The Preaching Platform

Having a Heart of Thanksgiving

November 23, 2024 / Palitha Jayasooriya / 0 Comments

A visual of a lady praising God with upraised hands to denote the theme of Thanksgiving.

A 5-point sermon on Thanksgiving.

“O give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; for His steadfast love endures forever.” (Psalm 107:1)

Introduction: Soul singer Lionel Ritchie was once deeply impacted by a speech in which his father had honored his mother, on their 37th wedding anniversary. In his speech, Ritchie Senior had lovingly given thanks to his wife for sticking by him through the ups and downs of life. Said Lionel, “What a great story because I pass through my house every day and I don’t say thank you. I just take for granted that certain things be done”. That speech moved him to compose one of his best loved songs, ‘Three Times a Lady’.

How much we too forget to express thanksgiving to God for the blessings He gives us. We often take them for granted. In Psalm 107, the author earnestly encourages the people to proclaim thanksgiving to God, by repeating the phrase, “Let them thank the Lord for His steadfast love, for His wonderful works to humankind” on four occasions (Psalm 107: 8, 15, 21, and 31). That’s a good policy for us to follow too.

Sermon: 3 Things to be Thankful For

December 9, 2015 / Palitha Jayasooriya / 0 Comments

Image Credit: Snappa

Introduction

Recently, my brother Nimal, who was formerly a ship’s captain and is now a lay Pastor in our church, shared the Word of God in one of our services. In that sermon he expressed his appreciation and thanks to me for being the first in our family circle to accept the Lord Jesus & for holding on to that commitment in the midst of much opposition. The end result, he mentioned, was that he and eventually our entire family, came to salvation. I was so glad that after all these years he still remembered and was thankful.

We live in a world where gratitude is often not expressed and help given is easily forgotten. Undercutting and backstabbing seem to be the order of the day! That brings me to the main thought in my sermon.

5 Foundations To Build A Blessed Family

October 18, 2015 / Palitha Jayasooriya / 15 Comments

Image credit: Evil Erin

Introduction

Many buildings that look strong on the outside develop cracks and some collapse, due to the foundation being weak. Bad foundations produce bad buildings! It’s no different with building a blessed family. Didn’t the Lord Jesus Himself give us the parable of the house on the Rock and the one on sand (Matthew 7:24-27)? The house on the Rock stood firm because it had the right foundation.

In this article, I would like to share what I believe are 5 vital foundations for building a blessed family. They are:

A Journey of Revival, Reliance, and Repentance – King Hezekiah’s Reign

November 17, 2025 / Palitha Jayasooriya / 0 Comments

A visual of a man reading the Bible to highlight the reliance Hezekiah showed for God's Word.

Introduction: Start the sermon by describing a memorable personal journey. Maybe about a memorable spiritual journey.

* The Bible says this about Hezekiah in 2 Chronicles 29:2 – “He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord…”

Trivia on Hezekiah:

* He was the 13th King of Judah

* He is considered to be the second best king in their history

* It is believed that he had a hand in the process of putting together a few of the Psalms

* His reign was extremely successful and prosperous (2 Chronicles 32:27-30)

* He ruled for 29 years (2 Chronicles 29:1).

* He is mentioned in the genealogy of the Lord Jesus Christ (Matthew 1:9-10)

This sermon covers the following 3 points connected to King Hezekiah’s reign.

The Benefits of Giving (Generosity) – 2 Corinthians 9:6-15

November 12, 2025 / Palitha Jayasooriya / 0 Comments

A visual of a wrapped gift to denote the beauty of generosity as shown in 2 Corinthians 9:6-15

“Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.” (2 Corinthians 9:6)

Illustration on Generosity: A Surprising Gift

My mobile phone was on its last legs. It had already been through an expensive repair on the touch screen, and now, it was clear that its days were numbered. A vital part of my ministry, I realized that I needed a new phone as quickly as possible, before the imminent crash. The cost, however, was too much at the moment, which left us searching for possible options.

A few mornings later, I received a call from one of my friends. “Pastor, I’m parked outside your home. Can you come down for a few minutes?” Wondering what had brought him to my home that early, I hurried down the stairwell. As I reached his car, he stepped out and handed me a box. “Pastor, I came to give you this.” It was a new phone! The Lord had burdened his heart, he had humbly followed the Lord’s prompting. I had my needed new phone! My need had been met through the generosity of a fellow-believer and friend.

