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Emphasis Preaching Journal

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Communicating God's Love

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Emphasis Preaching Journal

When Christians gather for Sunday... -- Isaiah 55:1-9 -- Third Sunday in Lent - C -- 2007
When Christians gather for Sunday worship, it often seems we have arrived for a
Have you ever really been... -- Isaiah 55:1-9 -- Third Sunday in Lent - C -- 2007
Have you ever really been thirsty? Today in the USA almost every community large and
Many scholars think that Isaiah... -- Isaiah 55:1-9 -- Third Sunday in Lent - C -- 2007
Many scholars think that Isaiah 55 was written during the end of the terrible years of
If you feel God has... -- 1 Corinthians 10:1-13 -- Third Sunday in Lent - C -- 2007
If you feel God has gone away on vacation and left you on your own, go straight to him.
The children of Israel experienced... -- 1 Corinthians 10:1-13 -- Third Sunday in Lent - C -- 2007
The children of Israel experienced hard times as they trekked from Egypt to the promised
Bill and Tom are cousins... -- 1 Corinthians 10:1-13 -- Third Sunday in Lent - C -- 2007
Bill and Tom are cousins born only ten days apart. Growing up they became best friends
It's an assumption we make... -- 1 Corinthians 10:1-13 -- Third Sunday in Lent - C -- 2007
It's an assumption we make often. We're standing firm. We know we're right and God's
A Christian said to a... -- Luke 13:1-9 -- Third Sunday in Lent - C -- 2007
A Christian said to a suffering person, "God must have a reason." Such speculation ranks
Hope -- I was visiting a... -- Luke 13:1-9 -- Third Sunday in Lent - C -- 2007
Hope -- I was visiting a patient one day at the hospital following a major setback
In Luke 13, Jesus answers... -- Luke 13:1-9 -- Third Sunday in Lent - C -- 2007
In Luke 13, Jesus answers a question everyone struggles with. Are disasters God's way of
Since the book of Job... -- Luke 13:1-9 -- Third Sunday in Lent - C -- 2007
Since the book of Job, people have been pointing fingers at the sufferer. The old Jewish
If you could do it... -- Joshua 5:9-12 -- Fourth Sunday in Lent - C -- 2007
If you could do it, I suppose it would be a good idea to live your life in a straight line --
Pioneers tell similar stories. When... -- Joshua 5:9-12 -- Fourth Sunday in Lent - C -- 2007
Pioneers tell similar stories. When they first settled the western plains, they had nothing.
Ashley enjoys hiking and usually... -- Joshua 5:9-12 -- Fourth Sunday in Lent - C -- 2007
Ashley enjoys hiking and usually plans vacations around places where she would like to
That Sunday evening I knew... -- Joshua 5:9-12 -- Fourth Sunday in Lent - C -- 2007
That Sunday evening I knew that life would never be the same. It was the last service that
Science teachers interest and entertain... -- 2 Corinthians 5:16-21 -- Fourth Sunday in Lent - C -- 2007
Science teachers interest and entertain even bored students when they turn on the black
Do you know that Jesus... -- 2 Corinthians 5:16-21 -- Fourth Sunday in Lent - C -- 2007
Do you know that Jesus really loves you? Have you experienced that feeling of total love
Some time ago, a husband... -- 2 Corinthians 5:16-21 -- Fourth Sunday in Lent - C -- 2007
Some time ago, a husband and wife faced serious marriage problems. Neither would take
The divided church at Corinth... -- 2 Corinthians 5:16-21 -- Fourth Sunday in Lent - C -- 2007
The divided church at Corinth needed to be reminded that they were not to regard any
The biggest problem with American... -- Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32 -- Fourth Sunday in Lent - C -- 2007
"The biggest problem with American Christianity," said Ernest Campbell, former pastor
It was during the Great... -- Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32 -- Fourth Sunday in Lent - C -- 2007
It was during the Great Depression on the Canadian prairies, that sixteen-year-old Hans
Betty asked her Sunday school... -- Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32 -- Fourth Sunday in Lent - C -- 2007
Betty asked her Sunday school class to pray for her grandson. Rick became a father one
I enjoy taking myself by... -- Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32 -- Fourth Sunday in Lent - C -- 2007
"I enjoy taking myself by surprise," said Peter Ustinov. I wonder how he kept secrets
We all endure emotional shocks... -- Isaiah 43:16-21 -- Fifth Sunday in Lent - C -- 2007
We all endure emotional shocks -- like when we forget to pay a bill and a past-due notice
Ransom is an action-packed... -- Isaiah 43:16-21 -- Fifth Sunday in Lent - C -- 2007
Ransom is an action-packed drama thriller that came out in 1996, starring Mel

