Sermons on Rivalries:

Welcome Home Series

Contributed by Mark Eberly on Apr 28, 2009

This week we examine the parables of "lostness" focusing on the parable of "The Compassionate Father and His Two Lost Sons." While the prodigal son’s lostness is obvious, the elder son is lost in his own way as well.

Parables of Jesus Welcome Home Luke 15:11-32 April 26, 2009 A family had put the carcass and scraps from their turkey dinner in a trash bag and set it outside next to the back steps intending to clean up and then put the bag in the can after making sure that nothing else needed to go in the bag. ...read more

Scripture: Luke 15:11-32

Denomination: Church Of God

Be Like Jesus? Or, Be Jesus?

Contributed by Mike Redeker on Apr 8, 2017

Paul calls the Philippian Christians, not to be like Jesus, but rather to be Jesus to one another.

Something happened in our country. Do you know what I’m talking about? It’s baseball! Play ball! Take me out to the ballgame. Give me some peanuts and Cracker Jacks. My Brewers didn’t fare to well against the Rockies this week. But that’s OK. There are still plenty of games left. And if they ...read more

Scripture: Philippians 2:5-11

Live By The Spirit

Contributed by Clive Broadbent on Sep 29, 2017

Because we're filled with the Holy Spirit, we struggle with sin and know the consequences of sin, so we must live by the Spirit and love our neighbours as ourselves.

Back in the 1980s, a classic TV ad showed a skillfull basketball player dribbling a ball round a young lad who was holding a stick of Rowntree’s Fruit Pastilles. After a few minutes of very impressive dribbling, the basketball player finishes by spinning the ball on one finger. “Not bad” says the ...read more

Scripture: Galatians 5:13-26

No Longer An Outcast

Contributed by Bright Adeyeye on Aug 31, 2020

Your story doesn’t have to end with rejections, trauma, and the abuses you’ve suffered in the past.

NO LONGER AN OUTCAST "1 Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty man of valor, but he was the son of a harlot; and Gilead begot Jephthah. 2 Gilead’s wife bore sons; and when his wife’s sons grew up, they drove Jephthah out, and said to him, “You shall have no inheritance in our father’s ...read more

Scripture: Genesis 21:14-18, Psalm 27:10, Isaiah 43:18-19

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Honor God With Your Bodies Series

Contributed by Rev. Dr. Andrew B Natarajan on Jun 14, 2022

Now we have come to understand that we worship God with our Bodies. Our physical bodies are the Temple of God, honor one another as the temple of God, as the temple of the Living God, and as the temple of the Holy Spirit.

Theme: Worship with your Bodies Text: 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 Greetings: Introduction: we have started the month with the covenant of Rest, enter into the rest of God. We have meditated on the significance of Work and Rest based on Genesis 2:1-3. Now we have come to understand that we worship God ...read more

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 6:19-20

Denomination: Methodist

The Ten Commandments, 3 Of 6: Third And Fourth Commandments

Contributed by Lee Houston on Sep 18, 2022

The Third Commandment reinforces the first two while commanding another aspect of God's reality, approaching and responding to the LORD. The Fourth Commandment covers Sabbath worship.

The Ten Commandments, 3 of 6: Third and Fourth Commandments Scripture: Exodus 20:7, Deuteronomy 5:11 Summary: The Third Commandment reinforces the first two while commanding another aspect of God's reality, approaching and responding to the LORD. The Fourth Commandment covers Sabbath worship. ...read more

Scripture: Exodus 20:7, Deuteronomy 5:11

Keep A Balanced Perspective On Life

Contributed by Otis Mcmillan on Nov 18, 2021

Perspective is a certain point of view in understanding or judging things or circumstances. Our number battle is in the mind. The only way to combat the onslaught of Satan’s temptation is to view our human experience with a balanced perspective on life.

