Using this archive

Getting started

This archive holds the sermons of Rev. Dr. Carl R. Gillett, from 1962 to the present day. Everything in it is free to read once you have signed in.

This page explains how to find your way around. You can come back to it at any time using the Help link at the top of every page.

• Wherever you see a blue question mark on the site, selecting it gives a short explanation of whatever is beside it.
• To make everything on the site larger, hold down the Ctrl key and press the plus key. On an Apple computer, hold Command instead of Ctrl.

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Finding a sermon by year

Sermons are organized by the year they were preached, and the years are gathered into decades.

1. From the home page, select a decade — the 1980s, for example. The years in that decade open up beneath it.
2. Select a year. You will see every sermon from that year, listed by title.
3. Select a sermon title to open and read it.

• The most recent decade opens automatically. Selecting a decade heading a second time closes it again.
• Sermons whose date could not be determined from the original text are grouped under "Date Unknown". Material that is not a sermon appears under "Other Writings".
• On the list of sermons for a year, resting your mouse on a title shows a short summary of that sermon.
• The line of links across the top of each page — Home / 1980s / 1984 — shows where you are. Select any part of it to go back.

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Searching for words or phrases

Search is the quickest way to find a sermon when you remember something that was said but not when it was preached.

1. Select the Search button on the home page, or on the page for any year.
2. Type the word or words you are looking for.
3. Select Search. The sermons containing your words are listed, with the words highlighted.

• "All Text" searches the whole of every sermon. "Titles Only" searches just the titles, which gives a shorter and more exact list.
• To find an exact phrase, surround it with quotation marks — "a light unto my path".
• The Year box beside the search box narrows the results to a single year.
• If nothing is found, try fewer words, or a simpler form of the word — "forgive" rather than "forgiveness".

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Browsing by scripture

If you are looking for sermons on a particular passage rather than particular words, you can browse by book of the Bible.

1. Open the search page, then select the link to browse by scripture reference.
2. Select a book of the Bible from the list. The number beside each book is how many sermons draw on it.
3. The sermons drawing on that book are listed. Select a title to read it.

• Only books that appear in at least one sermon are listed.
• A sermon may appear under more than one book if it draws on several readings.
• Sermons marked "Primary text" are built around that passage rather than simply mentioning it.

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Reading a sermon on screen

A sermon opens as an image of the original typed pages. The dark bar above it holds the controls for turning pages and for changing the size of the text.

• Previous and Next turn the pages. The numbers between them show which page you are on and how many pages there are.
• The minus and plus buttons make the text smaller or larger. The figure between them shows the current size.
• The left and right arrow keys on your keyboard also turn pages. The plus and minus keys also change the size.
• Once the text is large, a scroll bar appears at the side. Use it, or your mouse wheel, to move down the page.
• To go back to the list of sermons, use the links across the top of the page, or the link at the bottom.

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Downloading and printing

Downloading saves a copy of a sermon onto your own computer. You can then read it without signing in, or print it.

Every downloaded copy carries a small line of text showing the email address it was downloaded with and the date it was taken. This is how the archive keeps track of where copies have gone.

1. Open the sermon you want.
2. Select the Download PDF button near the top of the page.
3. Your web browser saves the file, usually into a folder called "Downloads". Many browsers show it at the bottom or the top of the window once it has finished.
4. Open the saved file to read or print it.

• If there is no Download PDF button on the sermon page, your account does not yet have permission to download. Ask Rev. Gillett to add it.
• Printing is done from the saved copy, not from this website.

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Asking Rev. Gillett a question

Every sermon page has a button for sending Rev. Gillett a question about that sermon.

1. Open the sermon your question is about.
2. Select "Ask Rev. Gillett About This Sermon".
3. Type your question in the box, then select Send Question.

• The title of the sermon is included automatically. You do not need to say which one you mean.
• Your name and email address come from the account you signed in with, so Rev. Gillett can reply to you directly.
• A copy is emailed to you as well, so you have a record of what you asked.
• Replies come from Rev. Gillett personally. Please allow time for an answer.
• There is a limit on how many questions may be sent in a short period. If you are asked to wait, try again later.

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Signing in and passwords

Reading the sermons requires an account. Registering takes a minute and needs only your name, your email address, and a password.

1. Select Register on the sign-in page.
2. Enter your name, email address, and a password of at least eight characters.
3. Read the Terms of Service and accept them.
4. Check your email for a message containing a verification code, and enter that code when asked.
5. Sign in with your email address and password.

• Verification and password emails sometimes land in a junk or spam folder. Look there if one has not arrived within a few minutes.
• If you forget your password, select "Forgot password" on the sign-in page. A code is emailed to you; enter that code along with a new password.
• The archive signs you out after a period without activity. If you are asked to sign in again, nothing has gone wrong — sign in and carry on where you left off.

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If something is not working

A few things go wrong more often than others. These are worth trying first.

• A sermon will not open, or the page stays blank: wait a few seconds, then reload the page. On most computers you reload by pressing the F5 key; on an Apple computer, hold Command and press R.
• The text is too small to read: use the plus button in the sermon’s control bar. To enlarge everything on the site, hold Ctrl (Command on an Apple computer) and press the plus key.
• You were signed out without warning: this happens after a period without activity. Sign in again.
• Something else: use "Ask Rev. Gillett About This Sermon" on any sermon page and describe what happened.

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