Sermon Development

Tomorrow the Elders at The Evergreen Community are going to preach. We have taken a passage and divided up. I took this opportunity to see how I move from passage to sermon. For the most part here is how I develop sermons:

1. Read the passage over and over again out of the NASB.
2. Read the passage in different translations (KJV, NKJV, RSV, NRSV, ISV, NIV, NIrV, NLT, NCV, CEV, The Message, etc.)
3. Read the whole book which the passage is from or at least read the paragraphs before and after.
4. Seek to understand the context (literarily, historically, etc.)
5. Cut and past the passage into a Word document which is double spaced for notes.
6. It is usually about this point I remember to pray for God’s help!
7. Determine the flow and thought progression of the passage.
8. Determine the author’s central thought of the passage (authorial intent).
1. Ask: What is the author talking about?
2. Ask: What is the author saying about what he is talking about?
9. Look for repeated words, conjunctions, qualifiers, “loaded” words, words I don’t understand, reoccurring themes.
10. Research any ties to other passages of Scripture, otherwise known as cross references.
11. Do word studies.
12. Wrestle with hard phrases.
13. Ask, “What would the first reader have seen and heard?”
14. Ask, “Why is this included in the Bible?” or “Why is this important to God?”
15. Think, pray, think, pray, think, pray.
16. Read commentaries, customs and manners, books of lists, histories and any other related works.
17. Begin to relate the central thought to everyday life or begin climb the "ladder of abstraction.”
18. Begin to write out my thoughts. These are the sermon. Sometimes they are developed into a manuscript and sometimes they are left just as an outline.