Inside Pastor He's "Expository Sermon Outline"Version 1

Study notes from Pastor He's preaching class "Preaching the Lord's Word" (October–November 2026), put together from the recordings of three classes on 10/18, 11/1 and 11/8. Going down the sermon outline form from top to bottom, each box gives the teacher's definition (words in quotation marks are the teacher's own), best practices and cases from class. At the end are the teacher's two sample slides and a complete sample sermon outline on Psalm 23.

Red words = the theme (the teacher also marks the theme in red on the slides)✓ Cases the teacher affirmed✗ Problems the teacher pointed out

0The three movements: burden → drive → shaking, plus evaluation

The whole sermon outline form is designed in this order

Receive the truth→Witness with your life→Walk the path

Best practices

1. When you prepare the message, ask first: when I'm done, what will shake the listeners? If you can't think of anything, this sermon is no use.
2. The steps of the course: read the Bible or receive a word → find a principle that runs through the whole Bible → Scripture outline → sermon outline → full sermon → short sermon → self-evaluation.

1Burden · Message theme

First box of the form: Burden: Message Theme

Best practices

1. Write down the burden first, then look at your three outline points: which few words are in every section? That's the theme.
2. Mark the theme in red on every line, so you can check at a glance that it runs all the way through.
3. It's best to use the same word. If there's no shared word, there must at least be the same idea (for example, using He / you / I to express "relationship").

Cases

• Theme: differentThe teacher · Psalm 1Eternal life is different, this life is different, how it's different: all three sections have it, and so do the theme sentence and the conclusion.
• Theme: Good ShepherdThe teacher, reworking Student A'sThe Good Shepherd in good times, the Good Shepherd in hard times, the Good Shepherd for a lifetime.
• Theme: good friend (not "relationship")Student BA good friend in good times, a good friend in hard times, a good friend for a lifetime.
• Theme: I have someone behind me (not "knowing who God is")Student CHer outline points are my shepherd, my friend, my heavenly Father. The theme was really already in the outline.
• Taking the burden as the theme: "Following the Good Shepherd all my life"Student D"That's the burden you had at the start." His outline points are You lead me / You walk with me / I follow You, and the theme is you and me.
• Two themes mixed together: "not wanting" and "He and I"Student EThe first point didn't talk about not wanting, but all three points talked about He and I. "These are two different themes… please pick one."

2Scripture

Right box of the first row: Scripture

Best practices

1. Pick one complete passage as the main text. Put other passages in the illustration column as support.
2. If there's only one passage, you can't teach it as truth. Use Bible software to find two or three witnesses; then it's a principle.

Cases

• "Fearing the LORD = walking in his ways"The teacher · Psalm 128He proved it from several witnesses, Abraham, Noah and Cornelius (positive) and Jonah (negative). Only then does it become a principle you can teach.

3Drive · Speaker · Date

Drive: Speaker Date

Best practices

1. Write your own name and the date.
2. Before you preach, ask yourself: how has this truth changed me? The answer is your testimony.

4Occasion / Audience / Goal

Occasion/Audience/Goal

Best practices

1. Write one line for each item.
2. For the goal, write "how the listeners will change," not "what I'm going to say."
3. The audience decides the theme and the tone.

Cases

• Audience: teenagers → theme "good friend," lively toneStudent BThe teacher: "Your tone and your words just now were really great. That's exactly how to make them connect."

5Sermon title

Right box: Sermon Title

Best practices

1. Short. A question or a picture is best.
2. Check: is every listener in it?
3. You can prepare two sermon titles as options (the teacher's slides both have two).

