Does any other preacher look back at your old sermon notes and get mad at yourself? I do! Looking at good material preached forty years ago aggravates me.
Here is the thing I find frustrating. Nobody taught me how to preach to the lost. For most evangelists of that era, thankfully not all, the “bread and butter” was to preach a congregation to their feet rather than a sinner to their
knees. So a service with 40 attendees, which was a good sized crowd for many of my 7 years of evangelizing, with only 2 lost people in attendance got a rip-roaring sermon to the saints.
How dumb is that?
Even as a novice preacher I knew the parable of the one lost sheep getting the attention from the shepherd! It was in my head but wasn’t in my ministry.
The Journey
This heading will be short and simple. When Norma and I became pastors of a baby church in North-eastern Louisiana we had no money to compensate an evangelist. If the lost were going to be preached too I’d have to be the fellow who did it.
Further, it dawned on me that the late G.A. Mangun, who had grown a great church full of amazing people, reached for the lost every single Sunday.
I didn’t have a name for my philosophy back then but began to practice what I now name: Sunday is for sinners!
Through time and plenty of mistakes, I got better at reaching for the unconverted. It worked. Evangelistic preaching is simple, straight-forward and brings good-news to the lost. If I can learn how, you can too!
Decide to Preach the Master
Being a young preacher is difficult. Experience in the field is obtained through many channels that sometimes confuse us and change our minds about various things. But let there be no mistake: you must learn to reach the lost.
- Through personal evangelism. If charts have not worked for you look at What the Bible Says . . .. These 7 topical lessons work. The material is easy to teach. Just now, due to Coronavirus overstock, the What the Bible Says . . . Home Bible Study is available at its pre-release price.
- From the pulpit. Preaching to sinners is different than preaching to saints. And rare is the man who can shoot at two targets with one arrow.
Supporting Masterful Preaching
Church member, when your pastor preaches something you know well, help him preach instead of hurting him. Loose your faith on behalf of the word of God being preached. Pray a clear lane in which the Holy Ghost can work.
Don’t sit there and pout because the pastor hasn’t studied to arrange something deeper or more entertaining. Read again the book of Acts and notice how often the sermon was the same! Never get tired of a saving message.
Getting Better
Becoming better at preaching to the lost is a process of time and effort. It has been hard work to make my intellectual, deep, loooooonnnnnng sermons, short and simple. However, in the long run, it is essential for us to reach the lost.
Remember Paul’s admonition to his protégé Pastor Timothy, “Do the work of an evangelist.” Did you notice Timothy’s title? He was a pastor instructed to do the work of an evangelist. To those coming behind me: “Do the work of an evangelist – personal work and pulpit work.
And Pastor Murrell Cornwell (Wichita, Kansas) believes you should never have any pulpit work until you have proved yourself effective with personal work. Teach What the Bible Says . . . or Exploring God’s Word or whatever one-on-one.
The 160 pages of Masterful Preaching (read my guarantee below) tells of my journey toward evangelism. It gives tips on how to study for preaching to the lost and an array of topics that you can study toward. Preaching to the unconverted is a vital part of your ministry.
Double Your Money
We are all discouraged from investing in anything where doubling our money in a few days is suggested. But here is the thing. I believe so strongly in the need to consistently preach to the lost that I’ve been making this deal for a while.
If you buy Masterful Preaching, from my CarltonCoon.com and it does not make sense to you and help you do better at preaching to the lost you get all your money back X 2. AND you get to keep the book to start a winter fire. No questions asked!
Now – you will need to remind me of my promise, because to date after having sold two full printings of Masterful Preaching I’ve never had one person ask for me to double their money back. Not one!
Our world needs more “Sundays are for Sinners” churches. Let’s rock the devil’s world by getting consistent at preaching to the lost.
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