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Mar 23

Sermon Tip: Focus

By DrBillNo Comments

laser beam

Laser or light bulb?

Some preachers only kind-of, sort-of, know what they want to say when they get in the pulpit.  And by that I am not saying that they don’t have a manuscript or notes.  What I mean by FOCUS is, has the message captured your heart?  Has God gripped your soul with what you want to say today to God’s people in God’s name?  Focus is when the Big Idea (the Proposition; the Sermon in a Sentence) has gripped your soul and it won’t let you go, until you let it out.

If the message has gripped your soul, you will have Focus.   When you have Focus, you have a powerful message.

What is the result of having Focus to your sermon?

1.  People will feel the power of your message upon THEIR hearts.

They will be gripped by it as well, and they will focus on you.  This is important.  I sit at the back of church when I am not preaching, and I see how the people at the back are really easily distracted.  It takes a powerful message with a strong focus to capture and keep their attention.  The further they sit from the pulpit, the more the Focus is important to maintain their attention.

2.  Your message will be delivered to their hearts like a laser, and not like a soft-white diffused fluorescent bulb.

People will feel like God is speaking to them about something specific.  God’s application is always very specific.  A focused message helps to deliver God’s truth into people’s hearts.

3.  Every point in your message will supplement your main point and sharpen the focus.

The Mains will sharpen, clarify, and strengthen what you have to say.  They will sharpen the Focus, not soften it.

How do you know if you don’t have Focus in your sermon?

1.  You will ramble!

If you don’t have anything specific to say, then, just about anything will do.  Rambling generalities never changed anyone’s life.

2.  You will try to make too many applications.

When a preacher is not sure of what s/he has to say, they often pull out the easy applications and start hitting people about the same old sins.  But Focus helps a sermon to point to one specific life change which God’s Word is calling them to do.

3.  You will lack passion.

The people will sense it, and you will feel it.  The right words may come out, but not with the same punch or power.  Focus adds passion.

How to get Focus in your sermon:

This is the tough part.  How can you make sure that week in and week out, you have clear Focus?  You need to have clearly written goals for your sermon.  I use SermonBase Message Planning Software® to help me frame up my goals for every single message.  I determine the main goal for the entire message.  (And please note, that this is NOT the same as the Big Idea or Proposition.)  Then I determine three sub-goals: Intellectual, Emotional, and Behavioral.  Asking these questions helps me to sharpen the Focus of my message.

Hope that helps!

Here’s to good preaching that grab’s people’s hearts in the name of Jesus!

Dr. Bill

SermonBase.com

HighPower Resources.com

Mar 11

Sermon Idea: “Cross Sunday” before “Resurrection Sunday”

By DrBillNo Comments

HI All,

Here’s a great idea from a pastor friend: Focus on the cross the Sunday before Easter, to prepare your people for Easter Sunday.

Yes, we know that is what Good Friday is for, and the Sunday before Easter is supposed to be Palm Sunday. But how many different sermons can you preach about Palm Sunday every year?

You see, here is the problem: Most churches emphasize the cross on Good Friday; but if you are an average church, most of your congregation does not show up for Good Friday services. So they come to Easter Sunday and they haven’t heard the bad news yet, so they don’t know or feel how good the Good News really is.

So mix it up this year, and focus on the Cross the Sunday before Easter and really teach your people what kind of bad shape we are in without Jesus. Then they will be really ready on Easter Sunday to rejoice in the Resurrection, and Christ’s victory over the Cross and over Death.

God’s best to you for a great Resurrection Sunday!

In Christ,

Dr. Bill (with thanks to Dr. Lou Diaz, of Chico EFC, Chico, CA!)

Mar 08

How To Prepare A Sermon: Part 5, Arrive at the Proposition

By DrBillNo Comments

Hi All, especially up-and-coming preachers!light shining down

We are working on our ten-part series on How to Prepare a Sermon.  We’ve already given you all ten steps of sermon preparation, and part 1, Praying about your Sermon; Part 2, Textual vs. Topical; Part 3,Study the Passage; Part 4, Read the Commentaries.  Now, we need to talk about the Proposition.

This is key. The better you do here, the easier the rest of the sermon will fall into place. What is the Proposition? The Proposition is the entire message squeezed into one sentence. It is the ‘sermon in a sentence’; also known as “the Big Idea”. And please note that I said that you “arrive at the proposition”. You don’t create the main idea of the passage; you discover it. You don’t go to it; it comes to you. It IS the message. Then the Mains and supporting material are just unpacking that single idea.

The Proposition is the sermon in a sentence. Sound ridiculous to think you can pack an entire sermon into a sentence? If you cannot say what you intend to say in one sentence, then you do not have a clear idea of what you are talking about. Now, obviously all of the depth of meaning, the expanded content, and the specific application cannot be included in that single sentence; else you would have quite the run-on sentence. But yet, a well-designed proposition captures the essence of the sermon in its grasp.

