Sermons on Thrived:

Saving The Local Church And Pastor From Extinction. Series

Contributed by Jan Oosthuizen on Aug 18, 2019

More and more people are leaving local institutional churches and pick and choose their spiritual diet on social media. Evangelism, and belonging to a local body of believers is on the increasing decline!

When the smallest cell in the body is under attack, it brings the demise of the whole. For as long as I can remember, there has always been a tension between the local church pastor and the staff of parachurch organisations. Parachurch organisasions work outside and across denominations to ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 16:18

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

The Superior Value Of A Sanctified Heart-4

Contributed by Byron Sherman on Apr 3, 2019

4 of ? Peter causes his audience to examine the superior value of a sanctified heart. But HOW is the superior value of a sanctified heart evaluated/measured/determined? The (superior)value of a sanctified heart is evaluated thru...

The SUPERIOR VALUE Of A SANCTIFIED HEART-IV—1Peter 3:13-17 Attention: Birdbox Challenge—excerpted from: Caitlin O'Kane | CBS News—Friday, January 11, 2019 The Netflix movie, ‘Bird Box’ was a smash hit, with over 45 million viewers streaming it in its first week. It is a sci-fi flick in which a ...read more

Scripture: 1 Peter 3:3-17

Denomination: Baptist

Healthy Independence-11

Contributed by Byron Sherman on Mar 9, 2021

11 of 12. The prophet Jeremiah contrasted two major aspects of Independence—Independence from God versus independence from the world. Dependence upon YHWH brings independence from worldly influence. How can I be independent of worldly influence? A Healthy Independence Engages...

HEALTHY INDEPENDENCE-XI—Jeremiah 17:1-14 Attention: Wants & Needs: The President visits a remote western Native-American reservation. A cameraman documents the trip. The President asks the Chief if there was anything that they need. "Well," says the Chief, "We have three very ...read more

Scripture: Jeremiah 17:13, Jeremiah 17:1-14

Denomination: Baptist

The Greatest Name Series

Contributed by Glenn Pease on Mar 15, 2021

Jesus is the greatest hero in history for the believer, for He was able to win a victory over the greatest enemies of man, and He gained a name that is above every name.

Here is a powerful story of a man who made a great name for himself and left a name that is long remembered. I quote another’s account: “World War II produced many heroes. One such man was Butch O'Hare. He was a fighter pilot assigned to an aircraft carrier in the South Pacific. One day his ...read more

The Hard Work Of Trust

Contributed by Reuben Bredenhof on Mar 16, 2021

God teaches us to trust in him and in his Son our Saviour. God tells us that anxious care and bitter sighing won’t help. Discontentment will get us nowhere, but only humble trust and steadfast faith.

Have you ever felt like complaining against the LORD? Maybe you’ve prayed and prayed, but the answer that you wanted hasn’t come. Or you don’t like what God has brought into your life: lots of disappointment, lots of frustration. Or maybe you look at all the wickedness in the world, and you fear ...read more

Scripture: Hebrews 10:26-39, Habakkuk 2:2-4

Denomination: Presbyterian/Reformed

God Pursues His Beloved

Contributed by Reuben Bredenhof on Mar 16, 2021

God wants to be known personally, intimately, and vitally. He wants us to look to him with deep affection, and to depend on him always, because we know him. So foster that true commitment to God: listening to him, speaking with him, and walking with him.

Say you’ve met that “special someone.” It’s one you’ve come to love, it’s the one you want to marry. Probably we all can picture this very human event: meeting someone, falling in love, becoming husband and wife. There’s a lot of joy in this great gift! But then something takes place that nobody ...read more

Scripture: Hosea 2:2-23, Ephesians 5:22-33, Hosea 2:14-20

Denomination: Presbyterian/Reformed

Break Up The Fallow Ground!

Contributed by Reuben Bredenhof on Mar 16, 2021

Getting baptized on your head must have an impact on your heart. If you’ve been baptized, God calls you to put off the old nature and its sinfulness, and to put on the new. There’s no salvation without a change of life, no redemption without repentance.

