Matt leads Mosaic Church, Leeds, a church he started six years ago. Matt is increasingly involved in teaching and mentoring other church planters and is also known for his focus on spiritual formation, his prophetic edge, and compassion for the broken.
When & where was this sermon preached?
At Mosaic on Sunday 31st October
Was it a special occasion or regular Sunday?
A regular service
Why did you choose this subject/text?
We are currently revisiting the classic 'Sex and Relationships' theme due to a pressing need to help our young congregation navigate these difficult waters.
On average, how long does it take you to prepare a sermon?
This one took about 10 hours of background reading, study and writing.
On average, for how long do you preach?
35 minutes, though we aim for 30.
What do you find most challenging about preaching?
Throwing my creative weight into the delivery of the preach when other needs are pressing. So I'm a big fan of interaction, using props, acting out passages, and drawing out comments from the congregation but it is tremendously hard to come up with ones that really emphasise the point you're making. It's so frustrating when you hear someone say (for example) 'my favourite preach was when Matt smoked that cigar' and you ask 'why did he do that' and they can't remember.
Not comparing myself to all the great preachers that could do a far better job with the text than me.
I'm not good at multi tasking and so I struggle to mull over the text at random moments. I'm either preparing or I'm not.
I am tempted to spend my time researching rather than writing.
I often find I can get very emotionally involved with key points in the sermon ( I weep far too often) and this makes me feel very vulnerable. I then want to retreat and not have to engage with people. The challenge comes when you know you have to preach the same sermon again (as we have two identical services on a Sunday) and Match of the Day and good food seem much more appealing.
What do you most enjoy about preaching?
I absolutely love unpacking a text, creating a new biblical paradigm for people and then delivering a killer application that everyone knows life has got to be different from this point onwards. Sadly this happens far fewer times in reality than in my imagination.
I love the silences that come as the Holy Spirit starts to bring conviction of sin and idolatry. They are precious moments, not to be rushed or squashed. It is these points that I'm most likely to go 'freestyle' and yes, you've guessed it, weep.
I really enjoy mixing up 'in your face' challenge with gentle, gracious and sensitive empathy.
Strangely I value confessing my weaknesses in front of hundreds of people. Personally I find it very difficult to admit my struggles but it seems the more vulnerably I share my failures, the greater the listeners openness to what I have to say.
I often enjoy finding Christ and the gospel in the text and helping people connect with their desperate plight and the awesome hope Jesus offers.
I usually finish my sermon by saying 'Amen' and then look people in the eye. An immense joy and satisfaction comes when I see conviction, hope and determination in their faces. It reminds me we're in this together, that God is at work and the world could look completely different if we obey the stuff we believe.
You can listen to Matt’s sermon here, and here are his preaching notes…
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