Expository Sermon Preparation - Part 2

Expository Sermon Preparation - Part 2
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Other series:

Expository Sermon Preparation - Part 1

Expository Sermon Preparation - Part 3


(6) Study your passage.

  1. Identify the Basic Facts of Your Passage

Before digging into the specifics of your passage, you want to become familiar with the original situation of this biblical book. Only once you know the original situation of the book can you know how the passage applies to the situation of your listeners.

List the basic facts about your passage:

  • who wrote it?
  • who was the original audience?
  • when was it written? what is the message of the book or the purpose for which it was written?
  1. Read Your Passage Closely and Carefully

Read your passage again, preferably multiple times, until you feel that you have a good understanding of the author’s thoughts. You may want to compare several versions of the text as a way to see various possible shades of meaning in the passage.

Consider what you have read. Are there things that you don’t understand? List them and make sure to keep them in mind as you continue to study the passage.

Note any key verses, terms, or ideas in the text that you could develop further in your sermon via an illustration or quote.

  1. Determine the important literary types associated with the passage.
  2. Identify Important Words

Each passage has certain key words or ideas that are central to the meaning of the passage. Identifying and examining these key terms and concepts is essential to understanding the passage properly.


(7) Explore the cultural and historical context.


(8) Consult Commentaries

Locate commentaries that discuss your passage and review the discussion to better understand which aspects of your passage are most challenging or unclear.

Record insights gained from reading the commentaries.

Have the consulted commentaries changed your understanding of the passage? How can you incorporate what you’ve learned into your sermon topic?


(9) Outline your passage.

Make an exegetical outline of your passage in order to trace the writer’s flow of thought.   This is a useful way to identify the important information the biblical writer was trying to communicate.


(10) Evaluate the results of your passage study.

  1. Use your exegetical outline and the knowledge you've gained from studying your passage to determine the passage’s main topic.

Decide the central message of the passage and consider how that message speak about your topic. (Your passage’s main topic may not match…your sermon topic, but in light of what you’ve learned about your passage, you may decide to modify your topic before you proceed with organizing and then writing your sermon).

  1. What was the reason for this text? What feature of the human condition made it necessary for the Holy Spirit include it in Scripture?
  2. What problem…did the text address in its context? What solution did the passage offer to its primary problem?
  3. How might this passage point us to Christ?
  4. Can you formulate a one-sentence main topic in light of your responses to the two previous questions? – 3 & 4.