Unity. Order. Progress. Three essentials in effective communication of a message. Yet it strikes me that we can sometimes take these for granted when we are preaching on a single passage. Unity? One passage. Order? Moving through the passage. Progress? Getting closer to the end. If this is all we have, then I suspect our [...]
Archive for the ‘Stage 6 - Message Idea’ Category
U.O.P. – Onus On Us
Posted in Christianity, Delivery, Homiletics, Preaching, Religion, Stage 2 - Passage Study, Stage 3 - Passage Purpose, Stage 4 - Passage Idea, Stage 6 - Message Idea, Stage 7 - Message Outline, tagged Expository Preaching, Order, Progress, Unity on June 15, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
3 DQ’s – Dynamite Questions
Posted in Audience Analysis, Christianity, Homiletics, How to . . . ?, Preaching, Religion, Stage 2 - Passage Study, Stage 3 - Passage Purpose, Stage 6 - Message Idea, Stage 7 - Message Outline, Stage 8 - Message Detail, tagged Developing an Idea, Developmental Questions, Donald Sunukjian, Haddon Robinson on June 4, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Okay, that should be “developmental questions,” but they are dynamite. Sunukjian and others have followed Robinson in making quite a fuss of these three questions. I would encourage you to do the same. The questions represent the three ways in which a stated idea can be developed. There are no other ways to develop an [...]
More Sneaky Landmines
Posted in Audience Analysis, Christianity, Delivery, Homiletics, How to . . . ?, Preaching, Religion, Stage 5 - Message Purpose, Stage 6 - Message Idea, Stage 7 - Message Outline, Stage 8 - Message Detail, tagged Church Leadership, Expository Preaching, Pastoral Ministry on May 21, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Last week I shared three sneaky landmines that every preacher faces in the ministry. I appreciated the good comments by Larry and Sudhir, so thought I’d bring their suggestions to the fore in this post. More landmines:
Thinking we need something new to say – Now just because a take on a passage has [...]
Balancing the Balancing
Posted in Christianity, Homiletics, How to . . . ?, Old Testament, Preaching, Religion, Stage 4 - Passage Idea, Stage 6 - Message Idea, Stage 7 - Message Outline, Stage 8 - Message Detail, tagged Psalm 1 on May 16, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Every text says something. No text says everything. Our task is to preach the text’s something in a way that is faithful to the Bible’s “everything”. Our task is not to preach everything from this text’s something.
Balance – you don’t want to preach something that on its own is faithful to the preaching text, but [...]
Question to Ponder – What is it we preach?
Posted in Christianity, Homiletics, How to . . . ?, Preaching, Religion, Stage 5 - Message Purpose, Stage 6 - Message Idea, Stage 7 - Message Outline, tagged Biblical preaching, Christocentric Preaching, Expository Preaching, Theocentric Preaching on May 4, 2009 | 2 Comments »
What is it that we preach? I’m really “preaching to the choir” in this post. I’m addressing those who are committed to expository preaching and therefore will unhesitatingly affirm – “we preach the Bible!” Others may hesitate and desire to preach contemporary ideas or whatever else, but for those of us who, at least in [...]
Five Major Failings – Part 2
Posted in Audience Analysis, Christianity, Delivery, Homiletics, How to . . . ?, Preacher's Personal Life, Preaching, Stage 5 - Message Purpose, Stage 6 - Message Idea, Stage 7 - Message Outline, Stage 8 - Message Detail, tagged Applicational Preaching, Expository Preaching, Preaching Applications, Sub-Christian Preaching on April 16, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Carrying on from yesterday’s two failings, here are the rest:
“3. Vague Phrasing – Preachers seem hardwired to eschew all vivid verbs and concrete nouns, with the result that they sound vague and uninteresting.”
A lack of energy in delivery, a lack of facial engagement, a lack of passion, a lack of effective sensory description and so [...]
Five Major Failings
Posted in Christianity, Delivery, Homiletics, How to . . . ?, Preaching, Religion, Stage 5 - Message Purpose, Stage 6 - Message Idea, Stage 7 - Message Outline, Stage 8 - Message Detail, tagged Expository Preaching, Message Introductions, Sermon Introductions on April 15, 2009 | 3 Comments »
I thought I’d share this list of five major failings of many preachers, according to the book that I am currently enjoying:
“1. Multiplitus – Using too many points until the sermon becomes a starburst that dazzles rather than communicates.”
Well put. When we try to preach more than one point, we quickly move from communication [...]
Do We Get It Backwards?
