Preach The Word

Chuck Swindoll: Declare the truth as you have been built to declare it. Explanation of the meaning and the application of Holy Scripture. It is the most effective method of getting knowledge from the page of the Bible into the hearts and minds of the believers.

Guest (Male): As a busy preacher, it's tempting to pour all of your prep time into your words and delivery. It's tempting to use extra hours to study one more commentary, to find that perfect illustration for your conclusion, to ensure the logic of your outline is razor sharp, or to really wordsmith your principles and applications.

But as important as all of those things are, and believe me, they are very important to Pastor Chuck Swindoll. He says there's one thing that surpasses them all. In this video, we'll explore Chuck's thoughts on the importance of prayer for your sermon.

And I want to start with a clip from his series on First Timothy. The sermon is titled, "What's First in a Meaningful Ministry?" And here's what he had to say.

Chuck Swindoll: What's first in a meaningful ministry? What's first?

According to First Timothy chapter 2, it's prayer. It's prayer.

Doesn't sound very, very creative. It certainly isn't terribly exciting to those who are engaged in it. It's hard work. I don't know of any harder work than prayer.

It isn't glamorous. It never is applauded. It is done in the closet, if it is effective. It represents a solitude, one-way conversation, time, concentration, effort.

Now, is it balanced to say that this is first? Is that New Testament? Without turning, let me give you a brief review, and I promise brief. In Acts chapter 6, when the congregation was at odds with one another because some of the people in the church were not being ministered to, the elders said to the congregation, "Choose for yourself men who will be able to help in this problem."

"But we will continue to devote ourselves to prayer and the ministry of the word." In that order. You know, we often misquote that. We will devote ourselves to the ministry of the word and prayer, but that's not what Acts 6:4 says. We will devote ourselves to prayer and the ministry of the word.

Guest (Male): We have more to hear from that sermon, but that clip frames Chuck's whole perspective on this. What's first in a meaningful ministry? Prayer. Broadly, that applies to the church. Specifically, that applies to the preacher, and it applies equally to both.

And in case you don't know, I'm Aaron Massy, and it's my privilege and joy to serve at Insight for Living and to bring you the content in this Preach the Word series. Our hope with this series is to equip and encourage you in the task of preaching, because we want you to be an effective, strong, and faithful expositor of God's Word. And it's this simple: you can't do that without prayer.

If I were to summarize Chuck's point into a single principle, it would be this: Pray first and pray often during your sermon prep. But upholding that attitude isn't always easy or natural. It takes intention and diligence.

Chuck has wonderful insights on this in his book, Saying It Well, which I want to read for you. And by the way, if you don't have this book, we highly recommend you grab a copy. In it, Chuck goes into his preaching journey, as well as his preaching method. And believe it or not, he didn't always pray first and pray often during his sermon prep.

Here's what he says.

I'm naturally given to duty and responsibility. So I am seldom tempted to avoid the discipline of digging or studying each week. Instead, I, like many preachers, struggled to overcome another problem: a debilitating condition of the heart known as self-reliance.

When I first began to shoulder the responsibility of preaching every Sunday, I was an eager young pastor up in Waltham, Massachusetts, full of pent-up energy and idealism. I bore no illusions about the difficulties of preaching every week. But I determined to meet the rigors of pastoral ministry with the same roll-up-your-sleeves work ethic I learned from my father, and honed to a razor-sharp edge as a combat-ready Marine.

As I understood prayer at that time, mind you, this was Chuck in the 60s, talking to God punctuated the end of human effort, either to bless it or to accomplish what could not be done otherwise. I thought in this order: I do my part while God does His part, and the job gets done.

I, therefore, prayed as either a matter of duty or for rescue when my own efforts proved inadequate. Fortunately, the Lord diverted my course, kept me from crashing, and in the passing of many years, forever changed my understanding of prayer, along with my whole approach to life, preaching, ministry, and even marriage.

Now I want to share with you how his understanding changed, but before I do, I'd like you to hear a clip where Chuck talks about our posture in prayer. This clip is from his sermon on Colossians 4, where Paul said, "Devote yourselves to prayer with an alert mind and a thankful heart."

Chuck's comments are about prayer in general, but I think they're very useful to keep in mind for preachers during sermon prep.

Chuck Swindoll: Look at how Paul writes of this. First, he writes of prayer with word, a word like devotion. Devote yourselves to prayer.

The Greek says, continue watching in it with thanksgiving. There's passion in the statement. Prayer is active, not passive. Prayer is bold, not weak.

Remember Hebrews 4? We are to come boldly before the throne of grace, not in weakness, not pleading, not begging, not hoping we're going to be heard, but boldly, walking boldly into the presence of God, yet humbly acknowledging that He has the right to answer however He pleases.

We are to pray with an alert mind and with a thankful heart. We're not to be dreamy and wandering in our prayers. We are to have a series of thoughts that are expressed devotedly. In today's terms, I would use the words, "Get with it!" When it comes to prayer, "Get with it!"

Don't mumble the prayer. Don't come half-heartedly, but come with vigilance, with a mission in mind. Devote yourselves to pray with an alert mind and a thankful heart. I'll be honest with you, I don't know of any harder work than prayer. Devoted prayer, passionate prayer. Prayer that's uttered behind the scenes with confidence, speaking to someone you cannot see, counting by faith on something you have not felt or heard, and yet it's there. It's claimed by prayer.

