Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 401 to 425 of 1185 results

401. Do I Dare Be Different?

Matthew 5:10; 10:1-42

Sermon

Wallace H. Kirby

... dare to be different, to be guided by standards different from the standards of the world. In our moral, social, working, and economic life, we have to be different from those who follow other masters, if we want what he promises: the deep satisfaction of pursuing the right, compassion instead of callousness, a vision of God and right relationships. Do we dare be different? It’s a high risk investment for we will have to endure rejection when we want so desperately to be accepted, dislike when we want so ...

402. Sowing to the Flesh

Romans 8:1-17

Sermon

Dennis Kastens

... , Joseph, and how they used the blood of a goat to let their father think his favorite son had been gored to death by an animal? Pharaoh ordered boy babies of the Israelites drowned in the river. Months later he and his army were drowned in the Sea of Reeds pursuing the Israelites. A king by the name of Adoni-Bezek made it a practice of capturing enemy kings to cut off their thumbs and big toes. He did this to seventy kings (Judges 1:3-7). When he was finally captured, his thumbs and great toes were cut off ...

403. The Impartiality of God

Acts 10:23b-48

Sermon

Hubert Beck

... is when we feel most estranged and alienated from God, that he suddenly breaks into our lives in unanticipated ways, shaking them up and forcing us to come to terms once again with what it means to be in need of a Savior. It is his love relentlessly pursuing us and claiming us, his wayward children, as his very own. St. Augustine once said, "Our hearts are restless, until they find their rest in you, O God." It is also true the other way around! God’s heart is restless until our heart rests in him. Such ...

404. The Importance of Unity

1 Corinthians 1:10-17

Sermon

Hubert Beck

... toward what will glorify Christ - without the need to run over and bully others who do not agree with us. The results may not please us, frankly. The interesting thing is that the same results may, if true sharing and a common will to serve God were pursued, not please the other people either. The question, however, is not whether it pleased any of us, but whether it pleased God. For what God wants is by no means always what we want, as our sin readily testifies. That is why it would be disastrous if ...

405. The Strength of Poverty

1 Corinthians 1:18--2:5

Sermon

Hubert Beck

... or having access to better things must be the key to still higher self-esteem. So the accumulation of wealth becomes the peg of our worth, not only to the bank but also to society and even to ourselves. Notice, though, how subtly something else happens as we pursue this line of reasoning. The more you have, the harder it is to live without these things. Not only is this true because you get used to them and hate to part with them, but they begin to transform you and to make you dependent on them. Calloused ...

406. Binding Up the Fractured World

1 Corinthians 3:1-23

Sermon

Hubert Beck

... the Father must all one day be returned to his hand. We dare not get so caught up in the wonders of how it was once done or in the glory of its present structure that we lose sight of the common course that we and the whole universe pursue - the course that leads finally and ultimately back to the Creator from whom we came. Admiring all this, however, it cannot escape our attention even briefly that this wonderful unity is flawed. The flaw does not find its origin in the Creator’s work, however. It is the ...

407. BE EASTER PEOPLE

Illustration

John H. Krahn

... . Easter people are called upon to celebrate the Festival of the Resurrection each Sunday, for each Sunday is a little Easter. "... Not neglecting to meet together," is how it is written in Hebrews. To break fellowship with the worshiping community is to pursue a weakening faith. It is also a form of denial of all that Christ means. True faith, strong faith, is never faith in isolation but must always be faith shared and strengthened through regular worship. We must encourage one another to be regular ...

408. Faith Opens the Door

Genesis 12:1-8

Sermon

Robert G. Tuttle

... discontentedly, somewhat nervously, somewhat anxiously, somewhat confusedly, hoping for the best, and believing in nothing very much ... But it is not possible to be wholly at peace. For serenity of soul requires some better organization of life than a man can attain by pursuing his casual ambitions, satisfying his hungers, and for the rest accepting destiny as an idiot’s tale in which one dumb sensation succeeds another to no known end. And it is not possible for him to be wholly alive ... These are the ...

