Sermons on Fresh Encounter:

Kingdom Keys - Mark Series

Contributed by Robert Butler on Jan 12, 2024

Fear and confusion are normal when first encountering the risen Jesus. It's why there are so many who hear the word, come in contact with the power of God and retreat. It doesn’t take brilliance to understand God’s message to humanity after hearing the facts. It takes courage.

So maybe you’ve heard it said, ‘read your bible’ so you tried and failed. Our hope as leaders is that all of us will pick up God’s word and come to understand the true nature of God. After all, the bible is God’s Word curated over centuries detailing His nature, His will, the meaning of life and ...read more

Scripture: Mark 5:33, Mark 5:36, Mark 9:5-7, Mark 9:6, Mark 16:8, Mark 5:32-36  (view more)  (view less)

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

A Tale Of Two Kings

Contributed by David Owens on Dec 26, 2022

In the story of the birth of Jesus, we encounter the clash of two kings, both called the King of the Jews. In Jesus and Herod we find two opposite ways to live, and come to understand the real meaning of life. Hopefully all of us will choose to follow King Jesus rather than King Herod.

Introduction: A. Today I want to begin by talking about The Scrooge and The Grinch. 1. Personally, I have always enjoyed the story of the Grinch more than the story of the Scrooge, probably because of the humor of the Grinch and his little dog dressed up like a reindeer. a. The Grinch also has a ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 2:1-12, Micah 5:2, Galatians 3:26-27

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

"the Five Porches Of Misery."

Contributed by Dr. Jerry Hulse on Mar 29, 2025

This sermon focuses on how we can prepare ourselves to face life’s various challenges and transform them into opportunities for spiritual growth. Many of us would struggle to thrive in our current situations if we had encountered them before reaching the necessary level of maturity in our faith.

SRIPTURUAL REFERENCES (John 5:1-4) (1) "After this there was a feast of the Jews; and Jesus went up to Jerusalem." (2) "Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue ...read more

Scripture: John 5:1-4, John 5:5-6, John 5:7-9

Denomination: Pentecostal

Trade Secrets: Trading Old For New Youth Sermon

Contributed by Youth Sermons on Aug 13, 2024

In the kingdom of God, Jesus has a trade secret too. It's about trading our old selves for new ones. This trade happens when we encounter God's love and follow Jesus on his way of love. Along this path, we trade our mindset of obligation for a mindset of opportunity.

Hey guys! Today we're going to talk about something super cool. You know how companies have these things called trade secrets that give them an edge over their competitors? Well, Jesus has a trade secret too. It's all about trading our old selves for new ones. This trade happens when we experience ...read more

Scripture: Ephesians 4:25-32, Ephesians 5:1-2, Ephesians 4:22-24

Topics: Spiritual Transformation, Habit Change, New Life, Faith Renewal

3 Things You Gotta Know If You Are Gonna Grow

Contributed by Ty Tamasaka on Dec 11, 2019

In this message, we are going to learn three important things believers should know (from Philippians) if we are going to grow and make a difference in our world.

3 Things You Gotta Know if You’re Gonna Grow TURN IN YOUR BIBLE TO PHILIPPIANS 2. THIS MORNING WE ARE CONTINUING OUR STUDY THROUGH THE BOOK OF PHILIPPIANS. How many of you are WWE fans? You are NOT the Star of the Show! ARE THERE ANY WWE FANS IN HERE THIS MORNING? A FEW YEARS AGO, MY ...read more

Denomination: Other

Second Chance Series

Contributed by Rick Stacy on Mar 24, 2003

3rd of 6 In John 4, we meet a woman at Samaria. She is doing a chore she’s probably done every day of her life—gathering water from the local well. But on this day her life is transformed because she encounters Jesus. It all starts with an invitation fro

Free Ice Water The depression took the fun out of 1932. It was no time to go into business. But Ted and Dorothy Husted bought the little drug store in their town. The little village of Wall, South Dakota was barely surviving. Grasshoppers had eaten all the crops in the region. It was a dust bowl ...read more

Scripture: John 4:1-32

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

When God Asks You To Do Something You Do Not Understand Series

Contributed by Alan Tison on Dec 5, 2006

Faith is a difficult subject for beleivers, it becames even more difficult when God asks us to do something we do not understand. We learn several practical lessons from the Joshua’s encounter at Jericho which will help us when God asks us do something we

Introduction: A man was quiet a bit overweight, he had tried several ways to lose the weight, but had no success. Finally he decided to visit his minister and ask him if he had any solutions to his weight problem. The minister said he had just the solution. The man was to go home and wait for a ...read more

Scripture: Joshua 6:1-27

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

Extreme Makeover – Faith Edition

Contributed by Tim Vamosi on Jan 7, 2011

If you say you’ve encountered Jesus and there hasn’t been some kind of major redirection in your life – something that makes you stand in contrast to the world and culture in which we live – you haven’t really met him yet.

