Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 276 to 300 of 1354 results

276. Look How You Listen

Mark 6:14-29

Sermon

George W. Hoyer

... often and converse with him." But he left him in prison. One cannot be saved even by much listening (Acts 24:24-27). Festus was the next governor, and he ordered Paul brought before his tribunal and invited King Agrippa and Bernice to sit in. When Paul defended himself and testified "that the Messiah must suffer and that, by being the first to rise from the dead, he would proclaim light both to our people and to the Gentiles" (Acts 26:23), Festus cut him short: "You are out of your mind, Paul!" And Paul ...

277. Can You See Where We're Going

Mark 10:46-52

Sermon

William G. Carter

... We begin to enjoy our own importance, or we protect ourselves from criticism, or we start believing we have seen it all. Whatever the case, our vision for life can grow accustomed to all kinds of distortions. Maybe we compromise ideals we once held dearly. Or we defend our tired opinions from any act of God. Or one day we wake up to discover we have become content to live without any dreams. And so the good news comes in the request, "Teacher, let me see again." In effect Bartimaeus said, "Lord, let me toss ...

278. Your Reflection In God's Mirror

Isaiah 1:1-31

Sermon

James McLemore

... clean." We need to be clean on the outside, baptized with the water of baptism. We need to be clean on the inside, baptized with the Holy Ghost. Isaiah has some good news for us. "Cease to do evil; learn to do good. Seek justice, correct oppression; defend the fatherless ... plead for the widow." After we have made ourselves clean, then God himself will clean us up. "Come, let us reason together," says the Lord. "Though your sins are as scarlet, I will make them as white as snow." You need to look at ...

279. The Blind Guiding The Blind

Psalm 92:1-15, Luke 6:46-49, 1 Corinthians 15:35-58, Isaiah 55:1-13, Luke 6:37-42

Sermon Aid

William E. Keeney

... to a seminary where he disagreed sharply with most of the Bible and theology faculty. He particularly disagreed with an Old Testament professor. He mastered the material with which he disagreed since he needed to pass the courses. He also went beyond so that he could defend his reasons for disagreeing. He felt he came out stronger than if he had gone to a seminary where he agreed with most teachings. 5. Advice to Leaders. The saying is that you better know where you are going for you might get there. Even ...

280. Lent 3

Luke 13:1-9, 1 Corinthians 10:1-13, Psalm 63:1-11, Isaiah 55:1-13

Sermon Aid

William E. Keeney

... Second Lesson. (1 Corinthians 10:1-13) Paul is writing to the church at Corinth after he gets a response to an earlier letter. In the previous letter he had rebuked the congregation for its wrong actions. He called for a change of behavior. He now has to defend his methods, for some questioned whether he was more severe when writing from a distance than he would be able to be when present in person. He insists on the integrity between his written words and his words when face to face. Gospel. (Luke 13:1-9 ...

281. Prepared Servants

Luke 12:35-48

Sermon Aid

William E. Keeney

... 's will. He sought to minister to the real welfare of his neighbors and to invite them to do likewise for others. When the disciples wanted to coerce others, such as bringing down fire on an unresponsive Samaritan village (Luke 9:51-56) or when Peter wanted to defend Jesus with the sword in Gethsamene (Matthew 26:51-52), Jesus rebuked them. They are called to servanthood, not to a coercive ministry. 4. The Thief in the Night. Does the image of the coming of the Son of Man as a thief in the night only have ...

282. Proper 24

Jeremiah 30:1--31:40, 2 Timothy 3:10--4:8, Luke 18:1-8, Psalm 119:1-176

Bulletin Aid

William E. Keeney

... it is accepted that that is the way you do business with public officials. We know nothing about the widow's opponent. We do not know if he or she was a person of influence or had already bribed the judge. The opponent is never described or appears to defend the actions against the widow. We are to assume that the widow had a just cause. The righteousness of her grievance has no impact on the judge. He is self-centered and calloused. The logic of her case in no way moves him. He may have considered the ...

283. The Valley Of Judgment

Joel 2:1-11

Sermon

Don M. Aycock

... no more demand for stone carvers. That phrase -- the end of the line -- bothers us. Let us work and pray together that for us individually and as a nation this is not the end of the line. God has called us into the valley of judgment. Can we answer and defend ourselves? Not really. Our one chance is that the Galilean carpenter who goes with us everywhere can change our hearts. Really now, isn't that what we are after on this Ash Wednesday?