Cases

• Life or Death in a Single Thought / The Life-and-Death DivideThe teacher · Psalm 1Short and strong. Everyone faces life and death.
• How to Parent Teenagers → Being Grandparents / Parents of TeenagersThe teacher's revision"This title of yours takes in everybody."
• I've Got Someone Behind Me!The teacher's example for Student C"You can be very flexible."
• Where Does Peace Come From?Joseph · Psalm 23Everyone wants peace, and all three sections of the sermon answer this question.
• Paul's Faith / Peter's TemptationThe teacher's counterexample"This sermon title is a failing title, because then it has nothing to do with me."

6Introduction

Left column: Introduction, with the illustration written in the right column at the same time

Best practices

1. Short. Start from the listeners' need, or make a catchy line out of the theme word.
2. End with the theme sentence.

Cases

• With the relationship, no problem; without the relationship, big problem!The teacher · Psalm 23A play on the theme word that sticks the moment you hear it.
• "I have a good friend… he can even fight monsters, he knows everything… do you want to come and listen?"Student B · teenagersThe teacher: "Actually, your introduction is really good."

7Theme sentence

Full row: Theme Sentence

Best practices

1. Formula: theme + result, first person, ending with "!".
2. If the sentence already lists the content of the three sections, it's a conclusion, not a theme sentence.
3. Why one sentence: "If I use twenty sentences, people probably won't remember them. One sentence, and everyone gets it."

Cases

• One thing different brings the life-and-death divide, in this life and in eternal life!The teacher · Psalm 1It leaves a question hanging: what is the "one thing"? The conclusion reveals it.
• A close relationship with the Lord makes me blessed forever!The teacher · Psalm 23Theme + result.
• I have a Good Shepherd, so all my life I shall not want.The teacher, for Student AShort, first person, theme only.
• All my life, because I have someone behind me, I'm not afraid of anything.The teacher, for Student CThe same formula.
• I have a good friend, so I'm not afraid of anything. Do you want to know him?The teacher, for Student BFor teenagers, add a question that invites them.
• I have true peace, so I'm not afraid of any storm!Joseph · Psalm 23Fits the teacher's formula exactly.
• "In easy circumstances and in hard circumstances, he is my Good Shepherd"Student A"This sentence is more like your conclusion": it already gives the content.
• "We must believe the LORD"Student GIt doesn't preview "believe whom? believe how?". The teacher changed it to: "We must believe the LORD, and my life will be different."

8Body · Sections and outline

Full row: Body, with the outline and verses written in the left column below

Best practices

1. First find the passage's own structure: parallel lines, contrasts, pronouns.
2. 3 main points × 2 sub-points. Use the same sentence pattern and the same number of words at each level. Mark the verses on every line.
3. Give each section a fair share of the passage. Avoid "small head, small feet, big belly."
4. You can rearrange the order and put the most central point last.
5. The Scripture outline isn't always the sermon outline: depending on the occasion and the audience, pick one of the passage's several themes.

Cases

• A Eternal life is different → B This life is different → C How it's differentThe teacher · Psalm 1Works back from result to cause and ends with the most central thing, "thinking." The sub-points contrast in pairs: the righteous / the wicked.
• A He shepherds in good times → B You are with me in hard times → C I will dwell all my lifeThe teacher · Psalm 23Divides the sections by the passage's own pronouns, He → you → I. Every sub-point starts with the same pronoun.
• Found the framework, didn't go verse by verseStudent F · Psalm 1The teacher affirmed that he had found the passage's structure.
• Verse-by-verse style: 8 points from the 6 verses of Psalm 1The teacher's counterexample"When he's done, do you remember his eight points? The answer is, there's no way you'll remember them."
• Sections of 1 verse / 4 verses / 1 verseStudent G"Small head, small feet, big belly": you'll spend too much time in the middle.

9Illustration column (right column)

Right column: Illustration

Best practices

1. At least one illustration and one application for each section.
2. An illustration can be another passage or a testimony. Your own testimony is the strongest.
3. Bones first, then meat: "Without bones, a pile of meat is no use."

Cases

• Put a testimony under every outline pointStudent BThe teacher: "I see you have testimonies under your outline points. Very good."

