It was the Sunday following the horrific events of September 11th, 2001. I had been pastoring all of five months. I was in the middle of a sermon series on Matthew’s Beautitudes. On Sunday, September 16th – a mere five days removed from the terrorist attacks on our nation – the plan had been to preach about Jesus’s promise to bless the merciful.

And I stuck with the plan. . .

Huge mistake. Pastoral malpractice. Preaching fail.

The tiny church in Amite, Louisiana was packed to the gills with people. In the four and a half years I pastored there, there was nowhere close to that many gathered on a Sunday. Not even Easter. I didn’t know there were that many people in Amite. They had gathered to get a word from God. They had gathered for hope. They had gathered for someone to speak a word of Gospel relief amidst the turmoil we had consumed ourselves with all week.

And I stuck with the plan. . .

To be sure, talking about mercy and how the merciful will be shown mercy is a wonderful and needed thing. Worse things could be preached. But the people gathered that Sunday needed a stand alone sermon. They came for, and were practically begging for, a vision of the grandeur and greatness and glory of God.

But I stuck with the plan. . .

The normal crowd was back the following Sunday. I preached on how the pure in heart will see God (the next Beatitude). I wondered why no one returned. They probably went to a church that offered Gospel hope when it was desperately needed. Lesson learned.

This is one of the many mistakes I’ve made in the almost 25 years of pastoral preaching. It’s one of five I will mention here. Let’s call them “Preaching Pitfalls.”

Preaching Pitfall #1: Stick to the Plan No Matter What

I strongly encourage every preacher to have a sermon plan. Whether a year or six months or six weeks, having a plan to follow is beneficial for a host of reasons. But be open-handed with the plan! We don’t need to let the newspaper dictate what we preach, but we do need to be aware when the congregation needs an unscheduled word. A national calamity. A prominent church member’s untimely death. A church leader’s moral failure. An emergency ministry need. These times will be both few and rare. But they will come. Don’t do like I did. Be aware of your surrounding’s and pastor your people accordingly.

Preaching Pitfall #2: Cram Everything Into One Sermon

There are many things I would go back and tell my young, preacher boy self. A main one would be to remind him that “there’s always next week.” I mistakenly believed I had to throw everything and the kitchen sink at the congregation each and every sermon. Every aspect of the passage. Every angle of the Gospel. Every way I could imagine one could/should respond to the text. The result? Long sermons and glazed eyes. Too much content and wide-mouthed yawns. What I thought was a necessary Bible-info dump every week ended up being a confused and frustrated congregation. Does the church need the Word? Yes. Does the body of Christ need the whole counsel of God? Yes. Can they get it, steadily, week-by-week, through faithful Gospel preaching? Also, yes. Preacher, it’s okay to leave out a lot of wonderful things from your sermon. There’s always next week. Remember: sometimes what you put in the fridge for later tastes better the next day.

Preaching Pitfall #3: Regurgitate the Commentaries

Being able to cut my teeth in pastoral ministry while also attending seminary was a wonderful gift. I don’t know if I will ever fully comprehend the depths in which that impacted my life. But it also came with a cost. Being that I was studying with the best of the best, I had access to a seemingly limitless amount of Bible study materials. The library at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary was massive. It gave me access to dozens and dozens of commentaries on every book of the Bible. I read them and put my fresh insights from them into my sermons. What I ended up doing was feeding my flock thoughts from others. I was preaching commentaries not a sermon. I was merely regurgitating things I had read, not offering an overflow of what was in my heart. Commentaries are wonderful. Commentaries are incredibly helpful and necessary. They are to be used to help better understand a passage of Scripture. But the congregation does not need a sermon that feels like an audible commentary. They need to know that the learned passage has gotten into the bones of the preacher and that he has a word, specifically, for his people. Preacher, learn from my pitfall. Use commentaries. But, please, do not preach them.

Preaching Pitfall #4: Ignore Key and Critical Helpers

Three types of persons are readily and constantly available for the preacher. The pitfall is that we ignore them, to our own peril. They are: the preacher, others who listen to his sermons, and the Holy Spirit.

The Preacher

I have always, do now, and will always and forever hate watching myself preach. It is awful. For the longest time, I refused to do it (and, truth be told, I don’t do it now as often as I should). However, I once heard someone advise preachers, saying, “it will do you a lot of good to watch what everyone else BUT YOU has to watch every week.” What am I communicating to myself (and others) if I expect the congregation to watch me but I don’t watch myself? Doing so is asking them to faithfully do something that I refuse to do myself. Gulp. Well, it has proved fruitful. As I said, it is awful. Agonizing. But, preacher, you will learn so much about your preaching if you courageously watch yourself. Do not ignore the helper who looks at you in the mirror every morning.

Others who Listen

Opinions are like belly buttons. Everybody has one. And every single soul who sits under your preaching has an opinion about your preaching. Trust me. Just ask ‘em. You ignore getting feedback from others to your own peril. An easy and readily-available way to avoid a host of pitfalls in preaching is by soliciting constructive criticism. Prayerfully seek out three or four active and trustworthy members of your congregation and ask them to evaluate your sermons. Listen carefully. Listen courageously. Listen humbly. And heed their wisdom and advise. You have, at your disposal, a massive amount of help available at any time. Don’t ignore them.

The Holy Spirit

Sure. Every preacher relies on the Spirit on Sunday morning. Every preacher wakes up with adrenaline coursing through their veins, nervous, and needy. We, rightfully so, plead for the Spirit’s help as we open God’s Word for His people. But if we aren’t careful, we will forget the Helper on a Wednesday morning. We will ignore God’s presence with us as we craft the sermon on a Thursday afternoon. We will read the commentaries, organize an outline, and liven it up with illustrations. We will even pray in the morning before we sit down in our study. But, to our peril, we will ignore the Spirit’s nearness as we process. The introduction. Conclusion. Insights from the passage. Applications for our people. Convictions to be heralded. The Gospel to be expressed. Transitions. Illustrations. The primary idea. All of it – the Spirit is present, walking with us as we prepare.

Preaching Pitfall #5: Assume

You know what they say about assuming something. It’s not very flattering. But it’s true. Assuming things just causes a bit mess and a lot of confusion. Assuming the congregation knows basic Bible stories and facts is unwise. Assuming the congregation knows theological and doctrinal terms is presumptuous. Assuming the congregation knows how to respond to your sermon is cruel. Assuming you know what they are dealing with without spending time with them is arrogant. Assuming things about the people the Father has called you to lead will ultimately lead to not having many people with you in your preaching. So, preacher, avoid this pitfall and determine to NOT ASSUME. Tell them when you’re talking about the Joseph in the Old Testament, not Mary’s husband. Take a moment to unpack what atonement means. Invite them to respond to specific instructions. Know what they’re thinking by spending time with them. Don’t assume.