Posted in Christianity, Delivery, Homiletics, How to . . . ?, Preaching, Religion, Stage 2 - Passage Study, Stage 5 - Message Purpose, Stage 6 - Message Idea, Stage 7 - Message Outline, Stage 8 - Message Detail, tagged Applicational Preaching, Charles Kraft, Donald Sunukjian, Explaining the Text, Expository Preaching, Preach the Word, Sunukjian on April 9, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Here’s a provocative quote from Charles Kraft:
The amount of crucial information involved in Christianity is, I believe, quite small. The amount of Christian behavior demanded in response to all that information is, however, quite large. We have, however, given ourselves over to a methodology that emphasizes the lesser of the two ingredients. (Jesus Model for [...]
Reflections on Foreign Language Preaching
Posted in Delivery, Homiletics, Preaching, Religion, Stage 6 - Message Idea, Stage 7 - Message Outline, Stage 8 - Message Detail, tagged Expository Preaching, Preaching in Italian on April 6, 2009 | 3 Comments »
It has been an interesting weekend of preaching for me. For the first time in almost four years, I preached in Italian. Actually, three times in two churches. (Background: I spent my first five years in Italy and have visited many times while growing up, my Italian is quite poor, limited vocabulary and by no [...]
Unhealthy Division: Style & Substance
Posted in Christianity, Delivery, Homiletics, Preacher's Personal Life, Preaching, Religion, Stage 5 - Message Purpose, Stage 6 - Message Idea, Stage 7 - Message Outline, Stage 8 - Message Detail, tagged 1Cor.2, Apostle Paul, Corinthians, Expsository Preaching, Preaching Delivery, Preaching style, Substance on March 21, 2009 | 1 Comment »
Perhaps people like me add to the kind of division I am thinking about by the labels used in our teaching of preaching, but still, we’d do well to think about this. Do we too easily divide elements of preaching?
For example, content and delivery, or substance and style. It’s a simple distinction, and it works [...]
Main Idea – Another Easy Mistake
Posted in Christianity, Homiletics, How to . . . ?, Preaching, Religion, Stage 4 - Passage Idea, Stage 6 - Message Idea, tagged Big Idea Preaching, Expository Preaching on March 5, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Yesterday I mentioned an easy mistake to make – finding the biggest detail and losing sight of the rest. Here’s another easy mistake to make:
Encompassing everything via a statement that is so vague it could come from any number of passages. I suppose it is an overreaction to the fear of missing the point of [...]
Main Idea – Easy Mistake
Posted in Christianity, Homiletics, How to . . . ?, Preaching, Religion, Stage 4 - Passage Idea, Stage 6 - Message Idea, tagged Big Idea, Expository Preaching, Main Idea on March 4, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
I suppose there are several easy mistakes to make when it comes to getting the main idea of a passage. I’d like to point out one today.
Do not look for the biggest detail of the passage and then omit the rest of the passage. It may be tempting to look for the weightiest element in [...]
Preaching and the Great Commandment
Posted in Christianity, Delivery, Homiletics, How to . . . ?, Preacher's Personal Life, Preaching, Religion, Stage 2 - Passage Study, Stage 3 - Passage Purpose, Stage 4 - Passage Idea, Stage 5 - Message Purpose, Stage 6 - Message Idea, Stage 7 - Message Outline, Stage 8 - Message Detail, tagged Affective, Affective Theology, Expository Preaching, Ron Frost, Spreading Goodness, spreadinggoodness, Trinitarian on February 16, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
My post today is not here, but you can get there from here. It’s a guest post on a blog I appreciate very much – spreadinggoodness.org. It is a blog by Dr Ron Frost. I commend the blog to you, and I’m not just saying that because Ron has kindly invited me [...]
Easter is Coming – The Power of Identification
Posted in Audience Analysis, Christianity, Delivery, Genre, Homiletics, How to . . . ?, New Testament, Preaching, Religion, Stage 5 - Message Purpose, Stage 6 - Message Idea, tagged Easter, Calvary, Genre, Expository Preaching, Martin Luther, Passion Narratives, Evangelical Theology on January 31, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
I know Easter is still a couple of months away, but as a preacher it is never too early to think about Easter. In fact, there is a sense in which commemoration of Easter is never more than six days away – the Lord’s Day is a weekly gathering because of His resurrection. So here’s [...]
Double Sermon Experiment: Lessons Learned
Posted in Christianity, Delivery, Preaching, Religion, Stage 2 - Passage Study, Stage 4 - Passage Idea, Stage 5 - Message Purpose, Stage 6 - Message Idea, tagged Expository Preaching on January 21, 2009 | 1 Comment »
I have suggested this before, but decided to try it again on Sunday. One passage, two messages. In the afternoon I had some doubts. Perhaps I should do something different? I prayerfully decided to stick with the plan and I’m glad I did. (Despite this moment of doubt, the afternoon was less of a trial [...]
