I love preaching, preachers, and talking about preaching. One of my "selfish" prayers recently has been for God to open up more doors for me to share the message that He has placed in me. A friend of mine via twitter pointed me to Reflections on Preaching, an article written by Mark Driscoll, amazing author and Pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle. Below is my favorite excerpt from the article because I LOVE the questions he uses to shape his messages:
"WHAT ARE YOUR PERSONAL STUDY HABITS? WHAT METHODS OR RESEARCH DO YOU USE? WHICH TOOLS DO YOU FIND MOST HELPFUL?
I find myself continually coming back to five questions that shape every one my sermons:
- What does Scripture say?
To answer this we need to check translations, do our word studies, and find out exactly what words best convey the meaning of Scripture. - What does Scripture mean?
Here we need to interpret what is said, which requires commentaries, cultural background studies, etc. At this phase John Glynn's Commentary and Reference Survey is a must-have for every preacher and teacher as he rates all of the best commentaries and other reference material on various books of the Bible and theological topics. - Why do we resist this truth?
Here we are assuming that people will not simply embrace God's truth but fight it with their thoughts and/or actions because they are sinners who, like Romans 1:18 says, suppress the truth. So, we attempt to predict their objections and resistance so that we can answer them and remove their resistance to get them to embrace God's truth for their life. This part of the sermon must be confrontational and often ends up in people walking out, standing up to argue, and sending nasty emails, all of which indicates you've hit a nerve like God wants you to. The real fight begins at this point and a preacher needs to come with his hands up looking for an opening much like a boxer. - Why does this matter?
We need to connect all that we have said to a missional purpose for our lives, families, church, and ultimately God's glory. Something may be true but if people do not find it to also be important they tend not to act on it. On this point I like to connect Scripture a lot to the character of God, nature of the gospel, our mission in our city, and the quality of our lives both individually and collectively as a city of God within our city. - How is Jesus the hero?
The Bible is one story in which Jesus is the hero. Therefore, to properly teach/preach the Bible we have to continually lift Him up as the hero and any sermon in which the focus is not on the person and work of Jesus will lack spiritual authority and power because the Holy Spirit will not bless the teaching of any hero other than Jesus."
Here is the link to check out the entire piece!




