Sermons on Spiritual Desert:

Popularity

Contributed by Rick Thiessen on Sep 19, 2007

Our world is obsessed with outer beauty and poplarity, but the Bible has something to say about stucturing our lives to be about "the crowd"

SE090907 3QUELS 1 Shrek - Popularity TITLE SLIDE If you went to our Visioncast retreat 2 weeks ago, you remember our speaker Tim Bergmann, buddy of mine from college. Well, last month he tells me about a bunch of pictures of himself with these really cool cars. Their church did a fund raiser ...read more

Scripture: Romans 12:16

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Garbage In Garbage Out

Contributed by Johanna Radelfinger on May 26, 2003

We are God’s living sacrifices. We need to treat our bodies well so that God can work to His full extent.

Health Picture #1: You wouldn’t do this...No, Of course you wouldn’t pour water into the gas tank of such a lovely, expensive car. That would be ridiculous, crazy. But what about the priceless machine called the human body? It will only take so much punishment, you know. ...read more

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 3:16-17, 1 Corinthians 10:31

Denomination: Adventist

Church Growth - How To Lose A Guy In Ten Days Series

Contributed by Ken Kersten on Jun 3, 2003

The title of this message is “How to lose a guy in ten days". Unfortunately, most churches usually lose them in about 10 minutes. Let’s explore why that happens.

How To Lose A Guy In Ten Days Matthew 28:18-20 True story – Football team getting killed – guy fumbles and it rolls over by a teammate. The guy that fumbles yells, “pick it up” to which his teammate responds, “You pick it up. You dropped it.” Well, I’ll tell you what, God is looking for some ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 28:18-20, Psalm 122:1

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

Healthy And Thriving

Contributed by Joey Nelson on Jun 9, 2003

The Scriptures show us examples to emulate and also examples to avoid. Today, we look at an example to avoid in order to be a healthy, thriving church.

INTRODUCTION Opening Statement: There has been an incredible emphasis in recent years on church health. Many believe that if a local church is healthy and functioning the way it should, natural growth will be the result. The removal of growth-restricting diseases that often plague the body of ...read more

Scripture: 3 John 1:9-11

Universality Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Jun 11, 2003

Thanks to Constantine’s move, the church gradually began to think of its universality as power rather than as an evangelical mandate. Christ is to be lord of our political life, our cultural life, our everyday life -- every aspect.

Christ is lord of all! What a bold statement! Maybe even an arrogant statement! Lord of all? Do we believe that? It was said of one preacher that “for tender minds he served up half a Christ.” Behind that lie two realities – first, that many of us don’t want the full gospel, we’d rather just ...read more

Scripture: Ephesians 4:13, Colossians 1:11-20

Denomination: Baptist

Holiness Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Jun 12, 2003

Holiness is the gift of an identity, appearing to be too good to be true, but received by accepting forgiveness.

Today’s message is framed by incidents provided by two church members. I will not be naming the players, but they have given me both the beginning and the ending of this message on holiness. The beginning: a few days ago one of you told me that you came to worship each Sunday so that you could ...read more

Scripture: Ephesians 4:14-16

Denomination: Baptist

Playing Follow The Leader Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Jun 18, 2003

Leaders must lead with truth instead of deception, with grace instead of power, and with unswerving commitment to the the least and the lost.

Several things prompt this message. First and foremost, I bring this message because I know that it is crucial to teach and re-teach our church’s vision. Everyone needs to understand what we are trying to do as a church. Just saying it once or twice does not get the story told. I want to ...read more

Scripture: Hebrews 13:7-19

Denomination: Baptist

The Birth Of Moses Has The Making Of A Movie Series

Contributed by Joel Pankow on Jun 19, 2003

how God preserved Moses through the Nile to save his people and how we have similar circumstances

June 22, 2003 Exodus 2:1-10 Now a man of the house of Levi married a Levite woman, and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. When she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him for three months. But when she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus basket for him and coated it with ...read more

Scripture: Exodus 2:1-10

Denomination: Lutheran

Ambassador

Contributed by Eric Bland on Jun 20, 2003

The necessity of being an ambasssador, being reconciled to and accepting Christ.

Ambassador Eric A. Bland Paul, a man that I admire very much, was a man that was willing to give up everything in order to serve our Lord and our God. He was willing to give up the uppity up lifestyle to subject himself unto God. And because he was willing to give up the world, God was able to ...read more

Denomination: Baptist

I'm Not Perfect, But ... Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Jun 21, 2003

We justify not being mature by claiming that we are just like everyone else, or that we are at least working on that goal. But our example is Jesus, who gathers up our incompleteness into Himself and shows us the way to mature.

When I first announced the title of this message, “I’m Not Perfect”, somebody was sharp enough to reply, “Yes, we’ve noticed, we’ve noticed.” Well, thanks a heap! Don’t you know by now that when I say something self-deprecating, you are supposed to shower me with compliments and bathe me in ...read more

Scripture: Hebrews 2:1-10, Hebrews 2:1-18

Denomination: Baptist

Mixed Signals: Awesome And Owesome

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Jun 21, 2003

A banner was posted with a misprint: owesome instead of awesome. But it is nonetheless true: we owe some love to one another, we owe some urgency to ourselves, and we owe some loyalty to Christ.

As some of our youth discovered last week, it is not as easy as it looks to preside over a worship service. It is not as easy as it looks, because you have to read signals. You start to do something, and someone in the back waves at you. Meanwhile, someone else on the front pew is ...read more

Scripture: Romans 13:8-14

Denomination: Baptist

Salt In My Eye

Contributed by Duane Brown on Jun 22, 2003

The story of Lot’s wife, and Jesus reminder to "Remember"...

He sat there at the gate of the city, watching the sun as it started its descent over the roof tops of the skyline of the city and slowly disappeared into the western horizon. This day like so many other, had brought with it the typical events that had become the trademark for this town. Passing ...read more

Scripture: Genesis 19:26, Luke 17:32

Denomination: Holiness

Proverbial Wisdom

Contributed by Steve Shepherd on Mar 10, 2004

God’s wisdom is revealed in the book of Proverbs.

INTRO.- Once again, I want to begin with non-Proverbs, proverbial sayings. - After three days without reading, talk becomes flavorless. Chinese proverb - An open enemy is better than a false friend. Greek Proverb - The best answer to anger is silence. German Proverb - A bit of fragrance always ...read more

Scripture: Proverbs 1:8

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

Stewardship Part 3 How Much God Really Wants Series

Contributed by Wesley Bishop on Mar 15, 2004

This sermon is about what God really wants from us.

Imagine the scene. Jesus has just had a rather tense confrontation with some of the religious leaders. He heads to the Temple with his disciples. They sit down near where the offerings were received. The offerings were received in a different manner than we are used to. They had 13 offering ...read more

Scripture: Mark 12:41-44

Denomination: Wesleyan

God's Purpose

Contributed by Steve Shepherd on Mar 16, 2004

1- God’s purpose in our church 2-God’s purpose in our sinful world 3- God’s purpose in our hurting world

INTRO.- ILL.- Here is what some call “The Property Laws of a Toddler.” 1. If I like it, it’s mine. 2. If it’s in my hand, it’s mine. 3. If I can take it from you, it’s mine. 4. If I had it a little while ago, it’s mine. 5. If it’s mine, it must never appear to be yours in any way. 6. If I’m ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 26:36-42

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