Amen, all right good effort reading that passage brother Caleb it's a tough one
of all those names see the secret is when there's all those names that's
where you get brother Matt or you get brother Jason to come for the reading
you've learned your lesson you can't do all the bibing all the time it gets
challenging get those guys to do it. All right Nehemiah chapter 8 hope you
got your Bible still open there Nehemiah chapter 8 and today's the the 5th
isn't it the 5th of August and amen. Excited I mean I don't know is this a
Pentecostal Church or is this a Baptist Church it's all good excited for church
I like it but obviously it's the 5th of August what does that tell you that
tells us well my goal Lord willing is on the 5th of October that the
Sepulveda's will head down to Sydney so when you think about that we've got
basically two months two months before we go down there and with the current
climate I mean I don't know what's gonna happen but you know let's just
step out in faith see what the Lord wants and so in light of it being two
months before we head out there I really want to keep the Wednesday services
Wednesday sermons on topics or preaching things that will benefit the church you
know in light of the past of being away for some time okay so this might not be
it's not like I'm not gonna preach you a series or anything like that just topics
things that come in mind how we as a church can work together because the
church is a is the body of Christ hey you know some of you guys are the feet
some are the knees some of you are the other hips some of you guys are the arms
the fingers the eyes the mouth you know we're all part of this one body and
Brevin you know as I'm away for those 12 months with the family and like I said
my desire to get up here weekly if I can but I don't know with the coronavirus I
don't know what's gonna go happen but anyway you know we need the whole body
working together we need a whole body thinking about each other and supporting
one another remembering that when you serve one another you're serving the
Lord Jesus Christ and so my goal over the Wednesdays is just to give you
stuff that I probably wouldn't have preached otherwise just in light of me
being away and so look at Nehemiah chapter 8 verse number 8 it says so they
read in the book in the law of God distinctly and gave the sense and caused
them to understand the reading the title for the sermon tonight is sermon
preparation sermon preparation what I want to cover today especially for those
men they're gonna be up here preaching more regularly I want to cover what you
need to be thinking about when you're putting together a sermon now some of
these things I've covered during the men's leadership class I understand I
haven't just copied and paste the same information I've tried to dig in a
little deep I tried to give you more things for you to think about and right
now you might be saying well you know does this is this really a sermon for me
I'm a child I'm a woman I'm not going to get up to preach behind the pulpit yeah
that might be true but remember we're one body okay and when somebody comes to
get behind the pulpit to open the Word of God they're doing it because they
love you they're doing it because they want to feed you the Word of God they're
doing it because they want you to grow to be more like Jesus Christ and so if
you understand what a preacher does in order to get prepared for a sermon the
work he does the study the closeness to God that he needs to be you're going to
appreciate the sermons okay and I know when you go to church every week three
times a week you know it can become a mundane task oh there's pastor Kevin
again preaching I don't know what he's saying now that's a bad place to be
understand that the preachers put a lot of work you know he spent time with God
the Holy Spirit has been working through that man to prepare something for you to
learn okay and so let's pick it up here in Nehemiah chapter 8 in verse number 1
I really want you you know if you're not a preacher just to appreciate preaching
appreciate the work that goes behind the scenes Nehemiah chapter 8 and verse
number 1 says and all the people gather themselves together as one man hey we're
one body all right into the street that was before the water gates and they
spake unto Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses which the Lord
had commanded Israel okay so the first thing I want you to notice here in
chapter 1 now I know this is not about the local church but this is about the
new temple that's been rebuilt which was the house of God in the Old Testament so
we can take the principles here we can learn and apply it to the house of God
in the New Testament but what you notice is what they brought to be preached was
the book of the law of Moses why do you come to church why do you listen to a
preacher because they're going to come and bring you the book of the law of
Moses the writing of the prophets you know the saints of Jesus the writers of
the Apostles that's what church ought to be about that's what preaching ought to
be about and when you're preparing a sermon you got to start with the Word of
God you know I'm personally not interested in some preaching where some
guy gets behind the pulpit and he says you know I'm gonna amaze you you know by
my intellectual study you know you know my well-thought-out logical reasons why
Adam and Eve had or didn't have a belly button okay now I'm not interested in
that I'm not coming to hear the wisdom of man all right God doesn't tell us in
the Bible whether Adam and Eve had a belly button it's not important it's
stupid I don't want to hear that nonsense we come to church because we
come to hear the book of the law of Moses okay the Bible that's what we come
to preach and so preach is the first thing you need to do and understand look
we all have different personalities you know we're you know not everybody is as
charismatic as others but listen why people come to New Life Baptist Church
at least this church is to hear the Word of God they're not interested in your
