Congregations in the Church of the Nazarene have been conditioned to listen to a lengthy sermon that can do most of the thinking for the listener. These sermons can fill in the blanks for the listener and leave no room for the Holy Spirit to speak to them about their own spiritual growth. In the lengthy sermon, the listeners achieve selective hearing. This thesis will discuss the benefits to the shortened, unresolved sermon and its effects to spiritual growth within a congregation. This thesis promotes the valued practice of editing, disciplined preparation, properly matured material, and ending the sermon in way that lets the listener wrestle with the preached topic.
