- Have a clear and concisely-stated main idea for the sermon.
- Note: this requires a clearly stated and concise main idea of a passage, which…
- Requires lots and lots of exegetical groundwork
- Make sure that all of your points point to the main idea of the sermon.
- Don’t illustrate what doesn’t need an illustration.
- Illustrate with various kinds of illustrations:
- Short stories (use rarely)
- 2-3 sentence word pictures (use sometimes)
- One-sentence pictures (use often)
- Illustrations from Greek and Hebrew (use almost never)
- Do more showing than you do telling.
- Write a manuscript as long as you want and include everything you think needs to be there and then…
- Trim your manuscript to 3500 words (for a 35-minute sermon).
- Be brutal and legalistic on this point
- Cut out the fluff:
- Everything that is not necessary to make the point
- Everything that you included only because it has awesome homiletical force
- Everything that you have to work to make work
- Pick 5-6 different people, from different walks of life (young, old, educated, uneducated, mature and immature Christians, etc.), who will hear your sermon and consider how it should impact them.
- Write (and preach) every sermon as if it is the last sermon you will ever preach.
- Pray a lot. And then pray some more.
Life on Sojourn 