When you finish writing a sermon, it's important to make sure it's completely ready to go before you preach it.

But this can be complicated if you don't know what to look for or how to determine if your sermon is complete.

In this episode, I'm going to give you three simple questions you can ask yourself before preaching any message to make sure it's 100% ready to go!

The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill Podcast by Christianity today has been the best podcast to come out in a long time. In it, host, Mike Cosper, profiles the story of Mark Driscoll who rose to prominence as the leader of Mars Hill Church, President of Acts 29 and a #1 New York Times Bestselling author.

The podcast holds nothing back in telling the story - the good and not so good parts of the journey and ultimate fall of Mark and his church.

Listening to this podcast has been a journey for me in itself. I admired Driscoll in my formative years of ministry. He was different, but in the end proved to be the same as so many pastors who have fallen.

From the first ten episodes of the podcast, I have drawn out three important lessons that I believe are important to share with you.

It is important to evaluate every message you preach. Intentional evaluation can keep you from repeating distracting mistakes and help you know what's working in your sermon delivery.

But, many preachers avoid evaluation altogether because there's not enough time or it just feels like a negative process.

In this episode, I'll show you a simple, yet effective, way to quickly evaluate any message and gain the insights you need to make the next one better!

When you have prepared your sermon well, it's important to make sure you are just as intentional about the delivery.

How you preach your sermon can either make your hard work come to life or leave you and everyone else wondering what just happened!

In this episode, we'll explore some important must-do's of sermon delivery.

Just as important as what people see on the screens when you preach, is what people have in their hands as you preach.

Your handout, bulletin, listening-guide - whatever you call it - should be intentional.

There are three main ways to structure what's on the handout. In this episode, we'll explore all three and I'll let you know which one I think is most effective!

When it comes to sermon prep, slides and other supporting media can often become an after thought.

But what your listeners see on the screens in the room while you're preaching can make a big impact on your sermon.

It's important to be intentional about your slides, how they're designed, and what they display.

In this episode, we'll explore some best-practices and some things to avoid in your sermon slides.

One of the most neglected aspects of the sermon prep process is also one of the most important: rehearsing.

By "rehearsing" I don't mean memorizing like the lines of a script. Rather, you want to rehearse so that you fully internalize and understand the message BEFORE you preach it.

Whether you're a seasoned veteran or a rookie, in this episode I'm going to make the case for why every preacher should rehearse and give you steps on how to do it.

One of the things I've discovered over the years is the power of a good preaching team.

What is a preaching team? If you're not familiar with this idea, it can seem more complicated than it is.

A preaching team is simply a group of trusted people that you select to help you formulate your sermon at different points of your message preparation process.

Utilizing your preaching team is a vital part of the sermon prep process, and in this episode we will dive into exactly how to form a team and best use it when you write your sermons.

Just as important as outlining is in the sermon prep process, so too is building out that outline with the right content.

A skeleton with no muscles and skin is not very useful. An outline by itself is left lacking as well.

This is why in this episode we will spend some time looking at how to build out the content in your sermon specifically around your bottom line and points.

Outlining is a crucial part of the sermon prep process.

Just like a body needs a skeleton, a sermon needs an outline to provide a framework for the message.

In this episode, we will dive into the most effective way to outline your message every single time.