3 Lessons I Learned from Listening to Other Preachers

I preach 100+ times per year, so I've been listening to one sermon a week to learn from other preachers (I missed last week though).

Here are 3 preaching lessons I've learned recently:

Warren Wiersbe--He used a keyword to organize the sermon. I listened to a sermon that he preached on the Day of Atonement in Lev. 16. He structured the sermon around God's 6 appointments regarding the Day of Atonement. Appointment was his keyword. It didn't feel gimmicky. It was clear.

Charles Stanley--He focused on outsiders and skeptics and included them in what he was preaching. When he shared the gospel and invited people to be saved, Stanley explained what a prayer for salvation might sound like. This was unlike a manipulative preacher asking people to pray a prayer after him. He was explaining what a person might pray if they are ready to repent and trust Christ. I liked that a lot. I share the gospel in every sermon, but I realized that someone might not know what to say to God. I've started doing this in my own preaching.

Unnamed preacher--Sometimes we learn from negative examples. I listened to a very poor sermon from chapel at my alma mater (SBTS). I don't feel comfortable saying his name because I don't want to be controversial. The preacher spent the whole sermon explaining how scholars, translators, and commentators are all wrong about the passage he was preaching from Ecclesiastes. It was as if he had found something no one else had. It was bad form. It is appropriate to say someone is wrong about something if it is relevant to the audience. This was not that. He also didn't explain how his novel interpretation fits with the rest of the book of Ecclesiastes. 

I was very surprised at how much I loved Wiersbe's and Stanley's preaching. I didn't know much about either of them and look forward to reading and hearing them again.