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Emphasis Preaching Journal

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Communicating God's Love

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Emphasis Preaching Journal

You reap what you sow... -- Galatians 6:(1-6) 7-16 -- Proper 9 | Ordinary Time 14 - C -- 2001
You reap what you sow.
Four brothers gathered around the... -- Luke 13:10-17 -- Proper 16 | Ordinary Time 21 - C -- 2001
Four brothers gathered around the bed of an 84-year-old woman late one Friday night.
I was ecstatic. After months... -- Luke 13:10-17 -- Proper 16 | Ordinary Time 21 - C -- 2001
I was ecstatic.
A member of our congregation... -- Luke 13:10-17 -- Proper 16 | Ordinary Time 21 - C -- 2001
A member of our congregation recently returned from a trip to Peru sponsored by Medical Missions.
Liz is a heavy smoker... -- Galatians 5:1, 13-25 -- Proper 8 | Ordinary Time 13 - C -- 2001
Liz is a heavy smoker. Well into her 70s, Liz has chain-smoked for nigh onto 60 years.
Many people live by the... -- Galatians 5:1, 13-25 -- Proper 8 | Ordinary Time 13 - C -- 2001
Many people live by the flesh and end up dying by the flesh.
Paul Harvey, in an address... -- Galatians 5:1, 13-25 -- Proper 8 | Ordinary Time 13 - C -- 2001
Paul Harvey, in an address in Memphis, Tennessee, on May 21, 1998, told how freedom requires self-di
In their book The... -- Luke 12:49-56 -- Proper 15 | Ordinary Time 20 - C -- 2001
In their book The Fourth Turning: An American Prophecy (Broadway Books, 1997), William Straus
One afternoon in April 1689... -- Luke 12:49-56 -- Proper 15 | Ordinary Time 20 - C -- 2001
One afternoon in April 1689, as the American colonies boiled with rumors that King James II was abou
One of my summer challenges... -- Hebrews 12:18-29 -- Proper 16 | Ordinary Time 21 - C -- 2001
One of my summer challenges each year is to coach a neighborhood girl's softball team.
Fire is an appropriate image... -- Hebrews 12:18-29 -- Proper 16 | Ordinary Time 21 - C -- 2001
Fire is an appropriate image for God because fire is something that we often experience as being bey
In the spring of 1999... -- Hebrews 12:18-29 -- Proper 16 | Ordinary Time 21 - C -- 2001
In the spring of 1999, Ingo Potrykus, professor at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology at Zuri
When this passage warns us... -- Hebrews 12:18-29 -- Proper 16 | Ordinary Time 21 - C -- 2001
When this passage warns us not to refuse to hear God when God speaks, I think of my grandparents.
Some people can sleep anywhere... -- Luke 12:32-40 -- Proper 14 | Ordinary Time 19 - C -- 2001
Some people can sleep anywhere.
I like to collect congregational... -- Hebrews 11:29--12:2 -- Proper 15 | Ordinary Time 20 - C -- 2001
I like to collect congregational history books.
As we become aware of... -- Hebrews 11:29--12:2 -- Proper 15 | Ordinary Time 20 - C -- 2001
As we become aware of the cloud of witnesses surrounding us, we should draw encouragement from them
Ten-year-old Taylor Touchstone... -- Hebrews 11:29--12:2 -- Proper 15 | Ordinary Time 20 - C -- 2001
Ten-year-old Taylor Touchstone survived four days alone in the waters of Turtle Swamp, Florida, swim
When this passage talks about... -- Hebrews 11:29--12:2 -- Proper 15 | Ordinary Time 20 - C -- 2001
When this passage talks about keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, I am reminded of open water swimming.
When I was growing up... -- Luke 12:49-56 -- Proper 15 | Ordinary Time 20 - C -- 2001
When I was growing up in Pueblo, Colorado, there was a family nearby who had 14 children.
Most of my sermons are... -- Luke 12:49-56 -- Proper 15 | Ordinary Time 20 - C -- 2001
Most of my sermons are Gospel-oriented, written to encourage people to get in touch with what and ho
Many immigrants were lured to... -- Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16 -- Proper 14 | Ordinary Time 19 - C -- 2001
Many immigrants were lured to the Americas by the promise of free land, the prospect of wealth and j
Of the companies that were... -- Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16 -- Proper 14 | Ordinary Time 19 - C -- 2001
Of the companies that were on the Fortune 500 list in 1955, 70 percent are now out of business.
A huge burial site lies... -- Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16 -- Proper 14 | Ordinary Time 19 - C -- 2001
A huge burial site lies beneath the city of Paris in what was once an ancient stone quarry.
Different people like to travel... -- Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16 -- Proper 14 | Ordinary Time 19 - C -- 2001
Different people like to travel in different ways.
The stewardship campaign had begun... -- Luke 12:32-40 -- Proper 14 | Ordinary Time 19 - C -- 2001
The stewardship campaign had begun at the local church.

