(Check your work in “Answers to Student Exercises” at the back of the book.)
Exercise 3.1 Connect the Dots
Why is it easy to picture the image in figure 5, even before the dots are connected?
Why is it difficult to picture the image in figure 6 even after the dots are connected?
Formulating an exegetical idea of Scripture is like connecting the dots. Except instead of connecting dots, you are connecting ideas. The way to know that you have the big idea of a text is the same way to know you have a completed image. The image is complete when you have connected all the dots. So, too, you have the big idea of a text of Scripture when you have connected all the thoughts of the biblical writer for the subject on which he is writing. That is, when your exegetical big idea adequately reflects all the author says about the subject in his unit of thought, your big idea is accurate.
Look up James 1:2–12. Here is an exegetical big idea that deals with all the “dots” (ideas) in that passage.
Subject: Why should we rejoice when our faith is tested?
Complement: Because tests produce two things: perseverance that matures us, and wisdom to deal with trials (specifically financial trials).
Big Idea: We rejoice in trials because “tested faith” (i.e., trials) matures us through perseverance, so that we lack nothing—specifically, we don’t lack wisdom to deal with trials.
There is more than one way to state the idea of James 1:2–12, which is why the wording is slightly different above. A shortened version of the same text could read as follows:
Subject: Why should we rejoice when our faith is tested?
Complement: Because tests mature us.
Big Idea: We can rejoice in trials because tested faith results in maturity.
The first big idea statement above deals with all the “dots” in James 1:2–12, but the shortened version in the second example is adequate. However, if using the shortened version, a preacher would want at least to point out the need for wisdom when going through trials (vv. 5–8), including trials produced by too little or too much money (the “humble” brother and the rich brother in vv. 9–11).
When formulating an exegetical big idea, look at the context—the other ideas—for help in discovering the big idea. In an image such as the lion in figure 5, the “context” is the lines (comprising the whiskers and tail) that accompany the unconnected dots. One may think of these lines as already connected dots. So then, a context is ideas that have already been connected. When reading a biblical letter, the “lines” (context) would be the paragraphs (ideas) that surround your text. When reading a biblical narrative, the “lines” would probably be other stories from the larger biblical account.
Context, subject, and complement are the three components that help us to formulate the big idea. The following activity helps illustrate these three components. Listed below are two figures. Figure 6 (on the left) is the figure you saw above. Figure 7 is placed beside it for comparison. Both figures are identical with two exceptions: figure 7 is more complete and the dots are closer to each other. Connect the dots in figure 7 and record the outcome in the space provided below the image.
The image is a cane. It could be a walking cane or just a candy cane; either answer is acceptable. The reason you could identify the image in figure 7 is because the dots were more complete (or plentiful) and they were closer to each other than the dots in figure 6. But the images for figures 6 and 7 are the exact same image in the author’s mind.
Even though figure 7 has a complete set of dots that are close enough to form a clear image, there is still a problem because more than one answer is possible. Because there is no context, some will see it as a candy cane; others will identify it as a walking cane; still others might see a shepherd’s staff. But what if figure 7 had a red bow at the top of it and red stripes that ran sideways along the staff portion of the image? Then it would easily be identified as a candy cane because of its context.
Chapter 4 The Road from Text to Sermon
These exercises will help you formulate an accurate exegetical big idea from a biblical text. In the previous chapters we began developing a skill that helps formulate a biblical author’s big idea by noting three questions:
- Has the author changed the subject? (or What is the author’s unit of thought?)
- What are the author’s complete thoughts on the subject? (An exegetical idea needs to connect all the “dots.”)
- What is the author’s context?
In this chapter we have looked at the three developmental questions. When people write, whether they realize it or not, they are answering one of three questions. The first question is “What does the writer mean?” The writer is explaining his or her idea to the readers. The second question, “Is that true? Do I believe it?” has to do with persuasion. The author is trying to prove the idea for the reader. The third question, “So what?” has to do with relevance. The author is showing the reader how his or her big idea can make a difference in the reader’s life. In every paragraph or series of paragraphs, the author is addressing one or more of these three developmental questions.
Thinking through these questions helps the preacher formulate an exegetical big idea. If you can determine which of these three questions an author is answering, it will help you formulate the big idea.
Let’s try an example. Look at these statements:
“Eat one toad every morning.”
“Nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day.”
It’s difficult to connect the dots in these statements because the two ideas don’t seem at all close to each other. It looks as though the author has suddenly changed the subject. One idea seems to be about eating a toad and the other about having a good day. So what questions does one ask to connect (or reject) these ideas?
The first question a person asks about this statement is “What did the author mean?” You want to know if the writer means that a toad (i.e., a tailless, leaping amphibian) is what a person should eat. Or is “toad” a nickname for a wonder drug, or the name of a new vitamin supplement rich in ginseng, echinacea, and ginkgo biloba?
When you have verified that the writer means a tailless, leaping amphibian toad, then your next question is “Why should I believe you? Prove it.” In other words, you do not believe that a toad a day will keep the doctor away.
If the writer persuades you to eat a toad with “factual” information that only toad meat can cure cancer, AIDS, blood clots, and old age, then the next question is “How do I eat the toad?” (This pertains to the third question of relevance.) Do I fry it or boil it, or is it sold in some food products?
The process you just went through with the toad is the same process the mind goes through in formulating an exegetical big idea. It is the process of determining meaning, proof, and relevance. It is also the process a thoughtful writer goes through when writing. So, when you are locating the big idea of a text, ask yourself three questions:
Is the writer explaining his or her meaning to me, the reader?
Is the author trying to prove something?
Is the author showing me how this applies to my life?
