Sermon Illustrations on Past, Present And Future

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Creation is an Act of Self-Limitation

Author

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 2:2-3, Exodus 25:8-9, Isaiah 55:8-9, Philippians 2:6-7 , John 1:14 , Psalm 139:16

Every creator, from a child with Play-Doh to Michelangelo, learns that creation involves a kind of self-limiting. You produce something that did not exist before, yes, but only by ruling out other opt...

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Freeing us from our Self-Centeredness

Author

John Stott

Keywords

Salvation

Scripture

Galatians 5:22-23, Luke 19:1-10, Ephesians 2:19-22, Philippians 2:12-13, 2 Corinthians 5:17-18, Romans 5:10, Acts 9:1-19, Acts 2:42-47, 2 Corinthians 5:17-18, Romans 5:10

‘Salvation’ is a wonderfully wide-ranging word and it would be a great mistake to think that it refers only to the forgiveness of our sins. God is as much concerned with our present and future as with...

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“An Old Man with a White Beard”

Author

James Bryan Smith

Keywords

Scripture

John 1:14, John 14:9, Revelation 1:12-16, Philippians 2:5-7, 2 Corinthians 4:4, Hebrews 1:3, Colossians 1:15-16

My friend and colleague Keas Keasler, who teaches a class on spiritual formation, recently asked the class to close their eyes and picture God. After a few moments he had them open their eyes and, if ...

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Jesus Was Present

Author

John Ortberg

Keywords

Jesus

Scripture

John 4:7-26, Mark 10:46-52, Matthew 19:13-15, Luke 19:1-10, Mark 5:21-43, Philippians 2:3-4

A striking dimension of Jesus’ capacity to love was his ability to be totally present with people. In all the Bible, Jesus never says to anyone, “Huh? What did you say? I wasn’t paying attention. I wa...

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Three Perspectives on Work

Author

Source Unknown

Keywords

Scripture

Hebrews 6:10, Matthew 5:16, Proverbs 16:3, Philippians 2:13, Ephesians 2:10, 1 Corinthians 15:58

In 1927 Bruce Barton wrote a multi-faceted parable that is believed to be based on a true story. This story is related to the work of Sir Christopher Wren, whose design of St. Paul’s Cathedral in Lond...

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The Middle Voice

Author

Lauren F. Winner

Keywords

Scripture

Philippians 2:13

One old definition [of the middle voice]… is that the middle is used when a subject is affected by the action of the verb; when the verb somehow transforms, reshapes the subject… It is the middle voic...

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The Cave

Author

William Rowley

Keywords

Scripture

1 Corinthians 12:8-12, John 1:, John 17:18, Philippians 2:6-11, 1 John 1:7, Romans 8:1, Colossians 1:13-14

The Cave One of the most famous passages in Plato's Republic is his "Allegory of the Cave," which is found at the beginning of book seven . Socrates imagines the human condition al...

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Clashing Kingdoms

Author

Eugene Cho

Keywords

Scripture

John 18:36, Matthew 6:9-10, Matthew 6:33, Luke 17:20-21, Matthew 5:3, 10, Philippians 2:9-11

While I don’t agree with late professor and scholar Marcus Borg on significant theological positions, I appreciate how he described the context surrounding Jesus’ new paradigm of kingdom living: In hi...

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St. Matthew’s Passion: Not Theater But Prayer

Author

N. T. Wright

Keywords

Scripture

Philippians 2:8, John 12:32, Isaiah 53:4-6, Luke 23:39-43, Hebrews 12:2

Another example struck me forcibly during the 2014 season of Promenade Concerts in the Albert Hall in London. (The “Proms,” as they are known, make up a major annual festival, offering world-class mus...

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Our Faith

Author

C. S. Lewis

Keywords

Scripture

2 Corinthians 3:18, Galatians 2:20, Romans 8:10, Ephesians 3:16-17, 1 Corinthians 15:49, Ezekiel 36:26, Philippians 2:13, 1 John 4:13, Romans 8:29

Our faith is not a matter of our hearing what Christ said long ago and “trying to carry it out. The real Son of God is at your side. He is beginning to turn you into the same kind of thing as Himself....

