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Showing 776 to 800 of 1185 results

776. Christ Sets Us Free of All Chains

Luke 19:1-10

Illustration

King Duncan

... who was said to have a great insight into matters of the body. The Persian king sent for the slave who was brought to him weighted down with chains and dressed in rags. However, the slave was indeed able to give him great assistance with his problem. The pain ceased and the ankle soon healed. The king was elated and justly grateful for the slave's help. He was so grateful that he sent the slave a gift--a new set of golden chains. Some people shy away from religion because they are afraid that they may be ...

777. 2 Thessalonians 3:6-13

2 Thessalonians 3:6-15

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... ” is alluded to in verse 9, but the practice of claiming this “right” is soundly rejected. While Paul and his companions had apparently received support from the Philippian church while they were in Thessalonia (see Philippians 4:16) the apostle had never ceased working “night and day so that we might not burden any of you” (v.8). Following that apostolic pattern is the command that is now issued. Yet another social structure that may be behind this apostolic directive is the complex Greco-Roman ...

778. Stop Speculating!

Luke 21:5-19; 1 Thess 3:11

Illustration

Gary L. Carver

... to do in this present age. This happened in Thessalonica not twenty years after Jesus died, and Saint Paul met the issue head on. Some of the folk there got so caught up in expecting and predicting the imminent return of the Lord that they had ceased to do any work and degenerated into idle busybodies who prattled only about the future. Paul rebuked this tendency to let an over-interest in "the last things" divert us from faithfulness to "the first things." There is a legendary story about a warrior who was ...

779. Full Body Scans or Re-spect Spectacles

Romans 13:8-14

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... others what to do, measuring us all by his own standards." “Me? It's Brother Screwdriver who drives us all crazy going round in circles." "Me? Sister Sandpaper always rubbing the wrong way." "Me? Sister Saw goes back & forth endlessly." Suddenly the bickering ceased, for everyone heard the carpenter coming. When he entered the shop, he put on his apron, went to his bench, and began to make a table. He picked up Brother Rule, then Brother Plane, then Brother Hammer and Sister Screwdriver, then Sister Saw ...

780. Dreaming to a New Future

Matthew 4:12-22

Illustration

Keith Wagner

... the company was swamped with orders for the little one-cylinder engine. Although most of the success can be credited to Ole, Bessie Cary, soon there after, Bessie Evinrude, was responsible for the management of the business. Perhaps the Church has become a lower priority in society because it has ceased to dream. By leaving the past and venturing into the future the Church can still make a difference.

781. Leaving Home

Genesis 12:1-8

Sermon

King Duncan

... and victory.” (7) Abram obeyed God and God fulfilled His promise to make of Abram a great nation. But one thing more needs to be said. God called Abram to be a blessing to others. Whenever Abram’s descendents whether they be Jews, Muslims or Christians cease to be a blessing to others, they are ultimately disobedient to God. Now we have to be careful. This thing of being obedient to God can be tragically abused. There are people who have done terrible things in this world and they have explained it like ...

782. The Evangelist Has a Shady Past

John 4:1-26

Sermon

King Duncan

... a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” The woman didn’t have a clue what Jesus was talking about but she was tired of carrying a heavy water jug back from the well each day. This Jew was promising her a source of water that would never cease flowing and that sounded good. The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.” Then Jesus surprised her again. He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.” Whoa, he hit ...

783. The Good News Never Conflicts with Truth

Illustration

Bob Ward

The esteemed space scientist Dr. Werner von Braun received many cards and letters over the years from people who believe that space exploration is against the Creator's wishes. "Scripture mail," NASA calls it. These correspondents warned the scientist to cease this dangerous godless folly. "One lady wrote that God doesn't want man to leave Earth and she was willing to bet me $10 that we wouldn't make it," said Episcopalian von Braun. "I answered that, as far as I knew, the Bible said nothing about space ...

