For many years I have been able to verify that most homiletic manuals do not deal with the subject of drafting the outline and its use. The emphasis is mostly on how the message should be delivered through the sermon. These authors speak of the mechanics of homiletics. They take it for granted that readers need only know that a sermon in their plan has divisions and subdivisions. Of the homiletics books, the one that considers the elaboration of the outline the most is “Manual de Homiletics” written by the prolific author Dr. Samuel Vila. The aforementioned author suggests a homiletical interpretation of the biblical text or texts that has influenced my homiletical position. I personally highly recommend this book to anyone who is in love with the task of preaching. It is a homiletic gem.
- The need for the sketch
Between the introduction and the conclusion as a dilemma we find the body of the sermon, the skeleton, the framework, the outline or clauses that will help the preacher to stay on his topic and communicate in an organized way.
It is not enough to have a series of good thoughts in a sermon if they are not interspersed and in succession to the development of the matter. When these thoughts are organized according to the biblical passage or the subject, the outline is born of course. The outline is twofold: First, a simple outline is made with the divisions or main ideas (see page 97). Second, an already elaborated sketch is made with the subdivisions. Therefore the outline is nothing other than the divisions suggested by a biblical passage or issue.
Every outline consists of main divisions and subdivisions. The main divisions are like three avenues that converge at the same point. Subdivisions are like streets that end at the same avenue.
Major divisions should be spelled out with Roman numerals and should be read or pronounced as: first, second, third, or first, second. The subdivisions are identified by numbers (1, 2, 3, etc.). The subdivisions of the subdivisions carry letters (a, b, c, etc.). It is recommended that as far as possible the preacher should avoid having subdivisions of subdivisions. The outline should be limited mainly to the divisions (I, II, III, etc.) and the subdivisions (1, 2, 3, etc.).
There are simple outlines that only remind the preacher of three main points, although they can be less or more. Those who preach without written notes usually sketch out the main ideas and illustrations in their minds. Later I will be more specific about the sketches. I now wish to consider the necessity of the outline. Why do you need an outline to preach? What are the advantages of it? Does the outline help listeners? Can the Lord or the Holy Spirit use a preacher who preaches with an outline? I hope to answer these questions or others that the reader may ask in the following paragraphs.
First: The outline helps the preacher to communicate the sermon in an organized and sequential manner.The only way to be able to organize your thoughts more effectively is to write them down. Without an outline our ideas lose sequence and organization. Very few preachers are gifted with the privileged ability to deliver a homiletical sermon without the aid of notes. There is a difference to me between ordinary preaching and homiletical preaching. In the first you shoot without aim, in the second you shoot with a lot of aim.
I have heard many preachers say, “I don’t like to preach with an outline.” The reality is that they do not know how to make sketches, or that they do not take the. due time to prepare an outline, or who do not know how to use an outline. The major work in preparing a sermon is in the making of the outline. To preach a sermon on a biblical passage with superficial thoughts, the most a preacher needs is half an hour. Making a sketch requires tremendous discipline, a lot of work and many hours of investment. I challenge anyone who doesn’t believe in using outlines to learn how to prepare them, learn how to use them, and dare not preach without first spending no less than four hours crafting the sermon.
The lack of organization in the preaching is due precisely to the carelessness of the preachers in not wanting to outline thoughts that the Holy Spirit has enlightened them to preach. Today we meet with various kinds of preachers, who by their lack of using outlines bore the audience.
- The “lost” preacher
These are the ones who, from the time they announce the title or topic of the sermon until the end, have been lost. They themselves do not know what they have preached. His preaching, instead of being three or four coherent points, is twenty or more points without coherence.
- The “praise” preacher
In preaching the most he does is preach these three points: I. Glory to God! II. Amen! and III. Hallelujah! The least he does is preach from the text he has quoted, comment on it, and apply it. By not using outlines he resorts to praises to fill in his sermon. The reason is that he never prepared himself to preach.
- The “experience” preacher
The content of his sermons is his experiences. We do not diminish the value of the experiences of the preacher in the task of preaching. But God has not called us to preach our experiences but to preach his Word. Many sermons are no more than applause that the same preacher is giving himself.