"Extreme Makeover -- Faith Edition" James 1:19-27 - start message wearing two different kinds of shoes. OPEN: How many people are familiar with the show Extreme Makeover? The most popular version of this show was actually a spin-off of the original version. The version most familiar is ...read more

Scripture: James 1:19-27

Denomination: Independent/Bible

A Pilgrims Thanksgiving

Contributed by Mark Aarssen on Nov 16, 2011

For many of us today our world is a strange place that we find hard to navigate through just as if we were Pilgrims. In many ways it’s as if we have just landed and have no idea of where we are. With all the strange things we encounter it is hard to rec

A Pilgrims Thanksgiving Luke 24:1-35 A famous Presbyterian used the word Pilgrim in one of his movies and it became part of American movie legend. That movie legend was Marion Robert Morrison better known to you and me as John Wayne. “I know I'm gonna use good judgement. I haven't lost ...read more

Scripture: Luke 24:1-35

Denomination: Presbyterian/Reformed

We Must Rely On God Series

Contributed by T.j. Conwell on Aug 10, 2014

As Jesus encounters more people one thing becomes perfectly clear: They (and we) must rely fully on Him to provide everything we need. We cannot do it alone, nor should we ever think we can. This is sinful, and where He teaches us to turn from!

We Must Rely on God Mark 8:1-26 Introduction - Jesus is demonstrated in this book as a “servant” -- Key verse: Mark 10:45, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” - IMP: What ...read more

Scripture: Mark 8:1-26

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Nine Errors To Avoid In Our Thinking- Matt. 19:16-30

Contributed by Paul Fritz on Sep 21, 2002

Many people are unaware of terrible consequences of wrong thinking. One man told me, "I haven’t committed any crimes and I go to church and try to follow the golden rule therefore God can’t think I am that bad." He reminded me of the poignant encounter th

Eight Errors to Avoid - Matt. 19:16-30 Introduction:Elisabeth Elliot, at Urbana 76, told of her brother Thomas Howard. Their mother let him play with paper bags she’d saved if he put them away afterwards. One day she walked into the kitchen to find them strewn all over the floor. Tom was out at ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 19:16-30

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Why Would We Want To Settle For Less Than The Best?

Contributed by Chad Bolfa on Apr 14, 2009

And so today I want us to see how sometimes we do indeed settle for less the best. I want to know, given where we are in life and the struggles we encounter, how we could ever allow ourselves to settle for anything less than the best – anything less than

Why Would We want to Settle for less than the Best? Am service March 8th 2009 Hebrews 1:1-4 Introduction The other day someone told me about the movie “City of Angels?” In the movie, an angel longs to become human so that he can experience the relationship between a man and a woman. My thought as I ...read more

Scripture: Hebrews 1:1-4

Denomination: Baptist

Harassed And Helpless Series

Contributed by Tom Fuller on Nov 8, 2009

How many times do we go through our lives thinking we have it all together, only to encounter a crisis that blows us away? Life is a lot more tenuous that we like to think. But into that crisis comes One who says "do not fear, only believe." Are you willi

Think for a moment about a time of crisis on your life—a time when something significant went wrong and you really didn’t know how you were going to come out of it whole. It might be violence, sickness, accident, financial burden, relationship gone very bad—something that tore a hole in your ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 9:18-38

Denomination: Calvary Chapel

Rise And Rebuild Series

Contributed by Robert Leroe on Feb 4, 2013

We may have no walls to repair, yet many of us have faced the challenge of restoring a ruined life. Whatever we may encounter, we can find in Nehemiah’s quest the confidence to handle adversity with grace. We can expect God to act--to be present when tr

In the Army, we say that there are 3 kinds of people… -Those who make things happen; -Those who watch things happen; -Those who wonder, “What happened?” Nehemiah was a leader who--by God’s grace--made things happen. We may have no walls to repair, yet many of us have faced ...read more

Scripture: Nehemiah 2:1-20

Denomination: Congregational

Not In My House!

Contributed by Wayne Lawson on Mar 10, 2015

I have often wondered just what Jesus would have seen that day that caused so much righteous anger to rise up within him? Surely these Moneychangers and Shopkeepers were no more frustrating to Jesus than so many of the religious leaders he had encountered throughout His ministry!

TITLE: NOT IN MY HOUSE! SCRIPTURE: ST. MATTHEW 21:10-14 / I PETER 4:17 We have entered into our Third Sunday of Lenten season and preaching around the central theme – “MARCHING TOWARDS CALVARY.” When I read this text a few weeks ago in preparation of this morning’s ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 21:10-14

Denomination: Baptist