Church Sermons

JOY is the highest attainment of life. It comes of perfect living and is marred by imperfection. It is music without a note of discord. It is motion without a trace of friction. It is health without the slightest sickness. It is pleasure unalloyed. Says William George Jordan, “Happiness is the greatest paradox of Nature. It can grow in any soil, live under any conditions. It defies environment. It comes from within; it is the revelation of the depths of the inner life as light and heat proclaim the sun from which they radiate. Happiness consists not of having, but of being; not of ...

Gentleness is a beautiful quality. It is essential to all true character. Nobody admires ungentleness in man or woman. When a man is harsh, cold, unfeeling, unkind, and rude and rough in his manner, no one speaks of his fine spirit. When a woman is loud-voiced, dictorial, petulant, given to speaking bitter words and doing unkindly things, no person is ever heard saying of her, “What a lovely disposition she has!” She may have many excellent qualities, and may do much good, but her ungentleness mars the beauty of her character. No man is truly great who is not gentle. Courage and ...

GOD wants our lives to be bright. He wants them to shine like lamps in the darkness. The world needs nothing so much as light — not light blazing in the far-off sky, but light pouring out softly, low down, close to the earth, from human lives which have been kindled at the heart of God. The aim of the gospel of Christ is to make human lives bright with the brightness of God's own holiness. There is a word in one of St. Paul's letters which puts this truth in the form of an exhortation. "Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind." The word "transformed" suggests a change from dulness ...

In 1900, Mary Baker Eddy offered this timeless message to members of her growing First Church of Christ, Scientist. In it, she encourages right thinking, right acting, and right working, along with unselfishness, charity, receptivity, and obedience to God.

The soul of America is far more than a concept—it is a people. Even the most sacred principles mean very little unless lived out passionately by an informed citizenry. In The Portable Patriot, you’ll find a carefully assembled sampling of American history’s most formative words, written by the people who made that extraordinary history. Speeches and sermons, essays and extracts, poems and proclamations illumine such values as independence, virtue, humility, bravery, thrift, prayer, liberty, and reliance on God.

Mary Baker Eddy's "Message to The Mother Church for 1901" offers insight into the nature of God’s infinitude; Christ; the pastor of the Church of Christ, Scientist; medicine; and other topics relevant to the practice of Christian Science today.

This book contains fifty-four sermons through the book of Acts to bring understanding and application. It is a reprint of an earlier edition to match the series Preaching Through the Bible. Each sermon has dozens of Bible cross-references, applications to daily life, and ten questions to help the reader retain the key points.

Dear Children, I should like you all to be very wise. Wisdom is far better than money, or fine clothes, or grand houses, or horses and carriages. People who are not wise seldom get on well; they are seldom happy. My best wish for any dear boys and girls that I love is, that they may grow up very wise. But how are we to be wise? Some of you will ask. What are we to do in order to get this wisdom, which you tell us is such a good thing? Dear children, if you would be wise, you must pray to God to put his Holy Spirit in your hearts, and give yon wisdom. This is one thing. Besides this, you ...

I HAVE read this little Catechism with much pleasure, and think it deserves to be extensively circulated. It is an admirable compendium of Scriptural information on the Sabbath question, well digested, and arranged in a most simple form. May He who is the Lord of the Sabbath vouchsafe to it an abundant blessing. J. C. RYLE

In 1902, Mary Baker Eddy gave her annual communion message to members of her church. With the title, “The Old and the New Commandment,” she addresses the topics: “God as Love;” “Love one another;” and “Godlikeness.”

Dear Children, I am going to talk to you about Jesus Christ, and your souls. I want to make you happy. But I know that people are never really happy unless their souls are happy; and I am sure that people’s souls cannot be happy, unless they love Jesus Christ. And that is the reason why I am going to preach to you now: I want to tell you something about Jesus Christ and your souls. Dear children, I hope you will all attend, while I talk to you. I pray that the Spirit of God may come into your hearts, and make you able to do so. Try to listen to me. Try to understand what I say. Try to ...

What does your church do well? What could it do better? Are you sure? It’s time to put thoughts into action. This workbook will guide you—if you dare let it. Join church advocate Peter DeHaan, PhD, in a journey of self-discovery to pursue a meaningful spiritual community and help move faith from theory into conduct. Consider 175 thought-provoking questions in The More Than 52 Churches Workbook to propel your practices forward. Discover how to reform your church community and inform your spiritual journey: Explore the diversity of Jesus’s church and your essential role in it. Expand ...

Leadership training messages for those whose hearts have a sense of responsibility in the church.

Preaching Through 2 Corinthians is a verse by verse sermon series through Paul's second letter to the Corinthians. Every sermon has numerous cross-references and each sermon ends with ten questions to review the main points. The book is meant for personal Bible study, small group study, or to help pastors with sermon preparation.

You probably know the story of St. Paul’s shipwreck. (Acts 28) You remember how the apostle and his companions were exceedingly tossed with a tempest for thirteen days. Neither sun nor stars in many days appeared. All hope that they should be saved was taken away. But do you recollect that when the fourteenth night was come, about midnight the shipmen deemed that they drew near to some country? They sounded and found it twenty fathoms. When they had gone a little further they sounded again and found it fifteen fathoms. Then fearing lest they should have fallen upon rocks, they cast four ...

I do not know into whose hands this tract may fall. But I know there is no living soul, who ought not to feel an interest in its subject. Young men or maidens, old men or children, married or single, gentle or simple, listen to a question;—Shall you be saved? Reader, I entreat you in all affection, to examine the question I put before you. I address you as a dying creature,—an immortal creature,—a creature going to be judged before the bar of God. As ever you would die in peace, rise again with hope, be acquitted in the day of judgment, and live for ever in glory,—give me a hearing ...

THE two little words which head this page touch a subject of vast importance in religion. That sub-ject is the great duty of separation from the world. This is the point which St. Paul had in view when he wrote to the Corin¬thians, “Come out,—be separate.” The subject is one which demands the best attention of all who profess and call themselves Christians. In every age of the Church “separa¬tion from the world” has always been one of the grand evidences of a work of grace in the heart. He that has been really born of the Spirit, and made a new creature in Christ Jesus, has ...

BELOVED FRIENDS AND BRETHREN, I cannot reach your hearts, I know well. It is not in me,—it needs the finger of God. But I can set before you my earnest wishes for every class among you, and I will do it, the Lord being my helper. Bear with me if I say things that sound sharp and hard. Set it down to my anxiety for your salvation;—I mean it all for your good. I write none other things but what I have gathered from the Bible, and as such I commend them to your consciences. Consider what I say, and the Lord give you understanding in all things. I grant you may be quick and clever about the...