Sermons on Purpose For Church:

Celebrating And Embracing God's People

Contributed by Jim Kane on May 25, 2004

Our church and our faith is about people… and God.

This morning I begin by acknowledging two mothers who were and have been very important shapers and influencers of my life. The first is my Grandmother Kane. Though she has been dead for over 3 decades, her influence, especially concerning her deep and long-lasting faith and deep and legendary ...read more

Scripture: Psalm 8:1-9

Denomination: Church Of God

Leave The Past In The Past

Contributed by Kevin Mullins on May 27, 2004

From Imitators to Instigators: Describing the need for agents of change in the local church

Leave the Past in the Past: From Imitation to Instigation Jeremiah 29:11-14a Talk about Big Spring- How things change— Change is hard thing for us to deal with- I listen to a lot of talk radio- I enjoy it- one of the prevailing themes on talk radio as people call in - the way things used ...read more

Scripture: Jeremiah 29:11-14

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Shades State Park

Contributed by Donald Jewell on May 28, 2004

How to encourage

On Monday, Sue and I backpacked two and a quarter mile into Shades State Park, and spent the night completely alone. It took us about an hour and a half to hike in. The reason for that is, with the rain we have had, and all of the calls I have been getting from churches, camping has had to go on ...read more

Scripture: John 14:10-17

Denomination: Wesleyan

Never The Same Again

Contributed by Kevin Mullins on Jun 3, 2004

God is intent on His church being a church of change and when we are not obedient he will accomplish that change by any means necessary

Never The Same Again Acts 15:4-19 Read the text--I want to talk to you one more time about change-- Specifically about this idea of our ability to relate to and engage the culture that we are a part of— As far as I can see it there are a couple of kinds of churches- Book of Revelation does a ...read more

Scripture: Acts 15:6-19, 1 Kings 19:9-15

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Majoring In The Minors Series

Contributed by Rich Dunbar on Apr 6, 2005

This message looks at the problem in Acts 11:1-18 of those in the early church focusing on the wrong aspects of what took place there.

Sometimes we as Christians can get all bent out of shape over the smallest, most insignificant things. You might think that it has something to do with today’s “drive thru” culture but you would be wrong. In fact, today we will see that it goes all the way back to the early Church. That is why I ...read more

Scripture: Acts 11:1-18

Denomination: Baptist

Who I Already Am In Christ

Contributed by Jim Butcher on Apr 6, 2005

This sermon highlights 7 things that Christ has already done for us.

Opening Story: Many of you are familiar with the story of “The Lion King.” You might remember when Simba couldn’t decide whether or not he should return to the Pride Lands. He has some heavy baggage he has carried, including a tremendous guilt about his father’s death. As Simba was growing up ...read more

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 1:1-9

Denomination: Baptist

42 Leads To 47

Contributed by Tim Zukas on Apr 17, 2005

A healthy church will be a growing church

During Superbowl XXXVII, FedEx ran a commercial that spoofed the movie Castaway. You probably remember the movie. Tom Hanks plays a FedEx worker whose company plane went down, stranding him on a desert island for years. The Hanks character was assigned the task of looking after a particular package ...read more

Scripture: Acts 2:42-47

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

A Big Gospel Heart Series

Contributed by Rev. Matthew Parker on Apr 17, 2005

We are accepted by God because of what Christ Jesus did for us on the cross. We are called, in turn, to extend that acceptance and welcome to all those from all over the world who fill our community.

A Big Gospel Heart One Sunday a children’s program leader noticed a little girl standing outside the room, looking in with great eagerness at the fun the other children were having. The leader went outside and invited the little girl inside. "They’ll all laugh at me." "Why do you think that ...read more

Scripture: John 4:4-24

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Depots Of Development Series

Contributed by Rich Dunbar on Apr 19, 2005

This sermon follows the progression of Acts 11:19-26 and identifies 10 things we should be aware of today. I used train illustrations with the 10 words.

There are 10 stops along the tracks. (I used train related illustrations for each of these words) 1. Dispersion – v. 19a – Sometimes life takes us in many different directions just as it did in the early Church. 2. Exclusion – v. 19b – Often we like the early Church miss the point that the gospel ...read more

Scripture: Acts 11:19-26

Denomination: Baptist

A Minister's Prayer For God's Church: Lord, Help Us To Walk Together

Contributed by Joel Pankow on Apr 29, 2005

This is a sermon that stresses how important it is to have a deep fellowship within the congregation and the greater church body.

May 1, 2005 Psalm 133:1 How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity! A Minister’s Prayer for God’s Church: LORD, Help Us to Walk Together I. As an individual church When we were at the Seminary one of my professors told us to “beware of the loners” - the fellow ...read more

Scripture: Psalm 133:1

Denomination: Lutheran

"Claudius And Herod And Elymas; Oh, My!"

Contributed by Clark Tanner on Jan 20, 2005

(or, Bad politicians, terrorists and false prophets)

(or, “Bad Politicians, Terrorists and False Prophets”) I’ve chosen a rather long portion of scripture to preach from, but I do not intend to do an expository study of these 41 verses today, so you can rest assured that this will, eventually, come to a close. What I want to do is take these ...read more

Denomination: Orthodox

When The Going Gets Tough, The Tough Go Fishing...

Contributed by John Nadasi on Jan 20, 2005

A message addressing the reality of time catching up to our rural church. This is an initial call to embrace a paradigm shift within church and society. In order to speak to a new generation, we have to be willing to find new methods of communication.

Matthew 4:12-23 Paonia United Methodist Church January 23, 2005 “When the going gets tough, the tough go fishing” Can you remember back to when I gave you a message that Began with the words… Life is complicated? Well, this morning starts off with a similar statement. Life is rough. It ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 4:12-23

Denomination: Methodist

"No Competition"

Contributed by Ken Sauer on Jan 20, 2005

In Christ, we are free to be the people we were created to be.

Matthew 20:20-28 1 Corinthians 1:10-18 “No Competition” Who are the truly great? Probably not those whose names quickly come to our minds… …because the truly great don’t tend to make the headlines, the tabloids or the evening news. In our Gospel Lesson for this morning we see that two of ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 20:20-28

Denomination: United Methodist

Those Were The Days Series

Contributed by Rich Dunbar on Feb 8, 2005

This sermon is a look at the characteristics of the early Church that made it so effective.

Those were the days! – Acts 2:40-47 Do you remember this song? (played theme song from TV sitcom “All in the Family” the song title is “Those were the days”) Have you ever felt that way? Have you ever wished for the “good old days”? Well I would submit to you that we can have those days again, ...read more

Scripture: Acts 2:40-47

Denomination: Baptist

What The Bible Says About The Church (Part 2) Series

Contributed by Brian Mccutchen on Feb 8, 2005

The establishment of the church or kingdom in complete fulfillment of Old Testament prophesies

What the Bible Says About... The church - part 2 #1. The Kingdom/the church A. The prophecy of the church 1. The establishment of the church or kingdom in complete fulfillment of Old Testament prophesies. 2. Isaiah 2:1-5; Joel 2:28-3:2; and Micah 4:1-3 name the city of Jerusalem as the ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 16:18-19

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