Sermons

SermonCentral.com FAQ's

General Questions

What Is SermonCentral's Statement of Belief?
SermonCentral is a non-denominational ministry that works with all Bible believing Christian churches that embrace traditional Christian theology.
    We believe that:
  • There is one God eternally existing in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19). Jesus Christ is God the Son and is true God and true man (Phil 2:5-8).
  • Jesus Christ was begotten by the Holy Spirit and born of a virgin (Matthew 1:18 & 23), led a sinless life, took on Himself all our sins (Romans 5:8-9), died on the cross, and rose again (1 Corinthians 15:1-4), and is seated at the right hand of the Father as our mediator (Heb 9:15) and advocate (1 John 2:1).
  • The Bible is God's Word, uniquely and fully inspired by the Holy Spirit (2 Timothy 3:16-17), and is authoritative on all matters on which it speaks (2 Peter 1:20-21).
  • All people sin and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23) and will face eternal separation from God unless they come into a saving relationship with Jesus Christ (John 3:16-17). Salvation is a free gift from God (Ephesians 2:8-9) that can only be received by faith in Jesus Christ (Acts 4:12, Galatians 2:16).
  • God works through the members of His church to evangelize the lost and teach believers to obey His commands (Matthew 28:18-20). Churches are to be open to and accepting of all people, offering God's love and redemption to each person without prejudice or condemnation (John 3:16-18). However, in their efforts to reach out, churches must take care to uphold the Word of God, and not engage in moral compromise (Romans 12:2) or affirm any sin such as sexual immorality, idolatry, adultery, homosexuality, stealing, greed, drunkenness, slander, swindling (1 Corinthians 6:9-10), murder, strife, deceit, malice, gossip (Romans 1:21-32), witchcraft, hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, factions, or envy (Galatians 5:19-21).
  • God's people are called to holiness in all aspects of life (Galatians 5:22-25), with the goal of being conformed to the image of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (Romans 8:29).
What is the difference between a FREE and PRO account?
SermonCentral is the largest, best, and most popular preaching research and resource site in the world, with over 105,000 totally free sermons, illustrations, and dramas - over 300 new sermons added weekly - and 250,000 users a week. SermonCentral PRO is the premium upgrade of SermonCentral. Click here to get more information about how you can sign up for our PRO plan or our FREE 14 day trial.
Why do you charge a fee to be SermonCentralPRO Member?
We consider SermonCentral to be a ministry, but this ministry isn't cheap. The platform it takes to run a site this large currently costs over $20,000 a month. The size of the SermonCentral community has brought down our servers before, and the community continues to grow.
    Our goals include:
  • Free access to all the sermons available for the whole world.
  • Excellent support (we receive hundreds of emails and phone calls everyday from around the world).
  • Building out the site to provide the best tools and content for preaching research and resources.
  • This all requires a financial foundation.
The Pro Subscription supports the free site. Those who subscribe to SermonCentral Pro are helping us keep the free site free for missionaries and pastors who can only afford free. The subscription fee is for upgraded searching and saving applications, professionally designed PowerPoint slides, the top-rated illustrations, free pro video of the week and more. Please keep in mind that no one has to pay to access the sermons.
Can I see all the sermons from the free site?
100% of the sermons can be searched and accessed for free - for now and forever.

Resources & Searching

Can I search for sermons by a specific contributor?
Yes! Visit the contributor's page or you can type a contributor name into the Keyword field in the primary search box at the top of the site.
How do I browse through PowerPoints?
  1. Sign in to your SermonCentral PRO account. If you do not have an account, click here to sign up today. You can verify that you are indeed signed in by looking for your username/email address at the top of the site.
  2. Visit the PowerPoint page to view popular downloads - or type a Keyword into the primary search box at the top of the site, select "PowerPoint", and click the Search button.
Where are the free dramas?
The dramas can be found in the Illustration search results. Simply locate the primary search box at the top of the page and create a Keyword search, select Illustrations, and click the search button. In order to only see the Dramas, be sure to select the "Dramas" category option in the Illustrations Results area.

