In Preaching Articles: "Bible As A Story"

What Your Congregation Wants To Hear At Christmastime

By Joe Mckeever on Dec 15, 2023

Joe McKeever helps reframe our calling: "The people who make up your congregation do not require anything new from you regarding the Christmas story this season or any season. "

Scripture: Matthew 1:1-16

Tags: Preaching, preaching

8 Ways To Bust Leadership Discouragement

By Charles Stone on Sep 28, 2022

"Discouragement is a universal experience for ministry leaders and the word actually self-defines itself…dis-courage meaning no courage. Some of the Bible’s greatest characters faced it: Moses, David, Paul, Mary the mother of Jesus, and the apostles. Nehemiah, the great Old Testament leader faced it when he led the Jews to rebuild the wall. Yet, his response offers us hope when we face it."

Scripture: Psalm 77:11, Nehemiah 4:10-21

Tags: pastoral leadership, Blessings, Burdens, Leadership, Nehemiah, leadership, Discouragement, thought life  (view more)  (view less)

God Wants To Shape Your Wants: An Invitation To The Psalms

By John Piper on Nov 30, 2022

Try to imagine the Bible without the Psalms. What a different book it would be! What a different place the church would be. And what a different person I would be.

Scripture: Psalm 1:3

Tags: Heart, taste and see, Delight, Personal Growth, Delight in the Lord, sovereignty of God, Psalms, Emotions  (view more)  (view less)

How To Powerfully Preach A Narrative Passage

By Brandon Kelley on Feb 17, 2021

People love stories, and that is what narrative is. When we can powerfully preach a narrative passage, we’ll see people not only respond to the message, but they’ll become more in awe at God’s word!

Tags: Preaching, preach, Narrative Passage, preaching

7 Phrases Christians Like To Say That Aren’t True

By Lori Hatcher on May 31, 2024

"We’ve all heard them—phrases that sound wise, insightful, and biblical. But are they really? Let’s look at some common sayings, compare them to the Bible, and see if they hold up."

Scripture: 2 Corinthians 1:8-9, James 1:14, 1 Corinthians 10:13, 1 John 3:10, Daniel 10:11, Psalm 148:2  (view more)  (view less)

Tags: guard the truth, Contending for truth, Theology, Know the Truth, Biblical truth, chosen people, Enduring Hardship, help in temptation  (view more)  (view less)

9 Things Great Leaders Do

By Charles Stone on Mar 2, 2021

The book of Acts describes the amazing story of Jesus’ work through the Holy Spirit in the early church. With an explosive start, problems were certain to surface. However, they lead the church well and model for us 9 things great leaders do.

Tags: Preaching, leaders, preaching

1,000 Sermons Will Change Your Life

By Trevin Wax on Mar 26, 2020

Pastors, don’t underestimate the cumulative effect of your preaching. You are not dumping information into brains. You are forming the habits of your people, teaching them how to read and understand and apply the Bible for themselves.

Tags: Preaching, New life, preaching

Seeing Is Not Always Believing

By R. C. Sproul on Nov 29, 2022

One comment that Christian pastors sometimes hear from people they are counseling is that it would be easier for them to have a strong faith if they could see God doing the same kinds of miracles today as are recorded in the Bible.

Scripture: Joshua 7:6-9, John 11:45-53

Tags: Joshua, Believe, miracles, Courage, Seeing, faith and obedience, Faith, doubt  (view more)  (view less)

Preaching God’s Word Is Timeless (Find The Timeless Truth)

By Joe Hoagland on Jul 25, 2022

The Bible is wholly relevant to the modern person’s life sometimes it just takes some work for us to figure that out. The idea of making a “timeless truth” central to your sermon is important in communicating God’s Word in a postmodern age.

Tags: teaching, Preaching Help, Teaching God's Word, Pastoral Ministry, effective preaching, communication, preaching, Scripture, Communication, Teaching, Preaching  (view more)  (view less)

Doubt Busters

By Lance Witt on Jun 28, 2024

"One of the things I love about the Bible is how honest it is. The pages of Scripture don’t gloss over the flaws and sins and weaknesses of people. Even the great heroes of the faith are not airbrushed or photo-shopped to make them look superhuman."

Scripture: Psalm 77:4-14, Isaiah 40:26

Tags: Crisis Of Faith, doubt, Remember, Trust, God's Character, God's faithfulness, doubt and fear, Faith  (view more)  (view less)

Preach Better With SermonCentral And Accordance

By Rick Mansfield on Jan 23, 2021

SermonCentral and Accordance Bible Software make for a great sermon prep and preaching combination. Sermons and other content from SermonCentral can be imported into Accordance User Tools and User Notes for sermon prep, live preaching, or archived for later reference.

Tags: Accordance

Eight Indicators That Pastors Are Expected To Do Most Of The Ministry

By SermonCentral .com on Apr 21, 2021

Contrary to most of the indicators today, the Bible says the laity (saints) are to do the work of ministry. Most of the ministry should not be in the hands of pastors, but in the hands of the church members. Unfortunately, we often reverse the biblical truth. We expect ministry to be done by the pastors and staff. Here are eight indicators of that reality.

Scripture: Ephesians 4:11-12

Tags: High expectations, Laity, Church Health, attacking the pastor

Spiritual Loitering

By Lance Witt on Mar 29, 2023

Even though Easter was just a few days ago, it is likely that you have quickly moved on to the next “thing”. But I want to challenge you to not move on too quickly. I’m sure there are some stories and God moments from this past weekend that are worth lingering over. As pastors we need to do a better job with the discipline of “spiritual loitering”.

Scripture: Psalm 111:4, Psalm 143:5

Tags: Remember, inner peace, good work

6 Faith Qualities Every Leader Should Embody

By Charles Stone on Feb 22, 2021

Hebrews 11, one of the greatest chapters in all the Bible, offers leaders profound insight about faith that we must believe and embody to effectively lead. Every leader must lead with great faith. Those who have gone before us model what it means to lead with such faith.

Scripture: Job 38:1-21, Hebrews 11:1-40

Tags: Faith, Preaching, preaching

Five Things God Never Said

By Dr. Larry Moyer on Jan 1, 2025

Common sayings about God and salvation often distort the gospel. Exposing five popular misconceptions helps believers regain clarity, confidence, and grace in evangelism.

Scripture: Revelation 3:20, John 20:31, Ezekiel 3:18-19, John 6:44, Matthew 10:32-33  (view more)  (view less)

Tags: Evangelism, Witness, Outreach, Salvation, Gospel, Preaching, preaching, gospel clarity, Gospel Clarity, Misconceptions About God, Assurance Of Salvation, myth, Assurance of Salvation, Bible Influence, Salvation By Faith, evangelism, gospel  (view more)  (view less)