Sermon Outlines for Busy Pastors: Volume 5

Table of Contents

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Introduction

1. Next Level: Sermon 1 - Desire - Luke 9:20-23

2. Next Level: Sermon 2 - Denial - Luke 9:20-23

3. Next Level: Sermon 3 - Death - Luke 9:20-23

4. Next Level: Sermon 4 - Decision - Luke 9:20-23

5. I Don't Feel Like... - 2 Samuel 22:31

6. How Good is Good Enough? - Acts 10:1-8

7. Who Are You? - Luke 15:11-32

8. Against All Hope - Romans 4:18

9. Christian Integrity - Psalm 15:1-5

10. True Joy - Philippians 3:1-12

11. Two Memorials - Joshua 4:1-11

12. What About Jesus? - Matthew 19:16-22

13. The Reason for Joy - Philippians 4:18-20

14. One Step - 1 Samuel 20:3

15. He Will Uphold - Isaiah 39:5-7

16. Come and See - John 1:35-51

17. What God is Looking For - Judges 6:11-24; 7:1-15

18. Reminder - Titus 3:3-7

19. Where Are You Going? - Galatians 1:13-24

20. What's Going On? - Luke 21:25-38

21. Pleasing God - Hebrews 11:5; Genesis 5:18-24

22. Mother's Day - Not Condemned - Luke 10:38-42

23. Covered - Genesis 3:21

24. Repentance - Psalm 51:1-17

25. A Missionary Right Where You Are - Luke 8:26-39

26. How to Have Revival - 1 Kings 18:41-46

27. On the Other Side - Exodus 14:1-31

28. Are You Remembering? - Deuteronomy 8:1-20

29. Discouragement - Psalm 42:1-11

30. Father's Day - Mighty Men - 2 Samuel 23:8-19

31. People of Service - John 13:1-17

32. Is It Jesus Only? - Acts 16:16-30

33. Eternally Secure - Philippians 1:3-6

34. They Slept Through It - Micah 5:2

35. Launch - Commitment and Connection - Acts 2:37-42

36. Launch - Deep Family - Romans 12:9-13

37. Launch - Together - Hebrews 10:19-25

38. Launch - Fellowship - Ecclesiastes 4:9-12

39. Lights - Matthew 5:14-16

40. The Meaning of Baptism - Romans 6:3-4

41. The Church's Role in Times Like These - 2 Timothy 4:1-5

42. Our Position of Freedom (Part 1) - Galatians 4:1-7

43. Our Position of Freedom (Part 2) - Galatians 4:1-7

44. Don't Live Like the Rest of the World - Ephesians 4:17-24

45. Prayer and Forgiveness - 1 John 1:9

46. Move Out - Sermon 1 - Pray - Luke 10:1-2

47. Move Out - Sermon 2 - Prepare - Luke 9:57-62

48. Move Out - Sermon 3 - Places - Luke 10:1

49. Move Out - Sermon 4 - People - Matthew 9:35-38

50. Move Out - Sermon 5 - Three Groups in the Harvest - Matthew 8:28-9:13

51. Move Out - Sermon 6 - The Example of Jesus - John 4:5-30

52. Move Out - Sermon 7 - You Were Created for This! - Jeremiah 1:4-10

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Introduction

Pastors are the busiest people in our country.

According to my research, that statement is a fact. Of course, my research is not scientific, but I believe it to be accurate. My most trusted research data comes from my wife. She says we’re the busiest people in our country, and I always listen to my wife!

I know, firsthand, all the many different directions we are pulled, every single day. There’s hospitals to visit, weddings to officiate, and funerals to preach. There’s families to counsel, new believers to disciple, and leaders to train. There’s worship services to plan, toilets to unclog, and light bulbs to be replaced. And some of us have these things to do WHILE working another job – doing the bi–vocational thing. There’s enough stuff going on to keep us busy twenty–five hours a day, eight days a week.

Oh yeah, and there’s sermons to prepare. We’ve got to work that in with all the other things vying for our attention. The one thing most of us feel to be our primary purpose, our calling – preaching the Word of God – has to compete with everything else for the one finite element in all of this. Time.

