Preaching and Mentoring
By Pastor Chuck Swindoll
The Power of a Well-Prepared Message
“A carefully well-prepared delivered message of the truth is life-impacting. Don’t let anyone either here or elsewhere dissuade you otherwise or persuade you otherwise. Stay with the importance of the preaching of the Word of God. If that is your realm of giftedness, work at it, pray over it, cultivate it, learn about it, study other preachers, read them, include them in your library.”
“Follow Me”
“But the Lord found you where you were, and in His own inimitable way, He said to you, ‘You follow Me.’ The implication is I’m going to lead you to do what you do not now know how to do. Follow Me, I will make you become fishers of men. It clicks. He’s not starting a school. He’s not beginning a seminary. This is not another rabbinical course of the Torah. This is a whole different genre of training. He doesn’t spell it out. One of the great things about our Savior is He always knows more than He reveals, and He knows us better than we’ve ever given Him credit. He looks back on our lives and sees it all, and still He calls us. Still He reaches out and says to us, ‘You follow Me.’”
Give Them the Gospel of Grace
“Make sure when you give them the gospel, they understand it is the message of grace. Christ has paid the penalty for our sins, and that payment is complete and finished. And for a person to receive the gospel is to accept the finished work of Christ, not to attempt to add to it. I’m talking to the choir today. Most of you know that. Most of you were reared under that kind of preaching. However, we are in the minority. Most people I’m around still believe there’s something they must do or there’s something they must add to that message in order for God to be pleased with them. The whole message of justification by faith in Christ alone, by faith alone, because of grace alone, is being missed in our day. And be sure as you preach on weekends or as you leave this place to deliver the message wherever God may use you in your future ministry, be sure that when you deliver the gospel you help them understand it is what they are to simply believe, accept it, act upon it, change their mind from that direction to this direction, and moving in that direction, trust Christ completely . . . Be assured that God will use the preached Word in one life after another, and believe it or not, even in some very young lives who will hear the truth being presented.”
Help Your Church See the Relevancy of God’s Word
“When you are in a church as a pastor, your role is to equip the saints with the message of truth, and you deliver it in a way that is urgent and relevant so that people understand how up-to-date God’s Word is. I’ve said for years, we don’t make the Word relevant; it already is relevant. It’s our job to help people see how relevant it is and where it is relevant in their lives.”
Faith Involves Risk
“Faith always involves risk and everything within us recoils against that kind of risk. And yet the greatest things God has for us come at the heels or at the end of the risk, when you look back and say, that was why He was leading us like this.”
Additional Resources
First, sign up for our Chuck’s Insights on Ministry email where we bring you his best thoughts on preaching, leadership, and ministry each week. By signing up, you’ll instantly receive a one-page checklist with 20 preaching insights from Chuck. See this page’s sidebar.
Second, check out our new Preach The Word articles and video series on YouTube where we’re teaching Chuck’s best insights on this important calling.
Third, listen to Chuck’s messages to those in ministry through our Seminary Chapels page. For decades, he offered students at Dallas Theological Seminary his best thoughts on church leadership and ministry. Now, we have put them at your fingertips. Also, you can find them through this YouTube playlist we created for you.
Fourth, if you don’t own a copy of Chuck’s book on preaching, Saying It Well, we highly recommend you add it to your library. It’s his preaching memoir that is also like a practical preaching manual. You won’t be able to put it down.
About the author
Pastor Chuck Swindoll
Pastor Charles R. Swindoll has devoted his life to the accurate, practical teaching and application of God’s Word. He is the founding pastor of Stonebriar Community Church in Frisco, Texas, but Chuck’s listening audience extends far beyond a local church body. As a leading program in Christian broadcasting since 1979, Insight for Living airs around the world. Chuck’s leadership as president and now chancellor emeritus at Dallas Theological Seminary has helped prepare and equip a new generation of men and women for ministry.
