Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 2701 to 2725 of 4977 results

2701. Restoring Our Sense of Priorities

Exodus 20:1-21

Sermon

Donald Macleod

... in an age of discipline, whereas today almost everywhere authority is suspect. The positive perspective points toward creativity, but discipline carries a freight of heavy-handed negatives. Mistakenly, many people feel that Christianity means only being against and they say they are not quite clear about what Christianity is for. 2. The Ten Commandments fall today on the deaf ears of a generation which no longer feels the claim of a moral order upon them. I would miss my guess if I thought the attitude of a ...

2702. Reviving Our Moral Responsibility

2 Chronicles 36:15-23

Sermon

Donald Macleod

... things a moral necessity to which we are held responsible. And we are irresponsible when we raise millions of dollars to cure disease, feed the hungry, house the homeless, and at the same time spend billions upon lethal weapons to destroy - whom? Well, we’re not quite sure. People criticize the Middle Ages and certainly they had their faults. But it was in a sense the age of Christendom. Its center of reference was God and the people’s response to this great reality is seen in the monuments of art and ...

2703. Beginning with Easter - Then What?

Acts 4:32-37

Sermon

Donald Macleod

... . And as we explore what occurred we discover what are really our spiritual needs and the key to their solution. 1. In the Easter experience is found the key to genuine community. This sense of community grew out of a peculiar fellowship quite unlike any religious phenomenon before or since. Certainly there were other groups and agencies at work in the world of their time: civic government was intact; philosophers were clustered as Stoics or Epicureans; commercial leaders got together over trade; and the ...

2704. Faith and Expectation

Acts 1:1-11

Illustration

Larry Powell

... initiation, but in the receiving of "power." It does not ordain anybody for, or against, the future but rather manifests itself in a spiritual experience in the present. An initiatory baptism is symbolically accomplished once, whereas the baptism of the Holy Spirit may occur quite unrehearsed many times over. The element of expectation is contained in the selected scripture by the phrase, "But before many days, you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit." 2. Acts 1:7-8: "It is not for you to know times or ...

2705. In Search of Self

Judges 2:6-3:6

Illustration

Larry Powell

... behind the bench wearing a black robe, pronouncing final decisions pertaining to legal disputes. When you and I hear the term "judge," we probably envision such a person as the one just described. However, the judges described in the Old Testament functioned quite differently. Judges were military leaders who were raised up by the grace of God to govern Israel in times of trial. Psalm 2:10 relates that they enjoyed parallel authority to kings. It has been suggested that they were similar to the American ...

2706. Song of a Shepherd

Psalm 23:1-6

Sermon

Gordon Pratt Baker

The author of the Twenty-third Psalm is quite possibly an old man who has lived the better part of a lifetime. In his day he may have been a shepherd. But now the years have siphoned his stamina. So he sits and reminisces on what used to be. And as he does so he observes another shepherd silhouetted ...

2707. A Season Of Joy

Luke 2:8-20

Sermon

Robert Allen

... , I was invited to teach a session at the United Methodist Women’s School of Missions in Oklahoma City. I was to teach in the School of Missions and stay in one of the dorms at O.C.U. I brought my son Jeff along with me, and he was quite small. That night as we were getting ready for bed, I helped him get into his pajamas, listened to his prayers, kissed him good night, and tucked him into one of the twin beds. Then, I turned off the lights and crawled into my own bed. In the silence, I ...

2708. The Gospel In Miniature

John 3:1-21

Sermon

Robert Allen

... Jesus Christ. III. The third theme presented is the promise of God. The promise of God is contained in that one phrase which closed out that verse like a mighty crescendo, "that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life." That is quite a promise - everlasting life. Too often we think of eternal life as something that is confered upon us when we are dead and buried and pushing up daisies. But eternal life is something we have right now and it continues through the experience we ...

2709. Five Minutes After Death

Revelation 21:1-27

Sermon

Robert Allen

... the beggar beside the road ... and to the animal hiding in its hole. But what happens to us after death? Are we like candles blown out in the wind? What happens to us after this life? I visited a young man who had suffered with a terminal illness for quite some time. He was in the hospital intensive care unit for well over 100 days. I suppose that he was hooked up to almost every machine known to medical science. His total existence during that 100 days was that small eight by ten room in the intensive care ...

2710. What To Give The God Who Has Everything

Psalm 50:1-23

Sermon

Erskine White

... from you." (This, by the way, is one example of how the new Bible translation [the NRSV] is much superior to the old RSV. The old Bible translates verse 9 of our text: "I will accept no bull from your house." Now, a phrase like that has taken on quite a different meaning in this day and age, so the new Bible reads, "I will not accept a bull from your house." Just one of the finer points of modern biblical scholarship I thought you might like to know.) At any rate, when God says that everything in heaven ...

2711. The Ultimate Christmas Gift

Psalm 85:1-13, Ephesians 2:11-22

Sermon

Erskine White

... harmonious state of being which is shared by all, to the point where war is not only impossible but even unthinkable. When most people speak of peace, they think of it as something to be won or created through treaties, alliances and so on. The Bible says quite the opposite: that all peace comes from God and comes only as a gift from God. "God will speak to His people," our text from Psalms says, and God has, indeed, spoken peace to us consistently through the ages, teaching us what Jesus called "the things ...

2712. When Is The Baby Coming?

Luke 2:1-7

Sermon

Erskine White

... go along. "The first child gets everything," she said. "You lay out the baby’s room, fill it with new clothes and make sure everything is ready months before that first child is born." "You still prepare for the second child," she went on. "But you don’t worry quite as much if the room isn’t ready on time, and the clothes are now ‘hand-me-downs’ instead of new. As the children keep coming, you prepare a little less each time. By the time you get to the fifth or sixth child," she said, "they are ...

2713. Can You Go Home Again?

Luke 2:3-4

Children's Sermon

Erskine White

... move on in life, you can’t go back and find your old home, your old school, your old friends or toys exactly as you once knew them. You will have changed, the people, places and things you once knew will have changed, and nothing will be quite as you remembered it in your younger years. We see this in the Christmas story, when Joseph and Mary traveled to Bethlehem, where their ancestors had lived. They went because a ruler named Caesar had ordered everyone to go back to their family’s hometown to pay ...

2714. Your Light Has Come

Isaiah 60:1-22

Children's Sermon

Erskine White

... right or wrong thing to do, we have the example of Jesus to show us the right. Learn the stories of His life. Learn the stories He told and the lessons He taught; talk to your parents about Him. The thick darkness which has covered the peoples no longer is quite so thick or scary, because now that Jesus Christ is in the world, we see that our light has come. Amen.

2715. Agony

Illustration

Louis H. Evans, Jr.

The Greek word translated race is agon, from which we get our word agony. It signifies a wrestling match or race where endurance and determination must overcome the aching desire to quit. In a race, such as the quarter mile, there are moments toward the end when the body cries out to let up. Pain starts in the calf and works up through the hamstrings to the gluteus maximus. At times it is so intense it feels like a burning fire. Agony ...

2716. Get Up and Finish the Race

Illustration

Gordon MacDonald

... then he crashed to the ground. In a race of that sort, a fall virtually guarantees that it will be impossible to win. And Jim Ryun must have known that as he lay there on the track. What were the options Ryun sorted through his mind in that moment? Quitting and heading for the locker room and a hot shower? Anger at having trained for so long for this event and now missing the chance for the gold medal? Self-pity over the seeming bad deal he’d gotten by being jostled in the pack? None of these, apparently ...

2717. We Know Jonah

Jonah 3:1-10

Sermon

Frederick C. Edwards

... his success, but he was also angry. You see, Jonah had not wanted to be all that successful. Despite his experience in the fish, and the fact the Lord had given him another chance, he had not changed a whole lot. He still nursed his prejudices, and would have been quite happy to see the Ninevites be destroyed after all. He even built himself a little shelter above the city so he’d have a ring-side seat when that happened. He even had more pity for the vine that grew up over him to shade him, and then was ...

2718. Wade In The Water

2 Kings 5:1-27

Sermon

Frederick C. Edwards

... time it resulted in an unreasoned fear that condemned its victims to pain far beyond the disease itself. I wonder what of his fame or power or fortune Naaman might have given just to have good health once again. I have sat by the bedside of quite a number of people who would have willingly bargained with anything at their disposal to regain their health. One man with lung cancer whispered, "I’d give anything just to be able to take a deep breath again." I’ve heard others wish they could give anything ...

2719. The Scandal Of Redeeming Love

Hosea 2:2-23

Sermon

Frederick C. Edwards

... to write poetry. The book of Hosea, as we have it, represents several of these poems which he may have written on the road, on marketing trips to Samaria and Jezreel. One often has a lot of time to think on a long trip. And Hosea had quite a lot to think about, considering the sad state of his home life, and the equally sad state of the nation. He apparently saw some striking similarities, and put his prophecy in the form of poems designed to call people back to their obligations of their covenant with ...

2720. Simon Peter: Strong Stone or Crumbling Clay?

Luke 22:54-62

Sermon

Carl E. Zahrte

... . I followed at a distance, and got inside the court of the high priest’s palace where they had taken him. I didn’t know what I would do there, but I was totally unprepared for what happened next. At first I just stayed in the shadows, but there was quite a chill in the air and the men had made a fire there, so I edged up to it. They were talking and joking about how easy it had been to capture Jesus, and how silly his followers had looked as they went scurrying off in ten different directions. Then ...

2721. Scapegoat

John 18:28-40

Children's Sermon

Carl E. Zahrte

Object: None Hello. We’ve got quite a group here. How many of you have been here last Wednesday and the week before? Okay. Not all of you were here all the time, but we’re glad you’re with us now. If anybody does not have one of these little banners, we still have some extras ...

2722. Pontius Pilate - Adamant, But Acquiescent

Luke 22:66--23:25

Sermon

Carl E. Zahrte

... fool. I had not achieved that office as prefect of Judea by chance. My superiors had recognized my skill in the service of Rome, both as a commander of armed forces and as an administrator. I had always been intensely loyal to the emperor and used my talents quite well on his, and my, behalf. I took advantage of the resources available to me, to secure my position, and to preserve the peace for Rome. I had been in Palestine for about seven years by then and continued in my office for about three more, even ...

2723. The Centurion - Arranging Death, Announcing Life

Mark 15:33-41

Sermon

Carl E. Zahrte

... Jesus was like those lambs, being led to slaughter, innocent, yet silent. Still I didn’t have much time to think about it, because Pilate had made his decision and I had my orders to carry out. As a centurion, I had a hundred well-trained soldiers under me, and quite a few of them had been in my outfit for some time. Like me, they had seen blood flow on many different occasions. Yes, the sight of suffering and death was nothing new to me. I had seen men die in battle, and I knew how to use the sword ...

2724. Paul - Persecutor, but Participant

1 Corinthians 10:14-22

Sermon

Carl E. Zahrte

... apostle, a participant in the body of Christ. How would you describe yourself? Are you a persecutor or a participant? Perhaps that sounds like a strange question for me to ask, because I suppose that just about all of you are members of tue church, and probably quite faithful, too. And that can be a great blessing. But just joining in worship week after week, and trying to live by all the rules you believe are so important, can become something of a trap, too. It can happen that way, when you start to think ...

2725. The Covenant Of Amazing Grace

Genesis 9:1-17

Sermon

Durwood L. Buchheim

... a new garden of Eden. People are not magically transformed into goodness. We are still sinful. Sin has brought changes into God’s creation with which we still have to live and contend. But God loves us! The great hope here is that God has not quit on us or on creation. God still rules. God’s promises and commands still hold. God remains lovingly concerned about us and the world we live in. After the flood (judgment), humanity is permitted to begin anew, with new promises and blessings. The first sign of ...

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