The objective explains what the main focus is for each day, and the goal (or «mile-marker») specifies how one knows when the day’s objective has been met in a tangible way. The idea of expressing it this way is to encourage one to finish the work that corresponds to the day in question with that feeling of having «arrived» at a particular destination, of having something to start with the next day without wasting time.
The objectives and mile-markers for each day are summarized below. On the pages dedicated to each day we go into more detail, adding specific tasks to do and linking to other supporting content on our website.
0. Advance preparation for the entire series
Objective: Orient yourself to the Bible book as a whole and distribute the pericopes for the teaching or preaching series.
Goal (mile-marker 0): To have a distribution of portions for the series that is based on an understanding of the structure of the book as a whole, along with a collection of notes that summarize the most important information about the circumstances of the original readers and the reasons why the author wrote.
Exegesis: What does it say?
1. Monday – Context
Objective: To place the passage in its historical and literary context.
Goal (mile-marker 1): To have a few paragraphs written that help you explain the contribution the pericope makes to the argument of the book, along with its relationship to the portions that precede and follow it in the text.
2. Tuesday – Structure
Objective: To discover how the author organizes his thoughts.
Goal (mile-marker 2): With a firm handle on the implications of our passages genre(s), produce a structural diagram of the passage along with summaries of its major unit of thoughts.
3. Wednesday – Content
Objective: To determine the contextual meaning of the words used in the passage.
Goal (mile-marker 3): To have brief didactic contextual definitions of important words, highlighting the relevance they may have to the meaning of the entire passage.
Hermeneutics: What does it mean?
4. Thursday – Application
Objective: To understand how the original message is valid today, and to finalize the big idea.
Goal (mile-marker 4): To have an interpretation and application written for each main point of the exegetical outline (with possible illustrations), along with a memorable expression of the «definitive» big idea that you will use in your teaching.
Homiletics: How do I present it?
5. Friday – Outline
Objective: To determine the purpose of the presentation and develop the main points of an outline that conveys the original thought.
Goal (mile-marker 5): To have written out the purpose of the presentation, along with a draft teaching outline.
6. Saturday – Manuscript
Objective: To fill out the outline with introduction, conclusion, complete paragraphs and illustrations.
Goal (mile-marker 6): To have completed the outline or full text you plan to use when teaching.
7. Sunday – Sermon
Objective: Teach or preach with all the authority of the biblical text!
Goal (mile-marker 7): Arrive entirely prepared and relaxed.