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Showing 151 to 175 of 1967 results

151. The Christian and the World

James 4:1-12

Understanding Series

Peter H. Davids

Because he is aware of practical problems in the community, James makes an abrupt switch from peacemakers, the wise leaders of the community, to the actual situation of intrachurch conflict. 4:1 What causes fights and quarrels among you? That is a good question, for if God’s wisdom is found in peacemakers, community strife does not come from them. A conflict with the pagan world or the synagogue might be the inevitable result of following Christian standards, but these are quarrels within the church (i.e ...

152. Proper 12

Lk 11:1-13 · Col 2:6-15 · Gen 18:20-32 · 2 Ki 5:1-15

Sermon Aid

John R. Brokhoff

COMMENTARY 2 Kings 5:1-15 General Naaman of Syria is healed of leprosy by obeying Elisha's order to bathe in the Jordan. The confession of faith by an unknown Jewish slave girl in the home of Syria's chief of staff results in the cure of leprosy for her master, Naaman. On the basis of the confession Naaman goes to Israel. When Elisha the prophet orders him to wash in the Jordan seven times, he goes off in a rage feeling insulted. But his aides convince him to stay. Naaman then dips himself in the Jordan ...

153. The Man Born Blind

John 9:1-12

Drama

Dallas A. Brauninger

WHAT'S HAPPENING? First Point Of Action As Jesus walks along, he sees a congenitally blind man. Second Point Of Action Jesus' conversation with the disciples: The disciples question him about whose sin, the parents' or the man's, caused the man's blindness. Rejecting the notion that sin causes blindness, Jesus notes God's purpose in the blindness. Jesus uses the light of the world metaphor. Third Point Of Action Jesus heals the blind man: Jesus spits on the ground, makes mud with the saliva, and spreads it ...

154. Proper 9

Galatians 6:1-10, 2 Kings 5:1-27, Luke 10:1-24

Sermon Aid

John R. Brokhoff

COMMENTARY Old Testament: 2 Kings 5:1-14 General Naaman of Syria is healed of leprosy by obeying Elisha's order to bathe in the Jordan. The confession of faith by an unknown Jewish slave girl in the home of Syria's chief of staff results in the cure of leprosy for her master, Naaman. On the basis of the confession Naaman goes to Israel. When Elisha the prophet orders him to wash in the Jordan seven times, he goes off in a rage feeling insulted. But his aides convince him to stay. Naaman then dips himself ...

155. Wining and Dining with Jesus

Mark 2:18-22

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

Doesn’t it seem sometimes that the people who are NOT religious are a whole lot more fun than the people who are? At times the church suffers more at the hands of its friends than at the hands of its enemies. It suffers more from the rigidly righteous than from the blatantly irreligious. There are those who in their self-righteous zeal appoint themselves as monitors of other people’s morals and delight in pointing their fingers at the failings of everybody but themselves. Let’s face it: there have been a ...

156. Sent

John 9:1-41

Sermon

April Yamasaki

Last week a friend sent me a copy of her recently released book. When I opened the outer package that gave my address, I discovered another layer of wrapping, this time brown craft paper adorned with a golden leaf and a brief handwritten message in green ink. On the back, a sticker matching her book cover completed the package. Her book was so beautifully presented that I hesitated to unwrap it further, but when I did, I discovered another heartfelt and handwritten message on the book’s inside cover. ...

157. Advocating For Whom?

John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15

Sermon

David Coffin

In March of 2019, a New Hampshire lunch cafeteria worker was fired for giving a high school student an $8.00 meal because there was no money left in his account. She saw the student’s lunch account was empty as he went through the line and allowed him to keep his food. She also asked him to have his mother add money to the account. The next day, the mother paid his lunch bill. However, the cafeteria manager who witnessed her act of leniency fired her. This quiet hero might be an advocate for students, as ...

158. Seeing The Unseeing

John 9:35-41, John 9:13-34, John 9:1-12

Sermon

David Belgum

Sing along with me: Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, That saved a wretch like me! I once was lost, but now I'm found; Was blind, but now I see. This plaintive spiritual song is a favorite among the elderly and nursing home residents at chapel time, those for whom physical eyesight is waning and for whom spiritual sight is increasingly significant. I think many believe it is a Negro spiritual, maybe because of its haunting melody. Actually it was written by John Newton, who was part of the revival of the ...

