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Showing 176 to 200 of 4681 results

176. Marked By The Cross

Romans 6:2-4

Sermon

George Bass

... away. In contrast, the mark of the cross, God’s covenant with us, is invisible and can never be seen with the naked eye. It is quite possible that, in a relatively short time, depending on the type of paint used to “brand” the polar bear, that mark would become invisible; it might simply be worn off. In college, I joined a fraternity in the days when hazing was still in vogue; initiation involved many of the typical pranks done in those days -- taking the “pledges” out into the country, stripping ...

177. The Vine And The Branches

John 15:1-17

Sermon

Jerry L. Schmalemberger

... shade, and blue grapes. In Israel it’s different. The vine is pruned back drastically. That way it has a better chance of maturing and bearing the grapes. Jesus grew up with those vines all around his little village. He knew how you had to cut the wood to get ... sustenance from the vine which is Christ. “I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing (v. 5).” Now just one warning. More drift out of the Christian life of ...

178. Loving

1 Corinthians 13:1-13

Sermon

Larry Powell

... , "Yes, I know that, but isn't it wonderful that God can love an ugly old woman like me?" Retaliation is a regression to the "law of the pack." Jesus inaugurated a new law, the law of love, which does not force one to bear the unbearable, but rather enables one to bear all things. Believes all Things. No starry-eyed dreaming here, but instead, believing in the high and noble because of high expectations. A boy may believe his father knows all things, or a girl may believe her mother is able to do all things ...

179. Pruning Season

Luke 13:1-9

Drama

Pamela Urfer

... it extra fertilizer for a year? I'll prune it, and dig around it to loosen the soil, and then we'll see. If it doesn't bear fruit next year, then you can cut it down. OWNER: That seems reasonable. Fine. One year. The OWNER leaves. The TREE looks very relieved. H.G.: Well, ... . I don't need the pruning. I don't need the fertilizer. I'm a pretty good tree. I've got strong sap. I'll make myself bear fruit. H.G.: You think so? TREE: I know so. I can do it. I don't need anyone or anything. H.G.: You know what will ...

180. Prayer: Our Crosses into Victories

Mark 8:31--9:1

Bulletin Aid

... . He leads our lives in new directions. He turns the defeat of our Good Fridays into the victory of His Easter and Resurrection. The world would bury us with our crosses, but Christ has come to give us life through them. Each of us this moment has crosses that we bear in our souls. And here, the voice of Our Lord calls to us: "Pick up your cross, and follow me. Offer me your cross, and follow me. And I will turn your cross into victory. You may not understand now. You may not know the way I am leading you ...

181. Advent 4

Isaiah 7:1-25, Romans 1:1-17, Matthew 1:18-25, Psalm 24:1-10

Sermon Aid

CSS

... the Fourth Sunday in Advent; in this case, it is the story of Joseph's dream about his pregnant fiancee and the son she soon would bear. This is the first of three dreams in which an angel came to Joseph and gave him a message; this time the angel told him ... not mistake the purpose and will of God in the pregnancy of Mary; the child was "conceived in her of the Holy Spirit; she will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus (which was done, according to Luke 2:21), for he will save his people from their ...

182. A Faith for the Uncharted Way

Matthew 1:18-25

Sermon

Leonard Mann

... Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit; she will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins" (Matthew 1:20-21). Think, my friend, of ... . We know something of what is meant in Amos 5:19 where it is said that it is "as if a man fled from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house and leaned his hand against the wall, and a serpent bit him." Wilder was right; we do indeed walk on a ...

183. In Quest of Fire

2 Chronicles 36:15-23

Sermon

Larry Powell

... come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorns, or figs from thistles? So, every sound tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears evil fruit. A good tree cannot bear evil fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, you will know them by their fruits (Matthew 7:15-20). Suspicion of a prophet’s credentials is justified, but arrogant ...

