Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 3901 to 3925 of 4999 results

Luke 2:41-52

Sermon

King Duncan

... . Please go easy on the criticism; remember, you can criticize the things I do without criticizing me. Please give me the freedom to make decisions concerning myself. Permit me to fail, so that I can learn from my mistakes. Then someday I'll be prepared to make the kind of decisions life requires of me. Please don't do things over for me. Somehow that makes me feel that my efforts don't quite measure up to your expectations. I know it's hard, but please don't try to compare me with my brothers and sisters ...

3902. Three Deadly Words

Jeremiah 1:1-19

Sermon

King Duncan

... alone expulsion. It was genuine motivation, esteem, admiration. Mike became, in the words of the superintendent, "one of the best surgeons" in the land. (3) All Mike needed was someone to offer a word of encouragement ” to tell him what he might be. Many of us need that same kind of encouragement. We need a friend who will say to us, "Don't say, `I'm only this' or `I'm only that.' I've got great plans for you." We have such a friend in God. He sees possibilities within us we never dreamed possible. If we ...

3903. What Are You Sitting On?

Jeremiah 16:1--17:18

Sermon

King Duncan

... . All they had in the world when they married was their love for each other and their faith in God. What kind of opportunities were available to such a couple? Would they become wards of the state? Not on your life. They heard ... . We believe He has given us everything we need to achieve our dreams. All we have to do is trust Him and venture out boldly to live the kind of lives He has called us to live. No more sitting on our tickets. No more sitting on our fortunes. No more sitting on our hands. We are ...

3904. The Secrets Of His Success

Genesis 45:1-28

Sermon

King Duncan

... Of Our Lives, Potiphar's wife, a wealthy lady with too much time on her hands, sought to lure Joseph to her bed. Joseph is described in Genesis, by the way, as "handsome and well-built." Joseph's response to her attempted seduction is indicative of the kind of person he was. "With me in charge," he told her, "my master does not concern himself with anything in the house; everything he owns he has entrusted to my care...My master has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then ...

3905. Searching For A Lost God

Romans 9:30--10:21

Sermon

King Duncan

... atheist found the Lord. Asked to explain his conversion, Muggeridge said he could resist all the great books and all the great sermons. But when he saw Mother Teresa in Calcutta with the poor, he said, "If this is it, I've got to have it!" That is the only kind of evangelism that will work in today's world. This brings us to the last thing to be said this morning. IT FOLLOWS AS NIGHT FOLLOWS DAY THAT IF WE TRULY BELIEVE WITH OUR HEARTS THAT JESUS IS LORD, WE WILL WANT EVERYONE ELSE TO BELIEVE, TOO. When you ...

3906. Our Damascus Road Experience

Acts 9:1-19a

Sermon

King Duncan

... WHEN GOD IS DEALING WITH US AND TO RESPOND. There are very few problems in life that God doesn't give us some kind of warning about. That's true in our marriages, with our health, in our business and in almost every area of life. Chuck ... ministry for each of us. God got Saul's attention. Is God trying to get your attention? Most of us won't have the same kind of experience St. Paul had. Why? Because God works according to our needs and our experiences. GOD WILL GIVE SIGNS, HOWEVER, TO THOSE WILLING TO ...

3907. Empowered

Acts 2:1-13

Sermon

King Duncan

... thing ” his lost little girl. He had only one prayer and he prayed it a thousand times: "Oh God, help me to find her." (4) May I say to you that the church of Jesus Christ will never be what God intends it to be until we have that kind of passion for reaching out to the world outside these walls. When we have the passion that the early church had for introducing boys and girls, men and women, to the Man from Galilee, we will discover a power we never dreamed possible. Pentecost is about empowerment ” a ...

3908. Who Are You Trying To Impress?

Galatians 1:1-10

Sermon

King Duncan

... is a paradox. The harder you try to impress people, the sillier you become. If you seek to impress God, you will eventually make the kind of impression you desire on people. Consider with me one final parable. Just imagine that a man is given a present by one of his ... who try to impress the world and forget that their primary audience is God. If we impress God, we will become the kind of people who impress the world. Everybody has somebody they want to impress. And there are people we should want to impress ...

