Brothers, I will now seek to spend a few minutes describing some of the things that I do that you may find useful. But I think I've already set this up to let you know that I'm not prescribing this for you. But this is how we learn everything, by the way. Little boys learn to be men by watching dads. Little girls learn to be women by watching moms.

Young preachers learn from older preachers. All right? Hopefully our little boys are not trying to talk like that. No, talk the way you talk. Walk like that.

No, you walk the way you walk. Some people might try to walk with a little style, not realizing that the person they're mimicking has a congenital problem with a short leg. You got to be careful about mimicry. So I will describe for you some of the things that I do. And if you watch me online or even if you come to a service in which I'm preaching, you'll see me trying to do these things.

All right? And I hope that you can learn something from it and maybe even be more effective than I have been. All right? Okay, let's talk about the sermon title. We don't have an outline, do we?

Okay, it's there. I must tell you that even though I'm talking about the sermon title first, it's one of the things that I prepare last. Okay? I'm bringing it first because that's the first thing you talk to the congregation about. But in your preparation, in my preparation, it really comes last.

I can't start with a sermon topic or title or whatever you want to call it. Why? Because that is imposing an idea on the text. I've got to start with the text. Let the text tell me what to say.

Once I've worked on the text, it will be clear what I should call it. Are you following me? So my sermon topic is usually the last thing that I work on. After I have thoroughly worked the text and I know what the text is about, I will write a topic, okay, or title, guided by that central theme. Initial impressions matter.

Hmm? Attention spans and competing interests. So you have to take that into consideration, especially in dealing with our generation that is so technologically distracted and wanting you to cut to the chase much earlier than other generations. Okay? In a sermon topic, I find it useful to create discomfort and hope.

Discomfort and hope. In other words, the topic is almost like your introduction, even before you have done your introduction, where somebody must be hearing something that they are lacking and that you will provide some kind of answer for. All right? So that is an important consideration. Don't be too obvious and steal your thunder.

But I find it important not to be too misleading either, where you are announcing a subject or title and you've completely disappointed the people. All right? They're not going to trust you much after that. You know, yeah, right. All right, so those are some of the considerations that I use in coming up with a topic.

And again, even though the topic is the first thing the person, the congregation sees, whether on a bulletin or even on the screen in the church or even from an announcement, you know, It's the last thing I prepare because I need to get a hold of the text before I even think of labeling it. Okay? And I must label it with creativity to create interest and to make sure that the people are prepared to listen. Let me now talk about the sermon introduction. The introduction is not too much different from the title.

You should not be trying to write an introduction to your sermon when you haven't finished your exegesis because you don't know what you're introducing. Before Scott could introduce me to you, he had to ask me to tell him about myself. He got to get to know me. Then he can introduce me. You got to get to know the text before you can introduce it.

So don't even try to write a single word of your introduction if you haven't mastered the text. OK? In introducing the text once you have mastered it, I find it useful to create a crisis. Create a crisis. What is the issue at hand?

Why is this important? All right? You know what the answer is, the answer is in your text. But you've got to set up the problem in your introduction. Okay?

But not only should you create a, I would say A is create the crisis, B, establish hope. Hope in the text, but mostly hope in Christ. Once you have established the crisis, you tell them, listen, I have the answer. Don't forget earlier we spoke about preaching with confidence. Now I might have the answer.

You're no use to anybody if you might have the answer. You're just creating more confusion. The people came here to get answers. So, you create a crisis To let them know that you are aware of this problem that many of you have. I've had that problem too.

But guess what? In this text, and in Christ, I have the answer. You came to the right place. All right? So you've got to create hope.

Then see, you've got to put the text in context in your introduction. You've got to let the people see that this text is not an isolated passage. It's a passage in a wider passage, a wider chapter, a wider book in the whole Bible. So, you put it in context, alright? So that they will see that while you are going to give them some answers, there's a lot more where that came from.

Okay? That no matter what treatment we give, it's never exhaustive. All right? And D, summarize the message of the text. In other words, put the text in a nutshell.

In other words, go ahead and give them the answer and then do the working. Go ahead and give them the answer and then tell them, let me do the working now. I'll work it out for you, Which is the body of your sermon, okay, to work it out. Alright? Those are the ideas that helped me to write an introduction.

Okay? Now, let's talk about the textual analysis now, the body of the sermon. Alright? Are you all with me? Is that up there?

Yes, the body of the sermon. Okay. A, headings and divisions of the text. Don't be afraid of organization, folks. Have listened to some sermons that where the truth is expounded.

The truth was there. Clearly some research was done. Serious biblical exegesis was done. But because of a lack of organization, people are just as confused as they came. Do some work and organize your ideas.

