How to Build Cohesive, Faithful, Application Driven Sermons - Matt Brown

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Dec 16, 2025

Matt Brown, a seasoned vocational pastor and church planter, dives into the art of crafting impactful, application-driven sermons. He emphasizes that every biblical passage provides a structured blueprint akin to a bridge, guiding the flow of thought. By analyzing Acts 11, he illustrates how to dissect scripture into meaningful sections, revealing the author's intent. Listeners gain insights on transforming textual structure into compelling outlines and application points, fostering creativity and clarity in their preaching.

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INSIGHT

Scripture Has Built-In Structure

Every biblical book has a unique structure of parts, interconnected sections, and a progression toward one central idea.
Recognizing that structure reveals the author's intent and shapes faithful preaching.

ANECDOTE

Bridge Blueprint Metaphor

Matt uses the Golden Gate Bridge image to show that beauty depends on an underlying blueprint.
He argues scripture likewise has intentional design that must be discovered to display God's beauty.

ADVICE

Do The Observation Work First

Do the hard work of observation to discover a passage's outline before creating your sermon.
Use repeated words, transitions, contrasts, and plot development to identify the text's structure.

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How to Build Cohesive, Faithful, Application Driven Sermons

Matt Brown shows how every biblical passage has a built in structure and how recognising that structure can transform the clarity, focus, and impact of your sermons. Recorded at our Longmont, Colorado training event.

Matt explains that a passage works like a bridge. Every bridge has intentional direction, interconnected sections, and an intended destination. Scripture is the same. When you trace the flow of thought the biblical author has crafted, you begin to preach with greater confidence and sharper purpose.

You will learn how to:

identify the major movements of a passage
follow the progression of ideas that reveal the author’s intent
turn the structure of the text into the structure of your sermon
develop application that grows naturally from the passage
preach cohesive, clear, and compelling messages

Using Acts 11 as a worked example, Matt models how to observe the text, divide it into meaningful units, see how each section contributes to the whole, and discover the central idea your sermon should advance.

Matt has been married for almost 20 years and has 4 amazing kids. He has been serving in vocational ministry for 15 years, preaching expositional sermons in a variety of contexts from college ministry to lead church planter. He loves pastoring pastors and coaching church planters to see the Great Commission advance through healthy multiplying churches. He is a part of the Crossway Church Planting Network (crosswaynetwork.org) and has been involved in leading multiple Simeon Trust preaching workshops. He loves Christ, coffee, and Chipotle (and alliteration). They are currently in process of planting a church in Golden Co, called Golden City Church, which is the forth church plant they have been directly been a part of.

goldencitychurch.com

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