, whether in teaching or preaching, is highlighted. We share tips on overcoming speech impediments and the need for discipline and focus during sermons. 

We address the significance of universal preaching principles, emphasizing the need to read beyond the Bible and seek knowledge from various resources. Practical advice on using notes effectively and the role of technology and graphics in modern preaching is provided.

Listeners are encouraged to own their message, know their Bible, and understand the context of their teachings to avoid misrepresenting God's words. The episode concludes with a reminder that success in ministry isn't measured by popularity but by faithfulness and diligence in serving God's calling.

**Keywords:**
- Preaching skills
- Reverend Jerry Jones
- We Preach book
- Audiobooks
- Bible college
- Preaching tips
- Proverbs 22:29
- 1 Corinthians 1:21
- Pulpit presence
- Teaching discipline
- Continuous improvement
- Ministry training
- Public speaking
- Sermon preparation
- Effective notes
- Technology in preaching
- Universal preaching principles
- Contextual teaching
- Faithfulness in ministry

Transcript

 Today's episode is called Crafting the Message.  We're talking about the importance of working on the actual skill and art of preaching.  We will then move on to some practical things that you can learn in order to get better. This just might turn into a multi part series. We don't know. Well, let's get started. 

First, I want to strongly suggest the book called We Preach by Reverend Jerry Jones.  Man, oh man, I bought that book when it came out.  Paperback. The problem is I'm horrible at reading paperback books.  So I've had that book for over 10 years and,  and I haven't read it.  I don't know if it's been 10 years, but when it came out, I saw it at the bookstore and I just haven't read it because I don't do paper books.

I do audio books  as much as I drive. That is perfect for me.  And well, I found it on Audible. Finally, it was, it's a new thing that book. It's so now you can have it either way,  but I strongly  encourage and definitely every young minister, but I would go ahead and encourage every older minister, just at least for the first chapter, because he talks about the importance of being called  and man, that's, it'll, it'll encourage you. 

So you've been listening to podcasts. I'm going to assume you've been listening. Thank you for listening. By the way, love you. This is our 19th episode and I've made no bones about it. That I have not been to Bible college. I love  those that do, and I wish I could have, and I wish I, and I hope I get to.

Okay. That  I'm, I'm working on a way that I can, or trying to figure out a way that I can in the future.  I know that they teach how to preach.  Some do, you know, they've got courses on that,  but I wish more pastors did.  And I don't know why some don't.  I have a training regimen for the preachers that are under me and the teachers, you know, I review what they cover and we go over it.

I critique them. I tell them what they did. Right. And I tell them what they did, what they could work on.  Sometimes it's a pat on the back.  Sometimes I flat out make fun of  it. Depends on how bad they mess up. I tease, but they know I love them, you know, and, and we're a family and they tease back, you know, I let them critique me sometimes.

I haven't done it in a while. Let me do that again. Just,  you know,  We need to train. We need to work on this. We are so sweet as in  the elder ministers. We are so strong on making sure that everyone knows the pulpit is not all of your ministry.  Bless God. The pulpit better be the least part used of your ministry. 

We're so worried about that, but we fail to teach that it's still a vital part of the ministry.  It's like, we're, we're afraid that if we teach them how to use it,  they'll become glued to it.  And, and I want to debunk that we have to teach ministers how to use the pulpit.  So this lesson will be about the pulpit. 

1 Corinthians 1 and  21,  and this is for the preachers out there.  It says, For after that, in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God.  It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.  That is so amazing that God chose to include preaching in the process of salvation.  We don't put it that way very often, but you know, you've got the death, burial, resurrection, repentance, baptism, and filling of the Holy Ghost. 

But there's preaching involved in that. You have,  you have to preach that to them. God chose the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.  Preacher, you are a part. Of the salvation process.  How dare anyone take that lightly?  Pastors, if you're listening, I encourage you to take a proactive approach in teaching,  teach them how to use that pulpit.

