During my twenty year bivocational pastorate I preached a few "Saturday-night specials." It didn't happen often, and I was never pleased when it did happen. Some of those sermons worked out pretty good, but most of them were terrible flops. More than once I complained to my wife on our way home that I felt like I wasted everyone's time that day.
Although I would have argued at the time that those poor sermons were the result of an ultra-busy week, the truth is that they were the result of poor use of my time. If God calls a person to preach then that person has an obligation to be prepared regardless of the workload that particular week. Preaching on Sunday gives a minister, especially one who is bivocational, the single best opportunity that week to impact his or her congregation. Being unprepared is unacceptable. After all, it should not come as a surprise to a pastor that Sundays come every seven days.
Unfortunately, not all pastors feel as I do. As I am in a different church nearly every week I have the opportunity to hear a lot of different pastors in both larger and smaller churches. More times than I want to remember I have left a worship service and wondered all the way home what the purpose might be of the message I just heard.
Just a few weeks ago I attended such a service. The pastor read a text and then preached a message that had little, if anything, to do with that text. He would go one way for awhile and then begin talking about something else before jumping off on another point. None of them connected with one another or with the text or what was supposed to be the theme that Sunday. After the service I told my wife I felt like the sermon had been put together during the Sunday school hour.
Years ago I heard the joke about the pastor who wrote on his sermon outline next to one point "Point weak - talk louder." This pastor must have thought that was actual advice because it seemed the weaker his points were the faster and louder he talked. If that is a steady diet of the quality of sermons this congregation is receiving then I am sad for them. My hope is that this was just an off-day for the pastor. Any pastor who has been in the ministry for any time at all will have some Sundays when his or her message just doesn't connect as well in its delivery as it did in the study. (Believe me, I've had those Sundays as well!) But, I've been around enough of this kind of preaching to know that too many pastors have off-days 52 times a year.
When a pastor preaches many opportunities exist. People's lives can be changed as they accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior or as they learn more biblical ways to approach some of the challenges they are facing. People can be encouraged and filled with renewed hope. Vision can be cast that will lead the church into more effective ways of doing ministry. People can be discipled as they are exposed to more of God's truth and how it applies to their lives. Those who are grieving can be reassured that God has not abandoned them. People can be led to worship God and encounter him in new and exciting ways. The list goes on and on.
But, without good, biblically-based preaching none of these things are likely to happen. In those churches where the preaching is weak the people come and return home inspired to eat lunch. Nothing life changing happens in a church when the pastor does not take his or her preaching duties seriously. I truly believe this is why we see so many dead and dying churches. When there is a fire in the pulpit there will be a fire in the pew, but when the pulpit is weak so will be the church.
As I said earlier, there is no greater opportunity to touch people's lives than that period of time they allow you to speak to them from the pulpit. If you are a pastor you need to come to the pulpit each Sunday with a fresh word from God's Word that will touch people's hearts and change their lives. Your message must not only be biblical; it must be developed in a way that clearly communicates to those who will hear it. It should end with a clear call to action so the people will know how they should respond to what they've just heard.
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