4. What is the memorable hook?

Principle: This is a decision about what your central message. If pushed, what have you concluded the passage is about and how are you going to tell people. Lots of scripture will give us choice on what we say. This passage is about service, leadership, judgement, stewardship of ministries. So what is God saying through this passage to your people for this time? If there is any challenge to the preacher it is to make what is said memorable and to raise passion and love for Jesus as a result of what has been said.

Traditional evangelical sermons would be the 'three-pointers' that in my early Christian life would all begin with the same letter. They were great sermons birthed in a great tradition.

Here is what one might do with Luke 12.

"Jesus has three things to say to us this morning...."

1. Be ready v 35

2. Be faithful v 42

3. Be grateful v 48

There are many who still adopt this style and I have done so many times. However, I have tended in recent years to offer questions rather than statements of propositional truth. A lot of preaching in our churches is to the converted (actually as this passage remind us those involved in Church activities are sometime those most blind to the gospel). The converted often just want more information we can all to easily think that they are righteous. Therefore as Keller has taught me over the years there are three-ways to live

1. Our own unrighteous
2. Our own righteousness
3. In Jesus righteousness won for as the Cross

On any Sunday we all have parts of us in category 1 and 2 and need reminding. The countless pew-filling Anglicans I have spoken to over the years will so often explain the gospel based on their own righteousness. The Gospel will offend our righteousness most severely and strangely often more than our unrighteousness.

1. The peril and loss of either having an unrighteous status if we do not yet know Christ vs 47
2. The stupidity of righteous people living unrighteously vs 45
3. The stupidity of using your righteousness to earn Jesus' grace and favour vs 48

So here I would plan to base myself around three questions?

What you are supposed to do?

Why most of us don't do it?

How Jesus enable you to do it?

Another alternative strategy would be to take the resistances and deal with them head on as Jesus tells them in the story. Preach 9 in the negative and the final Gospel point in the positive.