What should we preach in these last days?

[reddogs]

My father was a Adventist minister, so I grew up listening to innumerable sermons and Daniel and Revelation prophecy series, and my mother did the various church and health messages, think '5 day plan to stop smoking', and I knew what was coming for each night. But, come to the present as we are getting to the final days, and I sometimes seem to struggle in what sermon to bring before the brethren, as I volunteer for the sermon as a elder.

I thought I was the only one, that some weeks I had no idea what sermon for this time to preach about, till almost the day of the sermon. But I have become aware that others also struggle to find what they should preach especially after hitting all the major points and beliefs, especially for the last days and prophecy. It might be that some are between ideas for what the brethren need or just struggling for ideas.

If we who preach as lay preachers were all honest, we’ve come across this, or come to the point of asking, ”What do the people need?”

So how do you find a message, especially for these last days, from God’s Word that your church needs and you are excited about?

 

[Freth]

I find plenty of inspiration from reading the church pioneer writings (and SOP). Bible Readings for the Home is a good book to look at. I also have a (non-SDA) book written in 1846 (my version is 1913) called Five Hundred Sketches and Skeletons of Sermons. Old Christian books from the 1800's are chock full of ideas.

By far the best idea generator for me has been answering questions on Christian forums (especially Reddit's #christianity subreddit, as it has a constant stream of questions). People from all walks of life ask questions about Christianity, so it makes for unique Bible study opportunities each time you set about answering a post. Even though I may have answered the same question many times, I always start fresh with a new post and Bible study. In studying scripture anew each time I learn new things. I save all of my posts and notes so that I can refer back to what I've learned. I've been posting on Christian forums since 2018, and I have hundreds of documents that cover a wide variety of topics, some covering the same topic, but from multiple angles (because I start new each time). This then is essentially like having several hundred sketches and skeletons for potential sermons, but from my own studies.

I'm not an elder though, so I can't speak to actual sermons.