Fall 2018

PREA5300 Proclaiming the Bible

Moving from Text to Sermon
 Moving from Text to Preaching
Outline
1) Prepare:
• Prayerfully and carefully select a text.
• Determine to preach on a paragraph unit or complete unit of thought
• Determine the boundaries of the paragraph –make sure it is indeed a complete unit
of though
2) Read:
• Read the book in which your passage is located multiple times in various translations.
As you do this, try to get a sense of
• The Genre of the Passage
• Who the original author was
• Who the original audience was
• What the occasion was for the writing
• What the purpose was for the writing
• A Sense of the main idea (hermeneutical key passage)
 Moving from Text to Preaching
Outline
2) Read (cont.):
• Read the specific passage you are going to preach multiple
times
• As you do this, try to determine the general subject of your
passage (i.e. God’s love, God’s providence, sin, godly living,
service, etc.)
• Pay attention to how this paragraph unit connects to the
paragraph before it and fits into the overall context of the
book
• This will help you get an initial familiarity with your text
 Moving from Text to Preaching
Outline
3) Analyze Your Text on a Paragraph/Sentence Level – Complete a
Structural Diagram
• Primarily, you are looking for how each sentence and clause fits into the
larger whole. In other words, you are looking for main and support
information.
• You can do a traditional sentence diagram or you can use your own form.
• Essentially you should make special note of
• Conjunctions: 1) Main information (Independent Clauses) – and, but, now,
therefore, so then, etc.; 2) Support information (Dependent Clauses) – for,
because, that, so that, etc.
• Verbs (especially commands)
• Repetition
• Word Study Words
• From this diagram, it will be much easier to determine your ETS (Essence
of the Text in a Sentence) and the development of your passage.
Structural Diagram Example
Matthew 7:13-14
 Moving from Text to Preaching
Outline
Analyze Your Text on a Paragraph/Sentence Level -
Discover the Development of the passage (Step 3 Cont.)
• There are two (or three) general ways that your passage will
develop.
• From the main idea to the supporting sub-points (deductive)
• From the supporting sub-points to the main idea (inductive)
• From your structural diagram you should be able to determine
which development your text follows
• Consider patterning the development of your sermon after
the development of your text.
• Note: deduction is more common in Epistles whereas
induction is more common in Narratives, although this is not
a hard and fast rule.
 Text-Driven Apologetic Preaching
• Three Basic Text Developments or Structures:

Deductive Inductive Inductive-Deductive

Introduction
IDEA
I I
I
II IDEA
II
III II
III IDEA
III
Conclusion
Development Outline Example
Matthew 7:13-14
 Moving from Text to Preaching
Outline
4) Locate and write the ETS (Essence of the Text in a
Sentence)
• This is the main point, big idea, or CIT of the passage
• The ETS should be one complete and concise past-tense
sentence (no more than 15 to 18 words)
• It should not be a compound (“and”) sentence
• Most of the times it is, or is a summary of, the information
on the far left of your structural diagram/development
outline
 Moving from Text to Preaching
Outline
5) Stop and consider what you have discovered, the
main idea(s), in light of biblical context
• Consider the Part in Light of the Whole
• Consider the Whole in Light of the Part
Biblical Context (Theology) Model
 Moving from Text to Preaching
Outline
6) Write an Exegetical Outline of your passage
• Remember your diagram and development outline
• Whereas, most of the time, the ETS (main idea) will be the
information, or is a summary of information, on the far left in
your diagram, the sub-points or divisions of your exegetical
outline will be the indented information in your diagram
• This is not the place to get creative (there will be time for
creativity later) – here you are attempting to capture what the
text meant in its original context as woodenly as possible
• Use the language of the text whenever and wherever you can
• How many divisions (main points and subpoints) should you
have?
 Moving from Text to Preaching
Outline
• It is at this point in my preparation process, and not
before, that I begin to read and check commentaries
• I do my work first before checking other works
• I do this near the end of the week not at the beginning
• One exception may be in finding the background info
• The importance of the “History of Interpretation”
 Moving from Text to Preaching
Outline
Write a full sentence theological outline of the passage (Step 6 cont.)
• Take into consideration the structure, development, and language of your
exegetical outline
• This is how the text is understood universally – theological truths that
apply for all times
7) Compose a sermon idea in a present tense or imperative sentence
(E.S.S. or Proposition) from the ETS/CIT.
• This is the main point, homiletical idea, or Proposition of the sermon
• The ESS should be one complete and concise present-tense, future-
tense, or imperative sentence (no more than 15 to 18 words)
• Most of the time, I like to make it even more concise than this (8 to 10
words)
• It must derive directly from your ETS
 Moving from Text to Preaching
Outline
8) Convert your Exegetical Outline into a
Homiletical or Preaching Outline.
• This is the language you use when you preach the passage,
but it is a direct derivative of the language, structure, and
meaning of your exegetical work
• This is how the text is communicated in light of what it
meant/means with an eye toward how it applies to your
current audience
• Please begin to be creative here!
 Exegetical Outline Example:
• Matthew 7:13-14
• ETS: In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus Commanded his
audience to enter life through the narrow gate.
• Exegetical/Factual Outline:
• I. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus Commanded his disciples to
enter life through the narrow gate (v. 13a)
• Jesus gave 2 reasons why:
• A) The first reason Jesus gave was because the gate is wide and the way is
broad that leads to destruction and there are many who find it (vv. 13b)
• B) The second reason Jesus gave was because the gate is small and the
way is narrow that leads to life and there are few who find it (14)
 Homiletical Outline Example:
• Matthew 7:13-14
• ETS: In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus Commanded his audience to
enter life through the narrow gate.
• ESS: You must enter eternal life through the narrow gate of Jesus alone.
Be saved through the narrow gate of Jesus. Receive eternal life through
Jesus alone.
• Sermon Form/Homiletical Outline:
• I. Receive Eternal Life through Jesus Alone (v. 13a)
• For these “reason”:
• A) Because the path to destruction is easily followed (vv. 13b)
• B) Because the road to eternal life is exclusive and elusive (or elusively found) (14)
 Moving from Text to Preaching
Outline
9) Put meat on the bones.
• Write the Body of the Sermon: Explanation, Illustration,
Argumentation ,and Application
10) Finish the Sermon for Preaching.
• Write the Introduction and Conclusion – usually the last
component I write is my introduction
• Delivering the Sermon
 Resources
• The Adrian Rogers Center for Expository Preaching at New Orleans
Baptist Theological Seminary
• www.nobts.edu/rogerscenter
• Akin, Daniel L., David L. Allen, and Ned L. Mathews, eds. Text-Driven
Preaching: God’s Word at the Heart of Every Sermon. Nashville: B&H
Academic, 2010. (Especially Chapter 5, pp. 101–34)
• Chapell, Bryan. Christ-Centered Preaching: Redeeming the Expository Sermon,
2nd ed. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2005.
• McDill, Wayne. 12 Essential Skills for Great Preaching, 2nd ed. Nashville: B&H
Academic, 2006.
• Smith, Steven W. Recapturing the Voice of God: Shaping Sermons Like Scripture.
Nashville: B&H Academic, 2015.
• Vines, Jerry and Jim Shaddix. Power in the Pulpit: How to Prepare and Deliver
Expository Sermons. Revised ed. Chicago: Moody, 2017.