184. Gambling On God

Acts 1:12-26

Sermon

King Duncan

... President Lincoln asked him to travel to England as a special envoy during the American Civil War; he received honorary degrees from both Oxford and Cambridge; he was an overseas delegate for the American Bible Society. His correspondence from 1830 to 1873 frequently bears English or Italian or East Coast addresses. In fact, Bishop McIlvaine died in 1873 in a hotel in Florence, Italy. He died without his family, at the age of seventy-four, immediately after sending a message to his wife. TELL HER, he wrote ...

185. The Greatness Of John The Baptist

John 1:19-28

Sermon

King Duncan

... Luke says "the Lord's blessing was plainly upon him." Six months after Gabriel had given the joyous news to Zacharias that he would father a son, Gabriel also appeared to a young woman in Nazareth named Mary. Gabriel's message to Mary was that she too would bear a son, but not just any son. He would be the Son of the Most High and his name would be Jesus. Mary was a cousin of Elizabeth. They must have been very close, for Mary spent three months of her pregnancy living with Zacharias and Elizabeth. Indeed ...

186. Will This Be On The Test?

Deuteronomy 6:1-25

Sermon

King Duncan

... half of the verse was appropriate beyond reason. The entire verse of Psalm 91:10 says, "No evil shall befall you ” no scourge come near your tent." The verse had been a comfort and remained true in protecting them from the scourge of the infuriated bear. Protection and comfort are marvelous reasons to learn the scriptures. Another good reason for taking the time to learn all of this is the rewards that will be gained. Prolonged earthly life was the reward in the Scriptures to the people. They would live ...

187. Two Women Of Faith

Luke 1:39-45

Sermon

King Duncan

... And Gabriel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus . . . He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end ... priest and Mary, a teenager engaged to a carpenter--were joined by the bond of an angel's announcement that they each would bear a son. Two women whose sons were destined to usher in a new era in human history. Then we learn something even more ...

188. It Does Matter What You Believe

Acts 4:1-22

Sermon

King Duncan

... a small clearing and put his back to a stump, taking out his knife as he did so. The bear also stopped, about a foot away, with its teeth bared and claws extended. The trapper, though not generally a religious ... you're neutral, you just sit there on that stump, an' you'll see the darndest bear fight you ever saw!" (1) I think that trapper showed a lot of humility by conceding that, in a fight between himself and a bear, the Lord just might have been neutral. That's sort of refreshing. Almost every warrior ...

189. The Jesus Connection

John 15:1-17

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... updating of Jesus’ metaphor of the vine and the branches, and one that rings a bell for those of us to live in a world so much dependent upon the power of electricity to get things done. “Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing,” Jesus said. That word “abide” is one of those Biblical words that we don’t use much in our daily language anymore. However, it is sprinkled throughout the Bible, and most liberally sprinkled throughout the Gospel ...

190. On Claiming One’s Inheritance

Mark 10:17-31

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... Thou hast sent.” (John 17:3) “Eternal Life” is a life lived in the knowledge of God. It is not simply life stretched out forever and forever. For many, that would not be heaven. It would be hell. George Bernard Shaw once said that he could not bear the thought of an eternity of George Bernard Shaw. Crusty old curmudgeon that he was, I can understand that! To say that one will go on living forever is an intolerable idea...especially if one isn’t all that happy living now. That is why the Bible speaks ...

191. Chosen

John 15:1-17

Sermon

David G. Rogne

... us, when we spend time in meditation and ask questions like, "What does God expect of me?" When we do those things, we find that our spirits are sustained and our spiritual lives continue to grow. But we have been chosen, not simply to develop personally, but to bear fruit. That is, our Christian faith should show some results. It is possible for a tree to look good but to be unprofitable. We used to have an apricot tree in our backyard. It was one of the nicest-looking apricot trees you'd ever want to see ...

192. Set Life Free

Matthew 13:1-23

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... becomes a flower when it loves. [Repeat] A flower becomes a fruit when it worships. [Repeat] It's not enough just to flower forth with beauty. The words of the hymn, Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee say it best: Hearts Unfold Like Flowers Before Thee. We're also called to bear fruit. Is an apple tree an apple tree if it doesn't have fruit on it? Isn't its trunk, its branches, its leaves, enough to make it an apple tree? Jesus had an answer to that question: "By your fruits you shall know them." Or in Matthew 21 ...

