How To Prepare Sermons That Work

I often find that sermons that work are sermons that have well structured sermon outlines. That is, the sermon outline has a clearly defined main preaching point with sub-points and incidental points.

Let me also add that preachers usually learn how to prepare sermons in seminary but it's not until preachers begin to preach week in and week out that they begin to define and understand the techniques behind sermon outlining.

Sermons that work are sermons that have simple but effective outlines. For example, you may choose to preach through the book of Romans. In Romans 1:1-7, you may discover that the main preaching point is: Sharing Jesus Christ With Great Enthusiasm. Your sermon outline may look something like this:

There are three ways to share Jesus Christ with great enthusiasm. They are:

1. We need to have the right heart (Romans 1:1)
2. We need to have the right goal (Romans 1:2-4)
3. We need to have the right challenge (Romans 1:5-7)

You can check out this sermon by clicking on preaching sermons that work from romans 1.

The sub-points expand and explain the main preaching point. If you have incidental points, usually they expand and explain the sub-points.

If you construct a sermon this way, you will have cohesion and sequence, your sermon will be easy to preach and it will have a natural flow to it.

When I preached the sermon above, I introduced the sermon with a story that highlighted the main preaching point - Sharing Jesus Christ With Great Enthusiasm. Then I just preached the three sub-points.

The first way for sharing Jesus Christ with great enthusiasm involves having the right heart. Then I expanded and explained this first point.

The second way for sharing Jesus Christ with great enthusiasm invovles having the right goal. Then I expanded and explained this second point.

The third way for sharing Jesus Christ with great enthusiasm involves having the right challenge. Again, I expanded and explained this point.

I concluded the sermon by reiterating the main preaching point and sub-points and by challenging the people of God to put this into practice.

Sermons that work have a natural flow to them. They start with the main preaching point followed by sub-points and incidental points.

After 20 years in the ministry, I have found that people appreciate simple but effective sermon outlines.

How do you write sermons that work for you?