SermonCentral.com - Your Sermon Resource Center
August 24, 2009
Topic: Labor Day

Dear Church Leader:

It’s important to differentiate between knowledge and information. Knowledge is applicable information with a useful purpose. Information may or may not contain anything of practical use. That’s why they don’t call it “The Knowledge Superhighway.”

In navigating the galactic volume of information found in cyberspace, it can be exhausting to sift through what’s available. Toni Ridgaway, SermonCentral’s content editor, spent 10 years serving her pastor and helping him come up with materials for more effective preaching. From her experience, she’s summarized some of her key sources in 20 Non-Preaching Websites for Better Preaching. These aren’t Bible-based sites or archives of Christian history. They are contemporary sources of facts, illustrations, quotes, trivia, images and more to enhance your preaching. As you study the Word and labor to articulate it, these sites can add spice to your preaching and focus to your listeners.

Also, below you will notice a collection of resources on Labor Day to help you in your preparation for the upcoming holiday. More resources can also be found on our Labor Day Page.


Ron Forseth
General Editor
SermonCentral.com



20 Non-Preaching Websites
for Better Preaching

Toni Ridgaway
Content Editor, SermonCentral.com

Full Article

I just love pastors; they amaze me. Watching a person who can skillfully interpret a message from the mouth of God invariably fills me with awe and a deep desire to worship. My calling is not to preach myself, but rather to support those who undergo the regular spiritual and emotional wrestling matches of producing sermons worthy of the great I Am.

For more than 10 years, I served as staff research assistant to our preaching pastor. His job was to study the Word; mine was to support him with relevant illustrations, facts, data, and imagery to help him better articulate the Word. Since I can’t act as personal research assistant to every pastor in the SermonCentral community (although I admit I’d enjoy it!), please accept this gift of 20 website links that might help you in your sermon preparation. These sites have no specific intent to help in sermon preparation, but they do provide great imagery, illustration support, background data, how-tos, cultural applications, and just plain inspiration for better preaching.

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by Jud Wilhite
James 1:19

There are all these different perspectives on how you would achieve success. We live in a culture that is infatuated with success—how to achieve more, how to become more, and we see it all around us. There is a whole success industry out there. Millions and millions of dollars are spent on books, tapes, and seminars helping us to become more successful.

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Labor Day: Taking Christ With You
by Melvin Newland
Ephesians 6:5-6

For most Americans (Labor Day) is a holiday & in the opinion of some, it is the most hypocritical of all of our holidays. They say that if Labor Day is a celebration of the unique rights & freedoms that we, as workers, enjoy in our nation, that if we’re really thankful that we have jobs while some don’t, that if we're really serious about labor being a blessing, then what we should do on Labor Day is go to work & tell the boss, “I’m going to work today, & I’m going to work for free, just for the joy of working.” But no, we’re not going to do that, are we? Most of us will say, “I don’t want to work on Labor Day, but I do expect to get paid for it anyway.” Maybe we’re not quite as dedicated to the celebration of labor as we thought.

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by James Salmon
1 Thessalonians 4:11

Like most things, Labor Day is different things to different people. To the factory or office worker, it may be a day off. But, for mothers who have both Dad and the kids to deal with, it’s a tough day. For policemen, who must deal with extra heavy traffic and alcohol abuse, it’s a tough day. To farmers and ranchers, it’s just another day to feed the cattle and work in the field doing things that allow no holiday. For preachers, it is an opportunity to talk about work and its rewards. Work is a very important part of God’s revelation and will for people.

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Christianity in the Workplace
by Alan Smith
Colossians 3:22-4:1

...Conflicts go on all the time, with each side accusing the other of selfishness and unreasonableness. Employees want smaller work loads, fewer hours, more vacation, and more pay and benefits. Employers want more productivity and more profits. What’s the solution, from God’s point of view? How should a Christian conduct himself on the job? How should he handle the problems that will inevitably come up? I think it’s significant that we have a Christian responsibility in the workplace just as surely as we have a responsibility in our times of worship together....

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How to be a Great Worker
by Dean Rhine
Proverbs 6:6-26:16

...There are all these different perspectives on how you would achieve success. We live in a culture that is infatuated with success—how to achieve more, how to become more, and we see it all around us. There is a whole success industry out there. Millions and millions of dollars are spent on books, tapes, and seminars helping us to become more successful.

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Work Excuses
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Just in case your boss catches you asleep at your desk, be ready to blurt out one of these excuses: *They told me at the blood bank that this might happen. *This is just a 15-minute power nap like they raved about in that time management course you sent me to. *I was working smarter—not harder. …

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Bill Gates' Work Philosophy
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The great violinist, Nicolo Paganini, willed his marvelous violin to Genoa—the city of his birth—but only on condition that the instrument never be played upon. It was an unfortunate condition, for it is a peculiarity of wood that as long as it is used and handled, it shows little wear. As soon as it is discarded, it begins to decay. …"

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