Make Your Sermon Structure Obvious

At my conference last month, Dr. Hershael York warned against using bad Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic word studies in sermons. His lesser point was to preach simple sermons that highlight the bible and not the preacher. He encouraged us to trust the Bible and not our cleverness.

I've been thinking about that advice and what that means.

  • It means telling the structure of the sermon during the sermon. This is probably my biggest piece of advice for all preachers. Your sermon will improve if you make your outline obvious. I never resent a preacher making point or outline too obvious. I do get bored or confused when I have no idea what the point is or where we are in the sermon.
This applies to teachers as well. Make your outline obvious so that people can hang your explanations, illustrations, and applications on the structure of the lesson.


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