Ryan Huguley - 8 Hours or Less: Writing faithful sermons faster

Studying to preach can be the best of times and the worst of times. There are days when it all flows so quickly you can hardly write fast enough to keep up. The passage falls into a perfect outline as soon as you open your Bible. Other times it feels like trying to wrestle an octopus into a straightjacket in the dark! Whether youre a seasoned preacher or you are just cutting your milk teeth, this book will help you.

LEVI LUSKO

Pastor of Fresh Life Church in Montana

Author of Swipe Right: The Life-and-Death Power of Sex and Romance

Time management is a continual struggle of pastoral ministry. Sermon preparation usually suffers the collateral damage. In 8 Hours or Less, Ryan Huguley will show you how to faithfully preach the Word and steward your time. Read this book for wise, practical advice for your weekly ministry of the Word.

H. B. CHARLES JR.

Pastor, Shiloh Metropolitan Baptist Church in Jacksonville, FL

Author of It Happens After Prayer: Biblical Motivation for Believing Prayer

I most often recommend the classic works on preaching to those I coach and mentor, and I will now be adding Pastor Ryans book, 8 Hours or Less. Ryan has planted a church and now pastors a large congregation, so he understands the demands of pastoral ministry and the need to maximize preparation time in the development of a sermon. This is an insightful and practical book that will help both the experienced expositor of Scripture as well as those stepping up to the pulpit for the first time.

JOE THORN

Pastor of Redeemer Fellowship in St. Charles, IL

Author of The Heart of the Church, The Character of the Church, and The Life of the Church

With all the demands of pastoral ministry, it is easy to allow our sermon preparation to slide. In this powerful and practical book, Ryan shows us how to make the most of our time and still preach biblical and helpful sermons. I wish I had read this book years ago. I highly recommend it!

GREG SURRATT

Founding pastor of Seacoast Church in South Carolina

President of the Association of Related Churches (ARC)

As a preaching pastor, Im well aware of how time can slip away in the study with lexicons, commentaries, maps, background research, and the hermeneutical challenges that accompany weekly sermon prep. Ryans done a good job of explaining the craft of building a strong sermon in a reasonable amount of time. This will help pastors make the most of their time in the study so they can have ample time for their church, family, and the rest of life.

ALEX EARLY

Preaching and Theology Pastor, Redemption Church in Seattle, WA

Author of The New Believers Guide to the Christian Life

I am continually amazed at how busy my life gets as a pastor. Staff meetings, counseling, and leadership development take up a ton of time, as they should. But perhaps the most important thing I do each week is to prepare a sermon to feed Gods people. This book is a great tool for every pastor who wants to maximize his time for Gods glory in preaching the gospel for the good of the church.

BRYAN MOWREY

Pastor, Jubilee Church in Saint Louis, MO

Movement leader, New Frontiers USA

2017 by
RYAN HUGULEY

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

Scripture quotations are from the ESV Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version), copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Edited by Kevin P. Emmert

Interior Design: Ragont Design

Cover Design: Erik M. Peterson

Cover illustration of clock face copyright 2017 by Prixel Creative/Lightstock (331295). All rights reserved.

All websites and phone numbers listed herein are accurate at the time of publication but may change in the future or cease to exist. The listing of website references and resources does not imply publisher endorsement of the sites entire contents. Groups and organizations are listed for informational purposes, and listing does not imply publisher endorsement of their activities.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Huguley, Ryan, author.

Title: 8 hours, or less : writing faithful sermons faster / Ryan Huguley.

Other titles: Eight hours, or less

Description: Chicago : Moody Publishers, 2017. | Includes bibliographical references.

Identifiers: LCCN 2017000712 (print) | LCCN 2017011695 (ebook) | ISBN 9780802495198 () | ISBN 9780802415080

Subjects: LCSH: Preaching.

Classification: LCC BV4211.3 (ebook) | LCC BV4211.3 .H844 2017 (print) | DDC 251/.01--dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017000712

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To Redemption Bible Church for listening graciously to me as I learned to preach

Friend,

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I love to preach. I hate preparing to preach.

I must have said this to countless people over the past seven years. Preaching is by far my favorite part of pastoring, but the stress, sweat, and tears that preparing to preach requires has caused to me to wake up on more than one Monday longing for the days when my only job was slinging espresso at Starbucks.

Every week went like this: Sunday morning I would finish preaching my sermon, pray with a few people, meet some guests, and help pack up equipment, since we were a mobile church. I would then climb into my truck to head home, high on all God had just accomplished in our time together as His church. For those brief hours, all the work of preparation was eclipsed by the fruit I was privileged to watch the Spirit of God produce through it. But before I even made it to the first stoplight, this momentary high was chased off by the realization that tomorrow I had to start the entire process over again. Monday meant another text of Scripture, another blank page, and yet another sermon to prepare. With every day that passed, the pressure increased. The clock was ticking. Sunday was coming. I spent all day Friday staring at the cursor, trying to wrestle every word out of my heart and onto the page. Every Saturday night I had recurring dreams of stepping up to preach but having nothing preparedan obvious outworking of my insecurity.