Musings on Spiritual Matters

Developing a sermon that has consistent flow is a challenge.  This aspect is really the difference in most sermons.  The preacher that has the ability to connect explanation, illustration, and application with a unified theme is doing a great job.  Often the application might come first, with the text being forced to be pulled behind it.  Sometimes the explanation comes first with the application doing a disappearing act.  And the last option is that the illustration is a great one, too bad it does not really fit into the sermon, but it was a good story that the preacher got on the internet that week.  So how do you connect all of these elements together.

The term is called a “Helix”.  It is three rings, that intersect one another.  You have the explanation that flows into the illustration that flows into the application.  One of the best ways to develop this approach is the tried and true focus statement, or big idea or the fallen condition focus.  Whatever you call it, it needs to state the Biblical truth as well as the relevance of that truth to the modern listeners.  I have used two statements for my sermons for some time now.  I have the focus statement and the function statement.  What is the truth of these verses, and what is the application or the “who cares” of these verses.

Another way to have a consistent message is to develop one theme or better put “image” of the text.  In a sermon I preached years ago, I used the image of a car wreck to teach about the sin of Adam and Eve.  I used this image to talk about the text, and illustrated it with a car wreck story, and talked about God’s ability to restore that which was wrecked.  Another example was a sermon on Hezekiah’s prayer for deliverance, and used the chess image.  All of the stories involved chess stories, and I used the famous picture of a scene with a young prince and devil, and showing that he had another move.  Developing a sermon that has one image is powerful in connecting all the pieces.

When a preacher connects all of these elements, it has a better chance of leaving a lasting impression on the hearer.  When the sermon is disconnected, the hearer goes back disconnect from the sermon and text.  In a critic of all aspect, in regards to this, it is sometimes best to avoid a list.  Often a list is quicker, and a large list is difficult to develop into the minds of the listeners.  Not that I have not used lists, and still do, but these style of sermons might not always root itself into the heart of the person as much.  Often a person can focus on a single aspect for 3-5 minutes, so if the images change too much, it creates a fuzzy picture in the mind, but if all of the images come together, you have a masterpiece.

This was done perfectly by Wendell Winkler at the Spiritual Sword Lectureships some years back.  He preached on heaven, and illustrated, and explained, and applied the text perfectly.  It is still the greatest sermon I have ever heard.

Hope this little lesson on preaching helps.  And that this series is somewhat beneficial.

Related posts:

1. Advice on Preaching–Focus of the Text
2. Advice on Preaching–Bulletin Points
3. Advice on Preaching–Application
4. Better Sermons
5. Sermon Block

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This entry was posted by Matthew on Tuesday, August 23rd, 2011 at 10:49 am and is filed under Church News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.