3909. Change Is Possible

Galatians 1:11-24

Sermon

King Duncan

... 's why every follower of Jesus ought to have in mind a picture of the Master. I don't mean his appearance, but the kind of man he was. His gentleness, his patience and acceptance, but also his willingness to stand for his convictions. His willingness to lay down ... that is a key to a changed life. We can change if we want to. We can change if we have a mental image of the kind of person God created us to be. MOST OF ALL, THOUGH, CHANCE COMES WHEN WE SURRENDER OUR WILL TO GOD. Perhaps St. Paul was ready for ...

3910. Freedom's Year

Galatians 3:26--4:7

Sermon

Wayne Brouwer

... never truly free until we are fully possessed by Christ. Ian Maclaren tells the true story of a young woman in his book, Beside the Bonnie Briar Brush. She's raised in a Christian home, but she wants to find her freedom. And so she goes. And she finds the kind of life she thinks is free. She gets for herself all that she's ever desired. But the getting's never enough. And what she possesses begins to possess her. Now she doesn't even know what it means to be free. One day she decides to go home. When ...

3911. One Thing Is Needful

Luke 10:38-42

Sermon

Arthur E. Dean Windhorn

... a short span. The brain strain and the heart pain; The catnaps till the spring snaps and the fun is done. I know, that sounds kind of cynical. But there's lots of truth in that poem. An article in the magazine, PSYCHOLOGY TODAY, had this to say: "In the ... and a time to speak." There's a time for everything. The tough part is keeping it all in perspective. How to you achieve the kind of wisdom that avoids "making mountains out of mole hills and mole hills out of mountains"? Have you ever been in a hurry and ...

3912. When Heaven Rejoices

Luke 15:8-10, Luke 15:1-7

Sermon

Timothy J. Smith

... of the Lost Sheep reminds us of our mission to reach out to welcome sinners into the life of the church. This brings us to one final truth. FOR THE NINETY-NINE FAITHFUL THERE IS JOY IN BRINGING LOST PERSONS INTO THE LIFE OF THE CHURCH. That's the kind of church Jesus means for us to be ” a church where there is a joyous commotion every time someone who has been outside the church's fellowship makes his or her way home to the Father's house. Jesus told another parable. A woman had ten silver coins, but ...

3913. Setting The Record Straight

Luke 20:27-40

Sermon

King Duncan

... 3) You and I have much to look forward too. Heaven is more beautiful than we can ever imagine. Humorist Garrison Keillor in his delightful descriptions of the people in his fictional hometown of Lake Wobegon tells how difficult it will be for some of us to deal with that kind of perfection. He writes, "My people aren't paradise people. We've lived in Minnesota all our lives and it took a lot out of us. My people aren't sure if we'll even like paradise: not sure that perfection is all it's cracked up to be ...

3914. Hope For The End Times

Luke 21:5-38

Sermon

King Duncan

... alone. In times of need we receive help from beyond. Thus we persevere. This brings us final thing to be said. FOLLOWERS ARE NOT TO SIT BY AND DO NOTHING WHILE WAITING FOR CHRIST'S RETURN. While we wait we have work to do. What kind of work? All kinds of work ” loving work, encouraging work. Let me give you an example. Douglas Maurer, a fifteen-year-old from Creve Coeur, Missouri, had been feeling bad for several days. His temperature was ranging between 103 and 105 degrees, and he was suffering flu-like ...

3915. Putting A Face On Jesus

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

Sermon

King Duncan

... room. "Consciously, or maybe unconsciously, they felt that we must know Christ," Doris said. She concluded, "Our life today has more purpose, more meaning and more beauty" due to this decision to proclaim Christ as the Lord of their lives. (5) When we are able to make that kind of commitment, we're not playing `Three Blind Mice,' are we? We are being what he means for us to be. What do we discover when we see the authentic face of Jesus? We see one who has delivered us from darkness into light. We see one ...

3916. Visioning Or Vanishing?

Proverbs 29:1-27

Sermon

Eric Ritz

... , it is not money. It is not lack of ability ” but availability. We are not putting ourselves at God's disposal. What hampers and keeps the church from being the church that Jesus Christ is calling it to be, is a lack of a bold and courageous vision ” the kind of a dream that Christ wants us to dream in this place. Just like those children who lived on the island off the coast of Maine, being surrounded by water in every direction, we also often miss the VISIONS that are often right in front of our eyes ...

3917. Responding To The Roadblocks Of Life

Philippians 1:1-11

Sermon

Eric Ritz

... on television how they tried to beat down and even imprison the dreams of Lech Welesa. The Polish regime soon learned that you cannot imprison dreams behind locked doors and iron bars. If dreams are from God, they are too powerful "TO BE CAGED AND SHACKLED". What kind of ideas and dreams do you entertain in your very being today? How do these ideas and dreams move and inspire your activities today and in the future? How do these dreams and ideas measure up with God's dreams and visions for our world and for ...

