In Sermons: showing 16-30 of 41

Walking In Wisdom Series

Contributed by Eric Ferguson on Jun 4, 2008

The reason for this is that God is more interested in developing wisdom through your character than making sure life is comfortable for you. God is more interested in making your life holy than He is in making your life happy. We can be reasonably happy

OPENER: Who Want’s To Be A Millionaire Trivia Game (available on powerpoint by request) Fitting into Your World: Congratulations on your physical prowess in dealing with everyday obstacles. For instance— You probably navigated stairs expertly by shortening their strides and lowering their ...read more

Scripture: Proverbs 3:5-8

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Walking In Unity Series

Contributed by Eric Ferguson on Jun 4, 2008

Let’s face it. We all get into conflict—sometimes. Even with those close to us. How are we supposed to handle it? Is it okay to hate people? Can we disagree without being disagreeable? Unity chooses to believe that there is good in every person who is a C

Opening Activity: Acting out—Fight! Stage a fight with one of your adult volunteers—prepare him ahead of time, of course. Have the volunteer interrupt you and continue to talk while you’re talking. Ask him to stop talking several times. Then just lose it and start yelling, telling him to leave the ...read more

Scripture: Ephesians 4:3-13

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Why Does Jesus Seem So Distant? Series

Contributed by Eric Ferguson on Jun 4, 2008

Sometimes finding God can be so difficult, and He seems so far away, but in reality, He’s around us all the time. There are some things however that can seem confusing at times

Opener Activity: Clap This game is a variation of the old faithful "Hot/Cold" game. One person is chosen to be "it" and asked to leave the room so they can’t hear or see what is going on in the room. Take about 1 minute and pick an action as a group for "it" to do when he/she returns. (A Jumping ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 18:20

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Where Do I Find Jesus Series

Contributed by Eric Ferguson on Jun 3, 2008

Since the scriptures tell us that we can find Jesus with our heart, sometimes we become blinded in finding Jesus because we have spiritual blinders on our eyes. And when this happens, we seem to lose site of Jesus.

Where Do I Find Jesus? Deuteronomy 4:29, Jeremiah 29:11, John 14:23 Opener: Choose two contestants to come up and do the car tag recognition --------slides available upon request------------- Introduction: In November, 1975, 75 convicts started digging a secret tunnel designed to bring them up ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 15:8-9

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Who Is Jesus? Series

Contributed by Eric Ferguson on Jun 3, 2008

History records that he was a great man. Yet he had humble beginnings. He grew up in a small village, an ordinary boy who did nothing to draw attention to himself. Like most boys his age, he attended school. He also worked in the family business and did

A Great Man History records that he was a great man. Yet he had humble beginnings. He grew up in a small village, an ordinary boy who did nothing to draw attention to himself. Like most boys his age, he attended school. He also worked in the family business and did his best to grow up strong and ...read more

Scripture: Colossians 1:13-27

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Hangin' On Tight

Contributed by Eric Ferguson on Jun 3, 2008

Today in the life of this church more than any other time in history we are faced with crossroads, one path leading to prosperity and another leading to a slow deterioration….either HANGING ON TIGHT to your commitment as a Christ Follower, or letting it g

OPENER: Game: Human Knots Great Small Group game. If you use a big group, separate them into small circles. Everyone squeezes together and grabs the hand of a person not standing next to them. They may not let go of the other person’s hands. So in order to untangle they must go over and ...read more

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Shake, Rattle, And Roll

Contributed by Eric Ferguson on Jun 2, 2008

Discovering the art of true worship despite difficult circumstances you may be encountering in your life. Find out how two buddies who love God deeply, literally brought the house down around them while finding their true worship to God.

