Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 3526 to 3550 of 5000 results

Exodus 20:1-21

Sermon

... . But more important, his conscience has experienced a great deepening. His actions are placed in the world but are subject to the will of God ... In the midst of a life disjointed by all sorts of selfishness and lies, he is in search of a primal innocence which marked it at the beginning before man set himself at odds with God. The Christian is able to say, "Jesus Christ is the Holy One of God. There is no other who is completely holy in the eyes of God. My righteousness comes from him and from him alone ...

3527. Round Trip to Bethlehem

Ruth 1:1-22

Sermon

... such as visiting a veterans’ hospital a couple times a week to play cards with a man who is permanently hospitalized. This man attempts to keep his covenant with God, with his wife and children, and with other people whose lives he is able to touch. Infidelity is the mark of one man’s life, but fidelity is the measure of the other man’s whole being. Maybe he knew the Naomi-Ruth story and some of it rubbed off on him as part of his Christian heritage. So Naomi and Ruth went their way and made it safely ...

3528. A Day For All the Saints

Revelation 7:9-17

Sermon

... gone so far as to "manufacture" saints, and this has happened more than once. But that is not the way God operates. Surely, he welcomes martyrs with open arms, but he causes the very gates of heaven to be flung wide open to receive any and all who have been "marked with the cross of Christ forever" in baptism and have clung to the faith given them by God. It is God’s forgiveness, that is renewed every time we come to the Table of the Lord, as well as on every occasion that we die in him by repentance and ...

3529. The Starting Line

Hebrews 12:1-13

Illustration

Welcome to the starting line! Strange words perhaps with which to welcome you to church this morning. But the words are really quite appropriate for the occasion. You've seen races run: the runners line up, and someone fires a gun or says, "On your mark, get set, go!" In Hebrews 12:1-2, we read: "Let us lay aside all the weights, and the sins which beset us, and run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus..." Here this morning we start out on a new week of living. Here ...

3530. Beginning A Healing Ministry

Sermon

... In biblical times olive oil was considered to be the best medicine of the age. We remember how the Good Samaritan anointed with oil the wounds of the man who had been beaten, and how the apostles "anointed with oil many who were sick and healed them (Mark 6:13)." In the healing service, people are anointed so that they may fully experience the power of prayer united with medicine. We receive this instruction from James in the New Testament: "Is any among you sick? Let him call the elders of the church, and ...

3531. Real Strength

1 Corinthians 1:18--2:5

Sermon

Harold Warlick

... and strength. He directed the Olympic Games in Los Angeles. He saw Carl Lewis, the wrestlers, the weightlifters, all of them. As commissioner of baseball, he worked with all three major television networks. He has seen Jose Canseco, Roger Clemens, Dwight Gooden, Mark McGuire, Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, Dave Winfield, Hank Aaron - all of them. He ought to know real strength if anyone does. Peter Ueberroth stood in Kenan Stadium in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and gave his answer to thousands of people. The ...

3532. The Cracking Point

Mark 12:1-12

Sermon

Harold Warlick

... with the Pharaoh. When Pharaoh tried to own something that wasn't his and God cut down the innocent children, the cracking point came when humans tried to be like God and take over. The last parable Jesus ever told points to God's cracking point (Mark 12:1-12). After Jesus told this parable, his enemies finally ganged up on him. The record states, "The scribes and chief priests tried to lay hands on him at that very hour." All the top level Jewish brass were in agreement. This prophet from Nazareth ...

3533. Repairing Your Broken Dreams

Luke 24:13-35

Sermon

Harold Warlick

... will triumph even if it is not immediately evident. Sometimes it is important for us to back up from our particular experiences, hurts, angers and pressures to reflect on the grand design of things, the larger issues. Perhaps that is why the first gospel, Mark, was not written in finished form until almost 100 years after Jesus died and rose. Perhaps only then could the early church feel strong enough to assert that the design of love holds, stands, triumphs for all generations over the design of darkness ...

3534. Christ’s Life: His Righteousness

Isaiah 51:1-16

Bulletin Aid

... , you are merciful in allowing us to be partakers of your righteousness through your Son’s death for our sins. May we realize that by allowing Jesus to work through us we can accomplish deeds whose results won’t last merely for ages but for eternity. Instead of making our mark on the world, we can make it on the universe. You are so gracious towards us.

3535. The Christian Life Consider Jesus

Hebrews 12:1-13

Bulletin Aid

Call to Worship Leader: Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles and run with perseverance the course marked out for us. Congregation: May we run straight for you, Lord. Let us drop the petty jealousies, unfounded prejudices and sin, which so easily discourages, as we behold your majesty. Leader: Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set ...

3536. The Church

Galatians 6:1-10

Bulletin Aid

... someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself or you may also be tempted. Women: Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. Men: We do not press towards the mark alone. We must help one another along, one brother’s weakness being offset by another’s strength. Youth: One day we bear others in prayer and deeds, tomorrow we may be borne by others. Leader: If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives ...

3537. God's Good Gift

John 7:39

Children's Sermon

... allowed to do because you are not old enough to do it. (Bring out the ballot box.) Do you know what this is? (Let them answer.) It is a ballot box and you use it when you vote. (Show them a ballot.) This is a ballot. It is where you mark whom you vote for. If you want to vote for the President of the United States you must be eighteen years old. You must be that old to vote for congressmen, or the mayor, or almost anything to do with government. There is a special age you must be before ...

3538. The Nearest Hand

Luke 10:25-37

Sermon

... God took that hand and touched the stricken traveler in the ditch. Jesus said of himself, "The Son of man came not to be served, but to serve." (Matthew 10:28) He said of us who follow him, "Whoever would be great among you must be your servant." (Mark 10:43, 45) When God touches people he takes the nearest willing hand and uses that. This is one of the basic outgrowths of the Christian faith. When we forget that basic principle some dire consequences result. One such consequence is that we fail to see the ...