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Jesus, The Head and the Heart

Author

Hayley Morgan

Keywords

The Incarnation

Scripture

Hebrews 4:15, Luke 2:52, Matthew 22:37, John 5:19, Philippians 2:5-8, John 17:4, Mark 12:30

Jesus was a whole human who had a head and a heart and a spirit. I forget that Jesus came to this earth, not as a brain in a Mason jar floating in formaldehyde, but as an embodied, incarnate, integral...

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Success through Empathy

Author

Judith Valente

Keywords

Scripture

1 Peter 3:8, Psalm 133:1, Philippians 2:2, Acts 2:1-47

One of the most critically acclaimed fantasy films in recent years was a piece of science fiction called Arrival . It is the story of beings from outer space who arrive on earth, igniting a wildfire ...

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A Glimpse of Eternal Life

Author

The Pastor's Workshop

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 25:35-40, James 1:27, Philippians 2:3-4, John 13:3-5, Micah 6:8, Isaiah 58:6-7, 1 John 3:18

An ancient legend tells of a well-respected rabbi who would vanish from his synagogue for a few hours each Sabbath. His mysterious absences sparked curiosity among his students, who wondered if their ...

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Honoring and Leaving

Author

A. J. Swoboda

Keywords

Scripture

Exodus 20:12, Jeremiah 35:18–19, Proverbs 22:1, Philippians 2:3–4, Matthew 6:1, Psalm 37:5–6

The challenge each of these faced in their deconstruction—and what we may face—is walking the tightrope between becoming our own person and honoring our past. In The Homeless Mind , sociologist P...

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Descent and Resurrection

Author

C. S. Lewis

Keywords

Scripture

Philippians 2:null, 1 Corinthians 15:22, Romans 6:4, John 12:24, Luke 24:5-6, Matthew 20:28

In the Christian story God descends to reascend. He comes down; down from the heights of absolute being into time and space, down into humanity; down further still, if embryologists are right, to reca...

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"Look at Me!"

Author

Max Lucado

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 11:1-9, Proverbs 27:2, Isaiah 2:11-12, Matthew 6:1-4, Philippians 2:3-4, Psalm 115:1

Children have a tendency to say, “Look at me!” On the tricycle: “Look at me go!” On the trampoline: “Look at me bounce!” On the swing set: “Look at me swing!” Such behavior is acceptable for children....

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Both Adams in Me

Author

John Donne

Keywords

Scripture

Colossians 1:13-14, Philippians 2:8, Hebrews 9:14, Genesis 3:19, 1 Corinthians 15:45

In this beautiful poem by the English Divine John Donne, our nature as both redeemed and still sinful is eloquently described: We think that Paradise and Calvary, Christ’s Cross and Adam’s Tree, ...

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Bored Monks on Rainy Afternoons

Author

Michael Reeves

Keywords

The Trinity

Scripture

Philippians 2:11

There is one other problem people can have with the Trinity: that the word never appears in the Bible. Now that doesn’t sound good, and it’s given rise to the legend of the Trinity as the invention of...

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Setting Up a Tent

Author

Nancy Guthrie

Keywords

Scripture

John 1:14, Revelation 21:3, Matthew 1:23, Philippians 2:6-8, Colossians 1:19-20, Ezekiel 37:27, Hebrews 2:14-15

It can be great fun to put up a tent in your backyard to play in or sleep in. Imagine what it would be like for someone else to put up a tent in your backyard and begin living there—right in your back...

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Jesus, the Prodigal Son

Author

Frère Pierre Marie

Keywords

Scripture

Philippians 2:6-8, John 1:10-11, Isaiah 53:3-4, Matthew 11:19, Mark 15:34, Isaiah 53:12, Luke 15:20-24, Revelation 7:13-14

In this excerpt, the French monastic leader Frere Pierre Marie, shares an interpretation of Jesus as the true prodigal son—bringing all of us home with him: He, who is born not from human stock, or ...

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Studying our Parts

Author

Brian Dembowczyk

Keywords

Scripture

Philippians 2:5, Ephesians 5:1-2, 1 Peter 2:21, Colossians 3:16, 1 John 2:6, John 13:15

Imagine you were cast to play the role of legendary baseball player Babe Ruth in a biography of his life. You could simply follow the script, reading out what is written. How much better, though, to s...

