Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 351 to 375 of 1230 results

Mark 10:13-16

Sermon

Thomas Peterson

... do not move us along to a destined goal. Life is just one big distraction. We can appreciate the sayings, “I’m just running around in circles,” and “You run around like a chicken with its head cut off.” A Kingdom is out there. It is an ideal Kingdom. In it all is grand, free, and just. People are loving there, eager to see everybody bring all talents and skills to fruition. Every member is held to be of great value and lives accordingly. Such a Kingdom seems a dream world, a fantasy land; but, if ...

352. The Temptations Of Christ And Our Temptations

Matthew 4:1-11

Sermon

Mark Ellingsen

... in the depth of our being? Jesus faced three temptations that time in the wilderness. What was the first temptation? To command the stones to become loaves of bread. It is hardly a temptation that we face. Or is it? Are not those of us with high ideals, the reformers among us, tempted by this one? In Jesus' case, the temptation was that he should devote the bulk of his ministry to social and economic reform, not to spiritual matters. Is there not a temptation for thoughtful, caring Christians like us in the ...

353. No One Enters The Kingdom… Save With Empty Hands

2 Samuel 5:1-5

Sermon

Richard Hasler

... a line of succession that lasted for more than 400 years. It was from David’s line that the Jewish people later expected a Messiah. No one is hallowed more than David in the Hebrew tradition. Despite his human failings, he is still considered the ideal king. Christians have high regard for David, too, but we tend to see David in relationship to “a greater David,” namely Jesus Christ. One day Madeleine L’Engle was shown a color photograph of an icon, probably from Armenia which pictured King David in ...

354. Are You Asking The Right Questions?

Zechariah 7:1-14

Sermon

Richard Hasler

... time during the day for nothing else but the adoration of God. For some the best time may be early in the morning before the frantic pace of the day overwhelms us. For others the close of the day when the world prepares for sleep is the ideal time. For still others it may be noon or some other stopping-off-place during the course of the day that serves their lifestyle best. No particular time is sacred in itself. The crucial point is that adoration becomes central in our living. Adoration is the beginning ...

355. Where You Go — I Will Go.

Ruth 1:1-22

Sermon

Robert A. Kramer

... love that makes two come together as one. The love poem from Paul’s letter to the Corinthians emphasizes patience, kindness, non-irritability, control of jealousy, boasting, arrogance, resentfulness. These are all qualities of interaction between persons. As ideals they confront us with objectives to grow in graciousness, respect, mutual supportiveness. Our need for divine forgiveness accompanies our aspirations that somehow the climate of our love will nurture the growth of these qualities among us. The ...

356. What Christmas Is About

Isaiah 9:1-7

Sermon

Robert Beringer

... in this world. 3. Everlasting Father Isaiah used a third name for the one who was to deliver Israel - the name Everlasting Father. That term literally means, "one who constantly cares for his children." Please understand that we are talking about an ideal father who truly loves children. There are some fathers who can in no way be compared to God for they are unloving, selfish and insensitive. But when Jesus called God, "Father," Jesus was describing a very personal, intimate relationship with a parent ...

357. At The Name Of Jesus

John 12:12-19

Sermon

Theodore F. Schneider

... the time of the king's arrival. This was surely their day. The king has come, and with him, the kingdom. The Misunderstood King Since at least the eighth century B.C.E., the prophets had promised and the people had looked for the coming of an "ideal ruler." The name "messiah" at this stage was a generic one that meant "anointed." Every king of Israel was anointed by God and given authority to rule over God's people. The hunger was for a righteous king of the Davidic line who would lead Israel to worldwide ...

358. From Rooftop to Valley and to Heaven Again!

2 Samuel 11:1-27

Sermon

Donald Zelle

... that seldom joins in the confession of sins, liturgical or informal. There is something wrong in the home where there is no confessional. Christians ought, first and foremost, to be supportive people to those who confess their sins. A well-known hymn holds before us the ideal: We share our mutual woes, our mutual burdens bear, and often for each other flows the sympathizing tear. Wouldn't the church be a much greater power in the lives of people if we could admit to one another, "I am a continual liar; I am ...

