Sermons on The Rocky Places:

Rocky Top

Contributed by Thomas Bowen on Feb 27, 2004

Transfiguration - a mountan top expirence that is worth the climb.

I have had several opportunities to go to the top of mountains especially when we lived in Colorado. We drove up in all kinds of weather, even when it was snowing. I have taken the cable cars and when I was a kid hiked. It is interesting to me that going up has always seemed to take a lot ...read more

Scripture: Luke 9:27-36

Denomination: Congregational

Rocky Ground Series

Contributed by Jeremy Houck on Feb 19, 2003

A look at the parable of the sower

"I’ll Serve the Lord as Long as there are no Difficulties or Discouragements" Mark 4:1-9 According to John Gipson the following story was published in the Galveston, Texas paper. It concerned a woman and her parakeet named "Chippie." It seems that the woman was cleaning Chippie’s birdcage with a ...read more

Scripture: Mark 4:1-9

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

Rocky Road

Contributed by Alison Bucklin on Jul 28, 2025

The first step in our becoming ambassadors for Christ is to accept that the road of Christian discipleship is often a rocky one.

Ambassadors get VIP treatment: first class seats and free champagne, red carpets and limos, valet parking and 24-hour room service. Ambassadors get interviews with world leaders and press mavens. An ambassadorship is a class act, the apex of the diplomat’s career, the privileged crown on a lifetime ...read more

Denomination: Presbyterian/Reformed

Rocky - Preparing For The Fight Series

Contributed by Jeff Strite on May 5, 2003

Why did Jesus take His disciples to Caesarea Philippi? Why go to a pagan, idolatrous city to ask His disciples the most important question of His ministry?

OPEN: I read once the story of a young black man in the ghettos. He was fortunate in that he had both of his parents, and they struggled to make ends meet. But for his birthday that year they had scraped together enough money to pay for a brand new bicycle. A few days later someone stole it. ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 16:13-28

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

A Faith For Rocky Waters

Contributed by Mary Erickson on Aug 14, 2023

A sermon for Lectionary 19 in the season following Pentecost, Year A

August 13, 2023 Rev. Mary Erickson Hope Lutheran Church Matthew 14:22-33 A Faith for Rocky Waters Friends, may grace and peace be yours in abundance in the knowledge of God and Christ Jesus our Lord. “Take heart, it is I.” How wonderful it must have been for the disciples to hear Jesus’ voice ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 14:22-33

Denomination: Lutheran

Seeds On The Rocky Soil Series

Contributed by Eric Lenhart on Aug 13, 2010

Differences between growing deep roots in the faith and having a shallow faith.

Seeds on the Rocky Soil (Matthew 13:1-23) 2nd in a series on: “The Parable of the Soils” Introduction: Over the past couple weeks I’ve been watching grass grow here at the New Song. Around the building, just like the Sower in the Parable of the Soils, I planted 120 pounds of grass seed. ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 13:1-23

Denomination: Church Of God

Rocky Ii - The Real Mccoy Series

Contributed by Jeff Strite on May 12, 2003

Why did Jesus take Peter, James and John up to the Mount of Transfiguration? Because there was something that He could only teach in that place and in that way. Find out what that means to us.

OPEN: The real McCoy really wasn’t... That is, the real McCoy wasn’t really a McCoy. His real name was Norman Selby. Raised on a farm in Indiana he left home around 1890, and after year in training, emerged as a boxer with the name "Kid McCoy." In a day of bare fisted boxing, the Kid was ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 17:1-9

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

Rocky Iv - The Comeback Kid Series

Contributed by Jeff Strite on May 25, 2003

Acts 4 presents Peter as a confident, powerful preacher of Christ... but not two months earlier he had been a cowering coward. What made the difference?

OPEN: In the 70’s there was runaway hit movie starring Sylvester Stallone, entitled "Rocky." Many people, including myself were unaware that the movie was based on a real life boxer named Chuck Werner - otherwise known as the Bayonne Bleeder (because he bled so easily and freely throughout his ...read more

Scripture: Acts 4:1-31

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

Rocky Iii - Ko'd Series

Contributed by Jeff Strite on May 19, 2003

Peter is often depicted as a weak and unreliable disciple, but was that really his problem... or was there something else that lay behind his denials of Christ in the High Priest’s Courtyard?

