What should excite you as a pastor as you prepare a sermon?

Marcus Serven explains that he has delivered sermons for over 30 years. As a preacher, you want to dig into the text and construct a sermon so that the text ministers to the people. The points in your sermon should flow right out of the Bible – that is when it has the most authority.

Perhaps the exciting part of sermon preparation is the realization that though you as the pastor may be putting the sermon together, it is the Word of God that is impacting people and that is where change comes from. God works through your faithful communication of His Word to encourage, convict, and instruct your congregation.

2 Corinthians 4:5-6 (NKJV) – “For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your bondservants for Jesus’ sake. For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”

I've been a preacher for a long time now, over 30 years. So talking about that subject is something I love doing. And in particular, getting into some of the nitty-gritty details about how the minister or the elder or the preacher, however title or whatever title you have, actually goes about doing that. Digging into the text, letting the text really speak to you, and then later as you're crafting the sermon you're thinking, now how am I actually going to say all this you're trying to make it possible for the text to really minister to the people because you want you want the points that you're drawing out of that sermon to really flow right out of the Bible and hit people square on. And that's where it has the most authority.

That's where the most power is. So it's easy to get excited about that because even though I may be putting things together, it's really the Word of God that's impacting people, and that's where change comes. And that's something I can get very excited to see God at work in people's lives.