Sermon Block,
If you preach with any regularity, you are sure at one time or another to experience sermon block. A novelist might call it writers block, but for the preacher it is sermon block. Each week one is expected to sit down and a few hours later, magically a sermon appears.
With 66 book in the Bible to choose from, one would think the subject lines would be endless, the array of sermons very from week to week. But let’s be honest, the only good sermon is a sermon that moves the speaker to action. Which calls or pulls on the heart strings, which resonates within his own soul. In essence the preacher must preach to himself. A preacher friend of mine says, if you listen to preacher long enough you will probably understand the spiritual condition of your pastor better than the pastor does.
So when the preacher sits and stares at a blank screen, what is it that keeps him from creating a sermon. A lack of faith, a lack of study, afraid that this sermon will fail to meet the needs of the listeners.
No, instead sermon block comes from failing to admit within his own life how God is using or not using him. When he looks in that granite mirror, the 10 commandments, the preacher fails to see the stain of sin in his own life.
Oh, Heavenly Father, help me to never stop looking upon that granite mirror and seeing where the smudge of dirt lies within my own life. May life’s experiences teach me the struggles that happen daily in the lives of the congregation. May I always head the council of the Holy Spirit and beyond all else, keep me humble.
The Bible In Your Hand 
What about going into church and not preaching ; telling the congregation you have no message today.
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Not a bad idea. Since the Lord has not impressed on me a sermon, no members of the congregation are sick or in the hospital. No phone calls from people whose marriages are in trouble, no phone calls from persons that are depressed or suffering from anxiety then perhaps we can say, obviously the Devil has not thought it necessary to medal in our lives because obviously we are not living up to what Christ would want us to be. Because of this, instead of a sermon, we all need to spend some time on our knees this morning asking God to take control of our lives and our church.
Praying that God will change us and send his Holy Spirit to lead in everything we say and do. Then as a congregation we may again feel our need for God because the Devil will begin to work against us, to discourage us, to make us sick, to put road blocks up to stop our progress in becoming more Christ like.
Yes, a sermon is out of the question, instead a season of prayer to surrender our lives and our will to Christ. For Him to take control of our church, our lives, our homes and our finances.
I wonder, just wonder how this would be received?
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The Quakers hold silent meetings and sometimes someone talks but it it not essential.
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But in our entertainment driven world I often wonder if many attend church to be entertained instead of spiritually fed. So sitting with nothing to listen to would constitute agony by the masses.
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Penticostal and lively churches encourage singing and even dancing in their services. They believe it is a sign of being filled with the Holy Spirit.
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A sign of the Holy Spirit is not in outward show, but in faithful service. What is faithful service? Being part of the great commission as outlined in Matthew 28:18-20 and the Holy Spirit living out through you as in the fruits of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-26. That’s is what being Spirit filled is about.
Yesterday afternoon, I had a conversation with a struggling Christian. Later this morning, my sermon that evolved from that conversation will be posted. I hope you will enjoy it.
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