Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 4026 to 4050 of 4957 results

4026. Call to Oneness

John 17:20-26

Sermon

Donald Charles Lacy

... given in the holy scriptures as supreme revelation. After all, there were many writings competing to be in the New Testament and this gospel made it! Love of this variety is so pure and noteworthy it tends at times to boggle the imagination of those claiming to be in a relationship with Jesus Christ. How do we attempt to understand in an elementary respect our quandary? We beg for our wills to have superimposed upon them the will of the Father. We may never have a rational understanding which satisfies us ...

4027. You Fool!

Luke 12:13-21

Sermon

Ron Lavin

... expensive price tags. When we seek possessions as the ultimate goal of life, possessions turn around and possess us. An old fable about a fly and a strip of flypaper illustrates the point. The strip of flypaper looked so appetizing that the fly decided to claim it for himself. After chasing away all the other insects that threatened to share his find, he landed on the flypaper and happily announced, "My flypaper." Then he proceeded to partake of the tasty feast he found there. When he tried to walk around ...

4028. Lean on Me

Luke 18:1-8

Sermon

John Wayne Clarke

... just threw up his hands and said, "Yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice" (v. 5). Just to get rid of her, I am going to do what she asks me to do. Do you see the end time theme here? All of us who claim the name, Christian, will be tested. To be a Christian in this world means that there will be times when you will feel like the woman in our lesson for today. You may feel defeated momentarily, but you will not take that defeat as final or authoritative. You will look ...

4029. Putting Eternity to the Test

Luke 20:27-38

Sermon

John Wayne Clarke

... was no life after death. The entire spiritual realm of angels and heaven, hell and Satan were nonexistent to them and irrelevant because they rejected the resurrection. The Pharisees, however, believed in all those spiritual things including a resurrection to eternal life. Yet both claimed to believe in scripture as God's Word. You see, it's not only today that people can read the very same words and come to all kinds of different conclusions about what is true. The Sadducees were all about death. But the ...

4030. The End of Time

Luke 21:5-19

Sermon

John Wayne Clarke

... , there have been those who have predicted that the end was near because of some tragedy that has shaken our world. Each time some doomsday people took from that awful event that God was getting ready to shut down planet earth. There is nothing new in people claiming such knowledge. It happened in the time of Jesus and it will happen again in our time, as well. In the world in which Jesus lived, there were certain events that seemed to foretell the end of the world. Just such an event was the destruction of ...

4031. The Freedom to Interpret

John 8:31-36

Sermon

John Wayne Clarke

... some of his Jewish followers that if they continue in his Word, they will be truly free. But they react in almost shock. They denied that they were ever slaves in the first place. "We're Abraham's descendants," they said. "We've never been slaves," they claimed. "How can you say that we need to be set free?" Talk about short memories. What about all of that exodus stuff? What about the parting of the Red Sea and Pharaoh's army chasing their ancestors through the desert? That whole "Moses-leading-them-out-of ...

4032. Repairing Our Lives

1 Corinthians 15:19-26

Sermon

Richard Gribble

... examine the diamond and see what could be done to repair it, but all the experts gave the same response: it was now useless, irredeemably flawed. The king was crushed and so were the people who felt that they had lost everything. Then, out of nowhere an old man, who claimed to be a master jeweler, asked to see the diamond. He told the king, "I can fix it. In fact, I can make it better than it was before." The king was surprised at the report and was leery of the old man, but he gave him the jewel. The ...

4033. Be Real

Colossians 1:3-8

Sermon

John Jamison

... the untrue, or only partially true. There are some thirty different news channels on television today. Many of them are openly biased to a particular political or cultural agenda, so we clearly understand that what we are hearing may reflect that bias. Some channels claim to be bias-free, presenting events "just as they happen," but when we listen to the same story on two different channels, they are often different. Which is real? Which is the truth? How do we know? Those who are tapped into the digital ...

