Petal Alderin
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Registered: 01-2008
Posts: 968
Karma: 19 (+22/-3)
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Sermons
This is really for Rick!
I'm curious to know whether you base your sermons on the church calendar or current events or whatever? And also where do you get inspiration from to keep the weekly sermon fresh and interesting and gripping, so that your parishioners are always wide awake??!! Do you write your sermon the night before, Rick? It must be difficult to be original week after week after week ...
Hope you don't mind me asking!
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2/7/2009, 12:44 pm
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Pastor Rick
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Registered: 07-2005
Location: Texas
Posts: 1900
Karma: 29 (+42/-13)
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Re: Sermons
Hi Petal,
Before I became a pastor I always wondered how God timed things so the memorial day, father's day, Christmas, etc etc etc sermons just happened to arrive at the right time. I even remember telling someone I would be different because I would only preach what God gave me as a sermon and not time it by mans calendar. I still believe the first part of that but when I became a pastor a strange thing happened and sermons for upcoming calendar events started to enter my thoughts every time, even when I was in the middle of a dedicated teaching series!
I don't know if I can explain what happens very well but I'll give it a shot and we can see where it leads.
Monday I normally do not get anything at all, it doesn't matter if I read 1 verse or a complete book in the Bible and it doesn't matter if I pray for 1 hour or 5 hours. I feel nothing so I reflect on the last Sermon (sometimes I'll even re-work the sermons outline to reflect upon by myself).
Tuesday I will get anywhere from 3-6 thoughts or ideas for a sermon. They seem to just occur during the day as I move about so I jot them down in a notebook (or on the back of a business card) to reflect on when I get home. One or sometimes two of those thoughts will (in my mind) explode into scripture references that take me all over the Bible, most of the references go nowhere to me but some will start branching off into full concepts and ideas. Why this is I don't know for sure, I think it is somehow God showing me where I am because you can not preach without a life experience reference point of some kind.
Wednesday I might get 1 or 2 new thoughts or ideas but most of the time I spend exploring the ones I feel God has given me the previous day. Stories and illustrations start forming in my mind and I start checking those with the scripture trails from Tuesday, some of them will "fit" while most of them just feel wrong for what is being prepared.
Thursday I start doing draft outlines. Most of the time it is only 2 distinct sermons coming together this early but I have had up to 4 going at the same time. The drafts put bones around everything the scriptures become solid reference points and the stories and illustrations provide transfer points from concept to concept.
Friday I do a lot of praying and try to keep from looking at the outlines. Instead I may try either writing out what I am feeling about the sermons or make a verbal sermon talk to see if I have things right.
Saturday, I'll write out the sermons and practice on getting the stories and illustrations fixed in my head.
Sunday, God might allow me to use my written text but most of the time I find myself following the outline notes more than the text. Some things will fall away and some things will just bubble up from inside me that I had no clue was there.
That is the typical/wonderful week. It is a journey of exploration and discovery given to me by God and, I am convinced the Holy Spirit, bring to life God's word and sharing it with others.
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2/7/2009, 8:32 pm
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Morwen Oronor
Resident Scholar
Registered: 01-2008
Location: South Africa
Posts: 1743
Karma: 15 (+28/-13)
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Re: Sermons
I've always thought that ministers of religion, politicians and lawyers have the same type of gift of oratory. I guess that's why so many of them are able to change professions among the three.
Most politicians start out as lawyers or ministers of religion, possibly because they are able to write speeches, or deliver them when other people have written them.
Have you ever thought of publishing a book of your sermons Rick. They make very book theological history; if you haven't already done so, you should think of doing it.
Also for a lot of people the gift of oratory only comes later in life because of the insecurity about standing up to speak in public.
In schools, today, with debate being part of the curriculum (which it wasn't when I was at school), it is easy to identify the people who would make a success of one of these three professions.
Maybe you should post some of your sermons for us to read Rick, they would make for interesting reading.
I was always afraid to speak in front of people as a child, but I was once forced to address groups of staff members about their benefits and found then that I had the gift of the gab. I could rather have liked to have been a politician, but then do I have sufficient skills in ducking, diving, scheming and finagling to be one?
Last edited by Morwen Oronor, 2/8/2009, 12:12 am
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2/8/2009, 12:11 am
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Magic Prince
Registered user
Registered: 02-2007
Location: Earth
Posts: 9
Karma: 0 (+0/-0)
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Re: Sermons
Destiny lies in the middle east..Pretty simply really..
The works of mankind have depleted all that God has given..Short and simple, the future is calling now..Electric energy is the now, that is reality..Invest not in that which was, but what shall be..
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2/8/2009, 3:10 am
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Petal Alderin
Resident Rusharound
Registered: 01-2008
Posts: 968
Karma: 19 (+22/-3)
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Re: Sermons
Thanks for your reply Rick, very interesting and informative, and I appreciate you taking the time to explain to me, especially as I know how busy you are at the moment!
I was especially interested that it's usually your thoughts and feelings and ideas, often popping into your head unexpectedly, that lead you to go to the scriptures for confirmation and texts to use as guidelines, rather than the other way round. Although I suppose that sometimes you would also do that ... take a couple of verses from the Bible, and get ideas to expand on them and write your sermon around them?
It's also impressive that you take notes but often don't use them totally and that you're able to speak from the heart and "wing it", confident that you'll be saying the right thing in the long run.
I agree with Mo, I would love to read some of your sermons!
The church to which I belong used to post copies of sermons on their website ... I'd like to try and find those and include one here sometime if that's okay? It would be good to get your thoughts on whether thoughts on spreading the Word are similar in different parts of the world and in different denominations!
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2/8/2009, 3:02 pm
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