First, preach the Word of God with passion and
conviction. As Alex Montoya points out,
“Passion is the power, the drive, the energy, the life in the delivery of the
sermon. Without passion, the sermon
becomes a lecture, an address or a moral speech.”[1]
The apostolic mandate is to preach
the Word not to merely teach the Scriptures (2 Tim. 4:1-4). Lloyd-Jones once told someone, “If you do not know
the difference between preaching and teaching then you have likely never heard
a sermon before.”
Second, use vocal variety throughout your
expository message. If someone attempts
to deliver a sermon in a monotone manner it will likely put the congregation to
sleep during the first fifteen minutes.
If the preacher goes back and listens to his sermons
on their I Pod they should be able to determine if they employed good vocal
variety throughout the sermon. It should
be noted here that an emphatic point can be made by lowering one’s voice (like
Rick Holland) or by declaring the truth in a demonstrative way (like Paul
Washer).
Third, prepare a sermon manuscript not academic
lecture notes. If one’s sermon notes
could be mistaken for a theological journal something’s not right. It is critical to remember that when writing
a sermon you are preparing an oral manuscript to be heard with the ear. John MacArthur’s sermon manuscripts on “Grace
To You” look much different than his books on the same texts of Scripture.
