Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 2776 to 2800 of 4957 results

2776. Christian Maturity

1 Corinthians 3:1-23

Bulletin Aid

James Wilson

... we have allowed ourselves to become involved in the childlike bickering and petty divisions that would divide the Body of Christ. Forgive us, Lord, and help us to mature and develop the wisdom to know when to stand firm and when to extend the same freedom of opinion we would claim for ourselves. In Christ we pray. Amen. Hymns "Morning Has Broken" "Jesus, Keep Me Near The Cross" "I Surrender All"

2777. Journey to the Cross I: Jesus And The Demon-Possessed Man

Mark 5:1-20

Sermon

James W. Moore

... want to feel good about yourself? Do you want to like yourself more? Do you want to stop bruising and hurting yourself? Do you want to be at peace within? Then remember this: “You are special to God. He loves you! You are extremely valuable to Him! He claims you as His child!” If you ever doubt that or wonder about that, recall the story about the old man who was brought to a hospital emergency room late one evening, an apparent mugging victim. He looked like one of the homeless. He was ill-clothed and ...

2778. Journey To The Cross VI: Jesus And Pontius Pilate

Matthew 27:11-26

Sermon

James W. Moore

... ... and so often, so do we. By present day standards of success, Jesus wouldn’t measure up so well. He was born in a stable. His mother was a peasant girl; His father a carpenter... had little formal schooling... wrote no books... held no offices... claimed no political fame. He traveled very little... He taught, but many scoffed at His teaching. His closest friends betrayed Him. And then almost before the story got started, He was nailed to a cross like a common criminal and put to death. That doesn’t ...

2779. A MIRACLE AWAITS YOU EVERY DAY

Illustration

John H. Krahn

... when you first walk in the door. Why? Because a blanket of daily anxieties, fears, depressions, problems, and difficulties were temporarily lifted while you were away. During his annual physical, a friend of mine was shocked to learn that he had a disease which would claim his life in less than a year. A month later, the doctor realized he had made a mistake in his diagnosis, and my friend, Art, was told he would live. Although the doctor’s error caused many negative feelings during the month after the ...

2780. DEATH: THE SAD CELEBRATION

Illustration

John H. Krahn

... then loses, they grieve because they first loved. Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection is still the most important news for humankind. With the empty tomb, death was put to death. Jesus now gives each of us the possibility of an eternal lease on life. We simply must claim his promises for our lives. I like to think of life as a long hallway with a door at each end. We have all gone through the first door called birth. Someday we will all pass through the second called death. For each of us the hallway is ...

2781. GRASSHOPPERS

Illustration

John H. Krahn

... fashionable thing" to be a Christian. Christians are speaking less and less about their faith, and when they do, they speak in apologetic terms. We are becoming as grasshoppers in the world when God is calling upon us to be spiritual giants. Every person who claims Jesus Christ as Lord is God’s personal representative to this generation. Each of us must feel personally responsible for sharing the Good News with others. If we don’t tell them, they may never hear it. It is not possible to be a Christian ...

2782. PRACTICING THE PRESENCE OF GOD

Illustration

John H. Krahn

... describes himself fully in his Holy Word. Our God is just that, our God - one we have fashioned after our own likeness. Our God is not tolerant of the foibles of others, only ours. We are like the little girl who was busy painting a portrait of what she claimed was God. When the mother pointed out that nobody knew what God looks like, the girl said, "They will when I’m finished." That’s cute with children, but can be tragic with us. Moses knew what life with God was all about. It was a life with meaning ...

2783. THE WEDDING LICENSE - A SCRAP OF PAPER?

Illustration

John H. Krahn

Absurdity abounds when two people claim that they can live together more meaningfully without being married. More than one young person has said to me, "But a marriage license is little more than a scrap of paper." That’s right. But wait. Aren’t some scraps of paper important? Sure, a wedding license is a scrap ...

2784. The Agony and Ecstasy of Sight

John 9:1-12

Sermon

Richard Hoefler

... problem Jesus faced when he declared himself to be the "Light of the world." He had to deal with people who possessed a built-in blindness to all he had to say. In Chapter 8 just preceding this story of the man born blind, Jesus made the fantastic claim in the presence of the Pharisees that he was the "Light of the world. Whoever follows me will have the light of life and will never walk in darkness." To the Pharisees this was a real shocker! Like men blind from birth, this new vision Jesus was presenting ...

