Preaching is a lot like giving birth. While we've never given birth to a baby ourselves, as fathers we've made every effort to support our wives during the pregnancy process and have learned a lot of things along the way. One of those was that everyone celebrates the baby, but barely anyone focuses on the demands of the pregnancy and delivery. This is the case with so many things: the practice and rigorous training of an athlete before a popular sporting event, all the details and work that go into a celebrated piece of art—the list could go on. The same could be said of preaching. Everyone hears the sermon, but rarely do people know all that happens behind the scenes. Randy Richards—a biblical scholar and colleague of Paul's—is sometimes asked after preaching, "How long did it take you to prepare that sermon?" Randy replies, "Oh, about thirty years."

So what are some of the things that go into the making of a solid sermon? Much could be said here, but below are some of the "behind the scenes" principles that we try to work through step-by-step in our preparation to preach.

Spend time with the sheep

It's amazing how many examples or illustrations make it into my (Jeremy's) sermon that begin with, "This past week I was talking with … " Preachers need to remember that we're not crafting a generic sermon; as with the New Testament Epistles, we're communicating God's message to a very particular people. So, the more time you can spend with those people, the better it will help you to craft a message that relates to them. Someone said it this way, "Great preaching springs from two wells—life among the people and time alone with God." By doing this you get to know your people and can speak to the different types of listeners that are in your congregation. Your practical listeners are asking, "How/Now what?" The skeptical listeners are asking, "Why/How so?" Your simple listeners are asking, "What/Please explain?" While the analytical listeners are asking, "What if/What about this?" Simply put, faithful shepherds always smell like their sheep.

Spend time with those who are not yet sheep

Another way to maintain a fresh flow of preaching material is from spending social time with unbelievers. Pastors often live insulated lives, restricting themselves to the "holy huddle." As a result, they know little about life outside of the church, and their preaching will reflect this—using a Christian lingo and in-house illustrations that will likely yield out-of-touch sermons and discourage members from inviting unbelievers to a sermon that seems irrelevant to them. Being a "friend of sinners" is not only part of the pastor's responsibility to be salt and light; it also models lifestyle evangelism for our hearers as well as makes our preaching more engaging and in tune with the needs and concerns of our community, society, and world.

Read widely

Go beyond the Bible commentaries. At any given time, each of us will be reading certain genres of books—on history, the natural world, and culture-shaping ideas (Paul) or a biography, a novel, and a book on theology (Jeremy). Doing so enhances our minds and enriches our preaching and teaching. For me (Jeremy), these three types of books help to keep my soul fresh, and without even trying, they make my preaching fresh. I'm amazed at how often something that I read in one of those genres will be just what I needed for my sermon that week. The nice thing about it is that I get to read without the pressure to produce something out of it, but often something I read will work its way into the sermon I produce.

The outline is key

Whether pastors considers themselves a "narrative" preacher, more of a linear preacher, a storyteller, or a three-points-and-a-poem type of communicator, every sermon has a beginning and an end. It has a central point aimed at taking people in a certain direction. Because of this, the sermon needs some form of an outline. We find that coming up with a good outline means that it is memorable for the listener, easy to preach from, and faithful to the text or topic that we're unpacking. Developing an effective outline is harder than it may seem, but it is one of the critical first steps in writing the sermon itself. The outline is the skeleton of the sermon, and without a strong skeleton, your sermon won't stand firm.

Use a sermon worksheet

This is a practice that a friend of mine (Jeremy's) got me into early on in my preaching, and I've always found it to be helpful. The worksheet includes a variety of questions that I've gleaned from different preachers such as Bryan Chapell, Tim Keller, Zack Eswine, and others (see below for a template of the worksheet). The worksheet forces me to answer specific questions each week. Some of these are: Is this sermon a big idea that I want to convey or a big question that I want to answer? After hearing this sermon, what do I want the people to know? How do I want them to feel, and what do I want them to do? How do I comfort the hurting, admonish the idle, confront the proud, and challenge the skeptic? What 'Christianese' terms do I need to explain—or perhaps avoid using? How do I bring the gospel into this message? How can I exalt Jesus and reinforce the mission and vision of our church? One professor (of Paul's) urged his seminary students to make the sermon both "sing" and "sting." The beneficial thing about using a worksheet is that it forces you to answer the hard questions while giving you the freedom to make it your own and adjust it as needed.

For example, in last year's Easter sermon, I used my worksheet to first discover that the sermon would be making a very big point that I needed to defend—namely, that the resurrection of Jesus is the key to finding meaning in life. I then looked at the text and developed a preachable outline. After the outline was in place, I was able to think through the remaining questions in the worksheet that helped me to "put the meat on the bones."

Speak it into existence

There is a rule of thumb that people tend to speak in a different way than they write. Therefore, if we want our delivery to flow naturally and connect with our audience, then we need to prepare my sermon to be heard, not for my sermon to be read. After coming to understand the text and know where to go with the message, I (Jeremy) typically take my notes and dictate my sermon to my assistant or use the dictation tool in the Evernote app on my phone. So I am heartened when people from my congregation will say something like, "It felt like you were speaking right to me, not preaching a sermon for me." I think the reason is that I spoke my sermon into existence.

