Millions of people the world over are eager to hear a good Bible sermon. The church member wanting to heighten their spiritual awareness, the Sunday School preacher looking to improve their teaching, or the preacher wanting to glean from other preachers are
examples of people who are surfing for sermons.
The ocean is full of fish, but that doesn’t mean you catch what you want every time you go fishing.
Similarly, the world wide web is filled with bible messages but finding just the right one may not always pan out for the would be sermon seeker.
Just as there are thousands of varieties of fish in the ocean, there are tons and tons of different kinds of bible messages. A few common examples would be:
-Textual Sermons are sermons that flow directly out of a Bible text.
-Topical Sermons are sermons built around a specific topic.
-Expository Sermons are bible messages rooted in the original contextual meaning of the Bible passage and shared in an way applicable to our contemporary world.
In addition, sermons are available online in several different forms:
-Audio files that a user can listen to. These are sermons that have been preached, recorded, and uploaded online for users to access.
-Manuscripts are full length printed sermon notes.
-Outlines and Notes are brief overviews of a sermon’s main points and ideas.
-Transcripts are word for word dictations of a sermon that has been preached typed out in printed
form.
-Video files which contain not only audio but video footage of the sermon for a user to both see and hear.
Not only are the above issues factors in choosing a sermon, so is the actual preaching style. There is a buffett of variety here as well. Calm, bold and strong, soft, loud, energetic, laid back, are just a few of the many styles.
Then there are streams of belief that factor in as well. Baptist, Methodist, Pentecostal, Charismatic, Word of Faith and on and on and on. Within the movement or denomination, there is the particular persons writing or preaching the bible messages. Most folks have their favorites: Billy Graham, T.D. Jakes, Rick Warren, or Bro. Bill around the corner.
Each of them will more than likely have scores of sermons available to scour through. Decisions, decisions, decisions.
So there are a lot of decisions to make. What kind of sermon are you looking for? How do you find the good ones? I have two suggestions: a rifle and a shotgun. First, the rifle approach.
When you do a search in the search engine, be as specific as you can possibly be. Narrow your aim.
Let’s say you are wanting to study a sermon outline about discouragement. Here is what your search entry might look like: free sermon outline discouragement.
An example of what such a search could take you to a free sermons site containing a sermon on discouragement.
Another option is the shotgun approach. Make your search query wide in scope. Free online bible study is an example that will bring up bible study and sermon sites with lots to choose from. Once there, you can then do a more narrow search among their cyber shelves.
With a little trial and error adding a word or two here and there in your search, you will strike sermon gold eventually. Have a blast finding and then a blessing listening to your sermon.
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