PRO Account Questions

How do I perform a PRO Search?
  1. Sign in to your SermonCentral PRO account. If you do not have an account, click here to sign up today. You can verify that you are indeed signed in by noting whether your username/email address is displayed at the top of the page.
  2. Roll over the PRO button in the main navigation bar at the top right of the site. The first option in the list is PRO Searches.
  3. Input your search criteria as appropriate. (example: type LOVE into the Search Sermons by Keyword box in order to search all sermons for the term LOVE.)
  4. Select Advanced Search.
How do I change my email address?
Sign in to your SermonCentral PRO account. Visit the My Account page (the link is located at the top of the site when you are signed in). You can edit all billing/account information within the My Account section.
How can I get a receipt?
Contact us to request a receipt. Please be sure to include at least one of the following: Your registration number, your first and last name, the email address you use to sign in with, or the last four digits of the credit card we are billing.
How do I change my credit/debit card number?
Sign in to your SermonCentral PRO account. Visit the My Account section of our website.
My account appears to be closed - how do I renew my subscription?
Contact us to request that your subscription be renewed. Please be sure to include at least one of the following: Your registration number, your first and last name, the email address you use to sign in with, or the last four digits of the credit card we are billing.

If your account closed due to non-payment, we will re-open it for you and give instructions on how to update your payment information.
Why is my account closed?
There are two possible explanations for a why you received a message stating your account closed.
  1. The credit/debit card we have on file was declined. Keep in mind we must have the correct expiration date of your credit/debit card in order for the charge to go through. Generally, we send an email two weeks prior to account closure. Keep in mind that this email may be blocked by your SPAM filters.
  2. It is possible that you have one closed account and one open account with us. If you are using the email/password of the closed account, you will receive the closed account message. If you think this might be the case then try logging in with different information. If you are unable to login, contact us to request further assistance. Please be sure to include at least one of the following: Your registration number, your first and last name, the email address you use to sign in with, or the last four digits of the credit card we are billing.
Am I signed into PRO?
You can verify that you are indeed signed in by looking for your username/email address at the top of the site. If you do not see it, simply click Sign in.
Where are my Favorites?
Sign in to your SermonCentral PRO account. Your Favorites can be found in the expanding navigation area on the top right PRO rollover menu. You can also get to your favorites from your Dashboard.
Are video downloads included with the PRO Subscription?
Yes! As a PRO Subscriber, you have access to the Free PRO video of the week - click here to see this week's video.

SermonCentral also has thousands of other video resources at your disposal. These videos are searchable and rated by our SermonCentral community. These can be purchased from our various providers - links to the purchase pages can be found within the specific product details. Click here to search our huge catologue of professionally created video content.

Contributor Questions

What benefits are there to contributing my sermons?
10. Get a Free Year of SermonCentralPRO. When you contribute 40 sermons you become a SermonCentral Key Contributor, and you will receive a FREE one year subscription to SermonCentral PRO (a $119.50 value).
9. Manage Your Own Sermons on a State-of-the-Art Database.
8. Promote Your Church or Ministry with a Link to Your Web Site.
7. Allow your church members to easily view your sermons with a direct link to your contributor page.
6. Be featured on the largest and most popular sermon site in the world.
5. Help Pastors and Missionaries Worldwide.
4. Receive encouragement from users emailing "thanks" to you.
3. Get more use out of your sermons!
2. Your sermons can cross borders and enter places you could never personally go in order to help expand the Kingdom of God.
1. God can use your sermons to help others share the good news of Christ more effectively.
How can I become a contributor?
Click here and proceed through the signup process.
How long after I submit my sermon will it be posted on the site?
Every sermon that is submitted must be reviewed and approved. After your sermon is approved, it is posted on our site. This process normally takes fewer than two business days and can happen within hours.
What happens to the copyright of the sermons displayed on SermonCentral.com?
The contributors essentially retain all their copyrights. It is their choice to have their sermons displayed on SermonCentral.com or its partner sites. Contributors are free to edit or remove their sermons.
Do you accept sermon manuscripts or sermon outlines?
We accept both - though we don't want sermon outlines to be too sparse.
Why would a sermon not be accepted?
The most common reason a sermon is not accepted is because it is too brief. An outline that has a few main points and some scripture references is too skeletal. A sermon composed of a couple paragraphs is too short.

Sermons are permitted to reflect denominational distinctives, but we reserve the right to refuse any sermon that is inflammatory, racist, vulgar or otherwise inappropriate.
What happens to sermons that aren't approved?
Sermons that aren't approved go to the contributor's own file on their contributor page, but they don't go in the searchable sermons on SermonCentral.com.