You can be confident that the author is addressing one of these three questions. The only reason any writer or communicator puts more than one idea together is to answer one of these questions. Look for one of these questions to be answered in our big idea.
Exercise 4.1 How to Identify an Author’s Big Idea
Write down the subject and the complement for the following thought. Pay particular attention to which of the three questions mentioned above is being addressed:
“Eat one toad every morning.”
“Nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day.”
Subject: ________________________________
Complement: _________________________
Check your answers in “Answers to Student Exercises” at the back of the book before continuing. If you need to, review stage 4 in chapter 4 of the text to clarify these concepts.
There are two ways to write this subject and complement. In the answers section for this chapter, it is written to address the complement: that is, it addresses how a person can have a trouble-free day. However, it could be written to address the question of the subject. If it were addressing the question of persuasion, the subject would be “Why should you eat a toad every day?” and the complement would be “Because you will have a good day.” The reason it can be stated as a question based on the subject or complement is because we do not have a context into which to fit this idea—it is an isolated dot. If the context told us, for example, that the author owned a toad farm, then we might be inclined to think the author is persuading us because he wants to sell us toads. On the other hand, if the toad idea appeared in a medical journal written to improve people’s well-being, we would think the big idea is reporting how we can have a good day.
Exercise 4.2 Three Developmental Questions
Determine the subject and the complement in the following exercises. In addition, indicate what developmental question you think each author answers (meaning, proof, or application).
- “The reason you can’t teach an old dog new tricks is not that he is incapable of learning them. It is that he is quite content with his mastery of the old tricks, and thinks that learning new tricks is strictly for puppies. Besides, he is busy paying off the mortgage on the dog house.” (John W. Gardner)
Subject:
Complement:
Developmental question being addressed:
- “The powerful voice of God warns of judgment, and the same voice expresses His compassion for those who come back to Him in His given way. We are to listen with the same intensity of awe we feel when we observe the power of water. His spoken truth is not for us to judge or edit; we are to listen, absorb, understand, and bow.” (Edith Schaeffer)
Subject:
Complement:
Developmental question being addressed:
- “The best thing you can do for your golf this winter is look in a mirror. A full-length mirror is a valuable learning aid. With it you can make valuable improvement, particularly in your set-up position and putting.” (New York Times)
Subject:
Complement:
Developmental question being addressed:
- “Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellow man has fulfilled the law. The commandments, ‘Do not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not murder,’ ‘Do not steal,’ ‘Do not covet’ and whatever other commandments there may be, are summed up in this one rule: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.” (Rom. 13:8–10)
Subject:
Complement:
Developmental question being addressed:
- A Chinese boy who wanted to learn about jade went to study with a talented old teacher. This gentleman put a piece of the stone into the youth’s hand and told him to hold it tight. Then he began to talk of philosophy, men, women, the sun, and almost everything under it. After an hour he took back the stone and sent the boy home. The procedure was repeated for weeks. The boy became frustrated—when would he be told about jade?—but he was too polite to interrupt his venerable teacher. Then one day when the old man put a stone into his hands, the boy cried out instantly, “That’s not jade!”
Subject:
Complement:
Developmental question being addressed:
- “Rudolph Fellner reminds his classes at Carnegie-Mellon University that ‘melody exists only in your memory, for at any given moment you are hearing only one note of the tune.’ Music is a cumulative art. It is a change of sounds through time, each sound taking its meaning from those that have gone before. It is not the art for amnesiacs.” (William Mayer)
Subject:
Complement:
Developmental question being addressed:
- I shall pass through this life but once.
Any good, therefore, that I can do
Or any kindness I can show to any fellow creature,
Let me do it now.
Let me not defer or neglect it,
For I shall not pass this way again.
Subject:
Complement:
Developmental question being addressed:
- “Work today has lost many traditional characteristics; so has play. Play has increasingly been transformed into organized sports, and sports in turn increasingly resemble work in the arduous practice and preparation, in the intense involvement of coaches and athletes (in the spirit of work), and in actual economic productivity. In a final paradox only those sports which began as work—that is, hunting and fishing—are now dominated by the spirit of play.” (Sport and Society)
Subject:
Complement:
Developmental question being addressed:
- The law can prompt us to sin. I am told that several years ago a high-rise hotel was built in Galveston, Texas, overlooking the Gulf of Mexico. In fact, they sank pilings into the gulf and built the structure out over the water. When the hotel was about to have its grand opening, someone thought, “What if people decide to fish out the hotel windows?” So they placed signs in the hotel rooms, “No fishing out the hotel windows.” Many people ignored the signs, however, and it created a difficult problem. Lines got snarled. People in the dining room saw fish flapping against the picture windows. The manager of the hotel solved it all by taking down those little signs. No one checks into a hotel room thinking about fishing out the windows. The law, although well intentioned, created the problem.
Subject:
Complement:
Developmental question being addressed:
(See “Answers to Student Exercises” at the back of the book.)
If you don’t apply these principles, an audience will not listen to your message. The reason your audience will not listen to your message will not necessarily be because of poor listening skills or because of the audience’s disinterest in biblical truths. Rather, the people in your audience will not listen because they will hear your message as irrelevant to their lives. The principles in this chapter represent the audience’s natural thought processes for all of life.
For example, these principles represent the way people think about their favorite football team or finding a job, as well as listening to sermons. If the people in an audience don’t listen to you (even though they may politely smile and pretend to hear you), the typical result will be that they go home no different from the way they were before your message.
Exercise 4.3 You Have Some Explaining to Do!
It is important to do the following exercises exactly as they are written. If you jump ahead in the exercises, you can short-circuit your learning process. Here are your instructions:
Take at least two minutes (make sure to time yourself) to explain the following paragraph as best you can. It is important to do this before proceeding. Even if you have no idea what the paragraph means and your explanation sounds strange to you, take the two minutes to write your best explanation before reading ahead. Here is the paragraph.
