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Three points and a poem. Point one, point two, point three. We have all done it, and most of us were taught to do it that way.

In Episode 29, Jonathan makes the case that one small word has quietly done damage to a lot of our preaching, and offers a replacement that changes how the body of a sermon gets built.

The trouble with a point. A point is a topic, and it just sits there. Picture an outline that says "Point Two: Faith." What are you actually claiming about faith? A label names a subject and then waits for you to say something about it, and an outline built on topics will let you talk for ten minutes without moving the sermon a single step forward.

The definition to replace it. A movement is a complete sentence that moves the sermon toward its destination. Both halves of that definition carry weight. It is a complete sentence with a subject and a verb, because a full sentence forces you to decide what you are actually saying. And it travels somewhere, carrying the listener one step closer to where the sermon is going.

Watch the difference. "Prayer" is a label. "The power of prayer" is a longer label. "Prayer is how a desperate man gets God's attention" makes a claim someone could argue with, and it sets direction for everything that movement builds.

A diagnostic worth using every week. If there is a fragment anywhere in your outline while you are building it, you have found a piece of the sermon you have not finished thinking about yet.

Every movement lands on the Take-Home Truth. Two images hold this together. A sermon works like a house, where the meaning of the text is the foundation, the Take-Home Truth is the roof, and the movements are the pillars holding it up. Or picture a wagon wheel, where the Take-Home Truth is the hub and every movement is a spoke coming in from a different angle. Spokes that never reach the hub are just a pile of sticks.

Your people are listening in real time. They cannot flip back a page. Every landing gives them a fresh chance to grab the idea, especially the ones whose minds drifted toward lunch three minutes ago.

How many movements should a sermon have? Usually two to four. Five or six usually means you are accumulating, so look for the ones saying the same thing and combine them. One movement usually means you have a devotional thought that still needs room to grow. Resist picking the number first and let the text show you its natural seams.

A worked example from Daniel 1. Take-Home Truth: Consecration will take you further than talent ever will. Three movements drawn from the text: Babylon loves your talent but despises who you represent (verses 3 to 7). Consecration is not afraid of the test (verses 8 to 16). God promotes those who consecrate themselves to his purpose (verses 17 to 21). The older version of that outline would have read "talent, the test, promotion," and those three words would have let him wander all over Babylon.

The whole episode in three sentences. Points give your people information. Movements carry them somewhere. Every movement lands in the same place.

This week's homework: pull out the notes from your last sermon and rewrite every heading as a complete declarative sentence. Leave the content alone. You will likely find at least one place where you did not know exactly what you were claiming, and that discovery is worth the whole exercise.