fancy stories and your fancy intellect okay because it comes short you know it
fails in comparison to the wisdom that come from the Word of God all right look
at verse number two and Ezra the priest brought the law before the congregation
both of men and women and all that could hear we've understanding upon the first
day of the seventh month so church men and women together listening to God's
Word right we're not like the Muslims with a man worship over here and the
ladies worship over there no men and women coming together families coming
together we're a family integrated church we want all family members in
church moms dads children everybody here learning together verse number three and
he read therein before the street that was before the Watergate from the
morning until midday before the men and the women and those that could
understand and the ears of all the people were attentive unto the book of
the law now you thought we were the only church that went back to back with
services from the morning 9 a.m. all the way to midday with a second service
right you thought that was Kevin's idea pastor Kevin's idea no actually it's
coming from the book of Nehemiah hey they're reading from the morning till
midday okay now it's not all reading of course we'll soon see that it's not just
reading the Word of God but they're preaching the Word of God as well okay
and so you know this is part of the reason well should I say it's the main
reason well it's one reason why we do church the way we do okay from morning
to midday all right and you know what I want to also notice that the end of us
number three it says and the ears of all the people were attentive unto the book
of the law and so brethren once again you come to church it's an effort you
know straight after especially a Wednesday night straight after work
you're tired you've been especially the men working all day whatever you know it
gets late you get tired you start to doze off you know sometimes when I bring
my little kids they start to doze off because it becomes a long day for them
but what we see here we need to be attentive pay attention if you're making
the effort to be in church pay attention give focus to the Word of God okay that's
why you're here we need to learn from his word and then look at verse number
four and Ezra the scribe stood upon a pulpit of wood which I had made for the
purpose so here we go you know the pulpit of wood is biblical okay you
ever wondered why this is here yeah it's here because Nehemiah right is what we
learn in the book of Nehemiah here all right look at verse number five and Ezra
opened the book in the sight of all the people for he was above all the people
and when he opened it all the people stood up now look we have a little step
here okay I'm not very tall makes me feel a little bit taller when I when I
step up here and preach behind the pulpit hey you know what having a step
having an elevated position for the preacher that's biblical as well okay he
stood there above the above the people and then verse number six and Ezra
blessed the Lord the great God and all the people answered Amen Amen with
lifting up their hands and they bowed their heads and worshiped the Lord with
their faces to the ground so hey saying Amen to the preaching Amen Amen agreeing
to what has been heard that's biblical
amen so you know hey you know men if you agree with what's being preached say
Amen okay it encourages the preacher to know hey you know I'm not preaching
something off the wall you know what is being preached is truth okay Amen is I
agree that is true okay that's what you're saying when you say Amen now
verse number seven also jeshua and baini and cherubiah jaman acab shebethiah
horijjah maya sia kelita azariah jozabad hainan pelayah and the
Levites now let's pay attention now the Levite so the Levites were also the
priests that were teaching okay caused the people to understand the law and the
people stood in their place so preachers this is your job okay this is the sermon
is sermon preparation what you're preparing to do what your motive is what
you're trying to accomplish is for people to understand the law to
understand the Bible that's again it's not about showing off your intellect not
showing off how you're so intelligent you can work out some minor issue that
doesn't matter in the Bible okay that's not what people need to understand they
need to understand the Word of God okay you know one of the qualifications of
being a pastor you know taking on the office of a bishop is apt to teach being
able to teach so people can understand and learn all right verse number eight
so they read in the book of the law of God distinctly and gave the sense and
cause them to understand the reading hey there are three things here that you
need to pay attention to preachers when you get ready to preach number one you
need to read in the book of the law of God distinctly what does distinctly mean
it means clearly you know something is distinct it's clearly you know noticeable
compared to something else okay it's clear it's plain it's without confusion
okay so your challenge as a preacher is to take the Word of God which can be
challenging which can you know for someone that hasn't been saved for very
long maybe a babe in Christ there are certain passages that they can't fully
understand your job as a preacher is to break down that passage and teach it
distinctly clearly so they can understand what is being taught there
okay not just that look it says there and gave the sense and gave the sense
that's basically it's like saying your job is to is for the preaching to make
sense you know for the for the law of God to make sense to the hero you gave
the sense you know the explanation the preaching makes sense you don't want to
be a preacher that's all over the place you know one moment you're saying
salvation is by grace with faith alone the next moment you're saying well you
got to repent your sins as well hey that's not making sense that's a
conflict that's confusion that's not the job of a preacher the preacher is to be
black and white very clear as to what he believes and what is teaching and then
