How I Prepare My Sermons

Real Life presents the Jack Hibbs podcast with intention and boldness to proclaim truth, equip the saints, and impact our culture. Hey you guys I'm often asked how do I study the Bible? Well listen this time that we have won't allow for all of us to get into all of it, but let's try. Let's see about studying the Bible. You can get the outlines of this podcast by going to jackhibbs.com slash podcast. Today if this podcast lifts you up and encourages you to live a more fulfilled life in Christ, then make sure you leave us one of those five star ratings. To us that's like saying amen or yes, then that rating will encourage others to listen. Now open your hearts to what God's word has to say to you. Here is Jack Hibbs. Hey everybody this is going to be a quick podcast for a lot of reasons and by the way if you start to hear some strange sounds it's because we're expanding here and there's a company working behind this wall. It's not my stomach. It's contractors working. So I have been asked many times and I'm grateful for the question, but this has really got me going because I've heard more recently. How do you prepare your sermons? Do you download them somewhere? Do you buy them from like pastor.com or sermon.com? Okay that is so offensive I have to address it, but I have to do it quickly because I have a limited time. So first of all friends listen up. In second Timothy chapter 2 verse 15 says be diligent to present yourself approved to God a worker who does not need to be ashamed. Here's the reason why rightly dividing the word of truth. Bible study in this particular sense sermon preparation. I know that I'm going to be speaking to a lot of people who could care less, but there might be one or two of you who would want to know these things and I got to tell you upfront right now of course I'm 60 almost 68 years old. That makes me a dinosaur. I get it, but but I'm not done. I have read the I've read the ancients. I have read the moderns and regarding all of that we need to understand something regarding sermon preparation, delivering of a message. How does this happen? So number one, watch this. I'm going to put, they don't know what I'm about to do. You guys, we're doing this together right now. This is not rehearsed. So hey you guys, somebody give me a verse just a Bible verse. John 3, 16. Okay, unrehearsed John 3, 16. So watch this. How would we preach a sermon out of John 3, 16? Do I have an extensive library? Yes, I do. I do not go there first. For sermon preparation, I do not go to my my commentaries first. If you're taking notes, I go to my commentaries last. Number one, John 3, 16. Okay, so for God, so love the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever would believe on him would not perish but have everlasting life. What would I do regarding a sermon prep on this? Listen, I'm going to tell you what I would do by first telling you what I cannot do. In this modern age, this is what I cannot do. God does not allow me to read a commentary first. Even though that commentary might be 600 years old, I can't read it first. He will not let me read it first. Number two, I will not. I cannot use AI. God forbids it in my life. I will never use it. I cannot use it. And there's reasons why. And maybe I can hit on that on this podcast or maybe in follow up podcast. But let's look at it this way. How would you preach a sermon on John 3, 16? For God so loved. Right there, I would start to look at first of all, John 3, 16. Where does it come out of? John chapter three. I would make sure that I read John chapter three, verse one all the way up to verse 15. And then I would pick it up again in verse 17 and read all the way to the end of the chapter. And I would see the context of where John 3, 16 is. What is being said in the volume of the chapter? Very important. When I look at this for God so love the world, I know this. I'm going to look at the meaning and the original Greek language. And for this, you can look at you can use Greek lexicon you can use concordances that will many, many concordances will have the definition of the Greek and or Hebrew or Aramaic words. I would possibly use technology for that meaning what? You can go to great Bible programs like logos or accordance. And you could look up the the strong's Greek word or Hebrew word for. Right? The word for ever. And I find out, for example, it can also mean the word because. So I'm beginning to dissect this word. I'm going to learn about the word for for God. God, I get to understand who God is. I don't need to I'm not focused on that right now for God so love the world. Interesting. Is the word so in the original language? Is it something that is an elaboration in the English because the English lax technicolor compared to the Greek and the Hebrew? Is the words? What does the word so mean? Is it a word that is meaningful to the Bible study and unpacking this verse? I'm going to look up the words so if it applies or not, I have to discover this. For God so loved, loved, which word for loved is God using here? And so you see what I'm doing? The first thing that I do is I unpack the the original actual meaning of the words and I get them written down on a piece of paper. This is what the meaning for God so loved the world, the world. Wait a minute. Some people have told me that for God so loved the elect, I know only the elect that he gave his only begotten son for them. Well, guess what? They're wrong because when I go to look up the word world, it is the fact that Jesus Christ died for the entire world. All those who have ever lived from Adam to the last person that can be redeemed Jesus died for them. If they accept the gospel message or not, he died for them. In fact, that's why Hell is punishable by forever is because what he paid the price for them to be in heaven, they reject the penalty of such a rejection of such a perfect offering, warrants and is justifiable for them to be in hell forever. Wow. So as I begin to unpack the words, I start