The Sermon Starter Guide helps you gather information for a lesson you are planning to teach. Click on the menu, Guides, at the top of the Logos Bible Software application. Then select Sermon Starter Guide.
Assume that you want to gather information about God’s faithfulness. Enter the word, “faith” in the reference box, as shown here:
Then, move the mouse pointer over the phrase God: Faithfulness. Then you can either hit the enter key on your keyboard, or click the search arrow,
, to do the search. Then click on Layouts on the right side of the Toolbar, and choose the layout for 1 Tile to make the Sermon Starter Guide fill the whole window in the Logos Bible Software application. Here is an example of what you might see:
Results will be generated for sections that contain information for the given passage. Sections that contain no information for the given passage will be gray, and will say “no results”. When you move the cursor over any of the given items, the row turns blue, as follows:
If you click on the “X” on the right side of the row, this item will be removed from this display of the Sermon Starter Guide.
If you want to add other sections, click on “Add” at the upper-right of the report, and select the sections that are bold.
In this case, the Sermon Starter Guide includes the following default sections for the given passage.
GOD: FAITHFULNESS
When you click on the phrase, GOD: FAITHFULNESS, you have the option of entering a Title and Description for this guide.
THEME
A theme is essentially a subject, idea, or topic. This section includes the definition for the topic, God: Faithfulness. It also includes links that open a Topic Guide on the given topic. In this case, the theme, God: Faithfulness, is included in the topics Faithful and Faithfulness. If you click one of these topics, a Topic Guide will open for the selected topic.
PASSAGES
This section provides a list of Key Passages for the sermon themes. Examples include Numbers 23:19, Deuteronomy 7:9, and others. Here is an example of what you may see:
When you click on one of the passages, such as Nu 23:19, your favorite Bible is opened to the selected passage.
This section also provides a list of Pericopes, which are any Bible passage of one or more paragraphs that are studied as a unit or story. An example is, “Noah and the Flood”. When you click on one of the passages, such as Ge 6:9-8:22, your favorite Bible is opened to the selected passage. Click on “more >>”, to display a larger list of passages.
SERMONS
This may be empty when you start using Logos Bible Software. But if you add sermon resources to your library, this item will be enabled and will list these resources.
PREACHING RESOURCES
This may be empty when you start using Logos Bible Software. But if you add preaching resources to your library, this item will be enabled and will list these resources.
THEMATIC OUTLINES
The Sermon Starter Guide includes three Thematic Outlines for “God: Faithfulness”:
- Attitudes, God’s to people
- Faithfulness of God
- Faithfulness of Jesus Christ
Each of these outlines includes a brief summary of the topic. This is followed by a list of subtopics that you can select. For example, the theme Faithfulness of God, includes the subtopic, God’s faithfulness is an integral part of his nature. Each subtopic includes Bible references and related statements.
COLLECTIONS
Collections includes locations of your sermon topic, “God: Faithfulness”, in any or all of your custom search collections. Here is an example of what you may see:
Each of these passages includes the resource that includes the passage. For example the passage, “God’s Faithful People Suffer”, is included in the CEV, or “The Contemporary English Version”. Click on God’s Faithful People Suffer to open the CEV to the passage that has the subtitle, “God’s Faithful People Suffer”.
MEDIA RESOURCES
This may be empty when you start using Logos Bible Software. But if you add resources to your library that contain images, maps, graphics, and other things, this item will be enabled and will list these resources.
LIGHTSTOCK.COM
This requires Internet access. It is a web site that contains images and videos about the Christian faith. You need to pay for the images and videos that you want. This site does have content related to the topic “God: Faithfulness”.
Note the word Add in the upper right corner of the Sermon Starter Guide for "God: Faithfulness" followed by a down arrow. When you click on Add, you will see a dropdown box that contains more items that you can select for the passage you are studying.