4034. Thank God We Can Change

1 Timothy 1:12-17

Sermon

Clayton A. Lord

... . First, he forgave Paul's past, allowing him to start over. This time, Paul was going to get it right. He was no longer bound by the errors of his ways. He was, as he so eloquently put it in an earlier letter, a new creation. His past had no claim on him. Yet, he used his story to encourage others and help them understand that people could change. We don't have to be the same old person. He tells Timothy that God could now use him as an example of what God wanted for all of us. This brings ...

4035. It All Begins with Prayer

1 Timothy 2:1-7

Sermon

Clayton A. Lord

... city. They prayed for the mayor, the city council, the police and fire departments, the school board, teachers, and social workers. Not many of those people knew they were being prayed for but my friend said he saw things begin to happen in the city. He claims prayer made all the difference. Be assured that God uses them and opens doors for us to share our witness. One other group Paul mentions that we should pray for, is the proclaimers of the gospel. Timothy might not think of himself in prayer, but Paul ...

4036. The Promise that Won’t Be Broken

2 Timothy 1:1-14

Sermon

Clayton A. Lord

... promise of meaningful and productive life. The circumstances of life are inconsequential. You can be sailing along with every blessing falling into place or you can be stuck in prison with a limited future, and the promise is still good and ready to be claimed. I am sure that Timothy was worried about Paul. I am sure he was worried about the future. To this introverted, sensitive, sometimes fearful young man in Ephesus, Paul describes again the ingredients of the promise of life in Jesus Christ. He says to ...

4037. Responses to Divorce

Mark 10:1-12

Illustration

William G. Carter

... when they simply hear the words, and vow to cross their fingers the next time they encounter that piece of scripture. Still others wish their preacher would stand up and swing this text like a club; family life is spinning out of control, they claim, and the church should push us back to simpler, more Victorian times. It is no wonder many ministers avoid this text. One year the lectionary appointed it for World Communion Sunday, of all days. A clergy friend said, "I have a congregation full of divorced ...

4038. We Want It Our Way

Mark 10:17-31

Illustration

Thomas Peterson

... , "Just one more of this and one more of that then I will be willing to go with you, Jesus." Are we not like little Fausts, wanting to have it our way? After all, we say, we deserve it! And what do we say to Jesus when he comes to claim us?

4039. Operation Omega

Mark 10:35-45

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... Baptist Church.” What is “Omega?” “Omega” is the last letter of the Greek alphabet. The divine declaration of being “the alpha and the omega” is another way of saying “the first and the last.” In other words, “Omega Baptist Church” isn’t claiming “first” place for itself. It is putting itself at the end of the line. It’s another way of calling itself the “Last Baptist Church.” Being last, being the bottom of the heap, being so far out of the competition that the competition ...

4040. I Hate To Leave This Church

Mark 10:35-45

Illustration

William G. Carter

... office and I didn't want it but, once the Lord calls" ... Methodist preachers take all of this with a grain of salt, the same way Baptist congregations have learned to be somewhat skeptical when one of their preachers moves on to a better church claiming, "I hate to leave this church and I would rather stay here, but the Lord calls." Baptists note that the Lord rarely calls someone out of one church into another church unless that church has a higher salary. Methodists have likewise noted that there have ...

4041. Walking in the Light

Isaiah 60:1-6

Sermon

Mary S. Lautensleger

... . When we follow this light, we don't move toward our destruction, but instead toward salvation. Amid the darkness that threatens to engulf the world, among the lost that we encounter every day, God has set perfect light. In the confusion of a million clamoring claims on our hearts, God has set perfect light. In places where people live distressed or desperate lives, God has set perfect light. Jesus reminds us again, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have ...

4042. Abraham Believed God

Genesis 15:1-18

Sermon

Frank Ramirez

... :27, that our works save us. Does either extreme, faith or works, have much to do with faith in Jesus Christ? Haven't we all met Christians who insist that since they have "come forward" and expressed their faith in Jesus they can no longer sin? They claim whatever they do is not a sin, whether it's ignoring a parent's medical condition, looking down with contempt on people of other races, or simply living in callous disregard of the sufferings of others around the world, they cannot be touched by reason or ...