Make sure that your, I have found it crucial to make sure that my headings are compelling and relevant. They're compelling and relevant. That they grab you. That they give you a handle. You know what a handle is for, right?

What's a handle for? To pick up something, right? They need to be able to pick this thing up and go home with it. And that's what you're doing with these headings or divisions, giving them a handle on it. All right?

So this has been helpful for me. Also onto this, alliteration is useful, but it should not be forced. All right? Sometimes if our alliteration is forced, it looks like we're just playing some little games here. You know, and like this is not really a serious endeavor.

You know, these guys playing around, you know? You follow what I'm saying? But alliteration is a powerful rhetorical device. This morning I was talking to Pastor Scott as we were walking in his yard. And we were talking about a problem at home with a young man who did not have a teachable spirit where those in authority over him are giving constructive criticism on how he could improve on his work.

And he's rolling his eyes and he's like, why are you picking on me? You know, kind of foolishness. And I had to say to him, You're operating in the wrong paradigm. You're behaving like a defendant when you should be a disciple. And you're behaving like you're in court when you should be in class." You know what he said to me?

He said, "'Pass, you're on a roll with the alliteration.' Guess what? He's never gonna forget it." Sometimes it really captures things. Sometimes it really captures things. Last night, yesterday afternoon, we were at dinner at the conference in Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania. And I was talking to some other pastors, and they were asking me about the diaconate, the deacons, and what we do in our church concerning helping those who are destitute and when they come to us and how we go about it.

And of course I said, well, it has to be a vetting process because not everyone who applies for assistance has need. Sometimes they just have greed. And they thought, I'm never going to forget that. Because the little rhyme there, help them to realize that you can't just take everything at face value. You do have to do vetting, because people apply for help who don't really need it.

That's their job. Hello? They take that and make it a job. And they go and ask everybody for assistance. And they pick up thousands in a day begging different people.

So the diaconate is charged with a vetting responsibility because not all the applicants come with a need. Many come with greed. So it was just one way of talking, and the guy said immediately, you know what? I'm going to have to remember that. So sometimes doing a little work and organizing maybe a little rhyme or a little alliteration or something, helpful.

But not necessary. Don't ever think that that's necessary. Okay? All right. The headings must be simple or complex depending on the audience.

Don't ever think that one kind of heading is going to fit everybody. If you are in an audience where people want to be challenged, Challenge them. If you're in an audience where people just want to keep it simple, just keep it simple. You've got to know your audience. So I usually have a lot of people with master's degrees in my church.

Some people who have never finished high school, you know? And so I have to write these headings with the whole congregation in mind. That's both challenging and clear. So it's something that we do need to think about sometimes. That's my perspective.

I found it useful not to be too obvious, because creativity invites interest. Now, that's A on the textual analysis, the headings and the divisions of the text. B, clarifying statements on each point. Once we have divided up the text and created various points, We need to have clarifying statements on each point. So, we need to state the issues for technical accuracy.

Are you all with me? Where are we? Clarifying, number five, right? And on the number five, I had A, which is what? The headings and divisions of the text.

I spoke about that. And B, the clarifying statements on each point. And I'm saying, when you need to state it with technical accuracy, that means that theological jargon and language may be unavoidable. All right? Don't be afraid or worried about the uneducated and uninitiated because if they don't hear you speaking with profundity, they're going to think this is not important.

Come on, man. Are you following me? Don't worry about that. Because your first job is to be accurate. And that means you're going to have to use some language.

The problem comes, from my perspective, when you leave it there. So I've got to come back and say the same thing as simply as I can. If you're not listening carefully, you think I'm making a new point, but I'm not. I'm making sure that I'm accurate, because I don't want any heretical statements in here. I need to be accurate.

But I need to be helpful too. So to come simply after that, to give the uneducated the gist of what you're trying to say, is not going to get you into any trouble because you've already had the accurate technical statement. Okay? I hope I'm being clear. C.

Technical matters on each point. I find it useful to avoid long linguistic excursions. Alright? We're still in textual analysis. You're with me?

And I'm saying, see, the technical matters avoid long linguistic excursions. Unless you're an expert on the language, don't even attempt to speak the ancient languages in the pulpit. All right? I did my Hebrew and my Greek, but that was a long time ago. All right?

I don't get up in the pulpit and try to talk Hebrew and Greek. All right? Or delve into grammatical details. That's your homework. The people don't need to know how you make the sausage.

They just want to eat it. Are you following what I'm saying? So all linguistic inclusions must serve to clarify some crucial spiritual principle. Unless you are, you need that to clarify a crucial spiritual principles, spare the people the Greek and the Hebrew stuff, that's just showing off. Alright?

