Well, we finished the week of episodes.

I'm preaching with another question from a seasoned preacher who wishes to remain anonymous.

And it's a question a lot of people I think want to ask you, Pastor John, and I'm surprised

we haven't gotten around to it yet.

Here it is, Pastor John, can a sermon be too short or too long?

How can we know the ideal sermon length is there a single length for all?

Should some be shorter, some be longer?

So when, how, how would you talk to preachers about how long the sermon should be?

No, there is no one length the sermon should be, that's ideal for every situation.

Yes, some sermons should be shorter and some longer.

Yes, it is possible that a sermon be too long or too short, those are my answers.

Now, let me give some factors that we should just take into consideration

when we're pondering, okay, how long should I preach?

Factor number one, I would say that vastly more important than length

is whether the sermon is faithful to the biblical text and rich

with God glorifying soul-transforming truth.

Far better to have a truth-laden, Christ-exalting, texturally faithful,

clearly spoken, deeply felt ten-minute humbly,

than to have a totally fascinating, biblically vacuous, textually unruited,

story-laden piece of inspirational moralism that lasts for an hour.

Substance is vastly more important than length, but of course,

if there is soul nourishing, Christ-exalting, mind-engaging substance,

...