Alistair Begg sermon notes: where to find them (+ how to make your own)
Alistair Begg has been the senior pastor of Parkside Church near Cleveland, Ohio since 1983, having grown up and trained in Scotland. His teaching reaches a wide audience through Truth For Life, the daily radio programme and media ministry that carries his preaching.
His sermons are expository, working through a passage in order, but they do not sound like a lecture. He tends to state the burden of the message in one plain sentence early on, works the passage in a small number of clear movements, quotes hymns and poetry, uses dry humour as a pacing device, and then turns and addresses the listener directly near the end.
That combination is what makes searching for Alistair Begg sermon notes worthwhile and slightly tricky. There is a real structure to record, but the transitions are conversational rather than announced, so the shape can be invisible while you are enjoying the delivery. The method below is built to catch it.
Where to find official Alistair Begg sermon notes
His preaching is published by the church and by his broadcast ministry:
Truth For Life
The broadcast ministry hosts a large sermon archive and airs his teaching daily on radio. Check the site for the study and devotional resources it offers, which vary over time.
Parkside Church
The Ohio church streams its services and archives the weekly sermon, which is where to go for the current series as preached rather than the broadcast edit.
His books and series material
Several of his series exist in printed form, which is the tidiest version of the teaching on a given book or theme.
A note on copyright: Alistair Begg's sermons and any official notes remain the intellectual property of Truth For Life. Everything below is about making notes for your own study, not about republishing the ministry's content.
How to create your own sermon notes from any Alistair Begg sermon
For a written record of any single message, the workflow takes about fifteen minutes:
Get the audio
Save the message from the ministry archive or the church stream. Note the passage. Broadcast episodes are split across programmes, so for study purposes the single full sermon is the better source.
Transcribe it
Upload the audio for the full text in minutes, first sermon free. His measured delivery transcribes well, though expect to check the spelling of names in hymn and poetry quotations afterwards.
Transcribe the sermonFind the one sentence
Search the transcript for the early sentence that states what the message is about. It is usually plain and unadorned, often introduced with something like 'here is what this passage says to us'. Everything else hangs on it.
Generate the outline
Run the transcript through the free outline generator to recover the movements. Because his transitions are conversational, this step frequently surfaces a cleaner structure than you heard.
Generate sermon notes freeMark the turn to the listener
Locate the point where the sermon stops explaining the text and starts addressing you. Write down what it asks. That is the part of an expository sermon most often lost between Sunday and Tuesday.
The One-Sentence Method
Sentence, Movements, Quotation, Charge
Rather than trying to reconstruct a full outline while listening, build the page around the sentence he gives you and hang everything on it. Four parts:
The plain statement of the message's burden, written in his words, at the top of the page. If you catch only this, you have the sermon's spine.
The two to four steps he takes through the passage, each tied to the verses it covers. Name them yourself if he did not, and write the verse range beside each.
The hymn line, poem or older writer he quotes. He uses these as summary rather than decoration, so a quotation usually restates the point in memorable form. Copy it exactly with its source.
What the sermon asks of you in the closing section, where he turns and speaks directly. One sentence, in the second person, as if he said it to you alone.
Tip: Test the page by reading the sentence and the charge together, skipping the middle. If they connect, your notes hold. If they do not, a movement in the middle is missing and the transcript will show you which.
Study tips for Alistair Begg's preaching
Read the passage before you listen
Ten minutes in the text first changes what you hear, because the sermon becomes confirmation and correction of your own reading rather than new information arriving too fast to sort.
Collect the hymn quotations
A running page of the hymns and poems he quotes, with the sermon each came from, becomes an unusual and durable resource. These are often older texts worth knowing in their own right.
Keep one document per book
When he works through a book over weeks, hold all the pages in one file ordered by passage. The result is your own commentary on the book, which is worth far more than a stack of dated pages.
Frequently asked questions
How do you take sermon notes?+
What is the best sermon note format?+
Should I write during the sermon?+
Do I need a sermon notes template?+
Does Truth For Life publish Alistair Begg sermon notes?+
Will his Scottish accent affect transcription accuracy?+
Can I share my notes from a Parkside sermon?+
Transcribe any sermon free
One sentence carries the sermon. Transcribe the message and you will never lose which sentence it was. Your first sermon is free, no credit card to start, then $19/month for unlimited sermons.
Start transcribing freeThen turn the transcript into notes with the free sermon outline generator.
Want the bigger picture on Alistair Begg's ministry and most notable messages? See our Alistair Begg sermon archive guide in the Famous Sermons library.
Sermon notes for other preachers
Mark Driscoll Sermon Notes
Trinity Church · RealFaith
Charles Stanley Sermon Notes
In Touch Ministries · 1932–2023
John MacArthur Sermon Notes
Grace to You · 1939–2025
Jack Hibbs Sermon Notes
Calvary Chapel Chino Hills · Real Life
Joseph Prince Sermon Notes
New Creation Church · Singapore
John Piper Sermon Notes
Desiring God · Bethlehem Baptist
David Jeremiah Sermon Notes
Turning Point · Shadow Mountain
Tony Evans Sermon Notes
The Urban Alternative · Oak Cliff
Billy Graham Sermon Notes
BGEA · Crusade Archive
Tim Keller Sermon Notes
Gospel in Life · Redeemer
Greg Laurie Sermon Notes
Harvest Christian Fellowship
Joel Osteen Sermon Notes
Lakewood Church, Houston
T.D. Jakes Sermon Notes
The Potter's House, Dallas
Adrian Rogers Sermon Notes
Love Worth Finding, 1931-2005
Charles Spurgeon Sermon Notes
Metropolitan Tabernacle, 1834-1892
Voddie Baucham Sermon Notes
Text-driven preaching, apologetics
Jonathan Edwards Sermon Notes
Northampton, Massachusetts, 1703-1758
John Wesley Sermon Notes
Methodist Founder, 1703-1791
George Whitefield Sermon Notes
First Great Awakening, 1714-1770
D.L. Moody Sermon Notes
Moody Bible Institute, 1837-1899
Preaching this week? Get your own sermon transcribed free: upload the MP3, M4A or MP4 and get the transcript back in about 5 minutes. Your first sermon is free, up to 90 minutes each, no card.
Transcribe my sermon