359. Perfect Strangers

Exodus 1:1-22

Sermon

Justin Tull

... week. Some have crossed the border, some have crossed the Mason Dixon line, some have come from another country, another culture. Some will seem a threat to us, some will be delightful to us. Some will be different. Some will share our background and ideals. But if we follow our Christian calling and welcome them all, then we have the possibility of becoming one people and being strangers no more. Never again will we be nobodies. Never again will we be imperfect strangers. Never again will we be totally ...

360. Delivery Room

John 14:1-4

Eulogy

Richard F. Bansemer

... to remind each other where persons go after they leave the delivery room? After a day or two, the family goes home.That's what this community was for ____________. It was home, and it is this sacred little spot that was her last goal, her highest hope, her ideal. Like the rest of us, things haven't been exactly the way she would want them to be, but hear this gospel carefully: there is a place promised her by her Lord even better than this place. It's not another delivery room. It's Home, with a capital ...

361. Step Nine - Discipline

Mt 5:21-26 · Eph 4:25-32 · Num 5:5-10

Sermon

John A. Terry

... repentance. One part of the good news is that we do not have to pretend we are something we are not. God loves us as we are. The other part of the good news is that with God's help my life can be better. This is not some religious idealism unconnected to our real world. The gospel is realistic. Anger is a common emotion, and one we can all understand. A capacity for anger is simply something God gave us. The God of this Bible is a God who gets angry. The prophet Isaiah (54:8) brings us God's ...

362. So You Want To Go To Bethlehem, Do You?

Luke 3:1-20

Sermon

Johnny Dean

... restore comfort to them" (Isaiah 57:18). Advent is a time to set aside the myth that each of us can live however we want to live with no consideration of the consequences of our actions. It’s a time to realize that "independence" is NOT the ideal we should encourage our children to pursue, but "INTER dependence," the reality that our lives are inseparably connected with all God’s children everywhere on this planet. It’s a time to understand that we live in a world that is governed by one simple moral ...

363. So You Want to go to Bethlehem, Do You?

Mark 1:1-8

Sermon

Johnny Dean

... comfort to them" (Isaiah 57:18). Advent is a time to set aside the myth that each of us can live however we want to live with no consideration of the consequences of our actions. It’s a time to realize that "independence" is NOT the ideal we should encourage our children to pursue, but "inTER dependence," the reality that our lives are inseparably connected with all God’’ children everywhere on this planet. It’s a time to understand that we live in a world that is governed by one simple moral ...

364. The Invisible God?

Colossians 1:15-23, Colossians 1:1-14

Sermon

Johnny Dean

... God, the firstborn over all creation." We didn’t elect him to that position; he was placed there by God, and through Christ God has "delivered us from the dominion of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His Beloved Son." In human affairs, democracy may be the ideal. We don’t know for sure – it’s never really been tried. But in the spiritual realm, only a God who rules over all will do. And so we sing, "All hail the power of Jesus’ name," and "Joy to the world, the Lord is come. Let earth ...

365. The Crowing of a Rooster

Matthew 26:31-35, Matthew 26:69-75

Sermon

Wallace H. Kirby

... while, Oliver goes out looking for her and finds her on the front steps of a classroom building. In a very moving and touching way, Oliver apologizes to Jenny. She responds, "Love means never having to say 'I'm sorry!' " That is a nice-sounding ideal. I'd like to believe it, but I don't. The human personality makes recognizing and acknowledging our hurtful behavior important, even necessary. Saying, "I'm sorry," is a beginning. There is a little island in the Mediterranean Sea located to the south of France ...

366. The Dynamics of Doubt

Sermon

Ron Lavin

... advocated is a watered-down faith that suggests that doubt is wrong and that a Christian is a mild-mannered, pious-sounding, ever-smiling, happy, cheerful and totally unrealistic dud. If you read the Bible, you discover the superficiality of that kind of ideal. The apostles all doubted, and argued and struggled for top spots and fought and were faithless ten times more often than they were faithful. We have been encouraging a phony belief in belief. No wonder some young people laugh at the incredible and ...