finally and cause them to understand the reading so once again your job is so the
congregation the church the congregation learns okay learns that's
what you're trying to do again it's not about you put on a show you want the
people of God you ought to love the people of God the church so much that
you want them to understand something you want them to get something out of
the sermon so they can grow thereby okay so they can become a little more like
Jesus Christ so they know there's something in their life that they need
to change and look yeah I'm talking to the preachers right I'm talking to those
men they're gonna stand up to preach but you that the congregation those that
are listening okay you want to walk away from church service having learned
something you know something being a little clearer for you you know for you
to understand something and there's nothing wrong with you if there's
something you didn't understand during the service during the sermon to go to
the preacher and say look I I didn't quite understand what you were saying
there can you please explain that to me a little further there's nothing wrong
with that whatsoever okay because the goal is for the congregation to
understand and so as I said the title for the sermon tonight is sermon
preparation and again I'm primarily you know preaching to the preachers but to
everybody and so what I first want to cover you're going to you know in some
Bible college courses there's like there's a course called homiletics and
homiletics is how you preach I'm very happy that I got to learn I've got to do
a course in homiletics this was like when I was Howard was like probably 23
or something along the lines and it wasn't in Bible college it was through
my local church it was with my past and I really appreciate it because the same
things that I learned there I still apply today okay but what you know when
it comes to sermons there are three types of sermons there are three types
of sermons okay and let me just tell you what those three are number one this
topical a topical sermon number two an expository sermon okay and number three
a textual sermon okay a topical expository and textual all right so I
want you guys to kind of understand what these are these aren't foreign words
most preachers know what they're talking about and you know most preaching that
you listen to you're going to be able to basically break it down into one of
those three things so what I get you to do please turn to Galatians chapter 6
Galatians chapter 6 and we're going to look at Galatians 6 and pretend we're
going to put together a topical sermon or an expository sermon or a textual
sermon just from that passage okay so Galatians chapter 6 Galatians chapter 6
please now let me start with expository sermon okay because these are the
sermons that you're most familiar with that I preach generally speaking on
Sunday mornings we're going chapter by chapter through the Bible aren't we okay
right now we're going through 1st Peter but we've gone through Genesis we've
gone through the first and second Corinthians we've gone through a few
Psalms and what am I doing during that time isn't most of my sermon basically
on that chapter you know most of my key points are from that chapter yes from
time to time we'll be going to other passages but we're not going to other
passages to learn some new truth we're going to those other passages just help
support what is already in that chapter that we're going through hey that's
called an expository sermon we're taking a huge chunk a whole chapter and we're
building our points from what is within that chapter okay now so when we turn to
Galatians 6 and I'm not going to give you an example of this because you see
this every Sunday morning okay expository would be me taking the
entire chapter Galatians chapter 6 and just preaching verse by verse by verse
by verse all the way to the end and trying my best to expand on that so you
understand the reading now one of the challenges with an expository sermon is
that some of the chapters could have many topics okay and so the goal in
order for your sermon to not sound all over the place is to find some key
themes one theme or two themes not too many themes so I'm just some one or two
major themes so as you're going through that chapter you're kind of putting
those verses back into the main theme that you see in the sermon that way the
sermon feels unified you know it feels concise it doesn't feel like you're
going every everywhere you know I don't know if you guys have ever heard
preaching where it's like I thought you're gonna start on this and okay I
get it then all sudden the past ends on a totally separate topic unrelated I've
been there it's like did he switch sermons midway through the preaching
well that's the challenge of an expository sermon because a lot you
know obviously the whole chapter can have different thoughts and you want to
keep that one major theme but let's look at Galatians chapter 6 and verse number
1 let's now take an example of a topical sermon okay a topical sermon now
Galatians chapter 6 verse 1 reads brethren if a man be overtaken in a
fault ye which are spiritual restore such an one in the spirit of meekness
considering thyself lest thou also be tempted now if I wanted to do a topical
sermon what does that mean we take one topic okay one topic you know the
probably the the clearest example was on Sunday Sunday afternoon I preached on
pornography okay so I took the topic of pornography and that was the main topic
and I wasn't really building on any major passage we were going all over the
place right we're going all over the Bible just taking certain truths you
know of that topic and trying to build a sermon from that that is called a
topical sermon one major topic so we as we look at the Galatians Galatians 6
verse 1 and brethren if a man be overtaken in a fault ye which are
spiritual I'll be like yeah all right the topic that I want to preach on is
you know people that are spiritual how to be spiritual maybe we'll take the
sermon title and call it ye which are spiritual and so my topic is I want