There once was a book-burning in the palace of Judah’s king. A scroll-burning actually, but the idea is the same. For the LORD told Jeremiah to take a scroll, write on it everything He’d said—and then to have that scroll read before the king. So that’s what Jeremiah did. He wrote down God’s words, ...read more

Scripture: Jeremiah 3:1-25, Jeremiah 4:1-4

Denomination: Presbyterian/Reformed

The Stubborn Missionary

Contributed by Reuben Bredenhof on Mar 16, 2021

More than Jonah could ever understand, Jesus reveals the greatness of God’s mercy. God’s mercy is for sinners. His mercy is for Jews, it’s for Gentiles, it’s for people of ever nation, for all who seek him.

What does someone do when they’ve been rescued from great danger—pulled from a burning house, or saved from drowning? Or how does a person act after his life’s been spared: when he should’ve been killed, but someone had mercy? A natural response is the desire to tell people about it. Because what’s ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 12:38-42

Denomination: Presbyterian/Reformed

Letter To The Church In Pergamum

Contributed by Claude Alexander on Jun 10, 2020

Pergamum was the first city of Asia to openly support the imperial cult or emperor worship, and therefore was considered the chief seat.

Letter to the Church in Pergamum Rev. 2:12-17 As we begin our study and draw some application to present day, let’s look back historically to get an idea what was happening 19 centuries ago. We find that Pergamum was the capital of Asia, and had been the capital city of Asia for almost 400 years. ...read more

Scripture: Revelation 2:12-17

Denomination: Assembly Of God

Letter To The Church In Sardis

Contributed by Claude Alexander on Jun 26, 2020

The church in Sardis was a perfect model of an inoffensive Christianity. They apparently invented the concept of “political correctness.

Letter to the Church in Sardis Rev. 3:1-6 Sardis was located about 30 miles southeast of Thyatira The ruins of 1st century Sardis are located near a city in modern day Turkey named Izmir. The city was at the converging point of several inland roads. One road led northwest to Thyatira and then ...read more

Scripture: Revelation 3:1-6

Denomination: Assembly Of God

Discussing The Deacons

Contributed by Michael Luke on May 5, 2011

A message on the role of deacons in the local congregation

SPECIAL DAY: INSTALLATION OF DEACONS “DISCUSSING THE DEACONS” 1 TIMOTHY 3:8-13 OPEN Today is a special day. We install some new deacons today. And they get the joy of participating in their first board meeting tonight. There has been some confusion regarding the role of ...read more

Scripture: 1 Timothy 3:8-13

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

Its Time To Get Our "acts" Together-Part 1 Series

Contributed by Suresh Manoharan on May 16, 2012

With the Pentecost Sunday around the corner, to focus on the factors which contributed to the resounding "success" of the Early Church with the primary focus on the responsibilities of the Church Leadership

It’s time to get our “Act” together -I Let me begin with the equivalent of a Democrat Presidential candidate giving a thumbs up to his Republican counterpart and vice versa!!! Boy, this would jolt even the sound sleepers from sleep. Have you caught up with ...read more

Scripture: Acts 2:1-4

Denomination: *other

Hit Me With Your Best Shot Series

Contributed by Erik Estep on May 16, 2012

Today in our passage of Scripture we’re going to see a man named Paul writing a letter to the church in Rome. And he wanted to encourage them not to be timid in their faith; not to be timid in allowing their belief in Jesus and His teachings to dictate h

“Hit Me with Your Best Shot” Rom. 1: 16-17 October 30, 2011 Intro: There was a boxing video game a # of years ago called “Mike Tyson’s Punch Out.” And in the game the 1st fighter you faced was a French boxer named “Glass Joe.” He had one win and 99 ...read more

Scripture: Romans 1:16-17

Denomination: Baptist

Bitter Roots Series

Contributed by Steve Bond on Feb 15, 2017

Bitterness is one of the soul poisons that prevent us from living a healthy life.

Introduction I want to thank Nick and Liz Corona for sharing their story with us. More than anything else, I want you to know that your past hurts do not have to control your future. If we believe anything about the Lord—we believe that he can give us hope for the future. And this includes becoming ...read more

Scripture: Ephesians 5:31, Ephesians 12:15

Denomination: Independent/Bible

God's Antidote For My Enemies Series

Contributed by Pat Damiani on Feb 24, 2017

God’s path will never lead me where the grace of God will not preserve me

Living as a Christian in the United States in the year 2016 is certainly not an easy thing to do. Once you identify yourself as a disciple of Jesus and you commit to live your life according to His purposes, plans, and ways, you are going to immediately face both physical and spiritual enemies in ...read more

Scripture: Psalm 23:5

Denomination: Baptist