looking at the meaning of these words that stand out to me. Now somebody else might be praying as sermon and they're looking at John 316 and words might appear to them to be more meaningful than I've viewed them or not at all. They really double down on this particular word. It doesn't matter. Why doesn't it matter? Listen, because I, you in sermon preparation, we are yielded to the Holy Spirit. Why? Because he's the author of the Bible. The Bible tells us that the Holy Spirit breathed through and into the prophets and that all scripture is given by inspiration of God and it is breathed out by God. That's why the Bible is without error, folks. Listen, people can say what they want. They still can't find a problem with the Bible. I mean, there are lots of problems with the Bible. Sorry, they still can't find a flaw with the Bible and they're not gonna. This is what's fun. So as you begin to look at this stuff, you start to build a foundation. Watch what happens to me. So as I'm looking at these words and the meaning of these words, what is black and white starts to take on. I use the word a moment ago. Technicolor. It begins to become very colorful. Wow. That word forb means because on behalf of the reason is salvation is for this reason. God loved you and gifted begotten. For God so loved the world that he gave us his only begotten son begotten. What's the big deal about begotten? Well, does that make Jesus less than God? No, the exact opposite. It makes him equal with God. God gifted his one and only. So when you begin to get the meanings to the words, what happens is you begin to get, and I'm scribbling right now because of time's sake, but you begin to look like this. And for those of you who happen to tune into our messages, you'll see how this structure happens. So my first thought off the top of my head is for God so loved the world. Okay. Point number one. Point number one. The magnitude of God's love. That's point number one. The magnitude of God's love. That's what it's telling me. And that the magnitude of God's love is seen argument, magnitude of God's love. To substantiate that claim, I understand this, the magnitude of God's love is displayed that God is the originator of salvation for God because of God on account of God. Are you tracking with me? This now is one a to point number one. One a to substantiate the point is the magnitude of God and that salvation originates with him. For salvation to originate with him, salvation number two would be salvation comes through his son. I would write that down here. So what I'm doing is I'm building a skeleton. Think of a human skeleton. The title of the message is the head. And for me, the title of the message, the head, the title of the message happens to be the theme. It's always for me. In my particular sermon preparation, the title of the message is always the theme in relation to the verses I'm going to be covering. Now I just asked these guys to give me a verse. I could have said, give me four verses that are consecutive behind one another in the scriptures. There was still would have been a theme if it's one verse or a hundred verses. It's irrelevant. I've got the theme. Okay. And now I begin to substantiate the claim of number one point one. And the third thing is for God so love the world, the third thing would be the scope of his love. The scope of his love. Here's what gets to be fun. In sermon prep, for me, and you guys, everyone's different, but I would recommend you to go to YouTube and look up Howard Hendrix, a DTS Dallas Theological Seminary video series by Howard Hendrix. I found him several years ago. He's great, but he approaches it his way. I approach it my way. I have found you have found that everybody who studies the word of God approaches it their own way. That's why you can give two teachers, Bible pastor teachers, two pastors, the exact same verse to teach on. And you'll hear two completely different sermons that complement one another. Why? Because the Holy Spirit's the author of both sermons. If the word of God is consulted to be taught on, the exegesis is something that we can learn about some other day, but it ensures accuracy of the scripture. What is being said? What is being communicated? So I'm going to kind of make my page a little zoomed in, so to speak. From here, for example, that the magnitude of his love, I would now begin to look up verses in scripture about the magnitude of his love. Enough the top of my head. Remember, this is we're making a separate now in real time as we're sitting here. This is not rehearsed. So the magnitude of his love, I immediately go to the book of first John. So that means I'm going to read first John, chapters one, two, and three, four. I'm going to read maybe even second John. We'll see. But I'm going to read first John. I'm also absolutely under this particular subheading subpoint. I'm absolutely going to go to Jeremiah. I'm going to start in Jeremiah around chapter 31 and I'm going to read to chapter 33. Why? Because I'm going to get the full understanding of I have loved you with the never-lasting love therefore with loving kindness. Have I drawn you? Isn't that wonderful? So as I teach this sermon, I would be saying in the sermon regarding the magnitude of his love that this is how steadfast his love is. This is how reliable it is. The magnitude of his love is so, so vast and powerful that he's the one who even says in Jeremiah, I have drawn you. I have pulled you to me. I won't break your arm. I won't bend. I won't bend your knee. I'm not going to bend your neck. But I will pull you to me. I've loved you so much. I'm pulling you to me. See, what do you get all this from? Well, go look at what Jeremiah has to say and you'll begin to discover the wealth and the power of God's love, the magnitude of his love, which is here's another thing. That word in Greek is the word seismos where we get the word seismology. We're here for us in Southern California. It's almost a daily routine where we have earthquakes happening from 