I just heard a sermon where the guy used just one verse and then spoke for the rest of the time. How much should a pastor use? Is there any guidance for this in the Bible? To boil it down: what constitutes a good sermon vs a bad sermon from a church’s pastor? (For Video Sermon)
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What constitutes a good sermon? What a question! There are so many styles of preaching and so many styles of preachers. But if there is one thing that must be consistent is the use of the Word of God.
Frankly, I do not know what I would say if I didn’t have the Bible to draw my preaching from. I’m not very good at coming up with things on my own. That’s one reason among many why I love having the Bible to preach from.
I took a look at all the different ways that the word “preach” was used in the Bible and what exactly was being preached. Except for a handful of generic references where the subject of the preaching was not mentioned, I found the following:

• References to preaching the Kingdom of God (14 times)
• References for preaching the gospel/faith/cross (44 times)
• References to preaching repentance, forgiveness (5 times)
• References to preaching the Word (16 times)
• References to preaching Jesus/Christ/Lord(24 times)

In all of these cases, I find it would be totally impossible to follow the biblical examples without using the Bible.
But the question was not, “what to preach” but “How much Bible should be in the message?”
I once heard someone say that Spurgeon and Wesley often used only one verse in their messages. But actually, that’s far from the truth. They quotes verses and portions of verses in the course of their messages as they exegete the verse they began with.
I don’t personally like to hear a man speak for an hour when he hasn’t given me much from the Bible. The power is in the Word of God and not in the illustrations, funny stories, or memorable anecdotes.
Some preachers say that a message should be expository. In other words, the preacher takes a passage of scripture - maybe a few verses, maybe a paragraph, maybe a whole chapter, and expounds upon what the passage says, how it relates to the topic of that particular book or chapter, and how we should apply it.
Others like to preach topics where they skip around the Bible hitting major verses or passages on the topic. As they read each verse or passage, they expound upon how the passage relates to the topic and how we should apply it.
In either case, whether expository or topical, both styles have elements of the other style. But most importantly, both are grounded upon: 10 the reading of the Scriptures, 2) explaining what the Bible means, and 3) how it should be applied.
We see the same thing happening in the book of Nehemiah:
Nehemiah 8:8  So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading.
So, the foundation of everything in a sermon must be the Bible. And I cannot personally see how it can be called good preaching if only one verse is used.
The typical sermon has anywhere from 3 to 7 major points with a couple of important sub-points under each. Given that each main point may have one sub point of application and two points of theological support, a 7-point outline should have a main text, at least 1 supporting verse for each main point (usually taken from the main text in expository preaching) and a verse or part of a verse for each supporting sub-point.
Now, I am well aware that many preachers don’t feel the same way about preaching as I do. But I am also well aware that those who come to the Haven leave with a deep knowledge of the Bible and typically are unsatisfied until they find another church that uses the Bible in the preaching too.
If you examine the sermons of everyone in the New Testament, you will find that they use the Old Testament to prove their message. Even Jesus often used the Old Testament, even though everything He said was literally the Word of God.
Back to the verse in Nehemiah, we see three distinct things happening - they read the word, they gave the sense, they cause them to understand.
The read the Word in Hebrew. But since the majority of the Jews had been scattered throughout the Gentile world for the last 70 years or so, most of them didn’t understand Hebrew so they had to “give the sense”. In other words, translate it into their spoken language which would most likely had been Aramaic. 
In fact, a little known bit of trivia for you, did you know that Ezra 4:8-6:18, Ezra 7:12-10:6, Daniel 2:4-7:28, and Jeremiah 10:11 were all written in Aramaic and not Hebrew? That’s about 268 verses of the Old Testament. 
You might also remember from the book of Daniel that when the Jews were taken into captivity, the Babylonians made them learn their language and culture (Dan 1:4). So many of them would not have understood the reading of Hebrew without an interpreter.
Then, according to Nehemiah 8:8, they caused them to understand the reading. And this is what good preaching is. It is based upon the Word of God where the preacher helps the people understand what was read.
Having said all that, if I were looking for a good church, and I were taking a look at the kind of preaching that is done in a church, I would probably also take a look at whatever sermons I could get my hands on and try to discern if the preaching covered a multitude of subjects and not just the same messages from a different text. Something should be said about preaching the whole couple of God.

