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Earthly powers enslave us...

Illustration
All Saints Day - C
Daniel 7:1-3, 15-18
Mark Ellingsen
Earthly powers enslave us. The media makes us its puppets in dictating to us what we (think we) want. Society puts us in racial and gender straitjackets. We fight wars because government tells us to, and society largely keeps us in the social class in which we are born. These earthly powers are the four beasts of Daniel's dream. But Daniel's dream makes clear that insofar as the holy ones of the Lord (perhaps the Messiah) will be the one(s) to possess the kingdom, we have the assurance that the ways of the world will not ultimately prevail.
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The Immediate Word

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Paul’s words in Galatians extol Christ’s gifts, ringing out like the chimes of liberty on July 4th: “For freedom Christ has set us free.”

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Good morning boys and girls,

Today I have some fun and interesting visual aids to show you.  I have a compass, and I have this flashing button I will wear on my (lapel, collar).

Emphasis Preaching Journal

David Kalas
Schuyler Rhodes
Note: This article was originally published in 2010.

I'm sure you've heard it many times, just as I have. Grieving friends and family members at the funeral, comforting themselves and one another with phrases like "the Lord took him."

I remember particularly one case fifteen years ago that genuinely troubled me. The widow and her daughter were both crying, but they found solace in the thought that the Lord had taken their husband and father.

Mark Ellingsen
Ron Love
Bonnie Bates
Bill Thomas
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2 Kings 2:1-2, 6-14
In an economy like ours that values flexibility, experience and loyalty matter less and less (Alan Wolfe, Moral Freedom: The Search for Virtue in World of Choice, pp.23ff .). The loyalty to legacy is what this story of Elijah and Elisha’s loyalty to the former’s prophetic legacy is all about.

Faith involves this kind of loyalty to roots. What Pope Paul VI once said about the liturgy could be applied to Christian life in general:

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“Keeping Your Eyes on Jesus” by Peter Andrew Smith
“Continuing the Work” by Frank Ramirez

Keeping Your Eyes on Jesus
by Peter Andrew Smith
Luke 9:51-62

“This is unacceptable.” The woman opened the bags Kim handed to her over the food bank’s counter. “My kids are hungry and you expect me to feed them with this stuff?”

Linda peeked out from the back where she was putting bags together.

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Cyril wormed his way through the soil to his brother Toby's side. "Toby," he pleaded, "tell me again what it's like out there."

SermonStudio

Stephen P. McCutchan
I think that we are in a battle for the soul of the church. I'm not just talking about my Presbyterian denomination, although it certainly has its problems. I'm suggesting that we are in a battle for the soul of the whole church in our time.

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