If you didn't get direct and specific help from your pastor, when you was growing up, I'm sorry, but two wrongs don't make a right,  invest in the help that God has given you.  My goal in, in this lesson.  Is not to teach anyone how to preach like me.  I'm not even sure I want to preach like me.  I want to give universal practical things that everyone needs to know and consider when they're preaching. 

I'm going to start with a verse in Proverbs 22 and 29.  See a style, a man diligent in his business.  He shall stand before Kings. He shall not stand before mean men.  We're going to handle that verse in two parts.  The first half says diligent,  see a style, a man diligent in his business. You can think of that word diligent as skillful.

Do you see a skillful man? You see a man who's skillful, see a man who knows what he's doing.  That's what it's saying. If a man is skillful,  he'll go on before Kings. We'll talk about the second half in a second. I want to work on that skillful part for a moment. Skillful does not happen by accident. 

Skillful, you don't just wake up one day and say, I'm feeling skillful. Ho, ho, ho. That doesn't work that way.  And practice does not make perfect.  You could, if you preach a hundred times,  Without the intention and the effort of getting any better, then you risk not getting any better.  Don't think that just because you preach often, that you're going to naturally get better. 

You may not.  Skillful does not happen. By accident. Do not confuse talent with skill. Do not confuse potential with skill. Just because something comes easy to you. Some people are naturally gifted in front of people. They're naturally gifted at a pulpit, but that doesn't mean they have a preaching skill.

That just means they have a charisma and a charm and it comes easy to them to work a crowd, but there is still  things they need to learn to perfect their craft.  A diligent and skillful person does not take anything for granted. They work at it.  They work at it. They chisel and they just constantly  keep chipping away until they have the structure that they're looking for.

They work and they hone their craft. And dare I say,  we're probably never done working on our craft.  You must work on your pulpit ability.  You cannot just say, well, this is who I am. I'm, I'm loud. I'm fast. I'm slow. I'm methodical. This is just who I know. You, you need to work on it.  If you have a speech impediment, then you need to understand your speech impediment.

If it's something that can be controlled, learn how to control it. I actually have a speech impediment.  And you'll hear it sometimes when I get going too fast,  I have to, I have to make a conscious effort every time I'm up there  and even doing these podcasts.  I have to slow down in my mind and make sure that I enunciate. 

But if you cannot overcome your speech impediment, then you need to make a way around it.  Or you know, let's say,  what would God call you to preach with a speech impediment? I've heard people say, Stutterers get up there and preach  and they find a way. Keep it simple, keep it short, find words. They can say, you know, how to live with that.

Don't act like  it's strange to you. You've lived your whole life with it.  Quit making excuses for your lack of effort and getting better. 

And then there's also the pulpit goes both ways, teaching and preaching, just for example, I remember long time ago, a preacher was bragging and laughing about how his pastor can't let them teach Sunday school.  And he was literally proud of this. He was bragging about it. He said, every time that he teaches Sunday school, he gets too excited and he starts preaching. 

And his pastor said he couldn't have that. He needs someone that can teach. And he just thought that was the coolest thing, how excitable he was.  That's not cool.  Okay.  You need to learn  discipline and stay focused to the task at hand. That is not God's annoying that you, every time you get carried away,  those are the words you get carried away.

If your pastor has told you to teach  and then he has to give up on you.  That's not  don't pat yourself on the back. Okay.  Instead, sit down, go back to the drawing board, board, read books, pray, study, talk to someone, practice.  And by the way, practice, that's what I tell my guys. If they need to  work on something, you'll be surprised how well preaching in front of the bathroom mirror will help you  out loud,  say it out loud and record it on your phone so you can play it back and you can hear yourself saying it, man.

That'll do wonders for you. Cause when you get on the pulpit and the microphones there, that changes things.  So don't be afraid to preach to your bathroom mirror.  And I'm not talking about you have to practice your  excitedness, but just practice hearing yourself say the words. Anyway,  you have to work on your pulpit ability, whether it's teaching or preaching, whatever your calling is. 