You are at weggi, 5 miles north of RIP. Go to 2500 until established on the ILS, and then switch to 118.9. If you are 9 miles from the VOR you are cleared, otherwise stay on 32.27.
Record the meaning of the above paragraph here:
The following questions will be easier to answer.
Did you understand the statement? YES or NO
What is it about the above statement that makes no sense to you? Give your best explanation before continuing.
Although you can answer the last question many ways, the above statement makes no sense because you are unfamiliar with the words and/or the concept(s). Unless you are familiar with the words and concepts of flying an airplane using only the aircraft instruments, the above statement makes no sense. Basically, the statement is a clearance (stated cryptically) given to a pilot to land at an airport while flying via instruments. (If by chance you are a pilot familiar with the words and concepts of flying by aircraft instruments, then it is easy to remember a time when the above abbreviations—RIP, ILS, VOR—were mystery concepts with no meaning until someone helped you become familiar with them.)
An audience needs the speaker to explain his or her idea when it is unfamiliar with words and/or concepts in the speaker’s message. It is important to understand that people who are unfamiliar with your words or concepts will not listen to your message because this is how their minds operate. In fact, if your audience is not familiar with the words and/or concepts in your big idea, it will experience the same kind of confusion and frustration you did on the above exercise. People will not listen because they will not understand. If you do this too often, however, what they will understand is that whenever you speak it is time for them to tune you out, because the message you are delivering to them is irrelevant.
Exercise 4.4 I Don’t Believe It!
This activity helps you discover when you might need to utilize the second developmental question for preaching a relevant message to your audience.
Read the following statements:
Eat a lizard once a week and you will increase your IQ for the month.
Walk around the block three times and you will become pregnant.
Assuming the words and concepts reflect the common everyday meaning given to them and are not slang or cryptic for some other meaning, are there any words or concepts in the above statements that you don’t understand?
Circle: YES or NO
Assuming that the words and concepts reflect the everyday meaning given to them and are not slang or cryptic for some other meaning, do you believe the above statements?
Circle: YES or NO
Although it may seem like a trick, the words and concepts used in the two statements are not hard to understand because you are familiar with the terms “lizard,” “IQ,” “walk around the block,” and “pregnant.” The question is not whether you understand the statements, but whether you believe that a walk around the block will result in pregnancy, or that eating a lizard will increase your IQ. You’re probably thinking, “I understand what is being said, but I don’t believe what is being said.” Although it may seem like splitting hairs to delineate these types of questions, it is precisely the kind of thinking a speaker needs to engage in and the kind of thinking this exercise helps you develop.
Write on the lines below your answer to why the above statements are unbelievable. Answers will vary. Don’t worry about getting the “right” answer, but be sure to give your best answer before continuing to the next paragraph. Completing this discovery activity before looking ahead increases your understanding of these concepts.
Why are the above statements unbelievable?
Whatever words you used to express your reason(s), your idea no doubt entailed the concept that the statements being evaluated are not believable because they are not consistent with your experience of reality. Another way of saying the same thing is that the two ideas do not go together (think of dots that are far apart). There is nothing in your experience to validate the statement that eating a lizard will make someone smarter or that walking around the block makes anyone pregnant.
An audience needs the speaker to prove his or her big idea when it is not consistent with the audience’s experiences of reality. This doesn’t mean that the audience’s idea of reality is necessarily right or wrong. It merely guides you in what you need to be thinking about if you want your audience to listen. If your idea isn’t consistent with your audience’s experiences of reality, your sermon will have to include some time to prove a point to the audience.
Exercise 4.5 Prove It!
This activity helps you discover how to think about “prove it” questions your audience may have. The following statements, which Christians accept as true, might elicit doubt from an unbelieving neighbor. There are two statements listed below. To complete the exercise, you need to do two things. First, read the statement. Then, under the heading that follows each statement, list possible experiences that might cause a person to doubt what it says. One example is provided for each of the two statements. (Answers will vary.)
STATEMENT 1
“Any Christian can share the gospel.” (Acts 1:8)
A person’s experiences of reality that would challenge the above statement:
- I tried witnessing once and made a fool of myself.
- _____________
- _____________
- _____________
- _____________
- _____________
STATEMENT 2
“The first step to happiness is a humble attitude.” (Matt. 5:3)
A person’s experiences of reality that would challenge the above statement:
- I will be happier when I make more money or get a better job.
- _____________
- _____________
- _____________
- _____________
- _____________
Don’t get hung up on whether a person who disbelieves your idea is right or wrong. At this stage who is right or wrong isn’t as important as how to communicate effectively. No doubt, however, you will be persuading people to believe your idea because you are convinced it is right, relevant, and biblical.
Exercise 4.6 Abstract versus Specific Thoughts
Think of an abstract thought as existing on a ladder. The higher you ascend the ladder, the more abstract your statement is and the further away you are from communicating well. The closer to the bottom of the ladder, the more specific your statement is and therefore the more applicable. For example, “Let’s go eat” is an abstract statement that can mean anything, including eating at your in-laws’ house, your neighbor’s house, a fast-food place, a bagel shop, or a five-star restaurant. Since it is abstract and can mean anything, you might put that statement at the top of the ladder. A statement such as “Let’s go eat pizza” is a little more specific and could be placed in the middle of the same ladder. The statement “Let’s go eat pizza at Pizza Hut” is even more specific and could be placed lower on the ladder. The statement “Let’s go eat pizza at the Pizza Hut at Main and First Streets” is even more specific and could be placed even lower on the ladder. Add to the last sentence the time you are going to eat and your plan to order the buffet, and such a statement could be placed at the bottom of the ladder (see fig. 2 in chapter 7).
