The idea of The “Factual Data” sheet comes from reading that Warren W. Wiersbe’s homiletic teacher, Lloyd Perry used a generic “Factual Data” sheet for sermon preparation. I have adapted the “Factual Data” sheet to the different genres (Poetic, Epistles, Narratives of Joshua, Nehemiah, and Mark) of Scripture instead of the one-size-fits-all approach. See David Howard, Jr.’s An Introduction to the Old Testament Historical Books for move helpful background material for Joshua.

The “Factual Data” sheet helps an expositor be text-driven in preaching God’s Word.

First, the “Factual Data” sheet enables the Bible student to interpret a text in the context of the Biblical passage. It is like a funnel that is big at the top and narrows down to the text itself. The interpreter starts with the remote context (context of the genre) and works his way to the immediate context (the book of the Bible in which the text is found).

Next, the “Factual Data” sheet helps the Bible student get inside the text itself. This is where, in the case of narratives, the unique characteristics of this genre are helpful in interpreting the text and also finding the Main Point of the Sermon (MPS), and outlining or developing the MPS. We begin with the context.