And you cannot just chalk it up to your personality. You have to overcome your personality.  Now, let's talk about that second part of the scripture,  Kings.  That verse does not promise that every great preacher will be popular.  Okay. Sorry. That's not what it, that is not what it means.  Do not make the mistake of using our human minds as the measuring stick for success. 

This verse is teaching a principle that God will give what he can trust to who he can trust it with.  If you cannot be diligent to prepare and improve a little, then he's not going to give you a little. 

He is not worried about the size of the crowds and the popularity the way we are.  I mean,  Jesus walked around and  he had some crowds on some days and  some days he didn't, but he could have drawn  everybody if he wanted to,  but he didn't measure success the way that we measure success. 

There are,  there are many pastors  all across the globe  that are phenomenal, tremendous preachers  and you've never heard their name.  They don't pastor large churches.  Some do, some don't,  but they're faithful to their calling  and that's what God has given them  and that's their King that they're, that the diligent preacher is serving for  not the King in your mind, not the  fancy  large platform.

No, it could be the small congregation of 30 or 40 and they're doing the best they can.  And they're rocking it,  but they're skilled and they're diligent  and God's using them.  Here's a little numbers for you.  I looked up again for those that are listening for the first time.  Welcome. Thank you for joining. 

I am licensed in the United Pentecostal church international. I pulled up that, that directory and I counted the district superintendents.  In the North American  part of it. And there are 56 district soups.  And so now that's not,  they don't all have district conferences. Cause that included the Atlantic conference, the Western, you know, those are, some of them are regional more than district,  so let's say out of the 56 of them, there's 50 of them that would have a district conference, 50 camp meetings, if you will,  let's assume that they have two speakers, a day speaker and a night speaker, you know what, let's, let's go ahead and be generous and say they got three.

Okay, they're splitting the night speakers one guy doing two days another someone else is doing another two So we're gonna say three  three times fifties 150 speakers  150 preachers every year for camp meetings  Realist, realistically, it's not even 150 different. Okay. Let's not, let's not pretend they don't use the same preachers, the same guy traveling all over the place, you know, but we won't look, we'll pretend and say 150 different,  that's not a big number,  Arkansas alone, almost has 150 churches  and that's, that's just one district  and that's not counting the assistant pastors, the assistant to the pastors,  the full time evangelists.

In just our district.  What about all the other districts? What about all those other great preachers?  So chances are you're not going to preach a district camp meeting.  And yet  these guys are skilled.  Okay.  My pastor is my favorite preacher. And  far as I know, he's never preached a district camp meeting.  He hasn't since I've been here. 

And, but he's skilled.  So the verse I shared does not mean that every skilled preacher will have his or her name cast abroad.  It means the king can use you,  but he's going to use you when you're based on your diligence,  how diligent are you and how diligent are you will get will determine how skilled you are. 

So do not measure your, your success or your skill set by how often your phone rings.  Well, that's just a part of the foundation. I may come back to more later. We'll see.  I'm just kind of feeling it right now. Again, this, this whole thing may come into us.  We may come back crafting the message part two, but let's get to some pointers. 

These are in no particular order other than how they popped in my mind over the years of preparing for this.  And of course it goes without saying that prayer, fasting and reading your Bible is a must. Okay. That's  part of it.  Can I tell you that you must read something other than your Bible in addition to your Bible? 

If the only thing you read.  In preparation for the ministry is your Bible.  Boy, you better be reading it hard. There's really no excuse for that in today's age. Okay.  Blush God in the forties brother. So and so.  Evangelize was only the book of Luke.  Yeah, we don't have that problem today. Okay.  You've got enough resources at your fingertips that it's to not use, use them would be negligence. 

Find books and more books,  refusing to read books. Even if you say it's due to lack of time is willful ignorance.  This is a God. Given calling that is involved in the salvation process. And you're telling God you don't have time  to improve.  That's unacceptable. Make time  ingest as much knowledge as you can. 