Fullness, Not Dipping – Narratives
Posted in Christianity, Genre, Homiletics, How to . . . ?, Preaching, Religion, Stage 2 - Passage Study, Stage 3 - Passage Purpose, Stage 4 - Passage Idea, Stage 5 - Message Purpose, Stage 6 - Message Idea, Stage 7 - Message Outline, Stage 8 - Message Detail, tagged Bible as Literature, John Drury, Leland Ryken, Literary Hermeneutics, Preach the Word on December 15, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
I’d like to share another post in light of the chapter by Leland Ryken in the book he co-edited entitled Preach the Word (in honor of Kent Hughes). In writing of the importance of understanding the Bible literarily and not just theologically or historically, he states the following:
A biblical scholar who caught the vision for [...]
We Preach Literature – Part 2
Posted in Christianity, Genre, Homiletics, How to . . . ?, Preaching, Religion, Stage 2 - Passage Study, Stage 3 - Passage Purpose, Stage 4 - Passage Idea, Stage 6 - Message Idea, Stage 7 - Message Outline, Stage 8 - Message Detail, tagged Gordon Fee, Leland Ryken, Literary, Literary Forms, Literary Types, Preach the Word on December 13, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Yesterday I noted Leland Ryken’s comment that expository preaching “keeps its focus on the announced text instead of escaping from it to other material.” Another feature of expository preaching, in his mind, is as follows:
2. “Expository preaching interacts with the chosen text in terms of the kind of writing that it is instead of immediately [...]
Shifting from Passage to Message – Idea
Posted in Audience Analysis, Christianity, Delivery, Homiletics, How to . . . ?, Preaching, Religion, Stage 4 - Passage Idea, Stage 5 - Message Purpose, Stage 6 - Message Idea, tagged Expository Preaching, Haddon Robinson on December 10, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Two days ago we considered the move from passage to message in relation to the purpose statement. Now let’s look at the other core move at the apex of the process, the move from passage idea to message idea.
Many rightly point out that really there are three steps. To use some Haddon Robinson terminology, you [...]
The Preparation Process in Question Form
Posted in Audience Analysis, Christianity, Homiletics, How to . . . ?, Preaching, Religion, Stage 1 - Passage Selection, Stage 2 - Passage Study, Stage 3 - Passage Purpose, Stage 4 - Passage Idea, Stage 5 - Message Purpose, Stage 6 - Message Idea, Stage 7 - Message Outline, Stage 8 - Message Detail on November 22, 2008 | 1 Comment »
Perhaps you have already thought it through in this way, or perhaps this will be helpful to you. The eight stage preparation process can be stated in the form of questions:
1. Passage Selection – Which passage will you prepare to preach?
2. Passage Study – What does the passage say and mean? (What is the content [...]
Passage Precedes Message
Posted in Christianity, Delivery, Homiletics, How to . . . ?, Preaching, Religion, Stage 1 - Passage Selection, Stage 2 - Passage Study, Stage 3 - Passage Purpose, Stage 4 - Passage Idea, Stage 5 - Message Purpose, Stage 6 - Message Idea, Stage 7 - Message Outline, Stage 8 - Message Detail on November 21, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
I just read a post on communication that related to content versus visuals in their relative importance. The conclusion was that neither trumped the other, but in fact connection trumped them both. In the more specific realm of biblical preaching, we have to give precedence to the content, but that does not mean we neglect [...]
Apologetics for Homiletics – Part 3
Posted in Christianity, Homiletics, Preaching, Religion, Stage 2 - Passage Study, Stage 3 - Passage Purpose, Stage 4 - Passage Idea, Stage 5 - Message Purpose, Stage 6 - Message Idea, Stage 7 - Message Outline, Stage 8 - Message Detail, tagged Bryan Chappell, Haddon Robinson, Preaching Books, Ramesh Richard, Sermon, Sermon Preparation on November 13, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
So the critical matter of the role of the Spirit raised issues concerning evaluation of past “fruit,” and more importantly, the dynamic tension between good stewardship and self-reliance. Now another objection:
Doesn’t homiletics create a methodological strait jacket? People with years of experience in reading a passage, soaking in it and then coming up with something [...]
Making Words Clear
Posted in Christianity, Delivery, Genre, Homiletics, How to . . . ?, New Testament, Preaching, Religion, Specific text, Stage 2 - Passage Study, Stage 3 - Passage Purpose, Stage 4 - Passage Idea, Stage 5 - Message Purpose, Stage 6 - Message Idea, Stage 7 - Message Outline, Stage 8 - Message Detail, tagged Clausal Layout, Diagramming, Exegetical Outline, Syntactical Analysis on November 8, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Here in London you can visit the British Library and look at such priceless items as Codex Sinaiticus and Codex Alexandrinus. While it is a privilege to see them, they are not the easiest things to read and understand. Written in uncials, ITISNOTEASYTOREADTEXTWITHOUTGAPSORPUNCTUATION. Never mind the fact that it is in Greek, just the running [...]
