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Showing 701 to 725 of 4943 results

701. Proper 12

Mt 13:31-33, 44-52 · Rom 8:26-39 · 1 Ki 3:5-12 · Ps 105

Sermon Aid

Russell F. Anderson

... everything that he possessed. That same message was communicated to the rich young ruler, whom Jesus told to sell all that he possessed give it to the poor, and then come and follow him. Christ also warned: "He who would come after me must deny himself, take up his cross and follow me." The treasure of the kingdom doesn't come cheaply. Outline: The man in the parable sold everything to buy the field of treasure If a person values something highly, she will sacrifice for it The kingdom of God is our treasure ...

702. Christmas 1

Galatians 3:26--4:7, Galatians 3:15-25, Colossians 3:1-17, Hebrews 2:5-18, Isaiah 61:1-11, Isaiah 63:7--64:12, Matthew 2:19-23, Matthew 2:13-18

Sermon Aid

Russell F. Anderson

... Jesus "perfect through suffering" (v. 10). Perfection here means "to be complete" or "mature" (telios). By implication, it could be argued that it is God's will to make us complete through suffering also. After all, didn't Jesus charge that we must take up our cross and follow him? God can also make us perfect (complete) through suffering for the sake of righteousness, though not all suffering is redemptive. Yet, through the blood, sweat and tears of shared suffering we become one family in God. Lesson 2 ...

703. What Does Jesus Expect of Us?

Mark 8:27-38

Sermon

Donald Macleod

... seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter, and said, "Get behind me, Satan! For you are not on the side of God, but of men." And he called to him the multitude with his disciples, and said to them, "If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it; and whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it. For what does it profit a man, to gain the whole world and forfeit his life? For what can a man ...

704. Bearing The Mark Of Christ

Mark 8:31--9:1, Mark 8:27-30

Bulletin Aid

Dennis Koch

... reference was to the Christian's taking on a mark of identification rather than martyrdom, which became the post-Easter meaning. Liturgical Color Green Suggested Hymns Where Cross The Crowded Ways Of Life The Church Of Christ, In Every Age By All Your Saints In Warfare ''Take Up Your Cross,'' The Savior Said Lord, Thee I Love With All My Heart Around You, O Lord Jesus Prayer If it were up to us, Lord, we would have chosen a Christ who would make things easier on us. Cross-bearing is not our preference ...

705. The Strength of the Master

Sermon

Thomas Slavens

... clothes were fishy and your legs were covered with mud up to your knees. As you pulled your boat to the edge of the lake, you heard a man talking to a group of people. He was saying: If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man, if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life? Or what shall a man give in return ...

706. A Wonderful Sacrifice

1 Chronicles 21:1-22:1

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... believes in fully and loves devotedly, he or she will give to sacrificially. If you show me your checkbook, I can tell what you love. The third wonderful thing about sacrifice is this: It is necessary in order to grow as Christians. Jesus commanded us to take up our crosses daily and follow him. Grace is free, but discipleship is costly. You can't grow in Christ if you aren't willing to sacrifice for Christ. The final wonderful thing about sacrifice is that it allows God to send us showers of blessings. As ...

707. Samson, the Bully

Judges 16:1-22

Sermon

Don Yocom

... , it is not our salvation. Samson learned the hard way that physical strength could be lost. His association with the wrong people got him into trouble. His marriage to a Philistine girl caused problems. His affair with Delilah ended in disaster. Why do fellows take up with questionable women? Why do girls marry boys outside their usual association? They still do it. Sensual sin lulls one’s soul to fatal slumber. It did for Samson. His relationship with Delilah shows his downfall step by step: She was a ...

708. Civil War Isn't!

2 Samuel 18:1-18, 19--19:8

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... troops. There was Absalom, the first of what would prove to be a number of politicians through the centuries to be left twisting slowly, slowly in the breeze. General Joab gets wind of Absalom's predicament. Perhaps he was angry that the boy would take up arms against his father; perhaps he was figuring this would save the nation; perhaps he was still mad about the fire in his barley field. So, despite specific instructions to the contrary, Joab ran Absalom through right where he hung, threw his body into ...

