Sermon Resources on Unemployment

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God of grace, love, and hope: Your

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Scripture

Ephesians 2:8-9, Romans 5:3-5, 2 Corinthians 1:3-4, Micah 6:8, Philippians 1:6, Luke 15:11-32

God of grace, love, and hope: Your grace comes when we least expect and don’t deserve it. Your love comes when we can’t comprehend why but we need it the most. Your hope comes at just the right time t...

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Author

Alia Joy

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Scripture

Luke 19:1-10, Ephesians 2:4-5, Mark 5:25-34, Psalm 34:18, Romans 5:6

There is a helplessness in poverty that precedes the move of God in our lives because we understand an aspect of grace that so many miss: we do nothing to earn it. When we understand this, all becomes...

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Benediction to Persevering Labor

Author

Drew Edward Jackson

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Scripture

Psalm 127:1, 1 Corinthians 3:6-7, Ephesians 2:10, Galatians 6:9, 1 Corinthians 15:58

May God bless you with the ability to recognize that the world is not yours to save. May the Spirit awaken you to the beautiful truth that you have a part to play. May your eyes see resurrection in ...

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Unhooked & Unattached Christians

Author

The Pastor's Workshop

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Scripture

Hosea 11:1-4, Micah 7:18-20, Luke 15:11-32, Ephesians 2:19-22, Psalm 19:22

While visiting a city in South America, the British Anglican pastor John Stott learned about a group of young Christian students who had become disillusioned with organized religion and formal churche...

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Maria Goff and Insecurity

Author

Maria Goff

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Scripture

Ephesians 2:10, Zephaniah 3:17, 2 Corinthians 12:9, Galatians 1:10, Isaiah 43:1

Insecurity is a funny thing. It makes us into someone we’re not as a way to cope with someone we used to be. For me, it started at home. Growing up, my dad had been critical of my mother’s weight, and...

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Cultivating Blessing Through Our Work

Author

Tom Nelson

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Scripture

Genesis 2:15, Jeremiah 29:4–7, Proverbs 11:24–25, Matthew 5:13–16 , Ephesians 2:10, Psalm 90:17

Looking through the lens of Holy Scripture, human work must be seen first and foremost as value contribution, not economic compensation. We can have a flourishing, fruitful life even if we don’t get a...

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You Can Be Just About Anything You Want

Author

Kevin DeYoung

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Scripture

1 Corinthians 10:31, Proverbs 6:6-11, Proverbs 26:13-16, Genesis 2:15, 1 Thessalonians 4:11-12, Romans 12:6-8, Ephesians 2:10

Don’t over-spiritualize. You can serve the Lord in a thousand different jobs. We need missionaries and we need pastors. But we also need entrepreneurs who create jobs so people can make money so they ...

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Author

Darth Vader

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Scripture

1 Peter 1:8-9, Ephesians 2:8, 2 Corinthians 5:7, Romans 10:17, Mark 9:23, Matthew 17:20, James 1:6

I find your lack of faith—disturbing.

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The Two House-Hunters from Quadora

Author

Jerry Bridges

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Scripture

Romans 3:24, Colossians 2:13-14, Isaiah 64:6, Ephesians 2:8-9, Luke 15:11-32, Matthew 20:1-16

Sam and Pam, two friends, both arrived in the United States as immigrants from the country of Quadora. Each one wanted to buy a house, and it so happened they each found one for sale by a certain weal...

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Where Are You Calling From?

Author

Randy Frazee

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Scripture

Ephesians 2:1, Colossians 2:13, Romans 6:11, John 5:24, Galatians 2:20, Ezekiel 37:

A businessman, while away on vacation, was reading his hometown newspaper. He was stunned to come across his own obituary. Shocked and angered, he immediately called the editor on the telephone. I’m c...

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Goodwill or God’s Will?

