Forgiveness Frees! PDF

Forgiveness Frees! Matthew 18:21-35 21Then Peter came and said to Him, "Lord how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?" 22Jesus said to him, "I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven. 23"For this...

Forgiveness Frees! Matthew 18:21-35 21Then Peter came and said to Him, "Lord how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?" 22Jesus said to him, "I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven. 23"For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a certain king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves. 24"And when he had begun to settle them, there was brought to him one who owed him ten thousand talents. 25"But since he did not have the means to repay, his lord commanded him to be sold, along with his wife and children and all that he had, and repayment to be made. 26"The slave therefore falling down, prostrated himself before him, saying, 'Have patience with me, and I will repay you everything.' 27"And the lord of that slave felt compassion and released him and forgave him the debt. 28"But that slave went out and found one of his fellow-slaves who owed him a hundred denarii, and he seized him and began to choke him, saying, 'Pay back what you owe.' 29"So his fellow-slave fell down and began to entreat him, saying, 'Have patience with me and I will repay you.' 30"He was unwilling however, but went and threw him in prison until he should pay back what was owed. 31"So when his fellow-slaves saw what had happened, they were deeply grieved and came and reported to their lord all that had happened. 32"Then summoning him, his lord said to him, 'You wicked slave, I forgave you all that debt because you entreated me. 33'Should you not also have had mercy on your fellow-slave, even as I had mercy on you?' 34"And his lord, moved with anger, handed him over to the torturers until he should repay all that was owed him. 35"So shall My heavenly Father also do to you, if each of you does not forgive his brother from your heart." Step 3: CPT-The forgiven slave's unwillingness to forgive his debtor resulted in imprisonment. Step 4: My purpose is to confront unforgiveness in the lives of forgiven people. Step 5: An initial raw CPS may look like this: Theme: What happens if you don't forgive? Thrust: You will not enjoy your forgiveness and be imprisoned in unforgiveness. After some thought and work in contemporization, I came up with a CPS based on the CPT and processed through my purpose. I wanted something for my audience to remember each time they were unforgiving. This is my CPS: "Forgiveness frees you up; unforgiveness locks you in." Step 6: So far in this chapter we have worked on design structure, introduction, and body structure, including the transitions and applications of the sermon. Introduction. Here I will speak about unforgiveness in the lives of my listeners. Where might they withhold forgiveness and hold on to anger- against friends, bosses, family members, spouses, parents? By the time I finish with the introduction, my audience will sense the tension of unforgiveness. I will attempt to help them think through areas of bitterness. I will ask the question, "How many times should I forgive someone who does the same thing over and over again to me?" Transition Statement: Peter asked Jesus the same question (v. 21). Sub-Introduction: I use the text to set the context (vv. 21-22). Body Structure: (not design structure now) 1. Forgiveness frees you up (vv. 21-27) 2. Unforgiveness locks you in (vv. 28-35) Application. Since my purpose is to confront unforgiveness in the lives of my audience, my main emphasis will not be "Forgiveness frees you up." I will mention that they are sitting in the audience as forgiven people. I will speak about the enormous, unpayable debt we owed God and how we were forgiven like the slave on that day. Now, if my purpose is to remind believers of God's great forgiveness, I should pursue the "so what" and "now what" in reference to God's great forgiveness. My purpose, however, is to confront unforgiveness in my audience. Thus I will spend a lot more application time on point II. In this case, the text itself has the "so what" answered. If God has forgiven you, the text beckons you to become a forgiving person. When I considered the three questions a sermon must answer in relation to this text, I found the following. What? (What truth will I speak about?) Forgiveness frees; unforgiveness freezes!  So What? (What difference should the truth make?) You must forgive your debtor. Perhaps your husband has been negligent or unfaithful to you. Perhaps your wife has not been respectful at home. Perhaps a friend has betrayed you. I will go through such categories in my introduction to the sermon. Now What? (How should you obey the truth?) How will you forgive? I will have several suggestions for my people. First, refocus on God's forgiveness and compare it with what your offender has done against you. Who has committed the greater wrong? If you have been forgiven of an unpayable debt, what must you do with a payable debt? Second, give up any thought of the right to take revenge. Third, redistribute culpability in the offense. The entire blame cannot be laid on your debtor. Fourth, seek overt ways in which you can demonstrate forgiveness. Expect some excuses or at least questions about your application. Because people (myself included) like to apply truth to someone else rather than to themselves, you will have to anticipate some of the objections they may have toward your sermon. One of my definitions of an effective sermon includes the provision for answers to (m)any questions people may have. Here are some questions about unforgiveness I expect my audience will have. Most of them will be "I don't believes" (see page 108), and my hearers will want to know how the truth of my sermon works for them (the pragmatic test). I attempt to prepare answers to their questions. What if he does not know that he has offended me? Will my constant forgiveness not be too indulgent? For example, is it not unwise to allow a debtor to keep borrowing money from me? What if the relationship is irretrievable-a former spouse who has remarried? What if the offender is dead? Remember, for the people, your sermon is like the viewfinder in a single- lens reflex camera. People may begin to understand a general idea of God's claim from the body of your sermon, but application takes the haziness of an image and brings it into sharp focus for obedience.  Illustrations The impact of a sermon is always connected to the illustrations in it. This is true all over the world. Good communicators use many effective illustrations. Think of all the good preachers you have heard, starting with the Lord Jesus. Without exception, they are excellent storytellers. Why? Because stories, or illustrations, comply with the most basic principle of communication. They take the listener from the known to the unknown. The Value of Illustrations The purpose of illustrations is to illustrate. It is wrong to use illustrations with the purpose of lengthening the sermon. Illustrations are used to add light, not length. They make the material understandable, but they should not be the focal point of your sermon. Illustrations are not used to entertain (though they may carry some entertainment value); they are to help the audience understand the content or the claims of what is being illustrated. When we find a powerful illustration, we are sometimes tempted to try to make the sermon fit it. The sermon then takes on the direction of the illustration, and the audience leaves remembering the illustration more than the point the illustration was highlighting. Here is another reason why your purpose bridge is extremely critical. The purpose bridge will help screen out (and screen in) the right illustrations. Illustrations should not be the focus of your sermons. Though they are eminently preachable, you are not in a pulpit to preach an illustration. You are there to preach the Bible through many effective means, including illustrations. A good communicator will use illustrations, but he or she must use them at the right places, at the right times, and for the right purpose. Let me suggest several benefits of using illustrations. Illustrations Help Avoid Avoid misunderstanding. Illustrations illuminate. They cast light on the concepts and the direction of the sermon. They help people understand and help the preacher explain himself. In a video production, bright lights are turned on to illuminate the details of the subject to be captured on film. Similarly, illustrations light up the details of the sermon in the minds of the hearers. You can't make good videos in the dark. Avoid tedium and distraction. If you use the sermonic system outlined in this book, you will accumulate many particulars to give your people. After exegetical study of the Scriptures, you may be tempted to dump truthful minutiae and exegetical trivia on a rather unprepared audience. Unfortunately, people may get bored with truth, especially if it is minutiae with little clear relevance to the main points of your sermon. Your responsibility is to lighten what would be a burdensome weight of your sermon by illustrating all the necessary details. Your illustrations can arouse and maintain interest during the sermon. Avoid neglect. Good illustrations not only arouse interest but encourage long-term retention. Illustrations are like photographs that evoke memories of long-ago events. Illustrations also stir the imagination as people make intellectual and psychological associations with what they already know. In this way, they keep hearing the sermon in their minds, even after the service is over. Illustrations help truth go into automatic pilot as people travel their spiritual journeys. Avoid monotonous content and argument. All preachers get stuck in modes of thinking and preaching they have found to be successful. Unless you are naturally creative, you will need to work at communicating in an interesting manner. One way to be liberated from the safety of the familiar is to sprinkle your sermons with a variety of illustrations. This demands that you broaden your style of thinking and talking. A variety of illustrations will appeal to a variety of hearers. Young people will especially appreciate good illustrations. When children (not my own!) compliment one of my sermons, they usually refer to my stories. The stories kept them listening. Avoid apathy. I used the camera illustration to show how application focuses the sermon. Often in application you will employ illustrations to challenge people to action. Illustrations during application or at the conclusion actually demonstrate the real-life workability of the sermon. They keep people from excusing themselves from obedience. The Search for Illustrations If you look and pray for appropriate illustrations during sermon preparation, God will provide them. You will find the best illustrations when you are thinking about what you want to illustrate. Your mind will be attuned to the precise point and your eyes engaged in finding illustrations for the point. The only one way to find illustrations is to observe life. Beecher uses biblical words to tell preachers how to find illustrations: "Having eyes, you must see; having ears, you must hear; and having a heart, you must understand." And then you must invent and innovate, using your imagination to translate