1. Make the following statements more specific:
Let’s go to a movie. __________
Let’s do something. __________
Be a good Christian. __________
Help others. __________
2. Make the following statements more abstract:
Let’s go see Gone with the Wind. __________
Give financially to the church. __________
Give me a drink of water. __________
(Answers will vary for this exercise.)
Picture in your mind your ideas and thoughts moving up and down a ladder from specific to abstract, and from abstract to specific. Ability to move up and down this “ladder of abstraction” will help you more specifically apply an abstract theological purpose to your audience. Remember that people intuitively communicate every day using this ladder of abstraction.
Now examine the abstract theological purpose of Paul in Romans 14: “My liberty as a Christian should be limited by my love for Christ and for my fellow brother or sister in Christ.” How would you make that statement more specific?
In a sermon you want to come down the ladder of abstraction to a specific relevant statement that can benefit the people in your audience by being applied to their lives. One example of a specific application of the above is “Although I may have Christian liberty to have a glass of wine, I should limit that liberty out of love for a sister or brother struggling with a drinking problem.”
The purpose of this activity is not to “nail” the application as much as it is to transform abstract ideas, which necessarily exist in teaching and preaching, into more-specific, and thereby more applicable, statements. It is important at this stage to be aware of and to utilize the process of going up and down the ladder of abstraction.
Chapter 5 The Arrow and the Target
This goal of this chapter is to help you formulate an effective purpose statement. To get the most out of this chapter, you need to know how the following terms are used: behavior refers to a moral action; audience and listener(s) are used interchangeably. You will also want to know that an effective purpose statement has two elements: first, it states the exact behavior the audience should change; and second, it suggests how to measure that desired change.
An effective purpose statement helps the listener change behavior in a direction desired by the biblical writer.
It is helpful to distinguish relevance from effectiveness in a sermon. A sermon may be relevant without being effective. A relevant sermon is applicable to the people in the audience: they understand the message, it satisfies questions of proof they have, and/or they can apply it if they are so inclined. An effective sermon points to a desired change in people. A sermon is effective when the audience applies it, and that application typically develops in proportion to a well-formulated purpose statement. Without an effective purpose statement, a relevant message may motivate an audience to change but leave it with no clear direction as to how.
Exercise 5.1 How Much Is at Stake?
The first element of an effective purpose statement is to state the exact behavior the audience should change. This activity helps you state what makes a change in behavior likely to occur in a listener. Consider this scene:
You live in an apartment, and it is the week before you move to a much-needed, larger apartment. By coincidence it also happens to be the week you had previously invited your parents over for dinner. For which of the following are you more likely to clean thoroughly?
Read the options below, and circle your choice. Assume your parents are not the apartment managers and that you have a good relationship with them. Will you clean more thoroughly for:
A. Your parents coming for dinner?
or
B. The apartment manager coming over to inspect the apartment and determine the amount of your refund from your initial deposit?
Record below why you chose the option you did.
You would probably clean more thoroughly for the apartment manager than for your parents because more is at stake if the apartment is not clean. If your parents don’t like the cleanliness of your apartment, they may be temporarily disappointed. If the apartment manager doesn’t like how clean it is, you may not be refunded the amount needed to rent another living place.
The principle of this activity is The more that is at stake for a person, the more likely his or her behavior will change. The first question to ask when writing a purpose statement is, “Does my purpose statement identify what is at stake for the listeners if they fail to make the desired behavioral change?” What is at stake for the listeners doesn’t have to be stated in the purpose statement, but the speaker should attempt, as far as possible, to identify such a change. The purpose statement may identify the benefits for the listeners if they make the desired change. Even then, you are telling your listeners that too much is at stake to stay as they are. If the stakes are low or nonexistent for the listeners, little behavioral change may be anticipated.
Exercise 5.2 A Lot Is at Stake!
Read the following passages and record what is at stake if the listeners fail to change in the desired direction. Spend as much time as needed on each text, and be as specific as possible. The risks at stake in the first two passages are more obvious; not so the third passage.
Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. (Matt. 6:1 NIV)
Now, Israel, hear the decrees and laws I am about to teach you. Follow them so that you may live and may go in and take possession of the land the LORD, the God of your ancestors, is giving you. (Deut. 4:1 NIV)
So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work. (Eph. 4:11–16 NIV)
(Check your answers in “Answers to Student Exercises” at the back of the book.)
Exercise 5.3 The Power of Purpose
The following statement is a purpose statement from the section “The Power of Purpose” in chapter 5. Notice the evaluation made about the listener’s behavior.
A listener should be able to write down the name of at least one non-Christian and should resolve to pray for that individual each day for the next two weeks.
The listener’s behavior toward non-Christian friends is evaluated in one of two conclusions. Either believers are not praying for non-Christian friends and that behavior should be corrected. Or believers are praying for their non-Christian friends and that behavior should be reinforced. Either way the audience’s behavior is evaluated by the purpose statement.
The purpose statements below are also from the text. Using the previous paragraph as a guide, record the evaluation of the behavior on the lines that follow each statement.
1. Christians should be able to explain what people must believe to become Christians and should plan to speak to at least one person about the Lord in the coming week.
2. Listeners should be convinced of the necessity to study the Bible and should enroll in a church Bible class, a home Bible class, or a Bible correspondence course.
3. A listener should be able to list the spiritual gifts and determine which gifts he or she has been given.
(Check your answers in “Answers to Student Exercises” at the back of the book.)
Chapter 6 The Shapes Sermons Take
Exercise 6.1 Get Your Act Together!
