How to Preach (Part 2): Sermon Delivery

What are the basics for sermon delivery? How do you preach with confidence and power?

This is the 2nd part of a three-part series on the basics of how to preach. If you missed part one, go check that out now, and then come back here.

Part one is all about sermon preparation—writing the message. Once your sermon is written and ready, the next step is to deliver it.

Phase 2: Presentation (Preaching the Sermon)

Sermon delivery is the scariest and most exciting part of preaching. All of your preparation has come down to this moment where you stand before the people and deliver the message with everything you’ve got.

Sermon delivery is an art form that takes years to master. So don’t be surprised if you first sermons are rough. Everyone is embarrassed by their early sermons. But don’t let that stop you.

If God has called you to preach, keep going and you’ll keep growing.

However, there are some tips and tricks you need to learn that will help you preach more effectively. These are some of the things I wish I understood better when I started in ministry.

1. Use less notes.

Many preachers are tied to their podium by their sermon notes. They think their notes are a tool to help them, but in reality, it’s holding them back from reaching their full potential.

Reducing your notes or eliminating them altogether will force you to internalize the message, improving your sermon delivery.

This doesn’t mean you prepare any less. In fact, preaching without notes takes more preparation because you have no safety net.

I still write a full sermon manuscript to clarify my thoughts, because I often don’t know what I think about something until I write it down. But I only allow myself to bring a page or two of notes with me on stage.

2. Vary your voice.

If you preach at the same pace for the entire sermon, your audience will lose focus. Your speaking will become white noise, no matter how fast or slow it is.

If you speak too fast, your audience may hear all your words, but their brains may not be able to keep up to understand all your ideas. If you speak too slow, their minds will think much faster than you speak, and their thoughts will move ahead to other matters.

Variety grips our interest. Sameness, like the sound of a babbling brook, lulls us to sleep.

Speak at a solid pace, then slow down or speed up for emphasis. Don’t be afraid to raise your voice for excitement, make sound effects when telling a story, or whisper in a tender moment. Moving your voice, like moving your body, captures attention.

3. Pause to punctuate your sentences.

Many of us are afraid of silence. We think we have to fill every second with words. 

Silence feels awkward. So where a pause should be, we add filler words like “umm…” and “uhh…”

Pauses are the punctuation marks of sermons. Sometimes you need commas—brief pauses. Sometimes you need periods—full stops. And sometimes you need ellipses—long breaks for suspense.

If you know you have a good line or a powerful statement, pause for a moment before and after the delivery. Allow the audience to savor that sentence.

You have to learn to embrace the awkwardness of silence because it isn’t awkward for the audience. What’s awkward is a preacher who never stops to take a breath.

Command over your voice projects confidence and certainty in the message. And if you are being true to God’s Word, you have every reason to be confident, because it’s not your message but God’s that you are delivering.

4. Speak clear and simple.

Pastors know too much. Many of us have years of college level Bible study under our belts. A lot of us have even studied at a master’s or even doctoral level.

If we are not careful, we will preach with the illusion that the audience under- stands us. In our mind, the point of our sermon is clear. We allude to Bible characters, speak in Christian terminology, and expect everyone in the audience to understand like we do.

But your listeners do not have the same knowledge you do. Biblical literacy in America is at an all-time low.

To communicate well, our words need to be clear and simple. But preaching simply is not so simple. It requires hard work and dedication.

Simple preaching doesn’t mean you have to water down the message. It means you have to teach as if those listening to your message know nothing about God, Christianity, or the Bible.

You can take the message deep, but you need to start with the people in the kiddie pool and ease them into the deep end.

5. Argue with yourself.

Don’t assume everyone is the audience agrees with you.

If your church is trying to reach your community, as it should, then you must assume that skeptics are in the room. You may not know who it is. It could be a first-time guest, or a longtime member wrestling with doubt.

We have an obligation to defend our beliefs both to challenge the doubts of skeptics and to build the faith of believers.

Speaking to skeptics reaches skeptics by addressing their objections. It encourages people to invite skeptical friends, because they’ll know their questions will get answered. It teaches people how to talk to skeptics. Plus, it strengthens the faith of your church by squashing their doubts.

