What I Would Do Differently
John 15:5 Key Point: The corrective always flows through Christ
2. WHERE does He require it of me?
• Building proper relationships (with God, family, friends, coworkers, church people, etc.)
• Reconciling conflicts (in marriage, family, work, church, etc.)
• Handling difficult situations (stress, debt, unemployment, grief, fatigue, etc.)
• Overcoming weakness and sin (dishonesty, anger, addiction, lust, doubt, lack of discipline, etc.)
• Lack or improper use of resources (time, treasures, talents, etc.)
• Meeting challenges and using opportunities (education, work in or out of church, witnessing, missions, etc.)
• Taking responsibility (home, church, work, finances, future, etc.)
• Honoring God (worship, confession, prayer, devotions, not compartmentalizing life, etc.)
• Concern for social/ world problems (poverty, racism, abortion, education, injustice, war, etc.)
3. WHY must I do what he requires?
Three Options for Motivating Change
• Guilt – you’ve disappointed him, me, and others
• Greed – you’ll get what you want
• Grace – look at how much he loves you.
Grace makes true obedience possible because a thankful response to unearned merit is motivated more by love for God than by love for self.101
Bryan Chapell
4. HOW can I do what God requires?
I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.
John 15:5
Believe differently – trust him more deeply Behave differently – follow him more obediently Behold differently – see him more clearly
And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. 2 For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3 And I was with you in
weakness and in fear and much trembling, 4 and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,
5 so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.
1 Corinthians 2:1-5
A Logical Syllogism
Life change can only happen with God’s power.
My people must experience life-change.
Therefore, my people are entirely reliant upon God’s power to produce life-change.
“The power to do what God requires resides in God.”102 Bryan Chapell
Remember that sound explanation requires good scholarship. Solid application requires deep spirituality.103
Introductions and Conclusions Introductions
“Heads are neither open nor hollow. Heads have lids, screwed on tightly, and no amount of pouring can force ideas inside. Minds open only when their owners sense a need to open them.”104
Haddon Robinson
102 Chapell, Christ-Centered Preaching, 221.
103 Chapell, Christ-Centered Preaching, 228.
104 Haddon W. Robinson, “Listening to the Listeners,” in Changing Lives Through Preaching and Worship: 30 Strategies for Powerful Communication, ed. Marshall Shelley, Library of Christian Leadership (Nashville: Moorings, 1995), 38.
Good Introductions will…
gather attention uncover needs
be personal (why should I listen?) link to Scripture
introduce your Message, and Your Outline lead to prayer
Your first sentences really do matter. Try to memorize them.
O’Neil’s Law: “Always grab the reader by the throat in the first paragraph, sink your thumbs into his windpipe in the second, and hold him against the wall until the tag line.”105
“A truly evangelical sermon must be like offering a child a fine red apple or offering a thirsty man a cool glass of water and then saying: Do you want it?”106
Conclusions
• Conclusions recap
• Conclusions call for action
• Conclusions bring to a climax
• Conclusions stay positive!
• Conclusions end
Other Helpful Tactical pieces for Your Lesson
Repetition
105 Robinson, Biblical Preaching, 122.
106 Metaxas, Bonhoeffer, 272.
Transitions
“Commercials”
Short regathering statements, that recapture the attention of your class quick slide that arrests thought
“is everyone tracking with me?”
“questions?”
“remember where we are on the map”
“here’s what that could look like…”
Humor
Wisdom, wisdom, and wisdom
• A lesson is not something to entertain
• Humor is helpful when regathering attention, but it can also scatter attention
• What you may find funny, actually isn’t funny for most people.
• Self-deprecating humor works well on many levels
A Final Word
And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. 2 For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3 And I was with you in
weakness and in fear and much trembling, 4 and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,
5 so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.
1 Corinthians 2:1-5
Summarize
Reiterate
Point
Class #7 - Homework For your passage:
• Continue the process of putting meat on the bones by illustrating, and by applying
• Check that your transitions are nice and tidy.
• Watch for opportunities to reiterate big truths.
Week #8 - Final Words
Introduction and Review
Step 1 How do I start?
Step 2 What kind of writing is this?
Step 3 How are the words being used?
Step 4 How do the words fit together?
Step 5 What is the historical context of this passage?
Step 6 What is the literary context of this passage?
