Profiting from Sermons
I love a good sponge. They can soak up insane amount of water, and, it seems, you can alway
s squeeze a little more water from a sponge. Sermons are like a sponge, and profiting from a sermon is like squeezing a sponge for more water.
A preacher was once asked how long it took to prepare a sermon. He answered, truthfully, but a little tongue in cheek – all my life. A great deal of study, effort and prayer goes into a sermon. The preacher digs into the text, checks out issues of translation, consults the wisdom of others contained in commentaries, filters it through his own understanding and experiences of our Great God and Savior, and seeks to share the truth about Christ and life from the Biblical text in an accessible and practical manner. A sermon can soak up a great deal of knowledge and wisdom.
How can you squeeze that knowledge and wisdom from the sermon?
Prepare – Bring a bucket – read the text, consult a Study Bible or commentary, pray for the p
astor, and for your own understanding.
Listen – Focus on the message. Drink it all in live and in person. Take notes. I pro
vide sermon notes for you to follow more closely and to profit more abundantly from the message.
Meditate – Think on the message. Turn it over in your mind. Ask questions of yourself after the sermon. Squeeze the sponge. Questions like:
- What did I learn about God and how He works today?
- What did I learn about myself, my identity, my purpose?
- What did I learn in general? What insights did I gain?
- What will I remember about this message? What sticks with me? An illustration, or a truth that I can write down in a sentence?
- How will I respond to the message? What should change in my life?
We are going to help you squeeze the sponge on May 21 at 6pm. We will gather to ask tho
se questions of the sermon and see if we can profit more from the message. Come prepared! Write down you answers to those questions after the sermon. It take a whole life to prepare a single sermon and a single sermon fully received can change a whole life. You too can be a sermon sponge.