Chardon church of Christ

The Unmerciful Servant  Matthew 18:23-35 Good evening. The scripture I’d like us to look at tonight is Matthew 18:23-35 . You will certainly recognize this, and I’ll be referring to it and the surrounding verses. I’d like to start off tonight with some quips I ran across recently. You may have heard some of these. There is so much good in the worst of us, And so much bad in the best of us, That it...

    A Lesson From Psalm 19 Psalms 19 INTRO: Good morning. This morning I’m going to continue our look at the Psalms. Our text is Psalm 19. This is a magnificent psalm and has two natural divisions. Verses 1-6 describe the glory of God as seen in the heavenly bodies. And verses 7-14 are about the excellence of the revelation of God in the Law. Charles Spurgeon said of this psalm it is, "The World B...

Psalms of Blessing in Our Lives   Psalms INTRO: Good morning.   The weather is cooler, the leaves are changing and summer is past.   It may be just me, but this summer seems to have passed very quickly. I look at the changing of the seasons around here - as a blessing. True, there are things we do not like about them - the too wet Spring, the too hot Summer, the too stormy Autumn and the too cold...

Is Anything Worth Dying For?   Mark 6: 14 – 29 You might recall a few years ago when the U.S. was part of a coalition to invade Iraq and depose of Saddam Hussein. Not all Americans were in favor of that war and I recall seeing some protestors on the news. They interviewed one angry young man and asked him why he opposed the war. His answer was one that I haven’t been able to forget. He said, “Noth...

What Amazes Jesus? Mark 6:1 Throughout history there have been many examples of misjudgments. Here are seven of my favorite famous misjudgments: (1) “I am sorry but I don’t think anyone will be interested in these type of characters.” The 12 publishers who rejected JK Rowlings writings of the beginning of the Harry Potter series which have sold over 450 million copies. (2) “That contraption is not...

The Tough Choices in Life   1 Corinthians 3: 11 – 14 I remember the time I put a password on my system to keep out a colleague who was a practical jokester. He said sorry and vowed to be good and asked for the password. I was a little upset and busy and replied don't open it. The whole day he tried a number of times with various combinations and finally gave up. Later, he really needed to use my s...

The Man Who Only Had Two Things: Everything & Nothing   Mark 10:17-31 Have you ever left home and had a funny feeling you have forgotten something? You don’t know what it was, but you just had this nagging feeling. A man said every time his family drove off for a vacation, his mom would say, “Honey, we’ve got to go back home, I think I left the iron turned on. I don’t want the house to burn down.”...

Truth Be Told   1 John 2:5 A wealthy businessman lay on his deathbed. His preacher came to visit and talked about God’s healing power and prayed for his parishioner. When the preacher was done, the businessman said, “Preacher, if God heals me, I’ll give the church a million dollars.” Miraculously, the businessman got better and within a few short weeks was out of the hospital. Several months later...

Showing Your Better Side   Luke 6:31   and  Matthew 7:12  INTRODUCTION: A truck driver is sitting in a crowded roadside diner ready to eat his lunch. It’s not just ANY diner and ANY lunch. It’s his FAVORITE diner on the road and his FAVORITE lunch. Just as the waitress brings the truck driver’s meat loaf, mashed potatoes and gravy, and green beans to his table, a motorcycle gang swaggers in the do...

Too Close For Comfort   Genesis 19: 1 – 29 OPEN: Just like today, back in the 1690s Jamaica was an island paradise. Palm trees in the sand, tropical breezes, beautiful beaches. People of wealth sought it out then just like they do now. And many of them built huge mansions at a town called Port Royal. Now, Port Royal wasn’t a “tourist trap.” It was a Pirate city - hailed as the “17th Century Sodom....

HE’S ALIVE!!! Mark 16: 1 – 20 There’s a story about a wealthy man who was terminally ill. The doctor said, "There’s only “one thing” that will save you. “A brain transplant.” - It’s an experimental operation. And it’s very expensive." The wealthy guy said, - "Money is no object. Can you get me a brain?" The doctor said, - "We have three available right now. The first one was from a college profess...

Pray For Our Leaders   I Timothy 2:1-2   “Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence.”   Good evening. Our text for the lesson tonight is from 1 Timothy 2:1-2. I would like for us to take some time and reflect...

