Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 1 to 16 of 16 results

Drama

Thomas A. Renquist

... statement of the church’s belief that our God is not a distant God, but that God took on human flesh and became one of us. It is a reminder to us that God is near, that God’s creation is good, that our humanity has value and worth. Athanasius is also a model and example of faithfulness for us. He was determined that the Arian heresy would not triumph. And, in fact, he was willing to endure exile and suffering to see that it would not prevail. These words from the Second Letter to Timothy could very well ...

2. Standing Tall in the Lord

Philippians 3:17-4:1

Sermon

Richard Gribble

... Alexandria. He accompanied the bishop to the first ecumenical council of the church at Nicaea in 325 when, among other matters, the heresy of Arianism, which promoted the idea that Jesus was not God, was first condemned. In 326, Alexander died and two years later Athanasius was selected to be the new bishop of Alexandria. It was at this time that his career as a persistent defender of the faith began. His first opponent was Melitius, a fellow bishop, who believed that it was wrong for the church to welcome ...

3. Athanasian Creed

Illustration

Brett Blair

... congregations to use because of the creed's intricate and complex terms. Though the creed carries the name of Athanasius, he did not write it. It was the product of the church of his time. The creed was named after him to honor him for his brave ... and forceful defense of the Trinity. Athanasius (289-373) was a bishop in Alexandria, Egypt. The creed deals primarily with the Trinity and Jesus as the Son of God. At this ...

4. When the World Is Against You

Illustration

Staff

Athanasius, early bishop of Alexandria, stoutly opposed the teachings of Arius, who declared that Christ was not the eternal Son of God, but a subordinate being. Hounded through five exiles, he was finally summoned before emperor Theodosius, who demanded he cease his opposition to Arius. The emperor reproved him and asked, "Do you not realize that all the world is against you?" Athanasius quickly answered, "Then I am against the world."

5. Understanding The Holy Trinity

John 16:5-16

Sermon Aid

John R. Brokhoff

... the world and an unknowable God. Therefore, Jesus was not God, nor was he the Spirit. If Jesus were only a creature of God and not God, he could not reveal God nor redeem the world. Then the worship of Jesus as a creature would be idolatry. Athanasius, a bishop for 47 years in Alexandria, defended the concept of God as Trinity and is largely responsible for the defeat of Arius' views. A Council of 150 Eastern bishops condemned Arianism at Constantinople in 381. Since this was a Council of the East only, the ...

6. The Only Fact That Really Matters

1 Corinthians 15:12-34

Sermon

Raymond Gibson

... illiterate and sometimes cowardly men until they were confronted by the fact of the risen Jesus - and then they became the nucleus of the mightiest force for good the world has ever seen. I say "the communion of the saints," and I think of Polycarp and Athanasius and Augustine and Benedict. I say "the communion of the saints," and I think of Martin Luther and John Calvin and John Wesley and William Booth. I say "the communion of the saints," and I think of Dwight Moody and Tom Dooley and John XXIII and ...

7. Onesimus

Isaiah 43:1-13

Sermon

Warren Thomas Smith

... letter by another aged apostle - the last he ever wrote. Dated February 24, 1791, it is addressed to William Wilberforce, the champion in Parliament in the battle against the slave trade: Dear Sir, Unless the divine power has raised you up to be as Athanasius contra mundum, I see not how you can go through your glorious enterprise in opposing that execrable villany, which is the scandal of religion, of England, and of human nature. Unless God has raised you up for this very thing, you will be worn out ...

8. Called to Be Saints

Matthew 5:1-12

Sermon

Warren Thomas Smith

... them as examples and for inspiration. We need Mary the mother of Jesus; Simon Peter and John Mark; Aquila and Priscilla; Phoebe and Lydia; Barnabas and Timothy. We could not get along without them. We must also have Thecla and Perpetua; Athanasius and Ambrose; Benedict and Thomas Aquinas; Theresa of Avila and Katherine Zell; Ulrich Zwingli and John Calvin; Ann Hutchinson and Madam Guyon. Harry Hosier’s Story One of the remarkable personalities in American church history is Harry Hosier, better known as ...

