Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 4526 to 4550 of 4977 results

4526. The Final Exam

Mark 10:17-31

Sermon

Steven Molin

... him the essential question of life. "Master, what must I do to gain eternal life?" What's the standard? What will be on the final exam? It was not a trick question, as was so often the case when religious people spoke to Jesus. The man was quite sincere in his effort to know what God required; he was a real, live, first-century "seeker." Jesus' initial response was a rather stock answer; the company line of Judaism, if you will. "You know the commandments; don't commit murder, don't commit adultery, don't ...

4527. When God Says, “No”

Mark 10:35-45

Sermon

Steven Molin

... big picture, so they settled for the narrow one. But Jesus knew better, and he told them so. "You don't know what you're asking," he said. "The answer is, ‘No.' " I am sure James and John were upset at Jesus for denying their request, but I am quite certain that it all made sense to them on that first Good Friday, when they realized that Jesus was merely protecting them from future pain. And it seems to be that way with our children, as well. As they grow older, they, too, begin to recognize the value of ...

4528. Witness: More than Judgment

1 Corinthians 9:16-23

Sermon

Scott Suskovic

... mail. We waved, called each other by name, but I have yet to take those thirty steps to his mailbox and have a meaningful conversation that goes beyond the weather. Why? You know why. Dinner's ready. I want to see my family. I've got another appointment. And sometimes, quite frankly, I'm not sure what to say or how to say it or how to raise the religion issue. So I drop the junk mail into the garbage, head into the garage, close the door and think, "I should have said something." I doubt that he sees me ...

4529. Integrity: Words with Meaning

2 Corinthians 1:18-22

Sermon

Scott Suskovic

... it go. No one would know the difference. Then he glanced at his watch, grabbed the receipt, and ran back into the store. He quickly found the clerk, showed her the receipt, and told her that there had been a mistake. The young woman was speechless. The pastor didn't quite know what to think of it. Then she spoke. "You don't know me but I visited your church last Sunday. I sat in the back row. It has been a long time since I've been to church. I couldn't take all the hypocrisy. And then I heard ...

4530. Eternal Life Is Now

1 John 5:9-13

Sermon

Nancy Kraft

... who suffers and dies. Peter's response? "No way, Lord! That's never going to happen to you." It's hard for a teacher to give parting instructions to his students when every time he tries to bring up his departure they come back with, "Quit talking like that. You're not going anywhere." Well, the crucifixion finally got their attention. After the resurrection, Jesus had another chance with his disciples. This time they were more receptive to his teaching. Finally, the time had come for him to leave them. And ...

4531. I’ve Got a Home in that Kingdom

2 Corinthians 5:6-10, 14-17

Sermon

Gibson “Nibs” Stroupe

... Corinth to face judgment from the proconsul Gallio. It is not clear in these verses whether the "judgment seat of Christ" will be the final judgment of Matthew 25 and Revelation 20, or whether it will be part of an ongoing cleansing process. Paul is never quite conclusive in his writings as to whether or not he believes in a final judgment that will seal our eternal fate. In these verses in 2 Corinthians, his point is to emphasize that our lives — our motives and our actions — are important in our lives ...

4532. A Plea from The Heart

2 Corinthians 6:1-13

Sermon

Gibson “Nibs” Stroupe

... two months later, before Mother went to work and before I left for school, Gran came to the breakfast table, began to eat, and then slumped over, with her head on the table. Mother touched her and then shouted to me: "Nibs, run get Dr. Paine!" Dr. Paine - quite a name for a doctor - lived across the street and was our family friend and doctor. His son, Johnny, and I played many hours together. On that May morning, however, I wasn't playing - I was running for my life. I ran across the street in my pajamas ...

4533. Time for the Offering

2 Corinthians 8:7-15

Sermon

Gibson “Nibs” Stroupe

... . His name is Mark Gray, and he had been a missionary to Malawi from the Presbyterian Church of Northern Ireland prior to his coming to Columbia Seminary. He had met his wife, Betsy, in Malawi, where she was a mission worker from Cartersville, Georgia — quite a gathering place of Georgia and Ireland in Malawi! In his sermon, Mark spoke of being the pastor in a small agricultural village in Malawi. It was harvest time, and Mark remembered being awakened at about four in the morning by one of the village ...

4534. The Vision of God

2 Corinthians 12:2-10

Sermon

Gibson “Nibs” Stroupe

... news from Corinth in the midst of writing this letter, and as a result he switches into battle gear to finish the letter. A second alternative is that chapters 10-13 are a different letter or part of a different letter. Whichever is the explanation, there is quite a shift, and Paul decides that he must strongly defend himself. In chapter 11 he begins a series of credentials, a process he calls "boasting." He berates himself for doing it; he cringes as he does it; but he does it. If his rivals in Corinth ...

4535. Welcome to the Center of Life

Ephesians 1:3-14

Sermon

Gibson “Nibs” Stroupe

... of all of life, at the center of our own individual lives, is a loving God who seeks life for us, who asks us to be motivated by love rather than by fear. The center of life is not death or violence or injustice or greed, but love. This is quite a claim in our crazy, violence-based, fear-driven world. The author of Ephesians tells us that in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, God has given us what we need to live and to love in this kind of world: "Who has blessed us in Christ with ...

