Image via WikipediaThis is from Chris Brauns' book When the Word Leads Your Pastoral Search: Biblical Principles and Practices to Guide Your Search.  (With a HT to DashHouse for the link and the quote)

Brauns argues, “A sermon should be a biblical bullet fired at the life of the listener.”

• bullet – a sermon should have a clear central thought or focus; it should be a bullet, not a buckshot

• biblical – the central thought of a sermon should flow out of the authoritative Word of God

• fired – a sermon should be preached with unction or Spirit-empowered boldness and clarity

• at the life of the listener – a sermon should be applied to the life of the listener

Now, I'm not sure "bullet" is the metaphor I'd use.  Too violent a concept for me right now with some reflection being done on language and violence.  Perhaps "arrow."  Perhaps a "fastball."  But I like the for bullet points.  For me, I know when I don't have a clear, central focus, I am all over the place.

I like this metaphor and will use it this week to assess how my sermon-writing is going.