God may speak to your heart with an impression, a sense of direction, a picture, a scripture or a very specific message. However you hear Him allow this to set you off in a direction of a good sermon, a sermon God encourages in you for those you are going to preach to.

Sometimes the Lord reminds you of what He has been speaking to you about over the past days and shows you that this is a relevant message for the congregation you are going to preach your sermon to. Sometimes He shows you something He has been speaking to the congregation about and they haven’t been grasping it.

Sometimes the Lord shows you a spiritual groaning in the church (the congregation) for release or healing from a particular malady, oppression, sin, fear or bondage. Sometimes He shows you He wants to release people into new and greater opportunities in life and ministry to His glory and the furtherance of His kingdom on Earth.

Once you have a sense of what He wants you to minister, minister on or minister into then you need to ask Him what is to be the substance of that ministry. If, in your seeking the Lord about what to preach, He gave you a scripture passage from which to preach then that scripture passage is to be the substance of it. On the other hand, if what the Lord gave you was an impression, sense of direction or picture of what He wanted you to preach then now you need to ask Him what Bible text will provide the substance of the ministry.

Be encouraged that God is ready to speak to your heart in this way and show you what to preach and what text to preach it from! Here are some of the Bible promises that I count precious and have found wholly reliable in this regard. The Spirit of God by the Psalmist David declared,

I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with My eye.

Psalm 32:8 - NKJV

Jesus promised us,

Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.

Matthew 7:7 - 8 - NKJV

And again He promised,

The Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.

John 14:26 - NKJV

Hang in there until you hear. He will speak. Don’t get panicky when you don’t get what to preach right away. It will come. In an instant, suddenly you will realise you have what to preach. The light of God’s message for the sermon will go on in your heart and you will know He has spoken to you about what to preach.

While you are waiting for that moment keeping praising God and praying, keep turning the pages of your Bible to scriptures and Bible passages you feel drawn to. Let God’s Spirit guide you and minister to you until you know you have the Lord's ministry for the sermon.