Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 2876 to 2900 of 4997 results

Drama

Robert F. Crowley

... Noble? You flatter me. \nNEBUTH: No. There's no time for it. I do not flatter you. I \ntell you what I truly see in you, what you have taught me. \nAURANT: Then tell me this -- why is weakness an important thing \nto teach? \nNEBUTH: Because the kind of weakness ...\nAURANT: And my failure ...\nNEBUTH: Yes, and your failure, too ... is of God.\nAURANT: I don't think ...\nNEBUTH: Let me finish. God is all-powerful, isn't He? And we \nare human, and therefore not powerful. Well, then, it is in our \nnature to ...

2877. Take Up Your Cross

Mark 8:31--9:1

Sermon

Harry N. Huxhold

... not appear to be attractive when Jesus talks about self-denial, losing one's life, and being able to turn one's back on an "adulterous and sinful generation." If this is the nitty-gritty of our faith, where are we going to find people to make that kind of commitment? Jesus would reply that we had better do so, if we do not want to lose everything. The Hard Facts The reason that the disciples had a difficult time accepting the prediction of our Lord's passion is that they were basically selfish. That is the ...

2878. Which Way To Jesus?

John 12:20-36

Sermon

Harry N. Huxhold

... the city with his entourage. The previous Sunday the people had given Jesus a stirring welcome and applauded him with the kind of acclamation normally reserved for a king. The excitement put a glow on the city and the company of Jesus in ... law of God. But now how do we follow him into death? We all know we are going to die some day. But how do we die the kind of death of which Jesus speaks? Jesus made that possible. In baptism we already have experienced our own funeral. In baptism we have been put to death ...

2879. The Spice of Death

Sermon

Harry N. Huxhold

... at this time. That was not important at the moment. They knew they had to do these things for Jesus, who had taught them to live life differently than they had learned to live. They also knew that the life they had been living was the kind of lifestyle that led people to do the kind of thing they did to Jesus in the name of the law, righteousness, and God. They were acting with a newfound freedom that enabled them to do this good thing for Jesus. If this appeared to be the sign of a lost cause, it was the ...

2880. Easter Power

John 20:19-23, John 20:24-31

Sermon

Harry N. Huxhold

... or force. The first definitions of power have to do with the possession of control, authority, or influence over others. There is a whole battery of synonyms for power that describe power as the ability to direct or restrain others. We, of course, confront that kind of power daily in our vocations in working with others, in our homes, regulating the lives of our family, in all organization of life all the way to the ruling of nations. We also know how some people have the natural gifts for applying power ...

2881. Last But Yet First

Mark 9:33-37

Sermon

George W. Hoyer

... order to be last, you must give others a place in front of you. This is important to realize if you are interested in reaching first place. For Jesus here says, "Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all." Realize also that, given the kind of world we are part of, the people whom you must permit to go before you will be a mixed bag, indeed. You can't pick and choose, because that would mean the discards would be behind you. They would become last. They would really be taking the place ...

2882. Love And Money

Mark 10:17-31

Sermon

William G. Carter

... says, "We are breathing," in spite of the fact that breath is coming and going all the time.4 That haunting whisper can be heard in a lot of homes. A quiet voice says, "There must be more money," even though money is coming and going all the time. Two kinds of people want more money those who don't have it and those who do. Either way, the gospel calls our priorities into question. Jesus loved a rich man as he loved nobody else. When he invited him to follow as a disciple, the man turned and walked away ...

2883. All Stirred Up

Luke 10:38-42

Sermon

Richard Patt

... are saying is something we rarely say outright, that we actually welcome a degree of stress in our lives. Right! Let's not make the six-letter word "stress" a four-letter word. Stress needn't be all negative. A lot of it can be positive, producing the good kind of adrenaline that opens the road to abundant creativity and achievement. And who doesn't enjoy achieving? For most of us it's a need we love to fulfill. That's the way it could have been for Martha. But she forgot who it was she had invited! The ...

2884. It's OK To Stir Up God

Luke 11:1-13

Sermon

Richard Patt

... join in and pray aloud with the minister as those familiar words are intoned, "Our Father, who art in heaven...." Prayer itself, and the Lord's Prayer, can be a sustaining habit. Along with this thought, is it not true that most of us require some kind of structure in the practice of prayer? The prayers that others have prayed can give structure and content to our own prayers. Go ahead and pray the Lord's Prayer. Its author is the most exquisite teacher the Church has ever had! And how about the treasure ...

