Preachers, turn your points into applications

A number of years ago, I was given a piece of advice which has proven very helpful in my own sermon preparation. The advice was this: turn your ‘points’ into applications.

Let me explain what I mean.

Many preachers, myself included, use some sort of structure to shape our sermons – we often refer to these as our ‘points’ or ‘headings.’ While I’m not a great fan of having three points that all begin with ‘P’ every week, I confess my brain is easily drawn towards this sort of outline (pray for my poor congregation!).