Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 426 to 450 of 1522 results

Luke 6:17-26

Sermon

Larry R. Kalajainen

... those of our fellowship who have died in the past year, we also call to mind their impact upon us, and our own impact, as the people of God, on the world around us. In other words, we consider our politics. It would be impossible to listen to the words of Jesus as recorded in our gospel lessons and not realize their political impact. The stately and dignified language of our English translations which make for suitable reading in public worship can sometimes camouflage the raw impact of the words ...

427. Hard Questions!

1 Kings 17:7-24

Sermon

Barbara Brokhoff

... midst of our dying. Does it pay then to trust God? Of course it does! There is no investment in the universe which pays such remarkable dividends as obedient trust in our living Lord. I have a minister friend who has had some extraordinarily traumatic and impossibly difficult times in his life. And yet, with beautiful simplicity and faith and obedience he says, "If God never answers another prayer for me, I'll serve and love and trust him anyway!" He has long since learned that it pays to count on God. No ...

428. When Life Seems Out Of Control

2 Samuel 18:1-18

Sermon

Timothy J. Smith

... would be short-lived, for soon the company filed for bankruptcy and David was without a job. David tried to get other jobs flying, but he could not find any. It was the classic example: he did not have enough experience to get the jobs he really wanted. It was impossible not to be discouraged. At a low point, David was offered a quick $5000 to fly to Mexico in a rented plane to pick up 600 pounds of marijuana. The job would be easy and it paid very well. He was lured into doing something he knew was wrong ...

429. You Can Be Real

Matthew 5:33-37

Sermon

Michael B. Brown

... with the Pharisee who prayed in the Temple was that he tried to fool God. He bragged and boasted about what a delightful guy he was and how faithful he had been, but he forgot that he was talking to God. God knew what was inside him. It is simply impossible to pull the wool over God's eyes. I remember at a breakfast meeting some time ago hearing a man tell someone else about his commitment to stewardship. He talked about how he was, in his words, "a major donor to my church." He hinted that if others gave ...

430. You Can Be In Heaven Or Hell

Psalm 139:1-24

Sermon

Michael B. Brown

... and attentive to his child. During the influenza epidemic of the 19-teens, the child became seriously ill. Toward the end it became obvious the little boy could not survive. The father, stone-cold sober, sat helplessly beside his child's bed watching and wishing for the impossible. The little boy drifted in and out of a high fever. During those moments when the fever raged, he would become delirious and cry out: "Mommy, don't let him hit me. Please, don't let him hit me!" The father sat helplessly in a hell ...

431. How Blest Are Those Who Know Their Need Of God

Matthew 5:1-12

Sermon

Mark Radecke

... your shoulder to the wheel, then you might overcome the overwhelming odds against you and gain citizenship in my kingdom." But our Gracious Benefactor chooses another way, and instead makes an astounding promise: "Because I love you, I will assume the impossibly steep cost of securing your final future, and I give that future to you freely, as a gift, now." Such a magnanimous and magnificent gift -- free and unearned -- engenders the free response of faith, love, trust and gratitude. And when that promise ...

432. Jesus' Countercultural Sermon

Matthew 5:38-42, Matthew 5:43-48

Sermon

Mark Radecke

... has the power to perfect us. God's perfect love emboldens and sustains us to swim against the currents of our culture when those currents flow counter to the perfect will of the holy and righteous God. When we hear the demand of perfection and shudder at the impossibility of fulfilling it, we do well to remember that the God who says "Be perfect" is the same God who said "Let there be light" ... and there was light! This God brings about his holy and perfect will by calling into being that which did not ...

433. Whispering The Lyrics

John 14:15-31

Sermon

Thomas Long

... had Alzheimer's disease. When she arrived in the woman's room, she attempted to carry on a conversation with her. Even though she was a member of this minister's church and the minister had known her for years, meaningful communication was nearly impossible. The woman was confused and disoriented. She simply could not remember anything, including who she was or who the minister was. When the minister set up the communion elements, the woman's confusion increased. Seeing the bread and the cup on her hospital ...

