● Free book · 203 pages · 87 preachers
Preach Like the Greats.
How 87 of history’s greatest preachers built their sermons, and how you can build your next one like them. Every guide on this page, in one free book.
- The family tree of preaching: 8 styles across 2,000 years
- Each preacher’s ten steps and his sermon outline, beat by beat
- A fill-in outline so you can draft your next sermon in his shape
Or start with one preacher
The early church
From the apostles’ students to Rome at the end of the ancient world.
Clement of Rome
Answer a church fight with examples, Christ’s blood, love, then one clear ask.
Polycarp
Hand on what you received, say the gospel early, and speak to every group in the room.
Tertullian
Speak to them by name, root the duty in Christ, then make it concrete.
Origen
Preach the passage read: plain story first, then the soul, then Christ.
Gregory of Nazianzus
Turn rhetoric into worship, and land every truth on “now you take part.”
Ambrose of Milan
Preach the day’s Scripture, walk people through what they lived, and land on Christ.
John Chrysostom
Go deep on a small text, then give half the sermon to one sin or virtue.
Jerome
Walk the text phrase by phrase, question each line, find Christ, end in glory.
Augustine of Hippo
Talk with the crowd, not at them: teach, delight and persuade.
Gregory the Great
Lay the foundation, raise the walls, and make the roof the longest part.
Medieval, Reformation and Puritan
Street preaching, one verse as the outline, and whole books preached straight through.
Bernard of Clairvaux
Preach from the book of experience, one word and one step at a time.
Francis of Assisi
Greet with peace, praise God, call for a turn, press forgiveness, and keep it short.
Thomas Aquinas
Let the verse be the outline, and keep one number all the way down.
Martin Luther
Tell the history, then its use, and hand Christ to the hearer “for you.”
John Calvin
Straight through the book, phrase by phrase, and every hearer brought low before God.
John Knox
Open the text calmly for half an hour, then apply it with full force.
Samuel Rutherford
Walk the text phrase by phrase and make every phrase a window on Christ’s loveliness.
Richard Baxter
Preach to reason and conscience at once, as a dying man to dying men.
Matthew Henry
Open the text, draw one doctrine, split it into memorable heads, and apply as you go.
Revival and awakening
Plain truth in open fields, preached for a verdict.
John Wesley
Plain truth for plain people, and an offer of Christ to expect now.
Jonathan Edwards
Reduce the sermon to one sentence, prove it, then apply it longest.
George Whitefield
Wound, then woo: a plain frame filled with fire.
Charles Finney
Argue the case like a lawyer, answer every objection, and ask for a verdict tonight.
The great modern pulpits
Headings people remember, logic on fire, and preaching through two world wars.
Charles Spurgeon
A short text, three headings people remember, and a road to Christ.
D.L. Moody
Talk across the counter: one verse, one Bible character, a pile of plain stories.
Billy Sunday
Preach with your whole body in the language of the street, and push for a decision now.
Oswald Chambers
State the conclusion, split the text in three, pin a verse to each head, then stop.
A.W. Tozer
Preach the being of God, not tips for living, and let the sermon end in worship.
C.S. Lewis
Voice the doubt, answer it with a homely picture, let Christ be the hinge.
Martyn Lloyd-Jones
Logic on fire: truth to the mind, moving the heart, issuing in the will.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Let one text rule, clear away the tame version, turn on Christ, speak straight to them.
Leonard Ravenhill
Hold the church to the New Testament, call it to die to self, and end in prayer.
Derek Prince
Read the text, count your points, chain Scripture, and make the room say the truth.
Crusades and the mid-century pulpit
The whoop, the invitation, and expositors who trained a generation.
C.L. Franklin
Head first, heart second: reason it plainly, then sing the same truth home.
Oral Roberts
Put the listener inside the story, give a point of contact, and call for a decision.
Gardner C. Taylor
Preach like a poet who never forgets the people in the pews, and land on Christ.
Billy Graham
One sermon shape for 60 years: the text, the cross, the invitation.
John Stott
Double listening: hear the text and the world, and build a bridge between them.
J.I. Packer
Clear the bad picture, state each head as a sentence, prove it, then summon to action.
Radio, TV and renewal
Sunday sermons on radio, TV and tape, and the charismatic renewal.
Adrian Rogers
Three points that share a sound, filled with one-liners, ending at “Come to Jesus.”
Charles Stanley
Start where people live, open one passage, and teach plain principles.
