Sermon and Worship Resources

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James 1:19-27

Sermon

Harold Warlick

... in every age that gave their lives over to an image of themselves far beyond any they had ever known. And from that day forward, they never forgot what they looked like in the eyes of God. Saint Ignatius of Loyola did not begin his life as a religious person. To the contrary, he was caught up in images of medieval chivalry. His fantasies were those of gallantry and kingly romance. He became a professional soldier, good at gambling, fighting, and having affairs with women. While defending a fortress ...

2. Thanksgiving Means Giving

1 Thessalonians 3:6-13

Sermon

Richard Gribble

... is essential. Paul is asking the Thessalonians to be present to each other and thereby demonstrate thanksgiving. The same is true for us. A second aspect of Saint Paul’s concept of thanksgiving is mutual love. He writes, “May the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, just ... begin by being thankful. Our attitude can be so simply and succinctly stated, as articulated by Saint Ignatius of Loyola, “May all we do and say give greater glory and honor to God.” Amen.

3. Love Over Logic

Luke 13:1-9

Sermon

Carl Jech

... the grace of God which is with me." We would also do well to make a motto out of a line from Saint Ignatius Loyola, the founder of the Jesuit Order. He expressed this same profound paradox when he wrote: "Work hard and struggle as if ... us beyond the simple logic of earning reward and punishment to an awareness of the ultimate triumph of love and grace. He was struggling, as Saint Paul does in Romans 4, to re-interpret and/or develop our understanding of what grace and faith really mean. This is a part of ...

4. Work Hard and Trust in God

Luke 13:1-9

Illustration

Carl Jech

Another great way to describe the Christian attitude toward "good works," toward moral and spiritual effort, is to remember the words of Saint Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:10: "I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God which is with me." We would also do well to make a motto out of a line from Saint Ignatius Loyola, the founder of the Jesuit Order. He expressed this same profound paradox when he wrote: "Work hard and struggle as if everything depended on you; yet pray and ...

5. Jesus at Home

Mark 2:1-12

Sermon

Robert J. Elder

... and change us, to make us disciples who are the next generation of stretcher-bearers, carrying those who need forgiveness into the presence of the Lord, on a stretcher through the roof if need be. Persistent disciples are called to be like that. Saint Ignatius, an ancient theologian of the church, once wrote, "In everyday life ... we must hold ourselves in balance before all created gifts ... We should not fix our desires on health or sickness, wealth or poverty, success or failure, a long life or a short ...

6. Faithfulness In These Days

Romans 10:8b-13

Sermon

Bonnie Bates

... world in our everyday lives, we may not always feel Jesus with us ― and yet he is there. I want to recount a story from my own life. In my seminary days, I participated in a spiritual group working through the spiritual exercises of Saint Ignatius. Originally designed as a thirty-day retreat for those determining a call to the religious life, the nineteenth annotation was developed for a weekly experience. Thus, each day of the original program was studied as a week. The first seven weeks were focused on ...

7. We Live in Hope

1 Corinthians 15:19-26

Sermon

Bonnie Bates

... that the living Christ is present. I have seen and experienced his presence, heard his voice, and felt his touch. Some of you may remember when I shared the story of encountering Jesus while being guided through a meditation, as a part of the spiritual exercises of Saint Ignatius. As I was walking into the dark, dank basement I was using as a symbol for my sinfulness, I saw a light and as the light came closer a figure became clearer. I know, without a doubt in my being, that this was Jesus reaching out to ...

8. Onesimus

Isaiah 43:1-13

Sermon

Warren Thomas Smith

... letter and with it, Onesimus. In time Paul died. More years passed. It is now well into the second century A.D., and persecution of Christians is reaching its height. Multitudes are put to torture and slow death. Ignatius, saintly bishop of Antioch was being taken to Rome to suffer martyrdom. The guard stopped on the long trip for a few day’s rest at Ephesus. Ignatius was shut up in prison to await the ship which would take him to the City of the Caesars - and death. Our scene is a dungeon, dark and musty ...

9. Robert Paul, You Were Right!

Daniel 7:1-14, Daniel 7:15-28

Sermon

Richard Hasler

... Carey, Mary Slessor and David Livingstone; Puritans -- Thomas Hooker, John Cotton and Thomas Shepard; Reformers -- Martin Luther, John Calvin, Thomas Cranmer and Menno Simons; Medieval saints -- Thomas Aquinas and Francis of Assisi; Church fathers -- Ignatius, Irenaeus and Augustine; Jesus, the Twelve and Paul; Daniel, the Prophets, Moses and Abraham and Sarah. These people are our saints, too. They steer us to the faithfulness of God. They lead us away from our own little world and fix our attention on the ...