Even though I spent years in seminary and all of that stuff and learned the techniques of that, various levels of proficiency down through the years. I don't even say, I will say things like the scholars of the Greek text have advised us that. I'm not pretending to be a scholar of the Greek text. Are you following what I'm saying to you? All right?

But I find it useful to get into linguistics if it's helping me make the point. All right? Illustrations now, D, illustrations on each point. The purpose of these illustrations is to bring in those who are lost in the language. There's some people in the congregation who need a picture, who need a story.

Come on now. Who need an anecdote, a life experience, a colorful description? To help them get the same point. That's all you're doing. You're just trying to join some more people.

There are some people who are okay. Okay, pastor, we got it. When you started first with the, because these are people who are academicians and they can handle that. You know, they don't even need the simple statement that follows. But there are people there who are waiting for you to paint a picture.

Sometimes it's not necessary at all. Sometimes I don't do it at all because it's so clear. And I see people nodding their heads. Some may raise their hand. I don't know about here.

Some may raise their hand. Some may say, hallelujah. I say, okay, I can move on. I don't even have to illustrate this. They got it.

So, I tried to read, you know. I am not a good person at giving jokes, So I don't even try. All right? Also, I'm very, very scared of people misunderstanding and trivializing what I'm saying. And this is the most important word in the world.

So I don't want to risk that. But there are things that are natural humor. Somebody invariably will ask, will say, Pastor, that was some joke. I say, what joke? I didn't give any jokes.

But there was natural humor in something said that made it stick in their minds. All right? I say, well, Thanks. Finally, this is something that I think a lot of people ignore. Maybe it's not necessary in their context.

But in my context, the celebration of each point. The celebration of each point. I'm still here with the body, you know? The way I try to bring it home. In African-American homiletics, You may hear the hoop.

Does anybody know what I mean by the hoop? Hmm? It's just like African Americans who give you jazz and R&B and all of its contribution to American culture, one of the things that they brought is the hoop in homiletics. That's their contribution. Where even in celebration of a point, at the end of a point or even at the end of the sermon, the preacher starts to sing his words.

He starts to sing the line. There's a cadence developed and there's a refrain and the people feed off of that, you know, that he's celebrating the point, you know. Sometimes I do a little bit of that, you know. But you see it even in the Old preachers, even Puritans, where they will end with a hymn or with poem or a refrain of some kind. They're celebrating the point.

And sometimes that's the only time that certain people are brought in. They miss the technical language, they miss the explanations, they miss the illustrations, but they got the celebration. Now I know what he's saying. And so sometimes I would pick a refrain. You know what I mean by refrain, right?

Like a particular line? And I'm repeating it over and over again and adding a new nuance with every phrase that follows that repeated line in celebration of the point. And this is a device that could be cross-cultural. Maybe not the singing. They think, oh, no, he thinks he's black.

Maybe not the singing, but the whole point of it is the celebration of the point where you are manifesting an enjoyment of the truth. All right? Because don't forget, if it's not good news, this is not a sermon. All right? Okay?

It's a dirge. All right? All right. Number four, the sermon conclusion or application. OK?

Where am I? Right. Number nine. Sermon conclusion and application. Number nine is what follows that is supposed to be A and B, pivoting to the gospel.

Some of that might have happened before. Huh? Did it? OK, I think just somebody's computer just made them all fail to get the sub points. But Sermon Conclusion Application.

I have A and B. A is pivoting to the gospel, and B is celebrating the gospel. OK? Just as I've been repeating all along, it's got to be good news. And if you don't get to the gospel in every sermon, you haven't preached good news.

You say, Pastor, get to the gospel in every, there's a gospel in every text. And if you can't see it, you're not ready to preach. You know who you need to read? Read Spurgeon. He'll show you.

Sometimes he will quote just, and the Lord said, that's his text, and he'll get to the gospel. His text might be, and it came to pass. He said, now what's he going to do with that? Well, you better wait. He's going to get to the gospel.

If you don't get to the gospel, you're not a preacher. Because The whole point is to give people the good news, the only thing in life that will help us. See, the gospel is not just useful for regenerating souls, faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God, the gospel is also for sanctification. So you need to preach the gospel every week. No matter what the text is dealing with, if it's dealing with marriage, You've got to eventually come to who is the bridegroom and who is the bride, the ultimate bride and the bridegroom.

No matter what the subject is, is it family? I don't care what the text is dealing with. Treat the text. But you must make a connection to the Gospel. Because it's really just one message in this whole Bible.

It's redemption through Jesus Christ. Alright? So you have to pivot to the Gospel. Alright? And there are a lot of hints in a given text that will take you there.

