A couple of things have helped. One is that I dont travel any, that takes a lot of time from peoples schedules, if they travel, so I dont travel.
Max LucadoI don't have a lot of time in the sermon anyway. The sermon is only 25 minutes, which to me is frighteningly short. So I feel as if I need to get into that pretty quickly and make it as practical and accessible as possible.
Max LucadoOne of the greatest gifts we can give people is the hope that their death is nothing to fear - you know, not that it has no fear in it, but the promise of scripture is that God will lead us through the valley of the shadow of death.
Max LucadoDon't equate the presence of God with a good mood or a pleasant temperament. God is near whether you are happy or not.
Max LucadoI do think there is great strength, though, in starting a sermon with a story, then returning to that story at the end. That puts book ends to a sermon. It is a real simple technique that communicates to the audience that there is a sense of closure, that they have a package here, or we began and we closed with this. I think that's just a nice technique.
Max Lucado