Last Minute Sermon Idea…Look at the Text Differently
Author: Sherman Haywood Cox II (587 Articles)
Sherman Haywood Cox II is the director of Soul Preaching. He holds the M.Div with an emphasis in Homiletics and a M.S. in Computer Science.
Ok…It is late and you need a sermon. You look at the text and you only see what you always see. What can you do? A simple tip provided by Charles Koller in the book How to Preach Without Notes might help.
Different Angles
The key is to look at the same text from many different angles. Koller says to approach the text from the reader’s standpoint. Here we find the more obvious points.
Then look at the text from the standpoint of each person or group involved in the text. Koller asks, “What does the passage reveal to each or about each? What does each one say, or do, or think, or purpose, or learn, or discover, or experience.”
Example
Koller uses Acts 7 to illustration the approach. He writes, “From the standpoint of Stephen, he bore the marks of a good witness…From the standpoint of those who stoned Stephen: Different grievous sins are committed by those who have a form of Godliness…From the standpoint of Israel: Neglect of spiritual opportunities…leads to departure from God in 3 stages…From the standpoint of God: There are Obstacles which the grace of God will overcome to bring Salvation.”
Conclusions
As you can see, looking at the text from very different perspectives can open up the text to multiple sermons you may not have considered.
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