Political Pulpit

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The Political Pulpit

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New & Featured This Week

The Immediate Word

Christopher Keating
Thomas Willadsen
Katy Stenta
Mary Austin
Nazish Naseem
Dean Feldmeyer
George Reed
For October 19, 2025:

Emphasis Preaching Journal

Mark Ellingsen
Bill Thomas
Frank Ramirez
Jeremiah 31:27-34
John Calvin makes very clear why a new covenant is needed according to this text. He observes:

… the fault was not to be sought in the law that there was need of a new covenant, for the law was abundantly sufficient, but that fault was in the levity and the unfaithfulness of the people. (Calvin’s Commentaries, Vol.X/2, p.130)
David Coffin
What happens when one’s past life narrative or goals in life have drastically shifted or collapsed? How do they rebuild hope? For Israel, they lost their land, monarchy, and national identity. In the days of the New Testament,they could easily be identified as living in the “fourth world” country. That is, existing in substandard conditions in one’s own native land?

StoryShare

Peter Andrew Smith
Rose sat back in her chair and opened her magazine. She heard the thump of the stairs and caught a glimpse of her daughter and son in the corner of her eye. She turned her head as they put water bottles in their backpacks.

“What are you two doing?” she looked over at the clock. “Don’t you have homework?”

“All done,” Paul and Linda announced at the same time.

Rose ignored Linda but locked eyes with Paul. He met her gaze for a few moments and then sighed.

“Okay, I’m almost done but still have some math questions,” he admitted.

The Village Shepherd

Janice B. Scott
Call to Worship:

Jesus told us that we should always pray and not lose heart, for God is on our side. In our worship today let us pray to the Lord for the needs of others and for all our own needs.


Invitation to Confession:

Jesus, sometimes you don't seem to be there when I pray and I feel like I'm talking to myself.

Lord, have mercy.

Jesus, sometimes my prayers seem so dry and boring that I give up.

Christ, have mercy.

SermonStudio

James Evans
Psalm 119 is well-known as the longest chapter in the Bible. The poem is actually an extended, and extensive, meditation on the meaning of the law. Given the sterile connotations often associated with "law" and "legalism," it's hard sometimes to appreciate the lyrical beauty of these reflections. One thing is for certain, the writer of this psalm does not view the law as either sterile or void of vitality.

Schuyler Rhodes
There is perhaps no better feeling than knowing that someone "has your back." Having someone's back is a term that arose from urban street fighting where a partner or ally would stay with you and protect your back in the thick of the fray. When someone has your back, you don't worry about being hit from behind. When someone has your back you can concentrate on the struggle in front of you without worrying about dangers you cannot see. When someone has your back you feel protected, secure, safe.
David Kalas
I wonder how many of us here are named after someone.

Chances are that a good many of us carry family names. We are named for a parent, a grandparent, an uncle, or an aunt somewhere on the family tree. Others of us had parents who named us after a character in the Bible, or perhaps some other significant character from history.

All told, I expect a pretty fair number of us are named after someone else.

John W. Clarke
Our reading today from the prophet Jeremiah is one in which the Hebrew people, not knowing what else to do in terms of addressing their predicament, decide to blame it all on God. They believed their problems to be the result of their sins and the sins of their fathers. Of course, one person's sin does indeed affect other people, but all people are still held personally accountable for the sin in their own lives (Deuteronomy 24:16; Ezekiel 18:2).
Donna E. Schaper
As usual, the epistle is a little more graphic than we can quite grasp. Itchy ears: what a concept just in physical terms. Experience it for a minute. You itch, you scratch, you sort of know you shouldn't scratch because it will only make the itch worse. But still you scratch, while wondering how the itch ever got started in the first place. What a concept: itchy ears as a vehicle for spiritual truth.

John E. Berger
Did Jesus ever do comedy? Indeed he did, and the Parable of the Unjust Judge is partly comic monologue. The routine began with a probate judge so ridiculously dishonest that he announced, "... I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone...." (There must have been a gasp of disbelief from Jesus' audience.)

The Unjust Judge was nagged by a widow, however, who had every right to nag, because she had been cheated by somebody in the community. A good judge would have helped the widow, but remember, this judge "neither feared God nor had respect for people."

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And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long in helping them? (v. 7)

Good morning, boys and girls. Yesterday, I was riding in my car and I kept hearing this noise. I call it a squeak. Do you know what a squeak sounds like? (let them answer) Squeaks are very annoying. It is hard to find a squeak in your car, so it is still squeaking.

I also have a chair that has a squeak and I brought it in with me today because it is

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