I need help with a sermon

Hello, as I student in my church I have been blessed with the opportunity to preach a sermon/message to my youth group. I need to I have the sermon written by April so I have some time. Currently I have two ideas, Living Water, John 4:24 and Devotion, Titus 3. What are y’all’s thoughts on those two ideas and if you have any suggestions for something I could say in those two sermon ideas or a completely new sermon idea. Peace

Welcome!

Christmas 2022

Go with Living Water because it was your first choice and is probably what the Lord is leading you to study.

I probably will go with that. Also a funny story, I went to a summer camp and there were teams and point system and everything, and you could memorize select passages to earn points for your team. One of the passages was 1 John 4, but I memorized John 4 (which is the passage about living water) so I have the passage I would be preaching on memorized and I know it by heart.

Jesus' words from John 7:37-38 and John 4:14

I didn’t know the living water was mentioned in John 7, I’ll have to look into that. Also what are other verses that would go well with the living water

Isaiah 12:2-3

I don't have an idea for a topic but perhaps understanding what a preacher's job is might help.
Before I give some suggestions consider this: What kind of sermons have impacted you the most?
Most preachers are able to handle scripture well enough to fill our heads with information concerning the text. But few seem to be able to preach to our souls.
What's the difference? Why is one only able to fill our heads, but leave our souls unstirred and the other able to fill us with an awe of God and a delight to know Him more?
A minister's job is to receive a message from God and to proclaim...thus saith the LORD...to his audience.
The best way to accomplish this is to grab your Bible and spend some time with God. Just tell your audience what God tells you.

There is a great book called Preachers and Preaching by Martyn Lloyd Jones that you might find helpful.

Zechariah 14:8 mentions living water also

1 Behold, a day of the LORD is coming when your plunder will be divided in your presence.
2 For I will gather all the nations for battle against Jerusalem, and the city will be captured,
the houses looted, and the women ravished. Half of the city will go into exile, but the rest
of the people will not be removed from the city.

3 Then the LORD will go out to fight against those nations, as He fights in the day of battle.
4 On that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of
Olives will be split in two from east to west, forming a great valley, with half the mountain
moving to the north and half to the south. 5 You will flee by My mountain valley, for it will
extend to Azal. You will flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah.
Then the LORD my God will come, and all the holy ones with Him.

6 On that day there will be no light, no cold or frost. 7 It will be a day known only
to the LORD, without day or night; but when evening comes, there will be light.

8 And on that day living water will flow out from Jerusalem, half of it toward the Eastern Sea
and the other half toward the Western Sea, in summer and winter alike. 9 On that day the LORD
will become King over all the earth—the LORD alone, and His name alone.

Revelation 22:16-17
Isaiah 45:22 + Revelation 3:20

That’s a good one, I’ll definitely use that, thanks

Thanks, I have spent some time thinking about this, and I have spent time with God asking him what to preach and feel like this is right but also feel like I need to make sure

May out of your heart flow rivers of living water.

You are welcome!

Isaiah 41:18
I will open rivers on the barren heights, and fountains in the middle of the valleys.
I will turn the desert into a pool of water, and the dry land into flowing springs.

Jeremiah 2:13
"For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living water,
and they have dug their own cisterns--broken cisterns that cannot hold water.

Ezekiel 47:9
Wherever the river flows, there will be swarms of living creatures and a great number of fish, because
it flows there and makes the waters fresh; so wherever the river flows, everything will flourish.

Isaiah 49:10
They shall not hunger nor thirst; neither shall the heat nor sun smite them: for he that
hath mercy on them shall lead them, even by the springs of water shall he guide them.

Isaiah 55:1-3
Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come
ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price…

Psalm 36:9
For with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light.

Timeliness of a sermon that has an effect is based in part on the things that the people hearing the sermon are going through.

When Paul or Peter delivered a sermon it had everything to do with that city's current events that caused people to pay attention.

Right after the quarantines 3 years ago everyone was looking to our pastor to deliver a timely message of hope....instead we got a canned sermon that held nothing for us....it caused even more despair.

Now I get that you want to travel the paths that you know...and that's fine. But April is in 3 months. It will be Spring. Easter will be right around the corner.
So will summer break.
Basketball will either be finished or will be soon.

You may be preparing now....but your job in sermon delivery is to prepare them for what they are or soon will be facing.

Hi Ryan,

Welcome to the CC. I saw that you said that you were Wesleyan. The funny thing was that just yesterday I was talking to the Lord about how grateful I was for my former Sunday school teachers as a child. I was raised Catholic, but went to the Wesleyan church for a time after an invitation to my Mom and me from the couple who taught my class. They planted the seed of God's Word and watered it, so I could more easily get saved as a teenager. There was a special gift they gave me at one point.

Here is my idea for a sermon:

GOD’S WAY VS SATAN’S WAY

We Christians have great hope. Jesus came to save sinners and to offer us eternal life. Through His sacrifice on the cross and His resurrection, He opened the gates of heaven for all who would believe in Him and follow His teachings.

But God gives us the gift of a free will, and while Jesus asks us to follow Him, He never forces us to. Ultimately, He leaves the determination of our salvation or damnation up to us. In the end, it will be our choice as to our eternal destiny.

