A preacher should have a good resource of illustrations and true-to-life stories for use in preaching.
The Bible is full of descriptive illustrations, yet daily life-experience and the visible and real things around can provide the necessary illustrations we need. Jesus never lacked handy illustrations in driving points in his preachings - the birds in the air, the lilies in the fields, the seeds, the weeds and so on. All a preacher needs is an eye of an eagle and a pen of a writer in hunting good and precise illustrations.

ON WRITING A SERMON OUTLINE

On writing a sermon outline, we have to use the S.C.O.P.E method. This makes the sermon preparation much easier. All we have to do after reading the lessons for the day (OT, Gospel, Epistle) is to determine first the key text. For example, after reading Luke 10:38-42 (the Gospel reading on the 7th after Trinity), we decide to pick verse 5 as the key verse: "Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled of many things, but only one thing is needful". Then we begin to work on the outline by choosing the S - SUBJECT of our sermon. Choose only ONE SUBJECT for every sermon. Too many subjects is difficult to handle and our hearers will also have difficulty in following our presentation. The subject is only ONE WORD but descriptive, for example - HEAR. The next step is to determine the C - CENTRAL THEME which sets the scope, the limit and the focus of our sermon, or example: ONE THING IS NEEDFUL. The heading of our sermon outline would then look like this:

SERMON OUTLINE
7th Sunday after Trinity
TEXT: "Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled of many things, but one thing is needful"
(Luke 10:38-42).
SUBJECT: HEAR
CENTRAL THEME: ONE THING IS NEEDFUL

The fourth step is to determine the O -OBJECTIVE of our sermon. Every sermon delivery should have a very clear objective. This sets the direction, the focus and the goal we want to
attain, for example:

OBJECTIVE: So that the people will be convinced to give the best of their time listening intently
every time God's Words is preached.

The final step is the writing of the P-PRESENTATION which is made up of Biblico-Theological
E -EXPOSITION to complete the S.C.O.P.E.

The presentation is composed of three parts.
1. BUILD-UP. Instead of calling this as Introduction, I prefer to call it Build-up. This is the first part of the presentation where the hearts of the hearers are being prepared. This is an act of laying and preparing the ground. In presenting the build-up, we have to state facts. I call this portion as STATEMENT OF FACTS. Here we may innumerate the usual happenings in our society, things usually done by people, and the practices that are accepted as normal and ordinary but contrary to Christian ethics and values. Or the facts about Jesus that will serve as transition to the second part. For example:

a. Jesus is not just an ordinary teacher. He is the greatest teacher.
b. Jesus is preoccupied in his teaching ministry. It is a very rare opportunity to have Jesus as a visitor.
c. Listening to Jesus was considered a very precious moments that thousands of people followed him wherever he went just to listen to him.
d. Many people are busy in attending to their business that they do not have time to listen to the Word of God. There was nothing wrong with the busyness of Martha in preparing lunch for Jesus and his disciples, but there was something much needful - listening to Jesus.

II. THE MESSAGE is the second part. This is where the exposition of the Gospel should be done lengthily. The exposition should be supported with RATIONALE and EVIDENCES taken from the Bible. Citing of biblical verses strengthens our argument and makes our presentation very convincing. If ever we present illustrations, it should be those that enhance and clarify our points.

III. CHALLENGE/CALL is the concluding part. We should not close our sermon without stating a challenge or call.

Before the end of June 2010, four sermon-outlines for the Sundays in July will be posted in this corner. If you want to avail of these outlines, just be part of my followers.

The Word of God will remain chained in the pages of the Holy
Scriptures until such time that an effective preacher/teacher unleashes it through preaching/teaching. The Word of God must touch lives and move people to do what God requires. It must not go back to God empty but accomplish that which it is purposed.

Homiletics defined

Homiletics is the art of communicating/preaching the Word of God. Preaching is not just an act of communicating without consideration of the secret of effective techniques of persuasions in the process of delivery. A pastor once told me that he has been preaching God's Word for ten years but never is he conscious of any art of communication. As long as he is able to expound the text, making it plain and simple to his listeners, to him that is preaching. But consider this:

Professional chefs, using the same ingredients, cook with distinctive quality. Skilled sculptors, working on the same material, curve unique figures. Likewise, excellent preachers, using the same biblical text, communicate with exceptional charm.

In this corner, we will be discussing the secret of effective communication focused on preaching the Word of God, which is called Homiletics. Watch for the opening discussion.