One of the best ways to do this is to argue with yourself. 

After you make a point, ask yourself a critical question that some people in the audience are probably thinking. 

Say things like: 

• “OK, come on. You don’t really believe that do you?” 
• “Hold on. How can you say that when…?” 
• “But what about…?”

Object to controversial elements in your sermon before they do. Then, give a thoughtful response to their objections.

6. Look at people.

People are more likely to trust you when you look them in the eyes. Steady eye contact builds trust and improves communication.

If you don’t hold eye contact when making bold claims, people will question your sincerity. The power of your preaching will suffer.

Eye contact is also a natural sign of confidence. When you look your audience in the eye, you show them that you believe in the value of what you are saying.

Your eyes are a powerful tool. When you look at people, they look at you. It makes the message personal. You aren’t just speaking into the abyss; you are speaking to them.

Don’t just stare at your notes, the floor, or the back of the room. Good sermon delivery includes your eyes, not just your words.

7. Speak with your body.

Every movement of the body communicates something whether you are aware of it or not.

The best gestures are natural. They flow out of the content of your message.

Think about the last time you sat around the dinner table with old friends telling stories. You relaxed. Your hands flowed with the conversation. 

• When the story got exciting, your hands moved faster. When it was calm, your hands moved slower. 
• If you talked about the shape of something, you formed it with your hands. 
• When you spoke about an action, your hands (maybe your whole body) performed the action.

That’s how gestures in your sermon delivery should be, natural, like a great conversation among the best of friends. But most people are not naturals at gestures on stage. Nerves and overthinking get in the way.

The biggest enemies of your body are the nervous ticks and habits that conflict your message, lessen your effectiveness, and distract the listener. All preachers have them. You need to fight them. 

8. Laughter brings people together.

There are some who argue that there’s no place in a sermon for humor—that the message is too serious to be trivialized by jokes. 

I agree if the pastor isn’t funny, or the sermon becomes a standup comedy routine with no biblical teaching. But God created laughter. It was his idea, and it’s good for the soul.

A good use of humor can kill boredom, grab attention, disarm skeptics, humanize you, or soften hard truth.

Try to find one moment in the sermon that you can get a good laugh. You don’t have to be a comedian, and shouldn’t try to be. You don’t have to have the best jokes or any jokes at all. Just have fun, and allow your natural sense of humor to show. 

Laughter is good for the sermon and good for the soul.

9. Dress similar to your audience.

Like it or not, before you ever say a word, your appearance says something to the audience.

People relate more to people who dress like they do. So if you were a missionary in a foreign land, you would try to dress more like the people you are trying to reach. 

Who are the people you are trying to reach, and how do they tend to dress?

This doesn’t mean you should go overboard. You don’t have to start reading fashion magazines and follow every latest trend. Don’t be a fake. And never dress in a way that compromises your morals.

But if you preach in a culture where everyone shows up in a suit and tie, you should wear something formal. And if you preach in a culture where everyone wears flip-flops and t-shirts, you should wear something casual.

Don’t obsess over your looks. Don’t get caught in the snare of vanity. But be intentional about everything you communicate from the stage both to your audience’s ears and their eyes.

10. Be authentic—the same on stage and off.

Nobody wants to listen to a preacher who feels like a used car salesperson, trying to push them to do or buy something. People are longing for a leader who is authentic—someone who lives, sleeps, and breathes what they preach.

Authenticity is not something that you can teach. It’s not a tactic. It’s not a trick. Authenticity is not something you do; it’s who you are.

Authentic preachers live their sermons. They stand on the stage, rip open their chest, and reveal their heart to the congregation. Everything they say and do comes from deep within them. 

It’s not just an act, a show, or a presentation. Authentic preachers bleed their soul.

If you want to learn more about these 12 principles of sermon delivery and more, I go much further in-depth in my book Preach and Deliver.

That’s all for Phase 2. If you missed Phase 1, go back and see that. And stay tuned for Phase 3: Evaluation.