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Preaching and Core Human Needs

Every person you know is (for the most part) doing the best they can with their perspective, skills, and experience. How would your preaching change if you believed that?  We usually look at our own struggles with understanding, because we know our own lives. We don’t volunteer in the community because we’re too busy; we […]

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Sermons

Rivers instead of Resevoirs

Sermon Link: https://subsplash.com/sentchurch/watch/mi/+cw47gyh?autoplay=true  Sermon Title: “Rivers Instead of Reservoirs” Preacher: Pastor Kyle Ray is the Senior Pastor of Sent Church in Plano, Texas, before which he was senior pastor of Kentwood Community Church.  Address suspicions: “There’s nothing I want from you; there’s nothing I need from you—there are a lot of things I want for […]

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Sermons

Growing in Knowledge

Sermon Review: Amber Cook, Grace Fellowship Church (Princeton, IN) Link to Sermon Audio: https://gracefellowshipchurchsermons.sermon.net/main/main/21530321  Sermon Title: “Growing in Knowledge” Rev. Amber Cook is Senior Pastor of Grace Fellowship Church in Princeton, Indiana. Below are a few things we believe made Pastor Amber’s message a helpful example for preachers.  Continuity—“We’ve seen that a theme in this […]

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Sermons

Hearing Aides

Sermon Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UakegCoey-M  Sermon Title: “Hearing Aides” Preacher: Rev. Dr. Emily Vermilya is the Pastor of Operations and Development at College Wesleyan Church in Marion, Indiana Here are a few (of the many) things in this sermon Dr. Vermilya does that are most worth emulating:   Introduce with Intrigue: “Simple messages all with the same goal: […]

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Sermons

Preaching with Emotion: “Confusion”

Confusion abounds in the world we inhabit; it also shows up in the Word we inhabit. The people of God since the Genesis of creation have experienced the human angst of confusion. Paul wrote, “God is not a God of confusion but of peace” (1 Cor. 14:33). Yet, so often we find ourselves feeling our […]

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Sermon Starters: “Start a Fight”

Scripture is full of conflict: between God’s ways and our ways; in interpersonal relationships, and between nations. Sometimes the best way to begin a sermon is to invite our hearers into that conflict… to “start a fight” at the beginning of the sermon that somehow resolves by the end. Here are 3 good uses of […]

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Sermon Starters

Jesus was a famously good storyteller. On hillsides and shorelines, Jesus held audiences spellbound with his way of sharing in images and narratives that expressed core human needs.

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Sermon Starters: Ways to Introduce a Sermon: “Ask a Question”

Congregants approach Scripture with all sorts of questions—especially questions about how the Scripture makes claims on our lives. One of our best connection points in sermons, then, is to start with curiosity that invites our congregations to experience the text freshly and stay curious about God’s invitation for their lives.

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Refreshing Questions

In the New Testament, Christ’s presence is compelling partly because of his curiosity. With his disciples, strangers, Pharisees, and dinner companions alike, Jesus’s first tools in conversation seems to be questions. In showing us what it means to be fully alive, Jesus shows us the importance of remaining generous with our curiosity and our questions. […]

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Wesley’s Advice to Preachers

Wesley’s Advice to Preachers John Wesley was a trainer of preachers in many ways. His mobilization of new preachers, and his ongoing guidance of them through books and tracts, helped to cement the spirit of the early methodist movement. These preachers when they were just beginning their ministries were called “helpers” and at one point […]