Also the gospel celebration, and this is for the whole sermon now. While you may have done some celebration on each point, it's important to celebrate the gospel and bring the whole sermon together. And I've mentioned other devices that you may use. Okay? Well, I can talk, I can discuss now, because basically what I'm dealing with is what I do, so I'm the expert.

You got that, right? I'm the expert on what I do. I can describe my experience. Alright? So, what are your questions and reactions and have you found any of this useful?

Talk to me. Go through the master seminary construction of the spouse first, I think a lot of the same components being transferred to doing that last. I find that to be the hardest. Personally, sometimes I've read myself full working self-empties, but when I begin to write, Sometimes I have to start at the very beginning. I'll go over it and do several graphs.

But I will say having these as a template goes through has been extremely helpful to these kind of ideas. It helps me with confidence and variability. I always have more than enough material. I find also, even though I may prepare it personally differently, my people actually benefit better from making sure all these influences are met. And this is because while speech and rhetoric is not necessarily a sermon, the sermon must include the basic concepts of speech and rhetoric.

You're understanding what I'm saying to you. All right? So there are certain ideas that are just fundamental to standing up in front of people and talking. All right? The same people who are an audience at church, our congregation at church, are an audience at the political rally.

And there are certain dynamics that are true of a speaker in public in both contexts. The only difference, the main difference is that the unction of the Holy Ghost in the context of preaching where you're trusting God and the authority of his word, which no politician has. All right? That authoritative text and the Holy Spirit illuminating both preacher and listener. And that's depending on the same.

Who's next? Yes, sir. Do you think the applications primarily at the end or are you working it through points as you're creating them throughout the sort of process? I think both. You're working it through all the way.

And you're wrapping up at the end. Sometimes I feel like I have already applied everything, and so my conclusion is just a minute. Just a minute. I don't need much more than that. And sometimes I take my time, and I may even tell a story to bring things home.

It may be several minutes. But there are times I have plans on my page that I never get to, because the sermon is in the moment. It's not a candid speech. I am feeding off of my congregation. I'm listening.

I'm looking. And my reason, hey, that's enough of that. You've made your point. You're just going to be repetitive after this. Right there, I'm editing out whole huge sections of what I have on my page, because it's an alive encounter.

It's not a canned speech. And I'm feeding off of the listener. All right? Yes, my brother. Or in the United States, in the four of these, or in the other same issues, which are not in the United States, or in the U.S., or in the Christian countries?

What are your thoughts on that? Number one, you know that you have a spiritually immature congregation that is worried about the length of your sermon. So you have to teach your people to give the priority to the preaching of the Word of God, but also work at keeping their interest. You know, I've had situations in the early part of my ministry where I preach for 20, 25 minutes, and it felt like I was preaching for two hours. And there are instances where I preach for an hour.

And I say, pastor, you finished already? I think it's nonsense, actually, to be preaching for 20 minutes. I don't need a whole week to prepare for 20 minutes. OK? You're going to have a spiritually malnourished congregation preaching for 20 minutes.

That's my personal opinion. My average sermon is about 50 minutes, sometimes it's 60. And there are times when I may even go a little longer. But that came over time training the people to give the priority to the preaching of the Word of God. A lengthy sermon doesn't mean that you have more substance.

Sometimes you're being just repetitive and belaboring the point. But personally, again, I'm describing my experience. For me to get a full thought through and develop it adequately, I need 40 to 60 minutes, somewhere between there. All right? And, but, when I go to a particular church to preach and I'm invited all over the world, I ask the pastor, what is your expectation concerning the pulpit time?

Because I am going to bow to the authority in the church. You know, some of them have television ministries, and They need me to wrap it up. So I will adjust myself. I love it when they said, man, just do what you do at home. I say, OK, thank you.

All right? So I don't feel like I'm hemmed in, but I try my best to adjust and edit. My people know when I'm editing. They know me. They know me.

And they'll talk back to me, too. Pastor, don't cheat me now. Give it to me, give it to me. But I sometimes preach in two of our churches on Sunday morning. And we have 8 o'clock service at one church and a 10 o'clock service at the other.

So I'm more likely to be editing at the 8 o'clock service so that I could drive to get to the next church. So sometimes one of the elders out at the church at Terrells would start to grumble, you know, mm, mm, mm, are you about to cheat me, pastor? But I'll tell him, well, get the tape from the second service. But I try not to cut too much out, you know. But yes, I do believe in adjusting wherever I go to the needs of the people there.

But I just can't join the cultural call for brevity. And I think I need to make up for it by preparing well and making sure that it's a compelling presentation of God's holy word. Okay? Yes, sir? How do you deal with people that just seem to be have a sour disposition?

