Tutorial
Learn The Pastor’s Research Assistant, step by step
A walk through every part of The Pastor’s Research Assistant, from your first study to preaching from a tablet. Follow it in order, or jump to the part you need.
Choose your study’s focus and format
Passage
Philippians 2:5–11
Translation
Exegetical agents · 6 of 21 selected
Hermeneutical lenses · 4 of 18 selected
Output format
Start a study
Everything begins in the Study. You choose a text, a translation, and the angles you want, then The Pastor’s Research Assistant does the research and gathers it into one complete study.
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Open the Study from the top navigation.
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Choose how to begin: a Passage (enter a reference like Romans 5:1-11), a Subject (a theme, and The Pastor’s Research Assistant selects the most significant passages for you), or Lectionary (the Revised Common Lectionary readings).
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Pick the translation you want to study and quote from.
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Select the exegetical agents. A few are active by default; add others to fit the passage and your audience.
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Select the hermeneutical lenses that shape how the text is read.
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Choose the output format you need, for example Full Exegesis for depth or Sermon Essentials for an accessible study.
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Click Begin the analysis. It runs in the background, so you can leave the page; it will appear in your Library when it is finished.
Full Exegesis · Philippians 2:5–11
The Mind of Christ
I. Linguistic Analysis
The hymn turns on three verbs. ἐκένωσεν (ekenōsen, “emptied himself,” v. 7) does not mean Christ shed deity but poured himself out in self-giving; ἐταπείνωσεν (“humbled,” v. 8) names the voluntary descent; and ὑπερύψωσεν (“highly exalted,” v. 9) the Father’s answer…
II. Historical-Cultural Background
First-century readers in a Roman colony like Philippi prized status and honor above almost all else. Against that backdrop, a Lord who takes the μορφὴ δούλου, the form of a slave, would have landed as scandal and glory at once…
III. Grammatical & Structural
The passage is a single, soaring sentence built as descent (vv. 6–8) and ascent (vv. 9–11), hinged on the “therefore” of v. 9. The imperative of v. 5 governs all that follows: this mind is to be in you…
IV. Theological Synthesis
The hymn grounds ethics in Christology: because the One who was in the form of God chose the form of a servant, self-emptying love is not a strategy but the very shape of God’s own life, and therefore of ours…
…continues through Lens Analysis, Hermeneutical Bridge, and a 12-source Bibliography.
Read and export your study
When the study is ready it appears in your Library. Open it to read, then export it in whatever form you need.
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Open the Library and click your study. While it is still generating it shows "Still writing," and it loads on its own the moment it finishes, so an in-progress study is never mistaken for a finished one.
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Read through the analysis. Each section is drawn from the agents and lenses you selected.
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Use the buttons at the top to copy the text, or export to Word, PDF, or PowerPoint, with Scripture inserted in your chosen translation.
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Highlight anything worth keeping and save it to your Notes for later.
Full Exegesis · Philippians 2:5–11
The Mind of Christ
I. Linguistic Analysis
The hymn turns on three verbs. ἐκένωσεν (ekenōsen, “emptied himself,” v. 7) does not mean Christ shed deity but poured himself out in self-giving; ἐταπείνωσεν (“humbled,” v. 8) names the voluntary descent; and ὑπερύψωσεν (“highly exalted,” v. 9) the Father’s answer…
II. Historical-Cultural Background
First-century readers in a Roman colony like Philippi prized status and honor above almost all else. Against that backdrop, a Lord who takes the μορφὴ δούλου, the form of a slave, would have landed as scandal and glory at once…
III. Grammatical & Structural
The passage is a single, soaring sentence built as descent (vv. 6–8) and ascent (vv. 9–11), hinged on the “therefore” of v. 9. The imperative of v. 5 governs all that follows: this mind is to be in you…
IV. Theological Synthesis
The hymn grounds ethics in Christology: because the One who was in the form of God chose the form of a servant, self-emptying love is not a strategy but the very shape of God’s own life, and therefore of ours…
…continues through Lens Analysis, Hermeneutical Bridge, and a 12-source Bibliography.
Combine studies with Synthesis
When a message gathers a theme across several passages or subjects, Synthesis weaves multiple studies into one.
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Open Synthesis from the navigation.
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Select two or more of your completed studies.
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Choose Combine into one unified study, or Summarize them into a single digest.
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When it is ready, open it on its own or send it straight into the Sermon Coach to build a single message from many texts.
The ten stages
Stage 3 of 10
The Big Idea
Your coach
Every point, illustration, and application exists to serve this one sentence. Choose the candidate that most faithfully carries the text.
Candidate A
Because Christ emptied himself for us, we are free to pour ourselves out for one another.
Candidate B
The humility of Christ is the pattern and the power of life together in the church.
Candidate C
God exalts the One who descends, and calls us down the same road to glory.
Build your sermon with the Coach
The Sermon Coach walks you through building your own sermon across ten stages, with scholarly support at each step. It never writes the sermon for you; the message that emerges is genuinely yours.
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Open the Sermon Coach. If you have already run a study on this passage, it loads as your exegetical foundation.
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Move through the ten stages in order: the Text, Exegetical Foundation, the Big Idea, Sermon Type, Structure, Point Development, Introduction, Conclusion, Full Manuscript, and Review and Refine.
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At each stage, read the coaching, generate suggestions when they are offered, and write your own answer. You stay in control of every word.
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When the manuscript is complete, move it into the Sermon Builder to shape and format it.
Title
The Mind of Christ
Big Idea
Because Christ emptied himself for us, we are free to pour ourselves out for one another.
Introduction
A Roman colony measured a person by status. Then Paul sings of a Lord who let it all go…
Point One · Illustration
On the night before the cross, Jesus knelt with a towel and a basin and washed the feet of the men who would abandon him. The God who flung the stars stooped to the dust between a man’s toes, and said, “I have given you an example.”…
Conclusion
So have this mind among yourselves, the mind that was, and is, in Christ Jesus.
Shape and format in the Builder
The Sermon Builder is a block editor where your sermon takes shape, whether it arrives from the Sermon Coach or you start fresh by choosing a sermon form. Either way it appears as the parts of a sermon, ready to refine and prepare.
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Starting fresh? Click New sermon and choose a form: Expository, Narrative, Inductive, Four Pages, Christ-Centered, Problem and Solution, ME-WE-GOD-YOU-WE, or Blank. The Pastor’s Research Assistant lays out that form’s structure as labeled, empty blocks for you to fill; the structure is the assistant’s, the message is yours.
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Your sermon opens as movable blocks: Title, Big Idea, Introduction, each Point, and Conclusion. Drag to reorder them, and rewrite any block in your own voice.
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Name a block "Illustration" and The Pastor’s Research Assistant writes full, ready-to-preach illustrations. Name one "Conclusion" and it drafts ways to land the message.
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Generate a detailed outline, presentation slides, and a speaker’s card straight from your blocks.
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Open the side drawers for your Notes, your past analyses, and an on-demand review of the whole sermon.
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Export to Word, PDF, or PowerPoint when you are ready.
The Mind of Christ
Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,
who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,
but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant…
Preach from Podium mode
Podium mode turns a tablet or phone into the pulpit, calm and distraction free.
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Open Podium mode for your sermon.
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Scroll your outline or full manuscript as you preach.
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Slide out the margin tab to see the speaker notes you added.
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Keep an eye on the running timer, and switch between day and night mode to suit the room.