784. A Mended Relationship

Mt 5:21-26

Illustration

King Duncan

There is something beautiful about the mending of a relationship once broken. It happens from time to time. Brothers who had vowed eternal enmity. Sisters who had long ago ceased to converse. Then something happens and that which was broken is restored. Perhaps it is beautiful because it reminds us of our relationship with God. Once that was broken, but because of God's great love for us, He took the initiative and reached across the great divide to bring ...

785. Man Is Never Satisfied

1 Corinthians 3:1-9

Illustration

John W. Rilling

... we should say adulthood: yesterday an infant dropping the toy in hand for the pretty bauble beyond his reach; today the adolescent wanting this and that; tomorrow the man reaching for the unattainable moon - or since it has been attained by a few, something beyond that. A man does not cease to have wants when he becomes a Christian. Indeed God has some unfulfilled wants of his own for his children - their growth and development in lives of holiness. "This is the will of God, your sanctification."

786. Will You Dance the Metanoia with Me?

Acts 2:14-41

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... Suddenly you have been transformed from the “self” you were into your new incarnation as a selfless parent. I love pleonasms. A pleonasm is a redundancy of words, or the putting together of two words that mean exactly the same thing. Like “cease and desist.” Or “dark night.” Or “advance forward.” Or “anonymous stranger.” But my all-time favorite pleonasm is this one: “working mother.” Parenthood is a metanoia moment that lasts for the rest of your life. And this morning we thank our ...

787. God Surprises the Hopeless

John 14:15-21

Illustration

Keith Wagner

... enthusiasm and a renewed hope. Soon after its discovery land was sighted from the sailor in the crow's nest. When all seems hopeless God has a way of surprising us and being present, even in the loneliest places. It is not God who is absent but we who have ceased to believe in a God who loves us more than we love ourselves.

788. Romans 8:12-25

Romans 8:1-17

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... different frame of reference. Throughout the Old Testament Israel was often referred to as God’s “child” or “son.” The people of Israel stood in a unique relationship with the divine as “God’s chosen people.” But when Israel ceased to exist as a political reality the notion of “sonship” became more eschatologically oriented (see Hosea 1:10). In post-biblical apocrypha it is eschatological Israel that is promised its rightful “inheritance” as God’s children. With this eschatological ...

789. Why Are You Acting Like Orphans?

Romans 8:18-27

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... you are; I know what you’ve done; I know you . . . and I still choose you to live in and through by the power of the Spirit. Talk about open adoption: We have a Father who operates out of a huge, open-ended, never-ceasing, Spirit of adoption. Christianity is a perennial “open-season” on “open adoption.” All are welcome. All are offered the complete package of acceptance, forgiveness, and new life. All approach without hope. And all who confess Christ and embrace the “Spirit of adoption” and ...

790. Matthew 14:22-36

Matthew 14:22-36

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... power of his relationship with Jesus. Despite their “little” faith, despite their evident “doubt,” when faced with peril, all the disciples are, at least momentarily, capable of comprehending the momentous truth that Jesus’ authority and actions have revealed. As Jesus climbed into the boat and the wind suddenly ceased, the disciples “paid homage” (“proskyneo”) to him and recognized the presence of the divine power that stood before them. They exclaim: “Truly you are the Son of God.”

791. When Words Are Not Enough

Ephesians 5:15-20

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... can't stop my toes from tapping. * You can stomp on my foot to keep my toes from tapping, but my heart will keep on swinging in four/four time. * You can even stop my heart from ticking, but the music of the saints shall never cease.[5] After all, there are times when words are not enough. 1. Kemp P. Battle, Great American Folklore (New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1986), p. 281. 2. Kathleen Norris, Dakota: A Spiritual Geography (New York: Tickner & Fields, 1993), p. 91. 3. http://www.gavinbryars.com/Pages ...

