Sermon builder: an outline maker that starts from your preaching

Prepser is a sermon builder for iPhone and iPad that gives you an outline you can preach from. Record a sermon, and its outline appears next to the transcript. Link several notes to a prep, and Prepser builds one outline from all of them. Starting from nothing but a passage? Draft a sermon in AI Chat writes the outline first. Every outline stays in your library, ready to share or export to Logos.

Where: Notes → Outline · Preps → Outline · AI Chat → Draft a sermon
Starts from: A recorded or imported sermon, linked notes, or a passage or topic
Free plan: 3 prep generations and 3 sermon drafts a month

Three ways to build a sermon outline in Prepser

After Sunday, start from the sermon you preached: the outline shows what you actually said. Midweek, a prep pulls your study notes into one plan. With only a passage, a draft gives you a structure to push against.

1. From a sermon you preached: the outline builds itself

On Home, tap Live Audio to Text and preach with your phone on the pulpit, or tap Upload Audio to bring in a sermon you have already recorded (M4A, MP3 or WAV).
Save the recording. Prepser transcribes it and builds the sermon's material: Key Points, Outline, Scripture, Prayer, Questions and more.
Open the note in Notes and tap Outline. Tap Share to send it to your worship leader or small group leaders.

How the recording itself works is on sermon transcription and notes.

2. From your study: one outline from several notes

A prep is where a sermon comes together during the week: the passage, a scanned commentary page, a thought you caught in the car, a sermon you preached on the same text three years ago.

Open Preps and tap New Prep. Choose Sunday Message or Bible Study.
Tap Link Notes and add the notes the sermon should draw on: recordings, scans, imported documents, typed thoughts.
Tap Generate Sermon Artifacts (or Generate Bible Study Artifacts). The prep gets an Outline, Key Points and Scripture built from everything you linked.
Tap Ask anything about this prep... under the prep, then What's missing in the outline? or Suggest illustrations for the main points.

Because the outline comes from your own notes, it keeps your illustrations and your turns of phrase. When you are happy with it, tap Export to Logos Library to take the prep into Logos as a Word file.

3. From a passage: Draft a sermon writes the outline first

Open AI Chat and tap Draft a sermon.
Fill in Passage, Topic or both, and pick Audience, Length and Format.
Under Style, pick Outline for a short outline to preach from, or Full manuscript for the whole message written out.
Leave Draw on my notes and preps on, so the outline builds on what you have already preached and studied, and tap Draft sermon.

Got a long draft and want something shorter to preach from? Tap Turn into an outline under the draft, and the same conversation gives you main points with verses, one illustration and one application each. More on briefs and drafts: AI sermon draft generator.

A real outline from Prepser

This is the outline of “Come to Me, All Who Are Weary”, the nine-minute sample sermon on Matthew 11:28–30 in every new Prepser library, from its Sunday Message prep. It appears here as it appears in the app. Notice the timings in each heading: an outline built from a recording shows how long each part actually took.

Opening (0:00–1:30): read the text, then Walter
- Read Matthew 11:28–30 slowly; let the room hear "all"
- Walter: twenty-two years of stacking chairs; "I didn't think I was allowed to say it"
- Thesis in one sentence: Jesus addresses the tired, not those who have it together
- Transition: "Three things I want you to see"
Point 1 (1:30–3:30): the invitation is for the weary, not the worthy
- Two kinds of tired: "labor" (our own carrying) and "heavy laden" (loaded by others); Jesus says "all"
- Matthew 23:4: the religious system makes people heavy laden and forbids them to say so
- Nicodemus (John 3:1–2): the most qualified man in Jerusalem, and he still came by night
- We do it to ourselves: pray enough, serve enough, then rest; Jesus reverses the order
- Land it: "You don't come because you're worthy. You come because you're weary."
Point 2 (3:30–5:30): the yoke is shared, not removed
- Surprise: Jesus offers a yoke, not freedom from one
- The farming picture: two oxen, the older sets the pace; Jesus gets in the yoke with you
- "Easy" = well-fitting; the yoke that chafes is the one we built
- Verse 29: the only description of Jesus' own heart; "gentle and lowly" versus the arms-crossed Jesus
Point 3 (5:30–7:00): rest is a Person, not a place
- "Rest for your souls," not for your schedule; days off don't reach soul-tiredness
- The verbs: come to me, take my yoke, learn from me; the rest is Jesus himself
- The burden is light because he carries it with us
Return to Walter (7:00–7:30)
- Still stacks chairs, but now "because I'm walking next to him"; that is the yoke
Invitation (7:30–8:30): two clear steps, then prayer
- Ask the question: are you tired in your soul?
- Believers who are worn out: come forward during the song for prayer
- Those who have never come: "Come to me" is the whole call; no fixing first; John 3:17, he did not come to condemn
- Closing prayer: teach us your gentle heart, fit us with your yoke, rest for our souls

The prep linked two notes: the recorded sermon and a scanned page on John 3. That is why Nicodemus shows up in point one: the outline drew on both. Want a blank structure to fill in by hand instead? Use the sermon outline template, which walks through the same sermon line by line.

New to outlining, or teaching it to a lay preacher? The method, from big idea to planned response, is in how to write a sermon outline, and invitation review looks back at the call you made.

Frequently asked

Is there a free sermon outline maker in Prepser?

Yes. Prepser is free to start: the Free plan includes 3 prep generations and 3 sermon drafts a month, with 30 AI chat messages and 3 study notes. The allowance resets on the first day of each month. Prepser Pro removes the monthly limits; see pricing for the plans.

Can I turn an old sermon into an outline?

Yes. Upload the audio with Upload Audio and Prepser transcribes it in a few minutes. The note gets an outline, key points and Scripture from what you said. Link several old sermons to one prep, and the outline combines them, which helps when you revisit a series.

Is the outline different from a sermon draft?

An outline is the skeleton: the big idea, the points and where each one lands. A draft is the full message written out. In Draft a sermon you choose with Style: Outline gives you the skeleton to preach from, and Full manuscript writes the whole message. Turn into an outline shortens a manuscript you already have.

Does the outline quote my Bible translation?

Yes. Three quick questions in onboarding set the language you preach in, your tradition and your translation, and Prepser quotes Scripture in that translation in every outline. English outlines use the ESV unless you pick NIV, KJV, NKJV, CSB, NASB or NLT.

Updated November 7, 2026 · App steps checked against Prepser 1.1.5. Sample outline from the sample prep in Prepser. Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.