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Showing 101 to 125 of 4977 results

101. Jerry's Faith

Luke 7:1-10

Illustration

John E. Sumwalt

... by personal loss. I became an empty person. I couldn't stand success and began to self-destruct. I lost everything, my friends, those who had pretended to be my friends and my family. It was all like an unbelievable soap opera -- and before it was over I learned quite a bit about the judicial system, the Mafia, extortion and revenge. There were times when I feared for my life and for the lives of the members of my family. It was the kind of situation that causes one to think about taking his own life. But I ...

102. You Must Become As A Child

Mark 10:13-16

Sermon

Brett Blair

... , as Jesus made his triumphant entry into Jerusalem, there were shouts of Hosanna, Son of David. This enraged the Pharisees. But when we read on we find out that the ones yelling this out are the children. The Pharisees come to Jesus and say: Tell them (the children) to quit yelling this. He answers: If I told them to stop, even the stones would yell it out." Lest you still do not believe that God used children to usher in the Kingdom, let me remind you that our Savior came to us in the form of a child. You ...

103. The Majesty Of God's Love

Matthew 28:16-20

Sermon

Mark Ellingsen

... does provide some clues regarding its significance. It has to do with Jesus' great commission ("to make disciples of all nations [Matthew 28:19])" and its relationship to the Trinity. Somehow Jesus' ascension represents an internal divine commitment by God that he will not quit until everyone is wrapped up in his love. Here is the story. According to Matthew's version, on that first Easter the angel instructed the women at the empty tomb to tell the disciples of Jesus that they should go to Galilee to meet ...

104. Stairways Of Heaven

Genesis 32:22-32

Sermon

Justin Tull

... have been forced to go to “Plan B?” We don’t know what would have happened had Jacob given up, but we do know about ourselves. We all know times when we have stopped short in our struggle, when we’ve had our fill of struggling and quit before the payoff. We all know the empty feeling that comes when we have experienced the pain without receiving the payoff. But that is as tragic as going through a domestic fight, getting all upset and never having the joy of making up! Jacob’s strategy, Jacob’s ...

105. The Elders

Drama

William Grimbol

... help you Ruth. You two. (Both women depart) NATHAN: (Yelling after RACHEL) I'm not hungry. DAVID: (Now alone with NATHAN) Don't say a word about what we were talking about. NATHAN: I can't believe you want to hear him speak ... and that you ... actually were quite impressed. You sure didn't sound impressed earlier. DAVID: If I did, she'd be dragging me to every talk or sermon that he gives. I know my wife. NATHAN: I guess so. Do you ever wonder if he is who they say? DAVID: The Messiah? NATHAN: Yes. DAVID ...

106. The Meaning of Life

John 17:6-19

Sermon

Brett Blair

... at her child in disbelief she tried to think of some motherly wisdom but all that came to mind at the time was "A stitch in time saves nine" and "Starve a cold, and feed fever." They didn’t seem to fit the occasion so she asked, "Why have you quit school?" Without hesitation Jason said, "It’s too long, it’s too hard, and it’s too boring." This time she was equal to the task. She shot back, "you have just described life. Get on the bus!" The day in and day out tediousness and challenges of life can ...

107. Encounters With Christ VII (Easter): Jesus & Mary Magdalene

Mark 16:1-20

Sermon

James W. Moore

... that and gave to her an amazing, indescribable joy. His name was Philip. He was eight years old and he attended the third grade Sunday School class at his church. Philip was a special little boy. He was deeply loved by his family, but sometimes society didn’t quite know how to respond to Philip because, you see, he was a Downs Syndrome child. The other children in the Third grade Sunday School class didn’t accept him or include him very much. It wasn’t that they were mean or cruel. It was just that ...

108. A Change of Direction

Matthew 21:28-32

Sermon

... , as you know, Peter did just that. Three times - why three? Knowing how life is, Jesus knew that, if one does a thing once, he is quite likely to do it again, and then again, and by the third time it's almost a way of life. This has been called "The Rule ... . That wayward woman at Sychar did not expect Jesus to be at the well that day, but he was - and because he was, I'm quite sure she turned from some of the paths she had traveled and found some roads to a higher life. Mary of Magdala, walking the streets ...