God’s Concern for the Small Things on Our Daily Journey

November 5, 2025 / Palitha Jayasooriya / 0 Comments

A visual of a mother caring for her two small children to depict God's concern for us in small things.

(The transcript of a sermon that shows God’s Concern in our daily challenges, preached at the People’s Church (Assembly of God) in Colombo, Sri Lanka)

Introduction: You know, there’s a story of the well-remembered evangelist and preacher George Mueller. He was a man who looked after thousands of children, orphans, in various locations. He never asked support from anyone but always prayed and trusted God for provision for this ministry that he was doing with these children. One story that really struck me was about how he depended on the Lord day by day for his needs.

One day, in one of the locations, there were 300+ children, but there was no food that morning. When this crisis came, in faith, he asked the children to come and sit at the tables, and then he prayed. Apparently, as the story goes, soon there was a knock on the door, and he opened it to find that the guy who ran the bakery nearby had felt a prompting from God to bring bread for the children. They were fed, and soon after, there was another knock on the door.

Answering God’s Call – ‘Strength From God’s Word’ Podcast

July 19, 2025 / Palitha Jayasooriya / 0 Comments

‘Answering God’s Call’ –

This recent episode (Episode 24) from The Preaching Platform’s “Strength from God’s Word’ podcast, is based around former West Indian pace bowler Sir Wesley Hall, his service for God, and the first ever tied-test in the history of Test Cricket. Take 3.04” minutes to listen and be encouraged today.

Do consider subscribing to our You Tube channel by clicking here.

For a useful article on preaching titled ‘Preaching from Biblical Journeys’, click here.

Witnessing Effectively for Jesus

June 25, 2025 / Palitha Jayasooriya / 0 Comments

A visual of two people talking to highlight the importance of witnessing as Christians.

Introduction to the sermon titled “Thoughts on Witnessing Effectively for Jesus”. (The video of this sermon and the service could be followed here.)

In my teenage years, a person I met for the first time shared the message of God’s salvation with me and gifted me a copy of the New Testament. That conversation and the subsequent reading of God’s Word, started the process that would eventually lead me to accepting Christ as my Savior.

In the Great Commission in Matthew 28:19, Jesus highlighted the need for every Christian to be a witness, sharing the Gospel. He said, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations”. Jesus’ disciples took His command very seriously and ensured that the message of Christ would be taken wherever they traveled.

It is believed that among the disciples, the Apostle Thomas brought the message of God’s salvation plan as far as the nation of India – that’s a long way from Jerusalem! This has great significance for me personally, since I live in Sri Lanka, India’s closest neighboring country.

Bringing God’s Healing to the Oppressed (Luke 4:18-19)

June 16, 2025 / Palitha Jayasooriya / 0 Comments

A visual of two people holding hands to emphasize the message of healing.

(The transcript of a sermon titled “Bringing God’s Healing to the Oppressed”, preached at the People’s Church (Assembly of God) in Colombo, Sri Lanka.)

Our main theme over the recent past has been “Completing the Commission”. We are called to fulfill the Great Commission. On this topic, we’ve been dealing with Luke 4:18-19, focusing on the model that Jesus proclaimed over His own ministry. Let’s look at those verses:

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free, and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come.”

In these two verses, we find five statements that the Lord shared that day. Last week, I mentioned how Jesus walked into the synagogue in the town of Nazareth, which was a small village with probably a few thousand people. As Jesus entered, it appears that the person in charge of the proceedings gave Him a scroll of the prophet Isaiah. It seems clear that Jesus looked for the specific passage which He read that day. He then sat down and said, “The scripture you’ve just heard has been fulfilled this very day!”

Watch Your Anger – Psalm 37:8 (Sermon Illustration)

March 14, 2025 / Palitha Jayasooriya / 0 Comments

A visual of a clenched fist crushing a paper to denote anger.

A sermon illustration about the danger of anger:

It is said that the powerful emperor, Genghis Khan, once went out into the woods for a day’s sport. On the King’s wrist sat his favorite hawk who was trained to hunt down prey. Although there was much expectation among the group about the hunt, to their disappointment, they could not find much prey.

On the return journey, the discouraged king decided to take a different route home alone, with his pet hawk flying ahead of him. It was a hot day and the king soon became very thirsty. To his joy, he then saw some drops of water trickling down from an overhead rock.