My friend, Scott, asked me a while back: What is your Modus Operandi (MO) for preparing a sermon? I had to break it up into 5 Parts:Lastly, there are some questions that are good to ask:For anyone out there: Thoughts? Criticisms? Tips for other preachers?That's about it, Scott.
- Is it what the text actually says?
- Am I being less insightful than the text itself? (Don't settle for that)
- Am I being more insightful than the text itself? (Resist doing that)
- Am I encouraging 'preacher dependence' by speaking this way?
- Is it geared to the outsider?
- Does it lead to and testify to the face of God in Jesus?
- Am I loving my people?
- Is the tone of the sermon...the tone of the text?
- Am I lifting the vision of the congregation to a higher place?
- Is there an individual, local, global and universal application?
- What is the application to a community of people (not just an individual)?
- Am I being clear or clever (always choose clear)?
- Are there breaks for my listeners (like humor or good stories?)
- Is there a joke... Like "Did you hear the story about..."? (cull it Now. Before its too late.)
- Will it be moving (where it needs to be moving)?
- Does it have a momentum?
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Pic is of Pulpit Rock by Mimi K
2 comments:
Aaah, insight and the text - I got what you wrote now.
But if we use the John Stott's metaphor of "Between Two Worlds", don't you think that we will always be less insightful than the text when it comes to the biblical/historical world; and we will always more insightful than the text when it comes to the application/modern world?
Wouldn't that insights then belong to the role of the Holy Spirit, who illuminate the text?
Take the Great Commission in Matt.28:19-20 for example; don't you think the insight on that text shifted from "Go" to "Make disciples" in the last 200 years or so?
Michael Jensen directed me here.
The 5 articles on sermon preparation are very helpful.
We have a Justin, who lives in Brownsville, California. We're trying to get him to come back and visit, and lately he is sounding like this may even occur this year.
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