WORDS FADE, STORIES STAY

WORDS FADE, STORIES STAY
Sermon Stories: Introduction

In my 45 years of ministry, if I had preached a sermon every week, I would have served out 2,340 sermons. How much do the hearers remember? And if they do, how much have they put into practice?

Some sermons have immediate effect. A sole breadwinner has just been retrenched, and comes to church with the burden of his young family on his heart. He hears a sermon from I Peter 5:7 on casting all our cares on God who cares for us. He goes away uplifted, having unburdened himself, trusting God to take care of him and his family.

Such sermons are inspirational in nature, when we are reminded of truths we already know in our heads, bringing truths down to the level of our hearts.

Some sermons are instructional. We learn about the things of God which eventually go to form the bedrock of our faith. Perhaps, we can compare them to nutrients we take in our food. They nourish us without us consciously knowing it.

Of course, there are sermons that are neither inspirational nor instructional. They are simply forgettable; we hear them but we don’t remember much or anything.

So, one challenge all speakers face is how to make their sermons memorable. If we cannot remember, how can we practice what we hear? For most listeners, if you ask them what they remember after a sermon, they will mention a story, an illustration or a picture.

Here are excerpts from my sermons, hopefully what hearers remember. They are words in pictures and stories. I have included the title and text of the original sermon. Enjoy and be edified!