The Most Important Elements to Consider when Preparing a Bible Study or Sermon
I read a story about a bank employee who was fixing an ATM machine and the door accidentally shut while he was inside its tiny maintenance room. When someone approached the machine to receive some money, they instead received a note that said, "Please help. I'm stuck in here and don't have my phone. Please call my boss."[1]
As peculiar of a story as this may be, I'm sure there are plenty of Bible study leaders and preachers who have fallen into a trap of being stuck instead of being unleashed to reach their audience for Christ. One little strange thing happened and it completely threw you off the base on which you thought you’d stand. I hope this article will help you get unstuck.
As rudimentary as this may sound, the most important elements to consider in Bible study and sermon preparation are exegesis, illustration, and application, all interlaced with prayer. After pastoring for fifteen years, I still sit in my study for a prolonged time of prayer, then I dive into the text.
Prayer
As you begin the Bible study or sermon preparation process, go before the Lord with a heart of repentance and humility. Ask Him to give you wisdom as you prepare. Ask Him to use the Bible study or sermon to reach lost people and see saved people discipled. Ask the Lord to use you as a vessel to communicate the Bible to people. Ask Him to begin stirring in the hearts of the hearers of the message.
After you initially pray, your time of going before the Lord is not over. Continue to pray throughout the preparation process. Weave prayers throughout the entire time of reading and writing.
Exegesis
As you exegete a text, there are a few key things to remember: The flesh of the text, the structure of it, and its central proposition.[2] Here are some practical ways to do this:
· Read through the text in various versions, including the Greek or Hebrew, if you’re trained in biblical languages.
· Write down main observations of the text.
· Determine the key backgrounds of the text: geography, language, history, cross-references in the Bible, etc.
· Perform word studies (if necessary).
· Peruse commentaries, other pertinent books, and files.
· Determine the bottom line and outline the text.
Illustration
As you illustrate the sermon, shake it up with personal anecdotes, historical stories, current events, and mostly via stories found in other parts of the Bible. These different approaches will keep it fresh for the listener.
Application
I find application to be underrated in homiletic discussions, in academic and non-academic circles alike. Tim Keller notes its importance when he says, “Every Christian needs to understand the message of the Bible well enough to explain and apply it to other Christians and to his neighbors in informal and personal settings.”[3]
Manuscript the Bible Study or Sermon
Write out the entirety of what you’re going to teach or preach. If you do this, it forces you to think through the wording of every sentence. It moves your teaching or preaching to another level, whether you take the manuscript to the classroom or pulpit with you or not.
D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones puts it this way: “If therefore you do not write your sermon in full do not fall into any [of these] traps. Prepare as thoroughly as you can so that you will know in your mind what you want to say from beginning to end. I cannot emphasize this too strongly.”[4]
Prayer
As I previously mentioned, prayer is of utmost importance in the Bible study or sermon preparation process. “Without prayer, our sermons may look good on paper—they may even sound good in the pulpit—but you can bet that they will never leave the church parking lot.”[5] May each of our Bible studies and sermons move beyond the lot, and into the hearts and lives of the hearers.
[1] Fira, Justin. “Contractor Gets Stuck Inside ATM Room.” KZTV10.com. http://kztv10.com/story/35870981/contractor-gets-stuck-inside-atm-room (accessed July 17, 2017).
[2] Ramesh Richard, Preparing Expository Sermon: A Seven-Step Method for Biblical Preaching (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2005), 33, 53, 65.
[3] Timothy Keller, Preaching: Communicating Faith in an Age of Skepticism (New York: Viking Press, 2015), 4.
[4] D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Preaching & Preachers (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1971), 226.
[5] Michael Fabarez, Preaching That Changes Lives (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2002), 69.