week 3

· Use the subject/modifier from Text Idea exercise.

· Note specific differences in Text and Sermon ideas.

· Test each statement for consistency with others.

· Do not change subject and modifier in the process.

· Identify historical elements in the original writing.

· Scan the text verse-by-verse for predicates.

Identify the text subject in one word. This answers the question, What is the text writer talking about?

Gospel

Identify the modifier to your subject in one word. This answers the question, How does the text writer limit the scope of his treatment of the subject?

advancing

Using some form of the subject/modifier words, write a working title for your emerging sermon.

Advancing the gospel

Identify elements of the historical setting of the original writing of the text:

· Writer, speaker or key character: Paul

· Secondary character, hearers or readers: The church at Philippi; the church in general

· Tone or purpose of text: Serious but joyful. It was intended to encourage and inspire

· Occasion, situation, or circumstances: Paul was writing from his imprisonment in Rome. His imprisonment was because of Christ but it also led to the advance of the gospel

· Literary features, genres, figurative language: informal letter. Paul spoke of both being in chains and finding joy in his situation.

Write the text idea statement using the subject and modifier, plus elements of the original writing of the text. Even in the worst of times and in the worst situations, the gospel could and would be advanced and Christ would be preached.

Write the sermon idea by adopting the wording of the textual idea. Omit the historical trappings and make it a present-tense statement of a universal theological principle. Make sure it contains the subject/modifier. The main thing is to keep the main the main thing, and the main thing is advancing the gospel, regardless of what is going on around us or what is happening to us.

Write a purpose statement for the sermon with what you would like to see in response to the ideas of the text.

It’s not about the right time, the ideal situation, or the right circumstances. It’s not the job of only the pastor, the evangelists, or a few church leaders. It’s about the whole church responding to the leading of the Holy Spirit, sensing the urgency of the moment, and determining to share the gospel with a lost and hurting world.