My Journey to Learn to Preach the Bible Better
By Matt Brown
I’ve been preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ for nearly two decades now, and I’ve had the privilege of doing so at churches of many denominations. I identify with the statement made by a preacher long ago, “many people may be able to preach the gospel better than me, but no one can preach a better gospel.”
Over the past several years, I’ve been on an incredible journey of learning to preach the Bible better. It started at the recommendation of a leader, which led me to two preaching mentors: Ben Stuart, who is currently a pastor at Passion City Church in Washington DC., and Robby Gallaty, who is the lead pastor of Longhollow Baptist Church in Nashville, TN. Both leaders have been incredibly gracious and kind to me on this journey, and have shared invaluable wisdom on preaching with me that has changed my preaching.
I don’t consider that I’m where I need to be. Maybe I’m less than halfway to where I hope to grow to, but with their help I have discovered some tools to preach the Bible better that have changed everything for me in several key ways:
A lot of the weight and nervousness of preaching has dissipated as I’ve learned to rely on the power of God’s Word better. I used to stress a lot over what “word” or theme God wanted me to speak on. I now believe you could preach any text of the Bible, and if you exposited what God wanted to say well, God would move powerfully through it. God speaks through His Word, and we simply need to learn to say what God was trying to say.
I have learned to be myself better. I used to try to be funny or entertaining to engage an audience. I have somehow felt a release through this process to simply be myself, and who God has made me to be, which is encouraging, storytelling, and authentically passionate about what I believe.
I no longer change my sermon outline unnecessarily. I’ve learned to rely on what I feel like is the best layout to share what God is speaking through the text, without needing to change it up all the time.
Maybe my experiences speak to you? Maybe you are tired of the weight you feel in preaching God’s Word week after week, or worn out from trying to impress people?
I’ve been there. What I’ve learned these recent years has helped immensely, and felt like a “blood transfusion” in my preaching. My hope in sharing it is that it sends more preachers on a journey to learn to preach the Bible better as well.
The thing is I always felt like I was a Biblical preacher. My genuine passion was to be that. But I still think I was falling short of the mark, and I probably still am, but something has shifted for the better, and I want to keep growing in my understanding of the most beautiful Text on earth, God’s holy Word.
I hope you do too. Here are some of the beautiful lessons I’ve learned:
1. Start your sermon preparation with a passage from the Bible
Don't start with a theme, or a concept, or an idea on your heart. We are called to preach the Word. The power of God is in His own Word, not our novel ideas.
You may be preaching on a theme or topic, but to really begin, you need to dig into a passage of the Bible, and discover what God is trying to say.
As I mentioned earlier, you can preach pretty much any portion of the Bible, and God will move powerfully through it in people’s lives.
2. Meditate on that passage of the Bible
Ben taught me that it is important to read and re-read the passage, or book of the Bible 10-50x’s. That is where a sermon starts – meditating on God’s Word over and over. Before you do anything else, or look anywhere else, read and re-read God’s Word, and ask God to speak to you.
Ben then has a powerful strategy to ask the right questions. You can watch hours of videos from him about meditating on, and digging into what the text is trying to say here (On the Breakaway App, click Training, then Bible Insights).
3. Utilize the best commentaries
Once you have read and re-read the passage or book many times, and meditated on the text prayerfully and made your initial notes, it is good to hear what other godly leaders have to say about that passage as well.
There are many commentaries, but where should you start? Ben researched this more deeply than anyone I know, and came up with a list of the absolute best commentaries on each book of the Bible. Some are in different commentary sets, or by different authors. One set doesn’t necessarily have all the best guidance.
After all of his work, Ben stumbled onto a website called BestCommentaries.com and it was almost exactly what he had mapped out to be the best as well. One set of “cliff note” commentaries is “Constable’s Notes.”
4. Discover what God was trying to speak through that passage, and make that the basis of your sermon outline
Preaching the Bible doesn’t just mean you throw Scriptures in your sermon to prove your points. Do your best to discover what God was trying to speak through His Word to that audience, and how that speaks to our generation today, and then outline your sermon around that message. That is Text-driven preaching.
There is an unusual power and authority you feel preaching when you do this. When you take the time to hear what God was trying to say, and honestly try to allow God Word to speak for itself. It is freeing, and empowering to the preacher. You don’t have to rely on entertaining a crowd – you can be yourself, and be faithful to the Word. God’s Word is powerful, and speaks powerfully to people even today.
5. Build your sermon the same every time you preach
Robby shared a powerful story with me about his first pastorate. A man in the church took him out to lunch, and mentored him on his preaching. He shared an illustration that when people come to their favorite steakhouse, they want the same thing prepared the same way every time. In the same way, it can be good to give people a consistent style and outline in how we present the Word of God to them. They will know what to expect, and come to appreciate how we prepare for them.
Several areas to include in your sermon outline every time are:
Clearly state your central point in one sentence - What is the one thing you are trying to say in your sermon? Summarize that into one simple, memorable sentence, and tell people in the beginning exactly where you want to take them in the message you are about to preach. People love to know where they are going.
Start in the Text, stay in the Text – Robby says to not just talk about God’s Word, but take them into the passage you’ve been studying, and keep coming back to it. He compares it to a pool. Don’t just stand on the diving board and point at the pool. Dive in, and stay in throughout your message.
Keep a consistent outline for yourself – I usually like to start with a story early on that speaks to the central message, then dive into the Text. I breakdown several areas of the Text in points, illustrating them with short stories. Then I close with an application and response.
It’s also good to use “turn signals” from one point or story into the next, and make sure you take people with you.
Also, keep in mind that our brains are wired to pay attention for about 10 minutes, so it’s great to use a story or illustration every 10 minutes or so to re-engage attention.
Bring it home by applying it to everyday life – Help people see one area of their life that they can shift in response to the Word of God.
May God bless and use you in your own journey as you meditate on, and proclaim His Word! God can use whatever He wants to, but for some reason He has chosen to use preachers and the preaching of His Word to change lives.
I hope sharing my journey has been helpful to you. There are several books you can pick up to begin learning more about this, but one I’d recommend first is “Preaching for the Rest of Us: Essentials for Text Driven Preaching” by Robby Gallaty. Be sure to watch Ben’s videos (on the Breakaway App click “Training” then “Bible Insights”) as well.
Matt Brown is an evangelist, author of Truth Plus Love, and founder of Think Eternity - a ministry dedicated to amplifying the gospel every day through podcasts, devotionals, videos, live events and more. Matt and his wife Michelle and their three children live near Minneapolis, Minnesota. You can follow Matt on social media at @evangelistmatt and at thinke.org