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John 8:48-59

Sermon Aid

John W. Rilling

Which of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? Two elderly Roman colonial officials were reminiscing in their retirement villa about their youthful experiences in the provinces. One of them got to telling about a servant girl they knew who had left the free and easy company of government circles to join up with a group that followed a young revolutionary from up ...

2. HERE O MY LORD, I SEE THEE FACE TO FACE

John 6:1-15

Sermon Aid

John W. Rilling

Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated; so also the fish, as much as they wanted. There is a story that comes from Scotland out of the old, sad days when men killed one another because their faith was divided by bitter loyalties which seemed irreconcilable. On pain of death persecuted sects were forbidden to gather on the Lord’s Day ...

3. IN THE HOUR OF TRIAL

Matthew 4:1-11

Sermon Aid

John W. Rilling

Among the ancient Norse legends one tells of the visit of Thor, the mighty thunder god, to the land of the giants where he found them playing games of skill and strength. Eagerly he accepted their invitation to try his own prowess. His first test was to empty a great two-handed drinking bowl filled with a strange green liquid. But hard as he tried he succeeded in making it recede only a little bit...

4. LIFE! LIFE! ETERNAL LIFE!

1 Corinthians 15:12-34

Sermon Aid

John W. Rilling

But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. In PILGRIM’S PROGRESS, that wonderful tale symbolizing the Christian life, the first man we meet is a man who is "scared to death" because he was scared OF death. The thought of death and judgment became an obsession, so much so that he left his home, his wife and children, who, when they saw what ...

5. Man Is Never Satisfied

1 Corinthians 3:1-9

Illustration

John W. Rilling

The English mystical poet William Blake was also a first rate artist. Once, when asked to sketch a picture of man as he really is, Blake drew a picture of a child standing on the topmost rung of a ladder reaching for the moon and crying impatiently, "I want, I want!" Blake felt that man is a creature of unfulfilled desires. He never is satisfied. "Man never is, but always to be blest." And so lif...

6. RIDE ON! RIDE ON!

Matthew 21:18-22

Sermon Aid

John W. Rilling

"Tell the daughter of Zion, Behold, your king is coming to you, humble and mounted on an ass, and on a colt, the foal of an ass. "Blessed is he that cometh ..." Some of us never knew there was such a thing as English grammar until we had to learn it the hard way by taking first year Latin in high school. Verbs and nouns and pronouns were a mystery to us, although in time we did learn that there w...

7. STRONG SON OF GOD

Luke 11:14-28

Sermon Aid

John W. Rilling

Then goeth he and taketh to him seven other spirits more wicked than himself; and they enter in, and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first. Arthur John Gossip had the Celtic gift of breathing life into words, and dramatizing scripture unforgettably. Never was he more effective than in the word-picture he paints of the haunted house in the gospel for this the third Su...

8. THE JOY OF CHRISTIAN LIVING

Galatians 4:21-31

Sermon Aid

John W. Rilling

Rejoice! There is a beautiful promise in the Bible that they who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint. Saint Paul soars on eagles’ wings in 1 Corinthians 13, he runs very well in Romans 12. But occasionally he plods - and we faint. The author of the second epistle of Peter admits tha...

9. THE KING OF LOVE MY SHEPHERD IS

Matthew 15:21-28

Sermon Aid

John W. Rilling

She said, "Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table." It certainly isn’t right to take food away from hungry children and give it to dogs instead. But it seems so out of character for Jesus to throw these words into a poor, distracted, woman’s face. "He went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the devil." But why then is he so reluctant t...

10. THE LIFE OF UTTER OBEDIENCE

Philippians 2:1-11

Sermon Aid

John W. Rilling

He humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name. Breathes there a man with soul so dead who has not been deeply stirred by the scene recorded in the gospels of that first Palm Sunday? That scene has stirred the imagination of sensitive people in every generation. Poets have tried ...

11. THE RECONCILED LIFE

Hebrews 9:11-28

Sermon Aid

John W. Rilling

When Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come ... he entered once for all into the Holy Place, taking not the blood of goats and calves but his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. Twice a year when the Church, like Mary, ponders the mysteries of the Christian faith in her heart, she turns to the same scripture for texts on which to meditate - the Epistle to the Hebr...

12. THIS IS THE WILL OF GOD, YOUR SANCTIFICATION

1 Thessalonians 4:13--5:11

Sermon Aid

John W. Rilling

Introduction. The English mystical poet William Blake was also a firstrate artist. Once, when asked to sketch a picture of man as he really is, Blake drew a picture of a child standing on the topmost rung of a ladder reaching for the moon and crying impatiently, "I want, I want!" Blake felt that man is a creature of unfulfilled desires. He never is satisfied. "Man never is, but always to be blest...

13. WHEN MORNING GILDS THE EASTER SKIES

Mark 16:1-20

Sermon Aid

John W. Rilling

And very early in the morning, the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the sun. It is the ghostly hour before dawn. The latest wayfarer has long since sought his belated bed; the earliest riser has not yet stirred abroad. The stars, wheeling in their silent courses, look down upon the holy city, "and all that mighty heart is lying still." But wait! Something yonde...

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