Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 351 to 375 of 3099 results

Romans 8:28-39

Sermon

Robert G. Tuttle

... in this stance and turns back to faith as the true center of life: In 1921 I believed ... that science produced an objective knowledge of the world, which is governed by deterministic laws. The scientific method seemed to me superior to other more subjective ways of forming a picture of the world - philosophy, poetry and religion; and I even thought the unambigious language of science to be a step toward a better understanding between human beings. (By the 1950s, however) I believed none of these things The ...

352. Binding Up the Fractured World

1 Corinthians 3:1-23

Sermon

Hubert Beck

... to us against us as a perpetual reminder of our fallenness. It is portrayed by Paul in Romans as itself "standing on tiptoe" (to use the paraphrase of J. B. Phillips) waiting for its own redemption, "for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of him who subjected it in hope." It is spoken of as "groaning in travail together until now," waiting for the new birth of God’s returning and the renewal that shall accompany that glorious event. (Romans 8:18-22) The ravages of ...

353. Dessert in the Desert

Deut 32:10-12 · Ez 37

Sermon

Robert Noblett

... again in order to appropriate the Kingdom, he must have been noting children’s imaginativeness, their ability to work with a subject and stretch it for all it’s worth. This is what I see missing often in our adult religious lives. I ... ’s faith inducing; that’s easing, as we carry and work with our doubts. Let me recount for you the vision of the prophet Ezekiel. The subject of the vision was the exiled community of Israel. Ezekiel saw the people as dry bones in his vision. The hand of the Lord was upon ...

354. It Takes Two to Preach!

Matthew 13:1-23

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

... is possible to have a closed mind and heart. You can sit in church and look up to the pulpt and say under your breath, "I dare you to change my mind." You can say, "Don’t preach to me because I already have my mind made up about that subject." You can be smug and self-satisfied, and even feel that you know it all. There is a Flat Earth Society which believes that the earth is flat. Even when astronauts went to the moon and took pictures from outer space showing the earth as a globe, they still do ...

355. While We Watch for the Coming

Matthew 24:1-35

Sermon

Jerry L. Schmalemberger

... and false leaders and discouragement. Jesus also speaks here of the "second coming." The New Testament doesn’t even use this word - the word it uses is "parousia" - this chapter is the only place it appears in the Gospels. It describes a king coming to his subjects. Here he says, "And this Good News about the Kingdom will be preached throughout all the world, for a witness to all mankind; and then will come the end" (Matthew 24:14). There are a lot of ideas about the Parousia, the Second Coming; whatever ...

356. Fingertip Embalming

John 20:24-31

Sermon

Louis H. Valbracht

... belief in sacrifice, even of life, for human love, was there all the while. It sent him to his grave in a burst of faith. Thomas, however, wanted scientific proof, but there are no such proofs, not in the strict, scientific sense, because man is both the subject and the object. He is the tester and the tested. Don’t ever talk to me about purely objective science or a purely objective scientist. Poppycock! There is no such thing! he doesn’t exist! The term itself is sheer nonsense. How can a scientist be ...

357. Salvation as Personal Experience

Romans 9:30--10:21

Sermon Aid

T. A. Kantonen

... in objective terms. Salvation is the work of divine grace, centering in the atoning death of Christ on the cross and bringing about a change in the relation of mankind to God, a change described as redemption, justification, and reconciliation. We turn now to the subjective and personal aspect of salvation, to Paul’s answer to the question, "What must I do to be saved?" Faith When this question was asked by the Philippian jailer, Paul replied, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved" (Acts 16:31 ...

358. Your Image of Tomorrow

Matthew 3:1-12

Sermon

Leonard Mann

... there to see; it hasn’t happened yet; it hasn’t materialized or taken shape. But inevitably we form some image of what it’s going to be like, and we "see" it this way or we "see" it that way. And we are talking about a most important subject when we speak of our images of tomorrow. They can be quite unlike what tomorrow eventually turns out to be. Often we are very unfair to the future. We mistrust it; we mangle it brutally even before it issues from the womb of time. We borrow troubles that haven ...

