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Showing 101 to 125 of 4964 results

101. Is There Any Hope?

1 Cor 15:14

Illustration

Staff

... enlisted men had been at the bottom of the ocean for nearly 24 hours. All had spent most of that time wrapped in blankets and lying in the bunks set up between torpedoes, barely moving and breathing slowly to conserve oxygen. But the contact with the diver gave them hope, as did the arrival of a sister sub, USS S-8 (SS-113), which used her oscillator to ping a question to the men down below using Morse code. “Is there any [chlorine] gas down there?” “No, but the air is very bad. How long will you be ...

102. When Hope Is Gone

Luke 7:11-17

Children's Sermon

B. Kathleen Fannin

... be times in all of our lives when it will seem like everything is lost. There will be times when it seems like all hope for our future is gone. When those times come, it will be important to remember this story of the widow of Nain -- to understand that just ... as Jesus met her on the road and restored her future, Jesus can come into our lives too and give us hope for life where we thought there was none." Prayer: "God, thank you for the gift of your only son, Jesus, whom you sent to all ...

103. Step Two - Hope

Mk 10:46-52 · 2 Cor 12:7-10 · Is 12:1-6

Sermon

John A. Terry

... call for a reunited world. The nation of Israel had suffered terrible disasters at the hands of the Assyrian army, suffering that Israel understood to be the judgment of God. This is a God whose anger is justified. There is, nevertheless, a future in which there is still hope. That is because God's anger is a loving anger rather than a vengeful anger. God punishes as a loving, not vengeful, parent. This is a God who still refreshes those who come to the well to drink. It was the time of trouble that led God ...

104. The Hope of His Calling

Ephesians 1:15-23

Children's Sermon

Tim Carpenter

... do you think he did? He didn't go over to Sly's any more, because he could not trust him. But whenever Earl heard Trusty call, he always ran as hard as he could, because Trusty kept his promise and then some." Application: "Just as Earl would be hopeful every time Trusty called, we too can trust certain people when they call us. Tell me who you can trust when they call you? (teacher, parents, etc.) But do you know someone who is the most trustworthy when he calls? (Jesus) Yes, he promised to love us, and ...

105. Hope

1 Corinthians 13:1-13; Luke 4:14-21

Illustration

... the quarreling, they heard a tiny voice cry out: Let me out, to sooth your pain. Fearfully they opened the box again, and this time a beautiful butterfly flew out. It touched the couple and miraculously their pain was healed and they were happy again. The butterfly? It was was hope. It is hope that sustains us; it is hope that soothes our pain.

106. "I Was Hoping for a Longines"

Sermon

Peter Rudowski

... gets a gift and, with a sullen face, says "It’s fine." You know it’s not fine. You ask what they wanted? "Well I was hoping for a Longines." That says "You did it all wrong, dummy." The question is, are you going to be a failure with your gifts? You can ... out only once in a while to be looked at and then hidden again. Do they want a Son? Do they want Jesus? Or are they hoping for a Longines?" Tonight God comes to us to say, "Merry Christmas. Let me give you a gift, a gift that says you belong, a gift ...

107. Conflict and Hope: One in the Spirit

Philippians 1:12-30

Sermon

Gregory J. Johanson

... The Struggle of Faith) deals with Paul’s concept of conflict "worthy of the gospel" in his devotional message Conflict and Hope: One in the Spirit. It was originally prepared for a study group which was wrestling with the matter of conflict and ... , and that none of us is sufficient in our own right. So it is that the conflict is understood in the context of hope. It is our hope in Christ that frees us from fear, frees us from drawing back in timidity, frees us from avoiding conflict, and enables us in ...

108. The Advent-ure of Hope

Micah 3:1-12

Bulletin Aid

Dallas A. Brauninger

... The spirit within suffers. People: We come praying for wholeness. Leader: We know times of poverty. We hunger and may not have resource to feed our body or sustain our spirit. People: We come yearning for fulfillment. All: Come, Christ, we wait to know your hope. Collect Transforming God, who brings change of heart, we trust in you. Amen. Prayer Of Confession Dear God, we notice only the chaos of brokenness. The ways in which you refine us are puzzling mysteries. Help us to discern beauty in the process we ...