434. Going Ahead Anyway

Matthew 2:1-12, Matthew 2:13-18

Sermon

William B. Kincaid, III

... years wondering why, but it is beyond human capacity to make sense of most tragedies. We can try our best to explain evil, but most of it is beyond explanation. Another way to deal with evil is to eliminate it altogether. It sounds impossible, but there are folks working around the clock trying to rid our communities and world of evil. Various levels of government constantly are providing resources and services to ease human suffering. Vaccines are given to young children to guard against crippling and even ...

435. Turning A Minus Into A Plus

Isaiah 40:1-31

Sermon

Harold Warlick

... attributes and ruined by our struggles. All of us have minuses somewhere in life." We should never forget that wisdom. To be certain, we rightly spend most of our lives trying to avoid or at least downplay our minuses. This is impossible to do because all of us possess some weaknesses. Some of these are obvious, like physical impediments -- too short, too tall, too overweight, too weak. Others are less obvious -- quick temper, shyness, irritable reactions, severe loneliness, insecurity. All our seas are ...

436. Leaving A Legacy

1 Kings 2:1-12

Sermon

Timothy J. Smith

... putting aside my active search for answers and getting involved with this family," Lois said, "I no longer questioned where Jesus fit in. I discovered that I had, in fact, known Christ all along." There are those times when the tasks loom so large before us and everything seems impossible when we need to worship God, seeking God's guidance. We do not have to travel to holy places. When life is getting the better of us, it's time for us to retreat to a quiet place to listen for the word of God in our lives ...

437. It Is Blessed To Receive

Sermon

William G. Carter

... is no assurance that a gift received will prompt the person who receives it to say, "Thank you." Sometimes a parent hovers over a child to enforce gratitude, thus killing it. Other times, gifts are given with strings attached, making it virtually impossible for the recipient to offer thanks. In Spoon River Anthology, Edgar Lee Masters reports the epitaphs of the people of Spoon River, Illinois. From the grave, the townspeople tell the truth about their lives. One woman, Constance Hately, reveals why two ...

438. A Breeze In The Dark

John 3:1-21

Sermon

William G. Carter

... the church as a quiet believer, 41 years old and wet from the womb. Of that return, he writes: "There had been no emotional upheaval, no great insight, certainly no proper grasp of theological issues; just a sense of history and the fittingness of things. Something impossible to explain. Teilhard de Chardin says, 'The incommunicable part of us is the pasture of God.' I must leave it at that."3 Out in a dark world, if you listen, you can hear the Wind of God's Spirit groaning with the sound of grace, blowing ...

439. Resist Temptation

Mark 1:9-13

Sermon

Harry N. Huxhold

... the substance of what was purported to be a possible last temptation of our Lord. The suggested temptation was that on the cross Jesus thought about what life would have been or might have been like had he loved a woman and married. Many Christians found it impossible to believe that Jesus would be open to the consideration of such notions. In reality, we do not know precisely how all the temptations did come to our Lord. However, we do know that our Lord "in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet ...

440. Clean House

John 2:12-25

Sermon

Harry N. Huxhold

... construction for 46 years, and will you raise it up in three days?" The Herods had been at it all this time and it was still not finished, and Jesus thought he could rebuild it in three days! That was ridiculous. This Jesus of Nazareth was impossible. The disciples were also confused at this time. They did not understand. The evangelist says that "after he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken." The Body ...

441. The Sponge And Wine

Mark 14:1--15:47

Sermon

Harry N. Huxhold

Our age has been called a drug culture. Offhand, it would be impossible to estimate the amount of drug abuse in our society. At times we believe that our intense efforts and huge expenditures to curtail drug abuse are successful only to discover otherwise. However, today we are also engaged in a national debate about the medicinal use of drugs as an important ...

442. Come Out!

John 11:38-44

Sermon

Thomas Peterson

... world. The big question then for each of us to ask is, “What about me?” I ask this for my own sake, and you have to ask “What about me?” for your own sake. “Once unbound what can my hands, feet, and face do?” This question is impossible to answer, for I have no way of computing the marvel of creativity lying within the capacity of me or any member of this congregation when the brain, the hands, the feet, and the eyes work with the Creator. The answers are limitless as creativity is limitless. An ...

