Then afterward, you think to yourself, "What did I just spend the last hour and a half doing?" And you wished you had paid better attention. Or done something to feel like you actually worshipped the creator of the universe with several dozen or hundred of like-minded believers.

It doesn't matter if you're Baptist, Presbyterian, or Charismatic- all Christians go through the problem of distraction from or indifference to the Sunday morning service. So what can we do about it?

I would like to offer ten very practical tips to help you give the most and get them most out of Sunday worship.

1. Start Sunday worship on Saturday Start your worship service prep on Saturday night. If you have a bad habit of staying up late, make a conscious effort of going to bed early at least on Saturday night. A full 8 hours of sleep will do wonders to your attention span and memory retention.

If you see that you are always late to the service, then set out your clothes the night before and/or wake you and your family up 15 minutes earlier on Sunday. There is no excuse to be late on a regular basis. It does not benefit you at all and robs you of a blessing and God of his deserved worship.

As you wind down on Saturday night, remind yourself that you are not "going to church" but you are going to worship the Lord God with your brothers and sisters in Christ. You may even want to spend time with the Lord before you head to bed. This will certainly help put you in the right attitude to worship.

2. Breakfast of Champions Eat a hearty breakfast. Not eating breakfast is unhealthy anyway and you're brain will function better on a full stomach. But, don't overeat or you'll get sleepy. And no, donuts do not count. :) You get the point here.

3. Watch your tongue Be mindful of family arguments on Sunday morning. Did junior lose a shoe and is making you late? Don't rip his head off over it, just get him dressed and deal with it after the service (if possible). Be kind to your spouse. I used to constantly get onto my wife about lagging behind. I've since repented and made myself realize that all that did was put me in a bad mood. Instead, what I try to do now is very respectfully try to help her get caught up if she is indeed running behind. The Bible says, "Do not let the sun go down on an argument." I'd like to add "don't let an argument be the first thing that greets your spouse when the sun comes up."

4. No fakers allowed! Don't fake a smile or fake a greeting when you first show up. If someone asks you how you're doing, and you had a bad week, tell them! They're your brother in Christ. They should know if you need prayer or an encouraging word. You don't have to be specific. I have found it so refreshing to be honest. Every time, and I mean EVERY time, I have gotten encouragement or prayer and it makes my "dealing with God" during the service much more meaningful.

5. Engage your mind When it comes to the singing, if you feel yourself glazing over, think about the words of the song. Think about what they mean. Let your mind focus on the theology behind them. Or if you're not that kind of deep thinker, then just keep reminding yourself of the truth: that you are singing to the creator of the universe. Your savior. Your Father.

6. TAKE NOTES! Bring a composition notebook with you to take notes during the sermon. This is almost a sure-fire way of making sure that you are paying attention at least to the main points. Besides, you're there to learn. If you show up to a class at school ready to take notes, then something more important, like God's word deserves similar respect. And make sure you're writing down more than just the PowerPoint points and sub-points. Write down the application as well.

7. Intentional seating Instead of looking for your "favorite spot", look to sit next to someone new- like a visitor. Or sit next to someone you know needs a friend. This act is not only Biblical and the Godly thing to do, but it keeps you focused on the Kingdom of God and not on your selfish desires.

8. Personal Reflection Many churches have an altar call, invitation, or time of reflection at the end of the service. Remember, this is not the time to think about where you're going to eat after church. This time is personal between you and God. Reflect back what you just heard in the sermon and turn into a prayer to God.

9. A meaningful ride home Talk about the service with your spouse and children. This is especially important for you parents out there. A child usually will not be thinking over the finer points of your pastor's sermon. So, talk to them about it. Ask them what they learned. Ask them if there was anything in particular that they liked/disliked. Make the application for them (sometimes pastors don't make application for the children). You are their primary discipler, so it is your job to make sure they got the most out of their Sunday as well.

Take your visiting friend/relative out to lunch and turn the Sunday morning experience into an evangelistic opportunity.

10. Reinforcement Buy/borrow a copy of the sermon and listen to it while you drive or at home. Or listen to a sermon of the same topic, but a different preacher. Look for ways to apply what you learned throughout the week. And then next Sunday, if you took notes, look back over the previous Sunday to help you remember what you just talked about.

Above all, we must remember the words of Jesus, that we are his worshippers who worship in spirit and in truth. If you're problem isn't one of the above, or even if it is and you struggle with this idea of actually worshiping an actual God then you need to talk with your pastor or a trusted Christian friend about it. There is a chance that you have never experience the personal saving power of Jesus. If there isn't a time in your life when you turned from your sins and trusted Christ as your Savior, then you don't have a relationship with Him. If you don't have a relationship with Him, then it makes sense that you don't feel his presence on Sunday mornings, when other people do.