The figures below are simple diagrams. Note how all three figures have the same number of dots and are evenly spaced. Connect the dots in the order they are numbered. Begin with a line from 1 to 2 and continue to 5. When you get to point 5, complete the diagram by drawing a line from 5 to 1. Do this on all the figures except figure 10. On figure 10, draw all the lines as described previously but don’t draw the line from 5 to 1. After you have completed the lines on each figure, record the diagram’s shape in the space provided.
As you now know, the three shapes are a pentagon, a star, and the letter W. (If you said that figure 8 was a house, that is also correct, but we will refer to it as a pentagon for this activity.) Another way to describe the exercise you just performed is to say that you outlined the shapes into a picture. Outlining a sermon entails a process similar to outlining the above shapes.
Think of the lines in the above figures as “lines of thought” and the final “shape” as your big idea. Just as you are outlining a shape in the above figures, in a sermon you are outlining (developing) a big idea. Each line of thought that develops a sermon is always a major point (or an outline point). An outline is simply the lines of thought needed to develop the big idea. When outlining a sermon, then, the first question to ask is “How many lines of thought are required to adequately develop my big idea?” At least two lines of thought are needed in making an outline; the maximum is usually five to six lines of thought.
The figures above illustrate how deductive and inductive outlines function. If you were to draw the shape in figure 8 in a deductive manner, you would tell the audience the shape being drawn—a pentagon—and then proceed to draw it one line at a time. Likewise, in a deductive sermon outline you tell the audience the big idea (the picture you are drawing) and then state each idea in proper order.
To draw the shapes in the figures inductively, you simply draw the first line, then the second, and so forth without stating what is being drawn until the shape is finished—then you state the shape (e.g., a pentagon). An inductive sermon outline develops the same way. You tell the audience your first thought without telling it what the big idea is. Then you add your second thought, and so on, until your idea is developed. At that time you state the big idea.
Deductively or inductively, the shape will not adequately develop if you remove or add lines; so too, your big idea will not adequately develop if you add or remove too many lines of thought. To demonstrate what happens when you add or remove a line, complete figure 11 as you did figure 10 above. This time, however, begin your lines with point 2 and connect the dots in numerical order (omit the line from 1 to 2). Remember that this figure does not require a line from 5 to 1. Record the new shape with the one missing line.
The shape transforms the W to an N by the removal of just one line. By leaving off or adding a line, you create a new shape; therefore, you need a certain number of lines to create a certain shape. The same is true when you add or leave off a line of thought in a sermon; it changes the shape or development of the message.
Exercise 6.2 Inductive Outlines Illustrated
The following illustration demonstrates how inductive outlines can become complicated and why great care is needed in the process. Imagine drawing a picture for a friend. You know what the shape is going to be but your friend doesn’t, and she has never seen the shape. You draw every line slowly while explaining every detail about the line. The first line is a connection from point 3 to point 2. Draw that line below.
At this stage, does your friend know what you are drawing? If your friend were to guess at this stage, what would she say the shape will be? Of course she doesn’t know, and so you continue to outline your picture by drawing a line from point 1 to point 5. Draw that line now on the figure below. (The first line has been included from the previous figure.)
What does your friend believe the picture is at this stage of the shape’s development? Your friend likely assumes that the picture is an X. You continue, however, to slowly draw your next line, explaining what that line is about. The next line connects point 5 to point 4. Draw the line from 5 to 4 now. (The two previous lines are provided for you.)
What will your friend now say your shape will be? Is it still an X or is it something else? You don’t keep her in suspense long because you draw your next line from 3 to 4. Draw that line now.
At this stage the drawing should have four lines. You have drawn all four lines slowly, while explaining each one. What would your friend believe the shape is? Is it an X with an inverted V in it? Is it an X with a V-shaped top on it? Is it even an X? You still haven’t reached the final outcome. You have only been explaining each line drawn, and doing that slowly. Now it’s time to draw the final line. Assuming your friend’s attention is still engaged, what does she think the shape will be? The final line drawn is from 1 to 2. Draw that line below, and the shape is a star.
Replace your friend with a room full of people, and your three-minute drawing with a thirty-minute message, and you understand the challenges presented by an inductive sermon. This illustrates the complications of inductive outlining and preaching, as well as why the absence of an outline may produce confusion for both a speaker and an audience.
All the lines you were told to draw in figure 12 above are related to one another: 3 connects with 2, 4 connects with 3, 5 connects with 1. But since they were drawn at random with no thought-out arrangement, the shape was confusing and even perhaps misleading. Typically, when one draws a star, there is an order to the drawing that fits the purpose. If this were a sermon, the listeners might think you were talking about an X, or a V inside an X. About the time you say “star,” they are seeing stars from all the confusion. This observation isn’t intended to discourage inductive sermons—they are easily the most poignant in our culture. It is intended to ensure that the arrangement of ideas is clear and purposeful in your outline before you preach inductively.
Chapter 7 Making Dry Bones Live
This chapter teaches you the accurate use of supporting material in relation to an idea, and it helps you use supporting material appropriately.
To accomplish this, be familiar with the words and concepts in chapter 7 of the text. Also understand that the term type refers to the types of supporting material discussed in chapter 7 and material is used interchangeably with supporting material.
Supporting material exists in a sermon to make an abstract idea specific and vivid. It makes abstract ideas understandable, believable, and easier to apply. Big ideas and outlines are typically abstract. Abstractions in and of themselves are rarely convincing, memorable, or even applicable. People make life decisions and set goals based on abstract ideas (e.g., on principles), but abstract ideas need supporting material to accomplish their purposes. Without that support noble and good ideas may be forgotten or simply ignored.
Exercise 7.1 Move That Stone!