Eugene Peterson
Read the text, find its one word, and walk it into your people’s ordinary week.
Jerry Falwell
Plain, short, persuasive gospel sermons built for the room and the camera.
E.V. Hill
Turn the text into a phrase, prove every move with a story, ride it home.
Jack Hayford
Explain before you exhort, until Spirit-filled practice feels reasonable.
John Wimber
Tell the story, walk the text plainly, confess your failures, then do the stuff.
Chuck Swindoll
Write the application first, then build the whole sermon to reach it.
R.T. Kendall
Doctrinal exposition with a revivalist’s urgency, and the Word and Spirit together.
Ed Young Sr.
Hook the room, walk the verses with plain handles, then land on what Christ has done.
R.C. Sproul
A teacher who preached: find the drama in the text, then preach the drama.
G.E. Patterson
Read it together, make it plain, then name their troubles until the room rises.
John MacArthur
Let the text set the agenda every week, verse by verse, for a lifetime.
Reinhard Bonnke
Pull one detail from the text, turn it into a picture, then call for action now.
D.A. Carson
Clear the misreading, set the context, walk the text’s own shape to Christ, then pray.
Cities, seekers and stadiums
Preaching for people who didn’t grow up in church, from Manhattan to the stadium.
Tim Keller
Three parallel points that quietly carry a gospel plot.
Larry Osborne
Say what the text means, then what it means on Monday, in plain repeatable lines.
Greg Laurie
Start with what the crowd feels, open one Bible story, and call for a decision tonight.
Rick Warren
Make the application the outline, and bring every message to “Will you?”
Brian Houston
Anchor the message on one phrase and repeat it until it sticks.
Max Lucado
Boil it down to one sentence, wrap a story around it, and lead back to grace.
T.D. Jakes
Climb inside the story, build on one image, and land in celebration.
Andy Stanley
Tension first, text later, and one sticky line people take home.
Louie Giglio
Make God enormous before you make the problem small.
John Bevere
Define the word, stack the verses, tell God’s correction, then call them to stand.
Ed Young Jr.
Make every big idea short, memorable and easy to say back.
Preaching today
The pastors filling rooms, campuses and screens right now.
Chris Hodges
Preach the church family first, then the text, then the altar.
Jentezen Franklin
One sticky phrase from the text, walked through a chain of Bible stories.
Craig Groeschel
Know, feel, do: one felt need, one big idea, one clear action.
Francis Chan
Pray against your pride, read one text plainly, and let the Spirit do the changing.
Voddie Baucham
Retire the familiar misreading, hand over a tool, and draw your points from the verse.
Mark Driscoll
Give the big idea first, number the body, find Jesus in the text, then assign it.
Mar Mari Emmanuel
Count the text, picture every point, let Jesus speak, and bring it to the cross.
Joby Martin
Host the party, retell the story, and land on the gospel every time.
Matt Chandler
Disarm, open a wound, chain the Scriptures, and never assume the gospel.
Mike Schmitz
Name one hidden habit, define it, answer the objection, and give a practice for this week.
The streaming generation
Younger pulpits built for livestreams, podcasts and young adults.
Jon Tyson
Diagnose the problem, then coin the line that turns it.
Michael Koulianos
Stir hunger, let Scripture define the word as Jesus, and land it at the cross.
Mark Clark
Circle one word, dismantle the culture’s story, and test faith by treasure.
JP Pokluda
Confess first, then hand people short, parallel commands and one action for this week.
Robert Madu
Title the text, act the scene, coin a contrast, then turn late and invite twice.
Josh Howerton
Decide the response first, then build the sermon to it.
Steven Furtick
Pull one sticky phrase from the passage and make the room say it until it’s theirs.
John Mark Comer
Teach like a rabbi, then hand people a practice.
Russell Johnson
Frame it first, coin one line, prove it fast, and finish with a shared declaration.
Philip Anthony Mitchell
Verse by verse, no notes, and the title phrase turned into a command.
Rich Wilkerson Jr.
Make the title the whole sermon, connect before you correct, and keep it simple.
Jonny Ardavanis
Make them turn the pages, fill the blanks, and hear every point twice before you pray.
Independent study, not an endorsement. These guides are Pastor Center’s own research into each preacher’s publicly available sermons, shared free for teaching. Except where a guide says otherwise, the preachers featured aren’t affiliated with Pastor Center and haven’t endorsed it. Names and images belong to their owners.
Free book · 203 pages
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