By Josh Read on Mar 9, 2026
The word "hope" has become church wallpaper. It's on coffee mugs in the lobby, printed across banners above the baptistry, and threaded through every worship set since 2015. Your congregation has heard it so many times it slides off them like rain off a windshield.
Here's the tension: the biblical word for hope has almost nothing in common with the sentiment we've domesticated it into. The Hebrew word "tiqvah" literally means "cord" or "rope", something you cling to when the ground gives way. The Greek "elpis" in Paul's letters is never wishful thinking. It's confident expectation aimed at a future only God can deliver.
This sermon outline is built for the Sunday you peel the bumper sticker off and show your congregation what hope actually costs and why it's the most defiant act a believer can perform.
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By Chris Surber on Apr 25, 2025
based on 12 ratings
| 36,541 views
Author Chris Surber suggests six avenues to handle the hurt and disappointment so common in pastoral ministry.
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By Philip Nation on Jan 8, 2025
based on 4 ratings
| 71,142 views
Philip Nation offers preaching tips for pastors guiding a congregation to and through the life transformed in Christ.
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By Chuck Warnock on Dec 15, 2022
based on 3 ratings
| 51,088 views
There are times in a pastor's life when the clarity of our call fades, discouragement clouds our memory, and we wonder, "Why did I ever want to be a pastor?"
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By Charles Stone on Nov 12, 2023
based on 2 ratings
| 20,873 views
Ask yourself which of these four weapons of mass distraction divert you the most from leading at your best.
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By David Whiting on Dec 23, 2021
based on 4 ratings
| 31,019 views
Pastors and church leaders often receive anonymous comments, mysteriously appearing in the church office,the offering plate, or the “comments” section of the Sunday communication card.A few years ago, I stopped reading them. They don’t even get passed onto me. Asa church leader, I recommend that you do the same thing.
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By Josh Read on Mar 11, 2026
Grace might be the most preached-on topic in the history of the church and the least understood. Every pastor has a grace sermon in their back pocket. The problem isn't that we preach it too rarely. The problem is that we've filed it under "God is nice to us" and moved on.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer identified this seventy years ago and named it precisely: cheap grace. Grace as doctrine, as principle, as system. Grace without discipleship, grace without the cross. Most congregations have heard enough grace sermons to believe God accepts them. Far fewer have heard one that made them uncomfortable.
This outline is for that second sermon. Not grace as comfort but grace as disruption. The kind that doesn't just forgive what you were but refuses to leave you there.
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By Rick Long on Mar 30, 2025
based on 10 ratings
| 25,181 views
Does preaching for life-change always produce a watered down message?
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By Trevin Wax on Mar 25, 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.
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By Paul David Tripp on Oct 19, 2025
based on 8 ratings
| 22,691 views
This will probably get me into trouble: I’m persuaded that there’s too much mediocrity in the church when it comes to pastors preparing and delivering their sermons.
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