Why Church? Unity in the Family of God

Introduction

Hello and greeting.

Me

Orientation: “How do I struggle with this?”

Introduce yourself and the topic. Find common ground with the audience.

Providing stories or examples from your life is a great way to connect with listeners and establish both the main idea and the conversational tone.

We

Identification: “How do we all struggle with this?”

Build an emotional common ground with the audience. Build as many bridges emotionally as possible.

You can naturally flow from the specific (your struggle) to the more general (your audience’s struggles) by asking them if they’ve ever experienced the same thing.  Sharing statistics or stories of people you’ve known can help you speak directly to your audience and demonstrate that you have a larger understanding of the issue than just your own problems, and you’re inviting them to see themselves in your message.

God

Illumination: “What does the Bible say about this?

God has a solution for us today.

Engage your audience with the text.

Once you’ve found common ground and established that the problem you’re discussing is universal, you’re ready to move on to what God has to say about your topic. This is where you read Bible passage and really delve into the teaching, by explaining what it means and how it relates to your main idea. This section is the heart of your sermon, and you’ll probably spend the most time developing it.

John 17:20–23 CSB

20 “I pray not only for these, but also for those who believe in me through their word. 21 May they all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us, so that the world may believe you sent me. 22 I have given them the glory you have given me, so that they may be one as we are one. 23 I am in them and you are in me, so that they may be made completely one, that the world may know you have sent me and have loved them as you have loved me.

You

Application: “What should you do about this?”

Find one point of application everyone can embrace.

We

Inspiration: “What would life look like if we all lived this out together?”

Cast a vision. Prompt a decision by briefly describing what would happen if the audience would follow what has been taught.

Call to Repentance

End each message with a Gospel presentation.

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Sermon Prep Notes

Zakk’s notes for sermon prep.