367. He Who Has Ears to Hear, Let Him Hear

Luke 8:1-15

Sermon

Larry Powell

... delivers us from our prejudices and selfish interpretations; a perspective which is not shaped by current events, sensationalism, fads, or novel approaches. It is based in biblical tradition, the life of Christ, and in the mind of God. Some people say Christianity is an ideal, and not a practical, workable way of life - but then, I suppose it is all in how you look at it. PEANUTS AND PAUL I have forgotten now which of Charles Schulz's "Peanuts" characters it was, but one of them was humorously portrayed ...

368. They Recognized Him

Luke 24:13-35

Children's Sermon

Brett Blair

Exegetical Aim: To teach that we need God's assistance to see. Props: Prescription eye glasses and an eye chart (the chart can be hand drawn). The ideal situation is to use the glasses that one of the children may be wearing. If you have an optometrist in your congregation ask them to participate and bring an actual eye chart. Lesson: Good Morning! (response) I want to ask child's name with glasses--we shall call her Gladys ...

369. Peace as Shalom

Sermon

Alan Bacon Bond

... your career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortune of time. Exercise caution in your business affairs; for the world is full of trickery, but let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals and everywhere life is full of heroism. "Be yourself, expecially do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love; for in the face of acridity and dis-enchantment it is as perennial as the grass. Take kindly the counsel of years, gracefully surrendering ...

370. Six Nails of the Cross II: The Nail of Infidelity

Matthew 26:47-56

Sermon

Wesley T. Runk

... virtue, highly valued among believers. The writer of Proverbs said, "A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born of adversity." The desire of everyone is to make each friend a brother or sister, and, while there is little hope of attaining this ideal, the failure to make an attempt is wastefulness and shame. To call someone our brother or sister is to put into words what our Lord desires in action. There is a story about the conversation held one day between the body and the shadow. The shadow ...

371. Giving Away the Store

Luke 22:7-38, John 13:1-17

Sermon

Carl Jech

... real, and real effort must be put forth in order to defeat it. As we observed at the beginning of this lenten series, the struggle to do the will of God is difficult and requires strength in more ways than one. In 1910 G.K. Chesterton wrote, "The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and left untried." Yet challenging as it is to do the will of God, it can be an even bigger problem to discover what the will of God is in the first place. Religious and moral people ...

372. Divine Liturgy, Divine Play, Divine Comedy

John 13:31-38

Sermon

Carl Jech

... created man in his image ... and man returned the compliment!") The great philosopher Plato, however, went to the opposite extreme of not valuing our human symbols and forms enough. He thought of everything in this world as nothing but a poor copy of the ideal thing (a chair, for example) in the mind of God. Since an actual chair is just a poor imitation of the "idea of chairness," it is not particularly valuable or important. For Plato, a painting of a chair was particularly useless and valueless because ...

373. Becoming What You Are

John 14:15-31

Sermon

Carl Jech

... continue the process of living. The peace offered by Jesus has to do with life, with the never-ending process of becoming. In a sermon titled "A New Vision," Dr. E. Howard Satterwhite of Trinity United Methodist Church in Alexandria, Virginia, compared the ideal of a Christian community of love, with a marriage in which the romance has faded, the honeymoon is over, and the relationship has become a labor of love requiring simple tenacity, "hanging in there." Describing his vision of Christian love at close ...

374. This is My Son, Listen to Him

Luke 9:28-36

Illustration

James Garrett

... . I hear you are sick.” “O yes, very sick." “Can you talk about it?” “Sure. What would you like to know?” “What’s it like to be only 24 and dying?” “Well, it could be worse.” “Like what?” “Well, like being 50 and having no values or ideals, like being 50 and thinking that booze, and making money are the real ‘biggies’ in life.” “But what I really came to see you about,” Tom said, “is something you said to me on the last day of class. I asked you if you thought I would ...

375. Don't Just Stand There! - Get Involved!

Luke 3:1-20, Matthew 6:19-24

Sermon

Dr. John Thompson Peters

... in the conviction that life has lasting meaning, that what we do here has significance because our lives are commitment linked with the creative purposes of God. One of the great dangers of our age is that with no great cause the iconoclasts have destroyed ideals one after another, with no great God to believe in, as the skeptics have dashed age-old beliefs to pieces, that man's natural hunger to commit himself, will turn inward to destruction as it has again and again. WILL HISTORY REPEAT? The average age ...

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