Sermon and Worship Resources

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Hebrews 11:1-40

Understanding Series

Donald A. Hagner

... pp. 167–71. 11:29 The Red Sea is “the sea of reeds” according to the Hebrew text of Exodus (cf. 13:18). The deliverance is celebrated in the “Song of Moses” (Exod. 15). The Faith of Rahab and Countless Others Our author continues his catalogue of paragons of faith with a reference to the fall of Jericho and the faith of Rahab. At this point, however, he realizes that he will be unable to continue the same degree of thoroughness, and he thus proceeds to mention a few more specific names and then to ...

2. God Disciplines His Sons

Hebrews 12:1-13, Hebrews 12:14-29

Understanding Series

Donald A. Hagner

... with confidence and who endured hardship without giving up their expectation of a future fulfillment of the promise. But the author now comes to the supreme example of this kind of faith in Jesus—the name that must be the climax of any list of paragons of faith. Jesus himself endured great suffering without losing sight of the glory that was to come. The readers, together with Christians of every era, are called to walk in the steps of faith that characterized the saints of the past and the one who ...

3. Warning Against Refusing God

Hebrews 12:14-29, Hebrews 12:1-13

Understanding Series

Donald A. Hagner

4. Living By The Calendar Instead Of The Clock (New Year's)

Luke 2:41-52

Sermon

Richard A. Wing

... many other things can restore us to peace as we do them. Another cousin of leisure is the word "paragon." This little-used word means "the second thing that we do in life that keeps the first thing in tune." Hence, our work may draw energy from us, and ... we have then a "paragon," a leisure thing we do in order to restore us. Most often, to build toward leisure demands that we disassemble something else. In Thomas Moore ...

5. Living By The Calendar Instead Of The Clock

Illustration

Richard A. Wing

... ." This little-used word means "the second thing that we do in life that keeps the first thing in tune." Hence, our work may draw energy from us, and we have then a "paragon," a leisure thing we do in order to restore us. Most often, to build toward leisure demands that we disassemble something else. In Thomas Moore's book Meditations, he tells of a pilgrim walking along a road. The pilgrim sees some men working on a stone building. "You look like ...

6. A Resume of Righteousness

Genesis 15:1-18

Sermon

David J. Kalas

... heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus? You have given me no offspring, and so a slave born in my house is to be my heir" (vv. 2-3). Is this the quote we have from the hero of faith? Is this the response from our paragon of righteousness? In candor that seems to border on irreverence, Abraham presumes to question God's future plans by questioning God's past performance. The Lord has made a grand and generous promise to Abraham, yet the pragmatic old man responds with a rather negative calculation. "What ...

7. Signs, Sayings, and Oracles of Judgment

Ezekiel 12:1-28, Ezekiel 13:1-23, Ezekiel 14:1-11, Ezekiel 14:12-23

Understanding Series

Steven Tuell

... “plague, famine, and the sword,” in the Additional Note for 5:12). The many parallels between chapters 4–7 and 12–14 serve to unify the book of Ezekiel, as well as to set off the vision report in chapters 8–11. Two of the three paragons of righteousness Ezekiel mentions (vv. 14, 20) are familiar biblical characters. Both Noah and Job are figures of the distant, legendary past, before Israel came into being. Further, God declared both to be righteous (Gen. 6:8–9; Job 1:8). While it is less clear ...

8. Sermons

Sermon

John R. Bodo

... , this is hardly more than a fable. But the moral and spiritual message is inescapable. Whether we are Jews or Christians, we are expected to show our faith, perhaps in our faces but surely in our actions. For the emblem of our faith is not the chameleon, that paragon of conformity. The emblem of Jewish faith is the lion, the Lion of Judah roaring for justice. And the emblem of Christian faith is the lamb, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, the non-conforming Lamb of God most powerful in ...

