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Showing 351 to 375 of 4943 results

351. A Friend in Low Places

Mark 1:9-13

Sermon

Mark Trotter

... , his father suddenly dies. Coincidentally a lightning bolt, on that very day, strikes a tree on the farm. Roy Hobbs takes a piece of wood from that tree, shapes it into a bat, and takes that bat with him on the rest of his journey, the way a knight takes up a sword to go search for the Holy Grail. The Holy Grail for Roy Hobbs is to be found in organized major league baseball. Immediately he is tempted by the corruption of the game, by agents, and hangers-on, who try to seduce him. Especially a woman, the ...

352. What Does God Really Want?

2 Corinthians 8:1-5

Sermon

James Merritt

... to. God offers every person an opportunity to receive eternal life and go to heaven, but He doesn't have to. It's all about grace. The passage we are going to study today tells us what God really wants from all of us. Paul was on a journey taking up an offering for the needy saints in Jerusalem, and he was asking the church at Corinth to contribute. But what Paul was trying to explain to the church at Corinth really was grace, and he used a group of Christians at a place called Macedonia to illustrate what ...

353. Cross Eyed: Rebuke

Mark 8:31-38

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, "Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things." [34] He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. [35] For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. [36] For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and ...

354. The Door of Celebration

Luke 19:36-44

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... . The movie basically suggested that when Jesus got into Jerusalem and the noose was tightening around his neck and there was no way out, and death was in front of him, Jesus began to reason “Why don't I just go back to Nazareth, marry, have a family, take up carpentry again, and get out of all of this. Nobody seems to care anyway." If Jesus had done that, if he had slipped out of town as he surely could have done, gone back to Nazareth and lived like everyone else, where would we be now? - There would ...

355. Positive Living

Galatians 5:1-15

Sermon

King Duncan

... a set of external rules; she had found a Spirit of power, within. (7) Do you understand the difference? Many people are religious. They keep the rules and the traditions of our faith, but they have no music within. They have never invited the Spirit of God to take up residence within their lives. This is how some people are able to deal with tragedies that would undo most of us. Someone has said that what spills out when you hit a bump in the road is what you are full of. That’s somewhat crude, but it ...

356. A Prophecy Against Babylon

Isaiah 13:1--14:23

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

... captive now become Israel’s captives). But this is not simply an anticipatory summary of the themes of those later chapters. The focus there will be more on Yahweh’s return to the land. Here, to say that Yahweh will settle them in their land is to take up the language of Joshua: the occupation of the land will be repeated. To say that aliens will join them is to say that this occupation will be better than that one, for then aliens were banned. The fact that their land remains the LORD’s land takes ...

357. Woe to those Who Rely on Egypt

Isaiah 31:1-9

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

... ). As well as resuming and taking further ideas from chapters 28–30, verse 1 will turn out to have themes that are taken up in the vision found in the stories about Hezekiah in chapters 36–39. The reminder that Yahweh, too, is wise (v. 2a) takes up 28:23–29, but it is the negative implications of the fact that are worked out here. There Isaiah promised that plowing is succeeded by sowing. Here he emphasizes the harshness of the plowing process. There the capacity to make a plan and fulfill it was good ...

358. The Art of Following

Matthew 4:12-17, Matthew 4:18-22

Sermon

Dean Feldmeyer

... as I relate. Talk as I talk. Follow me. That is the call of the gospel. Sell all that you have and give it to the poor and come, follow me. Follow me, and I will make you fishers of people. Follow me, and let the dead bury the dead. Take up your cross and come, follow me. And for most of us that’s fine as long as we understand it in that safe, detached, metaphorical way. Again, Kierkegaard puts it in more strident terms: “To want to admire, instead of follow Christ is not an invention of bad people; no ...

359. Getting Out Of Our Own Way

Matthew 16:21-28

Sermon

Roger G. Talbott

... that is really me no matter what has or has not happened to me? I have had many experiences, but I am not my experiences. Who am I? Who am I? Listen to the words of Jesus again: "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it." Some of you just lost your lives -- or almost did. Some of you just found yourselves, or almost did. When someone asks ...

