One would think that out of 66 books, 1,189 chapters, 31,101 verses that make up the Bible (KJV), getting sermon ideas would come easily, but it doesn’t.  I often wonder if pastors and preachers have overload on the information contained in the sacred scriptures and go into vapor lock when trying to come up with next Sunday’s sermon.  Even though the Bible can be read out loud in about 70 hours, understanding and getting your congregation to understand all that’s contained takes years and years.

A study by the Barna Research Group found that pastors spend an average of 3-5 hours per week preparing their sermons.  It’s tough to become well equipped enough to teach a congregation the intricate precepts on different subjects in the Bible on 3 hours a week.  Pastors get so busy with other pastoral duties such as counseling people, visiting the elderly and the sick that it makes it difficult to make time for sermon ideas.

Pastors have told me that they must rely upon their experiences throughout the week, or current news or something that God lays upon their heart for the subject of their sermons.  Those are all fine and dandy, but can leave a preacher stressed out if nothing happens to stand out during the week.  Or, it may not be until Friday night when an idea strikes them, leaving them no time for study.  Getting sermon ideas shouldn’t be left up to chance.

2 Timothy 2:15 says that we are to study to show ourselves approved and to rightly divide the word of truth; the most important thing you do as a pastor is take care of His sheep by teaching them the written word of God.  With this blog/website, I am committed to keeping those of you who follow it, up to date on current news topics and different tips learned from experienced pastors on how they do it week in and week out.  There are many helpful products on the internet that can be bought to help with your quest; I will showcase those for you as well.  If you have any tips for other pastors who may be struggling for sermon ideas, please leave your comments.

Technorati Tags: gospel sermon, pastor sermons, sermon ideas

Technorati Tags: is-there-a-god, sermon ideas

The Challenge:

Pick a day of the week when you don’t have anything planned and commit to serving your community, church, school, etc. Take 2 hours of the 168 hours that are in a week, to help and serve. Just do until Christmas. If you want to go longer, great!

Be a living Christmas sermon, a doer, not just a listener. What says ‘saved’ better than living a life of service because we are so thankful to our Saviour? So, go out and witness.

Be a virtual volunteer in September!

via The Gospel.com Blog by Andy on 8/31/09

Could your internet knowledge make a difference in your local community? The Mozilla Foundation, the organization behind the Firefox web browser, has declared September 14-21 Mozilla Service Week. The idea is simple: during that week, we all look for concrete ways that internet knowledge or skills can be put to work in the service of our local communities.

Here are some of the examples they provide:

• Teach senior citizens how to use the Web.
• Show a non-profit how to use social networking to grow its base of supporters.
• Help install a wireless network at a school.
• Create Web how-to materials for a library’s computer cluster.
• Refurbish hardware for a local computer center.
• Update a non-profit organization’s website.
• Teach the values of the open Web to other public benefit organizations.

As you can see, you don’t have to be an expert coder or a seasoned computer engineer to help out.

I think this is a wonderful idea—and easily translatable into a ministry environment. Who do you know in your community who could use some internet-related help? What local ministries or organizations could you help by donating a few hours of time upgrading software or training their staff? If you’re reading this blog post, chances are you have the skills to help a person or organization in your community in some way.

I note that UrbanMinistry.org has already jumped on this—take a look at their virtual volunteer opportunities, and think about how you or your church might get involved in a virtual service project this September.

Posted via email from Anthony’s posterous

Technorati Tags: Christmas sermon ideas, sermon ideas

Today in church, we took part in The Lord’s Supper.  I have always
believed it to be a very special and holy occasion.  Somehow though, I
do believe that the church in whole is beginning to fade from that way
of thinking.  The deacons serving the crackers and grape juice (that
symbolize Christs body and blood shed on the cross for our sins), were
wearing Hawaiian shirts!  I thought it was very inappropriate to say
the least.

The last time I checked, you can’t even go before an American judge
wearing shorts and flip-flops; how much more sacred should we hold
going in front of the maker of all creation as his servants?  Maybe I’m
just being a little picky, but I thought it was disrespectful and
shouldn’t be a regular practice of church deacons.

Romans 12 starts off with Paul begging the church to present itself as
holy… and not to conform to this world; yet I couldn’t tell this
morning whether the deacons were there to serve God or hop on a plane
for vacation.  Nowadays, Christians seem to think that Jesus is our bud
who is just hanging out in heaven waiting for us to come hither so he
can give us a big hi-five.  Just listen to today’s ‘Christian’ music;
God is our homie that wants to give us everything our little hearts
desire.

I get a different picture when I actually read the Bible.  I remember
God telling Moses to remove his shoes, for he was on Holy ground. 
Sacred.  I remember reading about how the temple was set up and if the
high priest entered and wasn’t clean – HE DIED!!!  It was serious
business to come before the Lord.  Jesus changed some of the ceremonial
laws, but His Holiness will never change. 

I remember Peter, James and John (probably a little closer to the Lord
than you or I) falling on their faces because they saw the holiness of
God’s glory when He transfigured before them.  And here we are shuck’n
and jive’n in our Hawaiian shirts instead of at least a shirt and tie. 
What’s next, tank tops and flip-flops?  Shame on us.

So, if you are looking for sermon ideas, here’s one:  The Holiness of God.

Technorati Tags: childrens sermon ideas, sermon ideas, youth sermon ideas

So you need some sermon ideas for Sunday, eh? Here is a good one…

Posted via email from Anthony’s posterous

Technorati Tags: sermon ideas

 I just bought a cool little Bible for my daughter for school.  While
looking through it I found a neat analogy by Max Lucado that I thought
would make for a wonderful childrens sermon.  It’s called Adopted.  He
gets you to imagine a married couple walking into an adoption agency to
find a kid to adopt.

They start asking which kid can cook and clean up for themselves. 
Which kid can drive themselves to school; which kid is rich and can pay
for their own college.  It’s rather ludicrous to think about a couple
doing this, but this is the way we adults sometimes think when it comes
to our heavenly father adopting us! 

We wonder if we are somehow good enough.  How often have we heard
someone say that they want to get their life cleaned up first before
they “get saved”?  God adopts us as broken, desperate, lost souls with
nowhere to turn.  There is nothing we can do to earn “the adoption”. 
It is a gift from a loving God, for which we cannot repay. 

Like earthly parents, God not only forgives us our sins, but we are
invited into his house.  We are invited to call him, the maker of the
universe, Father!  How exciting for a child to know that when they
repent and trust in the Lord, that they have a special place in heaven,
and in God’s heart.  Much different than what most schools are teaching
with evolution.  Childrens sermons need to express how special they are
and that they were created by a loving God, not some muddy mass that
crawled out of a swamp and turned into their grandpa.  How ridiculous.

There are many stories such as this all across the internet.  If you
are having problems with finding sermon ideas for childrens sermons,
then please consider signing up for my Sermon Ideas Updates on the
right-hand side of this page.  I am committed to keeping you Bible
teachers, Sunday school teachers and the like up to date on fresh
sermon ideas so you can do the work you were called to do and teach
them.

Technorati Tags: childrens sermons, sermon ideas, youth sermons