The Proposition, or Big Idea, or Sermon in a Sentence is something you “arrive at”, you don’t create it. It comes to you as you study God’s Word. God the Holy Spirit reveals it to you, and then you write it out. The Word of God has a message for you and for your congregation. Because the Word is “living and active, and sharper than a two-edged sword” (Hebrews 4:12), it has a very specific application for your unique church situation. Discover it, and you have discovered the Big Idea for your sermon. How do you know if you have arrived at it? If someone says “give me a quick summary of your sermon”, you can actually give a quick summary, in just a sentence.

Once you have the Proposition, then the Main Points support and explain it more fully. Main points will not add anything new to the big idea of your sermon; they will merely expand upon concepts or themes which are inherent in your Proposition.

Once you have the Proposition, you have a significant part of your sermon already done. Now please note that we are at point 5 in your sermon preparation, and you have just arrived at the Proposition. So you have done quite a bit of research and study already. But once you get the Proposition down, the rest of the sermon will come together relatively quickly, because you already know everything you need to say. You just have to unpack it.

So that is the Proposition. You can read more about the Big Idea here if you like. We are half-way through the process of writing a sermon. Stick around for the rest of the series.

Exercise: Select a passage of Scripture, anywhere from four to ten verses; read it through several times; study it; then try to express its meaning in one sentence.

God’s best to you as you prepare to teach God’s Word!

Dr. Bill Miller

SermonBase.com

HighPowerResources.com

Feb 27

How to Write your “State of the Church” Sermon

By DrBillNo Comments

Hey all,George Whitfield

I just came across a nice article by Calvin Wittman on LifeWay about how to write your annual State of the Church message.  Here is the link.

He makes some good points, chiefly being these:

1.  Make your Message Biblical

2.  Focus on the Future of your Church

3.  Draw a Map

4.  Be Positive

And actually, these are good points for almost any sermon or message which you are going to deliver to your congregation.  But it is especially important for that annual State of the Church message.

Question:  do you do a State of the Church message?  Or do you consider that to be too much an imitation of culture?

God’s best to you!

For great preaching,

Dr. Bill Miller

SermonBase.com

HighPowerResources.com

Feb 12

The Importance of Transitions

By DrBillNo Comments

It’s all about Flow

The difference between a sermon with “flow” and a sermon that feels chunky and disjointed is the word “transitions”. The ‘transitional statement’ is the statement which alerts your listeners that you are now moving the logic of the sermon forward in some way. It may be words like “so then”, or “therefore”, or “because of this we can see”. It could even be “in summary”. The main thing is that you give your listeners a verbal clue that something new is happening. You are letting them know that they should listen closely because something new is about to be entered into the content or logic of the sermon.

When transitions are executed effectively the sermon just feels like it is moving along nicely, with a good flow. People are moved gradually from point to point until you bring them inexorably to the conclusion and application which you have in mind for them. They may not even be aware of the progression towards and ultimate climax but they realize once they are there that they have arrived in a perfectly logical and commonsense manner. The whole sermon just “makes sense” as you have moved them from the content of the text to its ultimate conclusion upon their lives.

An Example of a Transitional Statement

If transitional statements are not well executed then the listeners will find themselves listening to a certain point, and asking, “How did we get here?” For example, you may have a three-point sermon with the proposition, “God has shown His love for you.” Then your mains would be: 1. He created you; 2. He cares for you; 3. He called you to Himself. If you just jump from point to point, when you are done with point number one, you would just say, “2. He cares for you” without any introduction. After going through all your supporting material in point #1, the listener is jerked back to the Mains without any warning.

On the other hand, a helpful transitional statement would be added to the mid-point at the end of your first Main, and just before your second Main Point:  “Not only has God shown His love for you by creating you, but He also shows His love to you, secondly, by caring for you. So my second point is that God Cares for You.” Or, just before the third Main Point, you would say something like, “Not only has God shown His love for you by creating you, and by caring for you. But third, He Called You.” See how that feels much smoother? You are taking them on a quick trackback through the Mains of the sermon, before you move onto the next Main Point.

The Power of Flow

Do not underestimate the power of a good transition to keep your sermon flowing, and to give the listener verbal warnings of “sudden turns” or new topics ahead. Transitions can help you to be a more polished presenter of the Word of God.

Yours for great preaching!

Dr. Bill Miller

www.SermonBase.com

www.HighPowerResources.com

Jan 03

How to Prepare a Sermon: Part 3, “Study the Passage”

By DrBillNo Comments

Hi Preachers, and Preachers-to-Be,open bible

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

SermonBase.com

HighPowerResources.com

Jun 04

Three Mistakes Made During Topical Preaching

By DrBillNo Comments

Hey Preachers!

Topical preaching is a fun way to address important topics of note, but it has its dangers. Don’t make the following mistakes of Topical Preaching:

1st Mistake of Topical Preaching – The Text Launch Pad

This person may start well, but then use the Scripture Text as a launch pad to go wherever s/he may want it to go.  While preaching on Matthew 4 when Jesus called the disciples who were fishing, one might say, “Speaking of fishing, let me tell you about this amazing chance I had to witness while I was fishing on my vacation.”  Then we launch into an inspirational story about how the preacher was able to share his/her faith, and help a stranger out with their faith, or a problem that they were facing.  Then we come back to the conclusion/application with a comment like, ‘so we should all be fishers of men just like Jesus called His disciples to be in this passage’.