193. The Dash of Discipleship

Luke 3:1-20

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... had been gifted with many talents, but had sadly not received the gift of years. The dash between his birth date and death date was very short. The gift of years, when it's received, allows us to find new expressions for our mission, new ways to bear fruit as we grow and change. Grandma Moses was discovered and celebrated by the art world when she was in her eighties. But Grandma Moses herself had been expressing beauty in her life ever since she had been a little girl -through sewing and embroidery. It was ...

194. Follow Me!

Matthew 16:21-28

Sermon

James McCormick

... . That’s the first thing – deny yourself. II. The second thing Jesus said about being his disciple is that we must take up our cross. That’s the disturbing thing about the cross – Jesus is not the only one who gets one. As the gospel song asks: “Must Jesus bear the cross alone, and all the world go free? No, there’s a cross for everyone, and there’s a cross for me.” But again, taking up our cross does not mean what many people think it means. All my life I’ve heard people who were ill, or ...

195. Love Them Before You Leave Them

John 19:25-26

Sermon

James Merritt

... to her: "Woman, behold your Son." No mother ever had a son like Mary. No mother ever had a son that loved her like Jesus. Jesus, bearing the weight of the world of sin on his own shoulders; about to become the first and only member of the family of God to ... someone at camp you rub their underwear in poison ivy." Finally, another child said, "I've learned that my best friend is my teddy bear; he never tells my secrets." I'm sure there are a lot of things that Jesus learned as a child, but one of the things ...

196. Turn Right with the Right Turn

Luke 13:1-8

Sermon

James Merritt

... your sin. It means you turn your back on your sin, and you turn your face toward God. There was a crowd of Pharisees and Sadducees who came to John the Baptist and asked John the Baptist to baptize them. But John refused. You know what he said to them? "Bear fruits worthy of repentance." (Matt. 3:8) You see, that is the real test—fruit. That is the test of life. If you have an apple tree in your yard, and you watch that apple tree for a year and that apple tree doesn't ...

197. I Believe That Jesus Suffered Under Pontius Pilate

John 1:29-34

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... of the early church. They affirmed that Jesus really suffered, died and was buried. Indeed, when Jesus was hanging on the cross, bearing the sin of the world, he was temporarily separated from God the Father. So Jesus cried out, “My God, why have you ... had no sin, that person could help us. And if that person were the Son of God, he would be great enough and good enough to bear the sins of the whole world. That person has come. His name is Jesus. In First John we read, "Jesus is the atoning sacrifice for our ...

198. Mary, Did You Know?

Luke 1:26-38

Sermon

King Duncan

... long run of life, this is what being blessed means. How about you? Can you say that right now you are being used by God for a purpose? Be careful whom you call favored by God. Gabriel told Mary that she was favored by God and that she would bear a son. And Mary asked a sensible question: “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?” Good question. Here is how the angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy ...

199. Christ The King

2 Samuel 23:1-7, Revelation 1:4-8, John 18:28-40

Sermon Aid

John R. Brokhoff

... a king to witness to the truth. In our society we struggle to know the meaning of life, the reason for living. Many have nothing to live for, nothing to hope for in the future, no objective, no goal. As followers of Christ, we have a similar divine destiny: to bear witness to the truth of Christ. Outline: You were born to tell the truth – a. The truth of God's nature in Christ revelation. What kind of a God do you show the world? b. The truth of God's work in Christ redemption. What are you doing to share ...

200. I Am the True Vine - Sermon Starter

John 15:1-17

Illustration

Brett Blair

... , gold leaf grapevine. It stood as a symbol of national unity. Israel itself was, in the eyes of its people, the true vine, whose roots ran all the way back to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. In Jesus analogy, he likened himself to a vine, while the fruit bearing branches here are the disciples. God the farmer is depicted as the one who cultivates the vineyard. He waters and tends the soil, so that the vine is properly nourished. He takes pride in his crop. But this means that he also prunes the vines and removes ...

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