an event to fit what you want. You must observe, observe, observe! There are four sources of illustrations. Sources of Illustrations Your personal life is a splendid source of illustrations, and they are often your best illustrations because you know them so well. Never apologize for personal illustrations, but try not to be the hero of the story every time. You could illustrate from someone else's experience-someone in the audience, in Scripture, in history, or in literature. Beware of giving out confidential information. If you are using history to illustrate, be sure that your people know the context of the story. That is, don't use in India an illustration from the American Civil War without adequate explanation. If you are an erudite scholar and want to quote from literary classics, remember that your audience may not be familiar with them. The Greek classics of Homer or Aristotle and the Reformation classics of Luther or Calvin may be boring to those who have no background in Western culture. You may also illustrate from everyone's experience. For instance, you could illustrate from a triumph or a tragedy that has affected everyone in your audience. Perhaps all of them can connect with an earthquake or a plane crash or an election that has occurred. If you are innovative and are blessed with an active imagination, you could create stories that no one has experienced but that illuminate the point. These are not false stories but fiction (which has no relation to the question of truth). For example, you could invent a conversation between the angel who announced Jesus' birth and the shepherds. The Use of Illustrations To properly use an illustration, the point you are illustrating must precede and succeed the illustration. This enables people to comprehend and recollect (then and later) the point you are making. The sequence of the illustration will look like this: How to Use an Illustration Here is the illustration sequence for a point I make on Psalm 133. 1. The point. When we are focused on a common purpose outside of us, there is unity. 2. Transition to illustration. We find this truth illustrated in how... 3. Illustration. Alaskan horses and donkeys encounter the hostility of wild hyenas in similar ways. When attacked, the horses form a circle with their heads to the inside, feet to the outside, and kick their enemies away. The donkeys form a circle too, with their feet to the inside, heads to the outside, and kick themselves to death. 4. Transition to audience. We must be like Alaskan horses focusing on defeating the enemy rather than like those donkeys kicking themselves to death. 5. Restate or review the point. Unity, then, is found when we focus on a common purpose outside of us. We now come to the issue of how often to use illustrations and how many to use. The basic challenge is to use as many illustrations as are needed to accomplish the purpose of the sermon. We never have enough time for all the illustrations (or even the fruits of our study) we would like to include, however. Therefore, we need to make some adjustments. Where should you use illustrations? All the bare and boring regions of your sermon need illustrations. Some regions that always need illustrations are: the introduction, as you get the attention of your audience and raise the need each major point-I often attempt to insert mini-illustrations at the sublevel of points as well the conclusion, as you bring the sermon to a close Think through the body of your sermon and ask the following questions to see where you need illustrations. The correlation question. What illustration will meet the need for additional explanation of a particular section? If my point is "The Lord Jesus is with you always," it needs explanation. People may ask the following question: "If we can't see him, how do we know he is with us?" The question requires an illustration. We can use one from travel. Jesus is always with us like the unseen captain of the plane or ship who is with us throughout our journey. The credibility question. What illustration (or part of it) will help the audience see, believe, and accept the truth of my point? For example, I could use the illustration of how I was once on a storm- stricken boat that was maneuvered to safety by an unseen captain. The claim question. What illustration will help the audience explore the implication and application of the point to their lives? For example, my worrying while on the boat was useless since it did not help or hinder the skill of the captain or the safety of the boat. There are many kinds of illustrations, and different cultures will prefer some kinds over others. "One-liners" without context will not work in some cultures. What is humorous to one audience may not be so to another audience. Also, some audiences are able to handle lengthy times of abstract speech while others are not. Anecdotes seem to be universally preferred, but you should adjust your stories to meet the needs of your particular audience. In all of this, be sensitive to the audience's need for illustrations, their learning habits, and the local culture's way of narrating events while communicating truth. Also, when thinking through the need and the kind of illustration you must incorporate into your sermon, ask this question: What must I illustrate in the text to accomplish my purpose within my audience's frame of reference? What illustration will take them from known truth to unknown truth? The Conclusion A conclusion completes the sermon. It integrates varied strands, reviews the central proposition of the sermon, resolves earlier irresolution, and invites the audience to obedience. The conclusion will contain application. If application was not sprinkled through the body of the sermon, the conclusion must provide for application time. The conclusion is the final movement of the sermon, so it crescendos to a climax. The preacher repeats or restates the central proposition to refocus the thoughts of the audience on what God expects of them. The conclusion will evidence two features, cohesion and resolution. Cohesion: The audience now hears in concise statements all the important points of the sermon. Resolution: The audience now has the feeling that the destination set out in the purpose during the introduction has been reached. Faulty Conclusions Faulty conclusions are notoriously discouraging. Here are some ways to prevent them. Don't simply stop. How would you feel if just the first three lines of a favorite song were played and the musician quit? Don't give false cues. Some preachers close their Bibles long before they are finished. The audience sees this merciful gesture and wonders why the preacher is still going strong five minutes later. Some preachers say, "lastly," and last a long while. That word was a false cue. Don't try multiple conclusions. How would you like a pilot who keeps landing and taking off, never stopping at your destination? Don't introduce fresh thoughts in the conclusion. Don't construct a conclusion that is longer than the sermon. Don't give your conclusion before you get to the conclusion. If you  do this, the audience may leave the room emotionally before you are finished. Don't develop "delivery droopiness" during the conclusion. Your conclusion is not ancillary, a footnote to the sermon. It is an integral part of the sermon. If your conclusion sounds unimportant, your audience will not give you the attention needed. Skillful Conclusions Here are some ideas for how to skillfully conclude a sermon. A clear statement of the central proposition along with a summarization of the main points is acceptable. Applications and implications woven with personal strategies for obedience are even more effective. A single-sentence affirmation of the truth, a contemporized and easily remembered version of the central proposition, is very good. A final story, which may illustrate the central proposition of the message (or the last point of the body), is useful if it meets the three criteria for illustrations: correlation, credibility, and claim. If you have designed your application to be included in the latter part of the sermon, think through the issues of application mentioned earlier (for example, the "so what?" and "now what?" questions) to make your conclusion have impact. What should you expect from your audience upon your conclusion? The best outcome would be a decision to put your final appeal into practice combined with creative ways to accomplish the character/conduct change you solicited. To use G. Campbell Morgan's phrase, an impacting conclusion "storms the citadel of the will." Go, storm your hearers' wills!  7 PREACH THE SERMON The "Flesh" of the Sermon We now come to putting the final touches on the sermon sculpture that you have created from Scripture. Writing and preaching the sermon finishes the Scripture Sculpture process. To preach the sermon well, I recommend that you write it out first. Writing helps put the final touches on the sermon. Then prepare yourself for delivering the sermon. Writing the Sermon Almost all of the work of the sermon has been done. Now you will put it on paper.  In seminary, when I was first asked to write my sermon, I experienced an internal reaction of sorts (not the best sort!). I had been preaching for many years and did not think that I needed to put my sermon in writing. Such a mundane procedure, I thought, would rob the spontaneity from my sermons. Further, my professors legislated that I preach without notes. This too I considered an encroachment on a preaching style developed through the years. But I decided to submit to professorial authority with explicit prescience that I would go back to spontaneous preaching with sparse notes after graduation. After all, what is the use of preaching without notes if you have prepared the sermon so thoroughly? And what is the use of writing full manuscripts if you don't take them to the pulpit? After that preaching class I had to admit, rather sheepishly, that I had had a massive change of perspective and practice about using notes while preaching. Now I am glad to admit, somewhat boldly, that I have not used notes in the pulpit since that class. I do not need them after going through the rigor of the preaching regimen. That doesn't mean that I don't have notes. I have a full manuscript of every sermon I have preached. Indeed, the farther I depart from textual exposition, the more I become dependent on notes. Write out every word you intend to preach in the way you intend to preach it. Notice that I said, "Write out every word you intend to preach." This may not be what actually happens in the pulpit. The Holy Spirit may change what you say. He has the right to intrude spontaneously. He is active in the whole sermon-making process-from the beginning when you committed your study time to him, to the end when you invite people to obey God's Word. Writing out the manuscript has several advantages: You can actually see the development of the sermon, which may help you to enhance it. You can internalize (not memorize) the sermon before you preach it if it is on paper. You can improve the sermon as you become aware of new or better information. Your sermon manuscript will reveal areas that need to be reinforced with illustrations, transitions, and applications. You can also remove any material that is irrelevant or unclear. You will have some idea of how long the sermon will take and will be able to control its