Their body language is telling me to go pan-sake. While you're preaching, how do you not fixate on individuals that just seem like they're checked out? Don't look at them. Normally, we look at people who are listening to us. Don't we?

You're looking at me because I'm listening to you. I don't know. Don't look at them. You understand what I'm saying? Well, I take a microphone and I walk around sometimes.

And you know I'm getting very extemporaneous when I do that. But no, I'm not going to let any sour spirit sour my spirit. Because I'm there to help the people who need help. All right? So I wouldn't look at them.

I look right over them. And there's always going to be someone like that, by the way. They're not there for the right reason. And there's a hardness of heart. You really should be sorry for them.

If there's someone the Lord is hardening unto judgment, that's a sad state of affairs, you know? But you have a job to do. It's almost like saying, I'm a physician and that patient is cursing, so I'm going back to my office. What kind of physician are you? You sometimes need to put up with it.

If it's really affecting you, refer that patient and go and deal with somebody else. But I wouldn't let anybody kill my spirit. I've got a job to do. Who's next? Yes, sir.

Yes, sir? What I say to young preachers in that regard is there is a possibility that you don't believe what you're saying. People have an easier time believing people who they are convinced believe what they're saying. If a preacher simply just gathers information and is just trying to shovel it down, you know, the people are looking at you and they say, I want, does he believe that? If they're convinced that you believe what you're saying, it's more likely to be used of God to pierce their hearts.

Just this week, this professor fellow who was preaching at Banner, every once in a while you will hear his voice cracking, holding back the tears. And you know that that word hit him. It hit his heart. He's fighting back the tears. You're not just thinking, well, that's not hitting me.

He's going to hit you if it hit him. So in many instances, what you have there are mimics who are plagiarizing. You don't have somebody who has been hit by the truth, Because if it hits you, it will hit them. Okay? I don't know if that is helpful.

Anybody else? That's a lazy person. That's a lazy person. Let me tell you something. My wife teaches home economics in our high school.

Okay? Now you could get a whole lot of nutritious ingredients And just blend them. And throw them on a plate. And the person will get just as nutritious a meal as a carefully crafted meal working for taste and aesthetic appeal. What are people most likely to eat?

What are people going to come, if it's a restaurant, what are people going to come back for? It smells good, it looks good, and it tastes good. You have a cook, that's a real cook. The other person is a lazy bum. Now both are just as nutritious, but they're not going to eat that stuff.

That looks like something for the toilet. Prepare people's meals. So when people just go and read from a commentary, you know, and think that's expository preaching. Give me a break. Prepare their meals and stop your laziness.

Make it taste good, smell good, and make it, most of all, make it good for them. Make sure it's nutritious, but there must be aesthetical appeal, There must be smell and there must be taste. All senses must be engaged. So you've got to do some preparation. I hope that analogy is helpful.

Anybody else? I have in my 33, well my 40 years of preaching, I have done different things at different times. I always do exposition, but I don't always do consecutive exposition. Alright? I know in some circles that's heresy.

Okay? But the consecutive exposition is where you're going to go through an entire book or something of that sort, you know? I have done that, two years in a book and that sort of thing. But I'm a pastor and so there are other ways to skin the cat. So sometimes in our Bible studies on a Wednesday night or even on a Sunday morning before the service or in some of our churches after the service is an interactive Bible study in a similar format to this.

I will go through verse by verse, you know, and there's interaction so our people are taught. That's more teaching format in going through verse by verse. Alright? I've done it in the pulpit where I'm preaching, and there isn't that interaction, you know? And there are times when I will have a topical series with expository messages.

I don't know if you understand that. Like recently, I did eight messages based on the Apostles' Creed. Alright? My series was on the fundamentals of our faith. So I took eight themes out of the Apostles Creed, you know what I'm saying, And prayerfully selected a text that captured each theme of the eight themes and preached that text.

You follow me? Expositorily. So I've done that. Sometimes I've done a series on just a chapter. I have selected a chapter that the Lord is weighing down on my heart and I extract from that one chapter sometimes five, six messages.

And I'll name it a particular series and preach accordingly. But by Monday night I must know where I'm going. All right? I usually take off Monday morning and have no agenda. I just do whatever I feel like.

I think I'm going to play with my dogs. I think I'm going to walk on the beach. I think I'm going to talk to my wife. I think I'm going to, You know, sometimes we just need to, as Monday morning for me, you know, anything goes. Monday afternoon though, I've got to start pinning down because I'm going to have an awful week if I don't know where I'm going, If it's consecutive exposition, that's easy.