3918. Facing Up To The Giant Task Of Life

1 Samuel 17:1-58

Sermon

Eric Ritz

... is a key emphasis in two of our Lord's most noted prayers ” The Lord's Prayer and the Prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane. There is no question about it. At the center of Jesus' life was a glad and unflinching obedience to the Father's will. This kind of obedience and commitment to God's will is a key mark of discipleship.(2) THE FOURTH INGREDIENT NEEDED TO FACE THE GIANT TASK OF LIFE IS THAT OF PROPERLY PREPARING OURSELVES. Just like a football team, we must move or gather in the huddle to receive our ...

3919. "Say It Ain't So"

Deuteronomy 6:1-25

Sermon

King Duncan

... and Biblical insights relate to public life as well as to private life. We need a theology that sees sin not only in personal but also in institutional form, for the principal actors in today's world are nations, businesses, enterprises, political and economic groups of one kind and another."(4) The whole of our faith is to be public before our children and the world. "Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates." (vs. 8-9 ...

3920. The Fourth King In The Christmas Story

Matthew 2:13-18

Sermon

Eric Ritz

... Mike Royko once shared the other side of the Christmas Story in one of his columns. He told about a stranger who put $1,600 in gold coins in a Salvation Army kettle. The person placed the gift there quietly and anonymously. This is exactly the kind of story the print media is looking for to demonstrate the spirit of caring that Christmas brings about. Unfortunately there is a follow up story. The local Salvation Army office began getting phone calls about the gold coins. The coins were stolen. A thief had ...

3921. A Journey To A New Life

Matthew 3:13-17

Sermon

King Duncan

... the "computer dating" craze, there was a newspaper article about an enterprising fellow who had patented a pocket-sized device which he called "The Love Bug." It works like the beepers that doctors carry: you program it with the kind of person you are and the kind of mate you're seeking; whenever you get within range of someone whose Love Bug program matches your specifications ” at a party, a singles bar, or a supermarket ” the two beepers go off and . . . VOILA! Instant, scientifically certified ...

3922. Caught Up In A Dream

Matthew 4:12-17

Sermon

King Duncan

... several of the yards had to put up signs that read, IF YOU HAVE BEEN LED BY GOD TO RETURN WHAT YOU HAVE STOLEN, PLEASE KNOW THAT THE MANAGEMENT FORGIVES YOU AND WISHES YOU TO KEEP WHAT YOU HAVE TAKEN. (5) Wouldn't you love to see that kind of revival sweep this nation? Couldn't you get excited about a world in which people began making restitution for their wrongs. Couldn't you get excited about a world in which you could always trust people to do the right thing because God lived in their heart. Couldn ...

3923. Temptation

Genesis 2:4-25

Sermon

King Duncan

... day, the phone rang. When Dad picked it up, the newlywed daughter's smiling voice asked, "Dad, Bob just made an interesting suggestion. Is it okay now?" Parents get out your dimes ” or quarters as the case may be now. I wish that every family had the kind of communication that obviously existed in that family. You don't have to be a prude to realize that the head-long rush toward free and open sex has reaped some terrible consequences for our society. Babies born out of wedlock, AIDS, and many scarred and ...

3924. When God Speaks

Genesis 12:1-8

Sermon

King Duncan

... told by Ben's mom I thought of that old Testament figure, Abraham. The picture we get of Abraham is of a man with the same kind of complete and unreserved faith in God that little Ben had. Our story begins 1800 years before the birth of Christ with a man 75 ... in a clear audible voice? Was it in a dream? Was it in a still, quiet voice within his own heart? Did God give him some kind of sign? I wonder how God spoke. I ask that question because I am continually wondering if God is speaking to me. Don't you? ...

3925. Thankless Jobs

John 10:1-21

Sermon

King Duncan

... cared. But the hospital had a strict policy of only allowing family members to visit, so they barred Sarah from the wards. When Sarah protested that many of these children didn't have family, the hospital staff told her that many of these children weren't used to that kind of caring, and if they got out of the hospital they wouldn't know what to do when they no longer received it. Sarah left the hospital and sat down on a park bench. And there she cried and cried. And then Sarah resolved to do something to ...

Showing results