Reeb Charley - Thatll Preach!

Thatll
Preach!

Charley Reeb

THATLL PREACH:
5 SIMPLE STEPS TO YOUR BEST SERMON EVER

Copyright2017 by Abingdon Press

All rights reserved.

No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, except as may be expressly permitted by the 1976 Copyright Act or in writing from the publisher. Requests for permission should be addressed in writing to Permissions, Abingdon Press, 2222 Rosa L. Parks Blvd., PO Box 280988, Nashville, TN 37228-0988, or e-mailed to .

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data has been requested.

ISBN: 978-1-5018-3547-6

Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture quotations are from the Common English Bible. Copyright 2011 by the Common English Bible. All rights reserved. Used by permission. www.CommonEnglishBible.com.

Scripture quotations marked (KJV) are from The Authorized (King James) Version. Rights in the Authorized Version in the United Kingdom are vested in the Crown. Reproduced by permission of the Crowns patentee, Cambridge University Press.

Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.TM Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com. The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.TM

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MANUFACTURED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

In memory of William L. Self,
who taught me that the greatest of these is preaching.

There is not now nor has there ever been an acceptable substitute for Christian preaching.

Paul Scherer, The Word God Sent

If Protestantism ever dies with a dagger in its back, the dagger will be the Protestant sermon.

Donald Miller, The Way to Biblical Preaching

The power of a sermon lies in its structure, not in its decoration.

Halford E. Luccock, In the Ministers Workshop

The AGAPE Method:
Five Simple Steps to Your Best Sermon Ever

I know what you might be thinking: Five simple steps to my best sermon ever? Really? Maybe youve read your fair share of books on preaching and have never seen such a bold claim. I imagine most of the preaching books youve read are edifying but not very easy to apply. Im also guessing most of those books have not produced results for your preaching ministry. This book is not only easy to apply but will equip you to preach the best sermons of your life.

This is not a textbook. There are plenty of those. This is a practical book born out of more than twenty years of preaching in the local church and over fifteen years teaching the practice of preaching. In the following pages you will discover a secret to great preaching. More importantly, you will learn to apply the secret in five simple steps and experience astonishing results. When you finish reading this book your only disappointment will be that it was not available to you sooner.

Whether you are an experienced pastor, youth minister, seminary student, or lay speaker this book will take your preaching to the next level. You are about to learn how to communicate the gospel in a way that transforms lives and a have a lot of fun doing it! This book will also be useful to anyone who speaks publicly in any capacity.

Warning: do not skip ahead to the five steps. I know it is tempting, but the method will be revealed to you soon. Absorbing the ideas before it is crucial to applying the five steps for maximum impact.

Congratulations! You are about to discover the secret to great preaching. It is not a secret because no one is aware of it. It is a secret because many preachers know it but ignore it, much to the suffering of their ministry. Sadly, the secret to great preaching is hidden in plain sight. I am willing to bet you have come across it but dismissed it because you thought it was too simple. Now that you have this book in your hands you are one sermon away from being a better preacher. You will apply the secret and marvel at the fruits of your preaching. What you are about to learn could revolutionize your ministry. Everything you need to preach with confidence and power can be found in the following pages.

This book is practical and gives you a method and a framework to deliver dynamic and inspiring sermons every time you get up to preach. Sound unrealistic? Just keep reading and give it a shot. I imagine you want your preaching ministry to improve and have the kind of results you had hoped for but have not yet achieved.

I am sure you work very hard on your sermons. You grind over the biblical text and dig deep into your faithful commentaries. You spend much time in prayer. You have a burning conviction in your soul to reach people with the gospel, but your messages are not having the impact you desire. Perhaps you see your listeners yawn, check the time, and text their friends while you are preaching your heart out. Maybe you are tired of working so hard with little to show for it. Something needs to change but you dont know how to change.

It is said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results. Its time to try something new. Its time to do something that really works! All of the great preachers you admire use this secret. You can be great too if you simply apply it.

You may be thinking, OK, who is this guy? How does he know this so-called secret, and why should I believe him? Preaching is my first love. I believe with all my heart that faithful preaching changes lives. I have been preaching the gospel in local churches of all sizes for over twenty years. Presently I serve as senior pastor of one of the largest churches in the Florida conference of The United Methodist Church. While serving the local church, I spent several years studying homiletics (the craft of preaching) at the graduate level, earning a doctor of ministry in preaching. I am an instructor of preaching to local pastors in course of study programs. I also serve on the proclamation team of my conferences board of ordained ministry and work with pastors seeking to improve their preaching. In all my time preaching, studying preaching, and teaching preaching one thing has become clear: there is a secret to great preaching. Those who apply it become great preachers. Those who dont apply it struggle with preaching effectively. Its that simple.

Lets get one thing out of the way. The secret to great preaching is not prayer. I know that is common advice, and it sounds good but dont believe it. A faithful prayer life is vital to effective preaching, but prayer alone will not make you a great preacher. I know some of the most spiritually devoted ministers who struggle with preaching. The truth is you can pray harder than a monk, be wiser than a desert father, and know scripture better than your Bible professors and still not have a great preaching ministry. If you want to be a preacher who is consistently used by God to change lives you must apply the secret.