2885. The Fear Of Taking The Plunge

Luke 12:35-48

Sermon

Richard Patt

... earlier in the same chapter. Admittedly, when he was talking in those instances about putting things away for the future -- storehousing -- he was viewing the practice in a slightly negative way. But along with the idea of total faith in God, are there not positive kinds of storehousing you and I could be doing, so that we are prepared to meet some of the future occasions of life? How about this matter of growing old, for instance? We could better meet the challenges of an aging body by being careful not ...

2886. Clever Christians

Luke 16:1-15

Sermon

Richard Patt

... sounded, as though, after all, he was an experienced worker and could get another job in a snap. No, we do not hear that kind of talk at all. Immediately he asked himself, "What shall I do...?" He committed himself to immediate action. He shifted gears instantly until ... nor should they function in the church for profit motives or selfish gain. But they should be committed to the kind of resourcefulness often employed in business circles for profit and gain. Lest we think this observation of Jesus is outdated ...

2887. Nobody Owes You Anything

Luke 17:1-10

Sermon

Richard Patt

... we are getting along and making a living we ought to feel grateful and satisfied. If we are successful in the enterprise of life, we need to remember that we would be nothing without the nurturing that came from parents, from other relatives, from teachers and kind friends. Indeed, most of us only "get by with a little help from our friends." The whole universe, and our role in it, is a fantastic divine mystery for which we can take absolutely no credit; so every day ought to be Thanksgiving Day -- a time ...

2888. People With Power To Forgive

John 20:19-23

Sermon

Maurice A. Fetty

... to forgive me. Since I hardly knew them it felt like the familiar line we so much dread, "We're from the government, and we're here to help you." Most of us agree it is the kind of help we can do without. Likewise, I felt the forgiveness of those strangers was the kind of presumptuous forgiveness I could do without. I didn't like the judgment it implied, especially a judgment from ignorance. Nonetheless, there is an implied judgment in both offering forgiveness and receiving it. To accept forgiveness is ...

2889. The Silence Broken, The Bride Restored

Isaiah 62:1-12

Sermon

Robert A. Hausman

... with loud, unending reminders. Such a bold, importunate faith may seem to us to be presumptuous, but it is the kind of faith which Jesus applauds. A Canaanite woman who continually implored Jesus on behalf of her demon-possessed daughter was commended ... the washing of water by the word, so as to present the church to himself in splendor, without a spot or wrinkle or anything of the kind -- yes, so that we may be holy and without blemish (5:25b-27). Like Israel, we ran from the Lord, but the Lord never let us ...

2890. Named And Claimed

Isaiah 43:1-13

Sermon

Tony Everett

... I care about them?" or, "I'm not going to get close to anybody; I will just be rejected anyway." We have all heard phrases like this echoing deep within our psyches. You know, it's just this kind of self-protection that often keeps us on the fringes of life, sadly watching others risking and enjoying. It's kind of like being a backseat driver in the tunnel of love. Of course, being last chosen for a game of kickball in the third grade is not at the core of every negative feeling we have about ourselves ...

2891. What Money Can't Buy

2 Kings 5:1-27

Sermon

Carlyle Fielding Stewart

... could not buy this valuable information. All the money in the world could not have compelled this servant girl to come forward with an answer to the suffering of a fellow human being. Naaman no doubt would have gladly paid for such, but it was the kindness and goodness of a servant girl that would change his life forever. Valuable information is traded for large sums of money in the world marketplace of ideas every day. People often give their lives to receive a cure for disease or affliction. One man spent ...

2892. A Christian With A Conflict Of Interest

Isaiah 5:1-7

Sermon

James McLemore

... placed my temple nearby so that I could receive the fruit of my labor when you served me in my temple. But when it came time to taste the sweetness of your attitude, the kindness of your words, the joy of your spirit, it turned out that you were not very sweet after all. Your attitude was bitter, not sweet, and your words were harsh and not kind. Your spirit was mean and not joyful. You looked like God's people, you even said the words that God's people should say, you sounded like God's people. But when it ...

