Sermons on Pencils:

The Message Of Jesus

Contributed by Rodney Buchanan on Nov 16, 2009

1. Salvation is more than just me being forgiven for my sins. 2. The goal of the Christian life is not just salvation, but transformation. 3. We are transformed in order to be God’s transforming agents in the world.

Several years ago, Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks did a comedy skit called “The 2013 Year Old Man”. In the skit, Reiner interviews Brooks, who is the old gentleman who has lived for over 2000 years. At one point, Reiner asks the old man, “Did you always believe in the Lord?” Brooks replied: “No. ...read more

Scripture: Luke 4:14-21

Denomination: Methodist

This Is A Hard Saying

Contributed by Bill Butsko on Aug 20, 2009

The Word of God can be understood when we let the Holy Spirit speak to us through faith.

Text: “Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this, said, ‘This is a hard saying; who can understand it?’” (John 6:60). Has anyone ever told you something that was really hard to believe? When we were very young, we usually believed whatever people told us because we didn’t think they ...read more

Scripture: John 6:56-69

Denomination: Christian Church

Turtle Top Theology Series

Contributed by Jeff Strite on Aug 23, 2009

Is there anything wrong with wanting to be great?

OPEN: One of Dr. Seuss’s more famous poem is called “Yertle the Turtle” “ On a far away island of Salamasond, Yertle the turtle was king of the pond. A nice little pond. It was clean. It was neat. The water was warm, there was plenty to eat. Until - one day - the king of them all decided the ...read more

Scripture: Luke 9:46-50

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

Striving To Be A Church Of Christ

Contributed by David Owens on Sep 8, 2009

Principles to insure that we are indeed a church that belongs to Jesus.

Introduction: A. I love the old story told of the man who was shipwrecked on a beautiful, deserted South Pacific island. 1. Years later, he was discovered by a passing a navy ship. 2. Upon their arrival at the shore they were met by the shipwreck survivor. He said, “I’m so glad you’re here! I’ve ...read more

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

What Do You See When You Pray? Series

Contributed by Chuck Debardeleben on Dec 18, 2007

What if you didn’t have to force yourself to pray because you were convinced that prayer unleashes the power of God?

WHAT DO YOU SEE WHEN YOU PRAY? 1 KINGS 18:38-46 Let me as you a question that might seem contradictory, “What do you see when you pray?” As a camp counselor for a summer I was given supervision of the youngest campers for the week. Ever experienced living with six and seven year olds in a cabin ...read more

Scripture: 1 Kings 18:38-46

Denomination: Presbyterian/Reformed

It Is Well With My Soul Series

Contributed by Victor Yap on Dec 20, 2007

Judges, Pt. 5

IT IS WELL WITH MY SOUL (RUTH 1:14-18) The hymn “It is Well with My Soul” was written by Horatio Spafford after a series of disasters struck his family. Spafford, a successful businessman and a close friend of the evangelist D.L. Moody, lost his only son at about the same time the Chicago fire in ...read more

Scripture: Ruth 1:14-18

Denomination: Independent/Bible

Pure And Holy Son Of God Series

Contributed by Victor Yap on Dec 26, 2007

Stations of the Cross, Pt. 6

PURE AND HOLY SON OF GOD (MATTTHEW 27:39-44, LUKE 23:39-44) Three pastors went to the pastor's convention and were all sharing one room. The first pastor said, “Let's confess our secret vices one to another. I'll start - my secret vice is I just love to gamble. When I go out of town, ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 27:39-44

Denomination: Independent/Bible

Greater Love

Contributed by Jim Heidebrecht on Jun 21, 2007

Delivered at Hopewell on Memorial Day weekend. It is important to remember the Service, Sacrifice, and Love of our Heroes, the greatest of which is Jesus Christ!

GREATER LOVE (John 15:13) Intro: Memorial day – about remembering Sometimes, we are not so good at remembering things: 3 sisters, getting up in age: All in the living room in the evening. Gerty got up to go to bed, halfway upstairs she stopped and asked, was I going up, or going down? Mabel ...read more

Scripture: John 15:13

Denomination: Baptist

One Heart And Mind

Contributed by Steve Shepherd on Jul 9, 2007

Let’s think about what contributed to their unity of heart and mind. 1- They were unselfish 2- They were witnesses 3- They were gracious

INTRO.- ILL.- Rotterdam, New York—A young bride who got into an argument with her husband of a few hours ran him down with a car and killed him on the way home from the wedding reception, authorities said. The county district attorney said 21-year-old Joan Kenison drove over her 23-year-old ...read more

Scripture: Acts 4:32-35

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

Shift Family

Contributed by Tim Hedberg on Dec 10, 2007

God is with us always.

It doesn’t take long for us to learn of God’s desire of the first couple in the Bible. In the first chapter of Genesis, v. 27, the text tells us that God created "male and female." And in the following verse, v. 28 we read “God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number, ...read more

Scripture: Psalm 78:1-72

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

What Were You Expecting?

Contributed by Michael Hollinger on Feb 22, 2007

We Need to Expect God everywhere

Title: What were you expecting? Text: Luke 1.5-25 MP: We need to expect God everywhere. Intro: Sadly, I just couldn’t find this story on the Internet, but I remember one of those “human interest” news stories from a few years back. It seems that a tourist from somewhere in Eastern Europe had ...read more

Scripture: Luke 1:5-25

Denomination: Baptist

The Values Of The Person God Prospers Series

Contributed by Jason Pettibone on May 14, 2007

Observations of the kind of values that Jesus outlines in the Beatitudes. (Heavily in debt to Dallas Willard for seminal thoughts!)

Last week, I talked about the need for a transformed heart, made alive by God’s Spirit. If our desire is to please God and enjoy His blessings, our heart must be renewed daily, and we must discipline our hearts so they are undivided! We need not be ‘miserable Christians’ frustrated by the gap ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 5:3-12

Denomination: Assembly Of God

Our Great Confession

Contributed by Mark Hall on Feb 24, 2013

Overcoming spiritual deception by confessing Christ

OUR GREATEST CONFESSION In order to prepare you for this message, I want to first remind you that last Sunday we found that by comparing God’s word with this generation we could easily see that spiritual deception and spiritual blindness is rampant in America and the world. In addition, we ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 16:13-17

Denomination: Independent/Bible

Desire - Only Met In Jesus Series

Contributed by Steven Simala Grant on Feb 26, 2013

The deepest desires of our hearts are meant to be met as we experience God's glory, but fulfillment of our desires has often been hijacked by cheap imitations provided by our culture.

In preparation for today’s message, continuing our exploration of the glory of God, I read a sermon by CS Lewis entitled “The Weight of Glory”. And it launched me down a path that I am going to attempt to describe, and hope that you might accompany me on, this morning. Now, the ...read more

Scripture: John 1:14

Denomination: Baptist

The Man At The Pool

Contributed by Gordon Curley on Nov 10, 2010

Jesus meets a lame mans physical & spiritual needs (PowerPoint slides for this talk are available on request - email: gcurley@gcurley.info)

The man at the Pool. Reading: John chapter 5 verses 1-16. Ill: • In the year 1598 there was an explorer by the name of “Guitan”; • He was famous for his daring adventures and grand discoveries. • One day Guitan heard about a cave full of treasure in a far away island. • He got hold of a map and ...read more

Scripture: John 5:1-15

Denomination: Brethren