9. Robert Paul, You Were Right!

Daniel 7:1-14, Daniel 7:15-28

Sermon

Richard Hasler

... passing off his wife as his sister to protect himself. David, “a man after God’s own heart,” sinned flagrantly and had to be reprimanded by the prophet Nathan. The reason that these people are examples is not because they point to themselves as paragons of virtue, but rather because they direct our attention to God’s faithfulness. They are singular examples of what God’s grace was able to do in and through them despite their human frailties. All Saints’ Sunday has special relevance for our young ...

10. The Scariest Sound in the World

Matthew 25:1-13

Sermon

Johnny Dean

... a book by one of favorite authors, the late Lewis Grizzard, where he talked about being visited in the hospital by his minister. Grizzard was scheduled to have open-heart surgery the next morning. He confessed to his minister that he had not exactly been a paragon of virtue and asked if there were still time to repent. The minister looked at his watch and replied, "Yes, but I’d hurry if I were you." The church to whom Matthew addressed his gospel had been awaiting the return of Jesus. He had promised ...

11. Proper 6

Genesis 25:19-34

Sermon

... he selected a peculiar group of people. His choice of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and their children has been a contant source of puzzlement and dismay, of pride and despair, ever since. The Jewish people and their leaders have, over the centuries, not always been paragons of virtue. In fact, even among the most honored, one finds feet of clay. However, when one is thinking about the concept of "being chosen," one can come to two points of view. People can be, and often are, chosen for privilege, honor, position ...

12. A Princely Passion

2 Samuel 13:1-22

Sermon

... her an honest woman by marrying her. He could have done this since, in Hebrew society, a half-brother could wed his half-sister. Even Father Abraham had married his half-sister Sarah. He could have confessed his foul deed to David, who was no moral paragon himself, as we have already seen in the sordid Bathsheba tale. Amnon did none of these things. What he did do was kick the disgraced Tamar out of his private palace with the violence of Pat Summerall kicking a pigskin through the uprights. The disgraced ...

13. Mairead Corrigan and Betty Williams

Luke 1:67-80

Sermon

Carroll Gunkel

... , Mairead Corrigan/Betty Williams, (New York: Barrons-Woodberry, 1977) p. 166. 2. See a subsequent sermon for a further elaboration of Dr. Zassenhaus’ own meeting with the Master. 3. This familiar quotation is from Devotions of John Donne. 4. Deutsch, p. 93. 5. cf. 2 Corinthians 4:8-10. 6. Paragon Associates, Hymns for the Family of God, #681, © 1955 by Jan-Lee Music. Used by permission.

14. One Thing

Sermon

Raymond Gibson

... way to which I am committed, because it is the only way I can do it. It is the one thing we can all do as individuals and as a Christian congregation. Let us do it - with God’s help. 1. John and Phyllis Miller, The Rainbow Express (Alexandria, Virginia: Paragon Associates, Inc., 1978) pp. 25-26.

15. Our Father Who Art on Earth

Proverbs 1:8-19

Sermon

Louis H. Valbracht

... toward people, his children will end up being the same way. The home "bigshot" who is always right while everyone else in the world is wrong, cuts quite a figure for a while. His children are impressed. But soon they begin to find out that this paragon whom they held so much in awe isn’t always as right as he sounds, and, with that discovery, respect begins to go. The father doesn’t maintain his position by being a petty dictator. He establishes the dignity of his opinion by giving dignity to ...

16. A Man Who Laughed at God

Genesis 17:1-27

Sermon

R. Blaine Detrick

... being. He did possess his faults and defects; he did express his weaknesses and shortcomings; he did make his mistakes and errors. So many of the Bible people are like this; they are not gods to be worshiped, angels to be venerated, nor paragons of perfection to be slavishly emulated. They are real persons. They are like us: mixtures of good and evil; a constant conflict between the higher and lower natures: earthly passions struggling with heavenly aspirations. No wonder we can easily identify with so many ...

