HM 7265 Sermon
Monday:
Quiz T-R
Exam F
Paper 30 days after class
Read whole Azurdia book by this time
10-15 pages of annotated outline (not a word for word, or a message, but integration of course content)
Two Fundamental Perspectives (QE):
A. The goal of all ministry is transformation…
Transform peoples perception of Rom 8:28
B. Don’t ever stand in front of a group of people with a Bible in your hand and not expect change…
Expect people to change their perception
I. A Life That Can Preach
Principle: Your effectiveness as a preacher will explode from the holiness of your personal life…
A. Conquering Sin
1. Overcoming Temptation
2. Overcoming Sin (1 John 1)
B. Developing Intimacy with God (Isa. 6:1-8)
Steps to intimacy
a. Bask in his worthiness
b. Be confronted with your worthlessness
c. Experience his work—cleansing and clarity
d. Surrender our wills
C. Maintaining A Triumphant Perspective (2 Cor 2:14-17)
Our authority has to do with “integrity”
peddlers—dilute the wine, integrity of the wine is messed with
Our authority has to do with “sincerity”
Orators of the day had no belief in what they were saying, but actors
Preach truth, but with sincerity
Our authority has to do with “authenticity”
What we say carries with it the force of the original
Prayer and spiritual preparation before the sermon
II. The Call to Preach
A. Preaching is both a gift and a calling…
B. NT Preaching = The NT gift of Prophecy, i.e. “A message from God for the people at a moment in history.”
KNOW THIS: Preaching is a word from God for the people at a moment in history.
This sermon is for the people who are struggling to see the reason why a particular event happened
1. Three Critical Elements:
a. “Message” = Content
b. “People” = Audience
c. “Moment” = Timeless relevance
2. Three implications
a. We must be faithful in our preaching…Gal 1:6-8
b. We must be fearless in our preaching…Gal 1:10
c. We must be fervent in our preaching…Gal 1:23-24
C. The Five Biblical Tests of Your Calling: (Olford)
1. Do I meet the qualifications of a preacher as set forth in the Word of God?...
2. Do I have the witness of the Spirit in my heart that God has called me?
3. Has the gift of the preacher become evident in my life and service?
4. Has my church recognized and confirmed my preaching gifts?
5. Has God used my preaching gift to the salvation of souls and the building up of the saints?
I. The Path to Effectiveness
Three Phases:
A. How did I do?
B. Was I true to the text?
C. Did the Holy Spirit use me?
II. Preaching and the Ministry of the Holy Spirit (see Spirit-Empowered Preaching)
Eleven Assertions:
A. An Important Contrast:
1. When you preach in the energy of the flesh you feel exalted and lifted up…
2. When you preach in the power of the Holy Spirit you are filled with holy passion…
B. Spirit-Empowered Preaching is a divine mandate (1 Cor 2:1-4)
C. The necessity of being filled with the Holy Spirit (Jn 7:37-39; Eph 5:18)
D. The Spirit of God produces legitimate passion in your preaching…
E. The Spirit of God produces a sense of divine relevance in your preaching and protects you from hyper-intellectualism…
F. The greatest deficiency in most exposition is powerlessness…(Don’t confuse eloquence, clarity, and/or enthusiasm for power)***
G. As a preacher you must make a life-long commitment to two things:
1. Diligent, serious exegesis of the Scriptures…
2. Moment by moment dependence on the Holy Spirit…
H. Effective ministry always advances from human weakness, not human strength…
I. The greatest hindrance to the advance of the Gospel is doing the work of God apart from the truth and the power of the Holy Spirit…
Three Counterfeit Sources of Power:
1. Too much reliance on “behavioral sciences.”
2. Relying on strategy and resources to produce results…
3. Confusing political prominence and influence with real power…
J. The Holy Spirit is the communicator of divine truth (Jn 14:16-17; 15:26; 16:13)
K. Warning: Most seminary grads have to be careful of an approach to ministry that is solely directed to the mind…
III. Communicators vs. Preachers
A. Communicators:
1. Audience centered
2. Concerned with being appropriate
3. Want the message to be “embraced”
B. Preachers:
1. God-centered
Focused on God’s message that he wants heard, not what the people want to hear
2. An urgent message to be delivered
For a time of urgent need
3. Calls for decision
Calls for people to change their view of Rom 8:28
IV. The Difference Between Preaching and Teaching
A. Teaching
B. Preaching
I. Approaching the Preaching Moment…
A. The Person and the Message
1. God speaks through who you are…
2. You will not preach any better than your personal growth…
3. God is forming a “spiritual address” in your life; operate from that address…
4. Learn from others, but preach like yourself…
B. A Prepared Heart…
1. Deal with sin and distractions.
2. Allow the message to grab your heart.
3. Pour out your heart in prayer for the people.
4. Ask God to give you a burden for the people.
5. Ask God to grant you: power, passion, and persuasion.
6. Place your pride on the cross.
I went through these stages
II. A Template for Approaching the Preaching Moment
A. Developing the Message (KNOW FOR QUIZ)
1. Observation—Examine details…What is being said…
Raises questions
Keep asking questions, even if you think you know the answers
2. Interpretation—Answering questions arising from the text…
Use tools
3. Application—What does all of this mean to me and/or what do I need to do?
Application for yourself, not to others yet
Keeps the message genuine and real
4. Organization—The authors’ intent…Proposition statement…points (2-5)
Proposition is the one deal that you’re going to be driving at the whole message
General rule: make sure you have one action statement, between 2-5 points
5. Presentation—Packaging the message so that the audience can understand the message and take the appropriate action…
KNOW THIS
Its not about how you understand it or how you want to say it, but how they can understand it
Don’t be stubborn, be creative
B. “Seeing” the Message
Point: The Biggest stumbling block to most preachers is organization…
Disorganization ruins great messages
The more heavy your message, the better the organization has to be
Look at the message as if it were a funnel.