Find those books,  listen, boy, I love audible  people say, oh, I get, I too, I get distracted. You know, how you overcome that you turn that volume up  to where it masters your attention.  If that radio in your car is the loudest thing, your mind will stay focused on it.  And okay, here's another.  Mind blowing fact, if you catch yourself zoned out,  it has a rewind button. 

It's not against the law to replay that chapter.  When I read a physical book, I can go through several chapters and realize, I don't remember a single word I just read.  I zoned out while reading. And then I gotta start over if I really want to learn it.  Unless I'm just reading it to say I read it. And that's not what I'm talking about.

I'm talking about ingesting it.  So  find knowledge  and I must say, read good books,  read good books. Yeah. Don't just grab something off the shelf. Be careful of your authors. Make sure you know what you're reading.  Next thought,  get out of your head.  We get so nervous about what if we mess up? Okay. And I may have played a factor in it telling you how important. 

The calling is, the calling is important. Your effort is important, but God is always responsible for the outcome.  You are only responsible for the effort. And that's true in any calling of God. Okay, if he's called you to evangelize, if he's called you to build a church, if he's called you to preach,  he is always responsible for the outcome. 

You are only responsible for the effort.  Get out of your head.  My pastor has a,  an expression and it's just an old country expression. It's not the, he's not the only one I've heard before.  I dropped the watermelon  and the watermelon is a metaphor for the message. You know, he dropped it and busted it. Boy, I really messed up today.

I, I, I, boy, I dropped that watermelon.  But I, I heard him say that one night and I thought about it because I myself as a,  I've dropped a physical watermelon before. I remember as a kid, my dad gave me a watermelon and I dropped it and it busted.  And you know what?  I remember picking up the pieces and still ate it. 

A busted watermelon is still edible.  If someone is hungry, they'll pick up those pieces  that are still good  and they'll get what they can get off of it.  So what if you drop the watermelon?  Only the picky eaters will, you know,  will say, Ew, and I'm not talking about eating grassy covered dirt covered watermelons.

I'm talking about it's still clean.  It's fine. They just didn't see a knife.  I will tell you if you're worried about messing up  It's been my experience that preachers tend to do their worst when one of two things happen  one  They are overconfident  boy. They think they are just the bees knees, you know, they're  they got it  or two  They're underprepared  when they didn't put in the effort  When they didn't pray, when they didn't fast, when they didn't study and they just tried to wing it,  those are when they do their worst, when they are overconfident or if they're underprepared  and it's really bad.

If they're overconfident while underprepared  earlier, we mentioned camp speakers,  it's an  old cliche, but it's going to happen to you. Even if you don't pastor, even if you're just a local preacher in your church, you're going to experience this.  Used to drive me nuts as a youth leader, taking these kids to.

A  youth rally or HYC or youth camp.  And I would hear these other preachers say the same things that I've been saying  for months or years,  but these kids would go nuts like it's their first time hearing it. They're running the aisles, waving their hands, jumping up and down. I'm like, I've said that 10 times and you fall asleep on me.

It's the same thing. I even said it the same way. 

That's when you just  close your eyes, meditate. 

And then we know, we remember.  That it's more important that the people get the message than it is that you get the glory.  It doesn't matter if you get a pat on the back, good job for saying something so profound and deep.  What matters is that they run in that they're running the aisles and saying, praise God that minister to my heart. 

That's all that matters.  Maybe it took five times for it to click.  Maybe they needed you to prime it before that last one finally ignited it. Who knows,  but that's all that matters is that they're finally getting it. Don't worry about who gets the credit.  Just let,  just let them be ministered to.  Let's talk about notes. 

I like notes.  There are different types of note takers out there,  and I'm not here to discuss that. I am not a  thorough note taker.  I don't write in a thorough outline. Some people will write their entire message out.  If you do that,  then you need to know how to use that.  I will say  nobody likes being read to. 