Read the following quote, then answer the question. Don’t overthink it; spend about a minute or less on your answer.
If you look up Sisyphus in your dictionary, you will discover that he was a mythological figure in Homer’s Odyssey, a Greek poem written more than a millennium before Christ. His punishment was to perform a meaningless task.
What image comes to mind as a result of reading the above paragraph?
Now read the following quote, and record the image that comes to your mind. Again, don’t overthink it.
If you look up Sisyphus in your dictionary, you will discover he was a mythological figure in Homer’s Odyssey, a Greek poem written almost a millennium before Christ. Poor Sisyphus. Homer portrays him in hell, and this was his punishment:
And I saw Sisyphus in violent torment, seeking to raise a monstrous stone with both of his hands. Verily he would brace himself with hands and feet, and thrust the stone toward the crest of a hill, but as often as he was about to heave it over the top, the weight would turn it back, and then down again to the plain would come rolling the ruthless stone. But he would strain again and thrust it back, and the sweat flowed down from his limbs, and dust rose up from his head.
Poor Sisyphus, doomed to an eternity of rolling that huge stone up the hill, only to have it roll back down; only to struggle with it back up the hill, only to have it roll back down; over and over throughout eternity. Long hours, difficult labor, in a pointless and meaningless task.
What image comes to mind as a result of reading the above paragraph?
(Check the answers in “Answers to Student Exercises” at the back of the book.)
The difference between the two paragraphs is supporting material. Both paragraphs give the same idea; however, the second paragraph has supporting material. The second paragraph leaves a stronger impression on you than the first, which is reflected by the image you recorded. Supporting material is important because it leaves a strong impression of an abstract idea with the listener.
Chapter 8 Start with a Bang and Quit All Over
Exercise 8.1 Uncovering a Need
When preparing an introduction, raise a felt need in your audience. A need is anything lacking in a person. By definition a felt need is a need that a person currently feels. Not every need is a felt need. Read the story below and answer the question that follows.
A man calls his pastor on Monday morning in desperation. “Pastor, you have to help me,” he says. “Friday morning I was fired, and when I came home, my wife said she was leaving me for another man. My kids hate me; I got drunk on the weekend, was evicted, and stayed at this cockroach hotel. My CPA said I am financially bankrupt. Pastor, I really need your help.”
Record some needs of the person in the hotel.
It isn’t hard to imagine the kind of help this guy might ask from his pastor. The story actually ends with him asking for help. After the guy unloads all his troubles, he says, “Pastor, I really need your help. The one thing I need to know is . . . the beast in Revelation 16—is that literal or not? Please, Pastor, can you tell me?”
Whether you think this story is sad or funny, it is unlikely you recorded that he needed to understand the significance of the beast in Revelation 16. Does the man in the hotel have a need to know about the beast in Revelation? Sure. Does he have a felt need to know about it? Probably not at this time. A question, therefore, that helps develop a good introduction is: What does the audience feel is lacking in life? Naturally, the question needs to be related to the sermon’s big idea. Felt needs can be:
financial
emotional (grief, depression, need for encouragement)
physical (fatigue from a busy schedule)
moral (“How do I behave . . . ?”)
intellectual
relational
spiritual
ego
leadership
communication
career
This list is by no means exhaustive. It is a launching point to stir your thinking. Your audience can be lacking something in any of these areas. When the people in an audience understand you not only care about their needs but you are trying to address them from the Bible, their attention will be natural and the message will be more effective.
Read the following introduction by Chuck Swindoll that appeared in the section “An Effective Introduction Uncovers Needs” in chapter 8. Then record the need Swindoll is addressing.
El Tablazo looked so close. Too close. It happened so fast. Exploding into the jagged 14,000-foot peak, the DC-4 disintegrated with a metallic scream.
What was left of the Avianca Airline flight bound for Quito, Ecuador, flamed crazily down the mountainside into a deep ravine. One awful moment illuminated a cold Colombian mountain in the night, then the darkness returned. And the silence.
Before leaving the airport earlier that day, a young New Yorker named Glenn Chambers hurriedly scribbled a note on a piece of paper he found on the floor of the terminal. The scrap was part of a printed advertisement with a single word, “Why?” sprawled across the center.
Needing stationery in a hurry, Chambers scrawled a note to his mother around the word in the middle. Quickly folding this last-minute thought, he stuffed it in an envelope and dropped it in a box. There would be more to come, of course. More about the budding of a lifelong dream to begin a ministry with the Voice of the Andes in Ecuador.
But there was no more to come. Between the mailing and the delivery of Chambers’ note, El Tablazo snagged his flight and his dreams from the night sky. The envelope arrived later than the news of his death. When his mother received it, the question burned up at her from the page—Why?
It is the question that hits first and lingers longest. Why? Why me? Why not? Why this?
What need is Chuck Swindoll addressing?
Check your answer in “Answers to Student Exercises” at the back of the book. While it is not crucial that your answer match exactly, it is important to understand the process of addressing a felt need in preparing introductions, and your answer should be in the ballpark.
Exercise 8.2 Effective Introductions
Below are two introductions that present the same topic. Read them and answer the questions that follow.
Introduction 1 (a pastor talking to his congregation)
John and I have been friends for a long time. He served on the trustee board, had a beautiful wife, two children, and a career that made most men envious. His wife called one day and said John had left her for another woman and asked if I would talk to him. I did and tried to convince him that his decision was wrong, but it was no use. He wouldn’t listen. I told him adultery was wrong and he shouldn’t engage in it. I told him the sexual desires for this other woman would decrease, that it was hurting his kids, and that God said in the seventh commandment not to commit adultery.
