Praying For Your Worship Services

Below is a guide to use for praying for your weekly worship services. It can be used by pastors, staff, and congregational members.

Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. -- John 4:23

The following are prayer topics that will strengthen our worship services. Please pray that:

*The worship time will be glorifying to God.

*Our hearts will be prepared to hear from God so that He can speak to each person present through the music and the message.

*Our preacher will be sensitive to the leading of the Lord both as he prepares and as he speaks, resulting in the Holy Spirit speaking to us through the message.

*People will be faithful to apply to their lives what God shows them during the service.

*People will come to the Lord for both salvation and renewal.

*The musicians will each be in good voice and show forth the joy of the Lord.

*God will give wisdom and guidance for our worship minister as she chooses the music, that each song will deepen our worship experience and prepare us for the message.

*All equipment will work perfectly.

*All who attend will feel the love of God in our people and sense a spirit of peace and unity and that they are an important part of our church.

*Guests will be welcomed, be ministered to, and will desire to become a part of our church family.

Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song. For the LORD is the great God, the great King above all gods… Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the LORD our Maker; for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care. -- Psalms 95:1-3; 6-7

How to Preach With a Full Manuscript (without anyone being able to tell!)

In Preaching classes the professor often warns the students of the tendency many have to become "note-bound" -- especially if he or she is using sermon notes that have the message written out word-for-word (or "full manuscript"). I have sat through many sermons myself where the preacher read, rather than preached, the message. It is quite cumbersome to follow someone who does this, and the warning by our well-meaning professors needs to be heeded. But at the same time, many of us who are in the pulpit week after week know that it is next to impossible to memorize the entire message, and have failed miserably at speaking extemporaneously, even if we have gone over the sermon again and again.

The following suggestions for preaching with a full manuscript while looking like you are preaching with little or no notes comes from years of experience. I have many people ask me how I preach without notes, when the fact is, I have five or more pages of single-spaced, typed notes in front of me the entire time. Here is how I do it:

1. Use a large enough font to see from a distance (I use 14 point).
2. Use Clear, Relevant, and Simple Main Points and Sub-Points (in BOLD CAPITAL LETTERS).
3. Start every sentence with a new line.
4. Start every sentence with a hyphen (-).
5. Use the ampersand (&) instead of "and" and use shortened forms of "with" (w/) and "without" (w/0).
6. Use commas (,), colons (:), and semi-colons (;) as you normally would.
7. Put all illustrative material in brackets [Illustration].
8. Type all of your scripture texts in italics other than the scripture reference.
9. Take a Yellow Highlighter and highlight all Main Points and Sub-Points, the hyphen (-) that begins each new line, the ampersands (&), "with" and "withouts" (w/, w/o), commas (,), colons (:), and semi-colons (;). Also, highlight all scripture text (but not the reference), and draw a line (with the highlighter) down the left-hand margin of your page alongside any sermon illustrations you have.

After you've done this you will see a single-spaced sermon manuscript with yellow markings all over it. It will look like the graphic below:

(Click the link for an actual sermon -- http://www.sermonworld.com/wiaic3.doc)

What this will do will be to allow you to scan a good portion of the page, taking in much more than you would be able to otherwise. You will find yourself only glancing at the page occasionally, and facing your congregation a much higher percentage of the time. In addition, if you provide your congregation with a "fill-in-the-blank" type outline, the majority of them will be looking down at the page when you state your Main and Sub-Points, allowing you to rapidly focus your eyes on the text below the points and look back up at your audience before they are done writing on the sermon notes page.

One more thing -- go over your notes the evening before you preach, and again about 15 minutes to an hour before you actually deliver the message. You will be so familiar with your sermon that you will find yourself glancing at the highlighted portions and barely needing to skim the notes at all. But at the same time, you have the security of your manuscript "just in case!"

In Christ,
Barry L. Davis, D.Min.
http://www.sermonworld.com
http://www.pastorshelper.com