How to list your most recent sermons on your blog (or other website)
Pastors, would you like to have your (or another preachers) most recent sermons on your blog automatically? Here is any easy guide to syndicating your latest sermons using Sermon Cloud.
1. Create a Sermon Cloud account.
2. Upload sermons.
3. Go to your Sermon Cloud church page. Example Kaleo Church http://www.sermoncloud.com/kaleo-church/
4. Click on the link: Find out how to link to Kaleo Church's sermons from your website or blog
5. Grab the code. For most blogs you can grab the php code an put it in your sidebar: <?php include("http://www.sermoncloud.com/php/kaleo-church/recent/3"); ?>
6. Enjoy. See Recent Sermons on the right sidebar on David Fairchild's Blog
REMINDER: 2 more weeks to download free Christian Audio books through Sermon Cloud.
Read MoreTopical, Textual or Expository Sermons – What is the best method?
Over the years, I've had the opportunity to attend several church planting conferences. Often, a session discusses whether preacher should preach topically, by text or if it should be expository. What form of preaching is best, let's look at the options:
Topical Sermons: A topical message is a sermon where a preacher uses passages to support a thesis about a particular topic. (eg. How to be a Godly Husband) At a Purpose Driven Church Planting Conference, one of the presenters said the very act of preaching expository sermons is a contradiction to the Bible. To preach expository sermons was 'unBiblical' in the sense that the books were written to deal with specific issues & topics. This is the model that a preacher should preach today. Paul & Peter wrote topicaly and used 'texts' to support their points.
Text Sermons: A text message is one where a singular passage of the Bible is used as a jumping point to discuss a particular thesis. (eg. 1 Corinthians 13 to discuss Love is an Action)
Expository Sermons: An expository sermon is following a book of the Bible, passage-by-passage to allow the text to determine the point. (eg. Galatians 1:1-4) Most conservative churches would argue that expository preaching is the only way to preach. Reformed churches stress lectio continua (preaching through whole books of the Bible in course). Timothy Keller summarizes the sentiment as he writes why conservative churches feel non-expository preaching is theologically inferior; "1) First, other forms of preaching are considered 'man-pleasing' because we are choosing texts we prefer rather than preaching through the 'whole counsel of God' as God provides it in the Bible. 2) Second, other forms of preaching are more open to abuse since your thesis is not being controlled directly by the text. 3) Thirdly, other forms of preaching do not show as much honor to the text of Scripture. The expositor focuses on the Biblical passage itself in a way that the others do not."
Haddon Robinson argues that expository preaching is essential in a postmodern context:
Twenty years ago it would have been almost impossible to bring a case to court against a minister. Today a lawyer that's defending a minister will do every thing that he can to keep the people in the jury from thinking of him as a minister. So we have lost a lot of the base, for a lot of different reasons. What we are really trying to say is, "O.K. if I can get people to study the Bible and to see the text, I believe that the Bible is self-authenticating." If I can get you to really read it, to look at it, to hear it, to understand it, it has its own power to convince and to convict and to change people.
Therefore in a postmodern age one reason that we work with the biblical text is to have the authority of the text — and behind that the authority of God — behind what we say. I've always believed that, but it has become clearer to me now than it has been in the past. That is not to say that the person in the pew has to accept my view of inspiration. It is simply to say that if the Bible is what I believe it to be — the word of God — and that the Spirit of God answers to the Word, then if I can lay that out before them in a relevant fashion it has the power to do what my authority today can't do. (source: Expository Preaching in a Narrative World: An Interview with Haddon Robinson)
Is there only one way to preach? Tim Keller states that ultimately the method you chose is going to be selected for practical purposes. (Often personal reasons & convictions that drive this.) At the end of the day, preachers are going to tend to gravitate to what they are most comfortable with.
[Triperspectival Aside: I would argue that Kings tend toward topical (and Purpose Driven Church plants), Priests toward text and Prophets toward Expository as part of their natural personality/gift structure.]