Anyway, I hope this helps.

1) Write the sermon yourself within a month of when you are set to preach. Don't borrow other preachers sermons, dig out an old one that you wrote at a previous church, or convince yourself that you can just "make it up" as you go.

2) Have a destination that you are headed to. Not three, but one destination.

3) Think of your outline as a set of verbal directions that will help others get  to the destination as well. No bunny trails, no alternate routes, just a straight journey. Dora the Explorer has given me one of my favorite outlines: Troll Bridge, Spooky Tunnel, Blueberry Mountain. (A.K.A. Context, Complication, Celebration) Once you have the directions set you can build excitement in the sermon by telling them about the challenges and surprises that happen along the way.

4) Rehearse it. Practice it enough times that your words are embedded in your muscle memory.

5)  Spend more time practicing your transitions than you do memorizing content.  (Now we are going to take a left turn, Now we are going through the tunnel, Now I am going to celebrate the fact that Jesus loves us)

6) Sometime during the week you are going to preach, briefly tell someone (usually my wife) the set of directions you are going to use to get everyone to the destination and the main emotions that they will experience along the way.

Anyone have other advice?

P.S. Here are two great books about this sort of thing: Book 1, Book 2

Undoubtedly it will be an excellent book.  It will change your life, whiten your teeth, clear up your skin, make you a more popular and better person, but, it will not help you to preach like Joel Osteen.  Hopefully you don’t want to preach like Joel Osteen.

But, if you trust men like Dr. John MacArthur (he wrote the forward), and Dr. Steven J. Lawson, Dr. Donald Whitney, Dr. Ben Awbrey, James White (they all endorse it) then I am sure you will appreciate Mike’s book and find it useful.

More endorsements for the book are coming from Dr. Al Mohler, Martin Holt, Eric Alexander, Stuart Olyott and Mark Dever.

Yes, I know someone who knows those people, or at least he has met those people, or at least he has heard of those people, which does make me a better person.

The Book is being published by Day One in the US and UK.  The ISBN number is 978-1-84625-108-5.  Certainly it will shoot up to #1 at Amazon within the first week it is available.

Just so you know that this is for real, that I do actually have at least one friend and that he really has written a book, you can visit Mike’s church at http://www.bbcchurch.org.

Through some strange set of circumstances the book is not yet available on Amazon.  An oversight for which someone will lose their job, I am sure.  But, no matter, come February you can visit your local religious trinket store – uh, that is, I mean, Christian book store – and pick up one of the hundreds of copies they will have.  Or at least you can order it.

I am looking forward to receiving from Mike himself a limited, leather bound, first printing, first edition personally inscribed to me, for free.

After you all have read the book a few times we can start an internet discussion group, perhaps even Mike himself will comment once in a while.  No doubt, like me, you are already looking forward to the sequel.

This material is copywrited Steve Plodinec. You can link here, but please don't copy or disseminate this without contacting me first.

Preaching is as much art (probably more) as science. This process is an introduction to the science, the technical aspects, of studying for and putting together a sermon. For the art of preaching – being taught, lead by and empowered by the Holy Spirit along with wise understanding of people and the world and oratory ability – there is no process. For the art, seek God in prayer, get wise council and practice, practice, practice.

PREPARATION

Pray – Pray, pray, pray. Pray throughout the whole process. Say to God, "Open my eyes that I may see wondrous things out of thy law" Psalm 119:18.

Determine What You Will Preach On – What do you want to preach on? Something in the Bible must interest you. What have you always wanted to know more about? If something interests you then your enthusiasm for it will make it interesting to the congregation. What do the people need to hear? If you are a good shepherd you will know what will help your people.

If you are preaching exegetically through a book then move on to the next section. One of the benefits of preaching verse by verse through the Bible is that you never need to wonder what you will preach next. If you are preaching a one time message (a hit & run) then make sure the subject is appropriate to the occasion. If you are preaching a topical message then determine the topic and check the topical and thematic indexes in study bibles and other resources. Preach from the one main passage that best illuminates the topic, but incorporate other texts that deal with the same topic. Yes, a topical sermon can be exegetical.

Read the Passage – If you are a preacher then words are your tools, both written and spoken. You need to read a lot, especially from the Bible. For each sermon, read the book your passage is in once. Read the section and chapter of the book it is in at least three more times and read the passage itself at least ten more times. This is still just preparation so don’t do any interpreting and don’t come to any conclusions yet. Start writing down any questions the text brings up and continue to write them down through the whole process.

Meditate on the Passage – Reading is exposure to Scripture, meditation is absorption of Scripture. Read the passage slowly and ponder and consider each word, phrase, sentence, verse and paragraph. Talk about the passage with other people, especially with other preachers and mature Christians. Think about the passage and even memorize it if possible.