10. All This and Heaven Too

Luke 18:18-30

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... —we seek to consciously worship “amidst a great fluttering of wings, with the whole host of Heaven crowding the air above our heads. Matthew is there, and Thomas, Barnabas and the Virgin Mary. Teresa is there along with Ignatius…call their names and here them answer “Present.” On All Saints Day, they belong to us and us to them. And as their ranks swell so does the possibilities that open up in our own lives.” (Barbara Brown Taylor, “A Great Cloud of Witnesses, Weavings, September/October 1988 ...

11. Philemon 1-21

Philemon 1-21

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... mission. Then, using linguistic similarities between Paul's letter to Philemon and early church martyr Ignatius' letter to the Ephesians, Knox postulated that Ignatius was revealing that the current bishop of Ephesus, whose name was also Onesimus, was the ... and heartfelt. He remembers him in his prayers, thanks God for him and testifies to Philemon's ongoing love and faith for "the saints" and the Lord Jesus. Verse 6 is more than a bit difficult to decipher. Paul's term koinonia pisteos can be interpreted ...

12. Advice About Widows, Elders and Slaves

1 Timothy 5:1-6:2

Understanding Series

Gordon D. Fee

... other Christians (Rom. 12:13), she must also have a reputation for practicing hospitality. (3) A woman who has washed the feet of the saints (cf. 1 Sam. 25:41). As in John 13:17, it is not clear whether footwashing is intended literally or figuratively. Part of the ... on what is not certain—that an “order of widows” ministered in the church. Kelly (p. 112) argues from statements in Ignatius (Smyrnaeans 13.1; Polycarp 4.1), Polycarp (Philippians 4.3), and Tertullian (On the Veiling of Virgins 9) that a ...

13. Imitating Christ's Humility

Philippians 2:1-11

Understanding Series

F. F. Bruce

... doth most sweetly sing Sings in the night, when all things rest. In lark and nightingale we see What honor hath humility. The saint, that wears heaven’s brightest crown, In lowliest adoration bends; The weight of glory bends him down Then most, when most his ... of universality of homage to God.” There is a notable parallel (which may indeed be dependent on the present passage) in Ignatius, To the Trallians 9:1, where it is affirmed in a credal sequence that Jesus Christ “was truly crucified and died, in ...

14. Pressing on Toward the Goal

Philippians 3:12-4:1

Understanding Series

F. F. Bruce

... in Christ he had been “justified through faith” (Rom. 5:1, etc.; cf. v. 9 above). It resembles rather the Ignatian use: Ignatius, speaking of the hardships endured by him on his way to Rome, says, “I am not hereby justified” (dedikaiōmai), implying ... with thine earliest dawn thou shouldst begin it Scarce were it ended in thy setting sun. (F. W. H. Myers, “Saint Paul”) But more positively, the Christ-centered ambition expressed by Paul should characterize every mature believer. No doubt Paul’s ...

15. A Week of Prayer for Christian Unity

Acts 9:1-19a

Sermon

George Bass

... of martyrs" and for themselves. When the Christian community prayed in the name of Christ at the oratory/catacomb of St. Sebastian, while Saints Peter and Paul were at rest within, the people prayed in the unity of the holy catholic Church. They didn’t have to ... the churches of this split. For example, it was suggested that the bas relief that is a background to the tomb of Ignatius Loyola in the Church of Ii Jesu should be replaced; it depicts Loyola in his pulpit, preaching and pointing to some people ...

16. Finding Unity through Christ

Sermon

Richard Gribble

... against the Christian community. The early church tradition is filled with heroic stories of martyrs, like Ignatius of Antioch, Felicitas, and Perpetua. History tells us of infamous persecutions under Nero, Diocletian, and other Roman ... the created world, human relationships, and countless movements over history that have sought to effect change, growth, or revolution in our world. Saint Paul understood the need for unity and preached the same, but he was only following the lead of his Lord and Savior ...

17. Unwrapping Presents ... and People

Sermon

James Bjorge

... We are decontaminated. Often people have a difficult time accepting this gift of God. It is at this point that the communion of saints, the people of God, must reassure each other of this fact by word and action. There needs to be a person-to- ... that separates life from life. And we can really live with gusto if we are not afraid to die. Three young monks, one of them Ignatius Loyola, were playing croquet on the monastery lawn. One asked, "If the world were coming to an end in two hours, what would you do?" ...

