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Showing 326 to 350 of 1249 results

326. Proper 18

Psalm 139:1-24, Philemon 1:8-25, Philemon 1:1-7, Jeremiah 18:1--19:15, Luke 14:25-35

Sermon Aid

William E. Keeney

... people invites others to join. C. Size is Secondary. Persons who have found a meaningful and blessed life in Christ are primary. They do have an obligation to share that life with others. 2. Cross Bearing. (v. 27) A. The Sign of the Cross. Christians adopted the cross as a sign that God ultimately overcomes evil, even death. B. Christ's Cross. Christ bore the cross to demonstrate the victory of the love of God and neighbors as the highest good. C. Our Cross. If we would be disciples, we must readily ...

327. Proper 25

Psalm 65:1-13, Luke 18:9-14, Joel 2:28-32, 2 Timothy 4:9-18, 2 Timothy 3:10--4:8

Sermon Aid

William E. Keeney

... best of the good guys is the bad guy. One of the worst of the bad guys comes out as accepted by God. How could the people wrap their minds around this story? The story is so familiar to us that we need to be careful that we do not adopt reverse stereotypes. It is doubtful that all Pharisees would make the prayer of the one in the parable. It is even more doubtful that every publican would bemoan his activities as this one did. We need to be careful that we would not be shocked if our stereotypes were ...

328. Fire Wood

Luke 12:49-53

Sermon

John G. Lynn

... to the forests below. (Often the lightning will hit the Douglas Firs, less rugged than the Lodgepole Pines, and a forest fire will begin.) For years, of course, the United States Forest Service fought furiously to put out these fires. More recently, they have adopted a policy of managed fires. They have learned these fires have a purpose. Without them the seeds of the Lodgepole Pines are never released. Without them much of the underbrush and plant life there does not regenerate. The earth needs a fire cast ...

329. Friendship? Yes, Please!

2 Samuel 11:1-27

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

... seen the previews, but the movie Three Men and A Baby seems to be about this very thing. Someone not wanting the trouble of a newborn infant leaves her child in a basket on the door step of three practiced bachelors. And the three men, adopting the child, soon realize that children, indeed -- people in general! -- are not at all convenient. So we instinctively avoid messy entanglements with others. Beyond convenience and privacy is yet a third value we're really into today, and that is mobility. The average ...

330. Miracle Six: Stilling A Storm

Mark 4:35-41

Sermon Aid

Harold H. Lentz

... self-sufficient we may be ordinarily, there will come times when we must admit our weakness and hand over our problem to God. This is an important step used successfully by Alcoholics Anonymous to help individuals get over their addiction to alcohol. It is now being adopted by another organization to help people get over drug addiction. There are times when we must admit that our problem is too big for us to conquer alone, and so seek help if we are to survive. Accepting God's promises is a wise step into ...

331. Miracles Seven and Eight: Healing An Issue Of Blood & Healing The Rulers Daughter

Mark 5:21-43

Sermon Aid

Harold H. Lentz

... were. We should avoid being scornful, as it is usually based on ignorance. The scoffers did not realize that the man at whom they were laughing was the Christ, the Son of God, the long-awaited Messiah. We can so easily reveal our own ignorance when we adopt a scornful attitude. Because of their scorn and lack of faith, Jesus was not able to perform many miracles in his hometown of Nazareth. Elsewhere he could restore sight to the blind, heal the sick, raise the dead, and be widely acclaimed. But here in the ...

332. Will The Real Messiah Please Stand Up?

Isaiah 61:1-11

Sermon

William L. Self

... will save us, only to find out that every technological breakthrough brings its own brand of evil. Americans also believe, whether they will admit it or not, that in a culture as unstable and as cumbersome and inefficient as democracy, something more solid must be adopted. As a pastor, I have observed that another false messiah that seems to dominate the life of our people is the consumer culture. This seems to have more control over the lives of our people than the gospel they profess. The latest toy seems ...

333. A New Name

Genesis 17:1-27

Sermon

Paul W. Kummer

... come, Abe, so that I can be "the God of your descendants after you" (v. 7). What about the children you are nurturing right now in your home? Or the children you are teaching in Sunday School? Or your grandchildren or the children you have adopted in the neighborhood? You are being called and used by God to cultivate "kings of people" for the kingdom of God. Your physical children or your spiritual children can become mighty warriors for Jesus through your influence and they, in turn, might change a nation ...