length. Experience will tell you how long it  takes to preach through a page of sermon material. If it takes you five minutes to preach a page, an eight-page manuscript will take you about forty minutes to preach. Your exposure to the manuscript will jog your memory when you are in the pulpit. You will not need to take your manuscript or any notes to the pulpit. Once you have gone through the Scripture Sculpture process, you will know your material so well that the biblical text will provide memory clues to the manuscript you have prepared. You can preach the sermon again without leaving out anything important (though you will have to rework it to suit another audience). If you do not write out your sermon, you will never preach the same sermon again. You will have a record of illustrations you have already used so that you can avoid repeating them. You may want to publish your sermons in book form. In any case, you will have a permanent record of the sermon for later use. There is no such thing as good preaching without preparation. There is, however, such a thing as good preaching without notes. Those who consistently preach extemporaneously may succumb to any momentary inspiration (often under the guise of spontaneity), lack variety in style, and repeat similar themes and illustrations because they have not prepared or planned their sermons. Except in the most unusual of circumstances, please do not attempt extemporaneous preaching if you want to feed your people a good, steady diet of God's Word. Language and Style Aristotle said in Rhetoric, "It is not enough to know what to say; one must also know how to say it." Style has to do with using language to effectively communicate what you know you must say. In some parts of the world, style means "showing off" and relates to personal pride. In communication, style refers to the choice and use of language that gives form to our thoughts. The question is not whether one has style in communication, for everyone has a style of communication. The question is whether one's style has impact or not. Many books have been written on this subject from Christian and non- Christian experts in public speaking. There are many cultural angles to style (and delivery) as well. Some generic comments on style may be made with their application to a local congregation dependent on the preacher's personality, temperament, skill, and imagination. Use words (and sentences) that are clear and concrete. For instance, don't use words in your CPS that can carry several meanings. If a word has a double meaning, your audience may choose the wrong one. Clear words are neither abstract nor ambiguous. They are usually short, simple, and specific. Use words that are evocative and sensuous. Your words must appeal to the senses. You want your audience to see, hear, touch, taste, smell, and even feel your image-laden words. Your words need to be more than sounds emanating from a voice box. Talk in pictures. Instead of saying "personal faith without public works is useless," say, "personal faith without public works is as useless as a coat hanger without a hook." The words we choose can also evoke feelings of joy, freedom, calm, anger, tension, guilt, or whatever is appropriate to the purpose of the sermon. Image-Laden Words To grow in this aspect of sermon preparation, you must know your audience. Remember, you are writing your sermon for them. Think through their experiences to determine what will help you communicate with power. Use terminology they know and with which you are comfortable. Stay away from cliches, which are too familiar to have impact. Ask yourself what you want your audience to hear from your sermon and how you want them to hear it. Then develop your style accordingly. Let your sermon throb with color, sound, taste, odor, and feel. If you don't fire up your sermon with images, your sermon should be set on fire. As you write your sermon, use this test question for style. Is it understandable and interesting? Work on the words, the sentences, and the paragraphs, rewriting, reworking, and rewording until it is both understandable and interesting. What about humor in the pulpit? If you have a humorous temperament, use humor to communicate wisdom. This is how humor is used in Scripture. Do not use humor to simply fill time or entertain or enhance your reputation. I know one priest in South Asia who is so humorous that people actually start laughing before he utters the first syllable. That is similar to what we expect of circus clowns whether or not they are funny. This is inappropriate in the pulpit. Humor can be extremely effective, however, in gaining credibility for the preacher in showing his personal foibles, for maintaining interest and creating expectation throughout the sermon, for disarming his hearers' defensiveness, and for illuminating the truth. Style, then, is what brings your sermon to life with flesh and bones and sweat. Sequence and Components Follow step 6, "Structure the Sermon," carefully in writing out the sermon. Here is a review of the sequence and components. Title The title is the identity of the sermon. It should be contemporary, accurate, clear, and short. Text The text could be declared and/or read in one of many places, as was pointed out in step 6. Pre-Introduction The transition from your pre-introductory comments to the sermon is made by pause, prayer, reading of text, or some other signal to the audience that you are about to begin the sermon. You will not write out the pre- introduction, but you must plan for it. Introduction The introduction should get attention, raise need, orient the theme, state the purpose. The central proposition of the sermon is placed at the end of the introduction if it is a deductive sermon; in an inductive sermon, only your theme will be stated in the introduction. Sub-Introduction  Give background and context of the text. Introduce the main sections of the sermon or just the first main section. The CPS or even the CPT could be stated or repeated here. Body of the Sermon Based on the outline in step 6 (see page 99), here are some things to remember as you write the body of your sermon. 1. First Main Section State the main point of this section in a complete sentence. Remember SAVE (a) Point! STATE it, ANCHOR it, VALIDATE it, EXPLAIN it, and possibly apply it. Be sure to introduce the subsections of this main point. 1. First subpoint of first main point You may want to introduce the sub-subsections of this subsection. 1. First sub-subsection 2. Second sub-subsection You may want to review the sub-subsections before going on to the second subsection. 2. Second subsection After covering all the subsections of this point, review the CPS (in a deductive sermon) or the theme (in an inductive sermon) or the preceding subsections and the first main section. Then transition to the second main section. Be sure to have one solid illustration for the first main section: Make the point Transition to illustration Illustrate the point Transition to audience Restate/review the point In a deductive sermon, make application of the first main point here. It should be a customized and concrete application. You will follow the same structure for each section of your sermon. At the end of the last main section, fully state the CPS. (It is repeated here for emphasis and review in a deductive sermon.) A customized and concrete application is placed here in the inductive sermon. Conclusion Use the conclusion to make application, restate the CPS, summarize, and bring the sermon to an impressive climax. Internalizing the Sermon Having written out the sermon, you will have to internalize (not memorize) it. The good thing is that, since you shaped the sermon from the very beginning, it is already a part of your soul. Your text and preparation will act as memory clues in the pulpit. You will not need to memorize the sermon word for word, though you may need to work on remembering certain illustrations and you may want to practice your style of delivery of some sections at least early in your preaching career. For instance, if you are attempting to include a humorous anecdote, you need to learn how to tell it. Otherwise your audience will be laughing at you rather than with you. If you desire to cite a quotation and have not been able to memorize it, put it on a small piece of paper and read from it during the sermon. Most of the sermon, however, you will not need to memorize. I suggest that you put the entire sermon-points, illustrations, and all-on half sheets of paper while studying your sermon for delivery. My own mnemonic habits require that I write out the outline by hand as I study my sermon. I use two colors on this half-page outline-blue or black for the main points and subpoints and red for the illustrations. A lack of red in any part of the outline alerts me to check the need for an illustration and to include it as necessary. This outline follows the sermon structure given earlier in this chapter. Francis Bacon said, "Reading maketh a full man; conference a ready man; writing an exact man." I cherish the notion that someday preachers will be called "exact men"! Preaching the Sermon You have prepared the sermon through six and a half stages. You have written out the sermon for internalization, storage, and future reference. We now come to the actual delivery of the sermon. My limited experience shows that non-Western speakers have distinct advantages in speech delivery over their Western counterparts. People growing up in these story and speech-oriented cultures have had their delivery skills strengthened from childhood. Even in personal conversation, a good amount of physical energy is expended. In cultures affected by a Greek philosophical bias tending to the intellect, however, the emphasis is often on the quality of the content rather than its delivery. Of course, there are exceptions to this general observation. Nonverbal Communication Delivery relates to the preacher-his face, gestures, and voice. These are called nonverbal media of communication. The use of the face, gestures, and voice sometimes has more impact than the content of what you have to say. I once had lunch with a friend who, while conversing (reasonably intelligently) with me, kept looking at his watch. What aspect of his communication do you think was more powerful? Nonverbal media should be used very skillfully and appropriately. Your body talks along with your mouth, and there needs to be parity between them. These nonverbal media communicate your enthusiasm for the sermon, enhance your presence on the pulpit, and actually create a whole emotional environment for your sermon. That is, your sermon may be brilliant, but if you do not use nonverbal media skillfully and appropriately, they can veto what you have to say. Your Face I realize that some have advantages over others in this area, but I find that I do not need to be discouraged about such a disadvantage in the pulpit. People are not only willing to put up with my face but actually watch my face for how I feel about the sermon, myself, and them. Some studies say that more than half of a speaker's believability comes from the facial aspects of communication. Eye contact with your audience in culturally appropriate ways must be maintained as much as possible. I have a friend who speaks to an invisible second balcony and another friend who looks out the side windows, which are not there. I have on occasion moved my