A number of years ago, I took a preaching course with Haddon Robinson. One of the most helpful things he taught us was a way to take some pressure off sermon preparation and wind up with a better sermon.
The advice is simple to understand, but takes self-discipline to implement.
Here’s Haddon’s suggestion: two Thursdays (or eleven days) before you are scheduled to preach a sermon, spend one hour doing exegetical digging in the passage. So if you are slated to preach Colossians 3:1-5 on November 16th, you would spend one hour studying the passage on Thursday, November 6th (or on a day close to the 6th).
In this one hour of study, you don’t have come up with the Big Idea or craft a stellar outline (though God sometimes graciously lets that happen). You simply dig into the text exegetically. Translate the passage. Diagram it. Look up interesting, significant or unusual words. Do some historical background work. Just dig in and seek to understand as much as you can about the passage in sixty minutes. Then after one hour, close the books.
Even though you won’t return to this passage until next week, your mind will keep working on it in the background of your thinking.
When I’ve followed Haddon’s advice, I’ve found tremendous benefits. My sixty-minute investment pays big dividends the following week as I work on preparing the sermon. The Big Idea tends to emerge more readily. An outline takes shape more clearly. I’m almost always a happier camper.
As I said, doing this will take some self-discipline. You have to carve out an hour and actually do the exegetical digging. This won’t be easy. You’ll have a dozen other matters demanding your attention. What Charles Hummel calls “the tyranny of the urgent” will scream that you can’t afford to spend an hour on a passage you won’t be preaching this Sunday.
But if you make the time and do the digging, you will give yourself and your people a precious gift. You will be a less stressed preacher; they will get a better sermon.
Rick and Linda Reed 
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