On Sermon Writing

I know from my interactions with readers that most visitors to The Master’s Table are Christians. Many write blogs of their own, author or review Christian books, or are otherwise involved in church culture. Not surprising since many of my posts are devotional in nature; my writing explores what it means to serve God, worship, share the Gospel and so forth. I’ve blogged on meeting Christian writers, musicians, speakers and pastors; working at summer VBS; serving on the stateside mission field; publishing a book about who God is and how we relate to him. On occasion I have not only published sermons but written on the act of preaching.

While the vast majority of the readership here is Christian I have no way of knowing how many actually preach the Gospel. We all know a good sermon when we hear one or at least know what we like. But how familiar with the process is anyone that has never prepared a sermon? While there may be those that joke their pastor only works one hour each week surely no one that has put any thought into it actually believes that. Surely. I’m not going to write a step-by-step guide on how to DIY your own sermon. But I would like to share some insight into what goes on in the mind of the preacher before the sermon is being delivered.

Voddie Baucham

If I went to every conference, seminar and retreat that I get invitations to I would never be at home. It wouldn’t take but a few weeks of missing church to get fired, seeing as how I am the pastor and what not. Having said that, I probably should make time for more of those than I do. So it was a pleasure on the National Day of Prayer to hear some good preaching.

Happy Mother’s Day

That’s Mom and I at a Braves game in 2013. This will be the Braves last season at Turner Field, so we may try to get in one more this summer.

Two Sermons and an Editorial

For those of you looking at the website, you know that lots of stuff hangs out in the sidebars. Some of that content is updated daily. I don’t post as often to the blog as I used to because much of what I write is on my church website. The Unity Baptist RSS feed shows links to recent posts at the top of the left-hand sidebar. You see those links if you visit The Master’s Table. I also realize many followers subscribe using feed readers or through email. Those folks will never see any content that is not posted.

So this is kind of like a Read & Share File for my own stuff. These links are to the two most recent Sunday sermons and a newspaper editorial from about a week and a half ago. If you have read them already or follow both blogs, great. If not, just FYI.

The Heart of Man, Feb. 7th sermon 

The Heart of God, Feb. 14th sermon

God’s Great Love, newspaper article, Feb. 6th 

Tips for Creating MP3’s

I have to thank Challies Dot Com for sharing this link, so that I can share it with my audience.

Faith By Hearing is the first 4 column blog I’ve ever seen.  Digital Etiquette for MP3 Creators gives some tips on how to do a better job of turning sermons and lectures in MP3’s that are both easy to find and of a manageable size.  I appreciate the advice, and perhaps many of us would do well to heed it.

Faith By Hearing has an extensive catalog of sermons and teachings by many well known speakers, some of whom may surprise you.  Their site will be added under the Useful Resources links, and I highly recommend spending some quality time there.

Free Stuff

Desiring God Ministries is the public outlet of all things John Piper.  For a long time, they have been willing to work with people to get resources in the hands of those who might not be able to afford them otherwise.  Lots of stuff is available at little or no cost if you’re willing to work with them.  They are not just giving everything away, but if you have a need they will provide you with Piper books and other resources.  They are found online at desiringgod.org.  You may also want to check out the Desiring God Blog. 

Recently everything John MacArthur has become available.  At Grace To You (GTY.org) you can read, listen to, or buy a CD of his sermons – 2725 of them.  MacArthur is available through radio, television and podcast, and Grace to You has it all on their website.  This has gotten a lot of buzz on the blogosphere, so expect to hear sermons ripped off from MacArthur at a church near you soon!