Okay, that's one of my problems with people using  The  publishing house literature is they don't know how to use it. They just read it  and nobody likes being read to stop it.  Okay. So if you write out your notes all the way, that's fine,  but learn how to present your message without reading to me,  memorize it,  do something  other than  make me feel like I'm at a book club. 

I remember one preacher,  we always teased him  about the possibility of his wife writing his messages,  and he  was looking down and he was reading his messages. Notes just as slow as I am talking right now. He had a really thick accent  and he said, praise God, slap the pulpit, look around. Then he slapped the pulpit and he looked around. 

There were actual cues in the notes and he read the cues and then did them.  Okay. You have to learn how to use your notes,  but regardless of how you use your notes, I'm a  shorthand notes. Okay. I may write one complete sentence. Just enough so I'll know what the next thought is, but however you write your notes Do not let the notes tie you down. 

Just because God gave it to you in preparation, does not mean God gave it to you to repeat.  It may have been just part of your preparation. It may have been part of the effort.  Just because it's on your paper. My Lord, please do not read every note if the anointing is not telling you to read every note. 

Your message does not have to be an hour. If God wanted you to call it short a long time ago, I don't care how good the notes are.  It could be the most profound statement in the world. If God wanted you to end that message 30 minutes ago, you should have ended it 30 minutes ago.  Finish the lesson some other time. 

Do not be so impressed with your own notes.  That you're tied down by them.  Also, also, on the flip side, not everything that pops in your mind  needs to be said.  Even if it's on topic, even if it's true,  you have to learn the difference between  what God is putting in your mind and what you're just thinking of. 

Not everything fits, not everything is anointed. 

Here's something for today's age. I'm technology driven, obviously being cybersecurity specialist and it manager and all that good stuff. I like to use the projector. Okay. Or, and I like graphics. I like designing a title slide. And  if.  If I had a better projector at the church, I would I would incorporate more slides into my messages.

Okay.  But if you use graphics,  use them, right?  They are not just decorative.  If you use graphics, you have now incorporated that into the holy message.  That title slide better look good.  It better,  it either better be playing black and white or something. But if you put a picture up there, it needs to draw their interest.

It needs to match the message.  It's not about what looks pretty. It's not about all the nice colors. It's about the message.  If you don't know how to do graphics,  practice and don't publish it. Just keep practicing and don't publish it  until you get good at it, because a bad graphic will be distracting  while you're up there talking, they're looking behind you at that, at that slide, trying to figure out what in the world that is on the wall. 

Again, I like graphics. I'm not telling you don't do it. I'm telling you to do it right. If you're going to do it. And if you can't do it right, then don't,  Oh, it feels like I'm being ugly. I'm not trying to be ugly. I'm just passionate. Okay. Please don't take me the wrong way. I'm just passionate.  I believe in working on our craft.

I believe in getting better. I myself am not there. I am nowhere near the expert in graphics and there are things I don't do because I can't do them. So please don't confuse this with arrogance. Okay.  I'm just passionate about it.  Another thing, learn how to draw the crowd in  before  you go. We're actually period.

Let me rephrase that. Learn how to draw them in period.  Now,  before you go into the meat of your, your message, don't just start off with the meat.  You have to invite them. Okay.  We Apostolics, we love our Acts 238,  but if you go back and study that scenario,  Peter did not go straight to Acts 238.  He did not just jump up on a, on a stump and say, boy,  you better repent, be baptized.

Every one of you, Jesus name.  No,  he talked to them and said, this is that what the prophet Joel prophesied.  You see, he, he preached first and then brought up Acts 2 38.  Some of us don't know what to preach. If we can't preach actually 38,  that's all we can say. But  we baptized.  Why  you got to be able to sell them. 

