Free Sermon Templates

Corvettes, apple pie, and three-point sermons. What do these things have in common? They’re classics—loved and easily recognized by many. In fact, this type of sermon is so ubiquitous that you’re probably wondering why we’ve bothered to include it at all. 

Our reasons are twofold:  First, we provide this template in Sermonary because most pastors will use it again and again.  Second, although we acknowledge that it’s not the perfect outline format for every subject or preaching style, its advantages—mainly, that it’s straightforward to write and easy for people to follow—are worthy of consideration.

The three-point outline is similar to the essays you wrote in high school or college—you introduce a topic, expound on three points relating to it, then conclude by recapping what you’ve discussed.   

As you’re plotting a three-point sermon, you can use this standard structure or tweak it to make it your own. In fact, many of the sermon outlines we’ve included in this post are fresh takes on the classic three-point sermon. For example, if you’re teaching your congregation about a certain Biblical concept, you can use the following format:

1. Introduction (e.g. “How does the Bible describe God?”
2. An attention-getter.
   1. Some thoughts that relate the attention-getter to the main idea of the message.
3. Point 1 (e.g. “God is all-powerful”)
   1. Introduce your point and explain what the Bible text says regarding that point.
   2. Use an illustration to further clarify it.
   3. Provide an application-—“Here’s how this idea relates to our lives.”
4. Point 2 (e.g. “God shows no favoritism”)
   1. Explanation
   2. Illustration
   3. Application
5. Point 3 (e.g. “God is love”)
   1. Explanation
   2. Illustration
   3. Application
6. Point 4 (e.g. “God is concerned with the condition of our hearts.”)
   1. Explanation
   2. Illustration
   3. Application
7. Conclusion
   1. Summarize what you’ve taught.
   2. Present a call to action—what should your congregation do, now that they’ve learned these truths from God’s Word?

See what we did there? We sneakily added in a fourth point! This highlights another advantage of using this method: it’s flexible. You can have two to four main points in one sermon without changing the structure of your outline. 

However, if you find that you need more than four points or that you’re running out of time to cover all of them, consider creating a sermon series on your topic and making each point the focus of an entire message. 

If you’re trying to encourage your audience to change their thinking or take an action relating to a particular topic, you might want to tweak your outline so that you strike a mildly persuasive tone. In that case, you can use the following three-point sermon format:

1. Introduction

a. Grab their attention

1. Relate it to the main point. 

Tip:  It might be helpful to end your introduction by stating the main question you’ll be answering with your sermon

1. Point 1: What does the world/our culture say about this topic?
   1. Introduce popular thinking that is in direct contrast to what the Bible teaches about your topic.
   2. Add an illustration, like a quote, a video, a story, or statistics to illustrate your point. 

Tip:  In this point and the points that follow, it’s often a helpful memory aid for your listeners if you create a “mini” three-point structure within each of your main points.  For example, if you’re talking about idolatry, you could discuss, “The idol of productivity,” “The idol of approval”, and “The idol of financial prosperity.” Then, in your next main points, you can flip each of these mini points on its head, discussing how Christians don’t have to do anything to earn grace or keep God’s approval, and that He offers a life that’s much more fulfilling than that of chasing anything this world has to offer.

1. Point 2: What does God say about this?
   1. Pull in Scripture
   2. Make the case for what you’re teaching in your sermon and re-state your main point. 
2. Point 3: How does/should what God says affect our lives?

Now that you’ve contrasted what God says with what the world says, it’s time to put your teaching in practical terms. 

You can share a story about someone who lives or lived the principles you’ve discussed, encourage people to pinpoint their own wrong thinking or beliefs, or give specific action steps that people could take to apply these principles in their lives (e.g. “Next time I’m unhappy with my reflection in the mirror, I’ll remind myself that I belong to God, and I’m not a slave to the idol of other people’s approval!”)

1. Conclusion 

Here, you’ll recap your main points in a succinct manner. Then, you can end your sermon with a specific challenge for people to apply during the week.