My Homiletic Swimming Pool, Timothy Tow - Online Christian Library

Chapter III
On Preparing a Sermon
To prepare a sermon one is all at sea until one has hit on a theme
and an appropriate text. Can you state what is your sermon about?
You must be able to put it in one sentence. Without a theme, you will
fumble around when you preach. You will reel to and fro like a
drunken man. Did I hear you retort, “With the help of the Holy Spirit,
I will open my mouth and preach”. If you do that without serious
preparation, He will fill your mouth with sand.
Suppose you take your text from what is known as the Great
Commission, Matt 28:18-20. In view of the fact that the Great
Commission is far from accomplished after 2000 years, you can
preach it from the angle of “The Great Commission is an Unfinished
Commission”. The sermon can easily be divided into 4 parts:
1. Go, the Missions Emphasis
2. Teach (Evangelise), the Evangelism Emphasis
3. Baptise, the Church Planting Emphasis
4. Teach (Indoctrinate), the Full Indoctrination Emphasis
To preach it powerfully, it is discovered that there are four forms
of support for effective speech: (1) Statement, (2) Restatement, (3)
Illustration, (4) Testimony. The Statement is your text. The
Restatement, which is the most important part, is the title of your
message, your theme, in this case, “The Great Commission is an
Unfinished Commission”. Illustrations are like windows letting in
the light to brighten up. Paul Lee Tan in his 15,000 Illustrations says,
“Everyone appreciates a good illustration. The right illustration at the
On Preparing a Sermon
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