Aron Kirk on How to Prepare a Sermon
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Tuesday morning from 7 a.m.-noon:
- Pray and ask God to help me/guide me on this message
- Read the Scripture for that week
- Read a commentary on the passage (usually David Guzik or Matthew Henry from BlueLetterBible.com)
- Research key phrases/words in original language (again using Blue Letter Bible.com)
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Wednesday all day:
- Pray and ask God to help me and guide me
- Write entire message (I don’t full manuscript, but rather what I would call an “extended-notation” form; notes but with important sections written out)
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Thursday morning 7 a.m.-noon:
- Pray and ask God to help me and guide me
- edit message and practice it (repeat)
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Sunday morning 5 a.m.-7 a.m.:
- final run through and edits
- Pray for the Holy Spirit to help me speak it and to open hearts to be receptive to it and to apply it accordingly to those hearts!
- Usually do this after the final run through while driving to the church
This schedule depends on a sermon calendar having been determined in advance (at least a few months out). Without having that, I think I would be too overwhelmed and stressed out to try to figure out the topic/scripture to preach on as well as the research, writing, editing and practicing!
Joe Hoagland on How to Prepare a Sermon
My process is pretty consistent from week to week. On Monday and Tuesday I am mainly looking for the context of the passage or topic that I am preaching on with commentaries and other sermons. I then start compiling potential illustrations. On Wednesday I put it all together and on Thursday I work on exactly how I want to present the sermon text I have. I segment a specific portion of time on Saturday night for prayer specific to the sermon and people who are going to hear.
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Monday
- Find Passage and start study
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Tuesday
- Continue study: consult commentaries and past sermons, compile illustrations
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Wednesday
- Craft sermon text or outline
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Thursday
- Work on the Presentation of the content
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Saturday night
- Pray for the people about to hear the message, and that I might speak God’s word faithfully