Introduction 2
In his book The Myth of the Greener Grass, J. Allan Petersen tells the story of a woman who was at lunch with eleven other people. They had been studying French together while their children were in a nursery school. One woman asked the group, “How many of you have been faithful to your husbands throughout your marriage?” Only one woman at the table raised her hand.
That evening this woman told her husband the story and added that she herself had not raised her hand. “But I have been faithful,” she assured him.
“Then why didn’t you raise your hand?” he asked.
“I was ashamed.”
Ashamed of fidelity! In the past the burden of shame fell on those who broke their vows, but in our society that has changed. Only killjoys still believe in fidelity. Most of the sex in movies is not between married people. The impression given is those who live in the fast lane are the only ones who know what life is all about. Everyone else is out of step with society. One recent survey suggests that perhaps as many as one half of all marriage partners, at some time or another, have an affair. Yet the seventh commandment says . . .
Which introduction does the best job of touching a felt need?
Both introductions introduce the topic, but the second one does a better job of introducing a felt need of the audience. How does Introduction 2 address a felt need of today’s society?
Exercise 8.3 Inconclusive Conclusions
Read the story below and answer the questions that follow.
An old cat was in the habit of catching all the mice in the barn. One day the mice met to talk about the great harm that she was doing to them. Each one told of some plan by which to keep out of her way. “Do as I say,” said an old gray mouse that was thought to be very wise. “Do as I say. Hang a bell around the cat’s neck. Then, when we hear it ring, we shall know that she is coming and can scamper out of her way.” “Good! Good!” said all the other mice, and one ran to get the bell.
THE END
Even though it claims “The End,” the story is not complete. Specifically, what is missing?
Following are several possible conclusions. Read each conclusion, and answer the questions that go along with it before moving on to the next one.
Conclusion 1
The old gray mouse asked, “Who will hang the bell on the cat?” One mouse said, “I need to work on my house.” Another mouse said, “I must work on being a good parent.” The old gray mouse then started a school to help mice be better social creatures.
Is the story complete? YES or NO
Does this ending make sense to you? What does the story teach with this conclusion?
Conclusion 2
The old gray mouse asked, “Who will hang the bell on the cat?” One mouse said, “Let’s draw straws.” But the old gray mouse said, “Do it together. That is the only way you can succeed.” They found the cat sleeping, and together they hung the bell around her neck. Together they saved themselves from harm.
Is this story complete? YES or NO
Does this ending make sense to you? What does the story teach with this conclusion?
Conclusion 3
“Now, which of you will hang the bell on the cat’s neck?” said the old gray mouse. “Not I! Not I!” said all the mice together. And they scampered away to their holes.
Is this story complete? YES or NO
Does this ending make sense to you? What does the story teach with this conclusion?
The original story demonstrates that an incomplete conclusion is a confusing conclusion (because it doesn’t conclude). The first possible conclusion demonstrates that the conclusion must relate to your big idea to avoid confusion. The last two conclusions teach that the conclusion has to be stated clearly or else the audience may be led down a path the speaker doesn’t intend.
To identify clear conclusions, then, you must realize that an incomplete conclusion or a conclusion not related to the big idea confuses the audience.
Exercise 8.4 Conclusions with a Burning Focus
Read the following two sermon conclusions, the first of which is also found in the section “The Conclusion” in chapter 8. Refrain from looking at the questions until after you have finished reading both conclusions.
Conclusion 1
An old legend tells of a merchant in Bagdad who one day sent his servant to the market. Before very long the servant came back, white and trembling, and in great agitation said to his master: “Down in the market place I was jostled by a woman in the crowd, and when I turned around I saw it was Death that jostled me. She looked at me and made a threatening gesture. Master, please lend me your horse, for I must hasten away to avoid her. I will ride to Samarra and there I will hide, and Death will not find me.”
The merchant lent him his horse and the servant galloped away in great haste. Later the merchant went down to the market place and saw Death standing in the crowd. He went over to her and asked, “Why did you frighten my servant this morning? Why did you make a threatening gesture?”
“That was not a threatening gesture,” Death said. “It was only a start of surprise. I was astonished to see him in Bagdad, for I have an appointment with him tonight in Samarra.”
Each of us has an appointment in Samarra. But that is cause for rejoicing—not for fear, provided we have put our trust in Him who alone holds the keys of life and death.
Conclusion 2
The Civil War was a time that tested our nation’s character and tested the character of men. Any war is a time of test and a time of fear, for death can ring at our front door unexpectedly.
After the battle of Richmond, the body of a Union soldier was found. He had sacrificed himself in the battle on the altar of truth. He was discovered in an unusual way: his hand was resting on a book. His finger lay positioned on these words: “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me.”
I wonder about that soldier. Was he wounded while reading the text? Was he shot and then knowing that he might not make it, struggle to his pack of supplies till he found his Bible? Did he choose this text or did it just open there from the natural wear and tear of him reading the Bible? Was it his habit to find comfort from God in times of need? The soldier died, but he apparently did so without fear.
What does the speaker specifically want the listener to do in Conclusion 1? In Conclusion 2?
1
2
Check your answers before continuing. Try to grasp the reasoning behind the answer, then continue to the next question and do the same. Repeat this process until you have answered all the questions.
How is the listener to do what the speaker suggests in Conclusion 1? In Conclusion 2?
1
2
What might you add to each conclusion that could give the listener some action to take?
2
Based on the above questions and thought, check the conclusion that best gives the listener something to do.
Conclusion 1
Conclusion 2
One way a speaker can produce a burning focus is to state specifically what he or she wants the audience to do and then how to do it. Conclusion 1 did that better than Conclusion 2. The difference turned on three phrases in Conclusion 1:
“Each of us has an appointment . . .” (You should be aware that death will happen to you.)