10Conclusion

Full row: Conclusion

Best practices

1. Repeat the key words of the theme sentence ("truly…").
2. Put the content of the three sections, in order, into one sentence.
3. Use a question to lead into the shaking ("Have you…?").
4. If the theme sentence changes, the conclusion has to change with it.

Cases

• Your different "thinking" brings the life-and-death divide!The teacher · Psalm 1Reveals that the "one thing" in the theme sentence is "thinking," and repeats "the life-and-death divide."
• A relationship that longs for God's presence makes me blessed in good times and hard times!The teacher · Psalm 23Repeats "relationship… blessed" and adds the outline's good times and hard times.
• In good times I have a good friend, in hard times I have a good friend, all my life I have a good friend. Do you have a good friend?The teacher, for Student B"This is your conclusion, and it brings out the challenge that follows."
• By believing in the declaration, believing in experience, believing in relationship, my life truly is different.The teacher, for Student G"Truly" answers the theme sentence "my life will be different."
• "Know Jesus, and let him become our good friend"Student B's first versionIt didn't answer her theme sentence, and it didn't cover the three sections.

11Shaking

Shaking: Small-Group Sharing, Prayer and Declaration, Life Practice

Best practices

1. Small-group sharing: split into groups for discussion right after the sermon (the first kind of active learning).
2. Prayer and declaration: pray what you received into your own life and daily living.
3. Life practice: remind each other afterwards, for example a small group reminding each other every day to meditate on the Lord's word.

Cases

• Nathan said to David, "Thou art the man."2 Sam 12The teacher's example of shaking.
• John the Baptist: "O generation of vipers"Matt 3Being baptized doesn't mean all is well. The heart must be circumcised, and the life must change.
• Three discussion questions + praying to receive a brave heartStudent DAfter meditating, what is your life following? Share the grace of the Good Shepherd. Where is the Holy Spirit showing you that you're afraid to follow? The teacher: "It went beyond what we asked or taught."

12Evaluation

Full row: Evaluation, written only after the short sermon

Self-check list

1. Does the theme appear in every section?
2. Does the theme sentence only preview, without giving the content?
3. Does the conclusion answer the theme sentence and cover every section?
4. Does every section have an illustration and an application right away?
5. Does the sermon title concern every listener?
6. Were the listeners shaken?
7. Timing, fidgeting, filler words.

AThe teacher's two sample slides

What they share: very few words, but every line is right

BPsalm 23 sermon outline · Joseph

Put together using the definitions above; Joseph revised the sermon title and theme sentence himself

Check	Result
Is the theme in every section?	Yes: the source of peace / peace in the storm / peace for a lifetime
Does the theme sentence only preview?	Yes: theme + result, without listing the three sections
Does the conclusion answer the theme sentence?	Yes: "truly have true peace, and I'm not afraid of any storm" echoes it word for word; the middle sentence covers the three sections; the opening answers the sermon title
Do the sections follow the passage's structure?	Yes: verses 1–3 speak of "he," verses 4–5 speak to "you," verse 6 is "I"
Still to add	Speaker, date, two of my own testimonies; the evaluation is written after the short sermon

CThe teacher's word pictures

Picture	Meaning
Ice skating with your feet going two ways	Two themes, and you're sure to fall.
Surf and turf	The theme sentence is the preview; the conclusion asks, "Satisfied?"
Crumbs on the table	When the speaker isn't clear, the listeners only pick up a story and miss the feast of the central theme.
No bones, just a pile of meat	Without an outline, the details and illustrations are no use.
A martial arts master	Revise the same sermon outline dozens, even hundreds of times, and only then is every word a gem.

Sources: recordings of Pastor He's three classes in 2026 on 10/18 (Lecture 1 · the three movements), 11/1 (the sermon outline template) and 11/8 (sermon outline practice), and the teacher's two sample slides. Classmates are referred to as Student A–G.