... title, is not mentioned in the Old Testament, and is seldom mentioned in the New Testament except in the synoptics. In the gospel of John it is cited only twice. In the book of Acts, describing the beginnings of the Christian church, it is only noted six times. ... . It is not, like that of Jacob the farmer, a make-believe story. This is a true story about another Jacob! On April 18, 1942, into gun-gray sky, sixteen B-25 planes took off from a pitching aircraft-carrier deck and headed for Japan. They were under ...
... forcing them to repay the loan? Would that turn the world upside down or what? Do you wonder that Jesus was crucified? John Howard Yoder, a Mennonite theologian, wrote a well-known book back in the early '80s called The Politics of Jesus in ... of this vision. "The saints of the most High shall receive the kingdom, and they shall possess the kingdom for ever and ever" (Daniel 7:18). That same ability to grasp by faith and hope what is hidden from our eyes is what is necessary to penetrate those ironic and ...
For An Older Couple, Both Widowed Genesis 2:18-23; Psalm 100;Colossians 3:12-17; John 15:9-12 The Bible contains many themes, but two of them that pervade both the Old and New Testaments are memory and hope. The Israelites were constantly reminded by their leaders and their religious rituals to keep uppermost in their minds the fact that God had saved them, had ...
... if we fail to take this into account in preaching we will not reach our audience. The Communications Upheaval John Killinger, professor of preaching at Vanderbilt Divinity School in Nashville, Tennessee, set out to identify "some of the primary ... time spent in front of the tube is sleeping! The statistics among young people are even higher. By the age of 18 the average youth has spent more time watching television than attending school. Among children, watching television far outranks playing or conversing ...
... in this unmistakeable way. The mighty breath of God (the Hebrew word for breath is ruach) was moving among them. Breath is life! We breathe 18 times a minute, 1,080 times an hour, 25,000 times a day. At age 40 you will have had 365 million breaths, each a ... and you are dead. No wonder the psalmist declares, "Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord (Psalm 150:6)." On his death bed, John Wesley's last words were, "I'll praise ... I'll praise ..." He was struggling to say the words of the great hymn of ...
... . Note the three words, "Abraham believed God." Don't you wish it could be written of us, "Barbara believed God." "John - Joe - Betty - your name - believed God." Habakkuk, the prophet, has some good words on this, "If it seems slow, wait for ... For Let us never forget: the promises of God are worth waiting for! In a rather restrained fashion, our text suggests (vv. 17, 18) that somehow the mysterious and unseen presence of Yahweh is engaged in this action. Abraham has prepared a sacrifice of a heifer, a ...
... promised that those who follow Him will have more than their share of problems in this world. Our Lord compared Himself to a cornerstone which the builders had rejected (Mark 12:10). He told His followers that they would be persecuted for His sake and even crucified (John 21:18), and that this would be a blessing to them (Matthew 5:10). He promised that the world would hate them (Mark 13:13), that they would be delivered up into courts and councils to go on trial for their lives (Mark 13:9). He even warned ...
To whom then will you liken God, or what likeness compare with Him? (Isaiah 40:18) O Lord my God! When I in awesome wonder,Consider all the worlds Thy hands have made,I see ... . Isaiah asked, "To whom would you liken God, or what likeness would you compare Him with?" and Jesus rose up to say, "Those who have seen Me have seen the Father" (John 14:9). Or, as Paul said in Philippians: even though Christ was "in the form of God, He emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in human likeness" ( ...
... but Jesus said to them, "In the world you have tribulation, but be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world" (John 16:33). Jesus did something for someone else. In His own moment of need, He ministered to the needs of others. There' ... Paul, again, from his letter to the Hebrews: "Because [Christ] Himself has suffered and been tempted, He is able to help us when we are tempted" (2:18). Think of how you suffer in the summer's heat and use that as a metaphor for all the other ways you have suffered in life. ...
... mercy on me!" (Luke 21:28) The town of Jericho was already 8,000 years old by the time Jesus and John the Baptist walked its streets. Think of it! Here in America, we were all excited a few years ago about our ... If ninety-nine sheep are safely in the fold, the Good Shepherd will come after the one who is lost, even if that lost sheep is you or me (Matthew 18:12-14). If we are humble and honest enough to cry out to Him like Bartimaeus, He is concerned enough to stop and respond - to treat us at that moment ...
... of House rules. The public effect of these alleged ethical violations mesmerized the nation and led to his resignation. John Tower was considered by many to be the ideal candidate to be the Secretary of Defense, but when the ... with him. He punched the button for the 18th floor and asked her which floor she wanted. In a seductive voice she said, “I’ll go to 18 too if you’re looking for a good time.” He politely declined the invitation of this “Lady of the Evening.” As he told the story, he said ...
Matthew 6:1-4, Matthew 6:5-15, Matthew 6:16-18, Matthew 6:19-24
Sermon
Mark Ellingsen
... infected by the tint of selfishness and evil. This is Jesus' point also at the end of our gospel lesson (also see Romans 7:18). He proceeds to warn us not to lay up treasures on earth for ourselves, because moth and rust consume and thieves break in and steal ... freedom, because good works just come spontaneously, not as a result of constraint or scheming for power, position and a good reputation. (John 8:36; Ephesians 2:8-10, Psalms 110:3). The freedom of this new life, which is given at Easter and the joy ...