Step 7 What theological elements need consideration?
Step 8 What does it mean?
Step 9 What is the timeless principle?
Step 10 What is the Message for my people?
Step 11 How should I outline my passage?
Step 12 How should I illustrate my lesson?
Step 13 How should I apply my lesson?
Step 14 How should I begin and end my lesson?
But here’s the thing…
Key: The amount of information retained by students declines substantially after
ten minutes.107
107 E. J. Thomas, “The Variation of Memory with Time for Information Appearing during a Lecture,” Studies in Adult Education 4, no. 1 (April 1972): 57-62.
SAYING IT WELL GETTING
IT RIGHT
ORIGINAL MEANING
ORIGINAL MESSAGE
Learning in any class is actually accomplished within three spheres:
1. With the teacher and the lesson 2. Among the students
3. With the individual
Key: Adults learn best when they are fully engaged in the process.
Active Learning & Maximizing the Lesson
Active Learning “instructional activities involving students in doing things and thinking about what they are doing.”108
In a nutshell: Get them to do what they are thinking about Some Benefits of Active Learning109
• It reinforces what is taught.
• It forces involvement away from passive listening.
• It enables immediate feedback to the students.
• It provides students with an opportunity to think about, talk about, and process course material.
• It cultivates community with the other students and teacher.
• It drives the content into higher order learning.
108 Charles C. Bonwell and James A. Eison, Active Learning: Creating Excitement in the Classroom, ASHE-ERIC Higher Education Report 1 (Washington, DC: School of Education and Human Development, George Washington University, 1991), 1.
109 Adapted in part from “Active Learning,” Cornell University Center for Teaching Innovation, accessed November 24, 2020, https://teaching.cornell.edu/teaching-resources/engaging- students/active-learning.
So Why Don’t We Practice It More?
• But, I’ve got a ton of content to cover
• But, how do you do that?
• But, how does it work with a class my size?
• But what if the students …don’t participate enough?
…learn enough?
…hate it?
• But, what if I …lose control?
…don’t have what it takes?
…am seen as a kook?
The Art of Asking Great Questions110 Karen Lee-Thorp
1. Remember you want discussion, not rapid-fire quiz time
What five key features of the sanctified mind does Paul describe in Romans 8?
2. Don’t ask questions that corner your people
Does this passage make you feel angry or glad?
3. Ask one question at a time please!
How does the lack of forgiveness affect the one who has done harm, the one who has been harmed, and each person’s relationship with God?
4. Make your questions accessible for everyone
In 1 Corinthians 7, how does Paul apply an eschatological hermeneutic to our process of decision-making about relationships?
5. Say what you mean
What does Pilate say when Jesus starts talking about truth?
6. Be direct
Why does it not make sense to not rely on the Spirit of God rather than on the flesh?
110 These are adapted from Karen Lee-Thorp, How to Ask Great Questions: Guide Discussion, Build Relationships, Deepen Faith (Colorado Springs: NavPress, 1998).
7. Don’t ask closed questions
Do you identify with the disciples in this passage?
8. Get you class to chat about answers 9. Watch the details
10. Don’t lose sight of the big picture
A General Pattern for Questions
“Canary” questions – to bring out everyone to play
• Have you ever been in a situation like the one we’ve read about?
• Coming into this lesson, how did feel knowing we would look at this passage?
• Have you ever had a conversation wherein you were confused by the person you to whom you were talking?
• What has been one of the best compliments you have received as an adult?
• What does Easter mean to you personally?
• Ten years from now, what are three words that you hope people will be able to use to describe you?
Observation Questions – to see what’s actually happening
• Who are the main characters in this story?
• What are the key words and phrases in this passage?
• Where does the action take place?
• What significant words stuck out to you in this passage?
• What word, if any, didn’t make sense?
• What are the most important words and phrases in the passage?
• What are the main events?
• What action verbs are used?
Interpretation Questions – to understand what’s being said
• What do you think is Paul’s point in verses 6-10?
• In what ways does David act differently than we’ve seen Saul act?
• What does Paul mean by resurrection? How does he explain it in this passage?
• What point is Jesus making in the parable of the mustard seed?
• What do you like about Zacchaeus? What don’t you like?
• What aspects of God’s personality does this story reveal?
Feeling Questions – to draw the heart to the text
• How would you have felt if you had been this woman?