Sermon Central
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Jim Butcher
Contributing sermons since Jan 1, 2000
Newest Sermons
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A Solid Starting Point For Effective Prayer
Contributed on Apr 9, 2025
The beginning of the Lord's Prayer is the words "Our Father in heaven." This starts our prayer with the fact that we are asking for help. How does this phrase encourage us in that direction?
- A couple opening points for the sermon series as a whole. - First, the Lord’s Prayer is a good antidote to our limited prayer life. - Many of us have prayer lives that are largely limited to asking for stuff, whether it’s for ourselves or for others. Now, that's a good thing to do, but ...read more
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God Is Not Done With Israel Yet
Contributed on Mar 19, 2025
This passage gives us insights into one key scene where we find that God isn't done with Israel yet.
- It’s easy to read this passage vaguely. There are some nice phrases in there that you could use as pegs to hang a sermon on. One obvious one is the glory of God returning - it would be easy to write an inspiring sermon off that idea. - But there is another way to preach this passage and that is ...read more
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What Does It Mean That The Holy Spirit Has Been "poured Out"?
Contributed on Mar 10, 2025
God promised that He will "pour out" His Spirit upon the house of Israel. It's a rich and evocative phrase. What does that mean for Christians today?
A SIGNIFICANT PROBLEM: Today in America we often see a powerless Christianity. - We see a church in America that is by many measures in decline. - The numbers attending have been decreasing for many years. - We have many churches that are closing and many more that are on life support. - The ...read more
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When Things Look Hopeless
Contributed on Feb 26, 2025
We frequently look in other directions to try to see spiritual transformation for our churches. Our only hope is a move of the Spirit, who can bring the dead to life.
DRY BONES: There are moments that seem hopeless. - Ezekiel 37:1-3a. - The immediate context here is the life of Israel. Things had become hopeless for them. - Their disobedience had led them to a place of despair and defeat. As they looked at their ability to stand up to their enemies, the army ...read more
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When God Is Not Doing It For Us
Contributed on Feb 20, 2025
God tells Israel that He is not doing this for their sakes but for the sake of His name. What can we learn from that?
THE PROBLEM: God’s name is being profaned among the nations because of God’s people. - Ezekiel 36:22 (“My holy name, which you have profaned among nations”), 23 (“My great name, which has been profaned among the nations”). - The Hebrew word for “profane” here can also mean “defile, pollute, ...read more
Newest Sermon Series
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How You Should Pray: Embracing The Lord's Prayer
Contributed on Apr 9, 2025
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Ezekiel
Contributed on Mar 11, 2024
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Re-Creation
Contributed on Jan 24, 2024
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The Greatest Gospel Explanation Ever
Contributed on Nov 7, 2023
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How To Disagree
Contributed on Sep 15, 2023
Newest Sermon Illustrations
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Before The Water
Contributed on Nov 15, 2018
Scott Harrison, founder of charity:water, shares this story: "I recently had the chance to visit charity:water's very first project. It was a well that we had funded on my thirty-first birthday and then built in the IDP camp of Bobi, Uganda. "The sprawling camp of 31,000 people had cleared out, ...read more
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It’s Only A White Collar Crime?
Contributed on Oct 16, 2018
C.S. Lewis died in 1963, but a comment in one of his writings speaks directly to the current opioid crisis. Lewis wrote: “The greatest evil is not now done in those sordid ‘dens of crime’ that Dickens loved to paint. It is not done even in concentration camps and labour camps. In those we see its ...read more
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Rescue
Contributed on Oct 16, 2018
I am really struck by the lyrics of Lauren Daigle’s recent song “Rescue.” The singer is speaking from God’s perspective and says: “I hear the whisper underneath your breath I hear you whisper, you have nothing left I will send out an army to find you In the middle of the darkest night It’s true, ...read more
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What Khris Davis Did That No One Has Ever Done Before
Contributed on Oct 16, 2018
Khris Davis is an outfielder for the Oakland Athletics in the majors. In 2015, he batted .247 for the year. In 2016, he batted .247 for the year. In 2017, he batted .247 for the year. And during the last season, in 2018, he batted . . . , you guessed it, .247 for the year. He went 0-for-2 in ...read more
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What God Told Me At 4 A.m. In Guangzhou, China
Contributed on Apr 13, 2018
Note: this story is told by me - Jim Butcher of Madison WV. I want to tell you a story about an insight that God gave me into John 14:1-4, the passage where Jesus speaks of going to prepare a place for us. This is the story of something that happened to me several years ago while I was in ...read more