... taken upon myself to speak to the Lord, I who am but dust and ashes. (Genesis 18:27) Tonight begins the forty-day season of Lent: forty days which correspond to the time Jesus ... the more honest, more spiritual assessment of who we are in this fallen world? Yes, the spirituality we find in scripture requires honesty in oneself. In fact, the first letter of John says it with unavoidable clarity: "If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us" (1:8). But our confession of sin also ...
... after Me, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow Me" (Matthew 16:24). And Jesus was also to tell them, "Truly I say to you ... you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish to go" (John 21:18). The very first one to do this - the very first one to pick up a cross and follow Jesus Christ - was an African who happened to be passing by, an ordinary man named Simon of Cyrene. You and I are rather ordinary people like Simon, so perhaps we can ...
... certain sunny-heartedness about him which prim minds did not easily associate with religion. “The thing indeed became a scandal! ‘Now John,’ they said, ‘with his lean, austere life in the desert, is patently a saint of God. But this other mingling in ... am glad and rejoice with all of you -- and in the same way you also must be glad and rejoice with me (Philippians 2:17b, 18).” God Chooses Us For Love Not only are we chosen for joy, but we are also chosen for love. “This is my commandment, that you ...
... is, there are many organizations of Christians. One of them is certainly as legitimate as another. So we have United Methodist, United Presbyterian, Christian, United Church of Christ, Church of God, Nazarene, Lutheran, Pentecostal, and Roman Catholic. Jesus prayed for his disciples in John 17:18-20a: “As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, so that they also may be sanctified in truth…. That they may all be one.” Yet it is true ...
... you to stretch yourself, to become more than you are. You are a Christian. You have experienced the love and support of God before. Depend on him now! To his grieving disciples, Jesus said, "I will not leave you desolate; I will come to you." (John 14:18) He says the same to you now. To the Romans, the apostle Paul wrote, "For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation ...
... in the Bible about demons being called out of a person. For example, a Samaritan woman who was married five times met Jesus at a well (John 4). She was living with a man not her husband. When she spoke, Jesus really heard the demon-malady in her soul - she was a loveless ... : "In the thought of the Bible, evil - for the devils represent the source of moral evil as well as sickness (Revelation 18:2) - is not the absence of good, or some simple, natural failing, it is an active personal power, with its order ...
... sand Samson was arrogant. Solomon was worldly, David was stricken by seizures, Job was afflicted, Thomas, doubted, and the Samaritan was despised. John Wesley did battle daily with cockiness; Captain Webb, a great revivalist preacher, wore a patch over his eye, and one of ... , as well as American sailors, from American ships to be forced into service for the British navy. On June 18, or seventeen days following Madison's appeal, Congress issued a Declaration of War. However, unknown to Congress, Britain had ...
... died. Jesus went to the home of Mary and Martha to be with his friends in that time of grief. Now listen as I read John 11:33. "Jesus saw Mary weeping and he saw how the people with her were weeping too; his heart was touched and he was ... to give you strength and comfort. Psalm 46 says, "God is our shelter and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble." And Proverbs 18:24 describes the Lord as a "friend who sticks closer than a brother." Regardless of the pain, tragedy, and trauma you feel any time ...
... intentions. Around 1870 New York City had one of the most hotly contested mayor’s races in its history. The incumbent was Mayor John Tweed--Boss Tweed he was called. He was running for reelection. The Boss Tweed machine represented politics at its very worst. The ... how many of us persistent about it? Jesus considered this such an important point that he later told another story in Luke 18 that illustrates the same thing—the importance of persistence in prayer. He told of a widow who had a court case ...
... with his wife. It’s plain he’s in the wrong, and he may even realize that. But he’s the macho type and John Wayne would never surrender, would he? So he just hollers louder. Here’s a set of parents concerned about keeping their children’s respect. ... who prayed: God, I thank thee that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. (Luke 18:11) This was a Pharisee, Jesus said. We may snicker at his boasting and we may dismiss him as a hypocrite but when ...
... tubs, avocados and panoramic views, the memory of the massive tremor that devastated this city seventy-five years ago April 18 has faded to a distant rumbling on the edge of San Francisco’s unconscious." Scientists have pointed out that "history ... it to be? Telling that story is the most important business of Christians in the world, isn’t it? Do you remember John Bunyan’s masterpiece, Pilgrims’ Progress? It is, in a way, everybody’s story - and everybody’s business if we call ourselves Christians ...
... s oracle at Pentecost when he was trying to convince onlookers that the coming of Jesus had initiated the new age. (Acts 2:17-18) We all have many personal feelings tied up with our belief about the movement of God’s Spirit in our lives. Those feelings ... inspire me, but I have to decide to acknowledge and answer to it. God takes the initiative, but the response is up to me. John Killinger, in Bread For The Wilderness, Wine For The Journey, tells of a friend who kept a diary of her prayer life. She became ...
... the area, but if one kid got hurt, it wouldn’t be worth it." He explained that a man named John had written a letter threatening to kill three scouts and take three others captive; he had also called the home of one of the scouts and threatened to kill the boy ... if he went to the camp-out.18 Instead of a newspaper and a phone call, God used a dream and an angel to warn Joseph that an attempt would be made upon Jesus ...