Sermon Resources on Compromise

illustration

The Compromise of the Hunter & the Bear

Author

Keywords

Scripture

Judges 16:4-21 , Exodus 8:25-32, 1 Kings 22:1-40, Matthew 4:1-11 , 2 Corinthians 6:14-15 , Psalm 1:1-2

There is a Russian parable about compromise that goes like this: A hunter raised his rifle, aiming carefully at a large bear. Just as he was about to pull the trigger, the bear spoke in a calm, soothi...

liturgy

Adapted from 1 John 2:1-17

Author

Austin D. Hill

Keywords

Scripture

John 2:1-17

Holy God, we have not lived in the light. We have not walked as Jesus did. We compromise all too often, living both for you and for ourselves. Your word calls us to account and your Holy Spirit convic...

liturgy

Loving God, we will betray you

Author

Steve Garnaas Holmes

Keywords

Scripture

Isaiah 53:3-5, Zechariah 13:7 , Exodus 32:1-14 , Luke 22:54-62, Romans 5:8, Psalm 130:3-4

Loving God, we will betray you; yet you invite us to your table. We will deny you; yet you give us yourself in love. We will fail to pray with you; yet you pray for us. We will crucify you; yet ...

illustration

Passing the Buck

Author

John Maxwell

Keywords

Two shipwrecked men in tattered clothes slouch together at one end of a lifeboat. They watch casually as three people at the other end of the boat bail furiously, trying to keep the vessel afloat. One...

Quote

Author

Dan Allender

Keywords

Scripture

Exodus 18:13-27, Judges 6:14, Psalm 23:1-3, Philippians 2:3-4, Matthew 20:25-28

Leadership is not about problems and decisions; it is a profoundly relational enterprise that seeks to motivate people toward a vision that will require significant change and risk on everyone’s part.

illustration

How Self-Deception Hurts Us

Author

The Arbinger Institute Leadership and Self-Deception

Keywords

Scripture

Proverbs 14:12, Jeremiah 17:19, Matthew 7:3-5, James 1:22-24, Psalm 139:23-24

Most of us recognize that self-deception hampers our ability to grow and live healthy lives. The Arbinger Institute takes it a bit further in their best-selling book Leadership and Self-Deception ...

illustration

Punishing John Chrysostom Isn’t Easy

Keywords

Scripture

Job 1:42, Daniel 3:, Matthew 5:10-12, Romans 8:35-39, Psalm 23:4

John Chrysostom, the eloquent Church Father, had incurred the wrath of the Byzantine (aka Roman) Emperor Arcadius. Enraged, the emperor consulted his counselors on how to punish the powerful preacher....

illustration

Jesus Didn’t Drive

Author

The Pastor's Workshop

Keywords

Scripture

Deuteronomy 6:4-9, Proverbs 13:20, Matthew 28:19-20, Luke 14:27, Psalm 119:9

When singer John Davidson was learning to drive, his father, a Baptist minister, offered him a deal: he could have a car if he earned straight “B’s” on his report card, read the Bible more, and got a ...

illustration

22 Major Problems

Author

Dallas Willard

Keywords

Scripture

Mark 4:35-41, 1 Kings 17:2-6, Acts 16:25-34, Exodus 14:10-22, 2 Chronicles 20:1-22

Robert C. McFarlane was a well-known businessman in the Los Angeles area. He had moved to California from Oklahoma in 1970, and within just a few days of his arrival—due to a disastrous misunderstandi...

blog

Working with God through Our Work

Author

Kara Martin

Keywords

Scripture

Romans 12:2, 2 Corinthians 5:16-17, Colossians 1:17-20

Note from TPW: Kara Martin addresses life in the secular workplace, sharing insights to help you lead your congregations to understand their faith and work and also to bring the Kingdom into your o...

Quote

Author

Peter Block, Walter Brueggemann, John McKnight

Keywords

Once upon a time Pennsylvania had a law that no inning of baseball for the Phillies or the Pirates could begin after 6pm on Sunday because on Sunday night you went to church. In St. Louis and other lo...

illustration

Division in American Politics

Author

Arthur C. Brooks

Keywords

In 2014, researchers at Northwestern University, Boston College, and the University of Melbourne published an article in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , a prestigious academ...

Quote

Author

Rick Warren

Keywords

Our culture has accepted two huge lies. The first is that if you disagree with someone's lifestyle, you must fear them or hate them. The second is that to love someone means you agree with everyth...

blog

The Politics of Ministry Book Review & Quotes

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

Scripture

Philippians 2:21

Picture this: you are just about a year into your first call as a minister. Everything seems to be going swimmingly. You caught up with a seminary friend over the weekend and you slightly brag about h...

illustration

How to Get Married, the Secular Edition

Author

The Pastor's Workshop

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 2:18, 24, Ecclesiastes 4:9-10, Proverbs 27:17, Ephesians 4:2-3 , Colossians 3:13-14, Psalm 127:1

Where do you turn for marriage advice when you aren’t religious? This is becoming an ever-increasing question as western cultures become more and more secular. One option is to turn to the London-base...

scripture guide

Scripture Guide, Jeremiah 2:4-13

Keywords

Scripture

Jeremiah 2:4-13, Jeremiah 2:null, Jeremiah 1:, John 4:14

Ancient Lens What can we learn from the historical context? Passage Context - Divided Kingdom, Common Struggles The prophet, Jeremiah, conducted the bulk of his ministry in the latter half of the...

