Introduction

Preaching God’s word is amongst the greatest privileges entrusted to us. It is also one of our greatest responsibilities. Through preaching God has chosen to reveal himself to man (1 Corinthians 1:21, NET) . This knowledge of God, is able to lead man to eternal salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. It is also able to transform them into the image and likeness of God (2 Corinthians 3:18).

Therefore any Preacher who doesn’t take time to prepare prior to the delivery of a message, is guilty of being unfaithful to God’s calling. Let us see why preparation is important for a Preacher?

1. Preaching compared to child birth

Have you ever seen Babies born over night? First the Mother has to conceive in her womb (which is called Fetus – a form of life in it’s early and incomplete stage). This fetus must be cared for until it becomes a fully grown baby. It must be fed with nutritional foods to nurture. Naturally It takes 9 months for the process to complete. A Baby who has to leave his mother’s womb too early wont leave a pleasant picture in the parents’ memory.

A sermon before it could be called good and effective should go through a similar process.

I. First you conceive a truth in your heart that the Holy Spirit illuminates to you through God’s word.

II. Then you nurture it and help it to grow – which takes time.

III. You can’t deliver a solid, convincing message until the sermon is complete and ready.

2. Preparation helps to make the best use of resources

There are many resources that helps a Preacher to spice up his sermon, but using these takes time.

Example: A considerate Preacher would use reference books and Bible Dictionaries to understand the context of the selected text and to interpret it accurately. Additionally using these reference materials help him to think creatively and promote logical connections.

When you begin studying a selected passage at the last moment, you’ll be sure to come up with all kinds of questions about the text itself. but you won’t have time to refer to reference books and find the answers. A disorderly sermon will always have a poorly understood scripture portion.

Naturally a Preacher can communicate better when his words are supported with Visuals. If you have a Multimedia Projector with PowerPoint slides try to make use of them. This way people are less likely to forget the essence of your sermon. If you can use a video clip, to support the message do it. Remember, all these takes a lot of time on preparation.

3.It helps you to prepare spiritually

When you take time to prepare yourself and the message, you have time for prayer and room to receive the Holy Spirit’s guidance relaxingly. No one can rush the Spirit’s work. His role can’t be replaced. Some one said,

Without man God will not and with out God man cannot.

There are 2 basic areas in which the Spirit comes to the Preacher’s help.

I. Understanding God’s word, (1 Corinthians 2:10-11)

II. Realizing the needs and struggles of the listener.

4. It helps to avoid unexpected mistakes

I have seen unprepared Preachers making statements or using words from the Pulpit without giving careful thought and regretting later. When you spend sufficient time in preparation you are less likely to be embarrassed before everyone.

I used to make this terrible mistake with illustrations. Illustrations are helpful to communicate the truth effectively and make the sermon more interesting. However even the best illustration used at the wrong place and wrong time, dilutes the message, it renders the congregation cold and unresponsive to the message. Now I spend a sufficient length of time in preparation and I am able to utilize the existing resources, weigh illustrations, assess the needs of the congregation and preach with the power of the Holy Spirit.