Preachers standing at the calender-crossroads should ask such questions as the following:
1) Did I grow in my own walk with God through my preaching and preparation? Was I personally impacted by what I preached? Am I therefore a more godly man entering 2008 than 2007 because of the texts I exposited? In what specific ways? If I have not grown: what sins have hindered my progress and require confession?
2) Did I provide my congregation with a balanced diet and at least some measure of ‘the whole counsel of God?’ Did I cover something from both Testaments? Were believers comforted and unbelievers challenged? Were the weak and strong, the immature and mature, given their share of milk and solid food? Was justification taught and sanctification?
3) Did I take the glory or give God the glory? Did I seek the limelight in any way this year? If so, in what specific ways did a desire to glorify ‘Self’ rear its ugly head during this year’s sermons? How can I best repent of this?
4) Did I preach the text, only the text, and nothing but the text? How often did I preach only in Scriptural terms and not in terms of the Scripture I was preaching? Even if I preached numerous topical sermons, were these exposing the meanings of texts, or imposing my agenda onto them?
5) Did I constantly preach Christ and him crucified? In other words, did I persistently preach the gospel, or lapse into talking in terms of religous self-effort and moralism? No matter what my passage, did I highlight its redemptive components? Even if the passage was wholly negative, did I trace the redemption of its sin and the bearing of its judgement to the Redeemer and Propitiator, Jesus Christ?
6) Humanly speaking, what one aspect of my sermons in general was the weakest component? Are my introductions invariably weak, my applications typically fuzzy or my conclusions often an anticlimax? How will I work on improving this area in 2008 for the glory of God and the good of His people?
7) Did I pray enough and depend on God for the results?
Will I grow in my own walk with God through my preaching?
Will I provide my congregation with a balanced diet?’
Will I take the glory or give God the glory?
Will I preach the text, only the text, and nothing but the text?
Will I constantly preach Christ and him crucified?
Will I prayerfully depend on God during every stage of my preaching?