2893. Lent 4

Psalm 32:1-11, Joshua 5:1-12, 2 Corinthians 5:11--6:2, Luke 15:1-7

Sermon Aid

William E. Keeney

... Lent. The parable of a father and two sons is about the seeking of God to have right relationships with people. As people prepare for the Easter events they may use the parable to examine their own relationships to God. The parable poses the question of what kinds of attitudes and behaviors alienate us from God and cause grief akin to that of a father who finds his hopes for his children unfulfilled. People can ask themselves how they can better respond to a God who gave his special son that the people in ...

2894. Proper 12

Psalm 85:1-13, Colossians 2:6-23, Hosea 1:1-2:1, Luke 11:1-13

Sermon Aid

William E. Keeney

... our real needs. 3. Is God a Reluctant Giver? The parable would seem to indicate on first reading that God is reluctant to respond to prayer. The host who had the unexpected midnight guest had to persist and raise a ruckus before the neighbor responded. Is that the kind of God Jesus prayed to? We should not allegorize the parable by trying to identify each of the characters. A true parable has a single point to make and that is the case here. It is the host who was insistent in his knocking and asking and ...

2895. Prepared Servants

Luke 12:35-48

Sermon Aid

William E. Keeney

... be ready to receive the master whenever he chose to return home. A wedding feast was often used as a symbolic representation of the kind of joy experienced in the kingdom of God. 5. "He Comes and Knocks." (v. 36) Jesus does not force entry into a life as ... servant. One of the major themes of Jesus' ministry was that his lordship was characterized by servanthood. This image is of a different kind of master than the normal one. 8. "At What Hour the Thief was Coming." (v. 39) One perhaps needs to be careful with ...

2896. Proper 19

Psalm 14:1-7, 1 Timothy 1:12-20, Jeremiah 4:5-31, Luke 15:8-10, Luke 15:1-7

Sermon Aid

William E. Keeney

... -conscious beings. The exceptions are made when something of higher worth is affected by the existence of some being of lower worth. Thus the woman dependent for her livelihood on the silver of the coin may make it of more worth than a sheep. 3. Different Kinds of Loss. If we include the lost sons, then we have three different types of loss. The sheep goes astray because of its lack of attention to where it was going. It was lost because of its own negligence, although the shepherd had some responsibility ...

2897. Proper 22

Luke 17:1-10, 2 Timothy 1:1-2:13, Lamentations 1:1-22, Psalm 137:1-9

Sermon Aid

William E. Keeney

... may be another question. One can think of other ways in which faith is shown. It can be in armed forces for security. It can be in a particular political order. It can be in the pursuit of pleasure or the attempt to retain youth, a kind of seeking physical immortality. All people express their faith. It is more important how their lives reflect where their faith is located than whether or not they have faith. 2. Confessions of Faith. The disciples asked Jesus to increase their faith. He did not give them ...

2898. The Limits Of Love

Luke 4:14-30

Sermon

Charles H. Bayer

... got him in trouble -- specifically the illustrations. He used Old Testament stories to make his point, but they were not the popular stories -- the good-old-boy tales -- people love to hear. We all want our preachers to tell us how much God loves us and our kind. Have you sung "God Bless America" recently? We are not quite as enamored of hearing about how much God loves our enemies. It was not that long ago anybody returning from a visit to the Soviet Union might be snarled at just for suggesting that faith ...

2899. When Your Nets Are Empty

Luke 5:1-11

Sermon

Charles H. Bayer

... material resources most of us would say are essential. But God has used them in the cause of justice and peace and the physical survival of our world. They are living witnesses to what it means to fish in deep water. Most of us will not take that kind of step. But each of us can decide that there is more to life than we have found, and that to follow Jesus means deeper water, more risk, new paths. Andrew, Peter, James and John left their nets to become fishers of men, disciples, apostles, martyrs and saints ...

2900. Getting and Giving

John 13:31-38

Sermon

Glenn E. Ludwig

... without tripping. Let us practice this step in the marketplace." And so they did. To their surprise, they saw many people in the marketplace in need of one thing or another. They gave a little grain here or a bartered good there or an act of kindness somewhere else. Each time they gave, they found their hearts no longer skipped quite so anxiously. At the end of the day, their baskets were considerably lighter -- but so were their hearts. When the emperor and empress saw how the young prince and princess had ...

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