Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 401 to 425 of 438 results

401. Living to Please God

1 Thessalonians 4:1-12

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

4:1–5:22 Review · The apostolic instruction: The life that pleases God: Paul, Silas, and Timothy here transition to the second section of the body of the letter, which addresses both ethical and theological concerns. The teaching they have delivered to the new church includes moral orientation, and now they stimulate the new converts to grow in what they know and put the teaching into practice. The section responds to concerns regarding the church’s sexual ethics (4:3–8) and the issue of labor (4:11–12). ...

402. Cultivating Faithfulness Until the Flourishing Wicked Wither

Psalm 37:1-40

Understanding Series

Craig C. Broyles

To make sense of this wisdom psalm we must first pay heed to hints of its social setting. The wicked have wealth, the righteous little (v. 16). A chief concern is that of “possessing (Hb. yrš, NIV ‘inherit’) the land” (vv. 9, 11, 22, 29, 34). Verse 3b literally reads, “Tent the land and shepherd faithfulness.” This may suggest that the righteous live as pastoralists or semi-nomads, not as settlers. They live in the land but the wicked are its owners. The notions of righteousness and justice (esp. vv. 6, 28 ...

403. The Wolf and The Lamb Inside Us (Sermon Series 1)

Isaiah 11:1-16

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

Try to imagine a world in which the wolf and the lamb will share the same stall. The leopard and the baby goat will sleep together. A little child will put halters on a lion and a calf and lead them around. The lion will eat straw like the oxen. A little child will reach down into a cobra’s den and not be harmed. That’s what the world will be like one day, according to Isaiah the prophet. At some future time the earth will be as full of the knowledge of the Lord as the oceans are with water; then no ...

404. Drastic Surgery

Matthew 5:27-30

Sermon

Herchel H. Sheets

In February, 1966, a young surgeon from India, then a resident at a St. Louis Hospital, took a radical step in an attempted reconciliation with his estranged wife. She was a staff physician in Children’s Hospital in St. Louis, and was living in a dormitory there. The surgeon called a taxi driver to his apartment door and gave him a package which he asked him to deliver to his wife’s room. His wife’s roommate answered the knock at the door and accepted the package. It was blood-soaked, and when she opened ...

405. Significance in Life

Isaiah 55:1-13

Sermon

Jon L. Joyce

"WHY DO YOU SPEND ... YOUR LABOR FOR THAT WHICH DOES NOT SATISFY?" A woman in our parish referred a lady to me for consultation, and the parishioner said of her friend: "I don’t know what her problem is. She has a very successful husband. She is certainly a success at everything she tries herself. I really can’t understand what her difficulty is." But when the lady came in, she placed her finger precisely on her problem, as she said to me: "You know, it seems that nothing I do feels important." You see, ...

406. The Marvelous Style Of Jesus: Truth And Love

Matthew 22:1-14

Sermon

Joseph M. Freeman

Jesus' use of parables is his way of communicating a striking truth with significant love. In my own journey as a Christian person, the most amazing quality of God which has been so instructive to me, is that He approaches us with equal doses of love and truth. How different He is than us. When I see someone in error and that error has personally hurt me, I go for that person's jugular, to deliver the truth, but little or no love accompanies it. Hence, the person becomes defensive and flatly refuses the ...

407. God’s Choice

1 Samuel 16:1-13

Sermon

Roger Prescott

Introduction Samuel knew that Saul’s leadership was over. It probably troubled him a great deal to have to anoint a successor. It’s never comfortable telling someone they’re going to be replaced. But Samuel listened to God speaking to him and followed his strange guidance in selecting a replacement for Saul. Samuel knew that Saul would not agree to giving up his power. In fact, Saul could probably be counted on to throw one of his famous fits and fly into a murderous rage. So the anointing would have to be ...

408. On-Beyond-Zebra Living

John 15:1-17

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

William Shakespeare may be the second most quoted source in the history of English literature. You know what the most quoted source still is . .. The Bible. What you may not know is that every day Shakespeare scholarship adds to the pile an average of 8.8 articles and books. I don’t know what biblical scholarship adds every day to the pile of knowledge, but I suspect it’s much, much more than that. If the French novelist Gustave Flaubert could write, “When I read Shakespeare I become greater, wiser, purer ...