Begin to Think About the Main Idea of the Passage – As a child of God who is lead by the Holy Spirit you can understand the general teaching of any passage. Coming to a general conclusion about the main idea of a passage is useful as a starting point for digging deeply into God’s word. But, hold on loosely to your first idea of what a passage is about. Use the following steps to make sure you are on the right track and to expand and deepen your understanding of the text.

Study

Determine the Genre – The genre is the way the passage is written, the form of the information, the literary type. For example, the Psalms are poetry. The information in the Psalms is written in the form of poetry. The book of Romans is not poetry, but is in the form of logical discourse or what is called “didactic” literature. The genre of a passage has a direct influence on how you interpret that passage. You must not interpret – or preach – figurative language in the Psalms the same way you do the direct non-figurative statements in the book of Romans. Many errors have been disseminated by taking figurative language to be literal and literal to be figurative. The different kinds of genre found in the Bible are law, wisdom literature, logical discourse/didactic, narrative, gospels, parables, poetry, prophecy and apocalyptic. Consult any good hermeneutics book to find out the different genres found in Scripture and how to interpret them. Remember to use and apply the hermeneutical principles that are relevant to your passage.

Begin Making R.E.A.L. Observations on the Passage – Your observations should be R.E.A.L.:

Relevant – they must deal with what the passage is about.

Exegetical – they must come right out of, and be based on, only the text.

Applicable – they must be meaningful to life.

Legitimate – they must be an observation of important information.

Do NOT do any interpreting or concluding yet, you are still gathering information. You don’t know enough yet to say what the meaning of the passage is. Along with writing down your questions, continue to make R.E.A.L. observations throughout the whole preparation process.

Understand the Biblical Context – Look at your passage by moving from the big picture of the whole Bible to the focused and specific context of the verses immediately around it. “Context is King” when it comes to understanding the meaning of a passage.

Understand the Cultural and Historical Setting – What other biblical events are taking place at the same time as the events in your passage? Compare I-II Kings with I-II Chronicles, Kings & Chronicles with OT Prophets, Acts with Epistles, a gospel with the others, etc. What social, cultural and religious issues/situations were taking place when the passage was written? Look up the geography in a Bible atlas and the names of people and places in a Bible dictionary. Real life was going on when the Bible was written. What was happening and how did it affect the writer and the recipients of the book? How does the cultural and historical setting affect the interpretation of the passage?

Grammatically Analyze the Passage to Get the Exegetical Outline – Translate the passage from Hebrew, Aramaic or Greek if you know the languages. Make a line or block diagram of the passage, preferably in the original language, but a diagram from your translation is fine too. A line or block diagram is not necessary for most narratives and some gospel passages, parables and apocalyptic passages. The beginning and end of the passage will be made obvious by the diagram which is revealed by the grammatical construction.

For narrative, gospel, parable or apocalyptic passages diagram the flow of the story by following the action and movements of the people and beings in the passage. Check good books on hermeneutics to understand the “chiastic” structure of many Old Testament narratives.

Find the exegetical outline of the passage based on your diagram. If the passage is narrative, from a gospel, a parable or apocalyptic then outline the story by following the flow of the story. Outline other types of passages according to their grammatical construction as revealed by the diagram of the passage. These outlines will look similar to the diagrams. Compare your outline with those in commentaries and other resources. If your outline is significantly different then rework what you think the main idea is. Don’t be an innovator. The exegetical outline should come right out of the text. As much as possible, use the actual words and phrases of the passage for the points of your outline.

Do a Lexical Study of Key Words – Not every word needs a word study. Don’t choke your sermon with extra facts about words that have nothing to do with the point of the sermon.

Identify All Doctrines in the Passage – Look up the doctrines in your theology books and be sure you understand them. Know what they mean and know how they relate to one another. And most importantly, know how they impact life. What does the theology mean for the people? How does it impact their human existence?

Write Down the Exegetical Main Idea Based on the Exegetical Outline – At this point you need to solidify your understanding of what this passage is about. Your general thought of what the main idea is now needs to be either confirmed, changed completely or fine tuned. The exegetical main idea is the main point of the passage. The point of the passage is the point of your sermon – not some other principle or idea. The exegetical main idea should come right out of the text. As much as possible, use the actual words and phrases of the passage to write your main idea. If the point of your sermon is not the exegetical main idea of the passage then you are not preaching the passage, but instead some other idea. To help you find the exegetical main idea use the historical study, the contextual understanding, the grammatical analysis, the word study, the exegetical outline, your observations and the doctrines in the passage

Check Your Work by Consulting Commentaries and Other Resources – If you don’t think you should use commentaries and other resources to help you prepare a sermon then I give you a Charles Spurgeon quote from the introduction to his book Commenting and Commentaries, “Of course you are not such wiseacres as to think or to say that you can expound Scripture without assistance from the field of exposition. ... It seems odd that certain men who talk so much of what the Holy Spirit reveals to themselves should think so little of what He has revealed to others.” If there is significant disagreement between you and other godly biblical interpreters then go back and re-work those sections where the disagreement exists.

