As a help to releasing the creative juices, a preacher may find it helpful to ask questions such:

• Whom am I speaking to?
• How should this text affect the way my listeners live tomorrow?
• What are the word pictures in this text, and how can I use them as running “scenery” in the sermon?
• Who will benefit from the truths in this text?
• What felt needs and real needs does this text address?
• What principles does this text teach?
• How have I experienced the truth of this text?
• What are the truth tensions related to this verse (for example, sovereignty and free will)?
• What is the purpose of this sermon?
• What is the cause, nature, and effect?
• How do I define the key words or ideas?
• How does this compare and contrast with related subjects? What does this text call us to do, say, think or stop doing, saying, thinking?
• What is the good news, the hopeful aspect, of this text? How would skeptics object to this verse and how can I answer them?
• What emotions are touched by this text?
• Have there been any stories in the news lately that relate to this subject?
• What key doctrines does this text teach?
• What assumptions of our culture does this text challenge?

Preaching that Connects, by Mark Galli and Craig Brian Larson