Just as a building needs an entrance, a symphony needs a prelude, and a book needs a preface, even so the sermon outline needs some basic introductory elements.  Without a proper introduction, the sermon will come off as a stranger to the congregational bystanders.  Though it happens from time to time, it is a rare occasion for most people to spontaneously engage someone whom they have never met. The same principle holds true for the sermon outline. When the expositor haphazardly plunges into the depths of the text without any preliminary notions or opening thoughts, the congregation will feel displaced,