409. James 1:17-27

James 1:19-27

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

Among Protestants the Letter of James rarely gets a lot of playing time. In seminary students learn that Martin Luther, who fought to have the Bible available in the vernacular so everyone could read it for themselves, dismissed James as “an epistle of straw” — although whenever a professor quoted that, I always was reminded how the baby Jesus came to Earth cradled in straw. Why did Luther have trouble with the Epistle of James? First, the name of Jesus only appears twice in the entire letter (1:1; 2:1). ...

410. Jesus Tempted In Us

Matthew 4:1-11

Sermon

David O. Bales

It’s good to be here with you. Ten days ago my wife and I were visiting our daughter and son-in-law in central Mexico. In Mexico City they took us to the National Palace in which hangs a painting of Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla. I’m intrigued by this painting. Hidalgo was leader in the Mexican war for independence from Spain; but, by the time people wanted a portrait of him, he was dead. Half a century later Joaquin Ramirez painted a picture of him but used his own brother’s face. The face of one’s brother as ...

411. Sayings of the Wise

Proverbs 22:17--24:22

Understanding Series

Roland E. Murphy

The title for these chapters is taken from the Greek, since the MT buries the phrase in verse 17. See the introduction for the international character of wisdom and the influence of Israel’s neighbors, especially Egypt. There can be no doubt that this section has been influenced by the Egyptian text known as Teaching of Amenemope (about 1100 B.C.E.), but there is considerable difference of opinion on the extent and manner of the influence. There is a certain concensus on the following points. The Hebrew is ...

412. Jesus the Messiah from Joseph’s Family Line

Matthew 1:1-17

Teach the Text

Jeannine K. Brown

Big Idea: Matthew, in the opening genealogy, emphasizes Jesus as the Davidic Messiah, whom God has sent to enact Israel’s restoration from exile and to include the Gentiles in God’s kingdom. Understanding the Text It may seem surprising to find a genealogy at the opening of Matthew’s Gospel, but genealogies were a common means for establishing and substantiating the identity of a person. Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus demonstrates that Jesus is Israel’s Messiah-King, from David’s royal line. Introducing ...

413. Testing in the Wilderness

Luke 4:1-13

Teach the Text

R.T. France

Big Idea: The Son of God is tested in preparation for his mission, and he defeats the devil’s attempts to drive a wedge between him and his Father. Understanding the Text The devil’s proposals echo and depend on the declaration that Jesus is God’s Son, which has just been made in 3:22. This scene, still set in the wilderness where John has been baptizing, now completes Jesus’s preparation before his public ministry begins in 4:14. That ministry will take him back up north to his home province, among the ...

414. God on His Throne as the Sovereign Creator

Revelation 4:1-11

Teach the Text

J. Scott Duvall

Big Idea: The heavenly beings worship God as the sovereign Creator and Ruler of the universe. Understanding the Text Following John’s introductory vision of the risen and glorified Christ and his messages to the seven churches in 1:9–3:22, the scene shifts from earth to heaven in 4:1. This throne-room vision of Revelation 4–5 anchors the rest of the book. This vision first presents God as the sovereign Creator seated on his throne (4:1–11) before turning to Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, as the only one ...

415. Sweet Salvation

John 2:1-11, Isaiah 25:1-12

Sermon

Lori Wagner

We all love sweets. How many out there have a sweet tooth? How many are just downright chocoholics? Human beings, with the exception of only a few, seem naturally to be drawn to sweets. We associate sweetness with pleasure, joy, even ecstasy, and we associate sweet treats with rewards and the ability to eat the luxuries we crave. In Jesus’ time, you couldn’t go down to the grocery store to buy a cart full of chocolate, ice cream, or good ‘n plenty. The “sweets” of the first century were primarily honey, ...