Squeezing One Sentence into Half an Hour
Posted in Christianity, Delivery, Homiletics, How to . . . ?, Preaching, Religion, Stage 4 - Passage Idea, Stage 6 - Message Idea, Stage 8 - Message Detail, tagged Big Idea Preaching, Take Home Truth on November 6, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Last night I was involved in a very enjoyable Bible study in Ephesians. After wrestling with the text together for a good while, we tried to summarize the section in one sentence. Having made a first pass at a summary statement (or main idea), I mentioned that now there is a chance we could preach [...]
Why State Ideas Explicitly? – Part 2
Posted in Christianity, Delivery, Homiletics, How to . . . ?, Preaching, Religion, Stage 4 - Passage Idea, Stage 5 - Message Purpose, Stage 6 - Message Idea, Stage 8 - Message Detail, tagged Bible, Big Idea, Culture, Explicit Communication, Implicit Communication on October 23, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Here’s the question again:
Since our culture is shaped by the communication of implicit and pervasive ideas, and much of the Scriptures use a narrative communication with ideas implicitly conveyed, are we communicating effectively when we state explicit ideas in preaching?
Two more thoughts:
Generally speaking, explicit statement of the idea is necessary if people are to have [...]
Why State Ideas Explicitly?
Posted in Christianity, Delivery, Genre, Homiletics, Preaching, Religion, Stage 4 - Passage Idea, Stage 6 - Message Idea, tagged Bible, Big Idea, Culture, Explicit Communication, Haddon Robinson, Implicit Communication on October 22, 2008 | 1 Comment »
A while ago I was asked a very perceptive question:
Since our culture is shaped by the communication of implicit and pervasive ideas, and much of the Scriptures use a narrative communication with ideas implicitly conveyed, are we communicating effectively when we state explicit ideas in preaching?
I think a question of that depth requires a better [...]
Preach Deeper
Posted in Christianity, Delivery, Homiletics, How to . . . ?, Preaching, Religion, Stage 2 - Passage Study, Stage 5 - Message Purpose, Stage 6 - Message Idea, Stage 7 - Message Outline, Stage 8 - Message Detail on October 3, 2008 | 2 Comments »
I just came across some notes I made a while ago. It’s a three part description of preaching that I hear. This is simplified, but perhaps helpful as a stimulus to move from approach 1 to 2 and from 2 to 3.
Approach 1 – Springboard Preaching (Inadequate approach to preaching)
This is where the preacher touches [...]
Dense Packing Doesn’t Prosper
Posted in Audience Analysis, Christianity, Delivery, Homiletics, How to . . . ?, Preaching, Religion, Stage 5 - Message Purpose, Stage 6 - Message Idea, Stage 8 - Message Detail on September 26, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
It is commonly referred to as a mistake new preachers make, but we can all fall into the trap. A sermon will not work well if it is too overwhelming.
Let’s say you study the passage for several hours. You discover interesting bits of information regarding background, structure, syntax, grammar, word meanings, not to mention parallel [...]
When In Doubt, Sound It Out
Posted in Christianity, Homiletics, How to . . . ?, Preacher's Personal Life, Preaching, Religion, Stage 5 - Message Purpose, Stage 6 - Message Idea, Stage 7 - Message Outline, Stage 8 - Message Detail on September 13, 2008 | 1 Comment »
Sometimes preparation grinds to a halt. You feel like you’re drowning in a sea of paper, half-finished thoughts, words and scribbles everywhere. Even with a good system for organizing your pre-sermon study and message notes, it is still possible to feel stuck. You’ve gone from a sprint to crawl and the open expanse before you [...]
Preaching Warning Passages
Posted in Audience Analysis, Christianity, Delivery, Homiletics, How to . . . ?, Old Testament, Preaching, Religion, Stage 2 - Passage Study, Stage 3 - Passage Purpose, Stage 5 - Message Purpose, Stage 6 - Message Idea, Stage 8 - Message Detail, tagged Prophet Joel, Thomas Finley on September 11, 2008 | 1 Comment »
I was just reading a little commentary on Joel by Thomas Finley. On page 38 he makes a comment that is worth our attention as preachers. It’s not new, it’s not profound, but it’s easy to leave this out of the equation as we evaluate our ministry.
According to Finley, the prophets, such as Joel, “had [...]
Vague Preaching Ideas
Posted in Christianity, Homiletics, How to . . . ?, Preaching, Religion, Stage 2 - Passage Study, Stage 4 - Passage Idea, Stage 6 - Message Idea on September 3, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
When you study a chunk of biblical text, you are looking to state the idea of that chunk. The idea encapsulates, condenses, summarizes and usually abstracts from the details present. In terms of the hermeneutical process, we sometimes refer to the stage of principlization (coming between interpretation and application). The reason for deriving the principle [...]
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