709. Grace The New Fashioned Way

Ephesians 2:1-10

Sermon

King Duncan

... FOR US TO MOVE OUT IN MINISTRY TO THE WORLD. If while we were unworthy Christ would give his life for us, then we are to give our lives in service to others. It is not enough to feel humility and compassion. It is time for us to take up a cross! Dan Walker in his book, Energy in the Pew, points this out about the purpose of faith. "Reviewing the gospels recently," he said, "I was astounded at the number of times Jesus sent his followers out to do something. The record is punctuated with these orders. Go ...

710. About Work

2 Thessalonians 3:1-5

Sermon

King Duncan

... their work as they do trying to get out of doing their work, productivity levels would sky rocket. Today we want to talk about work. We want to dispel some myths about work and we want to get God's take on work. After all, for most of us, work takes up most of our non-sleeping time. For those who sleep on the job, that's another issue. The first thing we should say about work is that work is a gift from God. Work is not a curse that God has placed on us. Adam and Eve were to tend ...

711. Is Your Love Shy?

Mark 9:33-37

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

... our ignorance, don't they? How many tactful salesmen come into your home and say, "I'm sure you're an intelligent person; you understand how this vacuum cleaner with its new pulsating suction is more effective than the competitor's brand, so I won't take up your valuable time explaining to you the obvious...." This is true of the art world, as well. How many poets and playwrights nowadays get away with murder because we read their works and pretend to understand them so folks won't think we're tasteless ...

712. Security Concerns

Ephesians 6:10-20

Sermon

Harold Warlick

... are happening in the world. The Christian task is not to reflect these things but to answer them. This clarion call is a call that shivers its way to us. We seldom hear from "significant" pulpits these days talk about heaven, hell, the Kingdom of God, taking up the cross of Jesus, absolutely yielding one's existence to the Spirit of God or submitting to the rigorous demands of the Christian life.1 It's like the more sophisticated we become, the more wealthy and polished and educated we become, the more God ...

713. The Dividing Line

Mark 8:31--9:1

Sermon

King Duncan

... where the line is drawn. They're nice folks, but I have to tell you that their faith is ineffective--not life-changing. "Then [Jesus] called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: 'If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it.'" See what I mean by the dividing line? Dietrich Bonhoeffer, that wonderful saint who was martyred for opposing ...

714. Jesus Heals a Paralytic

Mark 2:1-12

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... Jesus' resurrection (16:6). The paralyzed man isn't just made mobile. He is fully restored to life. Like the healed leper in 1:45 (and like Jesus' disciples over and over again), the paralyzed man fails to follow all of Jesus' instructions. He does stand and takes up his mat. But instead of going home, he shows himself off to the crowd. The crowd's response is awe and amazement, and they glorified God at the sight of the paralyzed man walking. The scribes' charge of blasphemy loses its bite as the crowd's ...

715. Under New Leadership

John 1:29-34

Sermon

King Duncan

... , and is looked upon as a success. Yet, in his last hours, he wonders why he feels a failure.” The answer is that it is not enough to keep the rules, to be respectable. What are you doing for the common good? What are you doing to take up the cross of Jesus Christ? “After becoming a famous novelist, Tolstoy himself decided that this was not enough, that he must speak out against the treatment of the Russian peasants, that he must write against war and militarism.” (4) To be truly successful we are to ...

716. I Believe That Jesus Suffered Under Pontius Pilate

John 1:29-34

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... for us. St. Paul taught that “we are children of God….if indeed we share in his sufferings.” (Romans 8:17) Jesus did not say to his disciples, “I am going to Jerusalem to suffer, so you run along and have a pleasant life.” Jesus said, “Take up your cross and follow me.” If you don’t feel close to God, maybe it’s because there is no cross on your shoulder. In his letter to the Philippians, St. Paul makes this intriguing statement—“I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection ...

717. John 6:1-21

John 6:1-21

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... lessons are taught. With both bread and water miracles on the horizon, it is likely that John uses the mountaintop reference even more strongly to connect Jesus to that other great miracle maker, Moses. But it is also true that the position Jesus takes up "with his disciples" suggests the setting for a "teachable moment." In Jewish tradition, the great rabbis sat to teach their disciples. By gathering his disciples together and then sitting down in their midst, Jesus is in effect calling his class to order ...