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Remembering who we are and whose we are

Author

Mia Levetan

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 8:1, Genesis 19:29, Exodus 2:24, Exodus 6:5, Exodus 13:3, Exodus 32:13, Leviticus 26:42-45, Deuteronomy 4:10, Deuteronomy 8:2, 18, Judges 3:7, Psalm 78:11, 1 Samuel 1:11, 19, Psalm 63:6, Psalm 74:2, Psalm 77:11, Psalm 78:35, 42, Psalm 105:42, Psalm 106:45, Psalm 111:5, Psalm 119:52, 55, Psalm 143:5, Isaiah 44:21, Isaiah 57:11, Jeremiah 14:21, Jeremiah 51:50, Jonah 2:7, Mark 14:72, Matthew 26:75, Luke 22:61, Luke 22:19, Matthew 27:33-55, Mark 15:22-41, Luke 23:33-49, John 19:16-30, 1 Corinthians 1:18, Philippians 2:8, Hebrews 12:2

God remembers Noah. God remembers Abram. God remembers Lot. God remembers the Israelites. The Israelites, in the book of Judges, do not remember God—this was their problem. God remembers Hannah. The P...

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We'd Rather Text than Talk

Author

Bryan C. Loritts

Keywords

Scripture

1 Samuel 18:1-4 , Ruth 1:16-17 , Ecclesiastes 4:9-12, John 15:12-15, Philippians 2:1-4, Psalm 133:1

Our current cultural moment makes rich, life-giving friendships like the one David and Jonathan shared a challenge. We are connected like never before, yet isolated and lonely like never before. MIT p...

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Into the Darkest Hour

Author

Madeleine L'Engle

Keywords

Scripture

Isaiah 9:6-7, Micah 5:2, Luke 2:1-20, John 1:5, Philippians 2:6-7, Luke 2:7, Revelation 3:20

It was a time like this, war and tumult of war, a horror in the air. Hungry yawned the abyss— and yet there came the star and the child most wonderfully there. It was a time like this ...

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Self-Awareness and Empathy

Author

William Ury

Keywords

Scripture

Philippians 2:3-4, 1 Peter 3:8, Colossians 3:12, Romans 14:12

Paradoxically, if we wish to become more aware of others and their concerns, there is perhaps no better work we can do than developing self-awareness. Consider the findings of a team of psychologists ...

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The Little Things

Author

Scott Dudley

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 6:25-34, Galatians 5:1, 1 Peter 5:7, Colossians 3:12-13, Isaiah 40:29, Hebrews 12:1, Philippians 2:4

One time, back when I was doing college ministry, I took a group of students camping. My wife came along with us. I had selected this really, really difficult hike. It was about ten miles long and alm...

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Is it in You?

Author

David Lomas

Keywords

Scripture

John 7:38, Ezekiel 3:26-27, Philippians 2:13, Luke 6:45, 2 Corinthians 13:5

This may be a corny illustration, but I think about the Gatorade commercial where they ask, “Is it in you?” It shows athletes literally sweating Gatorade out of their pores. The point is that since Ga...

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Salt Left in the Shaker?

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 5:null, 1 Peter 2:9, Galatians 5:22-23, James 2:17, Romans 12:1, Mark 4:21, Philippians 2:15

Jesus describes his followers as being “salt” and “light” in the world in Matthew 5. When you think about salt, it doesn’t really have a whole lot of value when it’s just sitting in a salt shaker. Si...

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What We Preach

Author

The Pastor's Workshop

Keywords

Scripture

Revelation 2:4-5, Colossians 1:18, Philippians 2:8-11, Galatians 1:6-9, 1 Corinthians 2:2

A strong church once inscribed these words on an archway leading to the churchyard. Over time, two things happened: the church lost its passion for Jesus and His gospel, and ivy began to grow on the a...

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The Christian Self-Actualization Plan

Author

Ashley Hales

Keywords

Scripture

Galatians 5:13-14, Matthew 16:24-25, Romans 12:4-5, Philippians 2:3-4, Ephesians 2:8-10

In her excellent book on following Jesus in the suburbs, Ashley Hales describes one of the ways in which our discipleship has been influenced by modern secular trends such as the desire for self-actua...

Sermon Illustrations on past, present and future

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