2785. A Daughter of Jacob

Matthew 15:21-28

Sermon

Richard Hoefler

... term, "little pet dog," separated this woman out from the general classification of all other Gentiles. As a neighbor to the Jews she had lived among and close to them; therefore, she was different from the ordinary Gentile. Because of this closeness, she feels she has some claim to a few crumbs of grace that fall from the tables of the Jews. She wants to be let into the Kingdom not as a child of God, but as a dog who cleans the floors. This interpretation has great appeal and would certainly make for an ...

2786. A SERMON-DRAMA FOR EASTER

Drama

Tom Eberle

... problem for me. As I was taught the Christian way I understood how different it is from all others, and the way I myself had lived. Severus: But as your husband I can testify that you were the Maria I loved even before you found this new way you claim is so different. Maria: Maybe even husbands do not know the inner thoughts of their wives. You always want to talk about being either good or bad. But what I want to say is the difference between backward and forward, closed and opened. What had to die within ...

2787. Are You Exercising Your Faith?

Mt 4:1-11 · Phil 3:12 · Gen 32:3

Sermon

Robert Noblett

... the temptations, and at the end of his long night’s struggle, Jacob declares: "I have seen God face-to-face, and I am still alive ..." (Genesis 32:3d, GNB) We could point just as easily to St. Paul who denounces in Philippians, "I do not claim that I have already succeeded or have already become perfect. I keep striving to win the prize for which Christ Jesus has already won me to himself." (Philippians 3:12, GNB) In all three instances there is a dynamism at work, a dynamism that produces fruit. If ...

2788. Are You Under Arrest?

Heb 5:11-13; 10:39

Sermon

Robert Noblett

... department and who are nevertheless arrested in the most profound of senses! That is to say that they have ceased growing on one or more fronts. So far have they gone and no further will they go! What’s more, many so frozen go one sad step further and claim to have arrived at the plateau of truth for all times. Around their understanding of the truth they plant a wall and from that wall doggedly defend what they take to be the truth’s final word. In a sense people like that arrest themselves! It is this ...

2789. The Circus and My Faith

Ps 139 · Mt 22:37

Sermon

Robert Noblett

... individual’s use of it bears testimony to his or her love for it. Our love of life and our love of the One who has given us life is revealed as we move in and capitalize on the possibilities of that life, including the possibilities to which we lay claim through our ability to think. Gerald Cragg once commented in this vein to a class graduating from Andover Newton. Said Dr. Cragg, "Dry rot of the mind is one of the perils of the ministry."1 It is that; but it is no less a peril encountered as one sits ...

2790. The Therapy of Song

1 Samuel 16:14-23, Exodus 15:1-21, Psalm 5:1-12

Sermon

Robert Noblett

... not only the benefit of release, but also the gift of relative contentment. Quite mysteriously and yet nonetheless effectively, the harmonious sounds of both vocal and instrumental music soothe the frayed spirit and impart a sense of well being and encouragement. The same claim can be made for Dawson’s "There Is A Balm in Gilead." The song itself is the balm! Second, it affirms. The regular act of affirmation is always important, but particularly so, it would seem, in our day. So many forces are at ...

2791. The Un-Parade

Matthew 16:21-28, Luke 19:28-44

Sermon

Robert Noblett

... to face. He was a man on a mission with a sense of urgency. And more of us need a sense of purpose. Louis Kronenberger has described our age as one of "all signpost and no destination," and looking around it is frightfully easy to substantiate that claim. When I was young my mother used to tell me about gypsies and all I have ever known about gypsies is what she told me, so my knowledge about them is hardly broadly based. She left me with the impression, though, that gypsies were largely wanderers - people ...

2792. Leah

Genesis 49:29--50:14

Sermon

Warren Thomas Smith

... youngest daughter of Laban water the sheep. For this, he is permitted to kiss her. Little wonder that Jacob fell in love with beautiful Rachel, or that she loved him in return. Soon, marriage terms were set up whereby, for seven years’ work, Jacob could claim the hand of Rachel. All seems to go reasonably well until time for the nuptials. Leah, elder daughter of Laban, proved to be the problem. What was to be done with an unwanted older sister, bereft of suitors? Genesis describes her, "Leah’s eyes were ...