head from side to side as though I were watching a tennis match. We need to correct these distracting habits. Look directly at your audience. If you have a large audience, pick one on each side, one in the front, and one at the back and speak to these people, personally. Smile occasionally. It is appropriate to smile in the pulpit as long as you don't look like you're in a toothpaste commercial. Go ahead and smile when it is normal to your disposition, natural to your content, and appropriate to your culture. You have to choose something between a hellish look and a heavenly look in the pulpit. Was it Spurgeon who said something like, "When you speak about heaven, let your face shine; when you speak about hell, your normal face would do"? People can tell the difference between a shining face and an angry face, a joyous face and a sorrowful face, an enthusiastic face and a boring face. Your Gestures Just like your face, your body talks. It will add to or subtract from your verbal communication. There are three possible relationships between your body and your words: Inaction. The body just comes along for the sermon event. Like resurrected Lazarus emerging from the tomb wrapped in grave cloths, your body is stifled or disabled. Overaction and wrong action. Either of these are distracting. Your gestures, posture, and movement should not call attention to what you are doing. Then your body becomes the main focus of the audience's attention. When I was a teenager I used to sit at the side of the pulpit in our church and count the number of times my pastor bent his legs up to knee level. Another preacher had itching ears and would put his little finger into his ear during the sermon. Some remind me of Paul's analogy of a boxer who fights and beats the air. Don't develop distracting mannerisms, such as playing with the keys in your pocket or constantly adjusting your glasses. Appropriate action. Your whole body should be natural as you communicate, and your gestures should give the same message as your words. For example, do not point down while referring to heaven. Don't put up three fingers for your second point. Your body language can effectively reinforce your points: The pointing finger, the querying eyebrows, the wide arms, the clenched fist, the open palms, and many others, if done naturally and at appropriate places in your sermon, can be assets to your presentation. I find some students to be full of energy at home (for instance, at their child's birthday party), but they are transformed into Egyptian mummies in the pulpit. Your whole body is at your disposal to use to enhance your verbal material. It is interesting that it takes the same amount of psychological and physical energy to be inhibited as it takes to be free in the pulpit. Nervousness is okay. It is a reminder of your frailty and the need for dependence on the Holy Spirit. If the nervousness relates to how well you are going to perform, then it is an unholy nervousness. Your identity cannot be defined by how well you preach from the pulpit. If preaching provides the grid for your self-identity, I guarantee you are destined for depression. Direct your nervousness toward trust and openness to God, the Holy Spirit. Use it to trigger further reliance on the power of the Holy Spirit and the Word to free you from self-imposed or external constrictions as you minister to his people. Use gestures skillfully and appropriately. Do what is natural for you while being sensitive to your culture in adopting proper gestures. Ask someone to videotape you while you are preaching, so you can evaluate your style and eliminate unskillful and inappropriate gestures. They can erase the tape later! Your Voice Since the tone of your voice communicates more than the content of your talk, it is essential to use your voice effectively. You must find the appropriate pitch and quality and develop variety in speed and volume. Pitch Is your voice too deep or too high? Do you vary your pitch? Are you able to inflect your voice to communicate feelings such as joy, urgency, command, or affirmation? Quality Does your voice have a nasal sound? Does your voice have a harsh sound? Do you sound smooth and relaxed? Articulation and pronunciation Do you speak clearly and carefully? Do you pronounce words in an understandable manner? Check a dictionary if you're not sure of certain pronunciations. Speed or rate Do you talk so fast that your audience can't keep up? Do you talk  so slowly that they are bored? Do you pause briefly on occasion? Do you vary between fast, slow, and paused speech? Loudness or volume Do you speak loudly enough so that everyone can hear you without straining to do so? Do you speak softly enough so that you don't bombard the listener? Do you vary the volume? You may want to record a couple of sermons on audio- or video-cassette and evaluate the use of your voice. Is your voice pleasant to listen to? Do you use variety of rate and volume? I constantly have to remind myself to slow down, because my brain races in high gear, and preaching time is always short. I have to conscientiously vary the speed at which I speak. If you have problems in any of these areas, you may want to enroll in a public speaking course or work through a book on the subject. Get a confidant (perhaps your spouse) to point out how you can improve your sermon delivery. Above all else, speak with desperate passion. When your preaching has passion in it, delivery matters seem to take their appropriate places.  AFTERWORD Gutzon Borglum, a master sculptor, orchestrated the carving of one of the greatest pieces of large modern sculpture. The shrine to democracy portrays four faces of prominent U.S. presidents at Mount Rushmore National Memorial in the Black Hills of South Dakota. He had great pleasure in telling people that "the presidents' faces were always there; we just brought them in view." Indeed, that is what expository preachers pursue-bringing the truth of particular scriptural texts into the view of the audience. You too can create sculpture from Scripture. Mix the dynamics of a vital spiritual life and the mechanics of sermon preparation, and you can go each time into the pulpit trusting the Lord of the Word to reinforce the Word of the Lord through you, his servant.  APPENDICES These appendices relate to issues often brought up in Scripture Sculpture seminars, which have been conducted all over the world. They provide clarification, illustrations, elaborations, or technical comments on matters of biblical preaching that were dealt with in this book. 1. The Holy Spirit and Your Pulpit Effectiveness 2. The Benefits of the Original Languages for Preachers (Step 1) 3. Choosing a Text for Your Sermon (Step 2) 4. Introductory Notes on Grammar (Steps 1, 2) 5. The Perils of Principilization (Steps 1, 3, 4) 6. Hermeneutical Analysis and Homiletical Application of Narrative Texts (Steps 2, 4, 6) 7. Central Propositions: An Advanced Procedure (Steps 3, 4, 5) 8. Understanding Your Audience: Exegeting Culture (Steps 4, 6) 9. The Elements of a Competent Sermon Outline (Step 6) 10. A Sample Sermon Introduction (Step 6) 11. Forms of Sermon Introduction (Step 6) 12. Sermon Evaluation Questionnaire (Step 7) 13. Topical Exposition  APPENDIX 1 THE HOLY SPIRIT AND YOUR PULPIT EFFECTIVENESS By intention, the Scripture Sculpture sermon-preparation process is focused on the mechanics of expository preaching. Yet the best-prepared and best- preached sermon would turn into mere noise-making if the dynamics of the preaching process were not in place. The critical link between the mechanics and dynamics of the preaching process is the preacher's spiritual life. We ought to pursue an increasingly vital relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit through faith in God's Word. The following dynamics of preaching need to be in place around the preacher, the text, and the sermonic event. All of them relate to God, the Holy Spirit, the Third Person of the Trinity, in whose economy the preacher presently lives and ministers. Personal Matters. Only spiritual, "prayed-up" preachers need enter the pulpit. A spiritual preacher abandons himself on the Holy Spirit, who in turn encroaches on the preacher's daily life. A spiritual preacher lives by the Holy Spirit. He not only asks and receives the filling of the Holy Spirit for the pulpit task but regularly beckons and yields to the Holy Spirit for control of his character. Lewis Sperry Chafer said clearly and profoundly, "A Christian is a Christian because he is rightly related to Christ; but 'he that is spiritual' is spiritual because he is rightly related to the Spirit, in addition to his relation to Christ in salvation." Four New Testament commands in relation to the Holy Spirit apply to the Christian, but especially and first to the preacher. 1. Position yourself to be controlled by the Holy Spirit. A command in the  passive mood, Ephesians 5:18 balances the divine and human sides of the relationship. It is your responsibility to allow his ongoing control to take place. Much like a sailor positions the boat to catch the wind to move him on (cf. the Spirit and wind metaphor in John 3:6-8), we position our lives to be controlled by the Spirit. We invite and succumb to his control-daily, regularly, and intentionally. 2. Cut out anything that would grieve the Holy Spirit (Eph. 4:30). The full title of "the Holy Spirit of God" impregnates this command to not grieve the Holy Spirit. Obviously, the preacher looks for the manure and the muck of his life by inviting the Holy Spirit to run a fine-toothed comb, to shine a bright flashlight into the recesses of his being. Having identified personal messes, the preacher confesses his sin to move beyond receiving God's forgiveness to cleansing from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). 3. Fan the flame of the Holy Spirit's enthusiasm for your spiritual vitality. "Do not quench the Spirit," reads 1-Thessalonians 5:19, a corporate command with personal implications. He is more interested in your spiritual growth than you are. Pursue spiritual disciplines with a nonmeritorious motive. Those disciplines keep the spiritual flame burning. You become increasingly attached to the Trinity; detached from sin, Satan, and the world's values; and aligned to God's agenda and priorities before you engage in the discipline of preaching. 4. Stay in tow as you keep in step with the Spirit. To walk by the Spirit (Gal. 5:16), we, like an immobilized vehicle, are pulled by a powerful tow truck. We can't hasten spiritual growth, for we have no power. But we can steer away or brake to slow down the process. Instead, we must let the Spirit pull us forward so that we do not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. The preacher who is not living in vital relationship to the Lord Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit adulterates his task. Instead, he should find the energy for the spiritual life in synergy with the Holy Spirit as he prepares to mount the pulpit for his sacred duty. Like the Holy Spirit, he too focuses on glorifying Jesus and clarifying truth (John 16:13-15). Textual matters. The preacher not only relates appropriately to the Holy Spirit in his personal life, but also in his approach to the Scriptures. The combination of the Holy Spirit and the Word has been the traditional position, the evangelical mix, the orthodox balance in Christian history. Sermon mechanics primarily relates to the Word and sermon dynamics to the Holy Spirit, and we can't separate them. Each occasion of preaching that brings about godly results, in spite of the spiritual and skill deficiencies of the preacher, points to how closely the Word and the Spirit integrate and operate. The Spirit owns his Word for his sake and our sake even though we are sinful, stupid, or lazy. The preacher counts on and seizes the Holy Spirit's relationship to the Bible because of the following dynamics: 1. Inspiration. Second Peter 1:21 attributes Scripture to "men moved by the Holy Spirit [who] spoke from God." Did you know that the Holy Spirit had you, your study, and your sermon in mind when he first inspired the text long ago? You can come to a text confident that the same Holy Spirit who inspired the text will see to it that you do the best you can within your limitations to glorify Jesus and clarify Scripture to your audiences. That dynamic provides godly confidence in the face of the most difficult of texts. 