Writing a Sermon Part 2

Since I wrote early this week on preparing a sermon I thought I would post this document that Alex Himaya gave me several years ago. Alex is a good friend and mentor of mine, he is the pastor of The Church at BattleCreek in Tulsa, OK:

When writing a sermon
my source is the _The Bible .
my inspiration is the Holy Spirit .
my fuel is Passion .

People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care.

I always want to do 3 things in a sermon:
1. Tell them what your are going to tell them.
2. Tell them.
3. Tell them what you told them.

These three elements are commonly called:
1. The Introduction .
In the Introduction you want to do 2 things:
A. Capture attention.
B. Point in the direction of the talk.

2. The Body .

In the body you want to do 3 things:

A. Explanation .
B. Illustration .
C. Application .

The most important of the three is Application .

Need today demands that you revolve the entire talk around
applications and point out application with each point.

The most difficult of the three is Illustration .


3. The Conclusion .

In the Conclusion you want to do 2 things:
A. Summarize .
B. Emphasize application.

In the spiritual arena there is a 4th element:

The Invitation (or call for response).

Roy Fish says that inspiration without Expression leads to depression .

What to do in an Invitation .
1. Be Clear .

Call for a clear/specific response. People must understand what you are understand them to do.

2. Ask for one step at a time.

Don't ask people to jump over the grand canyon.

3. Depend on the Holy Spirit .