Every Sunday we have a sermon in our church which lasts approximately 20 minutes. In the church I grew up in the sermon normally was about 45 minutes long although there were occasions when it stretched to an hour.

So what is the point of the sermon? Is it just to fill a time slot in the service? Is it just the opportunity for our pastor / vicar to speak for a while and the congregation to switch their brains into neutral or take a nap or is there any eternal purpose in it?

Ben Patterson has written an article entiled “Why the Sermon?” where he discusses the eternal purpose of this weekly exercise.

Preaching the sermon to the congregation is a very serious responsibility for those who are called to this role. With this in mind I have found a couple of interesting items on other websites which might help those who are called to preach.

Steve Mathewson has written a piece entitled A Mandate For Application in which he mentions that during sermon preparation the following two questions should be addressed:

1) What is the one thing I want my audience to know?

2) What do I want them to do about it?

Adrian Warnock has written a posting called Ten Conclusions About Preaching in which he lists some important conclusions he has come to concerning preaching.

Lee Eclov speaks here about Preaching That Magnifies God