109. The Call of the Cross

Luke 9:18-27

Sermon

... act but a third act to his life. After his death his work was resuscitated and his reputation has gone beyond any bounds it knew even at the height of his early success ... F. Scott Fitzgerald’s failure ... has become an unprecedented success.2 Well, not quite, because there was a man named Jesus whose life had three acts to it, too. In the face of a painful death he could look beyond the tomb to resurrection. Rather than raising the question, "What now?" Christ told his disciples that he would be raised ...

110. Saving Sinners

Matthew 9:9-13

Sermon

... guard. We have calculated our spiritual forces for good and we have surmised that we can handle moral challenges and potentially explosive moral situations quite well. But then we are amazed when the darts and arrows of Satan hit their mark and we are laid low. With the ... The other day, as I was sitting in the $50,000 home of a parishioner, he said to me, "You know, Pastor, Christianity is really quite a simple thing when you get down to it. For me it's like this. Every day I look around at all I have here ...

111. The Bells Of Christmas Eve

Drama

... hundred florins! I am a poor man! It is true I own some property. But 500 florins! FRANCO: An act of great love. I'm afraid a few ducats would simply not do. MARIO: Can you guarantee that five gold florins will make the bells ring? FRANCO: I am quite certain of that. MARIO: Will you let it be known throughout the parish that it was I who lifted the curse and made the bells ring? FRANCO: Be assured of that. MARIO: Five hundred, eh? FRANCO: Five hundred. MARIO: Very well. I have in my purse five gold florins ...

112. Proper 6

Genesis 25:19-34

Sermon

... did Esau give up when he forfeited his birthright? Well, it wasn't worldly prosperity. As we read later, though Esau lost this special designation, he still had an abundant fortune. When he met Jacob some years later, he was followed by a retinue of 400 armed men, quite a sizeable and expensive cadre for the time. Moreoever, Esau lived a prosperous and splendid life and went down to his grave in peace at a ripe old age. There is not a thing, in the brief written record we have of him, to make us think Esau ...

113. Proper 28

Lk 21:5-19 · 2 Thes 3:6-13 · Mal 3:19-20, 4:1-6

Sermon Aid

John R. Brokhoff

... problem in the church of Paul's day. In the congregation were people called gnostics who believed that Jesus had returned and they were now in heaven. So they no longer needed to work but to enjoy life. Others expected Jesus to return in a few days. They quit work because they had to prepare for his coming and they had enough resources to provide for themselves until he came. To counteract this, Paul commanded the idle to go back to work and to follow his example. He worked so that the church would not have ...

114. Treasure's Tug

Matthew 13:44-46

Sermon

... , or better, or different. We sense the drawing power of the love of Christ and we can tell we will come away changed if we allow ourselves to be touched. We are strangely, and in spite of ourselves, attracted to a future where God rules and our sinful self quits messing up life. There are no lottery tickets to this future, but something far more certain. It's called "faith." It's that "letting go and letting God" when we are touched by "the impulse of his love." It's a pearl which will cost us, but it's ...

115. Sole Brother

Luke 10:25-37

Sermon

... match the perfect example of Christ, but somewhere in our travels each of us will be an example to someone. At those moments we have the unique opportunity to make a very meaningful contribution. The world will not change much because we came, but it will never be quite the same. Christ hopes that as we make our difference it will include the joy of having been sole brother to someone in need. It was an hour before conference time. They were getting off to a late start and it looked like speed limit all the ...

116. Welcome to the Training Table!

Matthew 22:1-14

Sermon

... not to act upon it. It’s as though a football coach trained forty prime, elite-corps candidates to round out his team roster, but fully half of them dropped out before the second scrimmage, or before the key game of the season. What happens when you quit a team? The team hurts, naturally. They may lose one or two or half a dozen skirmishes because you left them vulnerable - at least for a little while. If defections are serious enough, there may be some demoralizing setting in for a time. But, in the long ...

117. The Grace of Disillusionment

Matthew 26:69-75

Sermon

Robert Bachelder

... people despised them. No wonder the man does not dare to lift his eye to heaven. He is bitterly aware of his distance from God and can only beat his breast in contrition. He and his family are in a hopeless situation. To repent, he will need not only to quit his way of life, but also to restore his dishonest gains with an added fifth in damages. He does not even know all those with whom he has had dealings! Even his prayer strikes a note of hopelessness. He cannot fathom that God’s mercy might run so deep ...