109. Hope for Hurting Hearts

Isaiah 35:1-10

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... and the ears of the deaf unstopped. Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy." Wow! The message of Jesus to his questioning cousin was, "Open your eyes. What you see will give you your answer." Open your eyes...and you will find hope for your hurting heart. A story. It's been around for awhile; it's even been set to music.(7) He was driving home one evening on a two-lane country road. Work, in this small mid-western community, was almost as slow as his beat-up Pontiac. But he ...

110. Courage And Hope

2 Thessalonians 2:13-17

Bulletin Aid

H. Burnham Kirkland

... Spirit fill us in this hour, casting out all hindrances that we might worship you in spirit and in truth. Amen. Prayer Of Confession Lord, when we are tempted to do that which we know is not pleasing in your sight, give us unfailing courage and a clear hope in your coming kingdom that we may be strengthened to do what is right. Amen. Offertory Prayer Lord, we bring these gifts as our expression of thanks and praise to you. Use them and us, we pray, to proclaim your love and mercy, feed the hungry, heal the ...

111. Dry Bones And Live Hope

Ezekiel 37:1-14

Bulletin Aid

Charles Curley

... the Lord." (Based on Ezekiel 37:11-14) Prayer Of Confession Lord, we confess that in our world Lazarus has died, and we are without hope. We have tried to serve you and serve your people; yet anger and pride, prejudice and greed increase. We have grown weary in the ... Amen. (Based on Ezekiel 37:14) Hymn 1. Deeply bound in death’s dark caverns, Lazarus slept in the grave. Jesus came when hope had faded, Late to heal, too late to save. Yet he called unto his Father, Gave thanks for what God had done. "Lazarus ...

112. Hope in the Citadel of Atheism

John 20:1-18

Illustration

Gary Thomas

... Leonid Brezhnev. Bush was deeply moved by a silent protest carried out by Brezhnev's widow. She stood motionless by the coffin until seconds before it was closed. Then, just as the soldiers touched the lid, Brezhnev's wife performed an act of great courage and hope, a gesture that must surely rank as one of the most profound acts of civil disobedience ever committed: She reached down and made the sign of the cross on her husband's chest. There in the citadel of secular, atheistic power, the wife of the man ...

113. The Cape of Good Hope

John 20:1-18; Acts 20

Illustration

Pastor Buchs

... very point and found beyond the wild raging storms, a great calm sea, and beyond that, the shores of India. The name of that cape was changed from the Cape of Storms to the Cape of Good Hope. Until Jesus Christ rose from the dead, death had been the cape of storms on which all hopes of life beyond had been wrecked. No one knew what lay beyond that point until, on Easter morning Christ showed us. His disciples trembled in fear, even after seeing evidence of His resurrection. Eventually, Christ turns their ...

114. Is There Hope For World Peace?

Matthew 24:1-35

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... 2 and 15 through 22, relates to those awful events of 70 A.D. But most of that chapter deals with the end of the age, the end of history. In this chapter and in other portions of Holy Scripture, I find three answers to the question: “Is there hope for world peace?” The first response is: THE WORLD IS NOT GOING TO EVOLVE INTO WORLD PEACE. If any Christian believes that peace on earth will just keep gradually increasing until we have a kind of golden age, that person has not read his Bible well. The Bible ...

115. Hoping Against Hope

Romans 4:13-25

Bulletin Aid

Frank Ramirez

... To Worship Come children of Abraham, adopted by God. Now is the time for worship. Now is the time for hope to be fulfilled. Collect Faith is our standard, God, faith revealed in your people, from Abraham and Sarah through those ... in God, a God who is active. We believe in God's people, for God sustains us. We believe beyond hope, because the first fruits of our resurrection have already been harvested. We believe. Amen. Hymns Come! Now Is The Time To Worship! The God Of Abraham Praise Sweet Are The Promises

116. Hope That God Is Nearby

Isaiah 7:1-25

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... play with him but they are under strict orders to protect him always. This little bird is a constant reminder that “If God’s eye is on the sparrow, I know he watches over me.” Of that I am certain. On that promise, I stake my life. Hope is not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that God is with us regardless of how it turns out. St. Patrick’s Prayer: Christ be with me, Christ within me, Christ behind me, Christ before me, Christ beside me, Christ to win me ...