- The “visionary” preacher
Although he cites a biblical passage, he gives the sermon a title. He preaches not from what God is revealing in the Word, but from what in his ecstatic experience he sees in the congregation. He spends his preaching time carrying isolated messages to different people. I do not want the reader to get the impression that he rejects God’s use of a servant of his by revealing someone’s need. But this is the exception and not the rule in preaching. God, through preaching and through the servant he is preaching, speaks to his people and to those in need.
The outline is of great help when the preacher presents a sermon of an ethical-moral, doctrinal and apologetic nature. Due to the lack of outlines, many “nonsense” have been said from a pulpit. The words that come out are never picked up again. That is why you have to think before you speak and speak after you have thought. In preparing the outline the preacher thinks.
Second: The outline offers the preacher certain liberties in communicating. The outline is not a chain that binds the preacher, it is a means that freely and spontaneously facilitates the communication of God’s message. Preachers who have a lot of experience using outlines use them so discreetly that it seems they are not using them. An outline is not a written sermon, it always offers the preacher the liberties to add here and take away there. The preacher has to use the outline and not the outline use the preacher.
There are preachers who in their task of preaching seem to be exhuming bones from a cemetery. What they give an audience is a bag of bones, meaning lots of divisions and little meat. A sketch without application and without luition is like the valley of dry bones seen by Ezekiel, with application and anointing those bones become a skeleton, a corpse and then a powerful army of thoughts.
The preacher who uses outlines has certain experiences that will help him emotionally in the task of preaching:
- The security experience
Insecurity in the pulpit is something that the preacher cannot hide. A person who has prepared well does not feel insecure when it comes to preaching.
- The trusted experience
Confidence is threefold in the task of preaching: First, the preacher trusts in the Lord. If he has sought it out and if he has received a message from the Lord, if he has taken the time to understand it and know how to explain it to others, that will give him confidence. Second, the preacher needs to trust that the congregation will receive the message that God has entrusted him to give to others. He needs to have that confidence that he’s not going to run into walls of steel. The preparation of the outline will help you not only to have the stone of the divine message but to know how to use the slingshot of homiletics. Third, the preacher needs to have self-confidence. Taking the time to prepare the outline, having prayed, will give you that confidence that God will use you.
- The experience of having been in dialogue with God
While preparing the outline, a spiritual intimacy with the Holy Spirit is experienced. At each point the presence of the Lord is felt. It is as if God himself took us by the hand and took us for a walk through the beautiful biblical meadows.
Third: The outline helps the preacher remember ideas that he would otherwise have forgotten.. Few people have a good memory or a photographic mind. In his preparation to preach, many good thoughts land in the preacher’s mind which, if not caged, will fly like doves. With the outline, we preachers walked off the platform with the emptiness that we said something we shouldn’t have said, and that we didn’t say everything we wanted to say.
Fourth: Allows the preacher to stay on his topic, issue, or Bible passage. There is nothing that tires a listener more than listening to a machina preacher.
This kind of preacher goes round and round and never gets to the point, talks a lot and says very little. The nail is there, he has the hammer, but it hits everywhere except the head of the nail. In preaching, only one main subject should be dealt with at a time. Some preachers speak of the entire Bible except the biblical text they quoted and prayed for God to speak.
Fifth: The outline will help the preacher if he is exposed to any interruption.. Some of these interruptions are:
- A newborn or infant crying
Children are often heard crying in congregations, which interrupts the preaching. The preacher has to stop and a deacon or someone will deal with this situation. An outline can be interrupted and pick up where it left off.
- Restless or playing children
Controlling children is very difficult especially during the age of two to five years. They escape from the parents and after a while we see them running, which is an interruption. A preacher who uses outline does not lose the thread.
- Believers conversing in the temple
This shouldn’t happen, but it often does. Many times believers comment on something said by the preacher that has caught their attention. Those who preach without outlines may feel out of control over something like that. He who uses sketches goes on.
- Concern about the time factor
There are many congregations, especially those that are revivalists, that the preacher is given the pulpit after a large majority of brothers and visitors have been informed. The traditional is…