2. Interpretation. The Holy Spirit is your partner in the interpretive endeavor. That's why the spiritual vitality of the preacher is essential in studying, structuring, and arriving at the central proposition of the text. You clear out grievous and obvious sins, you express love to God and his Word, you prayerfully depend on the Holy Spirit to understand a text "that we might know the things freely given to us by God... combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words" (1-Cor. 2:12-13). Conscientious study of the Scripture combined with conscious dependence on the Holy Spirit better guarantees your approximation of the full truth of the Holy Spirit-inspired text. 3. Illumination. The Holy Spirit moves the preacher from approximation to clarity in understanding written revelation, and then to the conviction of "Thus says the Lord" or "The word of the Lord came....... " Illumination distinguishes between the non-Christian scholar who expertly interprets Scripture and the believing preacher who understands, accepts, submits, and applies its meaning. By the Holy Spirit who indwells him, the spiritual man understands the depths of God and appraises all things (1-Cor. 2:10, 15). The Holy Spirit not only personalizes God's works in the believer (cf. the entire slate of his role in a believer's life), he energizes God's character in the preacher for personal dynamism-victory, power, fruit, Christ-likeness. Most important, the preacher internalizes God's Word by the Holy Spirit. He alone animates black print on a white page into a forceful weapon (Heb. 4:12); he clarifies the Word's applicational claim to the preacher and helps him appropriate it for personal understanding and obedience. Sermon Matters. The total sermon event is surrounded by the Holy Spirit -before, during, and after the sermon. Presermon. Your sanctified desire for the ministry, especially the preaching ministry, arises from the Holy Spirit's transformation of your heart. It is he who has authorized you to preach. That understanding of divine authorization and appointment consumes you during the sermon-preparation process. He gives you excitement during the discovery and the later delivery of your sermon. He assures you that he will compensate for your weakness and inadequacy, for your competency is from God alone (2-Cor. 3:5). He leads you into choices of biblical books and texts that would be most appropriate for your congregation. Further, the Holy Spirit has preceded your coming to the audience. He is already convicting the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment (John 16:8- 11). You are simply a part of that continuous interaction of God with people. You are not abandoned to your ingenuity at any time in the preaching process. During the sermon. What is the unction, the anointing, that fills the language of preaching in terms of the preaching event? How does one get the anointing and feel the unction? You can almost always tell what the "sacred anointing" is not. It is not preaching in the flesh in order to entertain, manipulate, or control the audience. Now God uses your fleshly preaching for his purposes, since truth may leak out in the middle of your impressive presentation. The "anointing" of the preacher [I understand the "anointing" in 1-John 2:27 to be the Holy Spirit himself] is literally the "Spirited" preacher. Psyching yourself up for the contest like a wrestler gets ready for his opponent may be "spirited" but not "Spirited." When you are "Spirited" in and on the pulpit, you sense divine ownership of your ministry, the sermon event, your very life. You read the Master's pleasure at your less-than-profitable service. You confidently submit to his orchestration of the people's response, since you are not in charge of the results. You intuitively know that you are being carried by his power throughout the presentation. He gives you the confidence and the demeanor that creates a powerful contagion between preacher and audience. The preacher remembers what he has prepared by the Spirit but yields to the Spirit's movements in spontaneously going beyond his preparation for what the Spirit additionally wants to say to the church. If you have ever experienced a listener affirm a part of the message that you didn't know you emphasized or even mentioned, the Spirit was doing his work of piercing that listener at exactly his point of need. An increasing awareness, surprise, and humility about the Holy Spirit's stewardship of the sermon comprises aspects of the anointing. You are not on that pulpit alone, left to your devices, gifts, or talents. You sense that he is there with you effecting his purposes in your audience. Also while preaching, the Holy Spirit is the one who fosters the reality of God and his truth in your audience. It is he who will awaken the dead, sensitize their consciences, illuminate their minds, deepen their experiences, soften their hearts, and quicken their spirits and souls. Even the faith that your less-than-perfect sermon is making a difference in people's lives in bringing them to salvation or maturity comes from divine unction. You will be filled with a spiritual sensitivity to the audience. He will give you discernment and boldness in calling for conversion, for change, for repentance, for response from them. Postsermon. Though your sermon is done, the Holy Spirit is not done with your people. Just as the Lord Jesus promised his disciples-even those who didn't pen the Scriptures-that the Spirit of truth would guide them into all truth (John 16:11-12a), he will bring to remembrance his Word preached through you to his disciples today. He pursues them to their places of living, work, and play. He extends your application to new ideas and arenas of their obedience. He empowers their will to obey. He opens up opportunities to meet their inclinations since he has inclined their hearts toward opportunities during your sermon. And that means he has preceded your sermon again! So nurture biblical spirituality and cultivate biblical preaching to become a mighty instrument in the hand of God, the Holy Spirit. Cover your sermon study, delivery, and results with prayer. Through prayer and study the ordinary human being becomes an extraordinary preacher by the power of the Holy Spirit who surrounds the preaching event with himself. To paraphrase 2- Peter 1:21, let it be said that these were "men moved by the Holy Spirit [who] spoke from God's word."  APPENDIX 2 THE BENEFITS OF THE ORIGINAL LANGUAGES FOR PREACHERS A question that has often been asked in preachers' seminars is "Should one study the original biblical languages to preach well?" "What advantages are there in studying Greek and Hebrew for preaching?" My answer is borrowed from Harold Hoehner, an esteemed colleague. The difference between studying in your own language and knowing the original languages is something like the difference between the picture on a black and white TV and on a color TV. The picture in color is more vivid and realistic. The more familiar you are with original languages, the better defined the text will be for you. Indeed, there are some precision decisions that cannot be determined with translations. On the other hand, the black and white TV receives a signal and shows a good picture. You can follow the story very well as you watch it. A color TV is a wonderful luxury, the preferred product. If you can afford one, you'll probably decide it is worth the money. In the same way, get all the advanced training you can, but do not stop preaching just because you have not studied the biblical languages. Many of God's greatest preachers have not been to seminary. Do not let your lack intimidate you. Dr. Lewis Sperry Chafer, the founder of Dallas Seminary and writer of a multivolume theology, did not know the original biblical languages. Further, the English language is versatile enough to give you an adequate meaning of the Bible. As you consult translations, dictionaries, and commentaries, you will be protected from error to a large extent. For instance, I recommend consulting a Bible that contains several versions to alert you to different translations of one passage. A good one is Curtis Vaughn, The New Testament from 26 Translations (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1967). Also, reading the Scripture in your mother tongue (if it is other than English) will give you beautiful angles on a given passage, especially as foreign translators worked from the original languages through their mother tongues into your vernacular! If you do the work that I am recommending in this system of sermon preparation, you will not have to worry about not having enough material to preach. With some training in Greek and Hebrew, most of my advanced preaching students are more apt to face the problem of what to leave out of a sermon rather than finding enough to include. When you can use the original languages in your study, your message will have greater precision, which will give you more confidence in your preaching. It is like using a detailed map to find your way around a city. A map with less detail might get you to where you want to go, but with the detailed map, you will be sure of the route each step of the way.  