159. Have You Seen the Light?

John 9:1-41

Sermon

James Merritt

I am not a country music fan per se. But to those who know country music, say that one of the all-time legendary greats was Hank Williams. He wrote a song entitled "I Saw the Light" that has lyrics that go like this: I wandered so aimless, life filled with sin; I wouldn't let my dear Savior in. Then Jesus came like a stranger in the night; Praise the Lord, I saw the light! Even though Hank Williams wrote those words almost a half a century ago, it could have been written and sung two millennia ago by a man ...

160. See Something, Say Something, Do Something, Be Something

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

It is the key you click before you can do anything. It is the box you check before you can go anywhere. You know what it is. It’s a “Terms of Service.” You are online and you sign on to some website that has the information or product you’ve been searching for. But before you are granted access to that portal you must endure the “Terms of Service” claimer/disclaimer. The “term of service” barrier is the twenty-first century version of the cherubim with flailing; flaming swords set up to guard the Garden of ...

161. A Complicated Disciple

John 18:15-27

Sermon

King Duncan

Growing Strong in the Season of Lent Luke 22: 31-34; 54-62 (Passion Sunday) or John 18:15-27 (Good Friday) It is very difficult to think of the events of Holy Week without thinking of Simon Peter’s denial of Christ. The story is well known to us all. At the last supper Jesus tells Simon Peter that before the cock crows three times, he will deny him three times. Prior to this Simon Peter has just pledged his allegiance to Christ in his normal, assertive style, “Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and ...

162. Seven Habits Of Highly Effective Christians

2 Kings 5:1-27

Sermon

William L. Self

Naaman was a mighty man of valor, but he was a leper. What a shock it must have been to this great man, the leader of the Syrian army, when the unaccountable lethargy and the terrible pain in the joints attacked his body. Then he discovered, especially on his back, the discolored patches and on them the little nodules which were pink at first and then turned brown. He knew that he had it, the dreaded leprosy. It was the scourge of the ancient world -- the AIDS of his day. In crystal clear and cryptic ...

163. Purification from “Leprosy”

Leviticus 14:33-57, Leviticus 14:1-32

Teach the Text

Joe M. Sprinkle

Big Idea: Impurities that separate people from God can be cleansed. Understanding the Text Leviticus 13–14 is in a larger unit dealing with ceremonial uncleanness generally (Lev. 11–15). Leviticus 13 identifies the problem of a skin condition (loosely termed “leprosy” in English) and similar-looking molds that produce ceremonial impurity. For persons struck with this condition, the consequences are serious, involving separation from God’s sanctuary and separation from the people of God. Leviticus 14 ...

164. Changed Lives: The Man Born Blind from Birth

John 9:1-12

Sermon

King Duncan

Author Michael Lindvall tells a delightful tale about James, an overactive seven‑year old who talks a mile a minute, who sleeps sporadically, and who is boundlessly enthusiastic about everything. James loves the company of Angus and Minnie, a retired farm couple in their 80s. For the most part, they enjoy his company as well. It’s Halloween. James bursts into Angus and Minnie’s living room. In deep anguish, he complains that his mom bought him a Teenage‑Mutant Ninja Turtle costume to wear. “No one cares ...

165. Mrs. Proverbs

Proverbs 31:10-31

Sermon

Stan Purdum

It's a question you've probably not thought much about, but were any parts of the Bible written by women? We count about forty different writers in scripture, and according to the usual assumption, all of them were men. Among the reasons for that conclusion is the fact that the dominant culture of the ancient Middle East was patriarchal. Men were in charge, and women had few rights of their own, not unlike in some of the stricter Muslim countries today. Also, in those times, literacy rates for women were ...

166. Portrait Of A Powerful Servant

John 13:1-17

Sermon

John M. Braaten

Jesus loved to paint portraits for the soul. He did it through his actions as well as his words. Indeed, his whole life was a powerful illustration. On the particular night to which our texts bear witness, the image Jesus will etch into the memories of his disciples will be so powerful that they will never again be able to think of him without reference to this event. Writer Walter Wangerin suggests that the atmosphere of that evening was shrouded in mystery and filled with intrigue. There was the meal ...

167. Dirty Dishes and Forgiveness

Matthew 18:21-35

Children's Sermon

Wesley T. Runk

Object: Dirty dishes. Good morning, boys and girls. Look what I brought with me today. [Show them the dirty dishes.] Oh, no, dishes! Dirty Dishes! What do you think I didn’t do? That’s right, I forgot to wash the dishes. I didn’t really forget, I just didn’t do them. I hate to wash dishes. Why do I have to keep washing the same dishes over and over? How many of you feel as I do? How many of you hate dirty dishes? How many of you hate to wash the dishes? [Let them answer.] I have a question for you. How ...