718. Some Second Thoughts about Giving

Mark 12:41-44

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... . 29-30). So let’s remember this second thought: not equal giving – equal sacrifice. Now a final second thought: Not underwriting the budget, responding to God’s call. There’s a marvelous story of this in Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians. He is taking up a collection for the poor church in Jerusalem. He doesn’t talk about what the money is going to mean to the poor people in Jerusalem, but rather what giving will mean to those who respond. He holds up the church in Macedonia as an example ...

719. Garden Gone Bad

Isaiah 5:1-7

Sermon

Chrysanne Timm

This summer I decided to take up some simple vegetable gardening. I knew it would happen someday. It's in my blood. My dad has planted and tended summer gardens of various sizes my whole life. For several years, our family's garden filled the whole half acre second lot behind our home. We had strawberries, ...

720. The High Priest of a New Covenant

Hebrews 8:1-13

Understanding Series

Donald A. Hagner

... his person and work. The third comparative refers to better promises upon which the new covenant is founded (lit., “[legally] enacted,” cf. NEB “legally secured”). These promises will be the focus of attention in the quotation from Jeremiah 31, which will take up the remainder of chapter 8. Thus our high priest is concerned with matters altogether superior to the old covenant. His priestly work itself, the new covenant resulting from it, and the promises to which that new covenant points—in all of ...

721. Concluding Exhortations

Hebrews 13:1-25

Understanding Series

Donald A. Hagner

... by an anonymous author to Jewish Christians who have come to the new covenant through the grace of Jesus Christ. Additional Notes 13:22 It is possible that in this postscript the author, if he had dictated the letter as a whole to a scribe or secretary, takes up the pen himself. This phenomenon is often evident in the Pauline letters (cf. 1 Cor. 16:21; Gal. 6:11; Col. 4:18; 2 Thess. 3:17). Urge (parakaleō) or “earnestly request” is the same verb used in v. 19. The verb underlying bear with (anech ...

722. Weeping and Mourning

Micah 1:8-16

Understanding Series

Elizabeth Achtemeier

... . But behind the advance of the enemy is Yahweh’s hand, stretched out in wrath against his people. No human defense can turn aside that hand, and now it reaches out even to the gates of Jerusalem. 1:16 In verse 16, therefore, the prophet takes up the admonition once again, speaking to Jerusalem as to a bereaved mother. Her children, that is, the cities just named, are being taken from her. She should therefore enter into mourning for them, shaving her head in the custom of one lamenting the dead (cf ...

723. Hearing and Responding

Luke 8:19-21, Luke 8:16-18, Luke 8:1-15

Teach the Text

R.T. France

... the parable of the sower becomes a parable not just about teaching in general but about teaching in parables. The appended sayings in 8:16–18 (which follow the same parable in Mark 4:21–25 but all also occur separately later in Luke) take up the same theme of revelation and response. The brief story about Jesus and his family in 8:19–21, though a freestanding unit, is appropriately included here because it too focuses on hearing and responding. Historical and Cultural Background See the comments on ...

724. “Zeal for Your House Consumes Me”

Psalm 69:1-36

Teach the Text

C. Hassell Bullock

... who do not share his passion (69:9), he summons the whole creation (heaven, earth, and seas) to join in summative praise of God’s salvation of Zion (69:34–35). The climax of salvation history—that is, Israel’s salvation represented by God’s taking up his dwelling in Zion, taught by Psalm 68—is celebrated again, along with hopes of rebuilding the cities of Judah. Even though very different from Psalm 68, Psalm 69 may be viewed as a complement to that psalm, especially when we recognize that the ...

725. Don't Give In

Matthew 4:1-11

Sermon

David & Marian Plant

... Jesus did not give in to the temptations laid before him. For all of us must know anew that putting our hope in Jesus enables us to put our feet, one in front of the other, to follow the Christ on the way to the cross. It enables us to take up his journey to live for others first, to give away all we have for his world, to turn the other cheek, to care for the steady stream of widows and orphans, and to stop wandering aimlessly but rather to live purposefully in the work of God to love justice. It ...

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