I know where I'm going. I'm going to the next verse. Are you? Or if I have a topical series like I mentioned before, like right now I'm doing a topical series on the doctrine of scripture. I'm doing eight messages on the doctrine of scripture, sola scriptura, at home.

All right? And it's not consecutive in any particular book, But I have selected eight texts that deal with the Word of God. I'm going to preach. I haven't written them all yet. So I have a plan.

So on Monday I know, start working on that text. I pick the eight texts. That normally when I do that, I'm picking eight texts that God has used in a compelling way in my life devotionally. In other words, it's not just eight random texts. I'm reading something and this particular text just hit me.

Whoo. And I can't stop thinking about it. All right, down that text. I need to come back to that. You know?

And so those, if there's a particular theme, I try to remember the texts that were compelling to me, to my heart, if it's a series like that. Because I'm a pastor, and I do need to address the needs of my congregation. And if I lock myself into consecutive exposition through a particular book, and there is something that is ripping my church apart that I need to deal with. I'm not going to be a slave to that. I'll prayerfully ask the Lord to guide me to the right text to deal with this and form a little series out of it, you know?

But I'm not going to be in the latter part of the week, oh, what am I going to preach about? I think that's so irresponsible, pastorally and even homiletically. All right? So by Friday, Thursday, Friday, I'm editing. You know, I'm not trying to figure out what I'm going to say.

I've already written, and I'm editing. I'm trying to cut this thing down so I can get it somewhere between 40 and 60 minutes. All right? And so by Monday night, I got to know where I'm going. And Tuesday morning, I'm working hard and understanding the text.

And some days are more easy than others. Some texts, I mean, the stuff just flows right out. And I'm already editing by Thursday morning. Yes, in my trying to understand the text, I ask, I sometimes, first I start reading the text. And I read it from different versions of the Bible, you know, to kind of capture a feel for it.

That's not serious study yet, you know? Then I start to ask the old men. So I will read what different great men of the past have had to say about the text. Sometimes they have a compelling idea scribbled down. But this is usually mornings.

I have a study at home, and of course, my office at the church. I have a few books at the church office for display, just to let the people think that I read. But my real books are at home, all right? And so My secretary knows that in the mornings, and all the other pastors know, and everybody that works closely with me knows that in the mornings, let it be a real emergency if you call me. Don't call me and somebody didn't go to the hospital, somebody didn't die or something, you know.

I may have to work on adjusting your role if you're calling me like that. Okay? I need time to study. So you can text me all you want, WhatsApp, email. When I take my break, I'll check it.

If it's an emergency, You can call me. I'll stop. But in the mornings, that's my time for study. I go in the afternoons, do administrative issues and counseling and all this other stuff. You know?

All right, but the mornings are my study time. And I will ask the men of all what they think about the task. That's checking the books and what resources I don't have. In my small collection, I have digitally. As a matter of fact, it's very, very rare that I pull something off of my shelf anymore.

I am, All my resources are digital that I consult normally. I find it so much easier to manipulate the computer than to be pulling down sometimes some of the same things on the computer, on the shelf. I don't know if I have any favorites, but I am. I try to be quite eclectic across reform writers. I don't waste time with non-reform people.

All right? It must be a solid reform writer that I respect, whether contemporary or old. It's a wide thing. I like William Hendrickson. I find him very useful.

All right? I sometimes check the old Matthew Henry. I sometimes like to use contemporary writers like R.C. Sproul on a given doctrinal question. Not necessarily on an exegetical question, but Of course, your exegesis is going to give you leads.

You better explore this doctrine further. And I'd go to Sproul. And some writers that I would not like to recommend necessarily because they have some error in certain areas. I find them quite useful on other questions. You put me in the spot.

Because, because, because, The reason why I say this, OK, because while I preach to my own congregation, you'll never, I don't give out the names of the people I quote. For the very reason that they may have some things that I don't agree with, and I've just endorsed them. You're voting on what I'm saying. So I will say, a noted reform scholar says, And I have it in my notes, but I'm not telling you. Because he may have gone crazy on another point.

You understand what I'm saying. It's the text I'm concerned about and the biblical writers, you know? And so I don't like to talk about, I've given you a couple of names, but even there, I disagree with them on certain issues. Like, I mean. I was going to ask you if you have your favorite preacher.

Do you have him? Do you listen to other preachers? I do. I listen to other preachers. I don't spend a lot of time doing it.

But here's one preacher I listen to myself. I am determined to be my greatest critic. So once a week I go on YouTube or on our website or on our app. Yes, I have an app. Go to Google Play or App Store, ECBM app or Antigua Reform Baptist.