168. Epiphany 6

1 Corinthians 10:23--11:1, 1 Corinthians 9:1-27, Leviticus 13:1-46, 2 Kings 5:1-27, Mark 1:40-45

Sermon Aid

Russell F. Anderson

Theme: God's cleansing presence and power, with or without water. In the First Lesson Elisha cleansed Namaan, the Syrian, by telling him to wash in the Jordan River. In the Gospel Jesus cleansed a leper who requested healing by touching him. COMMENTARY Old Testament: 2 Kings 5:1-15 Namaan, a general from the army of the Syrians, was sent to the king of Israel by his own king, asking that he be healed of his leprosy. An Israeli girl, absconded in war, informed her master of a prophet in Samaria who could do ...

169. It's Not Rocket Science

John 8:31-41

Sermon

James Merritt

I believe the single most important person who has ever lived or will ever live is Jesus Christ. I believe the most important book that ever has been written or ever will be written is the Bible. I believe those two things are true, because of two other things I believe are true. I believe Jesus is the Son of God and I believe the Bible is the Word of God. Those two things are important because what we really know of the Son of God is found in the Word of God Therefore, the two most important beliefs of my ...

170. What's It Take to Be A Saint? (All Saint's Day)

Revelation 7:9-17

Sermon

King Duncan

Dr. Carlyle Marney once remarked that a person can be understood as being similar to a house. We have our living rooms, where we entertain, and our basements, where we hide the trash. The way to observe All Saints’ Day, he suggested, is to walk out into your front yard and salute the people on your balcony. The balcony people in our lives are those who have gone before us, who have been our encouragers, who have left a legacy. (1) That’s what we do on this Saints’ Day. We salute all the saints who have ...

171. Mandatum

1 Corinthians 11:23-26

Sermon

Dr. Ronald Love

Today is Maundy Thursday and the end of Lent that began on Ash Wednesday forty days ago. These forty days were intended to be a time of self-reflection and spiritual renewal as one prepares himself or herself for Good Friday and Easter Sunday. In the early church, on Ash Wednesday, if you recall from my sermon on that day, those Christians who committed grave faults were forced to wear sackcloth and be sprinkled with ashes. They were turned out of the Christian community the same as when Adam and Eve were ...

172. Cross Purposes

1 Corinthians 1:18--2:5

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

"In the cross of Christ I glory towering o'er ..." Is the cross today towering over the world? Atlanta is presently boasting of its newest hotel, seventy stories high, the highest hotel in the entire world. Just a couple of blocks from this hotel are a Methodist church and a Catholic church, each with a tower and a cross on top. There was a time when the highest point in a town was the church spire with a cross on its pinnacle. Now city skyscrapers dwarf the church with its cross. The cross is over-towered ...

173. A Reed Who Became a Rock

John 1:35-42

Sermon

R. Blaine Detrick

We have looked together at some of the favorite men of the Bible we have traveled through the Old Testament ... and in the last chapter, we entered into the New Testament in the person of John the Baptizer. Now we pass over the period of the life of Jesus: the coming of the promised Messiah ... the climax of God’s redeeming work ... the time of the Incarnation ... when God became man ... when the eternal entered time ... when the heavenly became earthly. Two of the twelve apostles of Jesus were chosen as ...

174. Our Magnificent, Mysterious, Mischievous God

2 Kings 5:1-27

Sermon

David E. Leininger

This is a fun story, one of many in scripture that are good for giggles if we allow ourselves that reverent freedom when we encounter them. Engaging characters, international intrigue, and finally a denouement that is just pure fun. It is one more affirmation that our God is not only magnificent and mysterious but occasionally mischievous as well. The cast. Naaman. His name means charm or pleasantness. Apparently a relatively nice fellow as standards of his day would define nice. A powerful personage too ...

175. The Preposterous Prescription

2 Kings 5:1-27

Sermon

"Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored." (v. 10) Prayer: Dear Lord, when we call on you for help, we have our own idea of the kind of help we want, when it should come, and how it should come. Help us to realize that your answer may be different from ours, and will always be more effective. Amen. While waiting in line at the bank, Earl, a friend I hadn’t seen for some time, told me of a visit he recently had made to a doctor. He said, "I was having some skin problems, and ...

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