117. Keeping Hope Alive

Matthew 24:36-44

Illustration

... without notice and with no rehearsal. He replied, "In 1939, when I was a budding young concert pianist, I was arrested and placed in a Nazi concentration camp. Putting it mildly, the future looked bleak. But I knew that in order to keep the flicker of hope alive that I might someday play again, I needed to practice every day. I began by fingering a piece from my repertoire on my bare board bed late one night. The next night I added a second piece and soon I was running through my entire repertoire ...

118. The Hope of the World

Matthew 2:13-18

Illustration

King Duncan

... you did that this year. There are many people who celebrate Christmas who have no idea at all that Christ is the hope of the world. It's like one family I read about. They were gathered to celebrate the holiday without much thought to its significance. Little Charlotte, gulping her milk, heaved a white mustached ... black velvet cloth." Before we leave Christmas entirely, we need to be reminded of the reason for the season. The child that was carried into Egypt by his fleeing parents is the hope of the world.

119. The Cross: A Sign of Hope

Mark 8:31-38

Illustration

Billy D. Strayhorn

... sign of the cross at the feet of Solzhenitsyn then erased it before a guard could see it. Solzhenitsyn later wrote that his entire being was energized by that little reminder of the hope and courage we find in Christ through the cross. It was a turning point. Through the cross and a fellow believer, he found the strength and the hope to continue. In today's scripture we see a turning point in the life and ministry of Jesus. From this point on, Jesus' focus changes. From this point on, Jesus' mind and heart ...

120. Hope: God Loves You

Hosea 11:1-11

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... (Eccles. 8:16–9:1). Nevertheless, one can be absolutely sure that God loves but also punishes sinners. This message of hope ends in the fourth paragraph with a promise of restoration after the time of discipline (11:10–11). God’s punishment was earlier compared ... to the attack of a lion (Hos. 5:14), but in this passage of hope God describes himself as a lion that roars in order to call his people back to himself. At that future time the Israelites ...

121. Hope for People Who Are Angry

Ephesians 4:30-5:2

Sermon

King Duncan

... they do well.” (8) Most of us are not Dr. Ken Blanchard. We are not as graceful in defusing a situation in which we have lashed out at a family member as he is. And we continually hurt those closest to us. The question is, is there any hope for us--those of us who have difficulty with our anger? St. Paul writes, “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just ...

122. Hope and Despair

Illustration

Thornton Wilder

Hope is a projection of the imagination; so is despair. Despair all too readily embraces the ills it foresees; hope is an energy and arouses the mind to explore every possibility to combat them .... In response to hope the imagination is aroused to picture every possible issue, to try every door, to fit together even the most heterogeneous pieces in the puzzle. After the solution has been found it is difficult to recall the steps taken—so many of them are just below the level of consciousness.

123. Prisoners of Hope

Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30

Sermon

R. Kevin Mohr

... to Jesus; to lay all of our burdens down at the foot of his cross and admit that we can’t handle life on our own. When we come to Jesus, take his yoke upon us and find rest, then we become prisoners of hope instead of prisoners of despair. That hope is offered not to those who believe themselves to be super-saints, but, according to Matthew 11:25, to those who are ordinary people, as the phrase “little ones” can be translated. While in the modern business world insider trading information is usually ...

124. Hope in the Midst of Despair

Isaiah 40:28-31 · Psalm 23 · Revelation 21:1-7 · John 14:1-4, 18-19, 25-27

Eulogy

George Reed

... the times of our deepest darkness, God does not leave us alone but stands beside us and weeps with us and then speaks words of hope to us. We often turn to the wonderful imagery of the book of Revelation with its promise of no more tears and no more sorrow. ... and of us being God’s people. We are comforted by the idea of there being no more death. These are words of hope and faith that strengthen us. But, again, John did not have these visions because he was experiencing that everything was good and right ...

125. Dry Bones And Live Hope

John 11:17-37

Sermon

Charles Curley

... world, there are many ways to die. Relationships die, belief withers, confidence in our own ability to cope evaporates, hopes for peace, health and happiness fade away before the harsh realities of life. Look around you, the evidence ... me in a crisis; rather, the glory of God has already pronounced the death of all kinds of deaths. When we are dried up, cut off, all hope lost, God says (to paraphrase the prophet Ezekiel): "I will bring you home, I will put my spirit in you, you will live!" When will this be ...

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