Nowadays the Covid Vaccine is getting a lot of attention. Some people say a Christian should not get the vaccine. I want to do the right thing. Should I obey the government or follow my heart?
First of all, there are a number of different beliefs concerning vaccines and we should recognize it is not as simple as saying “some people like it and some don’t”.

• Some people believe vaccines are harmful in general and they do not want to get any type of vaccine for any reason.
• Some people think vaccines are generally safe except that this one has not been properly vetted.
• Some people do not like the idea but will go with the program because without the vaccine, they are limited in travel, work, etc.
• Some people have no problem with the vaccine and will receive it without any qualms whatsoever.

Any nothing I say here is going to change anyone’s opinion. And depending upon your position, you, as a believer will read the Bible and come to your own conclusion which you believe to be biblical. At least I would hope that you would.
Are vaccines harmful? Well, there are always a few who will have problems with just about any medicine or treatment so let’s just set those aside and look at the data. The data suggests that vaccines are not harmful. 
So, if you believe that they are, you must also believe that there is some sort of conspiracy of lies to coerce the general public into getting the vaccine. And of course, you would have to have some sort of motive as well.
That being said, we have no, I repeat, NO long-term data for the Covid vaccines. So, at this point, we really don’t know if it is harmful or not. And that kind of flows into the second position, “has it been properly vetted?”
Again, we can only go with the information given to us but normally, it takes several years to get something FDA approved. In this case, they did do step 1, step 2, step 3, in order. They say they accomplished several steps at the same time so they could cut the time down. They also began mass producing so it would be ready once it was approved.
And you have to know that these companies have a very big financial interest in getting it approved, especially since they spent millions in mass-producing before it could even be used. All I can say is that they must have really had a lot of confidence in their product. So, at the very least, they believed that their product would be deemed safe.
Now here is a thought that I am not sure I have heard anyone address. But the government has a social medicine program and they pay out when people get sick. So it stands to reason that the government would mandate the general populace to take certain steps to keep it healthy.
We can talk about social medicine some other time, and I have some pretty strong thoughts on that too. But for now, understand that it is only natural for the government to strongly push vaccines.
So I have said a lot of things and thrown out a lot of thoughts and now its time to apply some Scripture:
Romans 13:1-2  Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.  2  Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation.
The Bible mandates that we obey our government. Its that simple.
But there are times when we don’t submit to the government and that is when it is telling us to do something unbiblical.
For example, if we believe the vaccine is harmful, then we are also supposed to protect our families and ourselves. But before we can accurately make that kind of decision, we need more data.
Sure, it works. We have the data for that. But what will be the long-term affects? We don’t know that yet.
There are those who are complaining about the possibility of not being able to travel abroad or shop in certain places because they demand the vaccine. All I can say is if you make your decision based on conviction, you have to be willing to pay the price. This world is not our home. We don’t get to write the rules. And besides, the Bible said things would get difficult for the believer toward the end anyway.
What about me? Well, right now I don’t have to make a decision because I am not eligible for the shot yet here in Korea. So I still have time to wait, watch, study, and see if there are long-term issue we don’t know about yet.
But whatever decision I make, it won’t be because I believe the vaccine is the mark of the beast. Last time I read my Bible, it said that the mark of the beast would be upon the right hand or the forehead. The vaccine goes in the arm.
I heard that there are some people on the internet holding magnets to their arms in order to prove the vaccine has some sort of metal property to it. They believe there are micro-dots or something in it. I have some friends that have already had the vaccine and I assure you, magnets do not stick to them.
For more information nation about the mark of the beast, I recommend you watch our video on the subject entitled, “The Mark of the Beast”. It will be on our Youtube channel this Saturday.