Preach like your people's lives depend on it - because they do. The four-page method that changes everything. Doing justice to the complexity of the preaching task and the questions that underlie it, author Paul Scott Wilson organizes both the preparation and the content of the sermon around its "four pages." Each "page" addresses a different theological and creative component of what happens in any sermon. Page One presents the trouble or conflict that takes place in or that underscores the biblical text itself. Page Two looks at similar conflict--sin or brokenness--in our own time. Page Three returns to the Bible to identify where God is at work in or behind the text--in other words, to discover the good news. Page Four points to God at work in our world, particularly in relation to the situations described in Page Two. This approach is about preaching the gospel in nearly any sermonic form. Wilson teaches the ‘what’, ‘why’, and ‘how’ of sermon construction, all rooted in a theology of the Word. This completely revised edition guides readers through the sermon process step by step, with the aim of composing sermons that challenge and provide hope, by focusing on God more closely than on humans. It has been largely rewritten to include an assessment of where preaching is today in light of propositional preaching, the New Homiletic, African American preaching, the effect of the internet, and use of technology. A chapter on exegesis has been added, plus new focus on the importance of preaching to a felt need, the need for proclamation in addition to teaching, and developing tools to ensure sermon excellence. New sermon examples have been added along with a section that responds to critics and looks to the future. A preacher’s classic methodological guide, updated with significant new material. Paul Scott Wilson is Professor of Homiletics at Emmanuel College of the University of Toronto. He is one of the most respected and recognized teachers of homiletics in North America. He is the author of a number of books, including The Practice of Preaching, Imagination of the Heart, God Sense: Reading the Bible for Preaching , and The Four Pages of the Sermon , all published by Abingdon Press. He is the General Editor of The New Interpreter's Handbook of Preaching . The Four Pages of the Sermon, Revised and Updated A Guide to Biblical Preaching By Paul Scott Wilson Abingdon Press Copyright © 2018 Abingdon Press All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-1-5018-4239-9 Contents Acknowledgments, Introduction, Chapter One: Four Pages: Grammar and the Preaching Scene, SECTION I. GETTING STARTED: MONDAY, Chapter Two: Exegesis and Sermon Unity, Chapter Three: Introductions, Four Sentences, and the Need, SECTION II. PAGE ONE: TUESDAY, Chapter Four: Trouble in the Bible, Chapter Five: Filming Trouble in the Bible, SECTION III. PAGE TWO: WEDNESDAY, Chapter Six: Trouble in the World, Chapter Seven: Filming Trouble in the World, SECTION IV. PAGE THREE: THURSDAY, Chapter Eight: God's Action in the Bible, Chapter Nine: Filming Grace in the Bible, SECTION V. PAGE FOUR: FRIDAY, Chapter Ten: God's Action in the World, Chapter Eleven: Filming Grace in the World, SECTION VI. VARIETIES OF SERMONS, Chapter Twelve: Reshuffling and Varying the Four Pages, Name and Subject Index, CHAPTER 1 FOUR PAGES: GRAMMAR AND THE PREACHING SCENE It makes a huge difference whether preachers and teachers of preaching believe God acts and that Jesus is alive. The gospel, as understood here, assumes these truths and from them offers four grammatical principles to undergird sermons. Grammatical rules are generally not seen; they operate beneath the surface and below the radar, and the same is true of these components that undergird biblical preaching. We will call them Pages: Page One is trouble as identified in the Bible and Page Two is that trouble in our world. Trouble is whatever leads to death or puts the burden on humans to do something. By contrast, with grace, God accepts that burden in Christ. Page Three is grace in the Bible and Page Four is grace in our world. All biblical preaching can be helpfully analyzed in relation to these four. They are of relatively equal weight (though in faith grace is stronger), hence we may think of them as constituting four quarters of a biblical sermon, though arrangement and distribution may vary. In the same way that good grammar allows a sentence to make sense, these four elements enable the gospel to be preached as good news. They generate movement: from bondage in Egypt to the promised land, crucifixion to resurrection, sin to redemption, brokenness to healing, and so forth. Grammar makes for effective communication. Gospel is needed to nurture the church. From a theological point of view, it is hard to argue with these four. If there are other standard grammatical options in sermons, they are not of the same priority. For instance, a sermon may discuss world histor