Christ-centered Sermon Preparation Workflow

David Thomas said:

I want to be teachable from other preachers! I heard yesterday on a podcast (https://jasonkallen.com/podcast/episode-122-the-preaching-of-john-macarthur/) that John MacArthur writes his Introduction and Conclusion before the body of the sermon. This workflow has the writing follow the delivery scheme.

If the Homiletical structure is determined in step 7.2, what has experience revealed to you about the order of 8.1-8.3? Does is make a significant difference?

Bryan Chappell says this:

Homiletics experts differ as to when preachers should prepare conclusions. Idealists argue that the conclusion to a sermon should be the first component written so that the sermon has a clear and definite destination while it is being prepared. Realists want the conclusion prepared after the sermon has taken shape so that it definitely reflects the specifics of the developed message. Such realists often argue that a late-formed conclusion does not prematurely affect the direction the Spirit may take a sermon’s thought. Realism of another sort, however, requires the recognition that a preacher often has little thought or energy left for conclusions formed late in the sermonic process. Regular practitioners understand that there can be no ironclad rules regarding when conclusions are formed. A conclusion sometimes jumps onto the field of preparation and declares its presence before any other sermonic team members arrive, and other times it has to be dragged from bed and pummeled into service long after the other members have assumed their positions. Probably the most balanced approach lies in generating a basic plan for a conclusion during a sermon’s embryonic stages but modifying the conclusion to conform to the message’s specifics as it develops.

My own experience is that before I start writing the sermon I already know roughly what the conclusion will be, because of the work I've done in determining the Fallen Condition Focus, and writing the homiletical outline. But I may also want the conclusion to repeat or summarise some of the most impactful parts of the sermon, which I won't know until I've finished everything else. So I always write my conclusion last, even though (in my head) I know most of what it will say.

I also often begin my conclusion by pasting in my introduction, and then editing it. That way I can ensure that I've genuinely tied up all the loose ends, and delivered what I promised. Occasionally, doing this forces me to go back and tweak the body of the sermon to include things I'd missed out, or perhaps tweaking the introduction so it promises what I actually wrote, not what I thought I would write!