An example of an effectively structured keyword sermon
17 year life cycle of the cicada—they have a brief life with a specific purpose, to emerge, reproduce and die. [SCC1]
Similarly, we need to be committed to the purpose God has for us if we are going to be effective Christian leaders.[SCC2]
In 1Timothy 4:12-16 Paul instructs his younger disciple, Timothy, regarding three areas of our lives that we must commit to God.[SCC3]
- The first area you must commit to God is your ministry (vv. 12-15)[SCC4]
A single cicada will produce 600 offspring. We reproduce the gospel in our ministry
- Know and use your gifts
- Be diligent
- Serve faithfully[SCC5]
It’s easy to be accountable when you are at church with everyone watching you. But God also calls us to watch our lives when no one is around.[SCC6]
- The second area you must commit to God is your life (v. 16a)
- Christians are watched more closely
- Christian leaders set the spiritual temperature of their ministry
- Specific areas in life to monitor closely
We commit our ministry our lives to God. If we build a good reputation, we will gain respect. If we have respect, people will listen. And if people are listening to us, then we had better be sure we are speaking God’s truth correctly.
- The third area you must commit to God is your doctrine (v. 61b)
- God’s truth, not personal opinion
- Bible is the source of true doctrine
- Persevere and work to understand more
When we have committed our ministry, our lives and our doctrine to God, we might think we have it all together. Lest we become like the Pharisees who followed the Law but missed God’s purposes, we must ask the question...Why?[SCC7]
Paul tells us at the end of verse 16
To save yourself—maintain right relationship with God
To save your hearers—multiply the gospel from my life to the lives of others
If one cicada fails in its purpose, then 360,000 cicadas fail to exist in just two generations! The stakes are too high for us to take our ministry, our lifestyle or our belief system casually![SCC8]
Have you committed all three of these areas to God? Can you say, along with Paul and Timothy, that you are “being diligent in these matters, giving yourself wholly to them?”[SCC9]
[SCC1]1 Introduction—gets attention, introduces theme: commitment to God’s purposes
[SCC2]1 Propositional statement (here of obligation)—pulls the audience into the sermon, shows the relevance of the theme
[SCC3]1 Transitional sentence—links introduction to first main point, introduces the sermon text, includes keyword (here it is “areas”)
[SCC4]1 Parallel main points—each point is an “area” and the points flow from the biblical text
[SCC5]1 Subpoints—include further clarification, illustrations and application. They support the main point.
[SCC6]1 Transition—from point one to point two, restates point one and leads into the next point
[SCC7]1 Transition—from last main point to conclusion, restates and, in this example, it presents a problem that we need to fix.
[SCC8]1 Conclusion—specific application from the sermon body, great example of coming back to the illustration used in the introduction.
[SCC9]1 Call to response—the application isn’t left hanging out there, there is an expectation that the audience is going to do something with this.