Sermons on Close Encounter:

Joseph Shows Us God's Way To Cope With A Crisis Series

Contributed by Rick Crandall on Aug 20, 2020

*What should we do when a crisis comes? 1. Keep pursuing God's plan for our lives (vs. 18). 2. Keep growing in God's goodness (vs. 18-20). 3. Trust God to guide us forward (vs. 20-23). 4. Trust Christ to take care of us (vs. 21-25). 5. Do what God wants us to do (vs. 24-25).

Joseph Shows Us God's Way to Cope with a Crisis The Gospel of Matthew Matthew 1:18-25 Sermon by Rick Crandall Grayson Baptist Church - December 12, 2012 (Revised August 20, 2020) MESSAGE: *One of Dave Berry's favorite Christmas memories as a child was the annual Nativity Pageant at St. ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 1:18-25

Denomination: Baptist

The Guiding Light Of Fire - God Is Our Provider #3 Series

Contributed by Duane Wente on Aug 22, 2020

Just as God provided through the wilderness for the Israelites, God provides exactly what we need today.

Introduction The Lord Provides By SermonCentral Copied from Sermon Central You’ve probably heard the story about an elderly Christian lady, who lived next to an affirmed atheist. She didn’t have much as received a meager social security survivor’s benefit. Although, she had enough money only ...read more

Scripture: Exodus 13:20-22

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

Bring Your Requests To God Series

Contributed by David Owens on Aug 31, 2020

As we continue to discover the way that lament works, we discover that after turning to God, and bringing our complaints to God, the next step is to bring our requests to God. God wants to hear our bold requests.

A. The story is told about a little boy who liked to ask the blessing before his family’s meals. 1. One day, he asked to say the prayer and was given permission to say it. 2. His dad and mom and siblings bowed their heads and closed their eyes. 3. The little boy started the prayer, but then ...read more

Scripture: Philippians 4:6-7

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

The Greatest Sustainer Series

Contributed by Glenn Pease on Mar 15, 2021

Jesus has the whole universe in His hands, and if He should let go and cease to sustain it, it would collapse into a massive heap of rubble, and then fade into extinction.

Anne Graham Lotz in her book Just Give Me Jesus tells of her father Billy Graham being given a watch by a friend, and after some time it stopped working. His wife took it to a jewelry store to get it fixed, but they could not do it. She took it to several and they all said it could not be fixed. ...read more

God Pursues His Beloved

Contributed by Reuben Bredenhof on Mar 16, 2021

God wants to be known personally, intimately, and vitally. He wants us to look to him with deep affection, and to depend on him always, because we know him. So foster that true commitment to God: listening to him, speaking with him, and walking with him.

Say you’ve met that “special someone.” It’s one you’ve come to love, it’s the one you want to marry. Probably we all can picture this very human event: meeting someone, falling in love, becoming husband and wife. There’s a lot of joy in this great gift! But then something takes place that nobody ...read more

Scripture: Hosea 2:2-23, Ephesians 5:22-33, Hosea 2:14-20

Denomination: Presbyterian/Reformed

Break Up The Fallow Ground!

Contributed by Reuben Bredenhof on Mar 16, 2021

Getting baptized on your head must have an impact on your heart. If you’ve been baptized, God calls you to put off the old nature and its sinfulness, and to put on the new. There’s no salvation without a change of life, no redemption without repentance.

There once was a book-burning in the palace of Judah’s king. A scroll-burning actually, but the idea is the same. For the LORD told Jeremiah to take a scroll, write on it everything He’d said—and then to have that scroll read before the king. So that’s what Jeremiah did. He wrote down God’s words, ...read more

Scripture: Jeremiah 3:1-25, Jeremiah 4:1-4

Denomination: Presbyterian/Reformed

Seeking God's Face Series

Contributed by Glenn Pease on Mar 19, 2021

The heart of depression is when God's face is hidden, and the heart of joy is when God's face is shining upon you.

