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May 17

How To Prepare A Sermon: Part 10, Create the Title

By DrBillNo Comments

Hi Preachers!blank billboard

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 8, Write the Conclusion, Part 9, Write The Introduction.

CREATE THE TITLE

Finally, you can choose the title. The only point of the title is to advertise and promote the sermon and let people know in a very brief way what it is about. If you choose your title too early, you may find yourself preaching to the title, rather than the text. Don’t confuse the two.

The Title that you choose can simply be descriptive, like the one I heard this weekend for Sanctity of Human Life Sunday:  “The Privilege and Responsibility of Being Human” by Dr. John Crocker at Crossroads Church in Albert Lea, MN.

It could be a portion of Scripture, like “Songs in the Night”, the famous sermon by Charles Haddon Spurgeon of the London Tabernacle.  The phrase “songs in the night” is from the Book of Psalms.

The Title could be a very directive title, “How to be the Spiritual Leader of your Home“, a message which I taught a while back, mainly to fathers, but also to single moms.

USE THE TITLE

Once you have taken the time to write the sermon, you want people to come and listen to it!

So make sure you spread the title of your sermon far and wide so that everyone knows what you will be teaching on. This is your chance to use the title of the sermon to encourage people to come and hear the Word of God being taught.

What are some ways to do that?

sermon sign

  • Whenever I am teaching in a series, I always put in a little teaser near the end of my sermon, about what I will be teaching in the next one. That way people can see how the series is tied together, and will keep coming back, it is hoped.
  • Also, list next week’s sermon in this week’s bulletin.
  • If your church advertises in the newspaper, list your weekly sermon title in there. Many people out there do not want to come to a strange new church unless they have at least some idea of what it is all about. For example, if your sermon title is on parenting, “How to be a great Dad”, that is one thing. If the title, on the other hand, says something like, “How to pick up snakes during worship”, that would tell them something else.

DON’T PREACH TO THE TITLE

Your job is to preach to the Biblical text, not the Title.  The only purpose of the Title is to let the people know what you will be speaking about. It is just there to advertise. Don’t get distracted by it; stay focused on the Biblical text.

Well, there you have it. That is the last of this ten-part series on How to Prepare a Sermon. I hope you enjoy it, and find it useful, as you teach God’s Holy Word!

For great preaching,

Dr. Bill Miller

SermonBase.com

HighPowerResources.com

May 07

How To Prepare A Sermon: Part 9, Write The Introduction

By DrBillNo Comments

Hey Up-and-Coming Preachers!     hand shake

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 8, Write the Conclusion. Today: How To Prepare A Sermon: Part 9, Write The Introduction.

Yes, the introduction often comes right at the end, after you have written the Conclusion. The main goal here is to get their attention and to introduce the topic, thus “introduction”. Once you know the main thrust of the sermon and the main points, it is much easier to write the introduction.

Consider the Goal

The Introduction must fit strategically with the rest of your sermon. Too many pastors think that ‘attention-getting’ is the only goal, and thus try to do something lame like just share some cutesy humor or joke which they discovered on the internet. But once you have written the Conclusion, then the Introduction is the most natural next step. This is because, having written the Conclusion, you know where the sermon will end up, and so you begin with the end in mind. If your Introduction and Conclusion have a similar theme, then your sermon has parallelism; there is a natural matching between the two. People’s minds will come back to what you began with and begin drawing conclusions, which is what you want to happen. This is why in our SermonBase Message Planning Software, it is possible to view the Conclusion and the Introduction on the same screen so that you can view the connections and similarities between these two parts of your sermon.

Connect with the Listeners

During the Introduction, you must identify with the listeners. If you can make an emotional connection with the listeners in the Introduction, then they will be prepared to receive what you have to say in the rest of the sermon. If you are going to say something challenging in the sermon, then it is all the more important to relate to the audience so that they can connect and identify with you as a person.

Form a Natural Transition

The Introduction must lend itself naturally to the topic of the sermon. There must be an easy and logical flow from the topic of the Introduction to the topic of the sermon. It must make sense. Don’t give the listeners whiplash where you are talking about one thing over in this direction, and then suddenly we are facing the other way and talking about spiritual things with no warning. For example, a personal story about a recent sports injury may lend itself naturally to talking about physical and then spiritual health.

