Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 4451 to 4475 of 4964 results

4451. Can You Carry Your Weight?

Romans 13:8-14

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... studied, always keeping it in an “objective” relationship. Allowing subjective feeling into the scientific process — emotions, hopes, aspirations, expectations — “taints” the results and the researcher. We like to pride ourselves on being “ ... , “Evangelism: Leaning Toward Both God and World,” chapter 4 in Andrew C. Thompson, ed., Generation Rising: A Future with Hope for The United Methodist Church, ed. Andrew C. Thompson (Nashville: Abingdon, 2011), 49. The most famous actor who played the ...

4452. A Four Word Memoir

Philippians 1:12-30

Sermon

King Duncan

... in drugs and alcohol. If that is all there is, life is hardly worth the effort. But that is not all there is. “To live is Christ,” said St. Paul. As someone has said, “Life without Christ is a hopeless end, but with Christ, it’s an endless hope.” In his book, The Pursuit of Happiness, David Myers surveys all the research that’s been done on happiness. He looks at money, power, fame and all the other things the world calls us to follow. In the end, he concludes that the happiest people are those ...

4453. Watching for a

Mark 13:1-31

Drama

Arley K. Fadness

... Dallas. He’s awesome. I have every CD the Rapper and his group ever made. Now I’m gonna see ’em in person if he ever comes. Ticket Agent: Well, watch the lobby door, Flight 602 comes in on that side of the terminal. And good luck. I hope you recognize him. Teenager: Cool, man. (to Waiting Man) And who exactly is it that you are watching and waiting for? Peter, Paul, and Mary, old man? (laughs) Waiting Man: Well, no, son, that’s my era and my kind of music, but ... Teenager: (interrupts) Fats Domino ...

4454. The Faithfulness of God

2 Samuel 7:1-11, 16

Sermon

Richard Gribble

... described her. Mrs. Dowson crossed Arthur's room to the mantel where the Seth Thomas clock was located. She tried to set the time; the clock had stopped at two o'clock, but it was a lost effort; the brass key that had been under the clock was missing. "I hope you slept well, Arthur," Mrs. Dowson said. "Toward morning I put on the light blanket and turned on the radio to listen to some music. It was an hour before I got back to sleep. The days are longer," she told him. "You know how I like to get up ...

4455. God Is the Hound of Heaven

Jeremiah 31:7-14

Sermon

Richard Gribble

... Lord was dissatisfied with their rulers. Even after the northern kingdom of Israel was destroyed by the Assyrians, God continued to send more prophets, such as Isaiah and, as we heard in today's first lesson, Jeremiah, to the southern kingdom of Judah with the hope that their fate would be better than their neighbors to the north. Scripture scholars often refer to the message Jeremiah proclaims in today's first lesson as the "New Exodus." While the north had been lost to history over a hundred years earlier ...

4456. Contemporary Prophets Speak the Truth

Deuteronomy 18:14-22

Sermon

Richard Gribble

... with others. But we have a mandate as followers of Jesus to speak and act when things need correction. Paul, in 1 Corinthians 13, tells us that we may have all things, but if we do not possess love we are empty. He concludes, "And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love" (v. 13). There are several forms of love. The Greeks have given us three: Eros or romantic love between a man and a woman, phileo or brotherly love between siblings, relatives, and close friends, and ...

4457. You Are in Good Hands with God

Isaiah 40:21-31

Sermon

Richard Gribble

... Most assuredly, the people were disheartened, if not convinced, that God had deserted them and their fate was permanent. However, the message of God as proclaimed by Isaiah is not one of warning or doom, as had been proclaimed earlier, but rather one of hope. Logically speaking, one might assume that God's anger or frustration at the inability of his people to maintain the covenant would distance the Lord from his people. From the outset of their exile, God, through the prophet, spoke lovingly to them that ...

4458. God Never Gives Up on Us

1 Samuel 8:4-11 (12-15) 16-20, (11:14-15)

Sermon

William J. Carl, III

... to his semi-retirement when he's thinking about hanging it up and passing the baton to someone else. Like the owner of the business who has been thinking all along about turning the family business over to his own children, or at least one of them, Samuel was hoping beyond hope that his no-account sons might shape up just in time to take on the reins, in this case ruling the people as God's servants on earth. Oh, he knows what they're really like. He's watched them get in trouble all their lives, especially ...