Author

Henri J. M. Nouwen

Keywords

God's Will

Scripture

1 Corinthians 12:4-7, Isaiah 6:8, Romans 12:6-8, Ephesians 2:10, Proverbs 3:5-6, Jeremiah 29:11

A lesson often learned the hard way in each of our spiritual journeys is mistaking goodwill for vocation. Sometimes we feel deeply about an experience we have, whether it be on a mission trip or even ...

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Tolkien on Happy Endings

Author

J. R. R. Tolkein

Keywords

Scripture

Titus 3:4-5, Ephesians 2:8, Luke 15:11-32, 1 Corinthians 2:9, Psalm 30:5, Ruth 4:13-17

J. R. R. Tolkien coined the term "eucatastrophe" to refer to the unexpected happy ending at the end of a fairy tale, achieved by grace rather than effort. The consolation of fairy-stories,...

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Meriting our Salvation

Author

Jen Pollock Michel

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Scripture

Romans 6:23, Philippians 3:9, Titus 3:5, Galatians 2:16, Isaiah 64:6, Romans 6:23, Ephesians 2:8-9

At the core of every project of self-salvation is the staunch unwillingness to believe that God’s love and forgiveness can be unmerited. Those who would try and save themselves prefer work to rest, ef...

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The Three Lies

Author

Jennie Allen

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Scripture

Numbers 13:25-33, Romans 8:38-39, Matthew 10:29-31, 2 Corinthians 12:9, Genesis 1:27, Luke 10:6-7, Ephesians 2:10

My friend Christina, a licensed therapist, tells me that Psychiatry 101 teaches therapists that when you and I choose to believe a lie about ourselves, it’s one of these three lies we believe: I’m he...

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Every Self-Salvation Project

Author

Jen Pollock Michel

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 4:3-7 , Exodus 16:14-20, Psalm 103:10-12 , Ephesians 2:8-9 , Romans 6:23

At the core of every project of self-salvation is the staunch unwillingness to believe that God’s love and forgiveness can be unmerited. Those who would try and save themselves prefer work to rest, ef...

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Author

A. W. Tozer

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 17:20, Matthew 19:20, Mark 10:27, Luke 1:37, Luke 18:27, Colossians 3:23-24, 1 Corinthians 15:58, Ephesians 2:10, Philippians 4:13, Philippians 2:13

God is looking for people through whom He can do the impossible. What a pity that we plan only the things we can do by ourselves.

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Author

Woodrow Kroll

Keywords

Mercy

Scripture

Romans 3:23-24, Ephesians 2:4-5, Titus 3:5, Luke 18:13-14, James 2:13, Micah 7:18

Justice is for those who deserve it; mercy is for those who don't.

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Total Depravity Explained: Humanity's Devolution

Author

T.C. Hammond

Keywords

Scripture

Isaiah 64:6, Romans 3:9-18, Hebrews 11:6, Matthew 19:25-26, Ephesians 2:5

Some skeptics today speak about “evolving” from a primitive condition, but the Bible (Romans 1:18-32) sadly portrays a descent rather than an ascent. The result has been given the theological term “...

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The Unmerited Gift of Grace

Author

Randy Alcorn

Keywords

Scripture

Romans 5:6, Luke 23:39-43, Titus 3:5, Ephesians 2:8-9, Romans 5:6-8

If you’re not stunned by the thought of grace, then you aren’t grasping what grace offers you, or what it cost Jesus. In 1987, eighteen-month-old “Baby Jessica” fell twenty-two feet into a Texas well....

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God of our hearts, we come to You

Author

Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church

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Scripture

Luke 19:10, Ephesians 2:1-5, Ephesians 2:8-9, Isaiah 53:6, 1 John 1:9, Proverbs 3:5-6

God of our hearts, we come to You admitting that we are lost. In our lives of chaos, we have lost our peace. In our selfishness, we have lost our ability to care for others. In our self-reliance, we h...

