We are continuing on this series of How to Prepare a Sermon. I’ve already given you the Ten Steps to Sermon Preparation to lead off the series. Then step one, “How to Pray about your Sermon“, and step two, “Select your text and topic“. So today let’s talk about studying the passage.
Studying the passage on which you want to preach is key. Listen, you can’t have quality preaching without putting in the time to study. It doesn’t matter how much you think you may know about the topic or text, there is always more to learn. Shallow study makes for shallow preaching. so put in the time and do it right. But how do you study the passage?
Number one rule, don’t run to the commentaries first! Study the passage on your own, and let God speak to you through it; then later on you can apply the commentaries to get the historical, grammatical, cultural facts you would not otherwise know.
So, what are the steps to studying a passage of Scripture in preparation for preaching a sermon on it?
- Read the passage multiple times.
- Read the passage in a few different translations.
- Read the entire book.
- Read it in Greek or Hebrew, if you are familiar with the original languages.
- Identify the key verbs.
- Identify key themes.
- Look for repeated words, comparisons, contrasts, conclusions, assumptions.
- Look for historical references to previous Biblical history and locations.
- If necessary, diagram the passage.
- Outline the passage.
To begin to make sense of all this Biblical data, you can ask and answer three questions:
1. What does this passage say?
2. What does this passage mean?
3. What does this passage mean to me?
Once you have organized the sermon by answering the above three questions, you are ready to move on to Step Four of sermon preparation.
Yours for great preaching,
Dr. Bill Miller