5 Steps in My Sermon Preparation Process

Steps in the Sermon Preparation Process Over the years I’ve come to depend on a five-step process of sermon preparation. Certainly this is not the only way to do things. But as I have heard other men whose peaching I admire describe their process, I’ve been encouraged by similarities to mine. That should be no surprise. Given that we share convictions and goals, our processes naturally are similar. The steps in my sermon preparation process are (1) text work; (2) secondary reading; (3) homiletical structuring; (4) writing; and (5) familiarizing. Text Work This step involves me sitting down with my Bible and a notepad. I read and reread the text dozens of times, observing things that help me understand what God is saying and why he is saying it. I want to do three things during this step. First, I want to determine what I call the primary claim of my text. This term grows out of our understanding of the nature of Scripture, that God greatly desires it to accomplish an effect. So I ask, What is this text’s greatly desired effect? What claim does God want to make on the reader through his word? Getting clarity on this primary claim sets the course for all subsequent sermon preparation...