OPEN: Nearly 30 years ago on October 30, 1974, Muhammad Ali and George Foreman squared off in the boxing ring in Zaire. Ali had dubbed it “The Rumble in the Jungle.” Foreman was heavily favored, and was considered to be the hardest puncher in heavyweight history. Foreman was fairly confident he ...read more

Scripture: Luke 22:31-62

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

Sown Among Rocks

Contributed by Shawn Miller on Oct 2, 2015

By pointing out the dangers of the rocky soil in Mark 4, there is an appeal to be humble, earnest and sincere in our walk with the Lord. The Rocky soil convert receives the gospel gladly, progresses in it rapidly, but then falls away quickly

Sown among Rocks Introduction: During our Wednesday night service, Pedro had a great point about our church during our testimony service and it spurred a thought, that I want to expound upon today about the true gospel church and about the true gospel convert. We often see somethings blow up like ...read more

Scripture: Mark 4:5-6

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Your Place To Stand Together Series

Contributed by D. Greg Ebie on Aug 21, 2016

At unlikely times and places our love for each other will be TESTED. When the relational road becomes rocky God’s Spirit will blow into our lives in order to strengthen us to stand together in UNBROKEN UNITY. You cannot be in relationship with God alone.

UNLIKELY - Your Place to Stand Together John 3:7-8 MsgB “So don’t be so surprised when I tell you that you have to be ‘born from above’—out of this world, so to speak. You know well enough how the wind blows this way and that. You hear it rustling through the trees, ...read more

Scripture: Exodus 17:1-8

Denomination: Assembly Of God

Which Soil Am I On? Series

Contributed by James Chandler on Sep 10, 2024

God is the farmer

That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake. Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people stood on the shore. Then he told them many things in parables, saying: "A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 13:1-9

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

Perseverance In A Dry Place

Contributed by Noel Atkinson on Apr 29, 2010

This sermon looks at how God honours our prayers and dedication even when we are spiritually dry. When we do not 'feel' like serving him but serve him anyway. It encourages perseverance, stretching out, prayer and faith that God can do 'big things'.

Perseverance in a dry place John Ortberg from Menlo Park Presbyterian Church recalls A man I'll call Paul (because that's actually his name) told me he recently started going to church. In his mid-seventies, with no faith background, he woke up one morning with a sudden urge to hear the pope, ...read more

Scripture: Acts 12:1-24

Denomination: Baptist

No Place But First Place Series

Contributed by Sherm Nichols on Jan 17, 2013

Dominant Thought: God’s desire and rightful place is the first place in every aspect of our lives

There’s a new crisis forming in the Strait of Hormuz with Iran. That could lead to a gas price crisis. There’s a global economic crisis that keeps erupting in pockets in Europe. There’s a new worldwide crisis called Lady Gaga, but I want to direct attention to a crisis in our ...read more

Scripture: Exodus 20:1-3

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

Parables Of The Kingdom – The First - The Sower Or Rather The Soil – Part 3 Of 5 Series

Contributed by Ron Ferguson on Jul 31, 2025

We continue the Sower, considering the seed that fell into rocky ground, the shallow soil, with a warning. Temptation plus affliction and persecution will in time burn and kill off any mere profession. These hearers are only temporary. Then we begin the seed choked in the thorny soil.

PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM – THE FIRST - THE SOWER OR RATHER THE SOIL – Part 3 of 5 Last time we finished thinking about the good seed that was wasted on the barren pathways and beside the roadway. There was nothing wrong with the seed, but the reception was nil because men closed their hearts to ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 13:5-6, Matthew 13:20-21, Mark 4:17, Luke 8:6, Luke 8:13, Luke 8:14, Matthew 13:7, Matthew 13:22, Mark 4:18-19, Genesis 3:17-18  (view more)  (view less)

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational