Skip to main content

Writing a Sermon

It's not easy writing a sermon.  It would be easy to write something that related to a passage of scripture but the fact is a sermon should be a message from God to the people of God.  It has to be His message for the particular people you are speaking to.  It doesn't require you to know the people particularly well but it does require you to listen to God.  Most of my best sermons start coming to me when I am in bed.  I have put aside the cares of the day and begun to relax.  Often after about an hour of rehearsing my sermon in bed I will get up and write some of it down.  If I don't do it then I can lose it.  Losing a little sleep does me no harm as I am retired and can catch up in the day if necessary. I am currently preparing a sermon for next week.  It is proving quite difficult.  I am having to tease out the meaning little by little.  I am almost there.  It is on John 17 which is a very special chapter where Jesus is praying to the Father.  In it Jesus prays for the ones who will believe because of the witness of the disciples ;  that means for you and me.  Isn't that just fantastic, just before the crucifixion Jesus prayed for you and me.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

How do you cope with depression?

There are two main types of depression, reactive, which is a reaction to your circumstances and endogenous, which is a part of your makeup and not entirely affected by your circumstances. I get the second type. When I am depressed I like to sleep a lot, this is probably not a good thing as depression can lift if you do not have extra sleep. It is all very well knowing that , but acting upon it is another thing. Exercise is also beneficial. Some sorts of depression can be lifted by taking these measures, but some people need medication. You need to get to know your doctor and develope a relationship with him/her where you feel you can trust their judgement. Do look for help as there are lots of possibilities out there. It is not good to spend long stretches of time on your own. Talking with other people will often help lift your spirits, especially if they are people who have gone through this experience themselves. Maybe you need to join a self help group. Avoid people who tell...

Section A

I've posted off my work for section A. Now to get on with B. Onward and upward as they say. It does feel good to have completed A, progress is being made.I think my tutor is more nervous than I as to the outcome, but then I am his first student. We are learning from each other.But then that should always be the case. It's an adventure we go on together.The course seems to be suiting me alright but I feel there are a lot of potentially excellent local preachers out there who are put off by the study. Something should be devised to include these good people, we can ill afford to do without them, especially as the numbers of ministers is dropping. What did Wesley do? You don't need a degree, or even A levels to preach. You need a call, and a close relationship with God.

Life after death

When we lose a loved one it is natural to wonder how they are faring in the next life. I would warn against going to a medium to find out. At worst these people are charlatans after your money, the rest misguided or worse. We are told in the Bible not to try to reach the dead. The best person to call on in this situation is Jesus. That's right, go to the top. He is always available through prayer and doesn't make a charge. All he requires is that you look for him with all your heart. He has the answers to all of life's difficult questions.