360. The Road To Jerusalem

Mark 11:1-11

Sermon

Thomas A. Pilgrim

... things more complicated. It does not bring rewards and riches. It could cost us everything. It does not assure us of anything miraculous. It leaves us to struggle with the mundane. It is dangerous to be a Christian. Jesus had spelled out what it means - "Deny yourself, take up the cross, follow me." He had been telling the disciples all along that he was going to Jerusalem to face the cross and there would be a cross for them. As they got closer to Jerusalem, James and John came up to Jesus and asked for ...

361. Claudia Procula, Peter, and Centurion

Drama

Jon Joyce

... . Then he shrugs and speaks] What good now, to try to hide it? To save our people from the oppression of Rome and bring in years and years of peace and prosperity for our nation. CENTURION: You see, my lady, why the governor was worried about him taking up the sword against us? CLAUDIA: [Ignoring the CENTURION] If he is this ... this Messiah ... then we are trying to kill a god over there. CENTURION: My lady, he is but a man. I saw the blood spurt from his hands, same as it comes out of every other ...

362. The Armor of What?!

Ephesians 6:10-20

Drama

Dave Marsh

... my feet need to be fitted with readiness. In fact, just the other day I think my wife said something about how I needed to have my feet fitted with this, um, readiness. Yeah. (long pause) Readiness….. right…. What else is there? Dave: "In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God." Well! Now we’re talking! I’m gonna get me a shield of faith ...

363. On Forgetting To Do A Business Plan

Luke 14:25-35

Sermon

King Duncan

... . UNLESS WE ASSUME THAT IS WHAT CHRISTIAN FAITH IS ALL ABOUT. Entertainment. Amusement. Self-serving pleasure. Large crowds were following Jesus, but some of them were there for the wrong reasons. It’s time to get serious. And so Jesus says, “And whoever does not take up a cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.” Say what? This wasn’t what most of the crowd had come to hear. “Suppose one of you wants to build a tower,” Jesus continued. “Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost ...

364. Palm Sunday (Prologue)

Matthew 21:1-11

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... Temple, sided with the hungry, the thirsty, the outcast, the naked, the sick, the imprisoned, and the estranged. Then he was arrested, refused to take the sword to defend Himself, and they began to recall His earlier words which they had taken symbolically about taking up a cross and following. Who wants a literal cross? And so the crowds began to thin out. Ernest Campbell once preached a sermon with the intriguing title, “When the Sugar Comes Off the Pill.” A lot of folks thought he was going to talk ...

365. Why Every Christian Should Be an Optimist

Psalm 121:1-8

Sermon

James Merritt

... defense, and the shield was always held in the left hand. So the most valuable part of a soldier was his right side. That is exactly where God always stands; at our most vulnerable point. The Lord always puts his strength at our greatest point of weakness. He deliberately takes up a position so he can defend us no matter where an attack may come from. That is why again every Christian should be an optimist. Ps. 18:30 says, "He is a shield to all who trust in Him." b. He Is Our Shade "The Lord is your keeper ...

366. The Miracle Fruit

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... world’s “truth” preaches that life is about good times, not goodness. The world’s “truth” declares that a life lived with sacrifice and suffering is a “ravaged life,” not a regal life. Jesus, The Truth, told his followers to “take up their cross,” because that “take up” was a “save up.” Truth is a life of cross-bearing, and it is that truth of cross-bearing that makes life joy-filled. - The more Martin Luther King suffered, the more the strength of the civil rights movement grew ...

367. Live and Let Die

Galatians 2:20

Sermon

James Merritt

... the Christian needs to start with a funeral—yours. You need to die to sin, to self, to safety, and to anything that comes between you and the Lord Jesus Christ. That is exactly what Jesus meant when He said, "If any man is going to follow Me, he must take up his cross daily." (Lk. 9:23) A great Christian once said, "In every man's life there is a throne. When self is on the throne, Christ is on the cross; but when Christ is on the throne, self is on the cross." The first step to living the Christian ...