lectionary

12th Sunday after Pentecost

Author

Austin D. Hill

Keywords

Scripture

Jeremiah 2:4-13, Jeremiah 2:null, Jeremiah 1:, John 4:14

Preaching Commentary Ancient Lens What can we learn from the historical context? Passage Context - Divided Kingdom, Common Struggles The prophet, Jeremiah, conducted the bulk of his ministry in...

illustration

Silencing Ourselves

Author

Evelyn Sommers

Keywords

To be nice means to silence ourselves in some way, and in doing so, we compromise our authenticity and give up freedom to act and speak. On the other hand, niceness may facilitate the shedding of resp...

blog

What if Satan Told the Truth?

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

The Devils Logic [Part 1 of 2] Think for a second what it would be like if Satan were to tell the truth when he tempted people? Could you picture what that would look like? Imagine if Satan tried to...

illustration

Heaven May Not Be Your Home If…

Author

Kevin DeYoung

Keywords

Scripture

Revelation 21:7, Revelation 2:null, Revelation 21:8

In some popular conceptions of the afterlife, God’s love gets reduced to unconditional affirmation. But in truth, God’s love is always a holy love and his heaven is an entirely holy place. Heaven is f...

illustration

Success vs. Excellence (Part II)

Author

Jon Johnston

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 16:26, Proverbs 16:3, Matthew 6:19-21

Success offers a hoped-for future goal. Excellence provides a striven-for present standard. Success bases our worth on a comparison with others. Excellence gauges our value by measuring us against ...

illustration

An Opportunity to Excel in Love

Author

Gary Thomas

Keywords

Love

Scripture

Galatians 5:13-14, Romans 16:3-4, Acts 18:1-3, Genesis 17:21, John 13:1-17

Marriage calls us to an entirely new and selfless life. . . . Any situation that calls me to confront my selfishness has enormous spiritual value, and I slowly began to understand that the real purpos...

illustration

The Three Options

Author

N. T. Wright

Keywords

Scripture

John 14:6, Isaiah 55:8-9, Matthew 9:10-13, John 18:36, Luke 19:1-10

With a certain oversimplification we can trace easily enough the three options open to Jews in Jesus’ day. … First, the quietist and ultimately dualist option, taken by the writers of the Dead Sea Scr...

illustration

The Devils Logic [Part 2 of 2]

Author

Jared C. Wilson

Keywords

Scripture

Hebrews 3:13, 2 Corinthians 11:14, Proverbs 7:21-23, James 1:14-15, Genesis 3:6

If I were making a list of benefits like the one Mike McKinley imagines, only this time using the devil’s actual logic, it might look more like this: Experience the excitement of new romance. Get th...

Quote

Author

Albert Wolters

Keywords

Creation

The whole course of history [is] a movement from a garden to a city, and it fundamentally affirms that movement ... Redemption in Jesus Christ reaches just as far as the fall. The horizon of creation ...

Quote

Author

D. A. Carson

Keywords

People do not drift toward Holiness. Apart from grace-driven effort, people do not gravitate toward godliness, prayer, obedience to Scripture, faith, and delight in the Lord. We drift toward compromis...

Quote

Author

Charles Williams

Keywords

Scripture

Proverbs 28:13, Matthew 6:14-15, 2 Corinthians 2:10-11, Luke 17:3-4, Ephesians 4:31-32, Colossians 3:13

Many promising reconciliations have broken down because, while both parties came prepared to forgive, neither party came prepared to be forgiven.

scripture guide

Scripture Guide, Matthew 3:1-12

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 3:1-12

Ancient Lens What can we learn from the historical context? The Waiting Hurts For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John, and if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who is ...

scripture guide

Scripture Guide, Luke 18:9-14

Author

William Rowley

Keywords

Scripture

Luke 18:9-14, Luke 11:42

This is one of Jesus’ most vivid parables. He paints a dramatic picture of two figures, with a twist to upend his hearer’s expectations. While the context of this passage involves the dynamics of an a...

illustration

The Church: Divine and Human, Sinners and Saints

Author

Roderick Strange

Keywords

Scripture

Exodus 32:, 1 Kings 18:19 , Isaiah 6:, Matthew 16:18, Ephesians 5:25–27, Psalm 130:

In this short excerpt, Father Roderick Strange speaks to those who want to write off the church. It is written primarily to a Roman Catholic audience, but it relates quite well to Protestants as well:...

illustration

liturgy

liturgy

illustration

illustration

illustration

illustration

illustration

blog

illustration

blog

illustration

scripture guide

lectionary

illustration

blog

illustration

illustration

illustration

illustration

illustration

scripture guide

scripture guide

illustration

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

N

O

P

Q

R

S

T

U

V

W

Genesis

Exodus

Leviticus

Numbers

Deuteronomy

Joshua

Judges

Ruth

1 Samuel

2 Samuel

1 Kings

2 Kings

1 Chronicles

2 Chronicles

Ezra

Nehemiah

Esther

Job

Psalm

Proverbs

Ecclesiastes

Song of Solomon

Isaiah

Jeremiah

Lamentations

Ezekiel

Daniel

Hosea

Joel

Amos

Obadiah

Jonah