118. Isaiah’s Interruption

Isaiah 40:1-31

Sermon

Richard F. Bansemer

... snow of God versus the snow of man. The music of God versus the wants of man. It is for us as his chosen ...to learn to wait. ...to listen, ...to hear God’s promises, and to bloom according to his word. One more of his promises and we’ll quit: "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live." What more can he tell us? What more could we ask for? More life. Death is not annihilation, but sleep. The flower that fades tomorrow will bloom again, and again ...

119. The Impartiality of God

Acts 10:23b-48

Sermon

Hubert Beck

... the Second Lesson for the day. It is, unfortunately, only a very small portion of a story that takes up the entire chapter from which these five verses are taken and is deemed important enough to rehearse yet again in capsule form in the following chapter. Quite apparently the story is seen as a turning point in the history of the early church. We need to briefly remember its thrust. It is the story of a man named Cornelius who is a Gentile centurion, a soldier, in what is described as "the Italian Cohort ...

120. The Need for Transfiguration

2 Peter 1:12-21

Sermon

Hubert Beck

... , and he became white as light, which may not be too far from the idea of the "devouring life" we hear about as another sign of God’s presence in the First Lesson. All these signs are typical of the presence of God in other stories and are quite evidently meant to reinforce the words that come from the cloud, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him." In Christ himself the revelation of God is made perfect. All the signs surround him and superimpose themselves on him so that he ...

121. Mary of Bethany and Jesus’ Mother

Drama

Jon Joyce

... Almighty. MB: [Rises abruptly, walks to MJ, puts her hands on MJ’s shoulders and turns her around, so that they are standing quite close together, face to face] What plan of God? MJ: Sit down, Mary, and let me tell you something that I have not ... God requires of him. [She pauses, almost breaks. Throughout the rest of her conversation with MB, she is on the verge of breaking, but never quite cries or sobs] And of me. I have known - known since that angel’s visit that Jesus was not to be mine. Oh, yes, I ...

122. The Time of Our Visitation

Sermon

Leonard Mann

... position forever. You see, his coming was very very successfully accomplished. It was complete. He came all the way. He didn’t quit where most servants of humanity must. They do their best, and then they say goodbye, and death comes and takes them away ... dead. I have the feeling that he could come at any time and knock on any door." It seems to me that Jesus has given quite a satisfactory answer to John’s ancient question. And I think history has confirmed it. After all, we have had almost 2,000 years to ...

123. Name Above Every Name

Luke 2:21-40

Sermon

Leonard Mann

... of our gospel hymns, sung to a tune called "Precious Name," begins with these lines: Take the name of Jesus with you, Child of sorrow and of woe; It will joy and comfort give you; Take it, then, where’er you go. As I think of it now, I am quite sure that Peter and John and Paul would have liked the message of this song. Because this is just what they did - they took the name of Jesus with them wherever they went. And you and I may, do this also, and we should. They considered themselves honored to bear ...

124. Good News For Good Parents

2 Timothy 1:1-2:13

Sermon

... opened the door for Timothy for a wider vision and scope of the Kingdom of God, it is only because he was prepared for that by his mother and his grandmother. What can a mother do? Lots of good and worthwhile things. But there is nothing quite so important than raising her child in the faith. It is where our children learn strength; is is where our children learn righteousness. It’s fruit is everlasting joy and peace. Every time parents bring their child before the altar of God, four promises are made ...

125. The Voices Of Christmas

Drama

Jerry Nordstrom

... tomorrow. I was wondering if you would be an angel and transfer about $4,000 to my account. That awful bank called me again this morning. I do wish you would speak to them about that. CHILD: And I want a backyard cable car. SPORTSMAN: The money didn’t quite buy the boots I wanted, but, well, maybe someday, ya know. TRADITIONALIST: I got the best idea for place cards! At each plate I’m putting a little straw goat with a card in his mouth! Just adorable! PATIENT: When I was a child, we didn’t have money ...

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