Maybe you’ve heard these two famous ways to start preaching without notes: “Pray, and God will download your message to you. You’ll be able to preach without notes. Period.” That was the first “wise counsel” I received when I asked how to preach without notes. It didn’t really help me. I prayed. A lot. And I read my notes.
“Write your message and then memorize it” was my second “wise counsel.” That didn’t work either.
Those two “methods” don’t really work for a vast majority of preachers. For a few chosen ones, it may function. Obviously, if you’re reading an article on how to preach without notes, you want to find out how to do it. Perhaps it can be S.I.M.P.L.E.
First off, why do you want to preach without notes? Why do you choose to leave your notes behind? Your reasons matter as they determine your level of motivation. Is it because popular communicators preach without notes? Do you want to better connect with your audience? Is your desire to let the word of God do its work within you or to preach from your heart? The closer you are to the inspiring factors, the possibility of you excelling at preaching without notes increases.
Contrary to some beliefs, communicating without notes is not winging it, or it shouldn’t be. Your preparation needs to be up to par “to proclaim to you the whole will of God” (Acts 20:27 NIV). You’re not doing God’s people justice when you mishandle His Word, knowing “that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness” (James 3:1 NASB).
Speaking without notes doesn’t mean your sermon becomes a recital. You’re not merely quoting lines from Shakespeare, and preaching is certainly not a school play. You are proclaiming God’s message to humanity.
Communicating without your notes isn’t necessarily having no notes at all. It may mean that your notes are there in case you need them.
In some circles, preaching without notes is the epitome of spirituality. “I let the Holy Spirit guide me into what I need to preach,” you might hear. You’re not more spiritual because you don’t have notes. For some, it’s even a lazy character trait as they do not want to prepare!
Lastly, preaching without notes doesn’t mean your message becomes simplistic. As you know, making a message simple is not an easy task. John Maxwell says you need “to do the hard work to make it simple” to connect with people.
One of the main goals of preaching without notes is to have the capability to interact with the audience. While you look at your notes, you lose your ability to connect visually with your people. You are part of the message you’re preaching; that is why it is so vital to keep eye contact with your congregants. You may say “they’re listening” to your message but really, they are also watching the messenger!
Now that we got this out of the way, let’s discover the S.I.M.P.L.E. guide to start preaching without notes.
NOTE: For the purpose of helping you gain perspective, I’ll be using 1 Kings 18-19 as a base.
Make it S.I.M.P.L.E. by building …
Strong Structure
The skeleton you build needs to be able to support the weight of your content, for sure, but more than that, your outline needs to be clear to you. Like Spurgeon once said, “When there’s haze in the pulpit, there’s fog in the pews.” Your sermon structure needs to be internalized for you to be comfortable communicating it. A good structure will have elements like a major point, a few points tied to your major point, and a strong beginning and finish.
Introduction
A great introduction is necessary for preaching without notes. This gives people a reason to listen to you and hear God’s Word. A great introduction will answer the question “Why should I listen to this message?”
If there isn’t an answer, then you’ll be talking more than preaching, which would go against your goal. “It’s God’s Scripture I’m preaching” is not a good enough answer for people to listen, unfortunately. In your preparation, once you find THE reason, you can have an intro in the form of questions that beg a response (“Have you ever felt like XYZ?” or “What would happen if ABC?”). Personal stories are ALWAYS a good way to introduce your message. People can relate to stories; after all, humanity has been using them for millennia to connect with each other.
Major thought
One major thought is all you need. Whatever the style of the sermon, from topical to expository, your message should have 1 central thought that ties everything together. This is where you need to do the hard work to keep it simple. One major point and the rest is built around that.
Back to Elijah in 1 Kings 18, Elijah asks a very important question: “How long will you waver between two opinions?” (1 Kings 18:21 NIV). The text is rich in many ways. Your main point could be, based on his question, that “Your choices matter.” The rest of the text proves this.
Your choice to stand matters (I am the only prophet), your choice of who you follow matters (God or Baal), your choice of declaration matters (The Lord is our God), your choice of your hope matters (I see a cloud beginning to form), your choice to pray matters (Answer me Lord so that they will know you are God) and you could go on.
You may forget 12 points, but you certainly can remember 1 major thought. And so can your church! Your points are built around your central thought.
NOTE: Your intro could be, “Do you remember eating the chocolate chip cookies you weren’t supposed to when you were a kid? You got a consequence for not obeying. You learned that day that your choices matter”.
Preach it
Yes, as simple as that! Just preach it, communicate it, spill your guts, speak from the heart, be open, be vulnerable, connect with your people, and join them. BUT, do not recite a lecture; you’re not in a class. Do not act it out; you’re not in a theater. Do not take it lightly as you’re not in a comedy club.
Because you wrote a strong outline, you can focus on people, and let the Holy Spirit guide you in your actual message. You had time to let the word of God permeate you over the course of a few days or weeks prior to preaching. You won’t have to worry about what you want to say, because it’s in you.
As you already can imagine, you will forget some of the things you want to communicate, yet, don’t fret about it. Why? No one knows what you want to preach. Your people do not know what your content is. Only you know that! Missed a point? Nobody knows. Keep on preaching.
Limit your time
At first, preaching without notes, you may feel like you have to preach X number of minutes, you know, your usual 30-35-40-50 minutes. Limit the duration of your message to something you’re comfortable with. It can be less and not more. No one has ever complained of a great communicated message that also had the quality of being shorter than usual. Max it out at 30 minutes, or 10 minutes less than your usual time.
If you plan to use 3 points, this gives you about 7 minutes per point, plus a 3-minute intro and a 3-4 minute conclusion.
Limiting the sermon time forces you to focus on its content, on what you already prepared, and caps out your meanderings. Not that you have ever gone down a rabbit hole while you preach.
End sentence
Memorize what your last sentence will be. Make it clear. In our present example, it could be, “Since your choices matter, make them count this week when…”. Preparing your last sentence is very helpful. It guides you to where you planned to land and leaves people to live out what they learned, to take the next steps.
Your end sentence is your call to action, the message to live out. It encapsulates the essence of your message.
One last step
There is one last step to take to preach without notes. It is a useless step if you do not prepare the S.I.M.P.L.E. guide. Preach it out loud before you actually preach it live to your church. This action is the missing link for many preachers who have tried to preach without notes but have failed at it.
Written and mental notes do not automatically create a successful delivery. They only allow you to keep track of your content and let you focus. Saying it out loud actually enables you to time yourself, build “muscle memory,” and be comfortable with your content. I urge you to try your message out once before preaching it. It will be the stepping stone to you getting more at ease.
Remember, your choices matter. Choose to make it SIMPLE. Practice many times. Rehearse it at least once before you preach it. Your capacity to get better at it will increase as you choose to stick with it.
I urge you to try your message out once before preaching it. It will be the stepping stone to you getting more at ease.
Remember, your choices matter. Choose to make it SIMPLE. Practice many times. Rehearse it at least once before you preach it. Your capacity to get better at it will increase as you choose to stick with it.