416. Seeing Light In Darkness

John 11:1-16

Sermon

David Belgum

As death drew near for a seventy-year-old man, a cousin was heard to say to his wife, "Don't worry, Agatha, it seems dark now, but in time you'll see the light at the end of this tunnel." Some use another cliche, "It's always darkest before the dawn." These are not helpful statements. And Agatha, about to become a widow, simply sighs and says to herself, "No one understands." It may have seemed to the sisters, Martha and Mary, that Jesus did not understand the seriousness of Lazarus' illness. Here their ...

417. Preaching On Biblical Personalities

Sermon

John R. Bodo

418. The Freedom of Necessity

John 8:31-41

Sermon

"If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free." Like most teenagers I looked forward to my sixteenth birthday as a day of liberation. Being sixteen meant that I could get a driver’s license, and the open road of freedom and self-determination would be mine for the taking. At last, I thought, I could be my own person, no longer dependent on parents or older friends to take me where I wanted to go. My sixteenth birthday would be " ...

419. Beginning A Healing Ministry

Sermon

In this chapter I would like to share briefly the reasons why I decided to initiate a healing ministry in my parish, and some of the steps that a pastor might take in initiating public healing services in his or her local church. As pastor of a predominantly older congregation, I became increasingly concerned about the many members who were experiencing physical difficulties, many of which were related to advancing age. Furthermore, I was perplexed by the suffering, frustration and depression that ...

420. Preaching Unpopular Truth - 1943

John 18:38

Sermon

Kent Moorehead

In such tense and terrible times as these, every sincere minister of Christ who takes seriously the prophetic function of his vocation, must readily recognize the cogent relevancy of this theme and the importance of dealing with it practically and realistically. To that end I have raised with myself four obvious questions: Why? What? When? How? Why preach unpopular truth? Why not be adroit, skillful, wise, enough to avoid issues that are controversial, disturbing, and inevitably provocative of trouble? ...

421. Illustrations for Lent Easter Old Testament Texts

Isaiah 42:10-17, Isaiah 42:18-25

Illustration

Jon L. Joyce

1. God destroys as well as preserves [Isaiah 42:14] Luther says that God is to be both loved and feared. The same God of compassion who is eager to show love to those who turn to him is equally determined to root out and destroy evil. Isaiah is warning us not to be lulled to sleep by thinking only of the kindness of God. He who shows patience toward our waywardness will eventually cease to overlook unatoned sin and will destroy. He holds all the power of the universe in his hands to work his ends. Our ...

422. Traveling to the Mountain

Isaiah 2:1-5

Sermon

Elizabeth Achtemeier

We sometimes wonder what the world is coming to these days, and when we look at present conditions, we do not find very much that reassures us. Our nation is suffering a thorough-going breakdown of morality, with violence and wrong, selfishness and cynicism surrounding us on every side. Our world is full of poverty and hunger, wars and rumors of war, and whole populations subjected to tyranny and massacre. And try as we will to ameliorate conditions and to introduce some healing and good in society and ...

423. Shalom Shattered

Genesis 37:1-4, 12-28

Sermon

Arley K. Fadness

It's art class. The student potter, under the watchful eye of the artist-instructor, carefully fashions, spins, and shapes a lump of green clay into a beautiful Grecian chalice. The clay figurine is then fired, soon to be painted and glazed. The potter and the mentor watch through the glass door of the oven as the fire heats the new creation toward a hardy sturdiness -- durable and strong. But then both apprentice and instructor notice, to their disappointment, cracks appearing in the chalice. The firing ...

424. Romans 13:9-21

Romans 13:8-14

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

We have a lengthy epistle text for this week (Romans 12:9‑21), so let’s jump right in. At first glance the text presents a fairly unstructured, wide‑ranging series of general ethical admonitions. The generic literary description of this style of presentation is “parenesis.” Paul's apparent lack of any one theme and variety of admonitions seems to earn the description of “paranetic” for this passage. However, more recent scholars have discerned a common thread running through all of these Pauline ...

425. The Real Old Time Religion

James 1:17-27

Bulletin Aid

Frank Ramirez

Call To Worship One: When Jesus spoke to the Samaritan woman he said: All: "But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him." One: The hour has come to worship God in spirit and in truth. James, the brother of Jesus, warns us that this means more than simply saying the right words when he writes: All: "Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to care for orphans and ...

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