In Sermons: showing 1-15 of 106

Praying Like Elijah

Contributed by Joshua Blackmon on Feb 10, 2024

Elijah was human but transcended his finitude and frailty through prayer. So can we.

James 5:17-18 (KJV) Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit. Elias was a man ...read more

Scripture: James 5:17-18

Denomination: Pentecostal

Backseat Driver

Contributed by Joshua Blackmon on Feb 3, 2024

Letting God lead is easy when things are going the way we think they should. When God takes us down paths we don't like, we want to take the wheel of the proverbial car of life.

Backseat Driver Both our daughters have recently started a driver's education course. I can remember the very first time I was behind the wheel of a car. My dad decided to let me drive. He regretted it immediately. As he sat in the passenger seat directing me, I put my foot on the gas and ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 16:21-28, Proverbs 3:3-5

Denomination: Pentecostal

The Resurrection: The Gospel Series

Contributed by Joshua Blackmon on Jan 6, 2024

Unfinished notes on the doctrine of the resurrection for a Bible study that I am teaching on Wednesday evenings.

Background and context from my passage: Some of the Corinthian believers had concluded that there was no future resurrection of the dead and this was influencing the faith of the rest of the church. As Paul said earlier about the acceptance of the members of the church who were practicing ...read more

Denomination: Pentecostal

The Seven Keys To Spiritual Buoyancy: Total Dependence (Key Two) Series

Contributed by Joshua Blackmon on Sep 17, 2023

Learning to totally depend on the Lord is the second key to spiritual buoyancy.

The Seven Keys to Spiritual Buoyancy: Total Dependence (Key Two) Introduction Last week we began our journey into discovering the secrets of the apostle Paul's resilient spiritual life. We are calling them keys to spiritual buoyancy. Buoyancy is "the ability or tendency to float in water ...read more

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 1:8-9

Denomination: Pentecostal

The Seven Keys To Spiritual Buoyancy: The Ministry Of Consolation (Key One) Series

Contributed by Joshua Blackmon on Sep 10, 2023

This series looks at seven principles from 2 Corinthians that Paul characterizes the life of Paul the Apostle and shows how he was able to stay afloat despite the difficulties he faced in life.

The Seven Keys to Spiritual Buoyancy: The Ministry of Consolation (Key One) Introduction The Scriptures use chaotic waters as a theme for the dangerous yet glorious place of unformed potential. The creation hymn of Genesis 1 begins with God's Spirit hovering in the darkness over the face of ...read more

Scripture: 2 Corinthians 1:3-7

Denomination: Pentecostal

The Discipline Of Celebration

Contributed by Joshua Blackmon on Aug 9, 2023

Celebration should be a normal part of the Christian life. This sermon borrows heavily from Richard Foster's book "Celebration of Discipline."

The Discipline of Celebration “The Christian should be an alleluia from head to foot!” (Augustine of Hippo) Celebration: the action of marking one's pleasure at an important event or occasion by engaging in enjoyable, typically social, activity. Celebration is at the heart of God’s way of ...read more

Denomination: Pentecostal

Tell Jesus

Contributed by Joshua Blackmon on Aug 6, 2023

This sermon was inspired by a sermon starter in "52 New Testament Sermon Starters" by Spiros Zodhaites. There is power in telling Jesus about our needs and the needs of others no matter how insignificant we may think they are.

TITLE: Tell Jesus Mark 1:29-39 (NIV) 29 And immediately He [or, they] left the synagogue and entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. The Greek word translated as "immediately" is significant in the gospel of Mark. It is used 42 times in Mark's fast-paced ...read more

Scripture: Mark 1:29-39

Denomination: Pentecostal

Wounds To Wonder

Contributed by Joshua Blackmon on Jul 30, 2023

The Shoulders of Christ are wide enough to carry all our burdens.

Title: Wounds to Wonder Introduction: The prophet Isaiah has so many beautiful insights into the suffering of our Lord and the glory that follows. Isaiah 53:4-6 KJV "Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. 5 ...read more

Scripture: Isaiah 9:6-7

Denomination: Pentecostal

Freedom From Resentment

Contributed by Joshua Blackmon on Jul 22, 2023

Jesus disarms the cynic in us with His gentle answers to our resentful and skeptical questions. This sermon relies heavily on chapter three of Scott Sauls's book "A Gentle Answer: Our 'Secret Weapon' In An Age of Us Versus Them".

Freedom From Resentment INTRODUCTION: John 1:43-51 (NKJV) 43 The following day Jesus wanted to go to Galilee, and He found Philip and said to him, “Follow Me.” 44 Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. 45 Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found Him of whom ...read more

Scripture: John 1:43-51

Denomination: Pentecostal

The Spiritual Discipline Of Worship

Contributed by Joshua Blackmon on Jul 19, 2023

This sermon is based heavily on ch. 11 of Richard Foster's classic book "Celebration of Discipline."

John 4:1-26 (NIV) 1 Now Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that he was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John— 2 although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. 3 So he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee. 4 Now he had to go through Samaria. 5 So he ...read more

Denomination: Pentecostal

In The Potter's Hands

Contributed by Joshua Blackmon on Jun 3, 2023

God spoke to Jeremiah through a visit to the potter's house. God is at work even in the middle of our mess.

In The Potter's Hands Jeremiah 18:1-6 (NKJV) 1 The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying: 2 “Arise and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause you to hear My words.” 3 Then I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was, making something at the wheel. 4 And the ...read more

Scripture: Jeremiah 18:1-6

Denomination: Pentecostal

When Pentecost & Memorial Day Converge

Contributed by Joshua Blackmon on May 28, 2023

The baptism of the Spirit is the inheritance of every believer in Jesus.

When Pentecost & Memorial Day Converge Acts 10 Memory is a gift from God. We love to retell the stories that we love most about our lives and our family or nation. We build what we call memorials as monuments to the past. We choose to set up meaningful tokens of memory for events and persons ...read more

Denomination: Pentecostal

The Best Is Yet To Come

Contributed by Joshua Blackmon on May 21, 2023

Graduation sermon that emphasizes the importance of forgetting the past because what God has ahead for us is greater than all the good things He has given us thus far.

The Best Is Yet To Come Introduction Well, Caitlyn, here we are. It is May 21, 2023. I have recently begun thinking about the space race and the moon landing and wanting to read about it and understand it. On the evening of May 21, 1969, the crew of Apollo 10 went to sleep. Theirs was the mission ...read more

Scripture: Proverbs 4:18

Denomination: Pentecostal

God's Got Us

Contributed by Joshua Blackmon on May 7, 2023

This is an unfinished sermon about how God encourages us collectively.

God's Got Us Introduction Until 1973, when a drunk driver hit and destroyed it, in the middle of the Sahara desert, there stood a solitary acacia tree, named Tree of Ténéré. This solitary tree had roots that stretched down 130 feet to a water supply deep under the desert floor. ...read more

Scripture: 2 Timothy 1:1-12

Denomination: Pentecostal

Three Keys To Being Continually Filled With The Spirit

Contributed by Joshua Blackmon on Mar 26, 2023

In this text, the writer offers three keys that facilitate a continual infilling of the Spirit.

Introduction: God created the eye and all its power of perception. The garden He placed Adam and his wife in was filled with beauty. Every tree he planted was "pleasant to the eye" (Gen 2:9). God looked at everything that He had made and it was very good (Gen 1:31). It was pleasant and ...read more

Scripture: Ephesians 5:8-20

Denomination: Pentecostal