18. A Faithful Follower I Would Be

Luke 14:25-35

Sermon

Timothy J. Smith

... difficulties they faced. Being a modern day disciple of Jesus Christ still may cause hard feelings within families. Anne Tyler, in her novel SAINT MAYBE, tells the story of a nineteen-year-old man named Ian. Ian feels guilty about his brother's death and feels some ... Onesimus and eventually sent him back to Paul. Have you ever wondered what happened to Onesimus? In the first century before Ignatius of Antioch was executed, Paul wrote several letters to churches in Asia Minor. One of these letters was to the ...

19. The Divine Deal ...

Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16

Sermon

Ken Lentz

... the promised land himself! When we find him, we find the milk and honey, the peace and the fulfillment to which God calls us. Ignatius, another early church father, said "Apart from Jesus we have not true life." The promise to Abraham was that he was to be the ... of those who present the child at infancy, or the faith of those who profess their faith before their adult baptism. Saint Paul links our baptismal faith to the faith of Abraham. "Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness" ( ...

20. A Place At the Table

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... thing we have in Christ. Your love has given me great joy and encouragement, because you, brother, have refreshed the hearts of the saints. — Philemon 1-7 Yes, flattery will get you everywhere. The hook had been baited. Now to the heart of the matter. Paul was ... place and it was one for all and all for one. Did Paul's request of Philemon work? Move forward about fifty years. Ignatius, one of the early Christian martyrs, was being taken to execution from Antioch to Rome. As he went, he wrote letters to the ...

21. The Sin and Doom of Godless Men

Jude 1:1-16

Understanding Series

Norman Hillyer

... the body of Christian truth. This body of belief, Jude says, was once for all entrusted (paradidōmai, to commit, hand over) to the saints, to the people of God as a whole, not just to apostles or to later leaders. The faith is not something we discover for ... frequently caused trouble in the early church (Matt. 7:15; 2 Cor. 10–11; 1 John 4:1; 2 John 10; Didache 11–12; Ignatius, To the Ephesians 9:1). A similar passage found among the Dead Sea Scrolls (1QS 4.9–14) rebukes the “spirits of iniquity” in ...

22. Reformation Sunday

Jeremiah 32:1-44, Romans 3:21-31, John 8:31-41

Sermon Aid

... visit a Roman cemetery, if I wanted to find out what Roman Catholics believe about the resurrection of Jesus Christ (see the All Saints' Day sermon in this work); and, visit the Church of iI Jesu, the principal church of the Jesuit order in Rome. I ... t know exactly what it was he wanted me to see at il Jesu. Taken there by another professor, I saw the tomb of Ignatius Loyola with its bas relief depiction of Loyola in the pulpit pointing at a group of people. The caption read, "Loyola condemning Luther, Calvin ...

23. Man, Give Me Some Bread: I Want To See God

John 6:25-59

Sermon

King Duncan

... weary of waiting and married somebody else. The man never got over it. Having missed his heart's treasure, nobody else would do. Saint Augustine tells us that something like that happened to him and God. He writes in his Confessions: "God was inside me. But I ... . Wye Huxford, "Jerusalem's Grady," PREACHING July/August 1999, p.36. 4. Peter Kreeft, HEAVEN: THE HEART'S DEEPEST LONGING (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1980), p. 49. 5. James C Brown, M.D.in A 5TH PORTION OF CHICKEN SOUP FOR THE SOUL, Copyright 1998 ...

24. Dark Ugly Clouds

Isaiah 50:4-9a

Sermon

Bill Mosley

... Julius Caesar whose death on March 15 is celebrated in a Shakespeare play. Or the 6,000 Roman slaves who died on crosses seventy years before Jesus was born when the rebellion of Spartacus failed. Or any number of saints in the church’s history from Polycarp and Ignatius to Bonhoeffer and Niemoller. But there is a difference between “having something to die for” and dying for the world in obedience — giving up the privilege of living for God’s purpose. Isaiah, or his successor, has four servant ...

25. Discipline and Means of Grace

Romans 12:1-8

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... classic. It is not a coincidence that so many of the ancients have written about it. Consider just these examples: Ignatius Loyola: “We do not for our part wish for health rather than sickness, for wealth rather than poverty, for honor rather ... progress, even if they result in considerations and communications as lofty as those of the angels.” I quote all of these saints in length to purposefully overwhelm you with the surrendered heart of those who have already walked the Christian journey. They went ...

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