What am I Trying to Accomplish When I Preach?

When ever I sit down to prepare a talk for youth I ask myself "what the heck am I trying to do?" I usually have a few initial thought:  I want to share the truth of the bible,  I want it to be engaging and fun and I want to help students grow in character and relationship with Jesus.  

Even with some of these initial questions resolved, I still feel like I'm closing my eyes and throwing a metaphorical dart at the a dart board of sermon content.

When I think about the message I want to deliver, I have three distinct Goals:

1) Build a Floor Board of Theology

Some students might visit our youth ministry a few times but others will be with us for four years or more.  In that time we have with our students, I want to give them a solid theological ground work to build their life on.  We cannot unpack all of God's truths in a 20 min talk but we can provide one clear theological truth(one piece of the floor board). If we look at the creation story as an example, there are dozens of important truths that our students need.  You cannot give them all at once.  Pick one and land it well.  'God is the creator of all things' or 'God made you for relationship'.  

2) Share the Gospel

When Jesus was walking with two of his followers on the road to emmaus, he led a bible study through the whole old testament showing them that it was all about Him.  Every time we get up to share the word, we should share the Good News.  Talk about Jesus lots and how a relationship with Him brings new life. When we consistently and clearly present the gospel message we are giving those who are not following Jesus an opportunity to encounter him and we are demonstrating for all of the churched students how to share the gospel.  

3) Invite Students to be on Mission with Jesus

I want to always be challenging students to leave the old life of Sin and walk in the new life that Christ has made possible.  The new life is not 'the old life' minus sin. The new life is an invitation to experience relationship with Jesus that includes a new calling and new mission.  The Apostle Paul talks about co-labouring with Christ.  What an incredible call we get to give when we preach 'you are invited to partner with Christ in changing the world'.

I know that I am not always able to capture all three in every talk but I want to consider each one when I prepare so that I am intentional with my goals.

Here is an example from a recent talk.  I spoke on Mark 2 – The friends lowering the paralytic to Jesus. 

1)   Theological Floor Board - Jesus is God  - The Pharisee’s asked, who can forgive sins but God.

2)   Gospel - Jesus cares about you! Your physical needs included.  He is more interested in dealing with your deepest need: to be forgiven of sins.  Only Jesus has the power to forgive sins and if you ask him the answer is Yes!

3)  Invitation to Mission -  Let's be like the friends who were determined to bring the sick friend to Jesus.  Who has God brought into your life that you can care for.  How can we bring people to Jesus?

There are lots of ways to approach sermon preparation and this frame work has helped me, I hope it helps you too!