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Prop: Remember & Do!
Every great work has these four things
1) There’s a situation—describe a situation
2) There’s a complication—problem to be solved, creates tension
3) There’s a resolution—together with the complication are particularly important in the preaching moment
4) There’s a celebration
Point: You want to take them from the “broad/general” to a specific point of action…
Three Components:
From a communication standpoint, the intro and conclusion are the two most important points
1. The Introduction
a) Answers the question: “Why should I listen to you?”
These people don’t have to listen to a word you say
b) Paints an inviting picture of where you are going…
c) Summarizes what you are going to tell them…
d) Tells them the decision that needs to be made…
Tell them the desired outcome
Fills the audience with a sense of anticipation
2. The Body
a) The centerpiece for the action point/proposition/big idea/thesis statement…
b) 2-5 main points (usually)
c) Illustration—“Window” (For each main point)
People can see into the truth you are sharing
d) Application—“Mirror” (For each main point)
People need to see themselves in the truth being shared
Sometimes, you can put application in the hands of the audience
Don’t always dumb things down, challenge them
e) Appropriate repetition and transition statement…
Taking people from the known to the unknown
Use transition statements that reflect the action point and pull them through to the message
f) Caution: don’t confuse the “Dining Room” with the “Kitchen”
Exegesis is the kitchen, exposition is the dining room
You make the food in the kitchen with all the ingredients, but you present the final product in the dining room
i. You are delivering a message…You don’t need to tell them everything you know about a text…
ii. Too many details will cause people to lose the message.
g) Caution: The “body”/organization/outline serves the message, they are not the message…
Your message is summarized in the proposition
3. The Conclusion/Four Elements
Don’t rush through
Keep clear in your mind where you want the message to land
Answers the question: “And now what?”
a) Summary of what you said…
Don’t have to repeat your points, be creative
b) Re-connects with the action point…
c) Informs the audience of what needs to be done…
d) Compellingly calls them to action.
Don’t be afraid to tell people what to do
It’s not manipulation
I. Exposition
A. Definition: Preaching that is based in and emerges from a passionate explanation of the Scriptures. (KNOW FOR EXAM)
B. Characteristics:
1. Explanation that honors the author’s intent…
2. Explanation that emerges from a hermeneutic, that is based upon a literal, grammatical, and historical approach to the Scriptures.
3. Explanation that bridges two worlds (John Stott)
Point: It takes the truth of God’s word to the people…rather than bringing the people to the truth…
C. Kinds of Exposition:
1. Topical—What God’s Word has to say about a topic…
Go to texts that deal with a topic and give the context and direct it to your topic
The topic does not control the explanation
2. Textual—What God’s Word has to say about a text of Scripture…
Take a text of Scripture and you pull in other texts for explanation of the original text
3. Verse—What is the message from the verse…
4. Passage—What is the message from the passage…
5. Section—What is the message from that section…
II. The Importance of Clarity and Simplicity
This is the hardest thing—knowing what not to say
It’s not how you want to say something, but how they want to hear it
A. Don’t forget you are speaking to people.
Big temptation—you will think about what professors would think about your sermon, be careful of preaching to an audience that is not there
B. Know your audience.
Know the seasons, pushing and pastoring
C. Use language they understand.
D. Remember: The purpose of organization is to be understood
The outline has to be more for the audience than for you
Point: Generally speaking, keep your outline:
1. Simple
Especially for narrative—David Jeremiah and Chuck Swindoll are great narrative preachers, summarize and give essence
2. Logical
3. Memorable
E. Generally speaking, “Less is usually more”
Too much information in a message lessens the impact of the message
If you have to give a lot of information, tell them that it’s necessary and to just hang on
III. The Art of the Invitation:
Many messages leave people flat, not knowing what they should do
The reason why giving an invitation is important is that action secures memory.
A. Begins in your introduction, action statement.
B. Reinforced and underscored throughout the message
C. Becomes obvious in the conclusion.
A lot of times people don’t agree with the conclusion is because it is merely tacked on
D. Your posture and approach should communicate that you expect people to respond.
Me: find out what you want to happen that’s exciting and keep that in mind
E. Attitudes/Atmosphere: An expression of love and compassion for the people…
People respond because they know that you care and God cares through you
F. Keep it clear and simple.
Before you leave your study, write down what you want the people to do
As a result of these points with applications, this is what you need to do
G. Generally speaking, give them one thing to respond to/for.
H. Give them time to respond.
It’s okay to have them come forward, or some other physical response
Remember that your ego is not dependent on their response
Illustration: The Rose Invitation
Pay attention to the impressions that God puts on your heart
I. Make it easy for them to respond.
Remove the barriers
IV. Persuasion and Manipulation
A. Persuasion
1. A sincere appeal to heart and conscience driven by love.
2. Supreme confidence in God and His Word.
3. Allows the Holy Spirit to do His work.
4. God honoring integrity.
Don’t say it’s an invitation for one thing when it’s only an invitation for something else
B. Manipulation
1. Emotional trickery and dishonesty.
2. Driven results and the need to “do well”…
3. Generally, the decisions don’t stick.
4. Trespasses the work of the Holy Spirit.