2.0 to 4.0 and Californians don't even bet an eye. Why? Because we're used to it. And so we need to be used to it this way that the the word of God has and should have a seismic effect upon your life. It should shake you. It should get your attention because God is given his word that way. Now, listen, this is very, very important. I want to do all of this. And for me, this is just me. For me to do a Sunday, I don't know why it's this way you guys. I can't explain it. It's just the way it happened in my life. For me to preach and teach one hour on Sunday. Okay, one hour, one hour, a sermon. That's one hours, one hour in length for me. That is anywhere from 15 to 20 hours of study. And what does that mean? Study. Well, study means prayer time, which I'll try to tell you this if we have the time. Prayer time, Bible time, structure time, what we're doing right now, structure time, build a skeleton. And then what I just would term as meat, I've got my skeleton, now it's time to get meat on them. So as I begin to develop this for Sunday, it takes me, it takes me 15 to 20 hours for a Sunday, one hour. This sounds bizarre, but so for me on Wednesdays, because I teach another hour long sermon on Wednesdays from a, from a completely different book of the Bible. Because I actually work constantly, I, all the time, I do all kinds of other things. Um, I get up very early on Wednesdays and I study all day Wednesdays. Uh, and then I usually end some time around four, four 30. I tried to, uh, have it all done. And then I teach that message that, that night. So let's just say, uh, it can vary depending upon the day, but let's say six to eight hours or maybe even maybe eight to 10 hours. People see how that goes for a Wednesday. Um, but for me, when it's, when I'm, when I'm almost all done, uh, then I read commentaries. See, what are, what are commentaries? Commentaries are written by great scholars. Well, they should be great. You have to be careful. The commentaries you pick, it's not easy. I thank God that I've been spoiled, rotten, growing up because I had, I had the input that men of God told me, uh, look, I'm blessed, man, I had Pastor Chuck Smith tell me to read these books and avoid those other books. I had Dr. David Hawking tell me the same. Dr. Tim Lahey, Dr. Ed Heinzon, Thomas Ice, um, these people have made a major impact in my life. And they've told me what to study and what not to study. Uh, look for this, look out for the other, okay? That kind of stuff. So having said that, I read the commentators last, the commentaries last, because I want to listen, please don't mess this up. What am I doing? I'm verifying that what I heard from the Lord is actually from the Lord. I get confirmation. And what I'm about to say is going to sound arrogant, but it's anything but that it's actually terrifying. What are we about to say? When I have put together a message that I've prayed, read the Word of God and used the Bible to interpret the Bible and God speaks to my heart and I write down the thoughts that flow. So that now this is the sermon and it's 80% complete. I'll explain the 10, the 20% in a moment. I go to the commentaries and most, almost always of the time, what God has given me is richer and deeper than what the commentators have given. That sounds arrogant, but it's not. Here's the punch. It's the Lord speaking to the 21st century generation of first service, second or third service on Sundays that he wants to say to them in real time today. He's the same Holy Spirit, but I can have the confidence because when I've read what they've written, it's awesome. It's just that what God has given me is on fire on my heart. I can't wait to get it out. It's got me excited and it's got me changed. It's got me thrilled. That's why I would never preach another man's sermon. This is one reporter's opinion, but I believe it is absolutely wrong to download someone else's sermon and you attempt to preach it or teach it. I think that is a horrible thing. I don't mean to hurt your feelings or offend you, but I think if people are doing that, you need to go sell shoes and the mall. You need to quit now. You need to get out of the Bible teaching world because if God doesn't give you the sermon to deliver to His people, then you're in the way. If you think that you can go to pastor.com or sermon.com and print out the PDF and put it in your binder and teach it, oh my gosh, I think God would strike me dead. I think God would kill me. There's no way. Listen, the Lord won't even allow me to teach a sermon that I delivered three years ago. He won't even let me renew it. He won't even let me use it. Now, this is my conviction. This is how God works in my life. This has been a 30,000 foot overview, but here's the thing. The last thing I do to finalize the message. I'll give you this example real fast. The day and the life of Jack on a Sunday morning, it starts anywhere between two to three a.m. on a Sunday morning and I have 30 to 40 pages of notes that I've taken. And from two to three a.m. to five thirty a.m., I'm going through those notes and this is how here, this is what happens on point one. This is the verse. This makes no sense to me. What was I thinking? This was on Friday. What was I thinking? Throw it away. That goes out. All that to say, by service time, I have 10 pages of notes. It's all reduced. So I throw away two thirds of it off. I go and I let God do the teaching through me and the fun part is many times I'm learning as my mouth is moving. I'm actually learning from him at the exact same time. Listen, sorry, I got to go right now out of time. Maybe we can pick this up some other time. You could let me know if this was any way valuable to you, please. If you respond, then I'll follow up and do one later, okay? So God bless you guys until next time. This Jack Hibbs podcast as well as all the broadcast outreach opportunities are listener supported. Will you consider partnering with us through a special gift? Go to jackhibbs.com to learn more and stay connected.