443. David's Turn From Wisdom

2 Samuel 11:1-27

Sermon

Sue Anne Steffey Morrow

... rests and relaxes, but not in the way that David envisions, not with Bath-Sheba. Next David tries to break down Uriah's resolve with great food and good wine, but all this is to no avail, for Uriah never goes near Bath-Sheba, which makes it tough, impossible that Bath-Sheba is carrying Uriah's child. Finally, David sends Uriah back to General Joab with a note to see to it that Uriah is given such a dangerous assignment that he gets killed sooner or later, preferably sooner. The tale is the beginning of the ...

444. Who Can Find A Virtuous Woman?

Sermon

Sue Anne Steffey Morrow

... the art studio. School girls reciting Latin declensions, U.S. presidents, the poetry of Emily Dickinson. School girls, we were, tutoring younger children. As we grew older, we became school girls adolescent, with an eye for the macabre, the hypocritical, the absurd. Impossible to manage, we especially maligned the conventional, and that I promise you included the Ellis School's weekly task of memorizing Bible verses. I do not remember exactly how old we were when we were assigned the scripture that we read ...

445. Send Me

Isaiah 6:1-13

Sermon

Charles Curley

... which normally fill a person's head. They left whatever former existence they had enjoyed, just for the sake of following where they were sent! These were certainly not well-thought-out, reasoned responses. It was more like an obsession. Is their experience totally impossible for us to comprehend? Obviously, I hope not. Dag Hammarskjold, in his book Markings, wrote of a similar experience, and though it happened neither in a temple nor in a fishing boat, it was no less convincing. He wrote that he did not ...

446. Listen

1 Samuel 2:12-26

Sermon

Charles Curley

... word and catch God's vision, before it passes us by and we become ever more like the sons of Eli. Prayer: Lord of All Creation: you speak, but we do not listen; you call, but we do not respond. Forgive us for closed ears and closed hearts. It is impossible to live in this world without hearing the call to your service and seeing the great need for your love. But we have grown accustomed to the sights and sounds of need and pain, and no longer listen for your voice in the poor and the lost. Forgive us, call ...

447. Where's The Treasure?

Luke 1:5-25, Luke 1:26-38

Sermon

Thomas Long

... , showed that he was not the place to leave the treasure. Zechariah, so familiar with the holy, finally could not believe the presence of the holy when it intruded into his life. "How shall I know this?" he whined. "I need proof. I'm an old man. This is impossible. My wife is an old woman. How shall I know this? I need proof." And in a scene of great sadness, the angel reaches forth toward Zechariah's lips, saying, "You will be silent. You will be unable to speak, for you did not believe my words." There is ...

448. Taking The Risk Out Of Dy(e)ing

John 20:1-9

Sermon

Lee Griess

... back with me for a moment to that first Easter morning. While it is still dark, through the deserted streets of Jerusalem, three men run along, hurrying to the residence of the High Priest Caiaphas. In the courtyard, a guard stops them. "See Caiaphas now? Impossible! You'll have to wait until dawn at least!" Later, after the sun has risen, Caiaphas meets with the three soldiers, and hears the incredible news that the tomb they were charged to guard is empty. Caiaphas at first is puzzled, then angry, then ...

449. Real Solutions To Real Problems

John 21:1-14

Sermon

Lee Griess

... had made no difference in their lives. It's back to normal. Fishing can be good therapy, but it can also be lousy! Catching fish is one thing, but when the fish are not biting, there is plenty of time to think. And try as we might, it is often impossible to set our minds off of troubling events. It's like trying to keep your tongue from finding its way to the empty space left where you've lost a tooth. It's not hard to imagine Peter's thoughts, is it? They must have gone back to the upper ...

450. Forgiven!

John 12:1-11

Sermon

Lee Griess

... a new start. A new start, knowing that we are forgiven, then gives us the power to offer forgiveness to others. If we know ourselves as sinners made acceptable to God only by the grace of Jesus Christ, how can we possibly refuse to forgive another? It is impossible. George Whitefield was one of the greatest evangelists that ever lived. He was a true man of God, and yet when he saw a condemned man going to the gallows he whispered the famous words, "There but for the grace of God go I." George knew the truth ...

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