I read a story this week of a little boy whose parents were avid sports fans. They didn’t miss a game. On the other hand, they went to church services only sporadically. In his mind the little boy was attempting to learn what was alike and what was different about the two meeting places which his ...read more

Scripture: Acts 16:16-34

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Tackling Fuel Series

Contributed by Eric Ferguson on May 27, 2008

Can we redirect anger into something good to get us in the game? Anger is the issue. There are a lot of examples out that have to do with anger, but one in particular really captures the heart behind anger, and allows us to see the good and bad side of a

Opener Story: Wrong Order! How do you respond when a mistake has been made with your fast-food order? If you’re 6’3” and weigh 270 pounds, people don’t recommend crawling through the drive-through window. But that’s exactly what happened when a University of Kansas football player realized a ...read more

Scripture: Nehemiah 5:6-7

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Run The Play Series

Contributed by Eric Ferguson on May 27, 2008

Teach your teens how to effectively follow through with their commitment to Christ when facing opposition using these three steps gathered from Jehoshaphat’s confrontation.

Opener: Air Guitar Contest Choose contestants that you know will really "ham it up" on stage. Find some music that has a lot of guitar solos. Tell the contestants each will be judged (by the audience’s applause) on how well each can play the "air guitar". Send each contestant in one at a time, ...read more

Scripture: 2 Chronicles 20:1-29

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

The Sixth Sense, Angels, Demons, And Ghosts Series

Contributed by Eric Ferguson on May 21, 2008

An overview of things that go bump in the night. What is it about the spiritual world that we are not aware of? Discover four keys to success in waging spiritual warfare with teens.

OPENER: Foil Face Unscramble For this game all that you need are a couple of rolls of aluminum foil and a cool prize for the winner. Before service starts recruit 5-6 people and make molds of their face using aluminum foil – pick a mix of leaders and students. If they wear glasses, a hat, ...read more

Scripture: Acts 19:13-16

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

The Mirror Series

Contributed by Eric Ferguson on May 21, 2008

Are you willing to look in a full length mirror...where people can see you for who you are? It’s the only way you will get an accurate picture of what you look like and what others see of you. Or will you just take a glance, and turn to forget what you s

What’s the first thing you do when you get up in the morning? Whatever it is, it’s probably the same thing every day. Everybody seems to have their own morning rituals to get them going. Maybe you have to have a cup of coffee before you can do anything. Maybe you make your bed as soon as you get ...read more

Scripture: James 1:21-23

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Risky Business

Contributed by Eric Ferguson on May 21, 2008

What are you willing to risk in using your talents for God? Discover six ways on how to become the servant that multiplied the talents the most in Jesus’ parable.

What was the riskiest stunt you ever pulled off as a kid? Was it pedaling down the street in your banana seat bicycle as fast as you can and careful hold the handle bars still as you drove up on the ramp and sailed into the air for a brief moment into what seemed like infinity? Or was is risking ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 25:14-30

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Games People Play: Twister

Contributed by Eric Ferguson on May 16, 2008

Sometimes you feel twisted in different directions in your life. Take a lesson from the game of Twister to see how you can handle those life’s tuggings.

Opener – Circle Twister Have youth group leaders get all participants standing and forming two circles. One of the circles should be inside of the other circle. It’s helpful if there are a couple of the leaders standing on a stage above the players or on a stable platform/chairs. When the music ...read more

Scripture: Hebrews 12:1-2

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

An Inconvenient Truth

Contributed by Eric Ferguson on May 16, 2008

Many Christians don’t like to hear the word "Servant" or "Servanthood" because it implies a less than attractive feature of God’s kingdom. Yet it is the very essence that draws true power from a mighty God.

OPENER: Object Lesson: Usefulness of the Broom Hold a broom up for all to see. Rather than beginning to sweep up themes, take out one strand of the broom and start to clean up the mess. It will only take seconds before they realize you need to use the whole broom or it will take you too long to ...read more

Scripture: 2 Kings 5:1-14

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Forgiving God

Contributed by Eric Ferguson on May 16, 2008

Us being forgiven by God is without question; but that God needs to be forgiven by me borders on blasphemy. Although it seems unthinkable to even mention that we would need to forgive God of the universe, our creator, our redeemer. But many people must go

Sometimes life hurts us. And when we hurt, the natural response is anger. When another person is responsible for our pain, our anger turns toward the one who has injured us. To restore peace, we know we need to forgive. But sometime’s there’s no clear culprit in our suffering. At those times, ...read more

Scripture: 2 Corinthians 5:17-20

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational