Sermon Central
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Studies In Ii Corinthians
Contributed by Glenn Pease on Mar 30, 2021 (message contributor)
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1. From Despair To Hope
Contributed on Mar 30, 2021
Paul comes to the end of his rope, but he does not come to the end of his hope. He had no resource in himself, and all he could do was to surrender his life and future to the providence of God.
Paul Aurandt tells the story of one of the fastest rising young singers back in the early 50's. He was called the Romantic Voice Of America. Teenage girls would give anything to see him, but he never appeared anywhere. He was not even seen in photographs. He was strictly a radio voice. Soon ...read more
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2. Paul's Self-Defense
Contributed on Mar 30, 2021
For Paul conscience is the self-awareness that you are right or wrong in your attitudes and actions. If you are deceiving people and doing what you know is not the will of God, you will feel guilty.
Jonathan Edwards was born in 1703, and he became one of the greatest preachers in history. He lived in a day when pastors went to a church out of seminary and stayed there for the rest of their lives. His father was the pastor of The Congregational Church in the little village of East Windsor, ...read more
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3. Our Jesus Is Yes
Contributed on Mar 30, 2021
The world of salvation begins with our own yes to the Gospel. Yes we say to God, I will receive your gift of eternal life in Christ. From then on every stage of growth is a stage we advance to by saying yes to God.
Yes is only a three letter word, but its utterance can change your life. It happened to the poet Robert Robinson one Sunday morning in London. People everywhere were hurrying to church, but he was not. He had left the church, and he had lost the once passionate faith that made him a ...read more
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4. Godly Change
Contributed on Mar 30, 2021
Change is wise when the old way of doing something can be done better to fulfill the purpose for which you do it at all. The Christian life is to be a life of constant change where we are getting better and better at pleasing God.
Many years ago the U. S. Army wanted to get off more rounds of cannon fire, and so they hired a consultant to study the problem. He went into the field and noticed that the soldiers stepped back from the cannon and waited for about 3 seconds every time they fired it. When asked why they ...read more
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5. The Weapon Of Forgiveness
Contributed on Mar 30, 2021
The point of forgiving is to get Satan's foot out of the door of your life so that he cannot use the offenses of the past to spoil your present and future.
Paul Aurandt tells this story of General Thomas Jackson who was the right arm of General Lee. The Confederate soldiers were so impressed with his bravery in battle as he stood out in front that they called him Stonewall Jackson. His first brigade was the most devastating war machine the South had ...read more
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6. The Face Of God
Contributed on Mar 30, 2021
When Mary pressed the soft warm cheeks of baby Jesus to her own, she was touching the face of God. When the shepherds and the wise men came to see Jesus they were seeing the face of God. Christmas is about the face of God.
John Mcgee Jr. wrote the poem High Flight. It is so meaningful to some pilots, they repeat it as they sit in their planes soaring though the skies. It goes like this- Oh, I have slipped the surly bonds of earth And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings; Sunward I've climbed, and ...read more
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7. Seeing The Invisible
Contributed on Mar 30, 2021
One has not really begun to live until he begins to look, not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen, for these alone are the things that last forever.
A young sportsman just back from a hunting trip in India was criticizing the efforts of the missionaries there. He said that in all the months he was there he never saw any good they were doing. It was all a useless waste of money and effort. A returned missionary overheard him and asked him a ...read more
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8. The Second Body
Contributed on Mar 30, 2021
Everything made by man is doomed. Only the God-made body, and the God-redeemed world can be the focus of the Christian hope. That is why Paul groaned and longed to be clothed with the heavenly body God had for him.
Most of us could tell true stories of our forgetfulness that allowed us to put a book, a casserole, or some other object on the top of our car, and then get in and drive off. Some of these stories will have sadder endings than others, but it is not likely any of our stories could match that of ...read more
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9. A Heavenly Habitation
Contributed on Mar 30, 2021
Paul was not putting his body down by calling it a tent. He was just emphasizing that by comparison his earthy body was no big deal in light of the body God had made for him in heaven.
Carl Sagen is one of the leading minds in our world in the realm of astronomy. He has played a major role in the space expeditions to the planets. He is responsible for a record which was on board the Voyager's one and two. It is now wondering between the stars, and it will tell any aliens ...read more
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10. The Bridge Of Reconciliation
Contributed on Mar 30, 2021
It is finished, said Jesus. The cross was a success, and God in Christ did build a bridge which reconciled the world to Himself. The fact is, however, that this bridge, like any other bridge, only has value as it is crossed.
One of the 7 wonders of the natural world is the famous Natural Bridge of Virginia. Tons of solid rock form a bridge over a creek 215 feet below. This massive masterpiece of God's bridge-building skill has caused many to stand in awe and recognize that, not only the heavens, but the earth as ...read more
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11. The Cost Of Christmas
Contributed on Mar 30, 2021
It cost Him the cross to be born at Christmas. He was born to die, and die He did that we might be saved. We are saved freely, for it is a gift that Jesus bought for us, but the fact is it cost Jesus everything. Grace is free to receive, but it was costly to give.
December in Peru is just as hot as July. The jungle is steaming and the insects are ferocious. Yet in that jungle setting more than 300 people from the Wycliff Bible Translators celebrate Christmas. The twinkling Christmas tree lights are not on a pine or fur tree, but on a banana or palm tree. ...read more
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12. The Greatest Gift
Contributed on Mar 30, 2021
God had been giving good things to man all through history, but Christmas becomes the greatest day in history for giving, for on that day God presented to the world His greatest gift.
For all know that all of our gifts for Christmas will not be equal. We may have one or two big gifts, which are the center of our excitement, but there are also a number of smaller gifts that wet our appetite for the grand finale when we get to the one that is the biggest. No child is satisfied ...read more
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13. Glad Generosity
Contributed on Mar 30, 2021
Paul knew the power of wealth to serve a great spiritual purpose. When the believers in Jerusalem would see gifts, which Gentiles had given to help Jews, they would know then, beyond a doubt, that the light of grace had penetrated the darkness of Gentile hearts.
When organized baseball was in its infancy a man by the name of Farrar was first baseman for the Philadelphia Phillies. He was a fine player, and he had a little girl who was his best rooter. She sat in the grandstand clapping and cheering every time he made a good play. She would shout ...read more
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14. Motives For Giving
Contributed on Mar 30, 2021
Jesus says generosity toward the poor will be rewarded in eternity. This means that everything we give for the needs of others is like putting money in the bank of heaven.
All of us would certainly agree that it was a good thing that Columbus was given the money he needed to sail to the discovery of America. What we do not realize, however, is the evil method by which the money was gotten. In 1492 Tomas de Torquemada, the chief architect of the Spanish Inquisition, ...read more
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15. Heaven Can Be Harmful To Your Health
Contributed on Mar 30, 2021
Heaven can be harmful to your health. Any blessing of God can bring with it some handicap or problem because human nature has a tendency to pride that is so strong that if the blessings of life are not balanced off with some kind of burden they can actually lead to evil rather than to good.
For 40 years Rev. William Tennent served as pastor of the historic Presbyterian Church at Freehold, New Jersey. As a young man this pastor experienced a remarkable trance. He was in bad health, and one day while talking with his brother he fainted away and appeared to have died. The doctor ...read more