Principles of Sermon Preparation

Principles of Sermon Preparation

Dennis Socha

PLED 350-D04 LUO

12/01/2012

Principles of Sermon Preparation

Sermon preparation is a crucial aspect of good preaching. Developing a consistent method that involves prayer, discernment, research, wisdom and refinement/editing is a must. Not every method will be the same for every pastor. I have heard more than one pastor disclose from the pulpit that they spend an entire day away from distractions until they get direction on what to preach on and what God is wanting to say. Others just seem to know what they are to preach on and get right to work on it.

There are many different resources that will supply a pastor with great research and development sources for a sermon. Sermonsearch.com and Homiletics.com are two specifically designed for just that. Crosswalk.com is an excellent, free, wholly scripture based study portal developed for the Christian to use in their walk. It is very extensive providing tools to directly compare verses between bible versions and research and cross reference the bible by text, or chapter and verse. I'm sure that there are more on line resources as well.

Of course, no resource is more important or valuable than the Bible itself. Other texts like the lectures of Charles Spurgeon can provide valuable and reliable insight for us to develop our message. And let us not forget the value of resources like "Strong's Concordance", "The Evangelical Dictionary of Theology", and Bible commentaries like "Nelson's Compact Bible Commentary" or handbooks like "What the Bible is All About".

Whatever we use to help us to develop and finish our sermon notes, we need to always cross check our research with the scriptures themselves for accuracy. More than one well meaning author has strayed from accuracy and ventured into the territory of preaching on less than verifiable information.

Once we have our topic. We need to develop several supporting points for our sermon. Those points can be comparable or contrasting points. I think we should stick with as few points as possible and the number should depend on the topic. At Green Valley Community Church the sermons are one half hour in length. A sermon is essentially a lecture and there is only so much a person can absorb in half an hour. Four to five well supported and emphasized points should be more than sufficient. An outline should be developed with those points and each point should be developed to include about four to five minutes of supporting information. Illustrations, media and parables are to be included in that five minutes. That leaves five to ten minutes for introduction, humor, conclusion and prayer. Not to be forgotten is the inclusion of a call to action or response from the body. An altar call is always a good idea if applicable to the message.

Delivery methods for the sermon should vary. Media used has included dry erase boards, chalk boards, flip charts, overheads, power points presentations, slide shows and video presentations. MediaShout and ProPresenter are also professional level presentation tools that are very effective. Humor should be interjected into every sermon. When people laugh, they open up a little and become