Dictionary: Rest
Showing 3851 to 3875 of 4971 results

3851. The Overwhelming Future
John 14:23-29
Illustration
Robert Deffinbaugh
This week someone left a cartoon on the Xerox machine at my office in which a man was lying on the couch of a psychiatrist. When the psychiatrist asked the client what his problem was he confided that he had all kinds of fears about the future. "Doctor," he began, "I'm worried about the energy crisis, inflation, the situation in the Middle East, political and social upheaval in Africa, our diplomatic relations with China …" I wish I could remember all of the concerns of the man in the cartoon; there were ...

Sermon
Leonard Sweet
Everyone and everything, it seems, is “going green.” There are fuel efficient hybrid cars, energy chiseling appliances, low-voltage corkscrew light bulbs, sod roofs now called “sky gardens,” and solar panels. Recycling is the new mainline religion, especially after the horrific BP disaster in the Gulf. Throwing away a plastic bottle is a major heresy. The new mission statement of the corporate world seems to be or will soon be “Green is green.” One of the latest “green” products is also one of the loudest ...

Sermon
Maxie Dunnam
There were two fellows who lived and breathed baseball. They were professional players with the Atlanta Braves and you would think that playing for a living would be enough. But not so – these guys breathed, ate, and slept baseball. More than teammates, they were very close friends. So, they talked with each other about that mattered most in their lives. One of their big concerns was whether there would be baseball in heaven. They loved baseball so much that they were not sure at all they wanted to spend ...

Sermon
James W. Moore
In the church, we talk a lot about love. We teach it, we preach it, we sing about it, we try to live it… and well we should because love is the message of the church and the dominant theme of the scriptures. Love is the Christian faith summed up in one word. Jesus called it the sign of discipleship. Usually, when we talk about love, we lift up love for God and love for other people… and that is well and good. But, this morning, I want us to turn the coin over and raise what I think is a very important ...

Sermon
James W. Moore
One Sunday morning, a mother said to her ten-year-old son: “Billy, I’m not feeling well enough to go to church today, but I do want you to go on as usual… and then you can tell me all about it.” Obediently, Billy carried out his mom’s wish. When he returned home, his mother asked: “Well, Billy, how was church?” “Fine,” Billy responded. “Where did you sit?” Mom asked. “O, I think I sat in about the same place we always sit.” Billy’s answer was just vague enough to make mothers suspicious. “What was the ...

Sermon
Maxie Dunnam
There is a story told about two men sitting together on an airplane. As some are wont to do, when strapped together 30,000 feet above where they ought to be, they begin to get acquainted. One man was an astronomer, the other a theologian. After a while, each began to share his understanding of the other’s discipline. The astronomer said, “I believe that all religion can be summed up in the phrase, “Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so.” The theologian, somewhat miffed at this simplistic ...

John 3:1-21
Sermon
Maxie Dunnam
Nothing is more revealing of persons than the way they share themselves in conversation. Our Scripture lesson today provides one of the most profound encounters Jesus had with a person —— and the deep conversation they shared. The person is Nicodemus, and we need to refresh our minds as to who this person is. Nicodemus is a Jew, a Pharisee, and a member of the Sanhedrin. The Sanhedrin was one of the most important bodies in Judaism. It was a counsel of 70 men, with the High Priest as its chairman. The ...

Sermon
Maxie Dunnam
Somewhere I read of an art show that featured a unique introduction. The entry area of the gallery featured what appeared at first to be four paintings. Actually the paintings were on mirrors and as you looked at each of them, it was your mirrored image that became dominant. It was an imaginative statement about the nature of art. It was an invitation to enter the paintings —— not to remain aloof to an indifferent viewer, but to identify. I want us to look at our scripture lesson today as a gallery of ...

