How to Prepare a Sermon: Part 1, Praying about Your Sermon
Do you pray for your sermon? If so, about what do you pray? Do you ask God to give you wisdom on topic selection? Do you ask Him to use your sermon in the lives of your listeners? Do you pray that you won’t mess up? Where does prayer for the sermon fit in your [...]
The Importance of Transitions
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 [...]
The Big Idea
HI All, The Big Idea of the sermon is technically called “the Proposition”. It is a summary of your entire sermon in one sentence. Some call it “the sermon in a sentence.” Getting accurate on the Proposition is the most important step you can do as you begin work on your sermon. Accurately capturing all [...]
How to Prepare a Sermon: Part 3, “Study the Passage”
Hi Preachers, and Preachers-to-Be, 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 [...]
How To Prepare A Sermon: Part 10, Create the Title
Hi Preachers! 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; Part 5, Arrive at the Proposition; Part 6, Develop the Mains; Part 7, Provide Supporting Material, and Part [...]
How to Prepare a Sermon in Ten Easy Steps
Hey Preachers, and Future Preachers! In this post, I’ll just summarize for you the main elements of sermon preparation. Then if you want to look at any of these elements in a greater way, take a look at the “Sermon Tips” category of this website. Sermon Preparation in Ten Steps: 1. Pray If you want [...]
How To Prepare A Sermon: Part 6, Write the Main Points
Hi All, especially up-and-coming preachers! 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; part 5, Arrive at the Proposition. Now, today we [...]
How To Prepare A Sermon: Part 9, Write The Introduction
Hey Up-and-Coming Preachers! 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; Part 5, Arrive at the Proposition; Part 6, Develop the Mains; Part 7, Provide Supporting [...]
How To Prepare A Sermon: Part 8, Write the Conclusion
Hey Up-and-Coming Preachers! 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; Part 5, Arrive at the Proposition; Part 6, [...]
The Three Types of Expository Preaching You Could Use
There’s more than just one way to do Expository Preaching. This blog shows you three distinct styles of expository preaching which you can incorporate into your preaching.
How to Prepare a Sermon: Part 2, Textual vs. Topical
A sermon should be text-based. By that, I mean that you would be teaching the Bible. That is the philosophy of ministry, and church tradition from which I come. People don’t come to hear me, they come to learn from God’s Word. Other churches may have other feelings, but this is mine. I am of [...]
Three Mistakes Made by Good Preachers
Top Three Mistakes Made by Good Preachers (Yes, even good preachers make these mistakes!) (and how SermonBase Message Planning Software can help.) If you´ve already got the preaching skills… There are 3 more things you need to do to power up your preaching. Avoid these 3 common mistakes made by even good preachers. These are [...]
How To Prepare A Sermon: Part 7, Provide Supporting Material
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; Part 5, Arrive at the Proposition; Part 6, Develop the Mains. Today is Part 7, “Provide [...]
How To Prepare A Sermon: Part 5, Arrive at the Proposition
Hi All, especially up-and-coming preachers! 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. [...]
How to Prepare a Sermon: Part 4, “Read the Commentaries”
Hi All, 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. Today, we will talk about using commentaries and other references well. In part [...]
Top Three Mistakes Made by Good Preachers
(Yes, even good preachers make these mistakes!)
(and how SermonBase Message Planning Software can help.)
If you´ve already got the preaching skills…
There are 3 more things you need to do to power up your preaching.
Avoid these 3 common mistakes made by even good preachers.
These are common mistakes which happen, not because they are poor teachers or bad communicators. These mistakes happen because…
WHY? They don´t have the right system or tools to get the job done well.
What is a system? A System is the means to make genius routine. It helps you to keep doing it right, again and again, so that you are consistenly putting out great messages because you are doing the same right things every single week.
First Mistake — Poor Planning
Poor planning means you have very little real strategic planning for your messages & series.
Questions to ask:
- How are all the Series tied in together with each other?
- How far in advance do you plan?
- How do you know that the topical selection for all Series, and all Messages within those Series is balanced and exciting?
- Have you linked your Messages in with the music, drama, & video teams, and planned it far enough in advance for them to find content?
THE SERMONBASE SOLUTION — LONG-RANGE PLANNING
SermonBase® helps you to plan out your sermons months in advance, and your Series a year or more in advance.
SERMONBASE Elements:
- ´Strategic Planning´ section for each Series
- ´Year-at-a-glance Calendar View´, so you can see exactly where your Sermons & Series are heading for the entire year or more.
- ´Drama/Video Report´ helps you to coordinate planning with your creative planning teams
Second Mistake — Fuzzy Thinking
Fuzzy Thinking means not really knowing what kind of LifeChange is desired.
Questions to ask yourself:
- What am I trying to achieve?
- What is my Intellectual Goal?
- What is my Emotional Goal?
- What is my desired Action Response?
Also, do you have an integrated goal for the entire Series and for each of the Sermon in that Series? SermonBase® will help you to figure all of this out.
THE SERMONBASE SOLUTION — FOCUSED TEACHING
SermonBase® helps you to ask the question (and answer), “What am I trying to achieve in terms of intellectual understanding, emotional impact, and actual life change?” SermonBase® will help you to ask that question every single week as you put your messages together.
SermonBase elements:
- Message Goals
- Clear listing of Topics, Scriptures, and Series Goals
- Balanced Introduction & Conclusion guides
Third Mistake — Disorganized Records
Content is Key!
If you can’t find that great material when you need it, then it doesn’t matter how good you can speak. Where is that great illustration? or joke? or article on your subject?
Good organization can lead to a good Message.
And after it’s over, ”Where did I put that that great Message?” For example, did you file that message about Patience under the Topic of ‘patience’, or under the Scripture of Galatians 5:22 (the fruit of the Spirit of ‘patience’), or did you file it with the series you did on ‘loving relationships’, or under the Title of ‘Developing Patience’? ”Where is it??” That great Message is gone, if you can’t find it again. It was a one-hit wonder, never to be used again — unless you are using SermonBase®!
The SermonBase Solution: Organized Archives
SERMONBASE elements:
- Search for Messages by Title, Topic, Scripture, Speaker, Date
- Access all related files in one location:
- In SermonBase®, you have access to every one of the files related to your Message.
Word Documents, PowerPoint files, graphics, articles, jokes, illustrations, etc.
Power up your preaching!
Now, each one of these three mistakes listed above – which even good teachers can make – is solved by SermonBase®! SermonBase provides you with a set of power tools to manage your sermon library more effectively.
How do I know?
Because I´ve been preaching for 25 years, and I created SermonBase® to help me be a well-planned, focused, and organized teacher that can quickly locate my best teaching and put it to use in new and creative ways.
But don´t just take my word for it, check out the Testimonials from pastors using SermonBase & download afree Demotoday. You have nothing to lose, and a whole lot to gain.
The Sermons is too important to not plan and execute it well!
A lifetime of work all in one place – it´s a beautiful thing!
Try the free Demo of SermonBase right now!