I could use some advice from some of my religious friends

I am taking a Lay Speaker's Course through the UMC. I am assigned to write a 5 minute sermon to present to the rest of the "basic course" group Saturday morning. The text is I Kings, Chapter 6, verses 2-13.

King Solomon was building his temple, and the text describes the dimensions of the temple and the additional rooms, and how the rooms are attached to the temple. It tells us about the cedar beams used to attach the additions.

God then tells Solomon that if Solomon obeys all of God's laws, then God will do for him what God promised his father David. God will live among God's people Israel in this temple that Solomon is building and God will never abandon them.

The lesson appears to be about Solomon's adherence to God's wishes, but I am having a great deal of trouble writing 5 minutes on a rather
uninteresting set of statistics. Help me please to make these few statistical verses into a message that will not put people to sleep. I have absolutely NO background to write a sermon.

I'm a little distressed that this course assignes a sermon, but gives no guidance what-so-ever an how to write one....

Any suggestions???

http://www.ccel.org/wwsb/1Kings/6.html

includes some audio clip and diverse criticism.

http://www.christnotes.org/commentary.asp?ViewCommentary=1+Kings+6&Version=MHC

If I discover anything else, I'll post it.

But it works for me!

I still do not understand the "live inside the Temple" - as opposed to pay attention to (as in "bless") the people of Israel. Unless God is saying ritual's should be special within the Temple?

Interesting verse.

Here is a link for commentary on the verses you mentioned. I left it at the default translation ASV.

Here is the link

The commentary links are to the right of the verses. Some good info.

I can't think of a thing.

It's almost as bad as that old Beyond the Fringe (early 1960s British comedy troupe) routine in which a minister preaches on the verse,"My brother Esau is a hairy man, but I am a smooth man."

From the skit "First verse of the fourteenth chapter of the Second Book of Kings: 'And he said,"But my brother Esau is an hairy man, but I am a smooth man." - and then the skit has him saying nonsense.

But the phrase comes from the Book of Genesis, Chapter 27

11 Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, "Behold, Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man.
12 What if my father touches me? I will seem to him as a deceiver, and I would bring a curse on myself, and not a blessing."

The first thing to remember, is that it was to be a house dedicated to God and if you are building someone a house you build it to the specifications that are requested. Second, all the information about the size is a reminder that the Israelites had never constructed anything on a comparable scale as the Temple either before or after. Third, "The stones were so well prepared at the quarry that no tools for dressing them were required on the building site. The task of building was a great undertaking, perhaps greater than Solomon had anticipated. Therefore, during the progress of building he received divine encouragement. In view of 3:5; 9:2; and 11:9, this was probably not a direct revelation of Jehovah, but a strengthening through an unnamed prophet. God’s promise (vs. 13) is reminiscent of the one that He made to Moses in Exodus 25:8." (This third point is a direct quote from the KJV Bible Commentary, electronic ed., Logos Library System, (Nashville: Thomas Nelson) 1997, c1994.)
Fourth, and most important, the emphasis in this passage is on the relationship that God desired to have with Solomon and the nation of Israel. It is what is called a covenant. Covenants require promises from both parties. They extend into perpetuity. While the Israelites broke many of the covenant agreements, God never failed in any. (on edit that smiley was not part of the original message but might have resulted from the paste job at third point)

Wow, 1 Ki 6:12 is pretty much the key to the whole Bible - it reiterates the covenant (the deal) God made between Moses & himself (Ex 19:5). We didn't hold up our end. God definitely isn't going to drop His end of the bargain, so we need to get smacked down. That's why Christ had to die, as a payment for our sins. Christ is now the new covenant - it's really pretty crazy, 'cause God is doing BOTH SIDES of the deal.

Check out this web page, it explains it all in much more detail:
http://www.gnmagazine.org/courses/cc7/covenant.html