And you can download the app. Okay. But I will go and I will listen and I encourage our other pastors to do the same. Sometimes I will say, okay, I will never do that again because I am looking at myself. I have a very private study, a little man cave, you know, and no one comes into the sanctum unless I raise my septum.

But, uh, every preacher needs a place to talk to himself and look in the mirror. Sometimes you have to get up from the desk and say it. Say it. Say it out loud. Then you realize, I can't say that because you hear it.

Don't forget, you're not writing a book here. You're about to preach. It's supposed to be heard. That's different than being a writer. And sometimes you need to Look in the mirror and see how you look.

I'm talking about once you've written a sermon, of course, the sermon is written. This is about delivery. So, I'm in a quietness of my own study. And by the way, this is very, very important for meditation, okay? Because meditation is not Bible study.

Neither is meditation prayer. Meditation is in between the two. Meditation is talking to yourself. I told my church the other day, if you don't meditate and talk to yourself, you're the crazy one. Now, now, now, now listen to me.

You watch the Psalmist do it all the time. Why are you so cast down, oh my soul? Who is he talking to? The South. So the pastor's study, it's important that you have a place where you could be private, talk to yourself, talk to your mirror, and flesh out some of these things.

Go ahead. Go ahead. So we heard a message, and we were talking about it afterwards. And you said it second-line. It was great to have preached to us, right?

So what do you mean by that? It was? He didn't preach. He didn't. OK.

I've got to get some context. Because in Congress, you were listening to somebody Give a message. And you were drawing a distinction between people who give accurate, theological, these messages. But it didn't breach. It didn't breach.

OK. It came off sterile and without his personality. I could have read that stuff and enjoyed it more. And enjoyed it more. When we preach, the Word is being funneled through our personality.

That is what gives credibility. Because even though you have integrity, you need credibility. I don't know if you understand me. You have integrity with the text. Who is it?

But you're not coming across as being very credible because they don't believe you. Oh my goodness, mature people don't have a problem. They get the message and they could say, oh God bless you, bless your heart. That's how they say in the South, right? They're kind of sorry for you.

Huh? I'm trying to learn American. OK, but it's not compelling because you're not believable. That preacher getting choked up and fighting back tears made me listen to him. What's bothering him?

Did I get it? I felt his passion. He didn't break down and cry and spoil the whole thing, you know, with all the snot and all of that. Thank God. But I felt it.

Don't forget that we are mind, we are affections, and we are will. And so, If the guy doesn't engage all three, he hasn't preached. He could have just written me a letter, mailed it, and I'll be just as fine. I need to see the thing come through his personality and feel it. I feel that call to action, volition.

So you have intellect, you have what? Affections And you have volition. I don't know if I'm making the point. Okay, good. Yes, sir.

I forget the name of the famous atheist, George Washington. And the atheist was sitting in that house with his friend, and he also came in and the richard was coming down to preach. So the atheist was coming out and hanging out with Francis. I know, you don't believe in this preacher. He said, no, I do not.

Mm. Mm. Boy, oh boy. You see, this is a preacher here. You know the illustrate.

That's a perfect illustration. He does. And if he does, he'll hit you. You go home thinking about it. The Holy Spirit will use it.

Yes, sir. I'm not disagreeing with his point. I'm wondering if there's a danger that you can become a tribe, a preacher, a Satan, a fascist, and you want to be real, natural. And I just think sometimes you can tour into that. What about the apostle Paul, who's been a lot of passion, passion for writers, and the other hand is accused of lacking?

Well, he was accused by detractors who were not even saved. But anyway, Let me answer your question. I really believe it's impossible for it to be. It's impossible if you're being yourself to come off contrived. To come off contrived.

An authentic, a young man needs to be taught that He's fearfully and wonderfully made, and his personality and characteristics are valued and can be compelling if he's just himself. So I'm not asking him to manufacture passion. I know passion will come out if he is himself. So we don't need to communicate to him, you need to be more passionate. No, you just need to be real.

This is why, you know, my wife would say, boy, that was funny. But I wasn't trying to be funny. It just comes off real when I am myself. I'm comfortable with who I am. And so when I stand up to speak, I'm not trying to impress anybody, I'm trying to communicate through my personality.

And we need to let people know that what God has given to you is valuable. You don't have to be like anybody. You don't have to mimic. And just being real, you are going to be compelling. I try not to cry.

I try not to cry. But, man, I've had times, not often, when what I'm preaching is so compelling, I choke up and need a few moments. And then guess what? There are tears all around the congregation. Huh?

And they're with me. And I tried to fight it back. Because I've got to get through this. I'm thinking, my goodness, you're wasting time. I need to get through this.