4459. Finding the Right House for God

2 Samuel 7:1-14a

Sermon

William J. Carl, III

... which means spending some time with real estate agents traveling here and there to find the perfect house. Of course, no house is ever perfect. When you own a home, no matter where you sit you see something that needs fixing. But when you're looking, you hope to find something that's just right with a minimum of fix-up. Every family searching for a new home has its own requirements — so many bedrooms, bathrooms, and a certain style garage. Finding the right house means there will be no rest for the weary ...

4460. Joy Is for Leaping

Song of Songs 2:8-13

Sermon

Donna Schaper

... the garden store. They were very happy to have them rather than to see them end up in the trash. These plants had a good life while blooming; they may as well have a good life as dirt. Most of us hope for the same for our bodies. When they say ashes to ashes and dust to dust over us, we hope our bottoms will turn up good soil. When I think of resurrection, I will be able to think of this soil I built, gleaned from the old flowers. When I think of resurrection, I think of springtime and I hear ...

4461. The Place beyond Punishment

Sermon

Donna Schaper

... to those areas where they least apply. You treat the grey of human existence as though they were black and white, the better to disguise one's self-interested smudging of black and white to gray. You erect castles of rectitude on the frontiers of mortality in the hopes that the murder and raping taking place in the town squares can go on undisturbed. You accept the death of a six-year-old child by aerial bombardment or economic sanction and defend the life of a six-week-old fetus. Think of it as taking the ...

4462. Your God Shall Be My God

Ruth 1:1-18

Sermon

Robert A. Hausman

... the chances of Naomi remarrying and having more sons to carry out this duty? She goes on, "Even if I thought there was hope for me, even if I should have a husband tonight and bear sons, would you then wait until they were grown?" The situation ... on behalf of Israel. God promises to come with recompense against those oppressing Israel — to right the wrong, to order chaos, to bring hope to you, O Israel. This is the particular! God is particular for the sake of the universal. God chose Israel for the sake ...

4463. From Emptiness to Fullness

Ruth 3:1-5, 4:13-17

Sermon

Robert A. Hausman

... to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin, but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him" (Hebrews 9:27-28). That is our hope — to be redeemed and set free — to live with trust in God and in God's promise. So, we sing with the psalmist, Happy are those whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord their God, who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them; who keeps faith for ever. — Psalm 146:5-6 The Lord will reign for ...

4464. Do Not Forget Your Servant

1 Samuel 1:4-20

Sermon

Robert A. Hausman

... all things right. Here, of course, is where the church saw in the coming of Jesus the birth of a great king, a descendant of David, who would set us free. In summary, then, the story begins in barrenness — a closed door, no hint of a future, no hope at all. But God is in charge and is never doubted in the narrative. Hannah prays in trust, "Remember me. Do not forget your servant." Yahweh is trustworthy and remembers! Hannah is faithful and gives thanks, offering her son to the Lord. Israel's life is made ...

4465. A Song in the Night

Illustration

... alone, he too broke down and wept. He felt he had come to his darkest hour. Soon afterward, Gerhardt felt the burden lifted and sensed anew the Lord's presence. Taking his pen, he wrote a hymn that has brought comfort to many. "Give to the winds thy fears; hope, and be undismayed; God hears thy sighs and counts thy tears; God shall lift up thy head. Through waves and clouds and storms He gently clears the way. Wait thou His time, so shall the night soon end in joyous day." It is often in our darkest times ...

4466. Proclamation Appointing a National Fast Day

Illustration

William H. Seward

... and set apart a day for National prayer and humiliation. And whereas it is the duty of nations as well as of men, to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God, to confess their sins and transgressions, in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon; and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord. And, insomuch as we know that, by His divine ...

4467. My God, I Love Thee

Illustration

St. Francis Xavier

... spear, And manifold disgrace, And griefs and torments numberless, And sweat of agony; Yea, death itself; and all for me Who was thine enemy. Then why, O blessed Jesus Christ, Should I not love Thee well? Not for the sake of winning heaven, Nor of escaping hell; Not from the hope of gaining aught, Not seeking a reward; But as Thyself hast loved me, O ever-loving Lord. So would I love Thee, dearest Lord, And in Thy praise will sing; Solely because Thou art my God, And my most loving King.

