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Sermon Template For Writing A Sermon
Sermon Template For Writing A Sermon
The following steps should be undertaken fully in the preparation of the sermon.
Responses to each question/statement should be written out in full.
After several readings try to rewrite the text in your own words without referring
back to the text. Compare your paraphrase with the text noting what you included
and omitted.
Look for elements that appear at first glance to be unusual or out of place
Ask if the text has a “center of gravity”- a focal point around which everything seems
to revolve
Look for conflict in or behind the text
Look for connections to what precedes and follows the text
View the text through as many different eyes as possible. Think of those who will be
hearing the sermon and imagine how they will hear it
Think of the text as someone’s attempt to reflect on the answer to some important
question, then try to discern what that question could be.
Ask, “What is the text doing?” Is it commanding, singing, narrating, explaining,
exhorting, warning, debating, praying, reciting?
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older, classic works, you should also consult the most recent works. Cite sources (e.g.
Brown, 276) and include a complete bibliography.
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ENHANCE THE FORM OF THE SERMON
Choose illustrations that work!
Prepare an introduction.
Prepare a conclusion.
THE OUTLINE
ME
Introduce a dilemma you have faced or are currently facing
WE
Find common ground with your audience around the same or similar dilemma:
Sometimes I wonder why I even bother praying (ME). I bet you’ve wondered about
that as well (WE).
Sometimes I wonder why I am overcome by the same temptations over and over
(ME). But that’s probably something that only I wrestle with. Right? (WE)
There are just some people I don’t get along with (ME), can anybody here relate to
that (WE)?
Spend time applying the tension to as many areas as you can so as to spark an emotion in
as broad an audience as possible
Don’t transition from WE to the next section until you feel like you have created a tension
that your audience is dying for you to resolve.
Focus on the question you are intending to answer until you are confident your audience
wants it answered.
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This approach introduces a topic within the context of application.
GOD
Transition to the text to discover what God says about the tension or question you have
introduced:
“Well, the good news is, we are not the first people to struggle with this. The people in
Jesus’ day did as well. Turn with me to…”
The good news is that we are not the first group to have doubts about God’s goodness, King
David did as well…”
Don’t skimp, but don’t bog down. This is where sermons lose momentum and get boring.
Engage the audience with the text—make it part of the journey—make it so fascinating that
they are actually tempted to go home and read it on their own.
YOU
Challenge your audience to act on what they have just heard:
Stages of life:
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WE
Close with several statements about what could happen in your community, your church,
or the world, if everybody embraced that particular truth
Imagine what would happen in one week if everybody here treated everybody they came
into contact with like someone for whom Christ died.
Scriptures were not just given as a means of making our individual lives better. They were
given so that as a body, corporately, we could shine like a beacon of hope in our
communities and in the marketplace.
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6. If you are in a difficult relationship, I’m really glad you’re here for this. This truth
could make all the difference…
7. Usually explain the “why” at the end of the intro—now that they know where we are
going, they need to why I’m taking them there.
C. What do they need to do?
1. What do you want them to do in response to what you’ve said?
2. Every message you deliver has at least one point of application. Discover it and then
state it.
3. Be specific—give your audience something very specific to do. Something so specific
they will know immediately whether or not they have done it.
4. If it is a lifestyle issue, make a suggestion as to how long they should do it.
5. E.g. “Begin the next seven days with prayer.”
6. Be creative—ledger sheet for expense tracking
D. Why do they need to do it?
1. Inspire them to action
2. Think about what’s at stake if they don’t follow through—make a list and put it in
your outline.
3. After you explain what you want them to do, tell them why—this serves as the perfect
segue into the WE section of the message.
4. “Imagine what would happen in our families if every one of us made a list of the
relational debts we felt that others owed us and then cancelled those debts.”
5. “Imagine how much joy we could generate as a congregation if every one of us sat
down this week and wrote a thank-you letter to the person who introduced us to
Christ.”
E. What can I do to help them remember?
1. Ledger sheet
2. Memory verse card
3. Object
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WHAT MYSTERY DOES THIS MESSAGE SOLVE?
What can I do to make my audience want a solution?
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