everybody to know what it means to be spiritual how you can be spiritual or if
you're carnal or if you're in the flesh right and that's my main topic and so
I'm not really building from that verse necessarily I might take some some
thoughts there I'm not necessarily taking you know the whole thought of the
chapter there but it's spiritual that's what we're doing right the spiritual man
and so the points that I build on that sermon will come from other places other
places throughout the Bible let me give you some example point number one might
be you don't need to turn they'll just give you some examples first Peter
chapter 2 verse 5 which says ye also as lively stones are built up a spiritual
house and holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God
by Jesus Christ so point number one of my topical sermon will be hey you know
God's making us a spiritual house where to offer spiritual sacrifice that's what
it means to be spiritual and then I'll be like point number two Ephesians chapter
5 verse 19 says speaking to yourselves in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs
singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord to be point number two you
know to be a spiritual person you've got to sing the Psalms the hymns and the
spiritual songs that's what makes you a spiritual person right and so you can
see I'm just going all over the place taking different thoughts of the Bible
it's all good nothing wrong with that style of preaching it's good you know
learning about a topic and then I'll be like point number three is coming from
first Corinthians 14 verse 37 which says if any man think himself to be a
prophet or spiritual let him acknowledge that the things that are right unto you
are the commandments of the Lord and so the spiritual man will say hey the Bible
is the commandments of God it's written by God you know it's point number three
and so we need to you know enjoy the Word of God we need to read the Word of
God we need to learn and study the Word of God that's going to help you be a spiritual
man okay so you can see you know I'm trying to pick a sermon there but you
know that's just an example of a topical sermon we've taken what it means to be
spiritual we've gone to different places and we've built that sermon you know if
there was three main points there and that would be a topical sermon right all
right what is a textual sermon textual sermon what does textual you know well
text all right so that's where the word comes from but let me give you an idea
of verse number one again Galatians 6 verse 1 look at it again now we're going
to I'm going to give an example of a textual sermon from this same verse okay
so Galatians chapter 6 verse 1 let's read it one more time
brethren if a man be overtaken in a fault all right so this would be the
title of my sermon okay I'll be saying okay restoring a brother in a fault okay
that'll be the that'll be the title how to restore a brother when he's in fault
okay now the textual sermon is you're looking at you know a few verses maybe
one verse maybe two or three just just a sample number of verses and your main
points don't come from other passages but your main points come from that text
in of itself okay and you still will go to other passages but again they're kind
of like sub points to the main point that you're doing again supportive
verses of that text and so we'll start okay restoring your brother in a fault
let's keep going there it says ye which are spiritual okay so point number one
will be hey the one that restores a brother in a fault you have to be
spiritual you have to be mature you can't be this carnal worldly Christian
and think you got your job is to restore someone in a fault okay that'll be point
number one let's keep going restore such and one in the spirit of meekness point
number two in order for you to restore a fallen brother is you've got to have the
spirit of meekness you need to approach him meek with meek meekness right you
can't just beat him down beat him up while he's down hey you've got to have
that meekness about you and then what else do we see there in verse number one
it says considering thyself so point number three will okay consider yourself
hey cuz you can fall you can sing you can get into some bad places so you know
you got to be careful when you're restoring somebody that you're careful
not to fool yourself right and then it says lest there also be ten so there's
my three points right you which is spiritual it's going to be a spiritual
man that restores a brother in fault you've got to have meekness and you've
got to consider yourself be careful about you know how your walk with the
Lord is and so that would be a textual sermon hope that makes sense okay the
points are coming from the text okay then we might also have and by the way
textual sermon it just to give an example of a sermon that I preach
remember I did a series on the seven churches of Revelation okay so we're
looking at Revelation chapter 2 Revelation chapter 3 I wasn't doing a
whole chapter we're just taking verses about specific churches okay maybe two
three four verses and I was building my points off what Jesus Christ was saying
to those churches that would be an example of a textual a sermon okay and
then also so those are the three main ones topical expository textual I hope
that makes sense to you guys but you can also have hybrids okay you can have a
bit of mix you know you don't need to necessarily follow these things but it
is important when you get up to put a sermon together that you decide what
kind of sermon am I going to preach when you understand this will be topical this
will be expository or do be textual it'll help you put that sermon together
okay so it feels a little more concise now there is a hybrid version and for
example a hybrid would be when I just did it the series on the armor of God
okay did the armor of God so it's a bit of it was a bit of both it was only a
handful of verses that talk about put it on the whole armor of God and those
verses talk about putting on the helmet of salvation you know the breastplate of