As a seminary student, I remember hearing someone say a pastor should dedicate an hour of preparation to every minute of his sermon. At the time, I thought that was an unreal amount of time to spend in sermon prep. Now, years and sermons later, I can’t even grasp the thought. If our average sermon length is thirty minutes, that equates to thirty hours of prep! For those who have a Sunday night message to prepare, and maybe one for Wednesday night, well, that doesn’t exactly leave time for much else.

There may be some of you who have that luxury of time, but for most of us, that amount of time is simply not there. So we do the best we can with the time we’ve got, and trust God to make something useful from our efforts. And our gracious and merciful Lord often does.

But we want to do better. We want to present our people with well–prepared messages. Messages that will not only fill a thirty minute time slot, but will also feed them spiritually, lift their hearts, convict them of their sin, and call them into a new or deeper walk with the Lord.

That’s why I’ve put this series together. These Sermon Outlines for Busy Pastors books are for those of you who can identify with any of the above. I want to give you something to build on. Something that’s been studied through, that gives you a head–start for your messages this Sunday. Something that will help you make the most of your limited time.

I don’t make any claims these are the best sermon outlines you’ll ever see. They may not be on par with anything you’ve prepared yourself. But they have all been studied over, prayed over, and preached. The outlines are complete, compiled from the sermon notes I take into the pulpit each week. Take them as a whole, or use them to spur your thoughts in other directions.

Another thing I remember hearing in seminary is: The Bible, the Word of God, has been preached by many, many preachers for two thousand years. You’re probably not going to preach anything that hasn’t been preached before. I would say that is an accurate statement. We’re influenced by the preachers and sermons we hear. God speaks to us through them. And He may speak those same words through us in our messages to others. I know that’s true sometimes in my case and I’m fairly certain that’s true for most pastors. And I’m sure many sermons you’ll find here bear the marks of those preachers I’ve heard or read.

Nevertheless, I offer these sermon outlines to you. Use them for your benefit and for the glory of our Lord. I pray this book, and the entire series, provides you with a tool to help you make the most of your time. And to make much of Jesus Christ.

Preach the Word!

Next Level: Sermon 1

Desire

Luke 9:20-23

I. Intro

A. Have you ever wanted anything so bad you couldn’t do without it?

1. About 25 years ago, there was this little black and silver Ford Bronco II at the Ford dealership in my town.

2. I was driving a little Grand Am and I needed some space.

3. I needed the Bronco for the space.

4. I also wanted it bad because I thought it was a cool looking ride.

5. Everyday I passed it, I needed it more and more.

6. Soon I needed it worse than anything else I had ever had.

7. There was such a strong desire there that I would do anything to satisfy that desire.

B. Have you ever desired anything like that in your life?

1. Sure you have.

C. Have you ever desired Jesus Christ like that?

1. Have you ever wanted Jesus Christ and to walk with Him more than anything else in the world?

2. Have you ever been willing to lay everything else down to fulfill the desire to be all that Jesus Christ wants you to be?