Interpret and Understand the Passage – After prayerful, careful, Spirit-lead in-depth study you can now begin to interpret and understand the meaning of your passage. What do you understand and believe this passage to be teaching? Use the following to come to a proper interpretation of the passage; the cultural and historical situation, the context of the passage, the grammatical analysis, the word study, the exegetical outline, the doctrines in the passage, the exegetical main idea, your observations and questions and answers. Check your work by consulting commentaries and other resources.

Identify If There Are Any Truths or Principles Not Plainly Stated in the Passage – Sometimes, but not always, there may be truths and principles that are not overtly and precisely stated in the text. Be careful not to make anything up here or to import some good biblical ideas, or heresies, that are not in your text. Do not depart from the plain teaching or main point of your passage.

If there are any truths and principles not plainly stated in the passage they must be clearly based on the doctrines in the text. Usually the exegetical points of the passage are already stated as a truth or principle. For example, the plain exegetical point from Deuteronomy 5:19 is “Do not steal.” In this instance it is also the only principle in the verse. Not every point or doctrine from the text will have, or need, a truth or principle developed from it.

Leave It for 1-3 Days – Give it a rest. Let all that you have studied roll around in the back of your mind while you go on to other things. When you come back to your work you will find that you often have fresh insight. You will notice some theological and logical errors you previously overlooked. It will be easier to see the big picture and main idea of the passage. You will go at your work with renewed vigor and eagerness. Your sermon will be more crisp, clean and have more of your personality in it.

ComposiTION

Write Down and Fill Out the Main Points of the Sermon – At this point you might want to rework your exegetical outline into a more homiletical outline based on the main point, doctrines, exegetical structure and any truths or principles not clearly stated. Write each point in a short precise sentence. These points should relate to the exegetical main point and what the passage is about.

Prove and support each of your points with information from the following; the historical study, the contextual understanding, the grammatical analysis, the word study, the exegetical outline, your observations, the doctrines in the passage, the exegetical main idea, your questions and answers, commentaries and other resources, your interpretation and understanding of what the passage is about and any principles in the passage.

Show How all This Biblical Information Connects To and Impacts Life – Many preachers fail to do this and so their sermon is just a bunch of theological data unconnected to life. Connect the main idea, doctrines and outline points to life and the human condition. What part of life and the human condition does this point deal with? What part of life and the human condition is this point like? What does this point say about life and the human condition? How does this point affect life and the human condition?

Illustrate – Find one biblical illustration and one real life illustration for each point. It is important that your illustration relates your point to the human condition. Make sure your illustrations are culturally relevant. Make sure the illustrations do not overshadow the point.

Apply the Points – Application is not condemnation, but it is a call to obedience and change. Find one or several applications for each point that relate it to the human condition the point deals with. Make sure the applications are culturally relevant.

Write Transitions Between All the Different Parts of the Sermon – When people check out of a sermon they usually do it at those little gaps between the points of a sermon. Be sure to clearly lead them from one point to the next. Write the transitions out word for word between the introduction and the first point, between each main point, between each sub-point, between each point and its illustration, between each point and its application, between the last point and the conclusion.

Write the Conclusion – Summarize and restate your exegetical main point. It is best to restate your points, truths, principles and how they connect to life. Land the plane! End the sermon! Write your concluding sentence.

Write the Introduction – Talk about how the main point of the passage deals with the human condition. This will gain their interest. Look for a short illustration that pictures both the main point and the human condition it deals with. It can provoke a question or stimulate a thought or paint a picture to be proven or illustrated. You need to relate to and connect with your audience. Make the introduction fairly short. Make sure you write a transition from your introduction to your first point.

Write a Title for the Sermon

Final Form of Your Sermon Notes – At the end of this process you will have your whole sermon written out word for word. I think it would be better if you did not take these notes into the pulpit with you, but this is strictly personal preference. You need to use the kind of notes that work best for you. I suggest the following trimmed down form of sermon notes because I think you will be more free in your delivery with them.

Write down your introduction word for word. Write your exegetical main point and outline on one to three pieces of paper with spaces between each point. Under each point of the outline write a few words or a sentence or two to remind you of the proof and support of the point, how this relates to life and the human condition, any truths or principles from the point, the illustration of the point, the application of the point and the transition to the next point. Write down your conclusion word for word.

© Steve Plodinec