368. When I Am Tempted

Matthew 4:1-11

Sermon

James Merritt

... . If either one of them had landed, if Satan had scored a knock-out, none of us would have any hope of defeating sin in this life or in the life to come and that is exactly why Matthew records this story. The language is very simple. The whole story takes up less than two-hundred words, but it is one of the most remarkable passages in all of the Bible. It shows, without a doubt, that even though we can surely know that temptation is going to come to all of us, we can also know that temptation does not have ...

369. “For Your Sake We Face Death . . . as Sheep to Be Slaughtered”

Psalm 44:1-26

Teach the Text

C. Hassell Bullock

... to the ground.” 44:26 Rise up and help us.The long form of the imperative verb translated as “help” may be a poetic form of the verb16or may be used to make the verb more emphatic. Numbers 10:35 uses the verb “rise up” in relation to taking up the ark to move it to another place (see “Teaching the Text” in the unit on Pss. 9–10). The psalmist may be alluding to that verse here. The psalm ends with the key word of the covenant relationship, “your unfailing love [hesed].” It is in the ...

370. Six Days to Make a Decision for Christ

Mark 8:27-38

Sermon

Rick McCracken-Bennett

... 't quite make out the words? We don't know. But regardless he had something to tell the twelve and the others in the crowd. The verbs used here in his speech to the crowd are important. Listen to them with only an additional word or two. Deny yourself. Take up your cross. To save your life you must lose it. Lose your life (for the right reasons, that is, for Jesus' sake and the sake of the gospel) and you will save it. And going back to his theme of heavenly versus earthly things he cautioned them that it ...

371. Almond Joy!

Numbers 17:1-13

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... and His authority reigns over all with a Light that refuses to be ignored, and a Truth that refuses to be kept quiet. The almond is a sign that we must “wake up” to the truth of what it means to follow Jesus both to cross and garden. Taking up the cross is hard. You will feel sadness, pain, emptiness in your repenting spirit, but God’s watchful eye is upon you. And God’s promise tells you that beyond that sadness and pain will come joy. For “sadness may endure for a night, but joy comes in the ...

372. The Complete Picture

John 11:1-45

Sermon

King Duncan & Angela Akers

... front of the one-dollar bill? That’s right, George Washington, first President of the United States. If you have a one-dollar bill on you, I’d encourage you to take it out right now and look at it. Don’t worry, this isn’t my sneaky way of taking up a special offering. If you don’t have one on you, you may want to look up an image of one on your phone. The man who painted Washington’s portrait was a famous artist named Gilbert Stuart. He painted a life-size portrait of Washington in 1795. It is ...

373. Failure

Exodus 3:1-22

Sermon

Will Willimon

... this failure leads to a division of God's people into North and South. The story strains forward, looking to the horizon of history for a new David who could help make God's ideal a reality. Josiah hopes to renew the covenant God made with Israel, to take up the promise, but he meets an untimely death, a failure effected by an Egyptian king. In the face of so many failures, so many defeats, how could God also not be defeated? There is then another Moses, a new David, a new prince arising out of the House ...

374. Seeing What We Don’t Want To See

John 12:20-33

Sermon

Mary Austin

... chat with the Greeks and moved on...but he was fixed on his purpose. His answer here reminds me of the oft-used saying in business: “the good is the enemy of the great.” There are lots of things we could do. We have so many choices. We could take up a bunch of hobbies, projects for work, or church plans. There are lots of things we could do easily, that wouldn’t even take very much time. In a world where my attention is often scattered, I draw strength from Jesus’ reminder to fix my attention on the ...

375. God With A Human Face

John 1:1-18

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

... for himself or for his sins. He died for our sins. He gave his all that we might have life and light. As Jesus said, "Greater love has no man than this that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends ..." It is too late to take up the question of what gift would be the best you could give this Christmas. But, we do not have to wait until next Christmas to give this gift. The very best gift you could give is yourself, just as God and Jesus gave themselves to us. A lawyer once said ...

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