NEXT SERMON SERIES POST: Moving Beyond Method to Form: Propositional vs. Narrative Preaching
Read MoreGospel-Centered Wedding Message
This weekend I performed a wedding. I was looking for a good gospel-centered wedding message. I ended up tailoring the message from CJ Mahaney’s Sex, Romance and the Glory of God
…we have an incredible privilege of knowing the ultimate purpose for marriage. We can see that the purpose of marriage goes beyond personal fulfillment. The biblical purpose of marriage is not man-centered. It’s God’s centered. Your marriage is meant to point to the truth of the crucified and risen Savior who will return for his Bride, the church.
By the grace of God, your marriage is meant to be the best echo, the most faithful reflection of that relationship you can possibly be. It’s about being genuinely united in a strong, godly, intimate relationship that echoes the one between Christ and the Church.
Please don’t think of this as merely a helpful illustration or an interesting perspective. It’s much more than that. This is the essence of your marriage. This is the divine purpose of your marriage….
Anyone else have a gospel-centered wedding message they care to share?
Read MoreSermon Cloud [Advanced Sermon Syndication] is launched
We just launched Sermon Cloud as a tool to help churches use advanced sermon syndication. It is in BETA form with a handful of churches (12 and counting) signed up to start using it. Features include:
- Resampling mp3′s to be optimized for the internet.
- Syndicating content
- Podcasting mp3
- Tags (as sermons are added you can see the tag cloud on this site)
- Commenting on sermons
- Community voting to recommend sermons
- Searching for sermons
- and more…
NOTE: We have paused the release to get our first round of BETA churches up and running. We are still taking 100 add’l churches for our next round of BETA’s.
Read More(Tri) MultiPerspectival Preaching
The Reformissionary had a post pointing to Keller’s writings on Informational vs Experiential Preaching, which brings up a great illustration of how to apply multiperspectivalism in preaching. Here is the quote:
The “informational” view of preaching conceives of preaching as changing people’s lives after the sermon. They listen to the sermon, take notes, and then apply the Biblical principles during the week. But this assumes that our main problem is a lack of compliance to Biblical principles, when (as we saw above) all our problems are actually due to a lack of joy and belief in the gospel. Our real problem is that Jesus’ salvation is not as real to our hearts as the significance and security our idols promise us. If that‚Äôs our real problem, then the purpose of preaching is to make Christ so real to the heart that in the sermon people have an experience of his grace, and the false saviors that drive us lose their power and grip on us on the spot. That‚Äôs the “experiential” view of preaching (Jonathan Edwards.)
Multiperspectivalism Application: The difference of ‘Christ-centered‘ preaching (norm, information) versus ‘gospel-centered‘ preaching (which uses a multi-perspectival approach) is HUGE. You can preach Christ and crush your people with the news, law and perfection of Christ. (I’ve seen a number of FUNdamentalist pastors do this.) It is only gospel that brings hope. Here’s how the perspetives play out in gospel preaching:
Norm: the “news” in the Bible (NOT advice which implies works)
Situation: The change of identity, worldview
Existential: The application of grace/hope
You can see this in one of David Fairchild’s recent sermons on Biblical Masculinity. (David is working through this at a level far beyond my meager brain. He should be releasing a series of articles about this and why going beyond tri to mulit is necessary to see through a series of lenses in the norm, situation and existential views. Piper fans have already seen some thought of this in his ‘doctrine’ feeding ‘passion’ to ‘Christian living’ which is part of the triperspectival view.)
Read MoreNew Sermon Series on Galatians
Kaleo is about to begin the book of Galatians for our next sermon series. Many consider Martin Luther’s Commentary on Galatians
This classic commentary on Galations enables you to study under the great reformer who not only reveals sound scholarship but also an intense personal identification with these profound Pauline truths. Clearly written and understandable, this verse-by-verse exposition offers a careful interpretation of Galations.
Buy it at Amazon: Martin Luther’s Commentary on Galatians
Drew Goodmanson
CEO of Monk Development creators of Ekklesia 360. Co-Founder of Kaleo Church where I served as Pastor for 8+ years and helped coach several church plants in San Diego. Co-Founder of the GCM Collective, President of the Board at the Center for Church Communication, Board Member of the Entrepreneurship Organization, Internet/Technology Advisory Chair at the Christian Leadership Alliance. Connect
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