334. A Ransom Paid

1 Peter 2:4-12

Sermon

Sandra Hefter Herrma

... killed a Moslem child," he said. "I threw him against a wall, and broke his head, because a Moslem had killed my son." "I know a way out of hell," Gandhi replied. As the stunned man listened, Gandhi told him, "Go and find an orphaned child, a Moslem orphan, and adopt him. Take him home to be your son, and raise him to adulthood. But be sure you raise him as a Moslem, in your home." When we can learn such love for each other, we will have realized the ransom that has been paid for us, the children of God ...

335. Gomer, God's "Yet"

Hosea 1:1-2:1

Sermon

Richard L. Sheffield

... still sing "Great is thy faithfulness, O God my Father ... Great is thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me."3 As unfaithful as we may be -- God is faithful always in his love. Like Hosea with his wife, he keeps bringing us back. "A Brief Statement of Faith" adopted by The Presbyterian Church several years ago puts our relationship with God this way: We trust in God, whom Jesus called Abba, Father. In sovereign love God created the world good and makes everyone equally in God's image, male and female, of every race ...

336. Week Two Of Lent

Sermon

Richard Gribble

... in this matter. Joseph will certainly die at the hands of the Ishmaelites. But as we all remember from our reading of Genesis, Joseph has the last say. He refuses to hate his brothers, but rather builds them up so that they may live in their adopted land of Egypt. The sons of Israel had the opportunity to use their delegated responsibility wisely; they missed the chance. The parable of the tenants in today's Gospel is a second story of the abuse of responsibility. The owner of the vineyard leases out the ...

337. Biography Of A Changed Person

Luke 19:1-10

Sermon

Robert Beringer

... this Paul Pio........ whatever his name is, doing here after what he did to your family?" Mr. Adams looked at the doctor and then said quietly, "Dr. Cronin, you won't have any more trouble with Paul's name. You see, he's Paul Adams now. We've adopted him."1 That is a wonderful story of costly grace, and that is exactly the wonderful gift that Jesus once gave to a heart-hungry tax collector named Zachaeus. Step Four: Rearrange Life's Priorities But there is one more very important step in this biography of a ...

338. Saint Valentine, Bishop Of Love

Mk 12:30 · Ps:14; 119:11 · 1 Ch 28:9

Children's Sermon

Robert B. Lantz

... may be interesting!) A tradition is a story or a custom that is passed from generation to generation, usually without being written down. For example, your grandfather or great-grandfather might have always done something special at people's birthdays and the family adopted that practice and continued it, sometimes even forgetting where it started. Well, there is a very old tradition about a Bishop named Valentinus who lived back in the days of the Roman Empire. It seems as though the Roman officials had a ...

339. Now, Even Now....

Joel 2:1-11

Sermon

Gerald Whetstone

... aside this season for such a holy and healing purpose. There will not be obvious signs of this season's presence where we work or shop. The air will remain chilly and the dark will come early and stay late. Yet in here our liturgy adopts some sobering shifts. Our hymns are often more plaintive. The "alleluia" is buried until Easter. You can mirror these changes in your own devotions. Use prayers of reflection and repentance and renewal. You can fashion your own reminders of your commitment on your desk or ...

340. Emmanuel: An Advent Dayenu

Matthew 1:18-25

Sermon

Mark Radecke

... day, but urgent. Whom shall we trust? It is not only our enemies who would cause us to abandon obedience and lose faith. Sometimes it is our friends and neighbors and the prevailing morality of society that tempt us to buy into attitudes and adopt behaviors that are inconsistent with the faith. Such attitudes as, "Helping the poor is a matter of charity, not of justice. And therefore, it is purely voluntary, a good holiday time activity. After all, many of the poor choose to live that way." Such attitudes ...

341. Epiphany 5

Matthew 5:17-20, Matthew 5:13-16

Sermon Aid

William E. Keeney

... institutions and organizations which meet needs and offer alternatives to the usual ways of the world. Churches have been salt and light in establishing hospitals, schools, orphanages, homes for the aged, and other such service institutions. The saltiness often leads the world to adopt and extend these institutions once they are enlightened by the models which the church has provided. 4. Contemporary light and salt. Do the church and its members need to ask in every age how it can be light and salt? How do ...

342. Seeing The Whole Person

John 4:1-26

Sermon

David Belgum

... happen. Why? Because my group is better than your group, naturally. And I wouldn't be surprised but what you would say the same. We need a clearer vision. How Did The Disciples See The Samaritan Woman? Let us not be too hard on the disciples for adopting the standard prejudices of the day. I suppose they were like most redneck fishermen using stereotypes as a short cut way of judging character and worth. Can't you hear them bantering back and forth about passersby as they untangled their nets at the end of ...