4043. Priceless

Isaiah 52:13--53:12

Sermon

Frank Ramirez

... the head of a donkey. At his feet is an individual engaged in adoration. There's a single line written beneath it: "Alexamenos worships his god." This anti-Christian drawing makes it clear how shameful the cross could be. Yet this Alexamenos was not ashamed to claim Jesus as Lord, even though it led to ridicule. It helps us realize why Christians did not wear the cross as a symbol for centuries. More important than whether we wear the cross is whether we bear the cross. Anna Mow was a missionary, mother ...

4044. God's Call for All

Acts 9:35-43

Sermon

Frank Ramirez

... Leviticus 19:18. Among the most famous passages which illustrate the intention of the group to practice mutual aid and assistance is this verse from Acts 4:32: "Now the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one claimed private ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was held in common." Several other scriptures speak to the necessity of mutual aid. These include: Bear one another's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. — Galatians 6:2 ...

4045. Jailhouse Rock

Acts 16:16-34

Sermon

Frank Ramirez

... look around, to take a deep breath, to appreciate what God is doing in the larger picture, we will take each failure — and each success — far too seriously. After all, each success belongs to God. And each failure — are we all that important that we need to claim failure as ours, also? God's eventual victory is assured. Our part, like Paul's, is to stay in the game, to try, to attempt big things, knowing that God can do far more with our failures than we could with our successes. Certainly, Paul at ...

4046. Choosing to Believe

1 Kings 18:20-39

Sermon

Stan Purdum

... of us who follow Jesus do so because of an inner commitment, and we made that decision completely independent of any physical "proof." Thus the ossuary, if it had been authentic, would have been a nice confirmation of something that we already believe, but the debunking of the claim really doesn't make any difference in the solidity of our faith. I raise the matter of this burial box because I want to talk about the foundations of belief, and the yes-it-is/no-it's-not story of the ossuary is a case in point ...

4047. When Nothing More Can Be Done

Amos 8:1-12

Sermon

Stan Purdum

... comes the realization that the only refuge we have left is God himself. And there may only be time for the briefest of prayers: "O my God!" When all else is gone, that is our only plea, our only prayer, our only affirmation of faith and our only claim on eternity. "O my God, receive me!" It was the prayer of Jesus on the cross — "Father into your hands I commend my spirit" (Luke 23:46) — and it is ours. Commending ourselves to God is what can be done — the only thing that can be done — when ...

4048. Tales of the Spiritually Stupid

Jeremiah 4:11-12, 18-22

Sermon

Lee Ann Dunlap

... land lay deserted and the cities were in ruin. From the depths of his soul, Jeremiah knew these desolations were not the victory of deities superior to Yahweh — a sign of God's weakness in protecting the nation — as some would later claim. This devastation was, instead, the ordained fate of the spiritually stupid. And Jeremiah wept, even as God wept. "Stupid children" they may have been, yet still they belonged to God. Sadly enough, such foolishness is with us yet. Only a generation ago, Jeremiah ...

4049. What a Deal: Investing in Hope

Jeremiah 32:1-3a, 6-15

Sermon

Lee Ann Dunlap

... so much more. In Christ, we are given the strength to stand on hope when others are bailing out. In faith, we sign the deed to our lives over to him in full view of a skeptical public just as Jeremiah did so long ago. In confidence, we lay his claim on us out for all to see, even as he takes us unto himself to preserve us safe and secure for all eternity.

4050. Song Sung Blue

Lamentations 1:1-6

Sermon

Lee Ann Dunlap

... City planners and social analysts could pronounce theories about why so many folks could not or did not get transported to safety. But these answers just were not enough to satisfy the big question: Why did it happen to us? A few religious extremists claimed that the city was experiencing God's wrath in response to convocation of homosexuals the city had welcomed. Others pointed out that a number of church assemblies were scheduled to convene there as well. At least these views, right or wrong, included God ...

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