My last study went well; however, I know that if I shaved off 5 minutes of information, it would have hit the congregation better. I have a roadblock in my mind, that if I deliver a sermon under 30 minutes, I am not serving the people as well as I should. But I know that my last study, could have shaved off some details for clarity. I once looked down on the 25-minute sermon, but I am starting to learn, that may be the best pocket for me as a preacher/teacher. Anyone else struggle with this?

Imagine having a row of theological giants and trusted mentors sitting in your study, ready to look over your sermon manuscript and give you tailored feedback. Yesterday, I met with someone who is exploring how to use AI prompting to access theological works online to provide deep analysis and help for sermon prep. It got me thinking about how we can leverage Preach360 to bridge the gap between deep theological study and the weekly rhythm of sermon preparation. If you want to sharpen your message and dig deeper into the text, you don't have to start from scratch. You can invite your favorite historical or contemporary mentors into your study. For example, when you're wrestling with the Problem movement of your sermon, you want to dig down into the heart of human resistance to the Principle. One of the most prolific authors on the nature of the human heart and the sinfulness of sin is the Puritan John Owen. Instead of just wishing you had time to comb through his collected works this week, you can bring his perspective directly into Preach360. Try asking it a prompt like this: "Based on John Owen's collected works in this area of understanding the sinfulness of sin, how would he analyze my manuscript so far? In this text, what suggestions would he have for how I can more accurately and helpfully identify resistance in this sermon?" I actually ran my own sermon from last week through the John Owen perspective in the Problem section, and it was absolutely unbelievably helpful. I’ll be doing that from now on, no doubt. Customizing Your Study Circle The beauty of this approach is that you aren't limited to one voice. You can curate a virtual circle of mentors depending on which movement of the sermon you are developing: - For counseling the heart in the Response, you might ask for an analysis from someone like Larry Crabb to help expose underlying brokenness and motivational roots. - In the Gospel movement, you might ask how Tim Keller would approach unfolding the beauty of the cross and the finished work of Jesus from your specific text.

What is your sermon text this week... and what's your keyword? Post in the comments. 👇

It's Monday night right now in Ratchaburi, Thailand as I write this. Usually, Monday is my rest day. Had dinner beside the lake nearby with my wife and my son. Back home now and I can't wait to re-read my next passage for this Sunday. It's funny because of as I read, the thematic keyword just pops up in the pages of Scripture - Matthew 8:1-17 - Authority - a compassionate and willing authority. Matthew 8:18-34 - Authority - demanding sumbmission over all domains of life and as I continue, Matthew 9:1-17 - Authority - forgiving sin, over sinners and the inaugurated kingdom. I have read this many times but the "keyword" system gives the lens to which we see the flow of thought of the author. The Spirit makes the Scripture more enjoyable and convicting when read through the natural flow of creation, fall, redemption and restoration - AKA PPGR. I am jsut amazed how the Holy Spirit has embeded this in all pages of the Bible. It's easy to preach the Gospels but lose sight of Person of the Gospel. With PPGR - you can't miss the one and only Hero. I believe the joy of preaching is not in how neat our manuscript is but how awesome our Redeemer is. Now I understand more what Tim Keller said in his lecture on preaching, just give them Jesus. By the way, the new Preach 360 Studio is awesome. The UX/UI is great and very intuitive. All praises to Christ alone.

In my seminary homiletics class this week, something came up that I found helpful. When selecting a keyword, do a biblical-theological study of that word. See where else in Scripture it appears. There may be some amazing connections that can be made by simply doing a study of the keyword and its usage throughout Scripture.