So Lord help me. But the Holy Ghost used tears. And so I'm just being real. So that's why it's not a sterile experience. It's a dynamic thing.

It's relational. Sometimes, I have a little problem with my wife and I write down what I'm gonna say to her And I don't get to any of it. Because this is a real relationship. It is not a courtroom. This is a real relationship, you know?

And there's pushback. And you get thrown off. And that happens in the pulpit, too, where I have the notes in front of me. But I know I can't do what I plan to do. And I walk away from the pulpit and finish extemporaneously.

And when I look back at the tape, guess what I do when I listen to myself? I edit what I have written. When I preach that again, my best stuff came right in the pulpit. And so I rewrite the thing for the next time. Are you understanding what I'm saying to you?

So there are times when the Spirit of God prepares you in your writing, but he knows he's not going to let you read that. He's going to give you something in the moment that is compelling and is relational and the word is being fleshed out through personality. Lives are impacted because you come off authentic. That guy believes it. He believes it.

I need to listen. I need to listen. But if you just plagiarize somebody else and come there, read it, you know, oh, well, yeah, is he finished yet? All right. My brother.

Alright, my brother. Yes, they were real. Yes. They were real. When you've been in your closet with the Lord and you come out, those notes in front of you can become real or they can be sterile depending on how much you've been with the Lord in the closet.

I was just having to flip back through my notebook and came across Steve Lawson was talking about this exact point in a seminar that I went to about passionately delivered messages. And he quoted R.C. Sproul and said, dispassionate preaching is a lie. It says to the congregation, I don't really believe this. And then he quoted John Murray from Westminster, Winston, etc.

He says if there's no passion, there's no preaching. And Lawson goes on to comment. He says, remember, Murray was a Scottish high church presentarian, not a wild-eyed fanatic, but he recognized the necessity of passion in the scripture. Yeah, very important. Very important.

Very important. And it could be achieved even in translation, because in some of the places I go to preach I don't speak the language. And the Lord prepares a great translator for me who tries to mimic. A good translator mimics. That's the way you want mimicry.

My two best translators were in Brazil one time, and those guys were so good. When I walked, they walked. When I hit the pulpit, they hit the pulpit. When I got loud, they got loud. When I got silent, they got silent.

Oh, there was such a rhythm between us. I felt like I was at home. And the congregation responded. It was amazing. Even with translation.

I could just be myself. They said that to me. Be yourself. They tried to mimic. The people could see my passion and then they understood it through them.

Yes sir. It's important to note that we're not all built the same way. And you've said that the truth is immediate to our personalities. And our personalities are different. So passion for you will look different to passion.

Oh yes, oh yes. So I think we just need to understand that we're not looking forward to getting out of the room. We're not to be you. Oh, yes. Oh, yes.

Well, let me illustrate it this way. OK? I just preached at a Dutch Reformed church last Sunday. All right? And they just sat there and watched me.

But I knew they were getting it, because occasionally somebody would... And afterwards, The dialogue, the things they would say to me said, boy, these people are listening better than my people. Wow. So I don't judge for my entire ministry. I preach a doctorate form, I'll go to an African-American church.

And every word I say, they say, amen! Here we go, come on, come on, come on, come on. They're shouting back at me and boy they push you. And I'll push back. So It's a totally different experience.

I'll go home, and it'll be a little bit of both. Not quite the African-American, and not quite the Dutch reform. Right in the middle. But I never fool myself into thinking that people are not listening and benefiting because of their culture. I am myself, I am going to preach.

I may make some adjustments depending on the feedback I'm getting, you know, but I'm going to just preach and be myself no matter what kind of of audiences in front of me. But I never assume that their culture or their personality is not engaged deeply simply because it's not like mine. Okay? So you're absolutely right. And I'm glad for the variety.

I'm so glad we're not all the same. This world would be boring. I could find kindred spirits in every cultural environment because the common bond is Jesus Christ. And so I will go to a different situation and find out that they are just as passionate as I am about Jesus. We just express it a little differently.

And they appreciate my passion. And so I just, I'm myself. Are we ready to talk to the Lord again? Anybody else? Let's talk to him about it.

Stand with me. In like mind of brothers, just add your sentence to the prayer and I'll give the Amen. Father, We know we must decrease so that you will increase. Strip us of our pride. Strip us of our self-righteousness, that we may be usable vessels for the propagation of this glorious gospel to our churches and to the world.

Oh God, give our generation a renewed appreciation for preaching. Thank you for today. Be glorified in the time spent here. Thank you for Hope Baptist Church, for Pastor Scott Brown, the elders of this church, for convening this meeting. Use it for your honor and for your glory.

In Jesus' precious name, amen.