The Hardest Sermons You'll Ever Have to Preach


Book Description

Cancer. Suicide. The death of a child. As much as we wish we could avoid tragedies like these, eventually they will strike your church community. When they do, pastors must be ready to offer help by communicating the life-changing message of the gospel in a way that offers hope, truth, and encouragement during these difficult circumstances. Those asked to preach in the midst of tragedy know the anxiety of trying to say appropriate things from God’s Word that will comfort and strengthen God’s people when emotions and faith are stretched thin. This indispensable resource helps pastors prepare sermons in the face of tragedies by providing suggestions for how to approach different kinds of tragedy, as well as insight into how to handle the theological challenges of human suffering. Each topic provides a specific description of the context of the tragedy, the key concerns that need to be addressed in the message, and an outline of the approach taken in the sample sermon that follows. Topics addressed include: abortion; abuse; responding to national and community tragedies; the death of a child; death due to cancer and prolonged sickness; death due to drunk driving; drug abuse; and suicide. Bryan Chapell, author of Christ-Centered Preaching, has gathered together messages from some of today’s most trusted Christian leaders including: John Piper, Tim Keller, Michael Horton, Jack Collins, Dan Doriani, Jerram Barrs, Mike Khandjian, Robert Rayburn, Wilson Benton, Bob Flayhart, and George Robertson. Each chapter provides you with the resources you need to communicate the life-giving hope of the gospel in the midst of tragedy. In addition, the appendices provide further suggestions of biblical texts for addressing various subjects as well as guidance for conducting funerals.




Christ-Centered Sermons


Book Description

Highly regarded preacher and teacher Bryan Chapell shows readers how he has prepared expository sermons according to the principles he developed in his bestselling Christ-Centered Preaching. This companion volume provides concrete examples of how a redemptive approach to Scripture is fleshed out in various types of sermons and various genres of the Bible. The example sermons not only demonstrate different approaches but also are analyzed for pedagogical purposes, helping readers move from theory to practice. In essence, the book allows students and preachers to look over Chapell's shoulder as he prepares these messages to learn how to construct their own expository sermons that communicate grace and truth from both the Old and New Testaments.




Preaching to People in Pain


Book Description

Offering an important corrective to a pain-averse culture that celebrates individualism and success, veteran preacher and teacher Matthew Kim encourages pastors to preach on the painful issues their congregations face. Through vulnerability and self-disclosure, pastors can help their congregants share their suffering in community for the purpose of healing and transformation. The book includes stories, shares relevant Scripture texts imparting biblical wisdom, and offers best practices for preaching on specific topics. Each chapter ends with discussion questions and a sample sermon.




Unlimited Grace


Book Description

How God's Unlimited Grace Leads Us to Heartfelt Obedience What if obeying God is not just dreary duty—going through the motions to avoid God's wrath or earn his favor? What if following Christ is pure joy—living in loving response to a grace so profound that it changes all our motivations and affections? Far from encouraging sin, this biblical understanding of grace fuels and empowers the obedience that God commands. Explaining why grace is important and giving us tools to discover it in all of Scripture, Unlimited Grace helps us to see how gospel joy transforms our hearts and makes us passionate for Christ's purposes. Experienced pastor and author Bryan Chapell takes insights from a lifetime of relishing God's grace and pours them into this highly accessible and engaging book, helping readers see how God's grace shines through all of Scripture, for all of life.




Simple Sermons for Funeral Services


Book Description

An affordable collection of simple sermons to help busy pastors prepare biblical messages for funerals.




Faithful Ministry


Book Description

This collection of biblical, theological, historical, and pastoral essays celebrates the remarkable forty-year ministry of the Rev. Dr. Robert S. ("Rob") Rayburn. A man of scholarly gifts and a shepherd's heart, Rob not only faithfully served a single congregation for his entire ministerial career, but also contributed to the wider church through his perceptive theological writings. Just as Rob embodied pastoral warmth, intellectual rigor, and an appreciation for the catholicity of the Christian tradition, so too the essays of this "ecclesial Festschrift" seek to bring scholarly expertise into the service of Christ's church. Contributors: William Barker Joel Belz Ron Bergey John Birkett Bryan Chapell Jack Collins Ian Hamilton Eric Irwin David Jones Joshua Moon Robert G. Rayburn II George Robertson Kevin Skogen Jacob Skogen John Wykoff




