Swerve – An unplanned or sudden change in the angle of a storyline; most commonly recognized by a wrestler turning on a friend of his.
Professional wrestling lives on swerves.
Good guys turning bad and bad guys shifting towards to side of truth and justice.
Swerves are fuelled by jealousy, revenge or principle.
The best swerves make sense.
They can either be seen coming or, if unexpected, can be adequately explained after the betrayal.
Sermons shouldn’t have swerves.
A good sermon shouldn’t have a Shyamalan-esque twist.
In fact, the best sermons are usually quite predictable.
They have a structure.
Each point builds upon others.
As a result, the listener should have a fair sense of the direction of the homily.
This happened to me on Sunday.
Fairly early on I gathered where the preacher was going.
Listening, I knew it was going to be headed in a good direction.
And it was a really great sermon.
For, a sermon isn’t quality because it is unpredictable.
It is quality because it points people to Jesus and what He has done.
It is quality because it is communicated well.
It is quality because it is applicable.
Unpredictability, usually, gets in the way of a good sermon.
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