righteousness etc and so it's only a handful of verses okay and so you know
it's kind of textual but then because I did a whole series okay and I did you
know one sermon on righteousness one sermon on you know the sword of the
spirit one sermon on prep the preparation of the gospel of peace and
so those sermons became topical sermons right even though it's one of part of
one series and it's textually in spirit but the practical way of it being taught
was topical because we're hitting each one with each topic within that armor of
God okay so that's an example of a hybrid version okay and so those are the
three types of sermons now please turn to 2nd Timothy chapter 3 2nd Timothy
chapter 3 and verse number 16 2nd Timothy chapter 3 verse number 16 we've
looked at types of sermons okay I don't know if that was interesting for you
guys but it is helpful it is helpful when you can identify what kind of
sermon am I going to preach okay the next thing I've got here is the purpose
of the sermon okay what is the purpose of the sermon 2nd Timothy chapter 3
verse 16 2nd Timothy chapter 3 verse 16 reads all scripture is given by
inspiration of God and is profitable for for doctrine for reproof for correction
for instruction in righteousness again Timothy was a pastor Paul is writing to
Timothy as a pastor and he says look when you're teaching the Scriptures this
is what you want to get out of it this is the profit that you want to get you
know when you're preaching God's Word prophets doctrine reproof correction
instruction in righteousness and so what's important as they preach as you
put in your sermon together you want to make sure that your sermon meets one of
these criterias one or more okay it can be one or more okay so let me just give
you some ideas of what they are let's start with the first one and it's
profitable for doctrine what is doctrine doctrine is to teach I guess what it
means you know teaching or to teach and so if I'm teaching you doctrine let's
say I want to teach you guys on the second coming of Christ okay I want to
teach you what the Bible says about these things what am I trying to do I'm
trying to give you more knowledge my goal or my purpose of the sermon is for
you to attain more knowledge right to understand to learn more about the
Bible in Isaiah 28 verse 9 it reads whom shall he teach knowledge and whom
shall he make to understand doctrine them that are weaned from the milk and
drawn from the breast so we're going to start with the milk of the Word of God
this is this for precepts must be upon precepts precept upon precepts line upon
line line upon line here a little and there a little for we stamina lips and
another tongue will he speak to this people okay and so what we see that you
know God will use stammering lips God will use you in your weaknesses to be
able to teach people the Word of God to teach people doctrine okay and it's
important that you learn something it's important that you say hey I want to
take something from the Bible here so next time they read that chapter they
read that book they have a better understanding of what is being taught
through that book okay they have a better understanding on this doctrine
they have a better understanding on the Trinity they have a better understand
what whatever doctrine it is finding topic right a doctrine you want to make
sure people grow and learn and understand because they're going to your
the congregation will hear false teachings from somewhere you know that
there'll be a false prophets out there false preachers out there and if they
haven't gained the understanding on certain doctrines they're easily going to
be swayed to and fro with every wind of doctrine that's not we want for the
church okay and so it's important that we learn my biggest frustration was
going to church you know and just hearing watered-down preaching I'm like
am I I'm not learning anything can you tell me a little bit about the Bible can
you tell me something I want to know more when I want some of the deeper
things in the Word of God I want to gain understanding next time I read my Bible
I want to know what that's about okay who was this man who was this prophet
what's going on here I don't fully understand the preachers failed me okay
in church and so my goal you know I spent a lot of hours putting sermons
together because my goal is that you would walk away with some further
understanding so you gain some knowledge I want you to be fed with the Word of
God all right and so you know something else that might fall on this category is
biographical preaching by teaching biographical teaching so where you might
take one character in the Bible you know you might take Moses we may take Joseph
or you might take you know King David and basically teach a whole sermon
about that one person okay that would be an example of doctrine as well you're
teaching about individual people in the Word of God okay so doctrine to teach we
want to equip ourselves with knowledge all right that's one purpose for
preaching a sermon the second purpose that was mentioned in second Timothy
chapter 3 verse 16 it says profitable for reproof say what is reproof well
reproof is the act of reproving say what's that rebuking okay rebuking all
right so one you know another purpose for your preaching is to rebuke sin okay
rebuke sin rebuke false doctrine or rebuke false prophets that there's a
time for that as well okay and I guess the clearest example again on Sunday
preach about pornography well I was I was rebuking that sin okay and you we
need to hear that kind of preaching from time to time as well all right and
so these things are important okay but you as a preacher you want to make sure
that you have your sermons are all different sometimes you just preach it
on doctrine all right sometimes you're rebuking that's important and you know
there was this time where I was I won't name the church right now but there was
that there was a church I was going to and there was like an assistant I mean
I won't say that now all right so like there was an assistant pastor okay and
