The Balancing Act of Preaching

I once attended a new church with a friend. The people were friendly. The worship was good. But then I saw something I had never seen before.

In the front row I noticed a man sitting while scribbling feverishly on a napkin. After the music ended, the man stood up and walked to the pulpit. The pastor then preached from his napkin!

He wrote his entire message during worship!

When I asked my friend about it, I learned that this wasn’t just a one-time thing. This is how he prepared his message every week!

To be fair, he was a pretty good preacher. He preached a decent sermon. But his reasoning was that he would just let the Holy Spirit guide his messages. So he preached as the Spirit led.

At first this seems like a good answer. After all, it sounds very spiritual answer. But is that the best way to prepare to stand before your congregation and deliver the Word of God?

Does the Holy Spirit only speak right before we preach or can He also speak to us a week, a month, or even a year ahead of time?

As I wrestled with this question, I came upon Proverbs 21:31:

“The horse is made ready for the day of battle, but victory rests with the Lord.”

You cannot win without God. God brings the victory. BUT the horse is still prepared for battle. I mean, if someone ran naked into battle we would think they were crazy. Wouldn’t we?

So as preachers we plan. We prepare. We practice. We pontificate. We find words that all begin with the same letter. Then we preach.

Preaching is 50% physical and 50% spiritual. Good preaching requires an equal dose of preparation and dependence upon the Holy Spirit. We must find balance between both.

The pastor who wrote his sermon during worship was a good preacher. But how much better could he have been if we was seeking the direction of the Holy Spirit while he prepared his sermon all week, instead of just on Sunday morning?

While writing your sermon notes during worship may sound extreme. I have also seen many pastors go the opposite direction. They study so thoroughly that they don’t need God’s help teaching. They do it on their own.

We have to remember that God brings the victory. We should have a complete dependence on Him for our messages. But we still need to do the hard work of preparation.

We cannot use the Holy Spirit as an excuse for our laziness. But hard work will also never compensate for a lack of God’s work.

I heard a pastor say once, “Work like it depends on you, but pray like it depends on God.”

That is the balance we need to bring to preaching.

The question isn’t, “Should be dependent on the Holy Spirit or preparation?” It is, “Am I seeking the Holy Spirit and honoring Him in my preparation?”

Each of us at times would probably say we lean too heavily towards one spectrum or the other.

Do you tend to rely too heavily on preparation or too heavily on the Holy Spirit? How do you become a balanced preacher? (comment below)