So what we are left with then is a passage of Scripture which is not explained or understood any better after the sermon, than before the sermon began. We have a nice story with a moral application.  But really, except for the common theme of ‘fishing’, there was no relationship between the story the preacher may have told, and the passage in question.

This same mistake of the Launch Pad can occur when using famous verses like 2 Chronicles 7:14  ”If my people…” and then launching into a sermon about the moral failures of America. Or 2 Timothy 1:5 with the reference to “your grandmother Lois” and “your mother Eunice” as a Mother’s Day theme.

Now all of these topics may be good and useful content which one needs to teach their congregation. But the mistake comes in tying in the Scripture passage so tightly, “My text for today is…” and giving the impression to the congregation that they will be learning something about that passage; they are not. They are learning something about the topic, but very little about the text at hand.

Better would be to say, “Our topic today is…” and then teaching on the topic directly and clearly, and not using one verse as an excuse to address a much needed topic.

2nd Mistake of Topical Preaching – Textual Twisting

This mistake is a worse offender than the Launch Pad. In Textual Twisting, the Text is forced to do the bidding of the preacher by twisting it to say things which it never was intended to say. Sometimes this is accomplished by using an old translation that is not even universally accepted by most commentators anymore, but because it fits the need of the hour it is used. One of the most common examples of this would be Proverbs 29:18, which in the King James version says, “Where there is no vision, the people perish”. This is a great verse for Vision Sunday! But in the NIV it says, “Where there is no revelation.” Because of this, many preachers who never, ever use the King James, dust it off once a year so they can use that verse. But is that what the verse really is intended for?

3rd Mistake of Topical Preaching – Ignoring the Text

This last one is the biggest mistake, and that is simply ignoring the text completely, and just using the pulpit to address whatever the preacher feels like s/he wants to talk about for the day. While there may be religious language, or even Biblical terminology, the congregation really is not getting an education in God’s Word, either Expositionally or Topically. They are getting a sermon on whatever the preacher feels like talking about.

Because I take a very high view of the Bible, and consider it God’s Word for our day, my personal bias is to do all that I can to help people to hear a word from God each week, not me.  I trust that you too will not make any of these mistakes, and feed people instead on the pure Bread of Life for which they hunger.

Yours for better preaching,

Dr. Bill Miller

www.SermonBase.com

www.HighPowerResources.com

Dec 28

How to File Sermons so you never lose them

By DrBillNo Comments

Hey All,sermonbase logo - a lifetime of work all in one place

I was reminded again of the power of using a great sermon planning software like SermonBase Message Planning Software. Here’s why:

I just came across a very nice outline study of Acts 16:6-12 on developing a God-given vision.  So the question was, How do I file this in such a way as to ever be able to locate it when I want it again?  Do I file it under “Acts 16:6-12″?  Or do I file it under “Vision”?  Or do I make two copies of it, and file one under each one (and bloat my file cabinet with extra paper?)

What’s cool about using something like SermonBase is that I created a sermon called “How to seek a God-given Vision” for the Title. Then under the Scripture reference in SermonBase, I entered “Acts 16:6-12″, and under the Topic category I entered “Vision” (which was already available in the drop-down list of selections, since I had filed a Vision sermon in the past.  Then I filled in the “Body” section with a quick list of the three main points of that message, so that I could quickly scan it in the future, to see if I would need it, without having to dig through my file cabinets and find the actual article.  Then, to be certain I could locate the actual article, I went over to the dialogue box entitled, “Hard-copy location”, and entered where I had physically filed the piece of paper.

Now whether I look up that sermon under “Vision” or “Acts 16″ or even “God-given Vision” in the title, I will be able to locate the entire article in my files.

What’s more, just to be certain that I do not forget, and think that the sermon points I listed in the Body dialogue of SermonBase, are somehow mine, I go over to the “Belongs to” dialogue menu selector and choose “Someone else” so that I know I am not the owner of the idea, just to be considerate of other people’s copyrights.

So, I was reminded once again what a cool tool is SermonBase® Message Planning Software.  That little tidbit – with all the others I have filed over the years – is waiting for me the next time I need to speak to that Topic or Scripture Text.  Thank you SermonBase!

To try your free Demo of SermonBase, click here.

For better preaching,

Dr. Bill Miller

SermonBase.com

HighPowerResources.com

Dec 11

Advent Message #2: Such Extravagance!

By DrBillNo Comments

The tricky part for pastors who serve many years at the same location is tomary joseph jesusconstantly come up with interesting and new ways to approach the Christmas season message.  Just to give you a help in that direction, SermonBase presents to you a this Advent Series which you can tuck away and use anytime you want.  This series is used by permission of Dr. John Crocker.

TITLE: “Such Extravagance!”

SCRIPTURE: 1 John 3:1-3

PROPOSITION:

In 1 John 3:1-3 the Apostle John explains a couple of amazing characteristics of God’s most extravagant gift.

Main Points:

I. GOD’S GIFT COMES WITH A WARRANTY.  1 John 3:1

II. GOD’S GIFT GROWS WITH EXPECTANCY.  1 John 3:2-3

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