409. The Excitement of Meaningful Living

John 10:10 · Matthew 6:33 · Ephesians 3:20

Sermon

Robert G. Tuttle

... are: regular worship in the strengthening body of Christ; constant contact with the spirit, hope, and direction that we discover in Scripture; a life of openness to the presence of the living God in one’s own expanding, searching life of prayer. These are the terms. Pursue them; and now let the full life flow in from the Holy Spirit. It is a gift. In Free Fall, by William Golding, Sammy is thinking, "There is no point at which something has knocked on your door and taken possession of you. You possess ...

410. The Witch of Endor

1 Samuel 28:1-25

Sermon

Warren Thomas Smith

... on "Concerning Dragons and Witches." In A.D. 799, the Synod of Reisbach denounced witchcraft. The Spanish Inquisition burned witches as the auto-da-fe became an institution. In Europe and colonial America, swift and rigid retribution pursued witches: burnings, crushings, hangings, and especially drownings. The thumb screw and rack exacted confessions; testimonies of demented folk and mischievous children were used as evidence. Salem’s infamous witch trials remain a shameful blot on American history ...

411. Forgiveness Unlimited

Matthew 18:21-35

Sermon

Jerry L. Schmalemberger

... , or God’s forgiveness, and our forgiveness of each other belong together. To know forgiveness, we must forgive. Clarence E. McCartney tells this story about forgiveness: During one of the persecutions of the Armenians by the Turks, an Armenian girl and her brother were pursued by a bloodthirsty Turkish soldier. He trapped them at the end of a lane and killed the brother before the sister’s eyes. The sister managed to escape by leaping over the wall and fleeing into the country. Later she became a nurse ...

412. Hindering Riches

Matthew 19:16-30

Sermon

Herchel H. Sheets

... because lack of money rules out many interests. We may dream about getting or doing certain things when we have little wealth, but we know the possibility is slight because of our financial condition. But if that obstacle is removed, we are then free to pursue our interests and to develop new interests. And these may lead us away from the interests that ought to occupy our thought and utilize our time and talent. Robert Frost was asked once if he thought he would have written better poetry if he had had ...

413. The Art of Living Until

Matthew 24:36-51

Sermon

Leonard Mann

... working and resting. In our working we can know that every good effort becomes a part of an ultimate victory. In our resting we can know there is a place to let down with confidence. Dr. George MacDonald told of a fox hunt in which the hounds pursued their prey until he climbed to a high ledge overlooking the valley below. As the hounds noisily followed his trail up the steep mountainside, there in the beaming sun, on the ledge just outside his den, sat the great red fox quietly licking a paw. Dr. MacDonald ...

414. Your Image of Tomorrow

Matthew 3:1-12

Sermon

Leonard Mann

... are stumbling blocks we must try to avoid, perilous precipices we might fall over. A normal part of walking is to use whatever vision we have. We ought to walk in the best light we can get, use discernment in choosing the roads and pursuing the goals which arise before us. Have you seen a beautiful little thing called The Hummel Book, paintings and drawings by a wonderful Catholic sister named Berta Hummel and verses by an equally wonderful Viennese lady named Margarete Seemann? Directed to children mostly ...

415. The Time of Our Visitation

Sermon

Leonard Mann

... he did. I do not understand his coming forth from Joseph’s tomb, breaking the seal of Rome and the bonds of death; but he did, and things happened because he did. I do not understand his coming to a human person trapped in the quagmires, lost in the wilderness, pursued by the hounds of fear; but he comes, and things happen because he does. But I don’t have to understand; the miracle of his redeeming love is its own witness, and this is enough. We say we believe in God - at least most of us do. And if we ...

416. When God Is Your Guide

Acts 20:13-38

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... but we know Who holds the future." (signed) with love, Mary and Francis. When God is your guide, any road is good. Every person here today has decisions to make about direction. It could be where to go to college or whether to make a job change or whether to pursue a particular relationship or how to help a child in difficulty or how to mend a troubled marriage. You don't need to know the shrewd way; you need to know God's way. You don't have to be brilliant, just faithful. When God is your guide, any road ...