359. Pilgrim Living in a Vagabond World

Matthew 7:13-14

Sermon

Leonard Mann

... conscience very much; they simply tone it down, shoot it with novocaine, recondition it, and make it parrot what they want it to say. A first lie may trouble the liar a bit; but after 10,000 lies, conscience doesn’t have much to say on that subject anymore. Actually, there is very little remorse among criminals. As the Apostle Paul put it, conscience may be "seared as with a hot iron" (1 Timothy 4:2). A conscience that is seared and insensitive is not a very dependable guide when one is trying to make ...

360. The Road To Emmaus

Luke 24:13-35

Sermon

Brett Blair

... and his brilliant decisions. The fourth person presented was an elderly woman. Everyone was quite surprised to see her there, because her manner was quite humble, as was her dress. She hardly looked the part of someone who would be honored as the greatest subject in the kingdom. What chance could she possibly have, when compared to the other three, who had accomplished so much? Even so, there was something about her the look of love in her face, the understanding in her eyes, her quiet confidence. The king ...

361. Christmas Concern

Sermon

James Bjorge

... called the "medicine of the person." He sees it his business to treat the patient who has a disease and not the disease which a patient has. In other words, the patient as a person is given priority. A teacher who teaches students a subject finds the subject matter important only as it enhances and enriches the student. A teacher can blindly teach material without caring one iota for the student. In such a take-it or leave-it style there is no concern and no relationship which makes for great learning ...

362. How Do You Like Yourself?

1 Peter 3:8-22

Sermon

Louis H. Valbracht

... popular author was explaining to Madame Distaow how it happened that he was such a prolific writer. "It’s quite simple," he said, "it’s just a matter of budgeting time." He spent so many hours, he said, before breakfast reading on a subject and so many hours after breakfast reading on another subject, so many hours writing and so many hours in research, and so on. But she interrupted him and asked: "Sir, may I ask you, just WHEN do you THINK?" Just WHEN do you THINK? May I ask you that? Tell me, when ...

363. Molehills and Mountains

Matthew 6:25-34, Mark 8:31--9:1

Sermon

Louis H. Valbracht

... of our lives - maintaining health. We’ve become, virtually a nation of hypochondriacs. Strickland Gilliams’ brief poem about man’s infirmities is titled "The Antiquity of the Microbes," and it says just about everything on the subject of microbes that needs to be said: "Adam had ‘em." That covers the subject, doesn’t it? Why all of the anxiety about holding the carcass together and keeping it operating in top form? And this is true of every phase of life. A housewife complained to me just this ...

364. Chapter II

Exodus 20:1-21

Sermon

Frank H. Seilhamer

... generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments." Exodus 20:2-6 Last summer I was invited to lecture to a group of faculty members at one of our large Southern state universities. The subject I was to speak about was the role of ethics in the Old Testament. The purpose of the sessions was to probe the place the Scriptures could have for helping a person to shape a pattern of life for today. The assumption, of at least the committee ...

365. Let the Son Shine in

1 John 1:5--2:14

Sermon

Michael J. Anton

... measuring our fellowship with God. We don’t really care too much for exams when it comes to our faith. We shy away from the subject. We plead a kind of spiritual fifth amendment, knowing only too well that anything we say might incriminate us. But John will not let us ... just aren’t supposed to feel guilty. We excuse guilt by tracing it all back to a paranoid father. We ignore the subject by pretending it does not exist in this enlightened age. But the reality of sin is easy to demonstrate. Look at the ...

366. RULER

Daniel 5:29

Illustration

Stephen Stewart

... someone who rules or governs, or who assists in carrying on a government. Although we associate this position primarily with inheritance, as in the case of England’s ruler, Queen Elizabeth, in the ancient world, this title was often bestowed by kings on their subjects as a signal act of honor. For example, Daniel was made ruler over the whole province of Babylon by Nebuchanezzar for interpreting a dream, and again made third ruler of the kingdom after interpreting the writing on the wall at the time of ...