Introduce the Text

The purpose of the Introduction is to move people’s minds from the everyday mundane to the sacred Scriptures. So the topic must lead to the Scripture text upon which you intend to teach. Now it is important to note that in the Introduction you introduce text, you do not explain the text. That comes later during the Main Points of your sermon. Just introduce the text at hand, and explain why it relates to what you are going to discuss for the day. Then move quickly from the Text to the Proposition to the Main Points.

Don’t go too long

Some preachers spend way too much time on the Introduction. Use it as a tool to get you to where  you need to go, which is the Proposition. Then launch into your sermon. Preachers make the mistake of going to long when they lose sight of the purpose of the Introduction, which is “introduce”, not “explain”.

If you have already followed through on the other eight parts of the sermon preparation process, then the Introduction portion should come pretty easy. For by this time, you have a clear sense of purpose; you have the Proposition, the Main Points, the supporting material, and the Conclusion. The Introduction will then almost jump out at you as to how you might begin the sermon.

The final article in this series relates to the Title, which can trip you up if you don’t know its true purpose.

God’s best to you as you prepare to share God’s Word with His people!

Dr. Bill Miller

SermonBase.com

HighPowerResources.com

Mar 28

How To Prepare A Sermon: Part 7, Provide Supporting Material

By DrBillNo Comments

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 Supporting Material”.

PROVIDE SUPPORTING MATERIALGreek building with columns

This is the main content of your message which supports each of your Mains. It is here that you are teaching the Scriptures, explaining, illustrating, applying, comparing, contrasting, etc., all to make a point. If you do a good job of studying and researching in preparation for your sermon, then you will have some very quality content to provide to your listeners.

So once you have established your Proposition, and your Main Points, what really constitutes the bulk of the supporting material? Some of this would be:

  • Explanations — For example, explaining the meaning of difficult Biblical phrases; original language nuances; aspects of OT semitic culture; socio-political realities of the Roman era; historical background;  – all with the express purpose of a better understanding of the Biblical passage at hand.
  • Illustrations – stories from one’s own life, or the life of others; testimonies; anecdotes; quotations; contemporary parallels; examples from literature, movies, or songs, etc. – all with the express purpose of a better understanding of the Biblical passage at hand.
  • Comparisons — locating other Biblical passages that explain the passage at hand; parallels; related passages, ideas or themes; – all with the express purpose of a better understanding of the Biblical passage at hand.
  • Contrasts – sometimes the best way to explain a Biblical passage is by telling the listeners what it does NOT mean. If a passage of Scripture sounds like it is telling you to do something that seems to contradict something else in Scripture, you have to lay the two passages side-by-side, and contrast them with each other, so that a true understanding can be reached.  The goal, after all, is better understanding of the Biblical passage at hand.
  • Applications – then, of course, the point of most passages is so that we can obey God, so application will necessarily have to come into play at some point. Some people feel that one should provide application after each main point, while others feel that it should be delayed until the Conclusion. It really depends on the passage itself, but I tend to make application an inherent point of the entire message. That is, I will often entitle a message something about “How to…”, and then include a verbal command in each Main Point. But it is really up to you as you feel led by God.

Why is application important? Because Jesus said in the Great Commission that we should be about “teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:20). Jesus wants us to teach them to “obey”, not just to “know”. We are not in the business of just tickling ears with fanciful ideas which people love to hear. Jesus wants us to help people to obey Him as a result of what they have learned.

If you want to really “teach” the Word, and not just “exhort” the Word, then you will need substantive supporting material which really helps to explain the passage to your people in a more understandable way. This will take research and study. Get as much learning as you can about the Word, so that you can be a workman who correctly interprets and applies the Word of Truth.

Blessings on you as you open and teach God’s Word! In Part 8 of this study we will look at writing the Conclusion, which is a really important part of the message preparation process. (It actually comes before the Introduction.)

Yours for great preaching!

Dr. Bill Miller

SermonBase.com

HighPowerResources.com

Dec 14

SermonBase Gift Certificate

By DrBillComments Off

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