284. God's Most Unmistakable Message

John 20:1-9

Sermon

Don M. Aycock

... not care about justice. Their apathy drove the spikes while neglect held him down. The seventh and final group was the soldiers. They squelched their individual consciences simply to do as robots and perform as programmed. Some government officials break the law, and defend themselves with the plea, "We were just obeying orders." But feelings do not die easily, nor are our consciences put to sleep by a lying lullaby. Maybe that is why the soldiers tried to occupy their time by gambling for Jesus' clothes at ...

285. Why Be Good?

Luke 6:37-42

Sermon

Charles H. Bayer

... , someone who never heard of my God comes along and is kind, gracious and forgiving to me, even while I call him a pagan -- or worse. It is true in our homes. If there is some domestic quarrel -- perish the thought -- who among us will not defend our position to the death? But our homes survive, most of them, because we learn to forgive each other and accept each other for what we are. Even the Lockhorns stay hitched because between cartoon sketches they must somehow forgive each other. Forgiveness must be ...

286. Light In The Land Of Shadows

Isaiah 9:1-7

Sermon

Harold Warlick

... full of dollars, blaming faceless, nameless enemies for a lack of progress. Ours is not a peaceable kingdom. One out of every nine jobs in the United States is related to the Department of Defense. More than half our national budget is related to defending ourselves in a world of war. A kind of spiritual gridlock develops when significant numbers of Christians decide it is easier to blame evil than to make a clear proclamation that the light has come to brighten the dark places. Sometimes this spiritual ...

287. Forsaking All Others

Joel 2:1-11

Sermon

Paul W. Kummer

... " and murdering is "uncontrolled, but justified anger." What used to be called perversion is now called an "alternate lifestyle" and self-indulgence is now defined as "self-fulfillment." Impatient people are forgiven as only being "time conscious" and the divisive person is an "active defender of the truth." And what used to be murder of an unborn baby is now called "choice." No wonder God is upset. No wonder God demands that we change our ways. We can't be married to him and play the field at the same ...

288. To Have And To Hold (Your Tongue)

Acts 10:23b-48

Sermon

Paul W. Kummer

... and then backstab our sister or brother or use profanity directed at "that stupid driver" ahead of me the next? Where's the hope for our speaking habits? First, we must learn and receive strength from Jesus, the One who kept his mouth shut and didn't even defend himself when accused at his trial. Our hope is in the cross and the open tomb of this Easter season and the One who conquered both. He forgives wayward tongues and empowers us always to speak the truth in love. The hope is hearing Jesus' tongue say ...

289. Seeds And The Kingdom

Mark 4:30-34, Mark 4:26-29

Sermon Aid

William E. Keeney

... were mistaken both in the place and the way the kingdom was to come. They decided MÅnster was the place and that they should take over the city. They forced those who did not agree to leave the city. When it was attacked by opposing forces they defended it with weapons as they prepared to receive the kingdom. Instead, they were defeated and the attempt ended in disaster. Their fall smeared other peaceful efforts to live the pure Christian life and led any who did so to be suspected of going the way of the ...

290. Whose Work Is It?

Luke 21:5-38

Drama

Pamela Urfer

... have struggled alongside Paul and the rest of us in the work of the gospel. We need you to be of one mind. EUODIA: Yes, I see how important that is. CLEMENT: Good! Now, Euodia, tell Syntyche what's bothering you. EUODIA: She already knows. SYNTYCHE: (Trying to defend herself) I don't ... EUODIA: She knows that I haven't been feeling very well lately ... SYNTYCHE: I can't ... CLEMENT: Syntyche, let Euodia talk. EUODIA: And yet she keeps asking me to do more and more. I'm so tired. It's not enough that I have ...

291. Whose Work Is It?

Philemon 1:1-7

Drama

Pamela Urfer

292. Let's Live

Isaiah 1:1-31

Sermon

Richard L. Sheffield

... then and people who "still don't get it now." Actually I think we do get it; we just don't get around to getting it done, do we? Living as God says to live? God says: "... Cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow" (Isaiah 1:16-17). (If you don't) "What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices?" (Isaiah 1:11). Don't just pray about it, do something about it. Do what you pray and do not pray for what you will not do ...

