Book Adaptations

These sermon series are inspired by books that will encourage and equip your church to grow in their faith.

  1. The Christmas Option

    The Christmas Option

    This four-week Christmas sermon series on the Nativity is meant to help us replace our romanticized version of that night’s events with a real-life account of the Christmas Story. The series guide is compiled and created by Jonathan Malm, author of The Christmas Option: The Hidden Options Found in the Christmas Story along with the Ministry Pass team. We often do the Christmas story a disservice due to its familiarity. We romanticize the events of the Nativity as we put them on postcards, in children’s plays, and sing about them in cute Christmas carols. But living through the events of the Christmas story would have, at times, felt dreadful. The Christmas Option series is a real life consideration of the actual events that took place. A teenage girl with her future ahead of her was rocked by scandal—even though she didn’t do anything wrong. A newlywed couple was uprooted from their home, their family, and their support system during the most inconvenient time of their lives. A king who was already losing his power to a Roman occupation discovered a new king was born that would be an even greater threat to his authority. It seems every life that was touched by the events of Christmas experienced inconvenience and hardship. Yet, through those inconveniences, the greatest opportunities presented themselves. Opportunities for peace in the midst of chaos, for powerful influence, and ultimately for the salvation of all humanity. Based on the book The Christmas Option: The Hidden Options Found in the Christmas Story by Jonathan Malm, this Christmas series tells the Nativity story in a unique and powerful way. Cover artwork is limited to use with the sermon series The Christmas Option and may not be edited without the expressed written permission of Jonathan Malm.

    4 Weeks
  2. Fearing Bravely: Risking Love For Our Neighbors, Strangers, And Enemies

    Fearing Bravely: Risking Love For Our Neighbors, Strangers, And Enemies

    Jesus commands us to love our neighbors. So why are so many Christians taught to fear their neighbors? God instructs us to welcome strangers; we are not to withhold hospitality or help from anyone in need. So why do we fear strangers, especially those needing hospitality, afraid that their presence may threaten what we have? Jesus taught us to love our enemies; we are to pray for those who actively harm us. Instead, we create enemies in our minds, seeing anyone who thinks, believes, looks, or lives differently from us as dangerous, a threat to our way of living. The Christian community exists to declare and demonstrate God’s love and to follow Jesus in practicing love over fear, even in unsafe times and places. It’s time to reclaim our brave fear of God and risk transformative love for the sake of our neighbors, the strangers among us, and our enemies. This series, based on Fearing Bravely: Risking Love for Our Neighbors, Strangers, and Enemies by Catherine McNiel, does just that. Based on Fearing Bravely: Risking Love for Our Neighbors, Strangers, and Enemies by Catherine McNiel, a Navpress resource published in alliance with Tyndall House Publishers. Used by permission. Cover artwork is limited to use with the sermon series Fearing Bravely: Risking Love for Our Neighbors, Strangers, and Enemies and may not be edited without the expressed written permission of NavPress and Tyndall House Publishers.

    4 Weeks