In Preaching Articles: "Real Love"

Are Small Churches Less Fruitful?

By SermonCentral .com on Sep 26, 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)

The Central Message Of The Church Is Reconciliation

By Jeff K. Clarke on Oct 10, 2022

“The essence of forgiveness is absorbing pain instead of giving it.” – Timothy Keller

Scripture: Romans 5:8, 2 Corinthians 5:18-19

Tags: Forgiveness, Gospel, Reconciliation, God's Love, forgive, Forgiveness in Jesus, gospel proclamation, The Church's Message, gospel  (view more)  (view less)

How To Resolve Most Relational Conflict

By Jon Bloom on Nov 5, 2022

"Few things sap more of our joy, are as emotionally demanding and mentally distracting, as relational conflict. And few things wreak as much havoc and destruction on lives as relational conflict. And so much of it is avoidable."

Scripture: Matthew 10:34-36, James 4:1, Matthew 18:21-35, 1 Peter 5:6, Philippians 2:14-15  (view more)  (view less)

Tags: Peace, Humility, conflict, resolving conflict, Love Others, Dealing with Conflicts, selfish ambition, Humility and Pride  (view more)  (view less)

The Most Significant Thing A Pastor Will Ever Do

By Joe Mckeever on Jul 9, 2024

The most valuable ministry thing you have done just may be the time you stopped to encourage a homeless man and bought him lunch.

Scripture: 2 Corinthians 5:7, 1 Corinthians 13:1-13, 1 Corinthians 4:3-4

Tags: Faithfulness, priorities, Servanthood, Christian Love, Godly Leaders, pastoral leadership, servant leadership, church leadership  (view more)  (view less)

Why Kids Need Exegetical Bible Teaching For The Long Haul

By Cameron Cole on Nov 15, 2022

"Preparing kids to face the real world on their own is scary and daunting. There are only so many things we can do and there are no guarantees. Within the realm of things, we can control resides the teaching of God’s word."

Scripture: 2 Timothy 3:16

Tags: Discipleship, teach, parenting, Equip, parenthood, Youth Ministry, guard the truth, child training  (view more)  (view less)

When A Private Apology Is Not Enough

By Joe Mckeever on Jul 15, 2022

"Nothing is so lovely and so welcome and so healing in a church as for a member to go before the congregation and admit to his/her destructive behavior and ask for forgiveness."

Tags: Humility, Reconciliation, repentance, restitution, Confession of Sin, church ministry, Apology, Making things right, Admitting Guilt, Repentance  (view more)  (view less)

The Critical Relationship Between Pastor And Worship Leader

By Chuck Fromm on Mar 4, 2020

Worship Leader magazine editor Chuck Fromm discusses the key imperative in a pastor establishing a meaningful relationship with his/her worship leader and team.

Scripture: Mark 3:25

Tags: relationships, fiery furnace, Worship General, love your enemies, Service, Church, Worship, Preaching, pastor, staff  (view more)  (view less)

These Six Questions Reveal How Well You Are Engaged In Your Neighborhood

By Karina Kreminski on Jun 3, 2024

"What does it look like to keep ourselves accountable to joining with God on his mission in our neighborhood?"

Tags: Outreach, neighborhood, reaching the lost, community outreach, Inviting others, open to others, Reaching out, Loving the lost  (view more)  (view less)

Has The Church Lost Its Passion?

By Jim Morgan on Mar 18, 2021

Passion is what we can’t keep inside. It spills over and can’t be contained. We love our kids – we can’t help but talk about them. We love our favorite sports teams – we talk about them first thing Monday morning at the water cooler. Christians love God more than anything else – He should constantly be on the tips of our tongues. Our passion for the Lord should be evident to all those around us. “Private Christian” should be an oxymoron – our faith should pour out through every fiber of our being.

Tags: Discipleship, passion, social justice, Sharing Your Faith

Christmas: Not A Time For Inventing Twists On The Age-Old Story

By Joe Mckeever on Dec 14, 2024

Tell it with gusto and love. Tell the story of the birth of Jesus with all the excitement of someone hearing it for the first time. Tell the story without detouring into theories and guesses and myths and controversies.

Scripture: Luke 2:11

Tags: Christmas, Simplicity, storytelling, Christmas Advent

Is The Body Of Christ In Trouble?

By Barry O. Johnson on Sep 12, 2024

Barry Johnson offers some helpful insights into the state of the Church in America, and offers a loving call for pastors to take bold steps of faith wherever God has planted them.

Tags: Gospel, Truth, Preaching, Body of Christ, gospel, preaching  (view more)  (view less)

3 Reasons Good Preaching Is As Important As Ever

By Joe Hoagland on Jul 28, 2022

People love to tell you that preaching is irrelevant in this day and age. But contrary to this kind of thinking, good preaching does remain important. In fact, preaching remains as important as it has ever been.

Tags: Communication, Preaching, Teaching God's Word, Pastoral Ministry, faithful preaching, Value of Preaching, Modern Age, Busy Culture, Shepherd the Flock, communication, preaching  (view more)  (view less)

Five Steps To Respond To A Hurtful And Hateful Email

By SermonCentral .com on Jul 7, 2022

“You have no business being the pastor of our church. All you are interested in is getting your own way and changing all the good things we have going. People are saying you should be fired. I agree with them.”

Scripture: Proverbs 15:1

Tags: Perseverance, leadership, conflict, Criticism, loving people, pastoral leadership, church ministry, Difficult People, Facing Controversy, criticism, Leadership  (view more)  (view less)

Those Frustrating Times With Church Members

By Joe Mckeever on Dec 14, 2023

"Any pastor can tell you about it. Even when you do your best to serve God by ministering to His people, some church members are not going to forgive you. You didn’t do it their way, weren’t there when they called, didn’t jump at their bark." So how do you handle these kinds of situations?

Tags: conflict, pastoral leadership, church membership, Pastoral Ministry, church ministry, ministry struggles, Difficult People, Love like Christ  (view more)  (view less)

Legalism And Preaching

By Peter Mead on Feb 4, 2021

Defining legalism carefully is vitally important. It is important for each follower of Christ. It is a serious business to discount a restriction as legalism when it actually is displeasing to the One who loved us and gave Himself for us.

Tags: obedience, Preaching, Legalism