In this post, we go behind the scenes to the eureka moment that led to the secret sauce of the PPGR Preaching System.
It actually began as an experiment.
I wanted to see if it were possible to craft a complete sermon narrative with all four movements within a single tweet.
Not just the main point or a theme or a big idea.
I wanted to create an entire, preachable sermon outline in the space of a tweet!
As we discussed in the previous lesson, I defined the four movements.
- The principle (P)
- The problem (P)
- The gospel (G)
- And the response/application (R)
If you are not familiar with how Twitter works, a single post may use up to 280 characters. Not words, but characters. And not a single character more.
The discipline would be to state each of the four movements in a sentence. Not a bullet of phrase but a complete sentence.
For visual clarity, I would include a blank line between the principle, problem, gospel, and response.
My goal was not to write a paragraph but four distinguishable lines representing the four movements.
This was the eureka moment.
Being limited in what I could say caused me to focus my thoughts like never before.
As I began looking at texts through the PPGR lens, complete sermons began to flow. Not just in an hour but sometimes in minutes.
The genius was the focus that a small canvas required.
But here is the true "secret sauce" that makes creating an entire sermon narrative in under an hour possible.
Rather than discover 3 or 4 points for the sermon, I only had to find one.
That one point is the first P–the principle in the text.
Once you identify a single biblical truth principle to anchor the sermon, the rest of the message falls into place in a remarkably natural way, with everything connected to the specific Scripture of the sermon.
Here's why.
Once you find the principle in the text, the problem naturally flows next. With a problem to solve, pivoting to the gospel is an easy next step. Next, with the listeners tethered to the cross and empowered by the Spirit through abiding in Jesus by faith as Justifier and Sanctifier, we specify the natural response, which is nothing more creative than circling back to the first P!
Did I tell you this process is simple? 🙂
But as you know, a sermon is more than four statements.
That's why in the PPGR Preaching System, I'm not only going to show you how to develop the four primary movements of a biblically grounded, redemptive, practically applied sermon.
I'm also going to unpack how to fill in the details around those big rocks.
Think of the process as laying your big rocks and filling in the gaps with smaller rocks.
Sermons need both big rocks and small rocks.
But when you have the big rocks, it is so much easier, and actually fun, to fill in the rest. Especially when the big rocks aren't just points but are a roadmap for the entire message!
Remember, every message needs to have four big rocks:
- a principle,
- a problem,
- the gospel,
- and a response (practical application).
Once you own that rubric, you'll have the freedom to use homiletical creativity in how you place the big rocks.
By the way, while I advocate the 280-character limitation, you don't have to use Twitter.
If you must, go beyond the character count a bit.
But I do want you to constrain yourself to four concise statements, making them as focused as possible.
Try to avoid parenthetical clauses, as well as compound and compound-complex sentences.
You'll be able to expand on each of the statements, explain them, illustrate them, etc., but I want you to be rigorous with focus and simplicity of expression with the four PPGR movements.
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