When I worked at Verizon, the phrase was earn the sale.  We were required, and this was a long time ago, back when we had contracts and we had minute plans and texting plans. Okay. So this was a long time ago, but we had, we were required  to upgrade so many contracts a month.  However,  we were, they, and they listened to monitor to our calls and went over them weekly. 

We were not allowed to go straight into a sales pitch  before we were allowed to mention their contract.  Before we were allowed to ask them if they wanted a new phone, we had to first  solve the issue  of why they called.  If they called about a bill, if they called about a promotion, we had to answer their need first.

It's called earning the sale.  In preaching, before you get to that gut punch, you have to earn the sale. Get their attention,  solve the need,  lure them in.  I like to tell my guys, think of a, a plane experience.  There's the takeoff  everybody. Nobody likes to you know, it's not a trip to the moon where you're the G force throws your head back  a nice takeoff. 

A nice flight, no turbulence, okay? Nice, smooth flight, and then a smooth landing. Okay, that's your altar call. You've got to finish it.  Don't just drop the plane out of the sky and say, come pray.  You've been there before. Boy, you're preaching it good, and all of a sudden you realize, you What do I do now? 

Race guide.  You've got to know how to close it.  Land that big ol jet. Bring it down. Nice and smooth where no one's jerking,  bobbing around, and thinking the pilot's drunk.  Okay, nice smooth landing. 

Starting to, starting to wrap up the episode here. Couple more points. You have to own your message,  know what you want to say.  Don't,  if you cannot explain, now this is true in anything. If you cannot explain your idea to a six year old, then you don't know it well enough.  Okay? In just a few sentences. If you, in just a few sentences, if you cannot explain it to a six year old, you don't know it well enough.

Same thing for your message.  Some might even say five or six words.  I'll be lenient and give you a couple of sentences.  That's because I'm a softie, I guess,  but you need to be able to explain it easily. And if you cannot, you're not ready to preach it,  own your message and know what you want to say.  Be confident in what you're saying. 

I also tell my guys that it's important to know what your intention is.  What is it you're wanting to accomplish with that message?  Are you wanting them to be encouraged? Are you wanting them to be convicted?  Are you wanting them  to rip  to respond? How are you wanting them to respond? What are you wanting? 

You can't, you cannot just preach a  nice thought because it sounds cool. You have to have a goal. You have to have a destination.  And what is that destination? And then, you know, where you're headed for and everything you're saying is pointing to that destination.  Lastly,  know your Bible.  Know  the verses that you're using. 

Someone, this is not my quote, and I wish I knew who had said it.  I think I got it out of a book now that I'm saying it out loud, but I wish I had remembered what book.  Teaching out of context is putting words in the mouth of God. 

Teaching out of context. It's putting words in the mouth of God. When you say something wrong,  you can imagine God saying, that's not what I said.  That's not what I meant.  And it's all because you didn't do your diligence  on studying and preparing.  And might I suggest that you do not preach anything that you have not studied yourself.

I don't care if it's the oneness. I don't care if it's baptism.  I don't care if it's the sky being blue. Of course, that's not even in the Bible.  If you haven't read it for yourself and studied it for yourself, you have no business preaching or teaching it  because your pastor could have been wrong.  And, and you really can't be that confident if you don't, if you can't explain it yourself, other than parenting back with someone else told you,  but if you've studied it and put it in your own heart, well, now you've got a hold of it and now you know how to use it. 

Well, that's the first chunk of off my chest on crafting the message.  I hope it helped.  It's a little more direct, but again, that was the point of the podcast in the beginning  was encouraging and teaching new ministries. So I hope it helped. I'll, I'll probably come back and do more later.  It is hard doing a subject like that because. 

I don't fancy myself the best of the preachers. Okay. But these are again, universal things that we all need to know.  And I want us all to be better for the kingdom sake.  Thank you all for listening. Thank you all for everything you've done to help the podcast, whether it's praying or, or spreading, telling somebody about it, spreading the word.

I appreciate you so much. Please continue to do so. Hit the like subscribe button. Tell a friend,  love you.