293. Week One Of Lent

Sermon

Richard Gribble

... a passage on reconciliation, but one that at first reading might sound confusing. We are all familiar with many examples in the Scriptures where Jesus is seemingly quite lenient in his attitude toward the sinner. There are several examples of how Jesus defends the disciples (or even Himself) when they break the sabbath law. We know well the story of the woman caught in adultery and how Jesus shows no condemnation. Jesus even forgave those who participated in his agonizing and shameful death on the cross ...

294. Time Out

John 12:1-11

Sermon

Robert Beringer

... was at work in Milan on his famous painting of the Last Supper. Da Vinci spent many hours meditating in the chapel of the monastery where he was working. The monks resented these "idle periods" and accused the artist of wasting time. But da Vinci defended these periods of reflection by saying, "When I pause the longest, I make the most telling strokes with my brush."2 3. A Place Of Spiritual Renewal Perhaps even more important than rest and reflection, Jesus found in the simple home in Bethany a place ...

295. The Witness Of Caiaphas The High Priest

Drama

Dann J. Ettner

... 'mocking of us, our dignity, our laws. He upset our practice ofthe Temple sales of animals and exchange of coins for the worshipand called it a cleansing of His Father's House. I could no longer turn a deaf ear to His teachings. Was I nota defender of the Law and the guardian of the Temple inJerusalem? I could see how all of that would have been destroyedif Jesus and His ever-growing band of disciples continued to gounchecked. Suppose that group had foolishly decided to take onthe authority of the Roman ...

296. Week Three Of Lent

Sermon

Richard Gribble

... 25, 34-43Matthew 18:21-35 Agents Of Reconciliation Few people today would question the statement that Augustine of Hippo was one of the greatest saints who ever lived. Augustine was a bishop, a great theologian, a prolific writer, and certainly a defender of the faith against the Pelagians and the Donatists. Augustine was a great Christian and through his ministry, life and writings has become the vehicle by which many have come to conversion and greater faith. Augustine, however, only came to his Christian ...

297. Climbing Rainbows Through The Rain

Genesis 6:1-8:22

Sermon

R. Robert Cueni

... soaked in juices and baked in the oven of his California home.1 When those who take the Bible seriously and literally are made to look foolish, controversy is underway. At one extreme, those of a secular persuasion have their suspicions confirmed. CBS defended itself by claiming that they bought the program as entertainment and not as a documentary. Therefore, the program did what they wanted it to do. On another part of the opinion spectrum, those who take the Bible seriously, but not necessarily literally ...

298. Emmanuel: An Advent Dayenu

Matthew 1:18-25

Sermon

Mark Radecke

... Isaiah describes: "Refuse the evil and choose the good"? And how do we teach that skill to our children? How do we help them develop moral gyroscopes that spin in a direction consistent with the gospel? If the freedom to make choices is worth defending, then the morality of the choices people actually make is worth debating. If our neighbors would have us believe otherwise, would have us deny that there are morally inferior and morally superior choices, then we are in a situation not dissimilar to that of ...

299. The Shepherd And His Flock

John 10:1-21

Sermon Aid

William E. Keeney

... read this for persons seeking solace and comfort in such situations. For Christians, the image of Jesus as the shepherd would help them to personalize the care and support of God. Putting it all Together The sheep is a very vulnerable animal. It has no weapons to defend itself. It is also not a very bright animal. If it is separated from the flock and on its own, it can get lost. In the hilly country of Palestine, it could easily get into a situation where it would be stuck. It could fall over a precipice ...

300. Christ the King

Psalm 100:1-5, Ezekiel 34:1-31, Ephesians 1:15-23, Matthew 25:31-46

Sermon Aid

William E. Keeney

... among the saints. It claims that the resurrection is confirmation of the rule of Christ both in this age and the age to come. Gospel (Matthew 25:31-46) Christ returns in glory with all the angels. He holds court with all the peoples as defendants. He separates them as a shepherd would separate sheep and goats. The criteria is their service or lack of it for the poor, oppressed, captive and needy as representatives of him. The sheep are gathered into the kingdom. The goats are sent to eternal punishment ...

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