he wouldn't preach too often he maybe would preach like once a month all right
and I remember the first time I heard him preach he got up to preach and he
like ripped face I mean he was like having a go at all the church you know
how we weren't friendly we weren't you know greeting visitors I mean he was
just tearing up the church and I was like yeah this is awesome it's like man
yeah just you know it's you know it feels good sometimes to hear you know
the the face ripping sermon all right and then I was like man how's it he's a
great preacher I hope I can hear you more often right and then next month he
got up to preach again and he's ripping I don't know what he's ripping on this
time is he's criticizing that he's ripping on the church it's clear I'm
like man yeah you know you know you know don't stop brother you know just keep
going right amen I'm hearing all right I was like wow this guy's awesome and
then next month he got up again he's criticizing the church and his ripping
face and he's all your failures at that point I'm like is he gonna preach
anything else and then I your fourth man from the fifth man it's like oh
every time you get up to preach I know we're in trouble every time you got up
to preach I'm like man I guess God hates us now because we're such a bad church
you know we've really let him down right and listen I mean there's a time for
that and it's exciting at the beginning but if that's what you're doing like oh
this is non-stop telling everybody how you're a sinner you like you know you
can't you're just not faithful to God hey you actually give it to church you
let us down hey there a visit why haven't you agreed with me what's wrong
with you people man you come here every single week here and preaching like that
you're just gonna be like why am I in church God seems to hate us I think I
was better off before I came to church all right or if you're just constantly
rebuking false prophets yeah there's a time for that there's a place for that
but again you know you come to church this Wednesday I'm preaching against I
don't know the Catholics like amen all right next Wednesday all right I'm gonna
be preaching against the Mormons amen so I'm gonna preach against the the
Pentecostals this time every Wednesday it's like wait he's always gonna preach
against somebody I mean you're not gonna listen it's preaching is for you it's
for you to grow right if I'm just preaching about other people constantly
what are you gonna get I mean every listen every sermon against false
prophets or against false religion is basically the same they've got the
gospel wrong all right they preach them false gospel and because they're not
saved they're mixed up with all other doctrines that's basically that's
basically you know every sermon about some false prophet it's the same sermon
I just just replace the name I guess you know that's all it is and so yeah the
time again there's a time for that it's not saying this that's wrong but you
don't want that to be all you do all the time okay you need to mix it up with all
these things all right the next one that's on that list was profitable for
correction correction okay now this sounds like rebuke but it's not really
rebuke is just saying hey this is wrong correction is continuous improvement
okay continuous improvement okay so you know we're not perfect we still fail you
know you know we're still not where I personally want to be as a church and
look I think we can still grow we can still do better we can still do more and
so you know correcting something that might be failing is important we need to
be able to preach about that you know in Philippians 3 14 Paul says I press
toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus you
know Paul kept trying to improve Paul kept trying to correct the things that
he has in his life and so we need a time for that as well right hey we're failing
in this we need to improve in this area we need to do that hey just your
personal sanctification your personal growth right your personal
overcoming of sins and and having how do how do I change that you know hey you
know replace you know the worldly rock and roll music which which disgraces the
name of Christ we've signed biblical hymns Psalms hymns and spiritual songs
that would be a correction right we would need to have that kind of
preaching and also just the failings at church you know maybe there are failings
at church and no church is perfect you know I love this church I think we're
doing great you know coming into three years I think we're doing really well
but you know are we perfect have we reached a goal are we where we need to
be no we need to keep growing and so if you can uh no no you say
where you are yeah I'll just read to you Revelation chapter
2 verse 4 and this is the church of Ephesus
and so the church of Ephesus was doing some great works for God
they were accomplishing a lot but then Jesus says to them nevertheless I have
somewhat against thee because thou hast left thy first love
now okay so they there was there was a failing there was an issue in the church
that they weren't able to do and then in verse number five it says
remember therefore from whence thou art fallen and repent
and do the first works or else I will come unto thee quickly
and will and will remove thy candlestick out of his place
except thou repent and so this is correction right that the preacher needs
to get behind the pulpit and say hey we've left the first love
we're not doing the first works that God has asked us to do
let's repent let's get back on track let's go back to the things that God
wants us to do hey that would be a preaching on correction profitable for
correction okay and the last thing that was
mentioned there profitable for instruction instruction
what is instruction instruction is passing orders
or direction you know and so this is more about
Christian living right you're trying to give people instruction
how to live for the Lord you know encouraging them to do that
you know encouraging people to attend church to read their bibles
to pray to go soul winning hey just to praise God just to glorify God