“that is cause for rejoicing [for you]” (But you make death a cause of rejoicing rather than fear.)
“provided we have put our trust in Him . . .” (This is how we can rejoice.)
The speaker wants the listener to do these three things. Conclusion 2, while clear, never asked the listener to do anything. Both conclusions could have asked for more-specific action as demonstrated in the answers section.
Chapter 9 The Dress of Thought
Exercise 9.1 Choosing Words for Clarity
This activity helps you choose clear words for your sermon. Read the following example from Public Speaking by Duane Litfin (p. 279), looking for words and phrases that are not clear. It may be confusing, but read both paragraphs in their entirety.
To aspire to quantify the activity of the Midwestern Region amidst the proscription of God to David for such endeavors (2 Sam. 24:2ff) creates tension which resolves itself in the postulate that stewards prove themselves accountable with equating either the pace of activity or the results of the activity with success. Each item, because of His presence within that entity, has intrinsic ultimate value apart from linking those items into an annual evaluation. But I do enumerate the past year as part of this report, and I offer to elucidate, upon request, any issue.
If the student work provide a “paean of mien” the graduate rubric, with notable exceptions, might read, “atrophy amidst entropy.” While a Regional Director considers SCP to fulcral a graduate lifestyle understandably ascribes SCP importance locally to a secondary or tertiary role personally for involvement and envisages success in what the Regional Director “produces,” not to mention (but here I do!) the Central Office. The vestigial archetype of SCP as members determining the Society which they comprise (and not the stuff) while assisted by the staff (Field and Central) will be resurrected (or memorialized) as national economic and spiritual attrition enervates the scope and abilities of the staff.
List words, word phrases, or abbreviations with which you are unfamiliar. Feel free to stop when you have listed ten of them!
Why are the words not clear?
The words are not clear because they are unfamiliar. If you said the words are unclear because they are new, unusual, unknown, and so on, you are basically on target.
Exercise 9.2 You Say Tomato; I Say Tomato Paste
Words have to be specific as well as familiar to be clear. Since abstract words are always vague, the preacher should identify abstract words and make them specific. Abstract words are the result of omitting details. A specific word forms as details are added to an abstract word. The more abstract your word or concept, the fewer details surrounding your word; the fewer details in your word, the more likely an audience is to give it an unintended meaning or fall asleep. The lack of clarity results in confused listeners.
The following is a list of abstract words made specific. Read the list and note the details of the specific words that are absent in the corresponding abstract words.
| Abstract Words | Specific Words |
| Many foreign cars | 61% of Toyotas |
| In the near future | Two weeks from now |
| A few good men | American generals in Iraq War |
| A tragedy | Thousands died |
| Fast airplane | Twin-engine jet |
| A good book | The Bible |
| A few flowers | A dozen roses |
| A tree | A pine tree |
In the following activity, write specific words to the corresponding abstract words. (Note: Answers will vary.)
| Abstract | Specific |
| Building | _______________ |
| Tool | _______________ |
| Road | _______________ |
| Garment | _______________ |
| Holiday | _______________ |
| Vehicle | _______________ |
Exercise 9.3 As Bad As It Gets
Short sentences and simple grammatical structure also produce clarity. The purpose of a manuscript is to expose awkward thoughts that exist in your mind. The following activity uncovers another characteristic for clear writing.
Read the first sentence in the first quoted paragraph in Exercise 9.1 above. How many words are in that sentence? ____________ Make sure you have the right answer, or an approximately close answer, to that question. It is obvious that a sentence with that many words does not follow the general rule of clear writing. No one talks like that on purpose, and when you write a manuscript, you lessen the possibility of talking like that in a sermon.
Although this isn’t a grammar lesson, we need to consider grammar to write clearly. The following questions pertain to the same sentence you just read from Exercise 9.1. Take your time and give your best answers.
What is the main verb in this sentence?
What is the main subject in this sentence?
What is the independent clause in this sentence?
(Check your answers in “Answers to Student Exercises” at the back of the book.)
Exercise 9.4 Concrete Words
This activity helps you identify and use vivid words. To complete this activity, keep the following definitions clear from chapter 9 of the text. Specific words are abstract words with details. Concrete words are specific words with a picture.
Following is the same list of abstract words made specific from Exercise 9.2. Here, they are also made concrete. Read the list from left to right starting with the abstract column. Note how the idea moves from abstract to specific to concrete.
| Abstract Words | Specific Words | Concrete Words |
| Many foreign cars | 61% of Toyotas | 1 out of every 5 cars you pass on the road |
| In the near future | Two weeks from now | During the Super Bowl |
| A few good men | American generals in Iraq War | Colin Powell, Norman Schwarzkopf, Tommy Franks |
| A tragedy | Thousands died | Japan earthquake 2011 |
| Fast airplane | Twin-engine jet | The Concorde |
| A good book | The Bible | The book of Psalms |
| A few flowers | A dozen roses | Roses in my neighbor’s garden |
| A tree | A pine tree | The Christmas tree in my living room |
As you moved from left to right, you became more attentive. The same happens with an audience. When you move from abstract words to concrete words, an audience’s attention becomes more focused.
In the following activity, write concrete words to corresponding specific words. Use the specific words provided in the answer section or copy the specific words you used in Exercise 9.2.
| Abstract | Specific | Concrete |
| Building | _____________ | _____________ |
| Tool | _____________ | _____________ |
| Road | _____________ | _____________ |
| Garment | _____________ | _____________ |
| Holiday | _____________ | _____________ |
| Vehicle | _____________ | _____________ |
A concrete expression may be difficult for an audience to visualize if it has no personal experience of the concrete word. In such a case it may be better to use a specific word.