I read something Charles Metcalf wrote that I thought was brilliant. He said, "You will never preach better than the person you are. Preaching is not an isolated skill; it is the public overflow of your private life. As your character deepens, your preaching gains weight, texture, depth, beauty, and authority, but if your life is shallow and small, your preaching will be thin no matter how polished or impressive your delivery is. People don’t just hear your words—they feel your life, and they are trained to sense authenticity even if they can’t articulate it. If you’re disconnected, performative, or simply re-preaching something you heard this week, people know, even if they don’t know how they know. If your world is small, your preaching will be small; limited exposure to people, pain, culture, life, love, faith, and risk produces narrow preaching. You cannot want big preaching and live a small life. Your soul is all you’ve got, and in an age where people can access Scripture instantly and study it deeply on their own, your value is not just information—it’s conviction. Your authority doesn’t come from saying something new, but from living something real. Pray you are well. 🖤"- C In my coaching, we talked about people knowing if what you're preaching is real to you. Tim Keller calls it, "non-deliberate transparency". People know you ate the bread you're serving as a preacher. I told our group: we preach with confidence when we preach with conviction... and we preach from conviction when we have been personally convinced. Here are 10 things the craft of preaching cannot replace. 1. Your secret place with God. 2. Spending time with people not just preparing for them. 3. Having spiritual authority that you're submitted to. 4. Your growing relationship with God. 5. Pain & Suffering. 6. Biblical observations that have first impacted you. 7. The books you read/listen to. 8. A long obedience in the same direction. 9. The art you consume. 10. Steps of faith.

The past week's call with DYP coaching group was fun. I talked through the art of starting a sermon. As preachers, we have to be confident in how sermons start. We can't spend days in double-mindedness about where we should go. A sermon can be inspired by many things.. Devotional readings, art, an excerpt from a book, an assigned text by a leader, a theme you want to explore, a passage you just want to go after, a Holy Spirit prompting, a problem that you see that needs to be spoken to... in open to all of this! Every good sermon is provoked or prompted! The key is this: however a sermon is sparked... FIND A SPECIFIC TEXT TO OBSERVE AND COMMIT TO. Of course I'm open to changing it in the middle of study... but for the most part I'm committing to it! I shared with the group my journey of starting this weekends Easter Message. one: I read a devotional reading from lent on the toilet Monday morning... (yes.. the toilet.) two: I went to the passage it was speaking to... Matthew 27:15-26: Jesus or Barrabas? three: One question of the text that sparked the whole sermon: WHY DID THE CROWD CHOOSE BARRABAS? Ultimately why do we? Why do we choose what is bad, harmful, destructive over what is good, helpful, and life-giving? This is the question.. this is the tension: it's not I want to choose good but accident choose bad. This is... something in me PREFERS WHAT IS BAD. The crowd didn’t accidentally choose Barabbas… they preferred him. And if we’re honest... there are moments we don’t just fall into sin… we vote for it. Four: The rest is up to the scripture! 1.Vanity: "selfish interest"/ Power, Prestige, & Popularity 2.Voices: persuaded by religious leaders. Mimicking the crowd. 3. Volume: "they shouted ALL THE LOUDER" : what we don't want to deal with we drown out. Jesus Barrabas vs. Jesus the Christ. Choose your Jesus. Choose your Messiah. Everyone does. One brings life.. one brings destruction. Don't be surprised when you don't find life, fulfillment, and joy in Barrabas...