Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 226 to 250 of 4943 results

226. “May the Net They Hid Entangle Them”

Psalm 35:1-28

Teach the Text

C. Hassell Bullock

... the one who is responsible to carry out justice. When God is carrying out justice, his interpersonal relationships are not at issue.[2] The bold metaphors of the Psalms are sometimes shocking, such as that of 35:2–3. The suppliant prays that God will take up the weapons of battle and use them against his enemies. It is essentially a challenge for Yahweh to equip himself for battle. Yahweh as warrior has been a recurring concern of Old Testament theologians.[3] While this is more a metaphor than a virtual ...

227. Which Way?

Matthew 16:21-28

Sermon

... friendships form. Forgivenesses are asked. Hope springs to life again. A future is embraced, and healing starts. The lunacy of cruciform existence can do miracles. Is all of this to say that being Christian, taking up a cross and following, turns people into "softies"? Does becoming a disciple mean becoming Mr. Easy Touch? Does taking up a cross mean being taken to the cleaners by our enemies? Of course not. No more than resolving to play a game on the athletic field by following the rules means going on ...

228. Do You Love Me?

John 21:15-25

Sermon

Brett Blair

... together. It was at the Passover. He told him: Lord I will never betray you; I will lay down my life for you. Simon Peter is facing the most crucial decision of his life: “Which will it be? Will I serve Christ or forget about Him? Will I take up the torch of His ministry? Will I go on with it… knowing the great risks involved… and knowing painfully that I’ve already failed miserably once? I wimped out… denied My Lord three times… three times! Count ‘em! What if I do that again? Maybe I’m ...

229. Hey, You Can Only Be Young Twice!

Genesis 12:1-8

Sermon

King Duncan

... Religious conversion comes in many forms. For some it is a personal encounter with what they interpret as the divine. For others, it is a miraculous cure or answer to a prayer. Augustine heard a voice in the next-door garden that said, "Take up and read. Take up and read." He picked up the Bible and read the exact admonition that touched upon the lascivious life he was leading. The experience changed his life. (4) There are others who spend their lives in a gradual spiritual awakening. Even though they may ...

230. Pre-Game Analysis

I Corinthians 9:19-27

Sermon

Mark Trotter

... , cross bearing, can be a problem for the Jew. Now here comes Jesus, saying, "If you would follow me, you must take up your cross." And here come the Christian preachers, saying, "Jesus suffered under Pontius Pilate. He was crucified, dead, and buried. He ... be an example for us. Paul must have said, that's what Jesus meant when he said, "If you would be my disciple, you must take up your cross," for he is our hero. He goes before us to show us the way. "I press on," Paul said to the Philippians, "that ...

231. The World's Best Hearing Aid

Mark 9:2-13

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... want to hear. Not only did Jesus declare that as Messiah he must suffer, be rejected, even be killed. He dared to intimate that things might not be all that peachy for those who followed him as well. All this talk about taking up crosses and suffering alongside the Messiah sounded more than unpleasant, more than unexpected. It sounded downright dangerous and distasteful. Finding Jesus' words jarring and discordant, Peter had taken it upon himself to rebuke his master, rejecting his words, shutting his ears ...

232. Body

2 Corinthians 5:1-10

Understanding Series

James M. Scott

... his opponents’ point of view, which supposedly denied any importance to the body. Nevertheless, the problem is easily solved if we consider that it is not until the Parousia that believers, including Paul, are fully conformed to the likeness of the Son and finally take up residence with him, so that he becomes the firstborn “among many brothers” (Rom. 8:29; cf. Phil. 3:20–21). As Paul states in 1 Thessalonians 4:17, referring to being caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, “And ...

233. On Being in the Wrong Place

Mark 15:21-32

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... North Africa District of Cyrenaica.” (New York and Nashville, The Abingdon Press, 1952, P.357) (Thus ruining dozens of good sermons.) But there is another kind of “cross.” One day Jesus said to His disciples: “If anyone would come after me, that one must deny himself, take up the cross..and follow.” (Mark 8:34) When Jesus spoke about carrying the Cross He did not mean something which we are drafted into. It is a burden we pick up and carry which we don’t have to-for Christ’s sake. The Cross in ...

234. The Cost of Discipleship

Luke 14:25-35

Sermon

Brett Blair

... . Jesus Christ demands our obedience. Jesus is not some wishy-washy little fellow coming up to us, hat in hand, hoping to win our favor, saying softly: Please sir, may I have a word with you. He comes to us as the Lord of History and makes demands: “Take up you cross and follow me." He comes to us as one to be obeyed. II To follow Jesus we must first establish our priorities and secondly, we must count the cost. Look with me at how Jesus illustrates this point. Suppose, Jesus says, one of you wants to ...

235. Augustine, Defender of the Faith

Sermon

Jerry L. Schmalemberger

... human race, it is only by God’s grace that we are saved. All this came from his own early life of debauchery, and from God, who spoke to him in Romans 13: "Let us conduct ourselves properly, as people who live in the light of day ... take up the weapons of the Lord Jesus Christ, and stop paying attention to your sinful nature and satisfying its desires." Augustine established his monastic rule of St. Augustine. During the Vandals’ seige of Hippo in 430, he was seized with a fever and died on August 28 ...

236. Battle Stations

Ephesians 6:10-18

Sermon

James Merritt

... Satan knows that he cannot hurt God. But if you want to hurt someone, and you know you cannot get to them, the next thing you try to do is to harm someone that that person loves, and hurt someone that is close to that person. That is why Satan takes up the war with us and tries to do us harm because he is trying to hurt God in the process. That is the beautiful thing about prayer, because when we pray, we take the battle that Satan is bringing to us, and we throw it back where it belongs; into ...

237. The Promise that Won’t Be Broken

2 Timothy 1:1-14

Sermon

Clayton A. Lord

... treasures are what will make a teenager sit up and smile. These are the gifts that God offers and we are called to share with the world. These are the promises that cannot be broken or stopped as long as there are witnesses to tell the story. So let's take up the challenge and share these promises with the world. Amen.

238. Expel the Immoral Brother!

1 Corinthians 5:1-13

Understanding Series

Marion L. Soards

... church that God called them to be and to live responsibly in relation to God’s will for their life. Above all, he beckons the congregation away from its errors and toward its mission to the world. 5:1 Remarkably, as Paul takes up this matter of sexual impropriety, he never directly addresses the principal parties participating in the scandal. The behavior in view here contrasts sharply with the “imitation” that the apostle advised in the prior section, and as he registers his judgment concerning the ...

239. Jesus Sends Out the Twelve

Matthew 10:1-42

Understanding Series

Robert H. Mounce

... in the way. If placing family before Christ disqualifies a person for discipleship, so also does putting self in the same position. To be worthy of discipleship a person must take his cross and follow (v. 38) in the path of the Master. To “take up the cross” means to consider oneself already sentenced and on the way to execution. It is complete self-denial. Whether this means bearing the shame and loneliness of being a social outcast or actually being ready to suffer a martyr’s death is incidental ...

240. Balancing Act

Mark 6:30-44

Sermon

King Duncan

... be more fit for use when you want it." Aesop was talking about balance. As followers of Christ it is important for us to realize that Jesus advocated balance in life too. Christianity has always been an activist faith in which the emphasis has been on taking up the cross, laying down your life, sacrificing yourself for the cause of Christ. And certainly, that is a major part of our faith. But it is possible to have an imbalanced Christianity. Jesus never meant for us to be so involved in doing good that we ...

241. You've Gotta Believe

Hebrews 11:1-6

Sermon

James Merritt

... Well, that little boy was totally wrong. Faith is not believing in spite of the evidence, but because of the evidence. Sometimes when we are not certain about a person or a fact, we will say, "Well, you just have to take it on faith." In other words, faith takes up where facts leave off. But that is not true of Bible faith. Bible faith is founded on facts, and those facts are rooted in the Word of God. Faith is the legal proof and the absolute guarantee of things that are not seen. Faith sees what the eye ...

242. The Law of the Temple

Ezekiel 43:13-27, Ezekiel 44:1-31, Ezekiel 45:1-12, Ezekiel 45:13--46:24

Understanding Series

Steven Tuell

... s responsibility for collecting offerings for the support of the temple (vv. 16–17). The prince’s wealth makes possible his role as temple patron. In the description of the prince’s estates (45:7–8 and 48:21–22), the inheritance given to the prince alone takes up the bulk of the dedicated portion at the heart of the land. The purpose of this property, as far as the Law of the Temple is concerned, is to enable the prince to provide for the temple. According to the priestly editors of the Law of the ...

243. Lent 5

John 12:20-36, Jeremiah 30:1--31:40, Hebrews 4:14-5:10

Sermon Aid

Russell F. Anderson

... appointed time came for him to give his life on the cross. This was a time of trouble. (His humanity recoiled at the prospect of death.) This was also a time of glory. (His death would bring eternal life.) 3. The appointed time has come for us to take up our cross (vv. 25-26). 4. In Christ, we become ready for our appointment with death. Baseball has become so identified with the American way of life that it has become a gauge of the nation's pulse. The baseball strike of 1994-95 caused people to reflect ...

244. Not the Seasons for Figs

Mark 11:12-19

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... vocation!” (Healey, op. cit., p. 79) What he means is that we, as Christians, are supposed to do far more than simply “doing what comes naturally.” Jesus tells us to love one another, to forgive one another, and even to love our enemies. He calls us to come, take up our cross, and follow Him. “But the time is not ripe,” we say. “Perhaps later we will do it.” But if we wait until the time is ripe, nine times out of ten it will be rotten. We are called to BE the Church here and now. St. Thomas ...

245. The Wrong Gift

Luke 2:1-14 (15-20)

Sermon

Wayne Brouwer

... up for the big meeting. Children dress up for the first day of school. Gangs dress up in the right colors for identity. Football fans dress up in team pigments. Choirs dress up for performance. To dress up is to enter a community of kindred spirits or to take up a role of identity. On this first day of a new Christmas season, in which we bow to the God who keeps promises and enters our world, we enjoy the music of caroling, keeping alive the attention of our world to the big news — the good news — the ...

246. Tears And Ointment

Luke 7:36-50

Sermon

Larry Powell

... of us: wasted resources! Consequently, let us not be too nasty in our condemnation of the disciples and the Pharisee. They were only making justifiable observations. They did have a point. We will allow that. We will part company now with Matthew's account and take up the woman in Luke who washed Jesus' feet with her tears, dried them with her hair, and anointed them with ointment. How could she be so bold as to intrude into the residence of a monitor of righteousness? The contrast between her and others in ...

247. God Cares About Justice!

Exodus 20:1-21

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... anger, we do well to remember that, of all the places where Jesus could have pointed out injustice, he did it among those involved in "religious" endeavors - people like you and me. God cares about justice. Can we be angry? Angry enough to take up a whip, if needed, to try to bring some cleansing? We should be angry enough to do something about it. Jesus did. Remember, God cares about justice. Amen! 1. Bible Illustrator for Windows, diskette, (Hiawatha, IO: Parsons Technology, 1994) 2. John Killinger, To ...

248. A Terrorist among the Twelve

Luke 6:12-16

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... nailed on crosses along the roadside. As Jesus walked among the hills of Galilee, as a young boy, He saw those crosses, (2000 of them by one reckoning), and so knew perfectly well what He was talking about when He spoke to his followers about taking up a cross to follow Him. Although the revolt was crushed, the Zealots went underground, and their frustrated members became ever increasingly more violent. When the Temple fell in 70 A.D., one of the reasons for the weakness of its defense is that the Zealots ...

249. Living in the Red

Galatians 6:11-18

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... how we will live. In today's epistle lesson, Paul wants Christians to understand something very basic: We don't get to choose whether to take up a cross or not. We all must suffer for the faith in one form or other. To witness means to suffer and suffering is one ... carry. What we do get to choose is where those marks get branded. I get calls all the time from people who want me to take up their cross. And sometimes I look at the cross they're carrying, and it seems like a lot less of a burden to bear than ...

250. Of Mice and Men

Hebrews 10:11-18

Sermon

King Duncan

... the universe has decided our sins will never be held against us. Hundreds of years before, Isaiah the prophet wrote, “Wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight; stop doing wrong. Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow. “‘Come now, let us settle the matter,’ says the Lord. ‘Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like ...

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