Preaching Killer Sermons


Book Description

"Lane provides practical tools to help pastors deliver engaging messages. Anyone who preaches or teaches will benefit from this book." -Mark Batterson, New York Times bestselling Author of The Circle Maker, Lead Pastor of National Community Church. Today's audiences are more distracted than ever, but sermons can only be effective if people are listening. You have to capture people's attention. But how? In Preaching Killer Sermons, author and pastor Lane Sebring reveals practical preparation and delivery techniques that will enable you to better connect with your listeners. Discover how to: -Capture and maintain the interest of your listeners -Structure each sermon for the greatest impact -Maximize your prep time on a tight schedule -Overcome distractions & communicate with clarity -Inspire people toward life-change If you want to discover practical methods to communicate clearly every time you preach, this book is for you. What church leaders are saying about Preaching Killer Sermons: Lane has written a very helpful, practical book for preachers and teach-ers. I think there are two great sins in preaching: misusing the text and boring your audience. In teaching pastors and seminary students, I find there are plenty of resources and attention given to avoid the first great sin. But there is a lack of resources on how not to bore people. And too many preachers feel that if they have rightly divided the Word of Truth, they have done everything God requires them to do. I think accuracy and effectiveness are equally important in preaching. Preaching Killer Sermons is a great resource to help pastors truly be effective in communicating the powerful truth of God's Word. I plan to start using this with the preaching students I teach. -David Whiting, Executive Search Consultant, Vanderbloemen, former Lead Pastor, Northridge Church, Rochester, NY The hardest thing I do each week is not leadership development or pastoral care - it's crafting a message which will communicate truth in an engaging and impactful way. I genuinely want to get better at what I believe is God's greatest call on my life. I'm thankful for Lane's heart to help us be better preachers. I'm thankful for this book. -Ron Edmondson, Senior Pastor, Immanuel Baptist Church, Lexington, KY, Church leadership blogger, RonEdmondson.com Pastor Lane Sebring has done an outstanding job of reverse engineering the "great sermon." His efforts will help all who preach to preach better prepared sermons, and become better prepared communicators. Preach-ing Killer Sermons should be included reading in homiletics courses around the world. -Brett Fuller, Senior Pastor, Grace Covenant Church, Chantilly, VA Chaplain, Washington Redskins If you are a communicator in the local church you need to pick up this book. Lane brings practical insights and helpful encouragement on every page. Pick it up ... and apply the lessons contained within. -Rich Birch, unSeminary, Executive Pastor, Liquid Church, Mountainside NJ The concepts Lane shares in this book have helped sharpen my effectiveness in communicating the content of God's inerrant Word! I would highly recommend this book to both the novice and the experienced preacher. -Dr. Billy Ross, Senior Pastor, Centreville Baptist Church, Centreville, VA Trustee, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary I serve on a Teaching Team with Lane, so I watch him live out Preaching Killer Sermons each week. Lane's heart is to communicate God's Word in culturally relevant and engaging ways. Now he's sharing his passion in a book full of practical tools to help preachers (and teachers/speakers). You'll hear his heart as he challenges you to examine and refine your own preaching habits. -Elaine Bonds, sought after speaker, Graduate, Proverbs 31 She Speaks and CLASSeminars




Themelios, Volume 37, Issue 2


Book Description

Themelios is an international, evangelical, peer-reviewed theological journal that expounds and defends the historic Christian faith. Themelios is published three times a year online at The Gospel Coalition (http://thegospelcoalition.org/themelios/) and in print by Wipf and Stock. Its primary audience is theological students and pastors, though scholars read it as well. Themelios began in 1975 and was operated by RTSF/UCCF in the UK, and it became a digital journal operated by The Gospel Coalition in 2008. The editorial team draws participants from across the globe as editors, essayists, and reviewers. General Editor: D. A. Carson, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School Managing Editor: Brian Tabb, Bethlehem College and Seminary Consulting Editor: Michael J. Ovey, Oak Hill Theological College Administrator: Andrew David Naselli, Bethlehem College and Seminary Book Review Editors: Jerry Hwang, Singapore Bible College; Alan Thompson, Sydney Missionary & Bible College; Nathan A. Finn, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary; Hans Madueme, Covenant College; Dane Ortlund, Crossway; Jason Sexton, Golden Gate Baptist Seminary Editorial Board: Gerald Bray, Beeson Divinity School Lee Gatiss, Wales Evangelical School of Theology Paul Helseth, University of Northwestern, St. Paul Paul House, Beeson Divinity School Ken Magnuson, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary Jonathan Pennington, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary James Robson, Wycliffe Hall Mark D. Thompson, Moore Theological College Paul Williamson, Moore Theological College Stephen Witmer, Pepperell Christian Fellowship Robert Yarbrough, Covenant Seminary




The Deritualization of Death


Book Description

The problematic field of investigation for this study was for the care of bereaved human beings in the context of significant cultural shifts now shaping the twenty-first century. Deritualization was identified as a significant interdisciplinary concern that contributes to potential distress in processes of grieving. The objective of the research was the development of a practical theology of compassionate caregiving for the bereaved with deference to the problem of deritualization. The theoretical framework was guided by the Oxford Interdisciplinary Research model and the Loyola Institute of Ministries model of practical theology. The study was designed for applied research for funeral directors and vocational pastors utilizing qualitative research methods. Hermeneutical and empirical components addressed six research questions through two domains of inquiry: disciplinary perspectives and educational dynamics of bereavement caregiving. Using the method of hermeneutics to critically evaluate the first two research questions, three disciplinary fields of knowledge were examined and integrated from the perspective of pastoral care: funeral service, bereavement psychology, and practical theology. Each discipline individually converged upon meaningful caregiving, meaning-reconstruction, and meaning-reframing as significant modes of bereavement care. Using ethnographic semi-structured interviews to critically evaluate the remaining four research questions, data were collected from a Christian university and a mortuary college. The interview questionnaire included twenty-five main questions organized in four parts: Philosophy of Education, Hermeneutics of Bereaved Families, Care of Bereaved Families, and Encounter of Bereaved Families. The study utilized two cycles of qualitative coding techniques to report the findings of each participating school. A hybrid form of in vivo and holistic coding as well as a second cycle of pattern coding distilled the interview responses into actionable statements that reinforced bereavement caregiving. By synthesizing all of the findings, a compelling case was made for a paradigm of comforting presence supported by principles from a Louwian perspective of practical theology, including theological anthropology, promissiotherapy, bipolarity, and hermeneutics. The study connected a philosophy of meaning-reframing and a paradigm of comforting presence to a meta-theoretical framework within a narrative approach to care. The research elucidated an interdisciplinary understanding that contributed toward a compassionate practical theology of caregiving for the bereaved.




Daily Grace


Book Description

This special collection of brief devotional thoughts for each day from Bryan Chapell reflects God's unlimited grace in Scripture in our daily lives. Each devotional begins with a passage of Scripture. Chapell then shows the reader how God's grace shines through the verses and concludes with an inspiring prayer.