9. Christmas and the Condensed Bible

John 1:1-18

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... never made it into our Bibles. Church Councils met during the early centuries to sort out these writings and determine which ones merited inclusion and which ought to be left out. The Bible which we now have is pretty much the one which Bishop Athanasius of Alexandria set forth for his congregation in a pastoral letter in the year 326 A.D. And then, within the Bible itself, there are some amazing condensations. The prophet Micah, reviewing the whole message of Judaism, all of its teachings and rituals, all ...

10. The Lord's Prayer: A Surplus of Meaning

Matthew 6:5-15

Sermon

Eric Ritz

... usage by Christian believers. I have learned anew that: The Words are trustworthy. The Words are true. The Words are Jesus. They came from His lips to Our Soul. They have "a surplus of meaning." They are something we can hold on to. Athanasius, the well-known Bishop of Alexandria, shared these words which I close with today on the power of The Lord''s Prayer and prayer in general: "They have conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, received promises, stopped the mouth of a lion, quenched raging fires, produced ...

11. Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31

Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... notion that prior to the formation of the natural world, the LORD was lacking in wisdom and so created it to be an agential factor in creation. Arius, in the fourth-century, understandably found in this passage considerable ammunition against Athanasius in the heated discussions concerning the generation of the second person of the Trinity (see Robert C. Gregg and Dennis E. Groh, Early Arianism: A View of Salvation [Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1981]). Nevertheless, the context here supports the sense of ...

12. Wisdom’s Final Appeals

Proverbs 8:1-36

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... given birth” in 8:24–25), without implying the involvement of any divine sexual partner. The interpretation of the verb qanah has played a significant role in christological discussions, since many early Christian interpreters, including Tertullian, Origen, and Athanasius, identified “wisdom” in Proverbs 8 with Jesus, on the basis of texts like Colossians 1:15 and 2:3. Ironically, some contemporary interpreters find instead in Proverbs 8 support for an ancient Israelite goddess! It is best simply ...

13. The Hymn to Christ

Colossians 1:15-23

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... function for Christ. He is the firstborn—not only in terms of rank but also in a temporal sense, as indicated in 1:18 (“the firstborn from among the dead”). Paul does not mean that Christ is the first created being—in response to Arius, Athanasius writes, “But if all the creatures were created in him, he is other than the creatures, and is not a creature, but the Creator of the creatures” (Orations against the Arians 2.62)—but rather that Christ is the exalted preexistent one who was with God ...

14. Death Through Adam, Life Through Christ

Romans 5:12-21

Understanding Series

James R. Edwards

... his autobiography, Grace Abounding. However prevalent, nay rampant, sin may be, grace is more rampant yet, says Paul. Grace outweighs sin, indeed overwhelms it. After Bethlehem, evil can never again tip the scales in its favor! In his meditation, On the Incarnation, Athanasius celebrates the power of redemption in Christ that outstrips the power of destruction in sin—no small hope in a world such as ours where the specter of nuclear holocaust can reduce the earth to vapor and ash, or where injustice and ...

15. Secret Savior

Matthew 6:5-15, Matthew 6:16-18

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... Scrolls, that the gospels were originally written in Hebrew, particularly Matthew’s. This is attested to also by Jerome, Irenaeus, and Papias in documents they left for us. The gospel was said to have been kept in the Library at Caesarea but subsequently burnt by Athanasius I in 367 CE, leaving only the later Greek versions. The Hebrew version follows: At that time Yeshuwa said to his disciples: “When you pray do not raise your voice and do not be like the profane idol worshippers who love to pray in ...

Athanasius

The Son of God became man so that we might become God [or more precisely: deified].

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