THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF NIGERIA
SERMON CRAFT FOR ELDERS
By
REV DR. OKEKE O NDU

WHAT IS SERMON?
Sermon is the principle of giving voice to the written word of god so that god will act to bless the believers.
“Bless the LORD ye his angels that excel in strength, that do his commandments, hearkening unto the VOICE OF HIS WORD”. Psalm 103:20
“And they went forth and PREACHED EVERYWHERE and while the Lord worked with them and CONFIRMED THE MESSAGE BY THE SIGNS that attended it, AMEN Mark 16:20
“He sent his word and healed them and delivered them from their destructions” Psalm 107:20
The art of preaching is popularly called Sermon. God is ready to confirm sermons that say exactly what he wants his people to hear and be healed. How do we know what God wants the pastor to preach. To get the right message the Preacher like his brethren Apostles, evangelists etc.
The PREACHER must listen to God,
He must tarry with the Lord,
He must get a message from him.
This process of getting a message from God is what is called SERMON PREPARATION.
To prepare a sermon, the preacher must bear in mind THREE ACTIVITIES that must be done. These three activities are studied in our Theological Seminaries as: 1.Hermeneutics, 2. Exegesis, 3. Homiletics

A sermon should have the following in whatever order. The acronym is THECIA

RESEARCH OR FACT FINDING SKILL
1. THEME/TEXT (Caption of the message)
2. HERMENEUTICS: Meaning of the theme or text
3. EXEGESIS: Other Related Bible references
4. CHRISTOLOGY
HOMILETICAL OR ELOCUTION SKILLS
5. ILLUSTRATION
6. APPLICATION

1 THEME OR TEXT
The theme or text is the caption of the sermon which runs through all the parts of the message.
A THEME is the main thought or the idea that runs through the sermon. A theme could be “THE GREAT GIFT OF GOD”
A TEXT is the PORTION OF THE SCRIPTURE from which a sermon is developed from. The text