How To Preach A Sermon

To preach a sermon, you must understand the fundamentals of sermon preparation.

In fact, when you understand the fundamentals of sermon preparation, you will enjoy preparing and preaching sermons week in and week out.

I can say unequivocally that the most important part of preaching sermons is sermon preparation.

If you get your sermon preparation right, then everything else will fall into place as you deliver your sermon to your congregation.

How To Preach A Sermon

1. If you realize it or not, every sermon has three parts.

Put simply, a sermon has...

• an introduction - the introduction presents your main preaching topic or idea
• a body - the body of your sermon expands and explains your main preaching topic or idea
• a conclusion - the conclusion summarizes your main preaching point or idea

Once you have completed the study of the text you are going to preach, you will need to write a sermon outline. This is the body of your sermon.

Your sermon outline has a main preaching point, sub-points and incidental points.

2. You will need to determine the structure of your sermon outline - deductive, inductive or bit of both.

Once you have decided on your structure, you can organize your sermon outline accordingly.

For example, you have decided to preach a deductive sermon from Ephesians 4:25-32.

After careful study of these verses of Scripture, you develop your main preaching point - godly qualities that help us work together for the kingdom of God.

Your sub-points are: speaking truthfully (4:25), resolving anger (4:26-27), working hard (4:28), edifying speech (4:29-30) and forgiving others (4:31-32).

Your sermon outline is beginning to take shape.

There are five godly qualities that help us work together for the kingdom of God. They are...

• Speaking Truthfully (4:25)
• Resolving Anger (4:26-27)
• Working Hard (4:28)
• Edifying Speech (4:29-30)
• Forgiving Others (4:31-32)

The sub-points expand and explain your main preaching topic by asking why, what, where, when or how of your main preaching point.

Sometimes you only need to explain your sub-points. Other times you will need to expand your sub-points. When you do this, they become incidental points.

The following sermon outline is the outline I developed when I preached Ephesians 4:25-32.

There are five godly qualities that help us to work together for the kingdom of God. They are...

1. Speaking Truthfully (4:25) How?
1. By putting away falsehood
2. By embracing God's truth
2. Resolving Anger (4:26-27) How?
1. By rejecting revengeful anger
2. By keeping short accounts
3. Working Hard (4:28)
4. Edifying Speech (4:29-30) How?
1. By rejecting words that tear down
2. By embracing words that build up
5. Forgiving Others (4:31-32) How?
1. By rejecting vices that lead to hostility
2. By embracing commands that lead to forgiveness

Your sermon outline becomes the road map for your preaching. I could preach this sermon outline as it is without any notes. All I would need is the Bible.

Check out the above sermon outline by clicking - how to preach a sermon.

3. You will now need to write a sermon introduction, sermon content and a sermon conclusion.

For more information, click on how to write sermon content to your outline, how to write a sermon introduction to your outline and how to write a sermon conclusion to your outline.

• How To Preach A Sermon From Ephesians 3:14-21
• How To Preach A Sermon From Ephesians 4:25-32
• How To Preach A Sermon From 2 Timothy 3:16-17