Preacher's Block

This preaching tip was shared by Preacher’s Block co-founder, Hunter Bethea. If you’re interested in joining the most focused preachers in the world and getting these tips sent to your inbox every week, sign up here.

Preach an average sermon. I know that sounds counterintuitive to what we’re trying to do here at Preacher’s Block by helping you preach better sermons in less time, but hear me out. When you look back on your life, you probably have a few extraordinary meals that stick out to you—a five-star restaurant, a meal with a view, a long dinner with a long-lost friend that made hours seem like minutes. But most meals we eat are unmemorable (just ask those of us in the Monday morning block who strain our brain just to remember the meals we ate that weekend to tell Marc about our favorite). But you know what those average meals do? They feed us. They nourish us. They sustain us. Lord willing, the people in our pews will hear hundreds of sermons in their life. They’ll remember some incredible ones—the one that ended with them making a public profession of Jesus as Lord, an ultra-creative one that spoke to their brain in a way no other sermon has, a sermon that Jessica LaGrone preached—but the ones they don’t remember (aka the average ones) are the ones that feed them, sustain them, and move them ever-so-slightly along the path towards sanctification. So don’t be afraid of an average sermon. Jesus tells Peter “feed my sheep.” He doesn’t say, “Give my sheep a five-course dining experience.” He just says “Feed them.” So to those of us (myself included) who preached a rather average sermon today: Take heart. You were faithful in feeding Jesus’ sheep entrusted to your care. Maybe make some adjustments this week to make the sermon better next week to make it more nourishing, healthier, or more filling. But hold your head high. You did your job. You fed the sheep.