2793. The Witch of Endor

1 Samuel 28:1-25

Sermon

Warren Thomas Smith

... , talked with a minister. Sweat poured down the youth’s face as in a frenzied torrent of words he told of his living hell. Suicide seemed the only way out, "You understand, I don’t want your help or your prayers. Why won’t the world leave me alone?" He claimed that God made him homosexual, and now society was out to get him. A youth was incarcerated for use of drugs. He wrote his pastor, "I have faith - both in God and man, and in myself - and I have tried to keep that faith even here in this place. I ...

2794. Habakkuk

Habakkuk 3:1-19

Sermon

Warren Thomas Smith

... feast. We see tables piled high with sumptuous dishes. Was this the story? Hardly. In truth, English settlers in Newfoundland proclaimed a Thanksgiving in 1578. In 1607, Popham Colony, on what is now the coast of Maine, held a similar observance. Virginia claims a very early Thanksgiving festival. The first harvest celebration by the Pilgrim Fathers was probably in October of 1621. ... our harvest being gotten in, our Governour sent foure men on fowling, so that we might after a more speciall manner rejoyce ...

2795. Joseph

Proverbs 10:1-32

Sermon

Warren Thomas Smith

... , lamps, vineyards, seeds? Can a boy really come to adulthood without the close acquaintance of an understanding, compassionate older man? Sometime during these years, Joseph died. Legend fixes the date at A.D. 18 or possibly as late as 27. One story claims that Mary and Jesus were at his side when death came. Narratives, obviously without foundation, have crept in regarding Joseph’s grave and even his physical translation to heaven. These pious tales can be dismissed, along with accounts of relics his ...

2796. We Want Freedom

Matthew 4:1-11

Illustration

Barbara Brokhoff

Humans are always declaring their freedom, wishing for more "space," announcing that they belong only to "themselves." We want to be free from the enslavement of the kitchen, or from confinement of a job we don't like. Airplane companies claim to set us free, and medical companies says the same. There are deodorant companies which promise to set us free from the worry of underarm wetness and odor; a certain toothpaste declares we can be set free from dull teeth. Then we are promised freedom from pain by ...

2797. A Matter of Life and Breath

John 20:19-23

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

... We have already seen that the Spirit comes with the Word, and the Word constitutes a sacrament with an earthly element as an outward sign. This brings us to the logical conclusion to which many object: "There is no salvation outside the Christian church." This was the claim of St. Cyprian as far back as the 4th century. Luther in the 16th century taught it: "Outside the Christian church there is no truth, no Christ no salvation." And it needs to be preached and taught and lived in the 20th century, for this ...

2798. Can a Christian Go to Hell?

Matthew 7:15-23

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

... if we want to be obedient to God’s will then our great need is for faith. For true faith always expresses itself. Faith without an outlet is no faith at all. To get faith, we need more than a shallow "belief." About ninety-five percent of the American people claim they believe in God but not all these have faith. A college coed once said, "Sure I believe in God; I’m just not nuts about him." That kind of faith will not produce good deeds or obey God’s commands. The faith that results in practice is a ...

2799. Converting the Converted

Matthew 10:1-42

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

... Have you ever wondered why, with a church on almost every corner in America, so much evil abounds? In a country with approximately 120 million church members, 98 million gamble, costing $5.1 billion per year. In a land where seventy-one percent of the population claims to belong to a church, more than 20,000 people are murdered every year. In a so-called Christian nation how do you account for the fact that each year employees steal $50 billion worth of goods from their employers? Is there not something out ...

2800. The Cross Way of Life

Matthew 10:1-42

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

... was put to bed and finally her father at great length explained all the reasons why she should remain in bed. Finally she said, "Oh, Daddy, why don’t you just make me?" Even children seem to know the value of discipline more than parents. It is claimed that discipline in our public schools is at its lowest ebb in the history of the school system. Competition is frowned upon because it is supposed to be damaging the child by creating pressure. Grades are bad because they are hard on the child’s ego. The ...

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