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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

Apr 02

Three Mistakes Made by Good Preachers

By DrBillNo Comments

sermonbase logo

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 a free Demo today. 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!

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

SermonBase logo - a lifetime of work all in one place

SermonBase Gift Certificate

10% off the normal price, now through the Christmas Season

Offer ends January 15th.

 

Now you can give a gift for that hard-to-buy-for Pastor!

SermonBase Message Planning Software is a unique tool which helps pastors to do the one thing they spend the most time on – writing sermons!

SermonBase helps pastors to plan, write, organize, and then find their sermons. By linking the various sermon Messages with sermon Series, pastors are able to view all of their work from one screen.

What’s more, by using the “Service” screen, each sermon can be closely integrated with the Music, Dramas, Videos, and Testimonies planned for the day.

A free Demo version of SermonBase is available, if you have not tried it yet.

If you have tried it, then simply buy the discounted SermonBase Gift Certificate here, and send it to your pastor friend as a gift.

The Gift Certificate comes as a PDF, which you will be able to email or print up and hand to someone as a gift.

SermonBase Message Planning Software Demo

 

SermonBase Message Planning Software Gift Certificate

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

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