Pre-Preaching Conversation with Satan

Posted by D. Goodmanson on Mar 7, 2007 in Church, Sermon | 1 comment

At our monthly pastors meeting a story was shared that I thought helpful.  This occurred prior to the pastor going up to preach in their head.

Satan - You know you were sick this week.  You shouldn't set yourself up by expecting too much this week.  Lower your expectations.

Pastor - That is true, I was sick and didn't quite have the time and energy I wanted.

Satan - Also, you weren't quite faithful with your devotions this week.  Do you really think God will bless you?

Pastor - That is true too.  My devotions seemed to lack connection with God.  How can He bless me EXCEPT while all that you say is true, you are leaving out one part of this, the GOSPEL.  Through Jesus, God is strong in my weakness, I will trust in that rather than focus on my illness.   Secondly, I don't earn approval through working for a righteousness on my own.   Through Christ I am already approved, loved and accepted by God. 

Preachers, don't believe the partial truths of the great deceiver.  

Wedding Message – Redemptive/Gospel Centered

Posted by D. Goodmanson on Feb 18, 2007 in Sermon | 6 comments

I have new weddings scheduled this year.  I moved to a diff't wedding message I received from Stephen Trout (who is starting the Kaleo Christian Counseling Center) that is a redemptive historical/gospel presentation.  Feel free to download it.  Gospel Wedding Message (Word Doc)

Acts 29 Regional Church Conference

Posted by D. Goodmanson on Feb 15, 2007 in Church, Church Planting, Leadership, Sermon | 0 comments

The Gospel Gone Public: Worldview·Mission·Preaching
Regional Event | San Diego
March 31, 2007

There is nothing more beautiful than to see a city transformed by the Gospel. As a fellow laborer for seeing Gospel going forth in San Diego, you are invited to the next Acts 29 regional event in San Diego, The Gospel Gone Public: Worldview·Mission·Preaching on Saturday, March 31, 2007.

Covered at this one-day conference will be topics that affect every pastor passionate about transforming San Diego with the Gospel, including the Church’s biblical mission, how to prepare and preach Gospel-centered messages, Gospel transformation, and much more.

Learn about the speakers, sessions, schedule, registration and the conference partners.

The cost for this conference is $45, and will include the conference materials, lunch, and a copy of Michael Goheen’s The Drama of Scripture.

The Web and the increase of Recycled Sermons

Posted by D. Goodmanson on Nov 25, 2006 in Church, Sermon | 3 comments

The Internet is changing the landscape of preaching.  Congregants now have access to thousands of preachers and many preachers feel the pressure of comparison against the best and brightest.  How are some of these pastors responding?  By using the same material from the most popular of preachers.  There was an article (originally in the Wall Street Journal, but reprinted in the San Diego Union-Tribune) about the use of sermon resources, sermon manuscripts and other resources in the preparation of your sermon.  Here is the start:

The Rev. Brian Moon says he has come up with ideas for his sermons after water-skiing, while watching “My Name Is Earl” on TV and while working on his 1969 Buick muscle car. He also finds inspiration on the Internet, as he did in August when he preached about “God's math.”

“People are drowning, drowning in their marriages, drowning in their careers, drowning in hurtful habits,” Moon told his congregation at Church of the Suncoast, in Land o' Lakes, Fla. “They need someone to rescue them and bring them on the raft. They need people driven by God's addition.”

Those words, it turns out, were first uttered three years ago by the Rev. Ed Young, pastor of Fellowship Church in Grapevine, Texas. His Web site, creativepastors.com, sells transcripts of this and others sermons for $10 each.

Moon says he delivered about 75 percent of Young's sermon, “just because it was really good.” That included a white-water rafting anecdote similar to Young's in the original. Moon, who has now been a pastor for seven months, didn't give credit to Young, and he makes no apologies for using a recycled sermon.

“Truth is truth, there's no sense reinventing the wheel,” Moon says. “If you got something that's a good product, why go out and beat your head against the wall and try to come up with it yourself?”

These days, a lot of preachers would agree. The sermon – an oration traditionally expressing the thoughts of the cleric doing the talking – has entered the age of reruns. Topics and transcripts are available on sites like sermoncentral.com, pastors.com, sermonspice.com, and desperatepreacher.com. In the old days, when a preacher wanted to pinch a sermon, he had to consult a book, a magazine or a sermon anthology.

Read entire article: Pulpit polemic: Recycled sermons are on the mount (Suzanne SatalineTHE WALL STREET JOURNAL)

Should pastors use other people's sermon manuscripts?  What resources should a pastor be able to use for preaching?  Are other sermons similar to commentaries?  This is pretty convicting for me as an occasional preacher (and this also applies to blog posts).  How often do I say something that is 'truly original'?  When I prepare a sermon, I study the Bible, read books, listen to sermons and often there is much I've gathered from others that influences what I preach.  When should I 'quote/give credit' to someone?  If someone gave you an idea for the 'direction' of the sermon but you write it on your own?  Lately, I try to credit those who influenced the sermon at the bottom of my text regardless of directly (word-for-word) or indirectly (influence).  But I'm sure there are times when I read something and use it later, forgetting who the idea came from.  

Some thougths:

A pastor who plagiarizes sermons is clearly not fulfilling his primary responsibility. He is not investing time and effort in studying the Word, in understanding the Word, and in helping others understand what God has taught him. Furthermore, he is being unethical in allowing his congregation to believe that the sermons he delivers are his own work. 