The History of “Babeling”  Genesis 11: 1 – 9 How many times have you heard someone say ... “I wish you would stop babbling?” Parents frequently make the mistake of thinking they speak the same language as their children. We see this kind of misunderstanding all the time. Here are a few examples. I can't finish my dessert." Meaning: Your child is defiantly sick and should be taken to the doctor ASA...

Choosing  Joshua 24:15 Many years ago, if you wanted a pair of shoes, you couldn’t go down to “Payless Shoes” or “Shoe Carnival”. You couldn’t even go down to Sears or J.C. Penney to pick a pair of ready made shoes to wear. There was a time when – if you wanted shoes or boots – you had to go someone called a “Shoe Cobbler.” When Ronald Reagan was a young man, an aunt had taken him to a cobbler to...

Who Is the Strongest Man? Mark 3: 20-30 Macho men always want to brag about how strong they are. Some boys on a school playground were bragging. Johnny said, “My dad has a list of all the men he can beat up—and all your dads are on his list!” Later that afternoon a knock came on Johnny’s house and his dad answered the door. A big angry man said, “Are you Johnny’s dad?” He said, “I am.” “Well Johnn...

Live Like You Are Dying John 14 : 1 – 3 A few years back Tim McGraw wrote a song titled “LIVE LIKE YOU WERE DYING” Some of the lyrics go like this: He said "I was in my early forties With a lot of life before me And a moment came that stopped me on a dime I spent most of the next days Looking at the x-rays Talkin' 'bout the options And talkin' 'bout sweet time" I asked him "When it sank in That th...

WAS IT WORTH IT?  MATTHEW 5:3 – 12 There is a bumper sticker that sums up life on earth like this: “Many who seek Repentance from God at the 11th hour of their life... Die at 10:30! We often hear the question... “Was It Worth It?” We can ask Adam & Eve as we read Genesis 2:8-9 8 Now the LORD God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. 9 The LORD God made...

Using Sigh Language For A Deaf Man Mark 7:31 – 37 This morning we’re back in the Gospel According to Mark and continuing the series of lessons I am calling, “The reMARKable Power of Jesus.” What you don’t know can hurt you—or embarrass you. It’s important to understand what things mean. I found an actual text message a mother sent to her son. It read: Mom: Your great-aunt just passed away. LOL. So...

Do I Practice What I Preach? Matthew 23: 27 – 28 ILL. When was the last time you overheard a conversation like this? “Madge, how come you never shop at Walmart?” And Madge answers, “Well, I used to. But the last time I was there the place was just full of hypocrites. So I’ll never go back there again.” You’ve never heard such a conversation about Walmart, have you? We don’t hear that kind of excus...

A Man Just Like Us Hebrews 11: 1 – 5 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. 2 For by it the elders obtained a good report. 3 Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. 4 By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obt...

Failure Isn’t Fatal Mark 14:27-31, 66-72 Steven Spielberg, His cinematic output has grossed more than $9 billion and brought him three Academy Awards, but the master of the blockbuster was rejected TWICE by the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts. Thomas Edison In what might be at once the most discouraging statement and worst teaching practice of all time, Thomas Edison w...

Life’s Most Important Question Mark 15:1-20 There are three terminal punctuation marks. A period marks the end of a stated declarative statement. An exclamation point marks the end of a statement of strong emotion. A question mark is used at the end of an interrogative statement. In written Spanish, they place the inverted exclamation point and question mark at the beginning of a sentence, which I...

LEARNING TO TRUST GOD TEXT: Judges 6:1- 7:25 Chuck Swindoll, in his book, "Living Above the Level of Mediocrity," tells about a church in the Soviet Union during the days of the Iron Curtain that was forced to meet secretly because house church services were illegal. They tried to be as inconspicuous as possible as they gathered on Sunday to worship the Lord, so they came at different times & casu...

The Danger Of Drifting Hebrews 2:1-4 When you hear the word “drift,” what comes to your mind? If you grew up in the Snowbelt, you may think about snowdrifts. If you’re into motorsports you might think about racecars intentionally skidding to navigate a tight turn, that’s called drifting. If you’re a pilot you might be thinking about wind drift, the effect the wind direction has on your intended he...