Sermon Inspiration
Something happened this morning at 4:32 a.m. that happens on a regular basis to me and I wonder if it happens to other preachers.
I've been working on a sermon for next week and struggling with how to say what I think God wants me to say.
I've been wrestling with the text, my thoughts, and how to present the message coherently for the past two days.
I just can't seem to get a clear direction for this message.
I start every sermon with prayer. I mean the process, not just the presentation, but this week I've been praying even more than usual.
Well, I woke up this morning at 4:32 a.m. with an entire introduction and sermon outline in my mind. I grabbed a scrap piece of paper and a pen and outlined the entire message.
Wow!
But this happens on a regular basis. My wife often reminds me--when I'm at a mental brick wall--to walk away from my sermon and do something else and it will all work out. And she's been right every time.
I don't know if other preachers have this experience, but I find comfort in this because I find God in this.
I can't do anything without God. My life would be a joke without God and my preaching would be disastrous, so I'm grateful for 4:32 a.m. reminders that God still cares about this world, me, and sermons on parenting.
posted by Arron Chambers @ 8:31 AM
2 comments
2 Comments:
I can relate to this experience. It's not exactly the same for me. I struggle with my message, and know I'm struggling. I, too, ask God for help in my preparation. At some point I experience a "break-through" moment. I know it when it happens and I say to myself "God helped me right there."
However, it doesn't always happen. Sometimes I wrestle with the sermon prep, and I pray about it, and I finish it, but I sense that it's not quite right.
Here's a funny thing though. I preached one of those "not quite right" sermons a few weeks ago. It was a bomb. I walked away thinking I should give the church their money back for that week's effort. The following week one of our church members emailed me that the sermon was GREAT and he bought copies of the CD and gave it to his unbelieving friends who responded positively, yada, yada, yada. I'm not kidding.
So, I'm reminded once again, it's not about me, it's about God. He can take my DUDS and work His magic.
Having said that, I'd still rather have Him help me create a great message in the study than have Him rescue a DUD from the pulpit :o)
You aren't alone. I have the same experiences. Having not preached in a little while I've lacked this amazing experience. Often times I would wake up in the middle of the night and have forgotten my notebook somewhere else in the house. Lost a lot of good thoughts that way. My commute to and from JBC on the weekends often gave me the great experiences of deep thought. I finally bought an electronic voice recorder and started just talking out ideas as I drove and conveniently had it on my voice recorder when I arrived at home or JBC. Then I could hash out my ideas on paper or the cpu.
I think my best ideas have come after a hard day of exegesis... once I get away from the books and give my mind time to experience life through the eyes of the passage I'm about to preach.
I also love when great outlines hit me, but I always am frustrated when they hit me before I've done my exegetical work with the passage... then I start doing some eisegesis.
Dr. Enyart, my dear preaching professor, always taught us the value of exegesis prior to actually "writing" our sermons. "A text without a context is a pretext," he would often say. But what I loved was when he made us brainstorm with drawing pictures and just letting our minds go free. Then as I wrote my sermons I'd look back at the brainstorming sheet and fresh, interesting ideas would leap out at me.
4am sermon preparation is always fun, but not on Sunday morning at 4am!!!
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