Throughout our lives, we are going to be continually faced with two different and opposing ways of living; God’s way or Satan’s way. We’ll constantly have to make choices on which path we want to follow.

We’ll have to decide on God’s way or Satan’s because we can’t act upon the word of both because they are completely opposites of each other.

The Word of God declares us to be His adopted and beloved sons, His joy and delight, sons of God.

The word of Satan tells us that we don’t have to be sons of God. We can be our own gods, living and dying on our own terms.

The Word of God tells us that we are so important to God and that He sent His only Son, Jesus Christ, to die for us in the most horrible way.

Satan tells us that we have no need of anyone dying for us and that we can become important on our own, as self-made men.

God tells us that we belong to Him and Satan tells us that we belong to ourselves alone.

The Word of God reveals that we have been created in God’s Own Image and Likeness.

Satan tells us to create our own self-image, our best self-image is the one that is pleasing to us, a self-image created according to our wills and desires.

God tells us that He is the Way and that we should walk in His light. Satan tells us to go our own way and to walk in the light of our own pride.

God tells us that there is no profit in possessing the whole world at the cost of losing our souls.

Satan tells us that we have no soul. So we need to grab for all the things and pleasures that we can get, right now, in this life.

God tells us that there is life after death and that Jesus has prepared a place for us in heaven, where we can share in God’s life and glory for all eternity.

Satan tells us that there is nothing after death, we are going nowhere. And so it doesn’t make any difference what we do.

God tells us that He is Truth.

Satan, the father of all lies tells us that there is no such thing as absolute truth and that we must create our own truths that allow us to achieve our own worldly ambitions and desires.

Satan is a tough opponent and always tries to make us feel small, insignificant, and helpless. And many times he fools us into being our own worst enemy. But even when Satan does fool us, God doesn’t give up on us and continues to address us in His Word and Spirit.

We say it’s impossible, we can’t do it; God says all things are possible through Him.

We say I’m too tired, God says, come to Me and I will give you rest.

We say I can’t go on, God says My Grace, My help is sufficient to see you through hard times.

We say I can’t figure things out, God says I will direct your steps, if you ask.

We say I can’t forgive myself of my many sins against God and against my fellow man. God says I will forgive you.

We say I can’t manage my life, God says, if you seek My kingdom and it’s righteousness, then I will supply all your needs.

We say I am afraid, worried and frustrated. God says I have not given you the spirit of fear, cast all your cares upon Me.

We say I am not smart enough, God says I will give you wisdom.

We say I don’t have enough faith, God says I have given everyone a measure of faith.

We say we feel all alone. God says I will never leave or forsake you.

We say nobody really cares or loves me. God says I love you.

Yes, all our lives we will be faced with countless choices. The Way of God or the way of Satan.

And we need to clearly decide what we want, God or Satan, good or evil, life or death, salvation or damnation. Jesus offers us His salvation as a free gift.

But the choice of Jesus salvation and our own damnation will always be ours to make. If we want salvation, then Jesus and His truths need to be at the center of our lives. Not Satan’s lies, not worldy pleasures, and not our own desires.

A few final thoughts. All our lives we’ll be faced with spiritual battle, between God and Satan. We need to be ever alert and aware of our weaknesses, because Satan knows our weaknesses and he’ll tempt and attack us where we are the weakest.

But remember this, God isn’t too interested in our past lives and sins, He cares a lot more about our future lives.

We’ll all fall in to sin and make the wrong decisions many times during our lives. Sometimes we battle and struggle with the same sins, over and over, maybe for many years, maybe for a lifetime.

But, each time we do fall, never give up, it’s important not to run away from God, but that we get right back up, repent, and turn to Jesus. He’s always willing to forgive and take us back and let us start our lives all over again, in Christ.

Wow, that’s quite a lot and quite an amazing idea.

When perspective and priorities are in order, everything else becomes clear:


1.) Seeking sermon ideas from a bunch of strangers on the internet may well be the opposite of the best method.

2.) What does a pastor do?
He tends to his flock: he prays over them, meditates on them, watches them, tries to understand them, and he studies the scripture diligently to prepare special messages just for them.

3.) That's what a pastor does, and that's where a sermon comes from.

4.) No one here knows anything about your youth group, or what kind of message they need...
but God knows, and you're in a position to know if you watch and pray.

5.) I recommend you think about this a lot, and seek the proper perspective.... then everything will become clear.

6.) Pray and pray over your people, ask God to show you what they need to hear, and clear your mind out with much scripture reading.
If you do this, God will show you what they need... and then you can go to the scripture and prepare a message.

7.) This is what pastors do.
The sermon isn't about you, it's about them.
Pray for them, prepare your own heart and mind, and ask God what they need.... and God will give you a message.

That is how this works.

.

Thank you soo much! And you’re right, I shouldn’t be trying to make a good sermon I need to figure out what they need. And my youth pastor was praying over me and he said that he believes I’m close to something big for this ministry. That’s just makes me super excited and it makes me wonder if this message that I’m going to preach is that big thing.