4468. Wrecked By a Dollar Sign

I Timothy 6:9

Illustration

Chuck Rasmussen

... to people who won the state lottery: Rosa Grayson of Washington won $400 a week for life. She hides in her apartment. For the first time in her life, she has "nerves." Everyone tries to put the touch on her. "People are so mean, " she said. "I hope you win the lottery and see what happens to you." When the McGugarts of New York won the Irish Sweepstakes, they were happy. Pop was a steamfitter. Johnny, twenty-six, loaded crates on docks. Tim was going to night school. Pop split the million with his sons ...

4469. God Ain't Dead

Illustration

James DeLoach

... , God ain't dead!" That vivid picture of that burned-out mountain shack, that old man, the weeping child, and those words "God ain't dead" keep returning to my mind. Instead of it being a reminder of the despair of life, it has come to be a reminder of hope! I need reminders that there is hope in this world. In the midst of all of life's troubles and failures, I need mental pictures to remind me that all is not lost as long as God is alive and in control of His world.

4470. The Firm Foundation of Despair

Illustration

... death of the solar system, and the whole temple of Man's achievement must inevitably be buried beneath the debris of a universe in ruins all these things, if not quite beyond dispute, are yet so nearly certain, that no philosophy which rejects them can hope to stand. Only within the scaffolding of these truths, only on the firm foundation of unyielding despair, can the soul's habitation henceforth be safely built...Brief and powerless is Man's life; on him and all his race the slow, sure doom falls pitiless ...

4471. Weekly Resolutions

Illustration

Jonathan Edwards

... , and plainly perceive, myself to grow in the knowledge of the same. Resolved, Never to count that a prayer, nor to let that pass as a prayer, nor that as a petition of a prayer, which is so made, that I cannot hope that God will answer it; nor that as a confession which I cannot hope God will accept. Resolved, To ask myself, at the end of every day, week, month, and year, wherein I could possibly, in any respect, have done better. Resolved, Never to give over, nor in the least to slacken, my fight with my ...

4472. Little Pills Where Goeth Thou?

Illustration

Ester Stout

... white pill controls the blood pressure; a red one helps soften the stool; A yellow one calms you down greatly so you won't be acting the fool. There are two-toned, and gray and brown pills for relief from head-aches and gout, Diabetes, ulcers and heartburn, sure hope each pill knows the right route. What a terrible mess up there could be if your headache pill went to your toe, And the laxative pill traveled upward 'cause it wasn't quite sure where to go. If this should ever happen to you, you'd either laugh ...

4473. Disease of the Soul

Illustration

James Packer

... . They look pityingly at young people and say, "They'll learn," taking it for granted that when they've learned, they'll become tough inside too. Once upon a time these leather-souled people were keen, hopeful, and expectant. But nothing happened, or they got hurt, and now they protect themselves against pain by adopting cynical, world-weary attitudes. If these people are ministers of churches, they work mechanically, merely going through the motions because their light has really gone out and they're no ...

4474. Reunion: Choose to Change

Illustration

... long silence as we walked back to the car. On the drive home, the man turned to his friend and said, "I never, never want that to be said of me, Tim. Life is too precious, too sacred, too important. If you ever see me go stagnant like that, I hope you give me a quick, swift kick where I need it for Christ's sake. I hope you'll love me enough to challenge me to keep growing." Tim Hansel, Holy Sweat, Word Books Publisher, 1987, pp. 54-55

4475. Jingle Bells at a Funeral

1 Thessalonians 5:12-28

Sermon

King Duncan

... first few years in that camp, says Read, the prisoners were able to keep their spirits up. They even found a way to celebrate the major holidays, like Christmas. But one Christmas, near the war’s end, the men in the camp were beginning to lose hope. They didn’t even have the heart to plan anything for Christmas. Read wrote a poem encouraging the men to celebrate Jesus no matter what the circumstances. He recalled the apostle Paul’s words in Philippians 2: 1-11, where he wrote about being shipwrecked ...

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