Nine Confessions of a Struggling Preacher

I’ve been preaching for almost 20 years and I still struggle at the task. Here are 9 struggles that I often experience in my preaching life.

I never have enough time to prepare.

I can’t say I’ve ever gone to the pulpit with a new sermon and thought,

“Wow, I really had way too much time to prepare this sermon!”

Just knowing I’ll be preaching Sunday speeds up the hands on the clock. The truth is life is life and I have five kids plus a bunch of other responsibilities outside of preaching.

On Monday morning there always seems to be plenty of time to get my next sermon going. By Thursday I’m wondering what happened to Tuesday and Wednesday and on Saturday I’m thinking maybe I could find a sermon I preached a couple of years ago and no one would notice.

I often doubt the significance of my message.

Here’s an example of some thoughts that go through my head, usually about 10 mins before I’m supposed to get behind the pulpit.

“My sermon is probably better suited for kindergartener than for this group.”

“Why would these people want to listen to me for 40 mins?”

“Maybe it would be better if I just copied my transcript and handed it out and let the people go home.”

“These truths are so simple, I’m pretty sure everyone is going to be bored out of their mind.”

“I really have nothing to tell them they don’t already know.”

I’ve learned to recognize these thoughts and do two things. First I just try to ignore them and remind myself of my calling and my responsibility to preach. Second, I pray and ask the Holy Spirit to use my words despite my mistakes, and weaknesses.

I worry about what others will think of me.

Yes, I want God’s Word to change the lives of those who hear me preach, I want them to clearly see truth and to concretely apply it to their lives.

Yet, I’d also really like it if they thought I was interesting, smart, well spoken, etc…

Unfortunately it’s easy to be more worried about what people will think of me than of what they will think of God’s Word.

My biggest fear is personal application.

Sometimes I’m afraid to preach a passage because I’m afraid that it will destroy one of my personal idols. Do you want to know the truth?

Preaching is easy,

Being a preacher is hard.

What I mean is that it doesn’t take a lot to get up and say some nice words about a text of Scripture, that’s called delivering a sermon and it’s not that difficult.

However, if you want to become a preacher you must first allow God’s Word to break your own heart, you must let it seep through the cracks down into your soul. It’s a painful process, it’s a life-long process.

A preacher understands that he needs the illumination of God’s Word in the dark dust filled corners of his life just as much or more than those he’s preaching to.

A preacher knows that his task doesn’t end at the conclusion of his sermon. He understands that his own heart requires a continual stream of increasing grace. He goes to God’s Word not get a sermon but rather to receive instruction.

I get super distracted when it’s time to study.

I’m convinced that often Satan doesn’t have to resort to some tyrannical scheme in order to destroy our Christian walk.

When it comes to studying God’s Word all he needs to do to stop me is remind me that I really should investigate that new camera I wanted to buy.

Or tell me how hungry I suddenly became and wouldn’t I study more effectively if I first made myself a little something to eat?

Or call to my attention that leaky toilet, which is probably costing us thousands of dollars in wasted water and it would be best to fix it immediately.

Or suggest that I reorganize all my desk drawers because you can’t really focus on God’s Word when you know there’s a mess in there.

Or…

In my experience distractions come like a swarm of locust in the first 5 mins of study, after that they are less likely to appear but they’re still there.

I still get nervous.

When I say that I get nervous, I don’t mean that I’m in the bathroom throwing up before a sermon. It’s not that bad, but it is there. It has also changed over time and it depends upon the audience.

Nevertheless, I would say that 90% of the time there is some sort of nervous anticipation. I’ve realized that rather than trying to eliminate nervousness all together, it’s best just to acknowledge it as a fact and learn to live with it.

I often get bored listening to other preachers.

Maybe this one sounds weird to you but I listen to a lot of sermons and I find that sitting and listening for extended periods of time can be difficult. I listen while I’m walking, making breakfast, working out, or cleaning the house.

I find that listening to other preachers is extremely helpful and often they spur sermon ideas in my own study.

I feel awkward when people compliment my preaching.

I understand people want to thank me and I’m grateful for that, but sometimes I just feel akward. I don’t preach for compliments and sometimes I’m not sure what to do with them. I mean what if I preached a really bad sermon, then what would people say?

For me there are two things I want to hear most after a sermon.

1. Thank you for explaining that text, I understand it much better now.

2. Thank you for helping me see how to apply that text, I’m going to do my best to apply it in my life.

I’d probably study the Bible way less if I didn’t have to preach.

This is just the truth. I know my own tendencies and in my life the need to preach has always motivated me to study God’s Word. It’s like they say, if you want to learn something well, then teach that subject.

Question: Are you a preacher, what struggles do you have?