My first sermon at the ripe age of 17 was horrible and less than five minutes long. I had no idea how to prepare a sermon. In reality, I shouldn’t have been preaching a sermon. I wasn’t ready spiritually or intellectually for the task of studying and proclaiming Scripture. I had a strong desire to preach the Word but lacked a method to get from the text to the sermon. By God’s grace, I have had many Godly men who have exemplified solid preaching and taken time to help me with my own craft. The bullet points below give a method and some considerations for anyone who desires to preach or teach the Bible to God’s people. I hope and pray they are a help to you.

Devotional

• Read passage repeatedly in multiple translations on the first day. I read the texts I’m preaching every morning during my quiet time.
• Pray for clarity, help, and for God to apply the text to your own heart and mind.
• Pray for the audience.

Interpretational

• Text: For one who reads the biblical languages start there. For the one who doesn’t read a variety of good translations and one faithful paraphrase (NLT).
• Context: Grammatical, Canonical, and Historical
  • Immediate: What proceeds, and what follows?
  • Book: What is the book? Who is writing? Who is the original audience? What is the main objective of the book? What is the genre?
  • Author: What other books has the author written? Are there any cross-references written by the same author that cover a similar subject?
  • Testament: What testament is the passage in? What differences are there between me and the original audience?
  • Canon: What does the rest of the Bible say about the subject of this text? Is it quoted anywhere else?
• Observation: What does the passage say? What are repeated words? Who/what is the subject? What is the object? What are the main verbs? Who are the main characters? Essentially make as many observations as you can with the time you have.
• Meaning: How does this answer the problem of living in a fallen world or being a fallen human being? What does it say about God? What does it say about redemption or a need for it? What principles from the passage apply to both the original audience and the contemporary audience?
• Application: How can this principle if a command be lived out in life? How can we be reminded of this principle if it is a truth to be believed?

Homiletical or Instructional

• Once the key question and Big Idea have been discovered, construct a short, accurate, and rememberable Big Idea Statement. For example, the big idea of Titus 1:5-9 is that ordered churches need pastors. Therefore, the key question and big idea statement in the context of a local church would be something like this: What do we need to be an orderly and faithful church? We need pastors.
• After the big idea of the text has been expressed, demonstrate how the text either proves, explains, or applies this big idea. Consider Titus 1:5-9 again. Big Idea: We need pastors (see verse 5). The rest of the passage answers what kind of pastors we need. Therefore, the outline might look like this:
  • We need faithful pastors with stable homes: 6
  • We need faithful pastors with solid characters: 7-8
  • We need faithful pastors with sound doctrine: 9
• After this, I read through one technical commentary, one or two devotional commentaries, and John Gills’ Commentary (All of it is online). I also consult a Systematic Theology with a Scripture index and a good whole Bible Biblical theology. This is to check my reasoning and interpretation of the text.
• Following these things, I write an introduction and conclusion. I try to hook the audience with the intro and land the plane with a conclusion.
• The last thing I do is fill out the outline, writing out my answer to difficulties within the text. I try to have an illustration for every point. Then I write out an application for every point.

Things to Consider

• Try to keep introductions, illustrations, and conclusions short.
• Try to apply the principles of the text to specific life issues on at least one of the points. Others can deal with issues more broadly.
• Be you as you teach. Allow your personality to remain, but not distract from the content of the passage.
• Strive for faithfulness, clarity, and brevity over entertainment.