8 Hours or Less

This is dangerous territory. You are not trusting the Holy Spirit at this point. You are not relying on His power to use His Word to accomplish His plan in His people.

We have to stop and ask ourselves, Why does this warning, promise, command, or word matter?

The close of your sermon is an appropriate point at which to drive people to the specific demands of the text. I want people headed home each Sunday still wrestling with their need to put into action what they’ve just heard in God’s Word.

You may be tempted to disregard the importance of the conclusion, but people have a tendency to remember the last thing you say more than the first. This means the conclusion can hold a disproportionate amount of weight.

highlight all my main points or anything that will be on the screen in blue. Illustrations are in green. Textual comments are in yellow, while all my points of application are marked in pink. Lastly, I highlight all my word-for-word transitions in orange.

The quality of the close and the intentionality of our preparation are always connected. Again, I find the conclusion of the sermon to be one of the more difficult parts to write.

This also means we need to help our congregations grapple with the words themselves. We need to explain words that have unclear meanings. We should draw out nuances from the original languages that may not come through clearly in our English translations. We should not let people import their own meaning onto the words or conveniently skip over wor

He then stomped back down the stairs and back to what he had been doing before. My heart didn’t exactly swell with pride during this moment. Sure, my son had done what I asked, but he hadn’t done it with a great attitude. Agreed? I don’t want my kids to simply obey; I also want them to want to obey. God is the same way.

The riskiest part of every sermon is always the illustration. It either clarifies or confuses. There is no middle ground.