{"id":1866,"date":"2021-03-19T12:32:20","date_gmt":"2021-03-19T16:32:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.namb.net\/church-replanting\/?post_type=resource&p=1866"},"modified":"2021-03-22T16:33:56","modified_gmt":"2021-03-22T20:33:56","slug":"sermon-prep-why-do-you-spend-so-much-time-on-it","status":"publish","type":"resource","link":"https:\/\/www.namb.net\/church-replanting\/resource\/sermon-prep-why-do-you-spend-so-much-time-on-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Sermon Prep: Why Do You Spend so Much Time on It?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Senior pastors invest varying amounts of time in sermon preparation. I have friends who spend 25 hours a week on a sermon and friends who spend 8-10 hours a week on sermons. The amount of time in sermon prep can vary based on the experience of the pastor (those with more experience have reservoirs of knowledge), the context of the church (a church plant may benefit from a pastor who is in the community more than in the study) and other factors (the style of preaching for example).<\/p>\n

Regardless how much time a pastor spends in sermon prep, a common question can be \u201cWhy do you spend so much time in sermon prep?\u201d Can you prepare less and just \u201cbe led by the Spirit as you preach?\u201d<\/p>\n

I spend approximately 15 hours a week in sermon prep. Because I don\u2019t preach every week, this translates to about 20 hours of prep per sermon. Here are three reasons why we preachers (including me) spend so much time in sermon prep.<\/p>\n

1. Respect for the people<\/strong><\/p>\n

Many have pointed out that time is more valuable than money because you can find ways to make more money and you can\u2019t find ways to make more time. Every minute people listen to a sermon is a minute of their lives they are devoting to listen, thus to treat each minute in a sermon as valuable is to honor and respect those who are giving their time. Of course, minutes given listening to a sermon from God\u2019s Word are minutes wisely invested, as God uses the preaching of His Word to encourage and sustain us. When you multiply a 30-minute sermon by the number of people listening, that is a whole lot of minutes! By God\u2019s grace, I want to steward those minutes of listening really well.<\/p>\n

2. Respect for the Scripture<\/strong><\/p>\n

Charles Spurgeon said, \u201cNobody ever outgrows Scripture; the Book widens and deepens with our years.\u201d The Scripture is the pure and faultless Word of God. The Scripture should be approached with awe, as it is God-breathed. To teach and declare the Word of God to others is a sacred task, one which means we will be judged more strictly (James 3:1). We should not \u201cwing it\u201d when it comes to teaching the Scripture.<\/p>\n

3. Respect for the Spirit<\/strong><\/p>\n

God exists outside of time. He sees the moment the I am preparing and the moment I am preaching with equal clarity and vividness. Practically, this means that, two weeks before I say it, God can lead me to say something with the same force that He can lead me to say something in the moment. To approach sermon preparation seriously is to seek the Spirit\u2019s prompting during preparation\u00a0and<\/em>\u00a0while on the platform. To not take sermon preparation seriously is to limit the Spirit\u2019s work to the time on the platform. To only rely on the Spirit\u2019s leading during the preaching is not a bigger vision of the Spirit\u2019s prompting, but a smaller<\/u> vision for His prompting. To prepare well is to rely on the Spirit\u2019s prompting during message preparation, all the way through message delivery.<\/p>\n

Be diligent to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who doesn\u2019t need to be ashamed, correctly teaching the word of truth. <\/em>(2 Tim. 2:15)<\/p>\n

\n

This was originally posted on\u00a0Eric\u2019s blog<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Senior pastors invest varying amounts of time in sermon preparation. I have friends who spend 25 …<\/p>\n

Sermon Prep: Why Do You Spend so Much Time on It?<\/span> Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":1867,"template":"","meta":{"_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}}},"tags":[],"channels":[],"topics":[53],"languages":[],"class_list":["post-1866","resource","type-resource","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","resource_type-article","topics-replanting"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nSermon Prep: Why Do You Spend so Much Time on It? - Church Replanting<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.namb.net\/church-replanting\/resource\/sermon-prep-why-do-you-spend-so-much-time-on-it\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sermon Prep: Why Do You Spend so Much Time on It?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Senior pastors invest varying amounts of time in sermon preparation. 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