Plagiarism In The Pulpit Challies 

The essence of plagiarism is to give the impression that the ideas or words of another person are actually your own. This can be done intentionally (in which case it is outright theft) or unintentionally-but either way it is wrong.

What is plagiarism? Desiring God Ministries 

Other Resources:

How to Use Other Preachers' Material Without Compromising Your Integrity 

Integrity in the Pulpit 

Sermon Zeitgeist

Posted by D. Goodmanson on Nov 18, 2006 in Church, Culture, Sermon | 1 comment

One of the cool things about Sermon Cloud is it gives you a sort of sermon zeitgeist.  Because Sermon Cloud is fairly new, it has taken a bit to find out what people are preaching on and who are the popular preachers.  Here are some tidbits:

1) Donald Miller, author of Blue Like Jazz, has the most popular sermon (in terms of downloads) at Sermon Cloud.  He preached Incarnational Gospel at his home church Imago Dei.  It has been downloaded over 1,000 times. 

2) Rick McKinley's pastor of Imago Dei preached Inconvenient Christianity, the most 'amened' sermon just edging Noel Heikkinen by one 'amen'.

2) The most popular preacher in terms of people 'searching' is Tim Keller from Redeemer NY. 

3) You can view where all the churches are and find out who is preaching in your home town using our Church/Preacher Map page.

4) In light of the Ted Haggard scandal, only one sermon (Check Your Posture: A Message Regarding Ted Haggard)had his name in the title or meta tags.  But during that week this was the most popular sermon.

Do you own zeitgeist.  Go to the Sermon 'Search' page and filter by downloads or go to view the sermons with the most amens .

This Beautiful Mess: Practicing the Presence of the Kingdom of God

Posted by D. Goodmanson on Nov 7, 2006 in Church, Sermon | 1 comment

Rick McKinley's new book is out, This Beautiful Mess: Practicing the Presence of the Kingdom of God. Description: The kingdom of God has already broken into this world, but it is not yet fully here. Therefore, as kingdom dwellers, Christians live in tension: groaning from the brokenness of this world, but rejoicing with hope in the promise of God. This Beautiful Mess calls believers to live in the reality of His kingdom now! Not your family, not your culture, not even your church should define your view of existence — only your belonging to God's kingdom. Loving, touching, weeping, and rejoicing — it's all a part of making God's blessing of redemption known to a hurting world. Only when you practice His reign without inhibition will you begin to revel in the true gospel of grace and freedom.

In the book, McKinley contrasts the two 'gospels' as the Gospel of Jesus and the Gospel About Jesus and how not understanding this brings confusion.  You need to synthesis these two gospels to find the true sense of the gospel.  McKinley writes:

"If all we value is the salvation gospel, we tend to miss the rest of Christ's message.  Taken out of the context of the kingdom, the call to faith in Christ gets reduced to something less than the New Testament teaches.  The reverse is also true:  if we value a kingdom gospel at the expense of the liberating message of the Cross and the empty tomb and a call to repentance, we miss a central tenet of kingdom life.  Without faith in Jesus, there is no transforming of our lives into the new world of the kingdom."

This was very timely for me, I just preached Sunday on this very idea and I stated that there is 3 aspects to the gospel.  The Gospel of Jesus, the Gospel of Sonship and the Gospel of the Kingdom.  You can read/listen to the sermon Jesus and the Revolution – An Alternative Kingdom at Sermon Cloud.  (You can also listen to a lot of McKinley's sermons on the Kingdom there as well.)   The reality of this new Kingdom brings us to see three gospel perspectives:

1. Gospel of Christ: The announcement of this Kingdom is news, not advice. It is accomplished as an actual historical event. This is important because as news, we must accept it, we cannot earn it. It becomes 'grace' rather than what we can earn. Entering into the Kingdom is only by repentance and faith (Mark 1:15), forgiveness (Col 1:13-14) and a new birth (John 3:3, 5). When we are 'born again', we are born into the kingdom (John 3:1). Already/Not Yet – Today we accept this news by faith, but one day we will see. Today we have the Holy Spirit as a promise of the true Kingdom to come.

2. Gospel of Sonship: The reality of Jesus righteousness changes our identity. When we enter into the Kingdom, Jesus' kingly authority restructures every area of our life. We can have our identity eternally rooted in God, rather than the false 'messiah's' of our heart that will always disappoint and require us to earn our own identity. We become righteous because Jesus gives us His righteousness. Already/Not Yet – The very idea of Christians being simultaneously legally 'justified' and yet 'sinful' is based on the 'already but not yet' concept of the Kingdom of God. One day sin will no longer hold its power over us; we will be freed from its bondage.

3. Gospel of the Kingdom: As citizens of this new Kingdom, we live by Kingdom values. Inasmuch as we place our faith in Jesus the King, our identity changes because of what Jesus has done and this causes us to live life's motivated by Kingdom values. We become concerned with social justice, mercy and being a loving community reminder of God's redemptive plan to mankind. Already/Not Yet - We are called to be a 'city on a hill' a physical representation of God's redemptive work, seeking to restore the world from the consequences of the fall. Yet, sin remains, death, disease and the poor will always be with us until God comes and completes the restorative work in Act 6 of the drama.

It is through both these three aspects and understanding the Kingdom of God in the phases of human history (For example, unpacking the already/not yet of both earth/heaven today) that we start to understand the Kingdom of God.