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1. In The Kingdom Now
Philippians 3:12-4:1
Sermon
Maxie Dunnam
Twenty years after Israel had been given a homeland in 1948 by a kind of political fiat, there were still some 300,000 refugees in camps, driven from their homes.  Children born in those camps were now 16, 18, 20 years old, and had never known anything but the life of a refugee.  It is a monumental problem.  The Cubans who fled to our country from Castro, the Haitians that have been seeking surviv...
2. One Thing
Philippians 3:12-4:1
Sermon
James Merritt
I believe that every year that God gives us on this earth is to be a year where we are as productive as we can be for His work and as pleasing as we can be for His glory. The longer you live the more you realize just how fleeting these years are and just how important it is to maximize the potential of each year for being what we ought to be and doing what we ought to do. Every year at least half...
3. Standing Tall in the Lord
Philippians 3:17-4:1
Sermon
Richard Gribble
History records the expression, Athanasius contra mundum — Athanasius against the world. These words aptly express the situation in the fourth-century church when heresy almost reigned supreme — save Athanasius, a bishop who was a persistent and staunch defender of the faith. Athanasius was born into a Christian family in Alexandria, Egypt, in 295 A.D. In his early twenties he was ordained and ent...
4. Enemies of the Cross
Philippians 3:17 - 4:1
Sermon
Steven E. Albertin
Whenever I lead an inquiry class for those who want to learn more about my congregation and the faith we confess, I try to keep things very simple and boiled down to the basics. I call it an inquiry class because by exploring their questions I hope to help them to see what is at the heart and core of the Christian faith. What is that heart and core? It is revealed by a shocking answer to a simple...
5. Joy and Crown
Philippians 4:1
Sermon
Leonard Sweet
Life's real "crown of joy" is a life rich and deep in personal relationships. Some banks have recently announced that it will now cost you extra if you want to deal with an actual human being. Convinced that it is cheaper to depend on the speed and efficiency of the unsalaried Automatic Teller Machines (ATMs) outside their lobbies, many banks are now levying on customers an additional service cha...
6. Where Is Your Citizenship?
Philippians 3:12-4:1
Sermon
King Duncan
Mark Twain once categorized people into three groups: commonplace, remarkable, and lunatics. I don't know about you, but I can think of people who belong in all three groups. St. Paul, though, says there are only two kinds of people ” citizens of the world and citizens of heaven. And the contrasts between the two are stark. Here is how St. Paul describes citizens of the world. FIRST OF ALL, HE S...
7. A Vision Vanished
Philippians 3:4-14
Sermon
Larry Lange
Arnold Toivonen was headed to work at 5:06 a.m. Monday morning on a wet highway winding east through the dark pines that came crowding up close to the road from out of the spring fog. Arnold worked at the Caterpillar shop in town, crawling into the iron bellies of enormous Caterpillar tractors, scraping his knuckles on their cold, sharp innards, dropping heavy wrenches on the concrete with that sa...
8. Uses of the Past
Philippians 3:4b-16
Sermon
Mark Trotter
There is a man in New York who has gained notoriety because he refuses to join the 20th century. In a few months he will refuse to join the 21st century. He wears high button shoes, and Prince Albert coats. He has mutton chop sideburns, and a handlebar mustache. He lives in a garret in Greenwich Village. He reads Dickens and Jane Eyre, only 19th century novels, and shuns all the things he can that...
9. Going For the Gold
Philippians 3:4-14
Sermon
David E. Leininger
The apostle Paul must have been a sports junkie. He was always using sports metaphors to make his point. For example, our text: "... I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 3:14). Paul is "going for the gold" in these long-running Olympics that we call the Christian life. Have you ever wished you could be a spiritual giant l...
10. Bragging Rights
Philippians 3:4b-14
Sermon
Jeff Wedge
A mouse was once riding on the back of an elephant, and the pair went across a rickety bridge. As might be expected, the bridge shook and rattled. When the duo had successfully navigated the bridge, the mouse exclaimed, "My, oh my, we certainly made that bridge shake, didn't we?" It is all too common an experience to meet people who sound as if they are somehow related to that mouse. People who b...
11. Greeting and Meeting Jesus
Philippians 3:12-4:1
Sermon
Leonard Sweet
We've all dreamed of someday striking it rich. Come on, you can admit it. Anyone NOT dreamed of somehow, someway someday hitting the big one. It may be secretly buying a lottery ticket every day. It may be having a garage filled with a host of home-made gadgets and inventions that hopefully will be the next big thing. Whatever it may be, the quest for a quick way out of a quicksand world beckons ...
Sermon
King Duncan
Some people will do anything to win. The early days of baseball provide many notable examples. Before stadiums had permanent seats in the outfield, for example, teams were permitted to erect temporary bleachers or simply put up a rope if a large crowd was expected, and any ball hit into that area was ruled a groundrule double. When Ty Cobb was managing the Tigers and a powerhitting team was visiti...