Introduction: one of the most challenging things to do today is to keep a balanced perspective. So much of the information we receive is misinformation. The word balance has to do stability. To keep one’s body steady without falling; to keep one’s life steady without wavering; or the ability to ...read more

Scripture: Psalm 73:1-20, 2 Peter 2:9, Luke 16:19-31

Denomination: Methodist

The Life Line (2018, Fifth Sunday Of Easter)

Contributed by John Williams Iii on Apr 28, 2021

Sin is perhaps the biggest of the obstacles because it is connected with all of the other obstacles in our lives that hinder God’s will. Sin has many forms and formats that make deadwood in our lives, but sin has one purpose and that is our destruction.

THE LIFE LINE Text: John 15:1- 8 Just recently my daughter Lilly looked at the bushes of the parsonage that had been trimmed back. She expressed her concern that the bushes might not grow back. I assured her that that the pruning that had taken place was good for the bushes because ...read more

Scripture: John 15:1-8

Denomination: United Methodist

Apostolic Intolerance Series

Contributed by Glenn Pease on Mar 18, 2021

If pride and a sense of exclusiveness and spiritual privilege could lead the Apostles to go wrong, it is not only likely, but inevitable that the same will be true of all of us.

It is not intolerant to expose an oppose error. If a newspaper prints an article naming you as a spokesman for the Ku Kulx Klan it would not be intolerant for you to write them and tell them of their error. Likewise, if a man preaches that God’s Word teaches a man can be saved by works, it is not ...read more

Scripture: Luke 9:49-50

The Lessons Of Hagar

Contributed by Dove Inspirations on Jul 2, 2021

Lessons learnt from a part of the life of Hagar.

We have a situation described in the Bible of a woman named Hagar who found herself pregnant and alone. Later, she finds herself with this son of hers on the verge of death from dehydration. The book of Genesis clearly and simply tells us how Hagar found herself pregnant. Yes, yes, Sarah and ...read more

Contention Intervention

Contributed by John Williams Iii on Oct 24, 2022

The kind of conflict---contention that the Apostle Paul addressed in the early part of I Corinthians is very similar to that that existed in the split that resulted in the formation of the “Ant-peg Baptist Church”.

I Corinthians 1:10. I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought. 11. My brothers, some from Chloe's household ...read more

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 1:10-18

Denomination: United Methodist

"love Is A Verb"

Contributed by Ken Sauer on May 8, 2024

A sermon about allowing love to overcome disputes in the church.

“Love is a Verb” 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 I have read this passage of Scripture at every wedding over which I have presided. It’s practically an anthem for Christian Weddings in the Western World. It’s often printed on napkins and programs, even balloons. It’s read for two people who love one ...read more

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 13:1-13

Denomination: United Methodist

God's Purpose Stands (Genesis 27)

Contributed by I. Grant Spong on Jul 6, 2024

Can God use very faulty people to fulfill His purposes? Let's look at Genesis 27.

Sometimes we are blessed, not because we deserve it, but because God has a greater purpose than our sins. A native American once said that European settlers did not deserve the land they stole, but they brought an even more valuable gift, the Gospel. Can God use people who must repent of lies and ...read more

Denomination: Baptist

Listen To Whom? (Mark 9)

Contributed by I. Grant Spong on Jul 21, 2024

To whom do we listen primarily, Jesus or the prophets? Let's look in Mark 9.

Do we listen to Jesus? Do we still squabble over who is important? Do we cause any little ones, who believe in Jesus, to stumble? Let’s find out in Mark 9. What strange statement did Jesus make? Would our minds have gone in all kinds of directions wondering what Jesus meant? I can assure you that ...read more

Denomination: Baptist

David Volunteered

Contributed by John Williams Iii on Jul 18, 2023

There was no question that David was the underdog. But there was also no question about God’s help. How do we face our giants? There were odds, there was opposition and there was Divine help.

DAVID VOLUNTEERED Text: 1 Samuel 17:38 - 50 When I was a kid, I was a crack shot with a sling shot. My grandfather, Cecil had a patent on a couple of sling shots he designed. He designed sling shots that you could literally hunt deer with using an arrow. It was one of his sling shots that ...read more

Scripture: 1 Samuel 17:38-50

Denomination: United Methodist