Online Study Aids
By Nate Turner
Thought you might benefit from some of the sites listed below. I don’t like the idea of the sermon-selling sites, but I’ve left them on the list. My aunt takes occasional courses from Fuller Seminary and receives the newsletter this list is taken from.
Commentaries And Study Aids
CrossWalk Bible Dictionaries
Mainly older sources. All usefully linked together. Good for quick Bible facts.
http://bible.crosswalk.com/Dictionaries/
CrossWalk Bible Commentaries
Mainly older sources. Easy to use and search.
http://bible.crosswalk.com/Commentaries/
Index of full-text academic articles on the web, organized by Bible text
http://www.bsw.org/scripture/
Advent’s Catholic Encyclopedia
Very good on biblical subjects and good links to Early Church Fathers
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/
Sermon Illustrations
Pastor Holwick’s Sermon Illustrations
Thousands of illustrations ready to import into various types of database
http://www.users.nac.net/wdh2000/illust.html
Holwick’s Links To The Best Free Sermon Illustrations
Links with star ratings and useful descriptions.
http:%Asers.nac.net/wdh2000/ill-link.html
SermonIllustrations.Com
A well organized site with superior search facilities. One which Holwick missed!
http://www.sermonillustrations.com/sisearch.htm
Reader’s Digest funny stories
Searchable by word or phrase. You can usually find something to fit, and they are much funnier than most collections on Christian sites (without being needlessly offensive). Holwick only points to the USA one, but the Canadian and UK sites are much easier to search. And I think the jokes are funnier (but I’m British).
Canada: http://www.readersdigest.ca/laugh_search.html
UK: http://www.readersdigest.co.uk/mjokes/webjokes?SearchView
Pictures For Preachers
Pictures are a valuable adjunct to preaching – to illustrate archaeology, Bible stories, themes or sometimes just feelings. But the pictures can be hard to find.
Goshen list of Clipart collections
A huge list, sorted alphabetically, with no independent assessment.
http://directory.crosswalk.com/WebDirectory/browse.cgi’?cat=cpr033
Bible Picture Library
Online demo with free samples. OK, I admit, I run this. But there is nothing like it for accompanying sermons.
http://www.ccart2.free-online.co.uk/HTML/ALL_DEMO.HTM
Sermons Ready Made
Yes, you can get your sermon ready grown, or just look over someone else’s shoulder for inspiration. There are lots of sites ready to sell you sermons (lots of ministers needing cash), but the best ones are free.
Sermon Central
30,000 sermons, searchable and organised by topic and text
http://www.sermoncentral.com/sercentral/default.asp
Youthworkers Exchange
Youth talks, stories, games, jokes etc. Remarkably good.
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Hills/4045/index.html
Visual Sermons
I’m encouraging the use of pictures while preaching. You can use a computer
projector or an OHP. Few sermons at present, but the pictures are good. http://www.VisualSermons.co.uk/
Historical Sermons
Sermons by the great preachers of the past: Jonathan Edwards, Martin Luther, John Wesley, George Whitefield, John Chrysostom, St. Augustine and Spurgeon. A bit wordy nowadays, but inspiring.
http://www.gtu.edu/library/LibWorship.html#sermons
Lectionary Sermons
Commentaries on the Revised Common Lectionary Every.aweek, short comments on the upcoming texts. http:I/vww.montreal.anglican.org/comment/
Sermons for the Revised Common Lectionary
Sermons for each sunday, with hymn suggestions and a ‘sermon’ for children.
http://www.rockies.net/-spirit/sermon.html
Worship that Works
Sermons for the Revised Common Lectionary Collected from many churches, several for most Sundays
http://www.dfms.org/worship-that-works/
Liturgy
Jared’s Liturgy Archive
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Delphi/9190/liturgy.htm
Anglican, Roman Catholic, Orthodox, Celtic, and other liturgies from the Early Church Fathers to the 1979 Book of Common Prayer
Common Worship (Anglican)
The text of the new C of E worship liturgy.
http://www.cafe.anglican.org/commonworship/
Hymns And Worship Songs
Cyber Hymnal.
2700 lyrics, scores, history, biographies of authors, hear tunes, search by title, topic, meter, scripture etc
http://www.cyberhymnal.org/
Hymns International
Hymns listed in English and other languages, with foreign equivalents
http://www.gentle.org/Hymns/Default.htm
WorshipTogether.com
For the latest new songs, with sheet music.
http://www.worshiptogether.com/songs/default.asp
Song Information Database Home Page
Very good for modern songs and published albums
http://www.gentek.net/songs/
HymnSite.com
A large collection with very good search facilities. Even searches other sites.
http://www.hymnsite.com/
Oremus Hymnal
Lyrics and midi files from 20 Anglican hymnals.
http://www.oremus.org/hymnal/index.html
This article “Online Study Aids” written by Nate Turner is excerpted from Fuller Vision Online.
