This Week's Sermons

Winning With People: Do For Others What They Cannot Do For Themselves
by John Maxwell
Genesis 41:1-57

Joseph was an inmate, until Pharaoh needed what he had to offer. Joseph moved from prisoner to prime minister in Egypt because he did for Pharaoh what the leader could not do for himself. His gift made him indispensable. What’s interesting to me is that we all have gifts to offer others. God has placed inside of us strengths we are to use to benefit others. Everyone has something we all need. So, here is the $50,000 question: Why Don’t We Do for Others What They Cannot Do for Themselves?

Servant Evangelism
by Ben Emmons
1 Corinthians 9:19-23

The Apostle Paul challenged Christians to relate to all people for the sake of spreading the gospel. The heart of Paul’s message was that Christians learn to understand each individual so that we might share our faith with them effectively. Often, we over-complicate our faith to express the relevance of the gospel. Other times, we only try to be understood instead of also trying to understand…I’m not sure we have this thing called evangelism right. You know the tiny little command Jesus gave us. After all what is the greatest commandment? God, what is really important? We’re no longer just talking about inviting your neighbor to church or to a small group meeting, but were talking about caring for them, watching out for them, meeting their needs if you have the means.

God Can Use You To Draw People To Him
by Mike Wilkins
Matthew 5:14-16

Last week I talked about God’s heart for the lost: how God loves us desperately and wants to be in relationship with us, how people are spiritually lost, and how they need Jesus. We can know all that, but still have a very difficult time sharing our faith with our friends. A few years ago, Don Posterski wrote a little book called Why Am I Afraid to Tell You I’m a Christian? And that is the question I’d like you to ponder now: “Why are we afraid to tell people about our faith?” Talk about this with the person beside you. What did you come up with?

The Challenge of Radical Love
by Scott Kircher
John 13:34-35

This morning, we are going to be talking about one of the primary teachings of the New Testament and the challenge that it is. And that is the Challenge of Radical Love. Jesus shows us just how radical this love is when he showed his love by dying on the cross when we didn’t deserve it. This is challenging because it calls us to love when there is every reason not to love. OK, we can understand that Jesus wants us to love this way, but practically speaking, how does the New Testament Challenge us to do this?

Messy People Joining Hands
by Kenneth Sauer
Matthew 9:35-38

Jesus calls us to be people living with Messy Lives who join hands with other Messy People to follow Jesus! Are we doing this, or is church just a building to us? Are we hiding inside our building—afraid to go outside and offer Christ to a lost, broken and dying world? Christianity was never meant to be a spectator sport, but so often we treat it like one.

This Week's Videos

Offered by: WorshipHouse Media I Am Love Time: 1:58 We are called to live out the qualities Faith, Hope and Love everyday by serving those around us. Click to watch »

Offered by: WorshipHouse Media Answer the Call Time: 0:56 A great tool for setting up anything from a push for volunteers to a new social justice or serving initiative. Click to watch »

Offered by: Evangelize.com A Servant’s Heart Time: 2:24 The Bible commands us repeatedly to serve others with a humble heart, without vain or conceit, and to consider others better than ourselves. How often, though, do we serve others for our own glory, to feel better about ourselves, or to fulfill an obligation? This video uses subtle humor to convict all of us who sometimes lack a servant's heart. Perfect for the holiday season, or any other time of year. From eight20eight. Click to watch »

Offered by: BlueFish TV The Outreach: Helping the Needy Time: 1:47 The Outreach is a hilarious parody that mimics the goal of the RightNow Fusion conferences. So what does it look like exactly to help someone in need? There’s only one way to find out. Click to watch »

Offered by: BlueFish TV Doug Fields: A Heart to Serve Time: 2:35 In this 2-minute teaching video illustration, Doug Fields encourages teenage believers to look outside of their lives and ask God how they can serve Him by meeting the physical needs of the poor and needy. He explains how asking God for a servant’s heart is the first step toward being used to help transform the world. Click to watch »

This Week's Sermon Illustrations

Will You Wash My Dishes?
Contributor: A. Todd Coget

Sometimes we get a distorted idea about what love is. One night, a man decided to show his wife how much he loved her. After dinner he began to recite romantic poetry, telling her he would climb high mountains to be near her, swim wide oceans…

True Service
Source: Richard Foster, Celebration of Discipline, "The Discipline of Service."
Contributor: Donnie Martin

Self-righteous service comes through human effort. True service comes from a relationship with the divine Other deep inside. Self-righteous service is impressed with the “big deal.” True service finds it almost impossible to distinguish the small from the large service. Self-righteous service requires external rewards. True service rests contented in hiddenness …

Christian: Free and Slave
Source: Martin Luther

A Christian man is the most free lord of all, and subject to none…

Continue reading this FREE illustration»

What Does It Mean to Serve God?
Source: Martin Luther

What is it to serve God and to do His will? Nothing else than to show mercy to our neighbor …

Worth Listening To
Contributor: Shannon Lewis

Robert Lewis, Founding Pastor of Fellowship Bible Church in Little Rock, Arkansas said this, “…Our church along with several others, organized to renovate some of the public schools in our area. Teachers and school officials had not asked for our help and were clearly surprised when we offered it. But when thousands of church volunteers descended on their schools, rebuilding playgrounds, landscaping entryways, laying carpet, construction hundreds of much needed cabinets, and paining hallways and classrooms, something special took place. Through witnessing these selfless demonstrations of love and helpful acts of service, they believe that the church just might have something worth listening to…”

The Up Side
Source: Guideposts, December 2001, p. 14
Contributor: Mark Haines

Eleven years ago, Walter Levine was diagnosed with multiple myeloma—a type of bone cancer. Today he dedicates his life to helping others beat the disease. He says, “Ninety-nine percent of everything you do in life is attitude.…”

What Do You Wanna Do?
Contributor: Steven Simala Grant

I sat down with our senior high kids awhile ago to discuss our plans for youth activities for this year. I expected to get some ideas of fun things to do, lets go bowling and to laserquest and whitewater rafting yadda yadda yadda… You know what they decided? They asked me to find two Friday night events each month—half of all the things we would do—where they could go and do volunteer things for others, like preparing and serving meals at the Mustard Seed Street Church…

What God Looks For
Source: Elbert Hubbard

God will not look you over for medals, degrees, or diplomas…

Rick Warren on Spending Yourself
Contributor: Richard Wafford

Rick Warren poses an interesting question…

Taxi Service
Contributor: Melvin Newland

Listen to these words of a taxicab driver: Because I drive the night shift, my cab often becomes a moving confessional. Passengers climb in, sit behind me in total anonymity, and tell me about their lives. I encounter people whose lives amaze me, ennoble me, make me laugh and sometimes weep. But none touched me more than a woman I picked up late one August night.…

This Week's PowerPoint Templates

Homeless

Door Knock

Fruit Kindness

Values Compassion

Upcoming Topic

The “Naked” Gospel