I heard a pastor tell of his experience on a plane. The stewardess was explaining that the parents were to be sure and put on their oxygen mask before they put them on their children. This seemed so selfish, and there was a natural resistance to the idea. It went against the grain of a ...read more

Scripture: 2 Chronicles 7:11-22

Proverbs Ideal Mother 2 Series

Contributed by Glenn Pease on Mar 19, 2021

Every mother has her ideals pictured for her in Prov. 31. It is not an easy picture to examine because it makes the mothers feel that they have fallen so far short.

Harry Houdini as a young 20 year old performer, still years away from fame, met an 18 year old singer named Wilhalmina Rohnes. She sat in the front row of his performance and he spilled a glass of colored liquid that spotted her dress. To make amends he got her to give him her measurements. He ...read more

Scripture: Proverbs 31:10-31

Christian Courtesy Series

Contributed by Glenn Pease on Mar 22, 2021

Paul could very well have another honor added to his impressive record. He could be considered the most courteous man in the New Testament, next to his Lord.

Timothy Eaton became the most successful business man in the history of Canada by the simple virtue of courtesy. Back in 1869, when he started his first store, he instituted a new policy. In those days a customer was almost compelled to buy something. He was coaxed and implored, and even bullied, ...read more

Scripture: Acts 22:1-11

Learning To Listen Series

Contributed by Glenn Pease on Mar 22, 2021

Listening to God's Word brings us into the kingdom, and it is by listening to it that we grow and become sanctified. That is why Jesus says to the churches in Revelation over and over, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear what the Spirit has to say to the churches."

Benjamin Franklin decided to take stock of him self one New Years, and try to figure out why he seemed to alienate people, and why he lost friends so easily. He discovered that one of his major flaws was that he was not willing to listen to others. He had all of the answers and was arrogant. ...read more

Scripture: Acts 22:1-22

Freedom To Change Series

Contributed by Glenn Pease on Mar 22, 2021

There is no book of the Bible more filled with change than Daniel. It contains 14 references to Hebrew words for change, which is more than any other book.

The War of 1812 is called the war nobody won. It was a very costly war for both United States and Britain, yet it was a war that accomplished nothing, and should never had been fought. In fact, the entire war was fought after the reason for it no longer existed. France and England were at war, ...read more

Scripture: Daniel 2:1-23

Church And State Series

Contributed by Glenn Pease on Mar 23, 2021

What separation does mean is that all true religious faith is a matter of free choice, and so no state power can ever be rightly used to enforce faith or any religious conviction.

Until every knee bows and every tongue confesses that Jesus Christ is Lord, the abuse of power will be a major cause of human suffering. When the country of Chad in Africa became independent in 1960 the Christian missionaries were delighted that the first President was a Baptist. Tambolboye was ...read more

Scripture: Galatians 5:1-15

God Is Love Series

Contributed by Glenn Pease on Mar 25, 2021

We are never nearer God than when we love, and we are never nearer to being what he wants us to be than when we love.

Tolstoy wrote a story called "Where Love Is, God Is." It is about an old cobbler named Martin who lived alone. One night as he read the story of Jesus visiting the Pharisee, and the poor welcome he received, he prayed that the Lord would visit him. In his sleep he heard a voice saying, ...read more

Scripture: 1 John 4:7-8

Labor And Leisure Series

Contributed by Glenn Pease on Mar 26, 2021

Jesus went about doing good, but He also stopped and got rest so He could feel good Himself. That is balance living, and that is why the workaholic is out of God's will.

Charlemagne founded great schools of learning even though he could not read nor write. Eliza Peters, an English woman, could also not read or write, but when she died she left her money to buy books for a medical school so that others could advance their learning. You do not have to know how to do ...read more

Scripture: Luke 6:1-11

Ruin Without Remedy Series

Contributed by Glenn Pease on Mar 27, 2021

The unforgivable sin is not a sin you can stumble into accidentally, or perform in ignorance. You can blaspheme God and Christ in ignorance not knowing what you are doing, but the unforgivable sin is a sin done with clear and certain knowledge.

A certain seer warned Caesar to be on guard against a great peril on the day of March which the Romans called Ides. When the day came and Caesar was on his way to the senate house he greeted the seer with a jest, and said, "Well, the Ides of March are come." "Aye," said the ...read more

Scripture: Mark 3:22-30