417. This Adulterous Generation

Matthew 5:27-30, Exodus 20:1-21

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... In response a booming voice from the heavens declared, "I already have." Admiring beauty is normal and natural. The problem develops when a married person cultivates or nurtures an attraction toward someone other than his or her spouse. Or, when an unmarried person pursues a sexual relationship outside the life-long commitment of love and trust called marriage. The next step involves just a few small deviations from the straight and narrow. One has lunch with a co-worker that lasts a little too long. Though ...

418. An Identity Crisis

Sermon

James Bjorge

... this dog had not been trained in hunting skills and I was dubious of his native abilities. Well, the fears were well-grounded for when this explosive black lab hit the fields, he was off chasing the winds. He did not know what he was supposed to be pursuing nor did he seem to care. Little sparrows in the thicket seemed to be fair game for him. In the more open fields he would methodically seek out cow pies and urinate on them with great diligence. Disgustingly we locked him in the car with the decision that ...

419. Nebuchadnezzar and the Feet of Clay

Daniel 2:24-49

Sermon

Don Yocom

... several times in the Scripture because he had various effects on Jewish history. He is well-remembered as the king who ordered the three Hebrew men, Shadrack, Meshack, and Abednego, into a fiery furnace because they refused to worship him. A Babylonian, the king once pursued the Egyptian army in battle and so frightened King Jehoiakim of Judah that not only did the Jews submit to him, but they also paid a tribute to him. Eventually he captured Judah, and later he did so many irrational things that he was ...

420. Just Common People?

Romans 12:1-8

Sermon

Louis H. Valbracht

... . So we immerse ourselves in the herd. And we run. We run, and as the rabbit said to Alice in Wonderland: "You always have to run faster when you don’t know where you’re going." Or, in the words of Stephen Crane, the poet: "I saw a man pursuing the horizon. ‘Round and ‘round he sped. I was disturbed by this. I accosted the man: ‘It is futile,’ I said, ‘You can never ...’ ‘IT’S A LIE,’ he said, and ran on." Don’t interrupt us. Don’t tell us it’s futile. We’re running, and ...

421. Chapter IV

Exodus 20:1-21

Sermon

Frank H. Seilhamer

... fact, even though there are those who act as though such a move is absurd. Their catechism reads that "The chief end of man is to labor and the chief end of labor is money." Such individuals push their bodies as though they are indestructible robots. They pursue the green-backs as though there is going to be no tomorrow. So they moonlight, operate businesses day and night, in an effort to gather in the sheckels. That kind of drive usually is based on the fallacy that man continually can drive himself to any ...

422. A Thanksgiving Question

1 Corinthians 4:1-21

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... he could. They had to trap him to get him to a vet. You and I did not first seek God. In our various sinful ways, we showed God that we wanted to do things our way rather than his way. But God never gave up on us. His love pursues us as long as we live and breathe. Gris Gato's family trapped him. God will not do that to us. He calls us. His love for us is emblazoned on a cross for the whole world to see. But God always leave us the right to receive him or ...

423. God Makes The First Move

John 6:25-59

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... sent me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day." Our God is a searching, drawing, attracting God. He searches for everybody. In Ezekiel 34:11-12, God says, "I myself will search for my sheep." Francis Thompson referred to God as "the hound of heaven," pursuing us as persistently as a hound tracks a deer. In Luke 15:04, Jesus asked, "Which one of you, having 100 sheep, if you have lost one of them, does not leave the 99 in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost, until he finds it ...

424. The Prodigal Daughter

Drama

Maxine Dudley

... , the great news is I made an A today on my religion test, and I was nominated to run for president of the student council. I am so excited. Mother, you look so sad. Aren’t you pleased with my news? Mother: Oh Martha, your sister has left home to pursue a career in modeling. My heart is broken. I may never see her again. Martha: Mother, I know you will miss her and I will too. But it will be okay. I’ll do my work and her share of the work too. You’ll see, it will be okay ...

425. Faith and Expectation

Acts 1:1-11

Illustration

Larry Powell

... amazement. In all probability, at least one of the inferences here is that rather than gazing into heaven, it would be more proper to get on with the business of the Kingdom, teaching and preaching, and doing "whatsoever I have commanded you." However, they should pursue their tasks of soul-winning with an attitude of expectancy because "this Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way." 4. Acts 1:14. "All those with one accord devoted themselves to prayer." And we may be sure ...

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