APPENDIX 3 CHOOSING A TEXT FOR YOUR SERMON In the introduction to this book, I gave some of the advantages of preaching consecutive texts. On occasion you will need to depart from such a progressive or sequential preaching of a book. On Easter Sunday some years ago, I heard a message on Samson from the Book of Judges. The reason the pastor gave for preaching on Samson was that he had preached the previous chapter on the previous Sunday! Not only did he not meet the expectations of his audience, he did not seize the moment, since so many "Easter Sunday churchgoers" were there. They went home affirmed in their decision to attend church irregularly. Here are some ways to choose the sermon text. The biblical book. This is the usual expository method. You preach each succeeding paragraph or passage. You must choose the biblical book by taking audience needs into account. If you were beginning a ministry among persecuted Christians in a hostile setting, you might choose to preach from the Book of 1-Peter. The Christian calendar. Take into account the great days of the church. Be sure to remember the Passion season (Palm Sunday, Good Friday, and Easter) and the Christmas season especially. Sometimes a group will observe other special days, such as a World Hunger Sunday or World Evangelization Sunday. The extent to which you relate to a special denominational or church calendar depends on your church's history, ties, and priorities. The national calendar. The United States has a Sunday set aside for Mother's Day. India celebrates Children's Day. Most countries  highlight an Independence Day. Preaching appropriate messages for these special days is a good idea. Don't feel, however, that you have to recognize every holiday from the pulpit or preach a related message. Special events. Special events in the life of the church, such as the dedication of a church building, should feature a sermon related to the event. Unusual events. If the city or nation has gone through a national disaster, be sure to address it. I recall the Sunday after Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had been assassinated by her bodyguards. Hellish hatred had broken loose in New Delhi. Fear had descended on everyone. The nation was in mourning. A few brave souls made it to the services on that Sunday. They desperately needed a word from God, and it wasn't found in the next passage of the book I was preaching. As you select the text, always keep your congregation in mind. What are their needs? What does God want them to hear this week, month, year? Even if you have to include these different calendars and events in a preaching schedule, you can still preach Scripture texts. In step 4 we deal with preaching more than one sermon out of a single text. If you do run out of such texts, you may want to think about topical preaching for special events.  APPENDIX 4 INTRODUCTORY NOTES ON GRAMMAR In step 2 you had to use some tools of grammar to identify, evaluate, prioritize, and structure a passage. I enclose the following material on English grammar (especially for foreign students of English) to introduce or reintroduce you to the elements of English grammar. The material has been adapted from Frank X. Braun, English Grammar for Language Students, an excellent short introduction to the subject that can be easily understood and used for studying the English Bible. Adjective: An adjective is a word used to modify (describe, limit, or qualify) the meaning of a noun or pronoun. The child carried a huge balloon. Adverb: An adverb is a word used to modify (describe, limit, or qualify) the meaning of a verb, an adjective, or another adverb. He walks swiftly. They seemed extremely anxious. He walks very swiftly. According to their meaning, most adverbs fit into one of the following groups. Examples are given for each group. 1. Time: then, now, frequently 2. Place: here, there, somewhere 3. Manner: swiftly, gently, badly 4. Degree: very, extremely  Articles: The definite article (the) points out one or more definite or particular things of a class. The boys in the front seats. The indefinite article (a or an) denotes any one of a class of objects. a room an elephant Clause: A clause consists of a subject and a predicate. It may constitute all or only part of a complete sentence. The following sentence consists of two clauses. subject predicate He received his pay when the work was done. The principal clause (or main or independent clause) is a clause that can stand alone and make sense by itself. He received his pay is the principal or independent clause. The subordinate or dependent clause is a clause that depends on the main clause for its meaning and cannot stand alone. When the work was done is a subordinate or dependent clause. The subordinate clause is usually introduced by a subordinating conjunction (although, because, if, that, etc.), by an adverb (where, whenever, when, etc.), or by a relative pronoun (who, whose, what, whom, that, which, etc.). Conjunction: A conjunction is a word used to connect words, phrases, or clauses. There are two kinds of conjunctions. Coordinating conjunctions (and, but, or, nor) connect words, phrases, or clauses of equal rank. The father and son are handsome. He may be poor but he is still proud. Subordinating conjunctions (although, because, if, since, that, etc.) introduce clauses that are subordinate to the rest of the sentence. He stayed home because he had no money.  Direct Object: The person or thing directly affected by the action of the verb. The player passes the ball. John hit his brother. Indirect Object: The indirect object is the person or thing indirectly affected by the action of the verb. He passed the sugar to his guest. He passed his guest the sugar. The sugar is the object that is being passed (the direct object); his guest is the receiver of the direct object and is the indirect object. Noun: A noun is the name of a person, place, or thing. Pronoun: A pronoun is a word used in place of a noun to avoid awkward repetitions. Compare the following sentences: Tom thought Tom had lost Tom's money. Tom thought he had lost his money. Gender: Gender is a change in the form or use of a noun or pronoun to denote sex. Masculine: man, host, he, his Feminine: woman, hostess, she, her Neuter: book, it, its Verb: A verb is a word that expresses action or a state of being or condition. Verbs agree in person and number with the subject, and the form changes depending on the tense. English has both regular and irregular verbs. John went to school. The children are watching television. Visitors will arrive soon. Tenses: The tense of a verb indicates the time of action. There are six tenses in English:  Present: I talk. I am talking. Past: I talked. I was talking. Future: I shall talk. I shall be talking. Present Perfect: I have talked. Past Perfect: I had talked. Future Perfect: I shall have talked. Mood: The mood of a verb indicates the intention of the speaker or writer. English has three moods. The indicative mood is used to state a fact or ask a question. They live in the country. Is he going? The subjunctive mood expresses urgency, possibility, speculation, formality, and condition contrary to fact. Urgency: I demanded that she see me immediately. Formality: I move that the meeting be adjourned. Contrary to fact: If I were you, I would go. The imperative mood is used to express a command or a request. In English it is used only in the second person singular or plural. Other languages have a more complete imperative. Pass the sugar, please! Boys, come here! Lead us not into temptation! Number: The number refers to the property of a noun, pronoun, or verb that indicates whether the reference is to one (singular) or to more than one (plural). Subjects and verbs must agree in number. A pronoun must agree in number with the noun it replaces. Preposition: A preposition is a function word used with a noun or pronoun to show its relation to some other word or words in the sentence. English has approximately sixty prepositions, such as at, by, for, in, into, etc. A prepositional phrase consists of a preposition and its object. He walked into the store. They sat on the bench and waited. One preposition may have two or more objects. They traveled over hill and dale.  APPENDIX 5 THE PERILS OF PRINCIPILIZATION Principilization is the theory of preaching that takes a passage, extracts a universal principle, and applies it to the contemporary context. For example, I heard a sermon on the topic "Our God is an abundant God," extracted from Genesis 1. Textual support came from the multiple things God created- many stars, many animals, many fish, many birds, and so on. The theological principle is true. Whether this text supports it needs to be thought through. Principilization is a popular means of re-presenting the "truth" of a passage. The purpose of this appendix is to alert preachers to some of the dangers in this abstract endeavor. I am not saying that theological truth should not be extracted from the details of a passage, but I am saying that we should not use passages as mere illustrations of supposedly universal truths that exist apart from them. The preaching method that has been proposed in this manual prevents the wrong kind of "principilization" that is advocated by some homileticians. In this method, I attempt to provide for biblical authority and contextual relevance-the reason for principilization as a homiletical strategy. (See appendix 6 on homiletical application of narrative, biographical, and historical texts.) Here I articulate some difficulties with "principilization as a homiletical device." Several of these difficulties are pointed out by S.-Greidanus in his highly technical work Sola Scriptura. These principilizing tactics become especially acute while preaching narrative, biographical, and historically descriptive texts. Principilization reduces redemptive history to the plane of moral history. The historical event in the development of redemption or the increments of special revelation become as insignificant as any noteworthy character or event in secular history. We could preach from Gandhi, Martin Luther King, church history, Plato, or cultural parables in this moral sense. Ernest Best writes, "It is possible to obtain exactly the same results by allegorizing passages outside Scripture." He uses the illustration of the fox and the crow in Aesop's fables. The piece of meat is the Word of God, the fox is the devil, and the crow is the Christian. The universal principle derived from this fable would be: "When the Christian thinks too highly of himself, he loses God's Word." That principle is highly preachable and theologically right. Instead, Greidanus warns that "once one has taken a historical text as preaching text, he must take that text in accord with its own nature and no longer as illustration." A narrative text is a fact of history and should be treated as such, not as a parable. "Whoever thinks it possible that God let a certain history be recorded in order to give 'teaching in pictorial form,' loses sight of the difference between a parable and piece of history." Principilization overlooks the importance and uniqueness of a particular narrative and happening-its factual character. If a historical text serves to "illustrate and depict concretely a certain 'truth,' then the factual character of such an event is not overly important since that illustration can equally well be given in a parable or allegory." Historicity becomes secondary to the theological abstraction that is taught in the text. This view reduces the nature of Scripture to an exemplary case study textbook. Instead, we maintain that theological truth is given a particular angle or twist in a given historical incident. Without the historical incident, the theological truth imbedded in it will not be there or even be true. Principilization results in monotony because the uniqueness of each and every text is not caught. Interpreted atomistically, Holwerda says, "One can preach the same sermon on, e.g., Matthew 11:1-6 (the doubt of John the Baptist) and John 20:24-29 (the doubt of Thomas): Jesus Delivers from Doubt." This monotony is usually overcome by the preacher's creativity. I often hear a man who follows a "principilization" method of preaching. He is highly imaginative and creative and an outstanding communicator, but the same principles are found in many texts. His preaching assumes archetypal principles that each text illustrates or manifests. Instead, I suggest that this "least common denominator" view of theological truth give way to the particular theological truth of each text in redemptive history. The preacher's task is demanding