17. A Streak of Common Sense

Deuteronomy 18:14-22

Sermon

Thomas D. Peterson

... evidently convinced I did not have it or else, for some obstinate reason, refused to use it. Perhaps she was right. I was a wool-gatherer, a day-dreamer, off someplace that she did not know or understand. On the other hand, my older brother was evidently a paragon of common sense. I figured this out because she never urged him to use it. He must have been endowed with a suitable supply, for he was an operator and got things done. The phrase, "Thomas, why don’t you use a little common sense?" still rings ...

18. Saved!

Mark 10:17-31

Sermon

Warren Thomas Smith

... Did Shakespeare have him in mind? What a piece of work is a man! How noble in reason! How infinite in faculty! In form and moving how express and admirable! In action how like an angel! In apprehension how like a god! The beauty of the world! The paragon of animals! And this line, spoken by Hamlet, closes: and yet, to me, what is this quintessence of dust?1 Said Jesus, "You lack one thing; go, sell what you have, and give it to the poor." It was a grieved, sorrowful young man, "for he had great possessions ...

19. I'm O.k.; You're A Little Suspect

Luke 6:37-42

Sermon

King Duncan

... of hope: only God, who loves us, can properly judge us. And finally, it contains another warning, which brings us to our third point: GOD JUDGES OUR INWARD ATTITUDE JUST AS MUCH AS OUR OUTWARD ACTIONS. Uh-oh. To the rest of the world, we may look like paragons of virtue. By our actions, we may appear holy enough to walk on water. But God doesn't just judge us by our actions; our thoughts and attitudes are equally important in His sight. Author Arthur Gordon grew up in the South. As a Southerner he learned ...

20. Invited To The Table

Luke 17:1-10

Sermon

King Duncan

... thanks for our good works. After all, those good works are no more than we should have done in the first place. That hurts. We're used to being patted on the back when we've done what we ought to do. We're used to being held up as paragons of virtue when we've fulfilled our responsibilities. In fact, we think God owes us some favors because we've done what God called us to do. Isn't that true? That's how some of us feel. We've been members of the church for twenty years. We have ...

21. And God Breathed Into Man

Genesis 2:4-25

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... We are that -- but it's not always good to begin there. Has it registered with you that in the first creation story, animals and man are created on the same day -- the sixth. Is there meaning in that? "The Bible does not pretend that we are paragons of virtue, painted saints, and ideal figures of humanity. The Bible is well aware that the struggle of nature also determines our human life, that we too are controlled by instincts and urges, needs and desires, just as are the birds and the beasts of the field ...

22. And God Breathed Into Man

Genesis 2:4-25

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

23. Advent 2

Matthew 3:1-12, Romans 14:1--15:13, Isaiah 11:1-16, Psalm 72:1-20

Sermon Aid

Marion L. Soards, Thomas B. Dozeman, Kendall McCabe

... report John's prediction of the greater one who was coming after him, an eschatological figure set to separate humanity in powerful judgment. Significance. Although the text coheres around the character John the Baptist, meditation on his person per se, even as a paragon of radical faith, does not fit the mood or focus of the Advent season. Rather, those working at preaching and liturgy should move directly to the Baptist's message, which issues a call for repentance and, in turn, directs those who believe ...

24. Blazing a Path to Christ

Mark 1:1-8

Sermon

Richard Gribble

... within the institutional church have a special responsibility to provide a path that is clear and uncluttered. Possibly more than any other group, it is the clergy and those who assist their efforts who are seen to be the pillars of justice and the paragons of hope. The trust and confidence of the people requires a proper response by the church. John the Baptist did not impress people with his appearance, status, or monetary wealth. As a prophet he challenged his listeners with his words and backed them up ...

25. I'd Hurry If I Were You

Matthew 25:1-13

Illustration

Johnny Dean

The late Lewis Grizzard, a humorist and author of many columns and books, was by his minister in the hospital. Grizzard was scheduled to have open-heart surgery the next morning. He confessed to his minister that he had not exactly been a paragon of virtue and asked if there were still time to repent. The minister looked at his watch and replied, "Yes, but I'd hurry if I were you."

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