In Preaching Articles: "Justified By Faith"

6 Must-Have Qualities You Should Find In Any Good Preacher

By Ben Mandrell on Aug 27, 2025

God has called preachers to be faithful rather than successful. How can we be sure we are staying true to the call? What makes a faithful preacher?

Scripture: Luke 1:46-56

Tags: Study, Preaching, ancient, teach, challenge, preaching  (view more)  (view less)

Are Small Churches Less Fruitful?

By SermonCentral .com on Sep 25, 2022

Does the size of a church always speak of its faithfulness?

Scripture: John 15:5, Matthew 7:20, Matthew 12:33-34, Luke 3:9-14, Luke 3:8, Matthew 13:23  (view more)  (view less)

Tags: Ministry, Fruit, Faithfulness, Trusting God, Church Growth, Church size, Love One Another, ministry  (view more)  (view less)

10 Sacred Cows That Need To Be Tipped

By Jared Moore on Sep 6, 2024

From entertainment-driven sermons to numbers-obsessed ministry, this article challenges common church practices that subtly undermine biblical faithfulness.

Scripture: John 21:20-22, Matthew 28:18-20, John 4:23-24, 1 Corinthians 1:21, Galatians 1:10  (view more)  (view less)

Tags: Preaching, Faithfulness, Method, church leadership, preaching, Church Leadership, Preaching Ministry  (view more)  (view less)

How To Pastor An Evangelistic Church

By Ed Stetzer on Jan 23, 2021

Pastors, do you know what an"evangelistic church" looks like? Are you even taking the time to share the gospel?

Scripture: Ephesians 4:10, 1 Corinthians 11:1

Tags: Evangelism, leadership, challenge, Sharing Your Faith, Setting an example, evangelism, Leadership  (view more)  (view less)

Jesus Didn’t Wake Up This Morning Depressed By The Size Of Your Church

By Karl Vaters on Apr 17, 2022

Jesus knows what happened and didn’t happen in church last Sunday.

Tags: Depression, Marriage Faithfulness, Church Attendance, God's perspective, e, church attendance  (view more)  (view less)

No One Follows Their Heart

By Jon Bloom on Oct 7, 2022

"No one actually follows their heart. I know that sounds odd, given the prevalence of our cultural creed to "follow your heart." But if we think carefully about what the "heart" really is and how it functions, we will see that this creed doesn’t make sense, and why it ends up confusing and misleading people."

Scripture: Matthew 13:44, Proverbs 3:5-6, Matthew 6:21, Ephesians 1:18, Hebrews 12:2, Matthew 22:37-39, Psalm 97:10  (view more)  (view less)

Tags: Sin, Deceitful, Walking by Faith, fixing eyes on Jesus, Follow Your Heart  (view more)  (view less)

Don’t Pursue Feelings. Pursue Christ.

By Joe Thorn on Jul 11, 2022

One danger is emotionalism, in which we allow our feelings to interpret our circumstances and form our thoughts about God. This is putting feelings before faith. The other danger is a kind of stoicism, where faith is rooted in theology but void of affection. This tendency removes feelings from faith altogether. While it is true that our emotions should not lead our theology, it is vital to our faith that theology lead to a deep experience of our triune God.

Scripture: 1 Peter 5:7, Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, Psalm 34:18, Romans 8:15, Psalm 34:4  (view more)  (view less)

Tags: Emotions, Theology, Stoicism, Feelings, Doctrine to Doxology  (view more)  (view less)

9 Powerful Ways To Introduce Your Sermon

By H.b. Charles, Jr. on May 9, 2025

Every athlete wants to start strong; why should your work be any different?

Scripture: John 2:1-11, Matthew 5:1-12, Matthew 5:44-45, Luke 12:32-33, Psalm 23:4, Luke 2:13-14, Habakkuk 2:1-4, Mark 11:15-17, John 4:1-15, Luke 7:11-17, Acts 17:22-33  (view more)  (view less)

Tags: Love, Emotions, Preaching, Introduction, Faithful, effective, Gate, post, Commit, preaching, love  (view more)  (view less)

When (And Why) To Shake Off The Dust And Move On

By Ben Sternke on Aug 14, 2020

We can too easily normalize fruitlessness in the name of faithfulness. There's a big difference.

Tags: Discipleship, Missions, Church Growth, church planting, Evangelism The Lost  (view more)  (view less)

What's The Big Idea Behind Your Sermon?

By Peter Mead on Dec 29, 2025

Ideas change lives. People give themselves to ideas. And Christianity is a content-based faith

Tags: Preaching, preaching

Honor Your Grandchildren’s Father And Mother

By Nancy Wilson on Jul 5, 2024

As grandmothers, we are to do more than simply cheer for our children and grandchildren and buy them Christmas jammies (though we should certainly do those things and more). Our foremost duty is to fear the Lord and obey him every day of our life.

Scripture: Psalm 103:7, 2 Timothy 1:5

Tags: family, parenting, Grandparents, GRANDCHILDREN, Prayer for Others, Family Relationships, future generations, Faithful Prayer  (view more)  (view less)

The Radical Experiment: One Year To A Church Turned Upside Down

By David Platt on Jan 13, 2025

David Platt dares pastors and their congregations to take a leap of faith and test the claims contained in the gospel.

Scripture: Matthew 9:35-38

Tags: Faith, Outreach, Gospel, Missions, Prayer, radical, Evangelism Urgency, Gospel obedience, gospel, Gospel Obedience  (view more)  (view less)

Good Sermons Start With Listening

By Mary Hinkle Shore on Jan 16, 2024

Faithful sermons are born not from noise or haste, but from careful listening to Scripture, people, and language itself.

Scripture: John 12:20-33, James 1:19, Luke 24:27, Nehemiah 8:8, Colossians 4:6  (view more)  (view less)

Tags: Preaching, Listen, BIBLICAL TEACHING, preaching, Biblical Teaching  (view more)  (view less)

3 Ways To Defeat Leadership Discouragement

By Charles Stone on Dec 10, 2023

Discouragement comes with the territory for ministry leaders. Unmet goals, putting out fires, staff issues, displeasing people, and general tiredness all contribute to discouragement. When it weighs us down, how can we dig out? The life of the prophet Elijah gives us hope.

Tags: Perseverance, leadership, Discouragement, Depression, Elijah's faith, Pastoral Ministry, Elijah's Depression, Fighting for Joy, Leadership  (view more)  (view less)

Absorbing Correction: A Mark Of A Mature Man

By Brandon Cox on Dec 12, 2023

"If you want to grow up on the inside, then you have to get more comfortable with correction."

Scripture: Job 5:17-18

Tags: Marriage, leadership, Rebuke, CORRECTION, Humility and Pride, Growing in Faith, Taking Feedback, Receiving Correction, Leadership  (view more)  (view less)