Preparing for a Sermon
I was just called to my first church as an interim pastor. Where is the best place to start to look for sermon preparation (after studying the text in the Bible of course)? I would like to find commentaries, illustrations, related topical information, life stories, etc.
Thanks for any help you can provide.
Comments
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Greg, can we assume that you have some Logos 4 resources? If so, could you let us know what you have? If not, are you interested in learning what is available in Logos that might meet your needs?
Pastor, North Park Baptist Church
Bridgeport, CT USA
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Greg Ezell said:
Where is the best place to start to look for sermon preparation
Hi Greg
There are probably as many answers to this question as there are users in this forum. Personally the approach that I take after determining my text and making sure that I fully understand what it says within the context will vary according to the delivery approach that I intend to take with the sermon. Sometimes the delivery is determined by the text but more often for me it comes from the way that I feel I can best communicate the message to the congregation.
Types of resources that I personally find useful, in no specific order, are:
1 - Historical references that help me understand how the original audience would of heard the text and any nuances the would have picked up.
2 - Gramatical analysis, coudl be from a commentary, translators notes or another source.
3 - Original languages - not a real strong poiint for me but I do try and spend some time looking at the original language to see how the translators get from the literal words to their 'interpretation'.
4 - Multiple versions, as a minimum I look at every version that I know is used by people in my local Church.
5 - An older 'devotional' commentary, the ones that the academics tend to criticise and reject.
6 - Modern 'academic' commentaries...
7 - The Church Fathers
I'll also familiarise myself with people and places if relevant.
Logos can be setup to pull a lot of this together pretty quickly I often use the guides in Logos 4 and have some customised ones that I use as a start point.
God Bless
Graham
Pastor - NTCOG Basingstoke
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Greg Ezell said:
I was just called to my first church as an interim pastor.
PTL & congratulations!
Greg Ezell said:commentaries, illustrations, related topical information, life stories,
I'd commend one of the Logos packages to you... If you don't already have a package, I'd commend Leaders or above (above, definitely, if you have language training). You can compare the different packages at http://www.logos.com/comparison
Grace & Peace,
Bill
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Greg Ezell said:
I was just called to my first church as an interim pastor. Where is the best place to start to look for sermon preparation (after studying the text in the Bible of course)? I would like to find commentaries, illustrations, related topical information, life stories, etc.
Thanks for any help you can provide.
If you're looking for resources beyond your base package you can look here, or type in your own query at logos.com
http://www.logos.com/search?q=%22preaching+collection%22
I got this list by typing "preaching collection" in the search box at logos.com
You can also look at preachers collection and homiletic collection, or even just the word preach.
Help links: WIKI; Logos 6 FAQ. (Phil. 2:14, NIV)
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I would also highly recommend Mark Barnes' 4-part video tutorial series: Preparing a Sermon with Logos
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Congratulations Greg,
[Assuming you have a base package] I would commend familiarizing yourself with the different resources you have, spend some time getting to know the parts of your library. Read reviews of the particular commentaries you have and identify which ones seem to rise to the top of the heap. Also, you can look for books with the subject of illustrations etc to add some "spice' to the sermon.
But above this all, study the people you are ministering to. What walks of life do they come from? What do they struggle with. The first question of an experience communicator is "Who is my audience?" When you know this then all the exegesis and research you do in Logos and elsewhere can be brought most effectively to bear.
Prov. 15:23
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These are all good suggestions and not being a Pastor myself, all I can add is congratulations! [Y] Praise goes to God!
Robert Pavich
For help go to the Wiki: http://wiki.logos.com/Table_of_Contents__
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The official trainer for Logos has a book on sermon building.
Also open your Logos library and look for books with "sermon" in the metadata. Scan titles in your library for what you find interesting.
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First and foremost, you forgot to mention what level of student or minister you are. If you are a beginning lay speaker, you will want to read some of the guides to preparing sermons in LOGOS, if you are in seminary, you (should) have the training. I pray that you have a suitable mentor to give you the "Jesus with skin" that you will need. As everyone else has pointed out, you forgot to mention if you have LOGOS, and, if so, what package. If you do, then once you have the passage(s) you want to use, the passage guide is an excellent source of all of the items you are seeking. How much information it will have will depend on the base package you use. Within the passage guide you should have sections with sermons as examples or starting points. (PLEASE DO NOT COPY THEM , let the Holy Spirit give you what your congregation needs). But the illustrations in these samples might be helpful. the book "1000 illustrations for Preaching ..." is available in the scholars silver edition and "Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations" is in the leaders edition. Both can be searched by verse to locate appropriate illustrations. Both are invaluable resources.
Bob - 17" MBP quad 2.3GHz 4GB and iMAC
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Elder/Pastor, Hope Now Bible Church, Fresno CA
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Congratulations! I am a young pastor myself (8 years pastoring) I have found that Logos helped me more than I can explain.
These are the steps I follow ad it has yielded many "eureka moments"
1. Read the text 10-15 times
2. Read literal translation bibles
3. Run the exegetical guide, chase the verbs
4. I have several favourite commentaries that are more "technical"
5. Several commentaries that are more "practical"
6. By then I see where the text is going and it is just a matter of packaging it right and praying for wisdom.
* This is what I found, but it is just me.... definitely get a package.
God bless
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Mike Tourangeau said:
3. Run the exegetical guide, chase the verbs
Also chase the logical connectors such as, because,and, except, hence, so that, if ... then, therefore, etc. Notice how these are often nested. Especially in narrative notice the temporal markers such as, when, after, before, at that time, etc. These things show the logic and flow of a discourse.
After you have a grasp on these things, then move on to the verbs. The logic and flow will help you make exegetical decisions about the verbs, and substantives.
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