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The Deepwater Horizon Crisis and Our Need for a Savior

Author

Ryan Bundrick

Scripture

Romans 3:21-31, 1 John 1:7, Philippians 1:6, Ephesians 2:8-9, Colossians 2:13-14

In 2010, an oil rig named “Deepwater Horizon” suffered a catastrophic failure. Due to improper installation of the cement seal, a malfunctioning blowout preventer, and cost-cutting decisions by corpor...

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A Millwright or Poet?

Author

Max De Pree

Keywords

Calling

Scripture

Ephesians 2:10, Genesis 1:27, Job 12:7-10, Psalm 45:1, Proverbs 25:11, Proverbs 22:29

In the furniture industry of the 1920s, the machines of most factories were not run by electric motors but by pulleys from a central drive shaft. The millwright was the person on whom the entire activ...

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Two Different Ways of Looking at the Same Job

Author

Source Unknown

Keywords

Scripture

1 Corinthians 15:58, Matthew 5:16, Psalm 90:17, Ephesians 2:10, Proverbs 16:3

The noted English architect Sir Christopher Wren was supervising the construction of a magnificent cathedral in London. A journalist thought it would be interesting to interview some of the workers, s...

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Two Ways to Reject Jesus as Savior

Author

Timothy Keller

Keywords

Scripture

Hebrews 4:16, Luke 18:9-14, James 4:6, 1 John 4:10, Ephesians 2:8-9, Romans 3:23-24

…there are two ways to fail to let Jesus be your Savior. One is by being too proud, having a superiority complex—not to accept his challenge [to accept what the gospel says about our unworthiness]. Bu...

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Author

C. S. Lewis

Keywords

Scripture

Romans 3:23-24, Mark 10:17-22, Ephesians 2:8-9, Isaiah 64:6, Revelation 3:15-16, Matthew 7:21-23

A world of nice people, content in their own niceness, looking no further, turned away from God, would be just as desperately in need of salvation as a miserable world-and might be even more difficult...

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A View from Eternity on the Cross

Author

Jonathan Edwards

Keywords

Scripture

Ephesians 2:4-5, Hebrews 2:14-15, 1 Peter 2:24, Philippians 2:6-8, Isaiah 53:5, John 3:16-17, 1 John 4:9-10

Why should I, who have been living from all eternity in the enjoyment of the Father’s love, go to cast myself into such a furnace for them that never can requite me for it? Why should I yield myself t...

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Author

Handley Moule

Keywords

Scripture

Ephesians 2:8-9, Romans 6:23, 1 John 1:8-9, Romans 5:8, James 2:10, Isaiah 64:6, Romans 3:23

The harlot, the liar, the murderer, are short of it [sc. God’s glory]; but so are you. Perhaps they stand at the bottom of a mine, and you on the crest of an Alp; but you are as little able to touch t...

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Author

C.H. Lenski

Keywords

Scripture

Titus 3:4-5, Luke 23:39-43, 2 Corinthians 9:8, Romans 6:23, Matthew 20:1-16, Ephesians 2:8-9

The generosity and the magnanimity of God are so great that he accepts nothing from us without rewarding it beyond all computation. . . The vast disproportion existing between our work and God’s rewar...

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Author

A.W. Pink

Keywords

Scripture

2 Corinthians 12:9, Luke 15:11-32, Ephesians 2:8, Genesis 32:10, James 4:10, James 4:6, Isaiah 6:1-8

Growth in grace is growth downward. It is the forming of a lower estimate of ourselves. It is a deepening realization of our nothingness. It is a heartfelt recognition that we are not worthy of the le...

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Util and Frui

Author

James Bryan Smith

Keywords

Scripture

Ephesians 2:10, Hebrews 10:24-25, Psalm 8:, Genesis 1:31, Psalm 19:1, Ecclesiastes 3:11

Two Latin words are used to describe useful and beautiful things: util and frui. Util means useful, beneficial, helpful. Frui means enjoyable, pleasurable, and delightful. The created world is both fr...

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