you know give people instruction hey lift up your voices and love the Lord
and thank the Lord for everything he has given you hey this would be
instruction just your your regular Christian living we need to be reminded
of those things again and again and again all right so
once again the purpose of preaching that we get there from
2 Timothy chapter 3 verse number 16 was it needs to be profitable all
scriptures given by inspiration of God profitable for doctrine
reproof correction for instruction in righteousness
okay so for the preachers i really want you to think about this
you know yeah you know it's fine to get a whole bunch of verses together
but think about what what's my purpose here what am i trying to accomplish is
it one of these things is it a mixture of those things and if
it's none of those things you better go back to the you know drawing board and
start all over again and say boy you know i'm not really
profiting in the church i need to go back and have a sermon
that's going to meet at least one of these criterias
all right now please go to 1st Corinthians chapter 14
1st Corinthians chapter 14
the next thing that i've got here is the goal of preaching
now that's kind of sounds like purpose sometimes purpose and goal can be
interchangeable i guess but the goal is kind of like the end
result okay you know you got the purpose i want to
you know you know teach doctrine but you want an end
result out of that okay what's the end result
again it's for the congregation what is the congregation going to get out of
this first corinthians 14 and verse number three
first corinthians 14 and verse number three
but here that prophesy and prophesy remember
there's just another way of saying preaching right and here that
prophesy speaketh unto men to edification
and exhortation and comfort okay so this is what you want so when you
finish a sermon this is what you want the congregation to be left with
either they've been a edified exhorted or they've been comforted that's the goal
okay again a mix of these things okay and if your sermon's just not doing it
you you've got to go back to the drawing board
and get that sermon you know fix it fix it change the conclusion
make sure that it's something that addresses these issues that we see here
in uh first corinthians 14 and so let's talk about edification first
edification okay what is edification to edify what is to edify
well in spanish the word for building like a building in spanish is edificio
which is where edifying comes from okay and so
a building so what is edifying it's to build up
all right it's to construct to make something stronger
to build that's what edification is you know our jobs as preachers
is to help the church mature and grow go from the milk of the word of god and
to get onto strong meat to gain some knowledge to gain some
understanding right and or maybe just just uh
just just to gain strength spiritual strength
you know gain boldness gain courage something that will help them build
themselves up to be more like jesus you're in first
corinthians 14 look at verse number 12 first corinthians 14 and verse number 12
it says even so ye for as much as ye are zealous of spiritual gifts
seek that you may excel to the edifying of the church excel he wants you to do
the best you know do the best job you can right
with what god has given you he wants you to to uh you know be
successful in edifying the church okay and so
that's the goal you can edify with knowledge yes
you can edify with with uh reminding people that the lord is near and here's
your rock and here's your strength and here's your here's your fortress
you know in times of difficulties there's that as well
the next one that was mentioned edification and exhortation
exhortation what is exhortation well exhortation is kind of like to
encourage or motivate okay encourage or motivate
the bible tells us in hebrews chapter 10 verse 24
and let us consider one another to provoke and to love and to
good works okay so that's what exhortation is
to encourage to motivate you to love hey to love the lord god more
hey to love the brethren more hey to love lost souls more
but also that you will do good works that you would serve
the lord okay and so sometimes they preach might get up
and preach on soul winning okay say why is he preaching on so
to edge to to motivate others you know to get back out there
maybe dedicate a little bit more time in the soul winning become more consistent
the ones that haven't gone soul winning yet hey get out there as a silent
partner it's to motivate that person all right
and uh if you guys can you turn with me to uh acts chapter 14
acts chapter 14 verse 21 acts chapter 14 and verse number 21
so exhortation is to encourage to motivate
okay and by the way i'm going to ask especially the kids when i'm finished
preaching this sermon i'm going to so pay attention kids you better start
paying attention i'm going to ask you guys the questions and whoever gets it
right will get a prize or bring it on sunday okay
so keep paying attention remember attentive is right attentive to the
preaching of god's word all right exhortation uh sorry acts 14
verse 21 let's read this acts 14 verse 21
it says and when they had preached the gospel to that city
and had taught many it's by the way if they're preaching the gospel are they
getting people saved yeah they're getting people saved okay
and so those saved people are babes in christ they don't know much right so
let's understand who they're preaching to who these
people are they returned again to lystra and to iconium and antiok now look at
this confirming the souls of the disciples
and exhorting them to continue in the faith
okay what's exhorting to motivate them to encourage them okay
and so these preachers are getting out there so look continue
in the faith don't give up keep serving the lord and then it says here
and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of
god and that's when you need to really
exhort people is when people are going through trials and tribulations
when people are going through difficulties hey when people maybe are