Guest (Male): I just love that. God wants us to come with boldness before Him. And that's true when we're preparing sermons.

God loves the people you're preaching to more than you love those people. He wants those people to be fed, to be equipped, to be encouraged, to be corrected, to be strengthened, to be united. The church family does not belong to you, pastor. It belongs to God, and God has entrusted it into your care. But that doesn't mean you're left on your own to care for it.

No, God is with you in the entire process. And that's what Chuck realized that changed his own understanding of prayer. Here's what he says in Saying It Well.

My responsibility, therefore, is to become the means of God's doing what He already wants to do. I am merely His co-laborer. He called me to do this, not because He desperately needs me, and not because He cannot proclaim His own Word or do so through others, but because it pleases Him to use me, my voice, my personality, my style, my whatever.

Prayer then isn't a punctuation at the end of my effort. Prayer is my first introduction to what He wants to do on any given occasion, Sunday or otherwise. Rather than pray as a last resort, after all else has failed to produce a worthwhile sermon, I now pray first and often, asking God to let me in on His plan. And I think that perspective shift makes all the difference.

It's God's mission. It's God's church. It's God's sermon. And it's your privilege to get to be a part of it. Chuck noted a handful of ways prayer has helped him, and I can't share all of them, but here are my favorite two. Here's what he says.

First, praying keeps my focus on God's approval rather than the applause of people. Prayer just keeps your mind elevated and aware that Jesus is right there. He's not distant. He's right next to you. Their reaction matters less than His approval.

Second, praying keeps me from shooting from the hip when I know a passage very well. This one's about sticking with the process to study and prepare and outline and formulate and wordsmith and to do it all with excellence in the presence of God, even though you could probably step behind the pulpit and deliver a helpful sermon with very little preparation.

Anyways, those are my favorite two. Now to end, I want to play Chuck's applications from the sermon that we opened with, "What's First in a Meaningful Ministry?" The sermon covers First Timothy chapter 2 verses 1 through 8, where Paul urged Timothy, first of all, to pray for all people.

Like before, Chuck's words here are about prayer and ministry in general, but I think these practical suggestions are useful for preachers who want to rely on prayer during sermon prep.

Chuck Swindoll: Practical suggestions on making prayer a priority.

A couple or three little three-word tidbits. First of all, form a habit. Form a habit. If you're ever planning to make prayer a priority, you'll have to form a habit.

Oh, I hesitate to use this illustration, but I'm going to. In order to get a hold of the problem you have with weight. I'm using it, okay? You have to form a new habit about eating and about exercise and about nutrition and about your whole intake. Or you'll never lose it.

You've got to form a new habit. And it is very, very, very hard work, but it is nothing like forming a habit to pray. It's a piece of cake compared to that.

To fo- Oh, that's a bad, bad use of words. Piece of cake. Did I say that? That is great. I can't believe it. You guys, you were gunning for me on that one.

Form a habit. Leave it at that. Number two: Set no limit. Set no limit. The enemy's going to come and say, "Oh, pray about that?" Come on, you can handle that. Don't believe it. You're setting a limit.

"Well, you can do that. You know how to handle that. You've done it." That's setting a limit. Don't set a limit. Set no limit. He says, pray first. So do it. You'll have insight, you'll have resilience, you'll have, you'll have perception, you'll have strength you never had before. Don't set a limit.

Form a habit. Set no limit. Third, restrain all substitutes. That's the third one. Before you reach over to pick up a phone and share the need with somebody, you pray. That's a substitute. Before you ask somebody, "What book you ought to read about?" Don't read a book. Pray. Before you talk about it, before you worry about it. Pray.

Take it to God, leave it with Him.

Prayer is putting the lens of your soul on time exposure, writes one person. Prayer is putting on earphones that shut out all noises but the voices of you and your God.

Prayer is the recovery room after surgery and before recuperation. Prayer always has, along with its receptivity, four statements: Thank you. I'm sorry. Teach me. Go with me.

Prayer is the frame of the bridge from weeping to doing, built across the canyon of despair.

Now, you may not have needed this, but I did. I needed it more than anybody who's heard it. And God has really used it to challenge me. So thanks, God, for talking to us.

Guest (Male): So that's it for this video. Remember, pray first and pray often during your sermon prep. Again, I'm Aaron with Insight for Living. It's our privilege and joy to serve you as you lead God's people and preach His Word.

Before we go, let me point you to a few resources. First, be sure to like this video, subscribe to our channel, and check out our Preach the Word playlist where we're posting Chuck's best insights on this important calling.

Second, if you don't own a copy of Chuck's book on preaching, Saying It Well, again, we highly recommend it. It's a practical preaching manual where he also goes into his preaching journey. You'll love it.

Third, Insight for Living has a section on our website just for church leaders, where you can find hundreds of articles and sign up for our weekly email bringing you an insight from Chuck. One week you'll get a technical tip for preaching, and the next you might get a biblical principle for shepherding. Find all the info you need in the description.

Thank you so much for listening. Preach the Word and say it well.