John 12:20-36
Sermon
Maxie Dunnam
Two men went up in a hot-air balloon one May morning. Suddenly they were enveloped by clouds and lost track of where they were. They drifted for what seemed like hours. Finally the cloud parted, and they spotted a man below them on the ground. “Where are we?” one of the passengers hollered down. The man on the ground looked around, looked up at the balloon, looked around some more and then yelled back, “You’re in a balloon.” The two balloonists looked at one another and then one of them yelled down again ...

Sermon
Maxie Dunnam
Some time ago I was in Maryland for a retreat, and we were near Gettysburg in Pennsylvania. I had never been to Gettysburg, that sight of the pivotal battle that turned the tides of the Civil War, so we rode out there one day. It was altogether too cold, and there was too much snow and ice for us to tour the battle field. But we had the opportunity of visiting the Cyclorama - the giant painting on canvas the high water mark of that awful war. Paul Philippoteaux was the artist. He came to America in 1881 ...

Sermon
Leonard Sweet
I have in my hand a three-way light bulb. The three-way light bulb was the first attempt at “mood lighting.” One light bulb could be switched on to three different levels of intensity, changing the amount of light it cast over a room. Trying to read? Click the bulb up to 150 watts. Just sitting around talking? Click down to 100 watts. Wanting to snuggle with your sweetie? Click down to 50 watts. One light bulb, but three different experiences of the light it produced. This Sunday is “Trinity Sunday.” This ...

Sermon
King Duncan
I don’t know what you think about human nature. Someone once said, “Little monkeys grow up to be big monkeys; little pigs grow up to be big pigs; but people, wonderful people, can grow up to be monkeys or pigs.” Winston Churchill once said, “I like pigs. Dogs look UP to us. Cats look DOWN on us. Pigs treat us as EQUALS.” Well, maybe he’s right. The legendary broadcaster Walter Cronkite was once reading the news about luxury car maker Rolls-Royce having a recall campaign. Here is what he said, “Rolls-Royce ...

Sermon
Maxie Dunnam
Bible students and teachers have always connected the Old and the New Testaments by using types. That is, seeing in the Old Testament a type of what really is fully revealed in the New. This began with those who wrote the New Testament. Paul saw Jesus as the new Adam. Matthew saw him as a Moses. The writer of the epistle to the Hebrews interpreted the tabernacle of the Old Testament as a type for the ministry and mission of Jesus. When we began this preaching journey through Exodus, we talked about Exodus ...

Exodus 13:17--14:31
Sermon
Maxie Dunnam
There is an old story that has made the rounds in the church many, many times, but it’s worth telling again. An eight year old boy was reporting to his folks at Sunday dinner what he had learned at church school that morning. “Boy, was it exciting!” he exclaimed to his parents. “Moses organized all the Hebrews into a resistance group and through careful planning they broke out of Egyptian slavery. They moved as quickly as possible toward Canaan, driving every kind of vehicle available: jeeps, tanks, half- ...

Sermon
Maxie Dunnam
Several years ago on the cover of The Saturday Evening Post, there was a painting by Norman Rockwell showing a woman buying her Thanksgiving turkey. The turkey was lying on the scales, and the butcher was standing back of the counter, apron pulled tight over his fat stomach, a pencil tucked behind his ear. The customer, a lovely lady of about 60, stood watching the weighing in. Each of them had a pleased look as if each knew a secret joke. There’s nothing unusual about a butcher and a customer watching as ...

Sermon
Maxie Dunnam
How often do we talk about the glory of the Lord? We quote with joy – Psalms 19. We even sing it as an anthem in our choir. “The heavens are telling the glory of God; and the firmament proclaims his handiwork.” We see the glory of God in sunsets and starry skies in majestic mountains piercing the skies, and rain-forests with rich, greens the like of which artists have never been able to capture on canvas. But, let’s not forget that the glory of God may not just be in sunsets and starry skies. I sensed that ...

Sermon
Maxie Dunnam
It’s a terrible thing to believe that nobody needs you. Have you ever had that feeling? That you’ve been put on the shelf and all that is left now is for you to just sit there - to be present, but not to mean anything? It’s also a terrible thing to believe that you’ve lost your influence; nobody pays any attention to you anymore. Unlike E. F. Hutton - when you speak, nobody seems to listen, Moses must have been plagued with that thought throughout the Exodus journey. Over and over again, the Israelites ...