D. We're going to talk about desire this morning.

1. We're going to use Luke 9:20-23 to get us going.

2. Read Luke 9:20-23.

II. Let's set the context.

A. The disciples confessed Jesus as the Christ.

1. Jesus asked them who the world thought He was.

2. Then He asked them who they thought He was.

3. Peter said, God's Messiah.

B. Jesus responded to their confession.

1. In response to Peter’s confession, Jesus, in effect, says...

2. OK, you accept me as Lord and Savior.

3. Here's what living a life based on that confession looks like.

C. When we confess Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, we’re not done.

1. We have to move forward, not as we once were, but as new creations.

2. When we’re born again, we have to live new lives.

3. Our new lives call for new lifestyles.

D. Many of us start this Christian journey with all that in mind.

1. We're on fire.

2. But, for many of us, that fire gets dim over time.

3. We let things get in the way.

4. Life.

5. Money.

6. Bills.

7. Health.

8. Indifference.

9. Cynicism.

E. Verse 23 is the key to living the Christian life.

1. It's the way to becoming a next level Christian.

F. How many of us are happy with where we are as Christians right now?

1. How many of us are exactly where we want to be in our walk with Jesus?

2. How many of us want some change?

3. How many of us want to take our relationship with Jesus to the next level?

G. To take our relationship with Jesus to the next level calls for change.

1. There's four changes needed that we can find in what Jesus says here.

2. These changes are not something that we can do in our own strength.

3. These changes are not salvation but the working and evidence of salvation.

4. To take our Christianity to the next level, we need to incorporate these changes in our lives.

5. We will never move to the deeper and fuller things of Christianity until we have these basics.

6. The keys to next level Christianity are: DESIRE, DENIAL, DEATH, and DECISION.

7. We start today with DESIRE.

III. Change #1: Desire

A. The definition of desire.

1. The Greek word used here means to choose, to prefer, to wish, or to be inclined to.

2. Webster’s Dictionary defines desire as long for or a craving.

3. So to desire something, is to long for, to want, to crave, something in our lives.

B. What should be the object of our desire?

1. As Christians, what should we crave and long for more than anything else?

2. If we want to take our relationship with Jesus to the next level, Jesus tells us what our object of desire should be.

3. If should be to follow Him.

4. Our desire should be to walk with Jesus.

5. Walking with Jesus should be a longing in His people.

6. Craving to be with Jesus should be a mark of a Christian.

IV. What does it mean to follow Jesus?

A. Following Jesus means walking in the places Jesus walked and doing the things He did.

1. To be a next level Christian we’ve got to go with Jesus wherever He leads.

2. Following His lead should be our desire.

3. We should want, more than anything, to be with Jesus.

4. And to be right where He wants us to be.

5. To do the things Jesus did.

6. To look like Him.

7. To be like Him.

8. To be a little Jesus.

B. What are some areas of our lives for following Jesus?

1. We can find these areas by seeing where Jesus spent His time.

2. What did Jesus spend much of His time doing?

3. What are some practical ways we can emulate Jesus right now?

V. We can follow Jesus by spending time in prayer.

A. Jesus prayed.

1. Read Luke 9:18.

B. Jesus was God the Son.

1. Jesus was perfect in every way.

2. Jesus has the power of God.

C. Yet Jesus prayed.

1. Read John 8:28.

2. He submitted Himself to the Father and His earthly communication was through prayer.

3. Jesus prayed so that He might know and do the will of the Father.

4. Now if the Son of God, Jesus Christ, needed to pray to know the will of the Father, how much more do we need to be in prayer seeking God’s will for our lives?

5. To come after Jesus means that we spend time in prayer.

VI. Jesus spent time with believers.

A. Jesus was with the disciples when He spoke Luke 9:23.

1. Shortly after this, He took Peter, James, and John with Him to His transfiguration.

2. From this point on He withdrew more from the crowds and spent more time with His disciples.

3. It was with the believers that the groundwork for the Gospel Explosion was laid.

B. Jesus thought it was important for the believers to be together with Him, in fellowship, prayer, worship, and learning.