Preaching to help believers think and thinkers believe

Both of us have a background in philosophy, and when used rightly, it serves us well in preaching. We see the great value of incorporating illustrations and ideas from philosophy and apologetics into our sermons. As a result, believers become more confident in their faith and better able to defend it in the marketplace of ideas; this means they will communicate the good news of the gospel with more boldness.

Bringing this emphasis to our preaching also challenges the skeptics in attendance. They can hear how the Christian faith addresses the existential and the rational, the practical and the intellectual. The gospel addresses our deepest longings—experiencing relief from guilt and shame, finding significance and security, overcoming the fear of death. Christ is the wisdom of God to us as we contemplate profound rational questions such as the problem of evil, the faith-science intersection, and ethical questions.

That said, we try to focus on broad themes rather than focusing on what may detract from the gospel. As former Chrysler CEO Lee Iacocca once put it, "The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing." If there is a stumbling block in our preaching, let it be the gospel rather than anything non-essential or distracting added to it.

Editor's Note: For those fearful or suspicious about the place of philosophy in the Christian faith, see Paul Copan, A Little Book for New Philosophers: Why and How to Study Philosophy, (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2016).

Being nourished by the Scriptures, living the Scriptures

As we prepare our sermons, we must regularly guard against two dangers—utility and detachment. First, searching the Scriptures can turn into researching the Scriptures—into a project that's useful for crafting a sermon but leaves the preacher unaffected. Those called to bring spiritual nourishment to the saints should first prayerfully feed and meditate on the Scriptures themselves: "If you put these instructions before the brothers and sisters, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, nourished on the words of the faith and of the sound teaching that you have followed" (1 Tim. 4:6). An important countermeasure is to read through the Scriptures year after year—a practice of Martin Luther, Martyn Lloyd-Jones, John Stott, and other exemplary preachers.

Another danger is preaching a message detached from our personal lives. Even as we are preaching to our hearers, we are often convicted by the words of Scripture and reminded of the need for God's grace. So preparing sermons becomes an opportunity for self-examination—to "pay close attention" to ourselves and what we teach (1 Tim. 4:16). Paul wrote: "You are our letter, written in our hearts, known and read by all people" (2 Cor. 3:2). This "public reading" of the believer is all the more relevant for preachers and teachers, who must "guard [their] heart with all diligence" (Prov. 4:23). Not only will they be judged more strictly by God (Jas. 3:1), but they will be carefully scrutinized by those around them—both within and without the household of faith.

There is more to a sermon than meets the ear. The sermon should not merely look good in written form, but should be gauged by how it will be heard. The sermon should be shaped by attention to one's inner life as well as by engaging those outside the church. It should be forged by listening to the voices of our congregants as well as the wisdom of the ages, by the lessons of history and the insights of the well-informed human imagination. The preacher will study the message of the Scriptures as well as the marketplace of ideas. Effective, Spirit-inspired preaching will involve a good deal behind the scenes.

Sermon Worksheet

Text: ________________________
Date: ________________________

The Skeleton

What is the specific theme or narrow subject that I'm focusing on? Is this a big idea I want to convey or a big question I want to answer? And what is it?

Outline (How am I going to develop the flow of the sermon?)

Where are you taking the people?

What do you want them to know?

What do you want them to feel?

What do you want them to do?

The Context

Context of Reality (How does their world relate to our world?)

Context of Passage (How does this text connect with the flow of thought?)

Context of Scripture (How does this text connect with the system of thought found elsewhere in the Bible?)

The Problem

Fallen Condition Focus (What is the sin issue[s] that needs repenting of?)

Fragile Condition Focus (How have I been sinned against in this area?)

Faltering Condition Focus (How are we prone to wander?)

Finite Condition Focus (What limits in our humanity are exposed here?)

The Hero

Where is Jesus? (How can I connect people's minds and hearts to Jesus?)

Faith in God (What do we need to believe is true about God?)

The Examples / Illustrations

How can I be fresh or more expansive in my examples & illustrations?

What examples and illustrations am I going to use?

How can I better develop and apply these specifically?

Importance (So what?) & Application (Now What?)

Personal (Where do I need to be carefully vulnerable? Share my own testimony?)

Don't be Simplistic (Where do I need to say "but don't get me wrong?")

The Church and Culture

What do I say to the Hard-hearted Person? (addressing the proud)

What do I say to the Soft-hearted Person? (addressing the discouraged)

How can I share the mission and vision of our church?

What "Christianese" terms need explanation?

What cultural norms or misunderstandings do I need to address?

Jeremy McKeen is the founding and Lead Pastor of Truth Point Church in West Palm Beach, Florida.
Paul Copan is the Pledger Family Chair of Philosophy and Ethics at Palm Beach Atlantic University. He is the author of Is God a Moral Monster? and (with Matthew Flannagan) Did God Really Command Genocide?