and crucial in arriving at this central proposition and in contemporizing it to his audience. Principilization limits preaching to the theological abilities and experiential categories of the preacher. The preacher can see less or more theological truth according to his theological training or human experience. While theological and experiential training deepens a preacher's insight into the Scriptures, his first task is to find what the Scripture says. Principilization enters the exegetical study hoping to find some analogies between the early audience and recent audience. In a sense, we focus on our audience from the beginning of the preparation process. That focus, however, is not the first concern of the preacher if he desires to present an authoritative word from God. The principilization method cannot possibly do justice to the uniqueness of the text, because it first seeks some analogy between the people in the text and people today. Principilization basically deals with how to spiritually adjust to this life. I find this kind of sermon everywhere. Some call this relevant preaching. I don't discount the fact that these preachers may be very relevant, but whether their preaching has biblical warrant is the question we are addressing here. Sermons need to be faithful to the text as well as relevant. One does not and should not find relevance outside the central proposition of the text. I heard a sermon from Galatians 3:6-14 that had the following force: "God the Father is faithful, therefore, men should be faithful fathers." In this scheme, the Christian becomes the most important factor in the preaching process. Instead, the meaning of the text should be the first concern. Principilization short-circuits the interpretation process by overlooking the discontinuity between the people then and the people today. A simple equation mark is placed between the past and the present so that then equals now. Best calls this "direct transference" and soundly criticizes this method. Principilization puts the preacher in control of what he chooses to exemplify for the audience. There is no recognition of the historical gap between the early and present audiences. For example, should we require that conversions today be identical to Saul's? Should we call for the poor to give everything to the Lord (as in Luke 21)? Perhaps, the "universal principle" is that God breaks stubborn hearts (as in Paul's conversion), but there are many stubborn hearts that he does not break. Unfortunately, in principilization the preacher chooses the particulars in which the passage relates to his audience. And many of the details of the passage become of little or no use in the sermon. Principilization emphasizes the preacher (and the hearer) over the text. Principilization makes the Scripture a passive object containing information of times gone by, possessing all kinds of truths that I, the preacher, the active knower, must distill from it and that I, the preacher, must make applicable. Principilization provides for psychological exegesis even without textual warrant. There is no doubt that principilization makes the text more interesting and therefore relevant. But the issue is whether such psychologizing does justice to the text. The question is whether Scripture itself presents to us a psychological description of the people included in its historical writing. If this is not the case, then neither I (nor principilization) may picture them psychologically. Principilization spiritualizes the text. Jacob's physical struggle becomes our spiritual struggle; the physical blindness of Matthew 9 becomes our spiritual blindness. The homiletical remarks may be theologically right, but the question is if such spiritualization has anything to do with the text. Indeed, this is the allegorical method of interpreting and preaching. The historical text is treated as a concrete illustration of some moral truth found elsewhere, and if it is found elsewhere, why not preach that passage instead of this passage? Ask yourself, does this text have its own message? Principilization reduces the faith to behavioral morality. In this way, the text is said to be relevant. The assumption that every text contains exhortations for proper behavior forces the text a priori into a moral mold that may or may not suit the text. The text is approached with this question (among others): What conduct is advocated here? But suppose it is not the intent of the text to answer that question? Historical texts are particularly stubborn on this point, but if the question is put to them anyway, the answer must somehow be deduced from the conduct of the person in the text.  APPENDIX 6 HERMENEUTICAL ANALYSIS AND HOMILETICAL APPLICATION OF NARRATIVE TEXTS Narratives, whether biographical, historical, or concerning miracles, make up a large portion of Scripture. One has to use interpretive discernment and sanctified imagination in preaching them. Perhaps the fundamental maxim in preaching narratives comes from Grosheide: "See the text first as part of the whole, and secondly... take the text in and by itself." Hermeneutical Analysis of Narrative Texts In preaching narratives, the following kinds of exegetical analyses are needed. Syntactical analysis. Analyze the grammatical and syntactical cues for movements within the narrative. Movement analysis. Any change of subject, location, people, and so on indicates movement that needs to be considered in analyzing the text. Rhetorical analysis. Repetition, inclusio (when the same words are used at the beginning and end of a passage to mark it off as a unit), and chiasm should be studied. Verbal/lexical analysis. Repetition of words is a cue to take notice of the message. See my example in step 6 from Matthew 18: Forgiveness as freedom. Alter writes, "Repetition is a familiar  feature of the Bible, but it is in no way an automatic device. When does literal repetition occur, and what are the significant variations in repeated verbal formulas?" Comparative analysis. One part of the text provides oblique commentary on another by use of "narrative analogy." For example, Jacob, who deceived, is deceived by his sons. Or David, who committed adultery and murder, is unable to reprimand his family who commit rape and murder. Biblical authors were sophisticated writers employing rich narrative techniques. Design analysis. AUTHORIAL SELECTIVITY. Great weight should be given to the author/editor of the text. He was writing purposefully, intentionally, and was composing a montage. The biblical authors had their own Hebraic logic of selectivity. They wrote with great sophistication. Tzvetan Todorov proposes that modern scholars are able to declare so confidently that certain parts of the ancient text could not belong with others: the supposedly primitive narrative is subjected by scholars to tacit laws like the law of stylistic unity, of noncontradiction, of nondigressions, of nonrepetition and by these dim but purportedly universal lights is found to be composite, deficient, or incoherent. (If just these four laws were applied respectively to Ulysses, The Sound and the Fury, Tristram Shandy, and Jealousy, each of those novels would have to be relegated to the dustbin of shoddily "redacted" literary scraps). Attention to the ancient narrative's consciousness of its own operations, Todorov proposes, will reveal how irrelevant these complacently assumed criteria generally are. The problem is that we impose our own laws and definitions of literary and stylistic unity-when and where an author should or should not digress or repeat his material! AUTHORIAL INTENT OR PURPOSE. These define motives, relations, and unfolding themes. For example, Matthew intends the reader of his gospel to see Jesus as the King of Israel. Think through the impact of the crucifixion on the Roman who read the Book of Mark. AUTHORIAL UNITY. Fragmentation is one of the great problems of narrative interpretation and preaching. We must pursue continuous interaction between the piece of the narrative in a particular text and the picture in the larger text. If there are gaps (such as logical, chronological, or psychological) in the narrative, they are part of the "artwork" of the writer/editor. We cannot impose modern literary standards on them. Theological analysis. God's purposes in history are being enacted. Narratives "reveal the enactment of God's purposes in historical events." What is the story of the book, the set of books to which it belongs, the testament, and the canon itself? Not everything can be preached today: Samuel hewing Agag to pieces, Samson committing suicide, Jeremiah preaching treason. These were right deeds required by God for that dispensation. Anthropological analysis. Human nature is "caught in the powerful interplay of the double dialectic between design and disorder, providence and freedom." Witness, for example, the denials of Peter. The unique responses of individual characters to the events must be considered. Here are four axes on which biblical narratives turn: Historical/Circumstantial: a space/time event Theological: the operations of God in the space/time event Moral/Ethical: what should and should not be done in a given situation Spiritual/Psychological: truth claims for appropriation and obedience by those who hear Homiletical Application of Narrative Texts See appendix 7 for an advanced procedure in sermon construction from nonepistolary texts. Apply the proposition that is derived from the text through hermeneutical analysis. Don't attempt to apply every detail in the text, for you will depart from hermeneutical faithfulness. The only way to guard against this is to come to a faithful central proposition of the text. Probe the four analytical axes for preaching resources: points to highlight, emphasize, illustrate. Create circumstantially/ existentially analogous situations for  application, not interpretation. For example, Barnabas being asked to see Paul after Paul had been converted could apply to your meeting with a formerly evil boss after hearing of his conversion. Do not try to make application of more than the major movements of the narrative. Again, you can explain and illustrate any detail of the passage, but all details of the text cannot be made into applications. You may have heard of an interpretation and application of the story of the Good Samaritan that is famous in church history: A man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho. Jerusalem is the good city; Jericho, the evil city. When you go down from one city to another, the second city is always evil. In the last section I gave you an example of a preacher who moved from "God is a faithful Father who keeps his promises" (see Gal. 3:6-14) to "We must be faithful fathers who keep promises." This is a topical exposition on the role of the father but not an exposition of a biblical text. Why? The CPT does not yield anything concerning human fatherhood. In textual exposition, any biblically supportable truth is not necessarily a homiletically expoundable truth because it may not be a hermeneutically faithful truth. Two Examples Below I share two illustrations of preaching the same narrative- principilization versus hermeneutical/homiletical precision. I am guilty of the former (since it lends itself to "preachability"), but I intend to pursue the latter. Principilization Preaching Tips and Truths for Faith Fishing Luke 5:1-11 1. The Ministry of Jesus: Jesus preaches to