Thomas Nelson - Nelsons Annual Preachers Sourcebook 2016

2015 by Thomas Nelson

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or otherexcept for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Published in Nashville, Tennessee, by Thomas Nelson. Thomas Nelson is a registered trademark of HarperCollins Christian Publishing.

Typesetting by Kevin A. Wilson, Upper Case Textual Services, Lawrence, Massachusetts.

Thomas Nelson titles may be purchased in bulk for educational, business, fund-raising, or sales promotional use. For information, please e-mail SpecialMarkets@ThomasNelson.com.

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are taken from THE NEW KING JAMES VERSION, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked ESV are from THE ENGLISH STANDARD VERSION. 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.

Scripture quotations marked NASB are from NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE, The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995. Used by permission.

Scripture quotations marked NIV are from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION, NIV Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Some Scripture quotations are noted from The Message by Eugene H. Peterson. 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. All rights reserved.

[9780718041830]

ISBN 978-0-7180-4185-4 (eBook)

15 16 17 18 19 20 [ RRD ] 6 5 4 3 2 1

Contents

Sermons

I have heard people remark that their church year consists of fifty-two unconnected sermons on disjointed themes. Being the son of a pastor and a pastor myself, I think this critique is largely unfounded. Nonetheless, busy pastors desire to improve the quality, freshness, and variety of their pulpit ministry.

Early in my ministry I attended a young Timothy conference where one of the speakers challenged me to pray and plan through my preaching ministry a year in advance. I was privileged to pastor a rapidly growing church and thus knew that weekly preparation time was sometimes difficult to find. I took his advice to heart and carved out a week early in the calendar year to get away from the office for a few days and look at the coming year in terms of the major Christian holidays, the needs of the church, and major biblical truths that needed exposition. I found myself drawn to short sermon series of four to eight weeks in durationtime long enough to fully develop a topic, yet short enough to keep interest at a high level.

We have chosen to organize this preaching resource book with attention to major events of the calendar year. The sermon series are all a month long. In most cases you will have the benefit of two contributors each month who have prepared sermons on the theme selected for that month. We have not attempted to provide full manuscripts but have chosen to give the reader two expanded outlines, one approximately twice the size of the other. These expanded outlines will allow you to personalize the message to fit your own preaching style and congregational needs. As you pray and plan with this tool at your side, you may find that one message sparks your interest and better suits the need of the moment. You also may choose to use both sermons weekly in different services.

The contributors are men from varying size congregations who have proven to be effective pastors and effective preachers. I am honored that they have given of their time and energy to join me in this pastors annual. They have done so because they desire to be of service to fellow pastors. You will enjoy the unique insights of two or three preachers each month. The exception is March and December, when I have asked the contributing author to provide the entire month of preaching to help adequately prepare the congregation to consider the birth, death, and resurrection of our Lord.

This book is dedicated to pastors who desire to declare the Word of Truth with integrity and power. It is our prayer that it will prove to be a resource that will minister to you as you minister to those whom God has put in your charge.

John R. Adolph

Senior Pastor

Antioch Missionary Baptist, Beaumont, Texas

J. Kie Bowman

Senior Pastor

Hyde Park Baptist Church, Austin, Texas

Marcus A. Buckley

Senior Pastor

Riverside Baptist Church, Greer, South Carolina

H. B. Charles Jr.

Senior Pastor

Shiloh Metropolitan Baptist, Jacksonville, Florida

Stephen Cutchins

Pastor of Worship

Hyde Park Baptist Church, Austin, Texas

Rick Ezell

Senior Pastor

First Baptist Church, Greer, South Carolina

Rick Fisher

Vice President

Blackaby Ministries, Jonesboro, Georgia

Tim Hawks

Senior Pastor

Hill Country Bible Church, Austin, Texas

Ken Hemphill

President of Auxano Press and Director of Center for Church Planting and Revitalization

North Greenville University, Tigerville, South Carolina

Andy Lewis

Senior Pastor

Mitchell Road Presbyterian Church, Greenville, South Carolina

Walter Malone Jr.

Senior Pastor

Canaan Christian Church, Louisville, Kentucky

Larry Steven McDonald

Director of Doctor of Ministry Program

North Greenville University, Tigerville, South Carolina

Alex McFarland

President of Truth for a New Generation Apologetics Ministries and Director of Christian Worldview and Apologetics

North Greenville University, Tigerville, South Carolina

D. Allen McWhite Sr.

Professor of Missions

North Greenville University, Tigerville, South Carolina

Ryan Pack

Senior Pastor

First Baptist Church North, Augusta, South Carolina

Ryan Rush

Senior Pastor

Kingsland Baptist Church, Katy, Texas

Steve Scoggins

Senior Pastor

First Baptist Church, Hendersonville, North Carolina

Gary L. Shultz Jr.

Senior Pastor

First Baptist Church, Fulton, Missouri

Ralph West

Senior Pastor

Church Without Walls, Houston, Texas

Ken Wilson

Teaching Pastor

Fellowship Bible Church, Conway, Arkansas

Don Wilton

Senior Pastor

First Baptist Church, Spartanburg, South Carolina

Rob Wilton

Lead Pastor

Vintage Church, New Orleans, Louisiana

John L. Yeats

Executive Director

Missouri Baptist Convention

Date:

Suggested Title:

Scripture:

Contributor: John L. Yeats

Full Sermon Outline

Introduction

Have you noticed the health department signs in every public rest-room? They indicate a seriousness about people, especially employees, washing their hands. Washing hands is a good hygienic discipline.

God makes everything new and fresh. If followers of Christ are to experience the fresh dynamic of Gods work within, we must learn early in our Christian walk that there must be times of cleansing, or we discover the sadness of powerlessness. We need to daily experience the washing of our hearts.

Cleansing

Cleansing takes time because we are all prone to deny or minimize our own sins. How often have we prayed, Lord, whatever is wrong in my life, please show me. Then we endure a ten second pause and move on to verbalizing our list of requests. It would be better if we prayed, Lord, how shallow I am. Please forgive me, and then spent time confessing our wayward attitudes and hardness of heart.