Mind Cramping - Your Input Needed

I have been attempting to develop two sermon series for several weeks now. The first is a series through the book of Haggai. I have been enjoying the study and hope to post some thoughts about it in the next few days.

I have also been attempting to develop sermons from the psalms of ascension (Psalms 120-134). I recently taught through Psalm 119 and thought I should continue through Psalms. I realize it is not the same as preaching through Ephesians, or Genesis, or even Haggai. Hebrew poetry is a challenge, which I why I want to work through it.

As I have been working through these, I have really just cramped up in the brain. I just cannot think through some of these things. I have been praying through the study, I have just sat and read through the passages, and I have come to a standstill, so to speak. So I try to go on to other things and let my mind engage in other activities and then come back to these passages later and still nothing.

Let me be clear, I am obviously finding all kinds of valuable material and great application for sermons. It is, after all, the Word of God and is always alive and profitable. The problem I am having is attempting to find the teachable points needed in a sermon. Granted, I have a somewhat traditional model of preaching and some have issues with that. But my goal, as always, is to faithfully relay the text to the audience with relevant principles for today.

So as I was struggling with these things, my wife told me to post some of my thoughts and have others let me know what they think. So, I will be posting some of my thoughts, outlines, and other things on these passages and I any help you all could give me would be greatly appreciated. Also, if these are useful to you please use them and share them as needed. If you do that, let me know how you used them - just because I am curious.

I think I will begin with the Psalms. However, I will start with the next post. This post is already long and I do not want to combine topics (it is easier to sort when it is only one topic per post, so to speak). So I hope the following posts will help you and I hope you responses will help me.