multitudes of people (vv. 1-3) 1. Jesus was pressed by the multitudes on the lake (v. 1) 2. Jesus preaches to the multitudes from a boat (vv. 2-3)  2. The Miracle of Jesus: Jesus performs the miracle catch of a multitude of fish (vv. 4-10a) 1. Jesus commands Peter to cast his net (v. 4) Application: Faith-fishing tip #1: "Fish where fish are" 2. Simon responds to Jesus' command (v. 5) Application: Faith-fishing tip #2: "Fish by faith not by sight" 3. Jesus performs the miracle catch (v. 6) Application: Faith-fishing tip #3: "To fish is not to force" 4. Simon calls for help to haul the fish (v. 7) Application: Faith-fishing tip #4: "Fish together whenever possible" 5. The disciples are amazed and worship Christ (vv. 8-10a) Application: Faith-fishing tip #5: "Fishing must result in the worship of Christ" 3. The Mission of Jesus: Jesus puts Simon on a mission to catch men rather than fish (vv. 10b-11) 1. Faith-following truth #1: Jesus proposes an alternate lifestyle ("from now on") 2. Faith-following truth #2: Jesus promises a change of life ("I will") 3. Faith-following truth #3: Jesus begins a lifetime process of fishing for men ("become") 4. Faith-following truth #4: Jesus expects fishing for men to become a lifelong priority (v. 11) 5. Faith-following truth #5: Jesus' mission purpose is lifesaving (the difference in fishing for fish and fishing for men) Precision Preaching Fishing People Fishing for People Luke 5:1-11 1. The Ministry of Jesus: Jesus preaches to multitudes of people (vv. 1-3) 1. Jesus is pressed by the multitudes by the lake (v. 1) 2. Jesus preaches to the multitudes from a boat (vv. 2-3) 2. The Miracle of Jesus: Jesus performs the miracle catch of a multitude of fish (vv. 4-10a) 1. Jesus commands Peter to cast his net (v. 4) 2. Simon responds to Jesus' command (v. 5) 3. Jesus performs the miracle catch (v. 6) 4. Simon calls for help to haul the fish (v. 7) 5. The disciples are amazed and worship Christ (vv. 8-10a) 3. The Mission of Jesus: Jesus puts Simon on a mission to catch men rather than fish (vv. 10b-11) 1. A life-changing promise: Jesus promises a change of life ("I will make you") 2. A lifestyle proposition: Jesus envisions a lifestyle of following him beginning immediately ("from now on") 3. A lifetime process: Jesus develops a process of fishing for men throughout your life ("become") 4. A lifelong priority: Jesus expects fishing for men to become a lifelong priority (v. 11-they left everything and followed him)  Now, why should I choose "precision preaching" over "principilization of the details" even though the former is as preachable (or even more so) than the other? For this passage, I have two reasons. The first is because of the emphasis of the narrative. The climax feature of the narrative passage (known from hermeneutical analysis) is seen in verses 10b-11. We have to capture the climax in our sermon. The second reason is that I had to think through what exactly the passage was describing and what it was prescribing. This distinction between prescription and description is critical. I cannot make principles or truths out of descriptions unless there is a sound exegetical case for them. If you are prone to make principles for your preaching, ask yourself about the exegetical grounding of those prescriptions. Otherwise, your sermon makes the Bible just the original, moralistic "instruction book" comparable to other wisdom literature of the ages. The basic point is that each text has its peculiar proposition (or you can use the word principle if you mean it in the sense of proposition). The narrative passage is not simply an illustration but the actual embodiment of the theological truth. There is no pool of set, archetypal truths from which all passages draw their justification.  APPENDIX 7 CENTRAL PROPOSITIONS An Advanced Procedure Here is a more advanced procedure to shape the central propositions of text and sermon for preaching. Our core method is a two-sided method linking the text side (steps 1-3) to the sermon side (steps 5-7) by the purpose bridge (step 4). A faithful and relevant sermon can be hewn by following the seven steps of the manual. However, you will find these extra processes useful especially when you have to preach from nonepistolary literature. In this procedure, the central proposition of the text (step 3) and the central proposition of the sermon (step 5) are divided into two phases each. These subphases will better accomplish faithfulness, translatability, transferability, and application of the text. I. The Central Proposition of the Text A. The Central Proposition of the Text (CPT). As you know, the central proposition of the text (step 3) derives from the structure of the text (step 2). We may also call the CPT the exegetical proposition, for the CPT is derived from exegesis. In nonepistolary literature, an additional step needs to be introduced. Nonepistolary texts, such as biography, history, prophecy, or poetry show a marked literary phenomenon. They are highly "occasioned" writings, historically and theologically. While all biblical writing is "occasioned," nonepistolary Scripture maintains some historical and theological distance from us. Consequently, the exegetical proposition or the CPT will be even more controlled by the occasion the author addresses. The New Testament Epistles do distance themselves from us historically and culturally, but we inherit our theological identity by direct lineage from the early church. Since Old Testament and some Gospel biography, history, prophecy, and poetry writing relates to uniquely placed (pre-Pentecost) persons, events, and experiences, the text must be probed for its theological profit (not homiletical yet!) by interpretation and implication. Here is the extra step. Before going to the purpose bridge (step 4), do an expositional proposition for the text side. B. The Expositional Proposition of the Text (EPT). This proposition is a theological move, taking into account the long-range focus and profit of the text. This procedure is based on the premise that God was not talking only to the original audience but also to later audiences within and outside the biblical text (Rom. 15:4; 1 Cor. 10:11; 2 Tim. 3:16; 1 Peter 1:12). The EPT must answer two critical questions. The first key question is, What is God saying in the central proposition of the text to subsequent believers that he was saying to the original audience? To answer this question you consider the rhetorical strategy and purpose of the biblical author in providing a theological connection to later readers. A broad framework for this study depends on the constants of all time as imbedded in Scripture. Consider the four axes on which biblical narratives turn (see appendix 6, Hermeneutical Analysis and Homiletical Application of Narrative Texts, and the links mentioned on page 114) and look for the following motifs: 1. Motifs that reflect the nature of God, man, sin, evil, salvation, morality, Satan, the future, and so on. These are never changed in redemptive history. 2. Motifs that exhibit the created order, e.g., marriage. These are God's pristine preferences for all of history. 3. Motifs that transcend culture and time, e.g., homosexuality. These are not limited by geography, culture, or period. 4. Motifs that reflect individual or corporate spirituality, e.g., God's expectations in the Old Testament of the individual Israelite, of national Israel, of non-Israelite individuals and nations and in the New Testament of the individual Christian, of the local church, of the universal church,  and of pagan nations. 5. Motifs that are repeated by words or events in Scripture, e.g., "God opposes the proud" (Prov. 16:16; James 4:6; 1 Peter 5:5) is found in Genesis 11:1-9, the Tower of Babel; in Isaiah 14:4-23, the oracle against the king of Babylon; and in Mark 14:27-72, Peter's denial. Remember that some propositions cannot be applied to new audiences in the same way they applied to the first audience that heard them. This happens especially with Old Testament texts. Many passages are directly related to the theocracy of Israel, the Law, and the Old Testament covenants. For example, in Psalm 2:8, the anointed Son may ask for the nations as his inheritance. The EPT does not relate this verse to believers asking the Lord for the nations as their inheritance. Recall the first compatibility question from the purpose bridge (step 4)-the author's purpose. Otherwise, you will ambitiously place yourself in the place of the anointed Son and ask for property rights in every nation of the world without hermeneutical warrant! Instead, the EPT should be in keeping with how Christians should read Psalm 2:8: Jesus, as the anointed Son, is gifted with a worldwide inheritance. Note that this statement is processed through a New Testament theology of the anointed Son. You can take this expositional proposition of the text and pursue the purpose bridge. The EPT must also answer another critical question: In what sense is this proposition unique to this text in what it proposes? If your expositional proposition is not unique in some way to this passage, it has compromised the content and the authority of this text. That is, "God opposes the proud" is not unique or specific enough for the passages that reflect it. Each of these texts gives a particular twist to that motif. For example, a unique kind of human pride and a particular kind of divine judgment are related in Genesis 11:1-9. Your EPT must not be a generic proposition abstracted, but a unique proposition specified. It is that particular, textual uniqueness that makes possible the next step of sermon preparation, the purpose bridge. The reason for this extra exercise is to eventually facilitate a theological connection between the early audience and your audience. It also provides the resources for preaching without compromising the CPT. Here are some cautions in this process. Do not dehistoricize the text so that it is ambiguous. Do not deconstruct the text so that it is meaningless.  Do not simply introduce a functional or dynamic equivalent of the parts of the CPT at this juncture of sermon preparation. Do not merely extract a moral principle from the CPT and work it into a generic proposition. Do not simply abstract a moral principle from the CPT for preaching (read about this danger in appendix 5). The text is not just a case study or illustration of a timeless principle. It carries a proposition in itself that is unique in what it proposes. Here is an example from Psalm 2 of moving from the CPT to the EPT. CPT of Psalm 2 Theme: Since the King of heaven has installed his Davidic Son on the earth in Zion and declared his right to international rule, Thrust: the rebellious kings of the earth must worshipfully submit to this ultimate King of the earth. We know that the New Testament writers used Psalm 2 to point to Jesus as the ultimate King of the earth. So we can remove theocratic, Israel-related terms such as the Davidic Son and Zion and incorporate a theological interpretation from the New Testament. The rest of the EPT will reflect the CPT and remain intact, for this is how later believers understood the claims of Psalm 2. EPT of Psalm 2 Theme: Since the King of heaven has installed and declared Jesus as the ultimate ruler of the nations, Thrust: the kings of the earth must worshipfully submit to him. Now your purpose bridge (step 4) can be drawn from this unique, text- particular, expositional proposition.