3539. The Master Has Come - And Is Moved With Compassion

Matthew 8:1-4, Mark 1:40-45

Sermon

... the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her and said to her, ‘Do not weep.’ " Jesus restored the young man’s life. Then, once when Jesus was preaching in Galilee, a leper came up to him and said, "If you will, you can make me clean." Mark reports, "And Jesus, moved with compassion, put forth his hand, and touched him, and said to him, ‘I will; be clean.’ " Everything Jesus did was rooted in this compassion - the pain of love. His words - the stern words, the comforting words, the healing words, the ...

3540. The Master Has Come - To Face Jerusalem

Mark 11:1-11

Sermon

Thomas A. Pilgrim

... these visitors from out of town had been captivated by Jesus back up there in Galilee. They had heard him, and had witnessed the things he did. So, now here he is, on what would become, not a day of glory but merely the prelude to a day of infamy. (Mark 11:1-10) The Master has come - to face Jerusalem. And, his facing Jerusalem always brings about a time of decision, for that is what Palm Sunday means: a time of decision. I It was a time of decision for Jesus. It was a moment of truth for the Master ...

3541. At Table With The Lord

Drama

... good to those who despise you. I have seen you minister unto and comfort those whom the world has rejected. I marvel at your compassionate words, your great works, and the challenges you put before us, but it is your constant and abiding love that has left a permanent mark on me. It changed me. It taught me to love and care. You are truly the Light of the world and the Word of Life. Thank you for coming into my life. Hymn: "My Jesus, I Love Thee" (Lord Jesus, I Love Thee) Narrator: Before this night is over ...

3542. The Miracle Comes at the Breaking

Luke 24:13-35

Sermon

Various Authors

... of his father’s heart. And the father said simply, "My own little child."3 I’m sure that’s what our Heavenly Father wants to say to you and to me today. We come, knowing that we are broken. Sin and the ravages of daily life have left their marks on our minds, our spirits, and our psyches. We look at the majesty of God and the purity of our Lord Christ and feel that we have no right to approach such perfection. But then we encounter the miracle of the breaking. "This is my Body," our Lord says, "which ...

3543. More Real Than Food

John 6:25-59

Sermon

Carl Jech

... ’ feet and a long discourse on a variety of topics, ending with the observation in John 16:25 that Jesus had been teaching everything in metaphors, in figures of speech. There is, however, clear imagery of drinking the blood of Jesus in Matthew and Marks’ accounts of the upper room: "Drink of it all of you; for this is my blood of the (new) covenant." Following tradition it is certainly appropriate to present the cup to one another with the words "The blood of Christ." Surprisingly, the most blatant ...

3544. Managing Our Memories

1 Corinthians 11:17-34

Sermon

Leonard W. Mann

... before. She answered, "I distinctly remember forgetting that!" I just love the spirit of that, don’t you? 3. In the third place, it is important in the management of our memories that we practice remembering the right things at the right times. It is a mark of personal discipline to be able to call up from the past that which will be most helpful in the present moment. When we confront decisions, when we encounter temptations, when we must choose which way we will go - it is important what we remember ...

3545. The Sermon in the Supper

1 Corinthians 11:17-34

Sermon

Edward Chinn

... on the eastern wall of their homes and their meeting places. This cross was not simply put on the wall to remind them of the sufferings of Christ which had happened in the past. On the contrary, the sign of the cross was placed on that particular wall to mark the East from which Christ was expected to come again in power and great glory. Christians in later times would forget the original reason why the cross was placed on the east wall. They did not know that it was an emblem of the future from which "the ...

3546. Full or Empty?

Colossians 1:19

Children's Sermon

... the farthest distance because we have the most gas that the car can hold. The Bible tells us that Jesus was full also. He was full of God. If there was a gauge on people that told you how much of God was within them, you would have seen Jesus marked with a big "F." No one has ever been so filled with God. The best person in the world did not have what Jesus had. Jesus was filled with God and that is why he could dO what he did. He could forgive sins against the Father in heaven. He ...

3547. Repentance

Matthew 3:1-12

Sermon

One of the towering marks of this age is the absence of guilt. Not many people would deny that startling fact. Some are pleased that guilt has been dethroned; others see it as a bad sign. The absence of guilt is one of the reasons that it is difficult to talk about repentance. If there ...

3548. The Poor in Spirit

Matthew 5:1-12

Sermon

... , "Blessed are those who know they don't have it all put together. Blessed are those who are not certain and yet keep questing. Blessed are those who are uncertain of themselves and yet seek certainty. Blessed are those who know that they have missed the mark and yet keep trying to find a better way." The acceptance of spiritual poverty is the prelude to blessedness. In 1961, a group of students from the Vanderbilt Divinity School took a field trip to visit the Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemane, a Trappist ...

3549. Where Are the Lilies Now?

John 20:24-31

Sermon

Gary W. Houston

... his life. What if this appearance of Jesus was a case of deception or mistaken identity? He could not risk being hurt once more. After being told that Jesus was alive, he said: "Unless I see in his hands the print of the nails, and place my finger in the mark of the nails, and place my hand in his side, I will not believe." I can identify with Thomas. Maybe some of you can as well. We want to see God face to face and then believe! Our faith, at times, seems so fragile. I remember as a small boy ...

3550. Studying under the Greatest Teacher

Matthew 10:1-42

Sermon

Gary W. Houston

Robert Frost’s first assignment for a class of teachers was to read "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County." This was Mark Twain’s famous story about a frog that lost a jumping contest because he had been pumped full of quail shot. When the class next assembled they were mystified because they did not understand what this story had to do with a course in education. Frost patiently explained to them ...

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