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John Jamison
Object: A coin to flip.

* * *

Hello, everyone! (Let them respond.) Are you ready for our story today? (Let them respond.) Great!  

The Immediate Word

Katy Stenta
Mary Austin
Christopher Keating
Dean Feldmeyer
George Reed
Tom Willadsen
For October 27, 2024:

Emphasis Preaching Journal

Bill Thomas
Frank Ramirez
Bonnie Bates
Mark Ellingsen
Job 42:1-6, 10-17
God’s presence changed Job. George Bush was changed by faith from a party-boy alcoholic to a serious politician, a governor, and finally our president. Famed 20th-century Catholic theologian Pierre Teilhard de Chardin so powerfully expressed this awesomeness of God. He wrote:
Wayne Brouwer
In Morris West’s novel The Clowns of God, there’s a powerful scene where a father and his daughter are having an argument. She tells him that she’s going to go to Paris to live with her boyfriend. He won’t let her. Why would she want to do something like that?

“Because I’m afraid,” she says. 

“Afraid? Whatever are you afraid of?”

StoryShare

Peter Andrew Smith
“God hates me,” Tim announced to the empty room. He picked up the baseball sitting next to his bed and tossed it in his hand. He had come all this way to play ball. This was his dream. He had worked hard, he had trained, he had done everything his coach said he needed to do.

The Village Shepherd

Janice B. Scott
Those who think they can see everything are often the ones who are really blind! The bystanders in this gospel story had far less insight and vision than Bartimaeus, who knew that the most important thing in the world was to get to Jesus. The bystanders didn't have that same priority, and did their best to stop Bartimaeus from achieving his burning desire.

This is a story about Greg and his friends, who discover they can't "see" quite as well as they thought.

It was Greg's birthday party, but he was utterly fed up. He'd been

SermonStudio

Hugh H. Drennan
When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion,
we were like those who dream.
Then our mouth was filled with laughter,
and our tongue with shouts of joy;
then it was said among the nations,
"The Lord has done great things for them."
The Lord has done great things for us,
and we rejoiced.
Restore our fortunes, O Lord,
like the watercourses in the Negeb.
May those who sow in tears
reap with shouts of joy.
Those who go out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing,
shall come home with shouts of joy,
Patrick J. Rooney
Heads bowed, hands clasped, the words are spoken softly and gently. A prayer is lifted up for this need, for that person, for those in trouble or affliction. There is need, want, despair -- for someone or for many. A hope is voiced that God will intervene, help, safeguard, or assist. Then, with these needs and wants laid before God, the prayer ends, "In Jesus' name we pray. Amen." That's it; that's the assurance that God will hear us, for this prayer is being offered in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, who is the one interceding for us before the throne of God.

Mary S. Lautensleger
Playwright Neil Simon has written a comedy, God's Favorite, based on a contemporary Job, a tycoon whom Simon names "Joe Benjamin" or "Joe B." for short. The setting is Long Island, where Joe B. lives in a nineteen-room mansion with his wife, a prodigal son, and a pair of kooky twins. The family's assets include priceless paintings, irreplaceable antiques, including a Gutenberg Bible, half a million dollars in jewelry, swimming pools, and domestic servants.

John R. Brokhoff
Robert W. Stackel
When six nations of eastern Europe were freed from the domination of totalitarian Communism in 1989, there was wild celebration by the people in the streets. They sang, they shouted, they marched, they danced in the streets, they laughed, they hugged each other. This was the happiest time of their lives. They were freed from decades of living under uncompromising dictatorships. Now they could speak out openly about how they felt, and they could march and shout their protests to a hated regime. It was a celebration the like of which they had never before experienced.
William G. Carter
A cigar-chomping realtor was driving around a young couple to search for their first dream house. After listening to their concerns about mortgage points, maintenance costs, and school systems, he decided to give them a bit of advice. "I've been selling homes for 23 years," he said, "and I've discovered only three things matter when you're buying a home: location, location, location."

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