1. Read Hebrews 10:24-25.

2. It is vitally important that we do not giving up meeting together.

3. To come after Jesus means that we are spending time with His people.

VII. Jesus spent time reaching out to those who needed His touch.

A. In this same chapter, v. 42, a man came with His child, who was demon-possessed.

1. The boy needed the touch of Jesus.

2. Jesus touched him and changed His life forever.

B. As Christians, we may not have the supernatural powers that Jesus had.

1. But we do have the capability to reach out in the name of Jesus to those who are hurting.

2. This world is full of hurting people that need a touch from the Lord.

3. Read Matthew 10:42.

C. We are His hands and feet in the hurting world.

1. To come after Jesus means that we reach out in the name of Jesus to a hurting world.

VIII. Jesus spent time pointing people to the cross.

A. In His conversation with Nicodemus, Jesus summed up the Gospel in John 3:16.

1. God loved the world so much He sent Jesus to die on the cross so that whoever believes will be saved.

2. If we're sitting here as saved, born again, blood-bought Christians, we know the significance of the cross.

3. We know what it means for us and we know what it means for the lost who trust in Jesus.

4. To come after Jesus means that we point people to the cross.

IX. How’s Your Desire?

A. We know what desire means and we know what it means to follow Jesus.

1. What Jesus wants is people who desire to follow Him.

2. He wants people who desire to spend time in prayer.

3. He wants people who desire to spend time with other believers.

4. He wants people who will reach out in His name to a hurting world.

5. He wants people to point the lost to the work of the cross.

B. How do we develop this desire?

1. I believe that all true Christians have this desire in them.

2. For many, the desire has been suppressed for so long that it hardly breaks the surface anymore.

C. Ironically, the way to fuel that desire is the same way we seek to fulfill that desire.

1. Spend time in prayer.

2. Spend time with other believers.

3. Reach out.

4. Point people to the cross.

D. Going to the next level in our walk with Jesus takes desire.

1. Do you have the desire?

2. Do you want the desire?

E. Here's one of my favorite verses.

1. It's Luke 17:5.

2. Read Luke 17:5.

3. Maybe the first step to the next level is asking God to give us the desire?

4. Maybe we need to start today by praying this same prayer.

Next Level: Sermon 2

Denial

Luke 9:23

I. Intro

A. Do you remember the story of when Jesus called Matthew to be His disciple?

1. Matthew was a tax collector.

2. A tax collector was about as low as a dog in the eyes of the Jews.

3. But for Matthew it paid the bills, and then some.

4. When Matthew was called, He had a choice to make.

5. He could keep looking out for number one or he could follow Jesus.

B. He chose to deny number one, himself.

1. And he stepped out on a road that would change his life forever.

C. We're talking about becoming a Next Level Christian.

1. Our focal passage for this series is Luke 9:23.

2. Read Luke 9:20-23.

D. Our focus today is the phrase must deny themselves.

1. Jesus tells us that to be His disciple, we have to deny ourselves.

2. If we want to go to the next level as a Christian, we have to be self-denying.

3. The basics of Christianity include self-denial.

E. For a better picture of self-denial, let’s look at another Biblical character, Paul.

1. We find out about Paul's self-denial in Philippians 3:1-12.

2. Read Philippians 3:1-12.

II. Paul is A Picture of Self-Denial

A. He could have confidence in himself.

1. He could have confidence in the position he was born.

2. Paul was born and raised a Jew.

3. The Jews considered themselves a step above everybody else and God’s chosen people.

4. He had good roots and he was a pure-bred Jew.

B. He could have confidence in his ability to keep the Law.

1. Paul was zealous for keeping the Law.

2. He knew the rules and He lived to keep the rules.

3. He also pointed out those who broke the Law.

C. He could have confidence in his position in life.

1. Paul was a Pharisee, the ruling class of the Jews.

2. He was a leader and held an important place in society.

3. He was held in high esteem because of his position in life.

D. He could have confidence in His own abilities.

1. He considered himself blameless in his pursuit of living the perfect life.

2. He felt confident he could do whatever he needed to do to be successful.

3. He was talented and he knew it.

E. Paul’s early life favors many of our lives.

1. Some of us were born with good family names.

2. Some of us have obtained good positions in our lives.

3. Some of us have developed great abilities and depend on those abilities to get us ahead.

4. We can relate to what Paul is saying here.

5. Paul was self-dependent and had the ability to get things done simply in his own power.

6. Many of us are self-dependent and can get things done by our own power and persuasion.

III. So what did Paul do with this great life he had?

A. He gave it all up.

1. He counted it all as loss.

2. He wrote it all off.

3. He realized that all that stuff wasn’t the key to a successful life.

4. He counted it all as rubbish.

5. He said that all he had in his early life was refuse, dung, or human excrement.

6. The position he was born into, his position in life, his own abilities: he gave it all up.

B. Why?

1. Why did he think of his early life in this manner?

2. Why did he give it all up?

3. Why did he deny himself all the things the world would say made him a success?

C. He denied himself to know Jesus.

1. He denied himself to know the power of Jesus in his life.

2. He denied himself to be in fellowship with Jesus.

3. He denied himself so that he could be what Jesus had called him to be.

D. When Paul began his personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, everything else paled in comparison.

1. His relationship and dependence on the Lord was worth more to him than anything the world offered.

2. Paul lived Luke 9:23.

3. Paul had the desire and Paul was willing to deny himself to follow Jesus.

IV. Let's Correct Our View of Self-Denial

A. Paul had the true positive view of self-denial.

1. Many people would say that Paul was crazy to give up his great amenities of life.

2. After all, it looked like Paul had it made.

3. Some will say religion is good, but when it starts messing up your real life, you’ve gone too far.

4. Paul didn’t deny himself for the purposes of religion; he had already been there and done that.

5. Paul could deny himself because he found something, or Someone, more important than him.

B. The misconception of self-denial.

1. When we hear self-denial, all kinds of things cross our minds.

2. We have to give up