Sermon
Leonard Sweet
Until Roy’s fall one of the longest running, best attended, financially successful Las Vegas shows was Siegfried & Roy. This was a combination magic show/three-ring circus extravaganza performed by master illusionists Siegfried Fischbacher and Roy Horn. Using their trademarks enormous white tigers as companions and cohorts in their performances, Siegfried & Roy awed and amazed crowds with their in...
Sermon
Maxie Dunnam
"Bishop Fitzgerald in his book How to be A Successful Failure tells a fascinating story about a young man (barely twenty years old) who was caught one day "stealing sheep." He was charged and convicted. As a penalty, the villagers decided to make an example out of him. They took a branding iron and branded his forehead with the letters "ST"...meaning of course, "Sheep Thief." The brand was permane...
Sermon
King Duncan
He was one of the greatest soldiers of his time. He lived at a time when his country needed great soldiers! Yet his past so discouraged him that he almost never became the leader that his country needed. Hiram was born to a father who was harsh and cold and would always see him as a failure. His mother was not a source of emotional comfort to him either; he never once saw her moved enough to shed...
Sermon
Leonard Sweet
After World War II the world entered a grey combat zone known as the “Cold War.” The two most powerful nations on earth, the US and the USSR, stood face to face, toe to toe, and seriously considered nuking each other. Thousands of nuclear warheads were armed and aimed by both nations, targeting each other’s homelands, in a strategy known by the acronym MAD: Mutual Assured Destruction. President Tr...
Sermon
Leonard Sweet
Does a fast-food nation get the church it deserves, or demands . . . . a fast-food church? Not if Lent has anything to do with it. Have you noticed that all the big fast food chains are touting their great new fish menus in the past couple of weeks? McDonald’s Fish McBites. Wendy’s Alaskan Pollack sandwiches. Red Lobster’s LobsterFest. Popeye’s Shrimp baskets. Economically it is a “down time.” ...
Sermon
Maxie Dunnam
The price of a vital faith, and there is a price, the price of a vital faith is continuous struggle.  The quest is perennial.  We were created God to grow.  We were recreated by Christ to grow spiritually.  So Paul sets out in this word about pressing toward the goal for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.  The pattern is clear.  So let me lay it out in the fashion of that old bl...
19. I’m Movin’ On
Philippians 3:12-14
Sermon
James Merritt
Believe it or not, in the last several years I have become somewhat of a country music fan, and one of the groups I like is a group called Rascal Flatts. They came out with a song that both haunts me every time I hear it, and yet also brings me a sense of comfort. I want you to listen to just the first verse: Listen to the words one more time: I've dealt with my ghost, and faced all my demons; F...
20. The Devil's Sermon
Philippians 3:17-4:1
Sermon
Leonard Sweet
When all about us is change, there are still some things that remain the same. In Indiana, a frustrated taxpayer recently noticed the following sign on a bureaucrat's desk in the county office building: "We Don't Make Change." We sure don't. We resist change or making changes, and the more set our routines of life become, the more we don't make change. I am finding in my own life, as I get older...
Sermon
Maxie Dunnam
I am intrigued by bumper stickers. Someone was smart. Since modern Americans spend so much of their time in cars, why not turn the bumper into a kind of chrome or, alas with modern cars, plastic bulletin boards. Thousands would get the messages as they come near the car in front of them. It was a brilliant idea. Religious folks have not missed this communication opportunity. So you have the tradi...
22. Digging Deeper
Philippians 3:12-16
Sermon
Billy D. Strayhorn
Three students were discussing various versions of the Bible. One said, "I like the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible. It is easier to read than the older versions." A second student said, "I like the Message. It's easy to read and it's pithy and to the point. I can use it in my daily prayer." The third student surprised them all and said, "I like my mother's version the best. She translat...
Sermon
J. Howard Olds
The year was 1846. Abraham Lincoln was running for a seat in the U.S. Congress. His opponent was a Methodist Circuit Rider by the name of Peter Cartwright. One night, Lincoln went to hear Cartwright preach. As the fiery Cartwright came to the conclusion of his sermon he said to the congregation, “Everybody here who wants to go to heaven, stand up.” The whole crowd stood up except Lincoln. Cartwrig...
Sermon
James Merritt
Contrary to what you might think, "Out with the old in with the new" is not the title of an Elizabeth Taylor Seminar on marriage. But it is the title of my message as we leave an old year and enter a new year. I was interested to learn that the month of January is named after the Roman god Janus, who was a god that had two faces. One face looked back to the old year; the other face looked forward...
25. Don’t Stop Thinking About Tomorrow
Proverbs 16:1, 9, Philippians 3:12-15
Sermon
James Merritt
Some years ago, Newsweek magazine reported a fortune tellers' convention in Dublin, Ireland. Palm readers, crystal ball gazers and astrologers from all over the world gathered for a week to compare notes, learn techniques, and make new predictions. While they were all together in one of the convention meetings, a thief broke into their hotel rooms and stole all of their crystal balls and tarot car...
Showing 1 to 25 of 37 results