343. The Season Of Sacred Stories

Mark 1:9-15

Sermon

Elaine M. Ward

... night, the message the police had pronounced was of her father's death. He had been killed immediately as the car he was driving catapulted into the passing train, for the car's brakes had failed. Just as quickly she had been hurtled into God's arms, her adopted Father, although she did not know it then or as she matured. How could she know when her church taught her that God was an angry judge? She rejected that "father," for there was always a flickering flame of remembrance of her daddy's love. As she ...

344. I Saw The Risen Christ Last Week -- And It Wasn't Even Easter

John 20:10-31

Sermon

Wallace H. Kirby

... -year-old boy take his "savings" (just over a dollar) and give it to the church because I made a plea for the hungry. I saw Christ in the faces of a mother and father, whose only son was accidentally shot by a neighborhood child, talking immediately of adopting an older, unwanted child. I saw Christ in a distressed wife who knew her marriage was crumbling, and how she mustered up enough courage to seek help. I saw Christ in a disturbed woman who knew she was losing touch with reality, and took a big step ...

345. Ancient Christian References To Feetwashing

1 Corinthians 11:17-34, John 13:1-17

Sermon Aid

Brett Blair

... Lord by nature, while we were slaves, yet He did not beg off from doing even this ... Yet what shall we then say, we who have received the example of such great forbearance, but do not imitate it even slightly, and who, on the contrary, adopt the opposite attitude: both magnifying ourselves unduly and not rendering to others what we ought? -- Saint John Chrystostom, Commentary on Saint John the Apostle and Evangelist, Homilies 44-88. Homilies on John 71, p. 130 Ambrose I, then, wish also myself to wash the ...

346. The Christian Journey IV: The Pool

Sermon

John N. Brittain

... and including. On the other hand, the whole religious scene today has been deeply influenced by a variety of narrowly egocentric utilitarian New Age spiritualities in which religious practice is seen of use only in terms of its short-term benefit to me. I will adopt this or that "spiritual" practice because it will lower my cholesterol, heighten my on-the-job concentration, or help me lose weight. God does not provide us with pools of water in the desert so that we may all the better worship false gods and ...

347. Why Do People Suffer?

Mark 15:33-41

Sermon

David O. Bales

... had come to know and love Carrie and her mother Hazel. The three of them, over the months of the pregnancy, not only planned for the birth, but through their conversations Carrie, unwed at 19, decided to keep the child instead of giving it up for adoption. Susan and Hazel were satisfied that Carrie had made the right decision and that the child would have a good home. Susan sat in worship counting her failures and calculating the pain of all involved. "How many dead teenagers have to be pulled from prom ...

348. Is Your Christmas A Compromise?

Drama

Karren Boehr

... like we're just tickled to death. What a crock! I hate it! Give me the mall, the lights, presents. What are you going to put on your Christmas list for your parents? (Pauses) Really? Just some small stuff? You're going to give money to a child you've adopted overseas? I didn't know you've been doing this. (Pauses) Hey, nice going. (Pauses) Great! Well, guess if I'm going to get some cookies baked for tonight, I'd better get with it. Talk to you later. (Hangs up phone) (Talks to self, facing audience, with ...

349. While This House Lies In Ruins

Haggai 1:1-15

Sermon

Frank Ramirez

... you will. I passed it on to the congregation. I pointed out to them that a woman from another church had served as our nursery school director for about a year. It was a short stewardship, and she worked there to earn money to pay for the costs of an adoption. "Wouldn't it be strange," I said one Sunday, "if God's reason for this church, all its struggles and triumphs, had been to make it possible for these parents and this child to get together?" I'm not saying that's so. Yet the idea came to me from ...

350. Praise for the Blessing of Parents

Luke 2:41-52

Bulletin Aid

James Wilson

... Worship Leader: Let us come together giving honor to Almighty God! People: Let us honor those who led us in the ways of the Lord in our youth! Leader: Praise be to God for the families we shared in our childhood! People: Praise be to the Lord that we are adopted into the family of God! Leader: May the Lord bless the loved ones of our youth wherever they may be. All: Blessed be the name of the Lord! Collect O God, in Your infinite wisdom You have blessed us with families. Just as we love and honor You, O God ...

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