367. The Kingdom of God Is a Party

Matthew 22:1-14

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... liberals. We must be people who hear each other respectfully, and when necessary, disagree without being disagreeable. Some years ago a man came to me to talk about joining the church. He said, "There is one subject I feel very strongly about, and I must be sure that this church agrees with me or I cannot join. That subject is abortion." I said to him, "Sir, if you are looking for a church where everybody shares one view on abortion, this is not the church for you. Our people have diverse views. But if you ...

368. Marriage is Forever

Matthew 5:31-32, Matthew 19:1-12

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... from our Lord about marriage and divorce: Even Divorce Is Covered By God's Grace. There are some persons here today who divorced years ago; some have remarried. You need to hear that word because you feel a pang of guilt each time you hear Jesus' words on this subject. Jesus once talked with a woman who had been married five times. He did not command her to go back and find her first husband and live with him, no matter how miserable they might be. No, Jesus met her where she was and helped her start a new ...

369. The Trinity

Matthew 28:16-20

Sermon

Brett Blair

... Pentecost, as we did last week, without mentioning the doctrine of the Trinity? Today is Trinity Sunday. This is a day that has been celebrated in the Christian church since the 10th century. It is on this occasion that ministers around the world address themselves to the subject of the triune God. Let me begin by saying that the doctrine of the Trinity does not attempt to explain God. It only explains to us in a very elemental way what God has revealed to us about himself so far. To describe the tip of the ...

370. Marriage: God's Idea

Genesis 2:4-25

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... say about Promise Keepers. NOW doesn't understand the biblical truth behind Promise Keepers. The men of Promise Keepers commit to love their wives as Christ loved the Church and gave himself for her. Promise Keepers believe in mutual subjection, of the type that St. Paul described when he said, "Be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ." Husbands and wives are not carbon copies of each other. No matter how hard a husband tries, he cannot be the heart of a home, the nurturing source, as a wife ...

371. God of Wrath and Grace

Genesis 6:1-8:22

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... we don’t even like to think about. We Methodists try to subcontract the message about wrath of God to certain other denominations which I won’t mention. We Methodists focus on the grace of God. But Methodists did not always avoid the subject of God’s wrath. John Wesley’s original invitation to membership in Methodism was simple: “Come all who wish to flee the wrath to come.” Of course, if we minimize one side of God’s character, our witness is whop-sided, and we do not declare the full counsel ...

372. Must Jesus Bear the Cross Alone?

Luke 9:18-27

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... the devil to forfeit our salvation, we must deny self and take up our cross daily. God is not content just to save our souls. He wants to make us holy. Though we were once good for nothing, He wants to make us good for something. So, He subjects our souls to His refining fire, to burn off all the imperfections and to make us as holy as He is holy. As Hebrews 12: 11 tells us, “Discipline always seems painful rather than pleasant at the time, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness…” Let ...

373. How to Handle Criticism

Matthew 11:1-19

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... no bartering. Whatever the price tag said, that was the firm price. As long as someone is talking about your house or your habits or your politics or your work, let it be like Israelis prices, open to negotiation and bartering, subject to diverse opinions. But when the subject is your fundamental worth as a person, let that be like Greek prices. It is non-negotiable. Let me suggest a second way to keep criticism from immobilizing you; sift each criticism for precious grains of truth, even as a prospector ...

374. Stewards of Creation

Genesis 1:1-2:3

Sermon

Jerry L. Schmalemberger

... sustained by hospital machinery. We’ll also want to consider the possibility of our lives continuing to have an impact on others and this ministry long after our physical death. You can see that there is a wide variety of subjects which are involved in being caretakers of all creation. Right now, the subject is "Stewards of Creation." I must begin by telling you about a Maxwell House coffee can. On the little farm in Darke County, Ohio, where I grew up, we had a spring house with a porch and a dug well ...

375. Who Knows?

Jonah 3:1-10

Sermon

Thomas D. Peterson

... time, the freshest and most exciting. Works of grace are preparing themselves and making themselves known to us at all times. Even now they are taking place within and around us, as silently and relentlessly as a Word. I am speaking of living in God’s time, subject to his possibilities. His Word is near, even as the breath we breathe, the wall against us. To sustain life we draw breath without question. Even so, we draw on the Word to empower and sustain us. I speak of the faith that justifies us, and it ...

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