Sermon
Maxie Dunnam
In New England, there is the grave of an old Yankee skinflint. While he was alive, he offered his future heirs their legacy in advance if they would give him 12 ½% interest on it. When he died, they put this epitapth on his tombstone: Here lies old 12 percent The more he saved, the less he spent The less he spent, the more he saved Oh Lord, can Ichabod be saved? Now that’s a good question, and we could preach a sermon on that. You remember Jesus said on one occasion that it was as difficult for a rich man ...

Sermon
Maxie Dunnam
Many years ago, Dr. James Fisher, a practicing psychiatrist, wrote a very entertaining little book entitled A FEW BUTTONS MISSING . It was a light treatment of some of his experiences in psychiatric practice. However, near the end of the book, Dr. Fisher became very serious. This is what he said. “What was needed, I felt sure, was some new and enlightened recipe for living a sane and satisfying life — a recipe compounded from all the accumulated scientific knowledge acquired through study and research. I ...

Sermon
Maxie Dunnam
Galatians is the Magna Carta of evangelical Christianity. It is Paul’s great declaration of religious freedom a freedom that involves independence from men and dependence on God. Today, I’ll be sharing with you in three sessions a series of sermons on Galatians, this landmark profession of Paul’s Christian experience. I will not be doing a verse by verse exposition, but will “preach through’ the book, concentrating on the major themes an on those signal passages that are the heart and soul of Paul’s ...

3871. The Power of Death Reversed
Luke 7:11-17
Illustration
Ron Luchies
Alfred Krupp, a famous munitions maker, lived in constant fear of death. Everyone throughout his entire company was strictly forbidden to refer to the subject of death in conversation. He ran from his own house because a relative of his wife's suddenly died there. And when Mrs. Krupp objected, Alfred became so enraged that he initiated what was to be a lifelong separation. During his last sickness, he offered his doctor a million dollars to prolong his life. But, of course, that was impossible. Death has ...

Sermon
Maxie Dunnam
There was a story being circulated back in the days when President Carter was in the White House. He was meeting with the Prime Minister of Israel about the negotiation of a peace in the Middle East. Since both were religious men and worshiped the same God they thought it would be a good idea to consult God on the matters that were before them. Carter offered to use his private phone to do it, pay the charges. So they placed the call, talked to God for five minutes. When the call was completed Carter asked ...

Sermon
Maxie Dunnam
In one of his novels, William Faulkner wrote, “That which is destroying the church is not the outward groping of those with in it, or the inward groping of those without, but the professionals who control it and have removed the bells from its steeples.” (quoted by Dr. Lovitt H. Weems, Jr., at his Inaugural Address as President of St. Paul’s School of Theology, December 11, 1985.) I don’t know everything that Faulkner meant by that. He may have been talking about the fact that the professionals within the ...

Sermon
Maxie Dunnam
“And now you know the rest of the story!” That’s the way Paul Harvey closes those dramatic monologues which keep your mind on tiptoe as you discover the fascinating life details and historical quirks of notable people and events. Paul Harvey is a craftsman with words and pulls us to the edge of our seat to learn the rest of the story. Mark, our Gospel writer, does the same thing - but for “the beginning of the story”, not the rest of it. A visitor to the Grand Canyon looked at that mighty panorama of God’s ...

Sermon
Maxie Dunnam
In his little book, Portraits of God, Harold T. Bryson tells boys who asked their minister for a service project where they could help somebody. The minister gave them the name of a blind man who wanted someone to read the Bible to him. When the boys arrived at the blind man’s house, they agreed that over a period of time, they would read the entire New Testament to him. However, when they started reading the first chapter of Matthew, they quickly came to all the “begets” and begats”. Abraham begat Isaac, ...