{"id":31207,"date":"2022-09-10T15:21:12","date_gmt":"2022-09-10T20:21:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/are-you-driving-home-the-right-sermon-points\/"},"modified":"2022-09-10T15:21:12","modified_gmt":"2022-09-10T20:21:12","slug":"are-you-driving-home-the-right-sermon-points","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/are-you-driving-home-the-right-sermon-points\/","title":{"rendered":"Are You Driving Home the Right Sermon Points?"},"content":{"rendered":"
Anne Nyg\u00e5rd photo – Unsplash <\/p>\n

By Luke Holmes<\/em><\/p>\n

Some say there\u2019s a German word for everything. The uniqueness of the German language allows words to be created that have a very specific meaning.<\/p>\n

One of those words I learned recently is nagelbalken<\/em>. That translates to \u201cnail beam,\u201d but it really means a competition in which participants compete against others to drive nails into a wooden beam.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s both a game of leisure and competition. And in many places in Germany it\u2019s still a tradition at weddings.<\/p>\n

Pastors also know something about trying to drive points home. But the tools that a pastor uses most often are words, not hammers.<\/p>\n

When used correctly, the words of a sermon can be driven into the mind just like a nail into wood.<\/p>\n

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You\u2019ve probably heard a sermon where the pastor drives the truth of the Scripture deeper and deeper into your mind.<\/p>\n

In the hands of a master builder, a hammer and nail provide shelter, or create art, or build places of worship.<\/p>\n

A powerful sermon can do greater things. The word of God is greater than any tool or weapon that is formed on the earth.<\/p>\n

The word of God can raise the dead, restore marriages, and end addictions. And the preacher gets to stand up and share it.<\/p>\n

Most pastors consider themselves to be able to hammer a point into the mind with one single blow, like a master builder with a hammer. But the mind can be tougher than the hardest of woods.<\/p>\n

When we use preach and exposit the word of God we need to not be content to say something once and then move on.<\/p>\n

The legendary professor Haddon Robinson said, \u201cTo nail a truth into the mind requires that it be hit several times.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those who preach God\u2019s word often get so caught up in all that we want to say that the message becomes muddled and unclear.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve heard sermons that only seem to hit the points with a glancing blow and don\u2019t make the effort to fix truth in hearts and minds.<\/p>\n

Other preachers hit a whole bunch of nails in only a little bit instead of pounding home one point until it can never be removed.<\/p>\n

A master builder will tell you that one nail securely fastened is better than a dozen nails that made it halfway in.<\/p>\n

In the same manner a sermon that makes one point clearly is better than one that makes three points poorly. A sermon isn\u2019t a competition to see how many points the preacher can get across, like a nail driving competition.<\/p>\n

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The point of a sermon is to change hearts and minds through the power of God\u2019s word and the risen Christ.<\/p>\n

The more important the truth of Scripture, the more important it is for us to make sure that the message gets across.<\/p>\n

Robinson notes the difference between application and exposition in the sermon as distinct ways to hammer the truth into the mind.<\/p>\n

The experienced preacher knows how to use those tools to hammer that nail of truth into the heart of the hearer.<\/p>\n

Unlike the builder though, the power of a preacher isn\u2019t in his persona strength but in the Word of God he preaches. It is not the words of a pastor that convicts of sin, it\u2019s the Holy Spirit through him.<\/p>\n

The words of the Apostle Paul to the church in Corinth remind us of that fact. Paul says he preached the word with fear and much trembling. His preaching was a demonstration of the power of God, not the wisdom of Paul.<\/p>\n

In the same way, the ministry of the great preachers of the church like Spurgeon, Lloyd-Jones, or Chrysostom remind us that the power of God is demonstrated not through man\u2019s intelligence or gifts but through hearts and minds that are completely devoted to him.<\/p>\n

When the pastors preach, they should be sure that the tool they\u2019re using has the power to change lives.<\/p>\n

The pastor is not certain of their wisdom or intelligence. But the pastor who preaches can be sure they have the same tools God gave all those other famous preachers.<\/p>\n

In the end the preacher isn\u2019t the one swinging the hammer; they are<\/em> the hammer. Every preacher is a tool in the hands of the Master Builder.<\/p>\n

In the hands of the Father the weakest tool can be used to change hearts and lives forever.<\/p>\n

LUKE HOLMES (@lukeholmes)<\/strong> is husband to Sara, father to three young girls, and pastor at First Baptist Church Tishomingo, Oklahoma, since 2011. He\u2019s a graduate of Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and can be found online at LukeAHolmes.com.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Anne Nyg\u00e5rd photo – Unsplash By Luke Holmes Some say there\u2019s a German word for everything. The uniqueness of the German language allows words to be created that have a very specific meaning. One of those words I learned recently is nagelbalken. That translates to \u201cnail beam,\u201d but it really means a competition in which … Continue reading “Are You Driving Home the Right Sermon Points?”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31207","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31207","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31207"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31207\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31207"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31207"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31207"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}