792. Grand Opening

Matthew 2:1-12

Sermon

Robert J. Elder

... others on board as best we can. The beauty of an observation like Epiphany is that, like the traveling stargazers from Matthew's gospel, we may enter the whole drama of Christ's birth now, really for the first time. At Epiphany, the drama of the nativity ceases to be a show with an entirely Jewish cast of characters. We may sometimes have felt empathy with the clumsy poet whose little bit of humorous verse went: "How odd of God, to choose the Jews.1 This provoked an equally good-natured response: "Not odd ...

793. We Wish to See Jesus

John 12:20-33

Sermon

John Smylie

... harden our hearts and walk away from God, just as most married couples in trouble don't purposefully close down their hearts to one another. They just wake up one day and realize that they're sleeping next to a stranger, that all meaningful communication has ceased, that bit by bit their conversation has closed down. Slowly but surely they have grown apart choosing to avoid all conflict by retreating to the illusion of a safer place, all the while having their hearts grow colder and harder day by day. So it ...

794. For the Life of Betsy D. I. Smylie

John 12:20-36

Sermon

John Smylie

795. The Unbelievable Truth

1 Corinthians 15:1-11

Sermon

Nancy Kraft

... bedroom, and any place I couldn't really see, because I was sure that the body was there. I wanted desperately to believe that my dad was in heaven with God because the idea that he was in heaven was so much better than believing that he had just ceased to exist. But it all seemed rather unbelievable, like some fairy tale that adults made up to make people feel better when someone dies. When I was a little girl and into my teenage years, I was so terrified of death that many nights I cried myself to sleep ...

796. Long Live The King

Revelation 1:4-8

Sermon

Patrick J. Rooney

... and the end, the end and the beginning. Endings and beginnings are for us as humans to mark the passing of our lives and of our ages. We have a king who reigns over us, who has always reigned over us, and who will reign over us, when this world ceases to exist. When he comes, as come he will, we will not hear some herald cry that the king is dead, long live the king. Instead, we will hear that the king who comes is the king without ending and beginning, the king who was, who is, and who is ...

797. When Necks Break

2 Samuel 18:5-9, 15, 31-33

Sermon

Donna Schaper

... and stuff happens. We may have to train our stomachs and our vocabularies to be the tough dove that we are in meetings and fights. Training is good. It begins, for me, in humming an old hymn, "Drop thy still dews of quietness, 'til all our conflicts cease...." I call it my Bob Newhart tactic. Newhart is one of my favorite comics and the reason is his timing. It is absolutely brilliant, also a beat behind the trouble. Newhart waits. He listens. He uses his eyes and face to help others see what is happening ...

798. The Place beyond Revenge

Esther 7:1-6, 9-10, 9:20-22

Sermon

Donna Schaper

... budgets, and lungs, remain stressed. Let us soon forget the urgency for revenge and the blood now spilled because of the World Trade Center towers toppling. Let us move beyond blood for blood, eye for eye, insult for insult, and bomb for bomb. Let the wars cease and the healing begin. Turn the twin towers to ploughshares, and our revenge and rage into world community. When 9/11 is repented and the cloud's silver linings emerge, let us remember the truth under the rubble of resentment: bad can come to good ...

799. Waiting for a Savior

Mark 13:32-37

Sermon

King Duncan

... Savior has come, but much of the world still awaits a Savior. Here is the promise of scripture: Christ will return and truly the day will come when no child will be left behind. There will someday be peace and justice in this world. Sin and suffering shall cease. It is the promise of Scripture that one day the nations of the world will beat their “swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks” (Isaiah 2:4). Dr. Tom Long tells about the congregation he is a part of in Atlanta, GA. It is a ...

800. Existence Is All Or Nothing

Illustration

Gary R. Habermas & J.P. Moreland

... or less endowed with respect to being. What is poorly endowed is poorly endowed and, therefore, is. In cases like a sound gradually fading away or a mind gradually losing consciousness or some other faculties, what is really going on is the alteration of something that exists, not its gradually ceasing to be. Something can gradually be altered in the properties it possesses you can gradually lose your hearing but something cannot be gradually altered with respect to existence. That is all or nothing.

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