Personal Approach To Sermon Formation

The book that I read was entitled “Preaching with Variety” by Jeffrey D. Arthurs. It is a great resource and provided a wealth of information on various preaching styles and form. “The book describes the rhetorical dynamics of biblical genres and suggest how preachers can reproduce some of those dynamics in their sermon” (pg. 15). The content of the book consisted of illustrations, a forward, introduction, epilogue, notes, and a bibliography section. The author discussed various was to use the psalm, parable, proverb, epistle, narrative, and apocalyptic literature in preaching.

There are three stories from Jesus' Galilean ministry that stick out to me. The stories that stick out to me are, The Sermon on the Mount, the story of the Pharisees trying to trick Christ, and the third is the story of when Jesus fed 5,000 people! All these stories show the power of God and the transparent teachings of Christ.

Using Stanley’s suggested approach to the sermon, the speaker should be able to apply his or her material to the audience in a way that not only keeps them engaged, but also equips them to implement a change in their behavior. Stanley accomplishes this with maximum efficiency by limiting himself to only one theme per sermon. This, he argues, ensures that the audience can fully understand and internalize the speaker’s message. Once the single point has been determined, it is then essential to build the rest of the talk around that one point, framing the entire persuasion in a way that the audience will easily remember (Stanley,

Once during a passionate sermon at church, my pastor had made a vivid statement about incorporation of sin in law. Pastor Smith stated, “the world has developed loopholes to maintain its dignity by incorporating sin into the law, and as long as we are operating under the law, our actions are perceived as being justified”(Smith). Reflecting on his theory has brought me to the realization that the United Stated has established a profitable industry, governed by the creation and the manipulation of laws. Although, it’s ideal to believe that the standards of laws were truly orchestrated with the foundation of equality, justice, and freedom. It is imperative to be informed of historical events that has transpired through the history of the black race each operating under the ordinance of law. Beginning with the development of slavery, to the alarming rate of black men behind bars. I am compelled to present the clause of injustice that has labeled the United States as the home of 25% of the world 's prisoners ().

The points of divergence for these three authors are points that I like from all three authors, leading me to incorporate them all into my own sermons whenever possible. Long 's major emphasis on sermon structure comes through the presence of focus and function statements. Other than that, he is wide open to various ways of arranging the ideas within the sermon. I appreciate his fluidity in this area, because any kind of persuasive speaking opportunity is affected by the intended audience just as much as the message itself. Consequently, one strict format is unlikely to be effective in all

Surprisingly, the sermon by Jonathan Edwards is extremely similar to my pastor’s sermons. The way Edwards formatted his sermon, with an introduction and clear sections changing topic, is like my pastor. Taking notes when listening to both pastors preach would be very easy as they begin their sermon stating the theme (e.g. “Redeeming the time.”) then explicitly entering the first section (e.g. why time is precious). They both give several statements supporting the point. After giving those, they read Bible verses that verify the supports, which then verify the point. Having thoroughly proven the first argument,

The book, Putting the Truth to Work, by Daniel Doriani is a useful book which brings forth effective methods for advancing faithful biblical practices in sermon preparation and delivery. The author provides a prelude to hermeneutics with a focus toward developing sermon applications. Once the background has been set, he then talks about specific plans for implementing unique categories of Scripture in a Christocentric way. Doriani has written a lot of books on many different subjects, which encompasses hermeneutics, homiletics, and New Testament commentaries.

Tip number one was to watch for things that are repeated. If you run across something that is repeated, it means that it was very important. You will find these types of things all throughout the bible, but the challenge is to see what other do not see. We learned in class that a good bible study is the art of seeing the obvious. Repeated phrases or words are an indication that we should stop and take a second look, maybe even pull that section apart and research it more in depth.

The Sermon on the Mount is a sermon given by Jesus Christ found in the book of Matthew in the Holy Bible. The beginning of this sermon includes a list of blessings called the Beatitudes. Jesus uses these to explain God’s favor towards those who are striving for righteousness. For those who had come to believe and follow Jesus as the son of God, every word that he spoke in the Sermon on the Mount was intended as words of encouragement for Jesus’s disciples and were taken as such. For those who were skeptical, the crowd, that Jesus was truly the son of God, Jesus’s words took on a totally different meaning. The Beatitudes, simple words that promote the humility of man, were explicit words of encouragement for Jesus’s disciples. Yet at the same time, to the crowd listening, the Beatitudes were an implicit invitation to become men of God by believing that this man is God in the flesh, God in spirit, God almighty, God omniscient, God omnipresent, and God omnipotent.

There are many well-meaning, devout, knowledgeable Christians who well never intentionally build even one world-impacting, world visionary, reproducing disciple. This is because they will never seriously pursue a systematic curriculum designed for the purpose of discipling another to his ultimate destination (Hodges, p117). This need is not reserved for pastors, as evidenced by the writings of Luke. Luke was a layman, a busy doctor with his hectic schedule. Yet, he made

There are some people in the congregation that would devour a bad sermon and yet will not take the opportune time to give good feedback. We know that greedy people will gobble up whatever is put before them. What is tasteful to some is not necessarily tasteful to others. Not everyone in the pulpit is gifted by God to preach. Preaching is far more than dispensing content; it is a real-time engagement with a congregation.

The sermon at the mount is a collection of teachings and sayings that Jesus preaches to people at Galilee. It takes place after Jesus had been baptized by John the Baptist. This is the longest teaching by Jesus in a single preaching. It is found in the New Testament in the book of Matthew. It transverses chapter five to seven of the Gospel of Matthew. The main theme of sermon of the mountain is how people should relate with other people and God. The sermon is preached at a mountain when Jesus saw the crowd and his disciples’ were following him, he sat at a level ground on the mountain and started to preach. The Preaching’s can be divided it four major parts; The Beatitudes, Lord’s Prayer and parables.

The main point of Chris’ sermon was how do we eliminate goodness as our standard and achieve greatness. He supported this from a passage in Revelation and a quote by Jim Collins. Chris also talked about three things that we need to be connected to in order to achieve spiritual greatness. The first supporting point Chris used was that we need to connect to the creator. By staying connected to God we will have a great foundation set for us when we go through hard times in our life. The way that we connect with God is by loving God with all our heart, mind, and soul.

The point of this assignment is to discuss the passage chosen, as well as information regarding the historical/cultural background of the passage and applying it to my life as a human being. It is also important that I apply this information on the passage to the Christian life or church ministry. The passage I have chosen for this assignment is from Matthew chapters 5-7 and is labeled “The Sermon on the Mount”. The Sermon on the Mount is the longest and most prominent of the five discourses of Jesus in Matthew. The whole point of the Sermon on the Mount was to show people who converted to Christianity how to live. It is to show how Christians should live in their actions, words, thoughts, and others ways of life. With that being said, this way of life was preached by Jesus Christ as he “went up on the mountain” to deliver his powerful message. The information for this passage is in, of course, the bible and our textbook “Encountering the New Testament”, as well as many other resources on the web that are related to the bible and passage.

The sermon on the mount shows us Jesus 's ethical teachings on how a person should live his or life, the distinction from the law, and this has a reaction from the society. Jesus ' Sermon on the mount has had a huge impact on the Christian religion and somewhat shaped the religion in a sense. It has been a reference point for Christian ideals on the right way to live your life. It was a well constructed, alluring sermon that must have captivated the minds of the people.