concerned about covid 19 what does this mean for life hey people
you know what the people need to hear pre-exhortation they need to be
exhausted they need to be motivated and be encouraged
hey just keep serving the lord just just hold strong to the faith
right exhortation motivate encourage the brethren
and the last one that was mentioned in first corinthians 14 verse 3
it said and comfort and comfort you know there's nothing wrong with
comforting the brethren there's nothing wrong with with you
know understanding that some people go through difficulties
they look generally speaking i'm i'm personally uh
pretty happy guy even when i'm going through some difficulties i can see
a positive side of it but not everyone's the same
all right some people really dwell on the negative
and you know that's something they need to change and and uh you know with the
lord's help they can you know uh you know be encouraged but
you need to understand that sometimes you know i can't i i don't assume that
all of you are going to react like me okay and there are a lot of people that
do get discomforted for whatever reason whatever trials whatever
difficulties they're going through whatever illnesses they may be going
through and sometimes the people just need
comfort they just need to know that the lord loves them the lord is there to
help them you know and uh so to comfort is to give
relief and comfort okay and as i've been
preaching you know just most more recently in the last
couple of months because of covet 19 right
you know part of my goal is to help you keep your minds
on the eternal matters okay you know too many christians today are just focused
on the temporary focused on the earthly focused on all
the masks focused on all the vaccination you know
and they're getting discouraged they're being discomforted
you know the greatest comfort you can get just remember we're sojourners
you know this is not our home our home is heaven let's live for eternity let's
live for heaven you know turn off the tv hey you know
why i preach that because people need to be comforted
people need to learn what they need to do in order to find comfort in the lord
and you know this world can be very distracting there's a lot of
difficulties in this world and i'm just going to read another
passage to you here in romans 15 verse 4
romans 15 verse 4 reads for whatsoever things were written a full time
were written for our learning that we through patience
and comfort of the scriptures might have hope okay you know what's
going to give people comfort comfort of the scriptures okay don't
forget what did we start with the fact that we come and we want to
listen to the word of god this is what we come for okay the bible
and guess where people are going to find their comfort in the bible guess
where people are going to be exalted in the bible guess where people are going
to be edified in the bible these are god's words it's a
powerful book it's a spiritual book it's a living book and and you know for
the congregation i don't want you to ever think you know
uh i don't know if i'm going to go to church today because brother
bob is preaching right uh you know i'm not i don't really enjoy brother bob's
sermons i'm just going to miss out this week that that's wicked
you know having that attitude you know brother there's not brother bob here
right but but brother bob i'm telling you loves
you all right he's studied the word of god
he's been putting his sermon together he's been saying how can i feed my
brother or sister in the lord god help me lord lord work with me he's
been spending hours and hours trying to put something together
so you can be comforted so you can be exalted so you can be edified
and you just have the attitude oh brother bob's preaching i won't turn up
please don't be like that while i'm gone don't be like that i'll be so
disappointed you know if you guys end up like this
you know and i don't want the preachers that get
behind this pulpit to think i need to be someone else
i want brother bob to be brother bob okay and i want brother
what's another name that we don't have here brother zach to be brother zach who
else fred brother fred to preach like
brother fred okay because god will use people's
personalities introverted extroverted it doesn't
matter okay there are plenty of people like this in the bible
there are plenty of stammering lips okay uh he would god will use them in a
mighty way to preach some great truths you know brother bob is going to be able
to preach some things that i would never have thought about
to preach and you know god will use him to touch your hearts and to teach you
something new you know and so you know like i said
this sermon is not just for the preachers
the whole congregation i want to appreciate the effort that every man
does and why do i encourage men to come up to preach
so they can appreciate it they can they realize hey you know what it's not like
pastor kevin's sitting there for 10 minutes writing out some sermon notes
before the service you know it takes hours of thought you
know it takes a fear of god a concern for the brethren in order to
prepare a sermon and so the title for the sermon
tonight was sermon preparation okay so i'm almost done
now now here's the question did i preach any of the kids can answer
you can boys or girls doesn't matter all right
i guess you're considered a kid caleb so you can you can answer
all right what type of sermon did i just preach
was a textual or topical or expository yes paris
i'll give you a point for for um for the answer but it's not the right
answer yes lily you're next topical what was the topic how to prepare
sermon and i went all over the place i got a verse here i got a verse there i
got a verse there right it wasn't based on a certain text
it was all over the yes lock you want to say something
well you got to go back and listen to the sermon on youtube calum
that's his homework for tonight he's got to go back and listen to the whole
sermon all right
all right god you should have just said topical all right let's pray
heavenly father lawyers want to thank