4536. Love That Surpasses Knowledge

Ephesians 3:14-21

Sermon

Thomas Lentz

... someone says, "I love him (or her) so much that I just can't live without him (or her), Peck explains: "What you describe is parasitism, not love ... Love is the free exercise of choice. Two people love each other only when they are quite capable of living without each other but choose to live with each other." Peck continues to describe this condition of dependency as the most common psychiatric disorder. "People with this disorder, passive dependent people, are so busy seeking to be loved that they have ...

4537. A Higher Calling

Ephesians 4:1-16

Sermon

Thomas Lentz

... is a terrible mistake. Because hypocrisy recognizes that we have standards, even when we don't live up to them." We can admit to ourselves, I am not as good as I should be but I can become better. I can put more effort into improving and quit trying to justify my shortcomings. As William Raspberry put it: "My advice to you is to resurrect hypocrisy; to pretend that you are better than you really are." Pretend that you really do believe that there are things more important than making a buck. Pretend to love ...

4538. Words That Wound, Words That Heal

Ephesians 4:25-5:2

Sermon

Thomas Lentz

... what you are making of me. I love you for putting your hand into my heaped up heart and passing over all the foolish, weak things that you can't help dimly seeing there, and drawing out into the light all the beautiful things that no one else had looked quite far enough to find. I love you because you are helping me to make of the lumber of my life not a tavern, but a temple, out of the works of my every day not a reproach, but a song. During these vacation days of summer, let us all take ...

4539. Filling the Job Description

Hebrews 5:1-10

Sermon

Patrick J. Rooney

... much of what was written in the job description. I was in deeper than I knew and I realized that no amount of quick stepping on my part was going to get me out of it. I had two choices. I could try to fake it or quit while I was ahead. I handed back the job description and, with profuse apologies, told the interview committee the honest truth — that this job was way beyond my capabilities and that I could not fulfill the expectations of the job description. Chastened, but summoning what dignity I ...

4540. Hope on The Day of Judgment

Hebrews 9:24-28

Sermon

Patrick J. Rooney

... public image as a jovial individual, the pain caused by things said long ago that were never taken back nor repented. Mixed in with all of these are the beliefs that people have about death and what happens to us at the moment of death so that I am quite used to hearing that "Grandma is with Jesus," or "Soon we will all be together again." But on this day it was the words of a family member that most caught me by surprise. To my spoken words of consolation and the promised hope of resurrection, the wife of ...

4541. Oops! I Did It Again

Matthew 16:21-28

Sermon

King Duncan

... cared about his Master. He didn’t want him to suffer and die. But something else vexed Peter. How could the Messiah be put to death? That didn’t make sense. Peter was impetuous and a little impertinent in his rebuke of Jesus, but he was being quite honest. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!” As usual Peter was probably saying what the other disciples were thinking. If we were honest about it, there is a lot about our faith that bothers all of us. If that is not so, why ...

4542. A Difficult Day to Follow Jesus

Matthew 18:21-35

Sermon

King Duncan

... as we try to do what God commands us to do, the ability to do it is given to us by the God of Grace.” A man who has shown us the capacity to forgive is Nelson Mandela of South Africa. Pastor Tony Campolo has a friend who knows Mandela quite well. One day this friend asked Mandela about his ability to forgive. He said, “Mr. Mandela, when you were released from prison, when you were let out of that cellblock, you marched across the yard to the gates of the prison. I got my daughter up in the middle of ...

Nothing that is worth doing can be achieved in our lifetime: therefore we must be saved by hope. Nothing which is true or beautiful or good makes complete sense in any immediate context of history; therefore we must be saved by faith. Nothing we do, however virtuous, can be accomplished alone, therefore we are saved by love. No virtuous act is quite as virtuous from the standpoint of our friend or foe as it is from our standpoint. Therefore we must be saved by the final form of love which is forgiveness.

Reinhold Niebuhr

4544. Everyone Is Invited

Matthew 22:1-14

Illustration

Bill Bouknight

... four cards and put the names on the front. Everybody was excited when the Valentine's Party began. The girl designated as postman began calling the names and handing out the cards. Some very popular children got bunches of cards. Drew heard her name called quite often and was having a wonderful time. But then she became aware that the little girl sitting in front of her had received no cards. Her head was drooping lower and lower. Then suddenly the postman called this little girl's name and delivered to ...

4545. Gummy Old Men

Matthew 3:1-12

Drama

Arley K. Fadness

... already — Earl: — add a music and drama coach — Norb: — foolish — Earl: — seemed outlandish at the time— but now lookin’ at it from the long view, I’ve been thinkin’ ... Norb: Well, Earl, I admit I was with that group, too, you know — that’s quite a few years ago now. I know we were wrong and we behaved badly. We actually believed some of those crazy rumors, passed them on and got all bent out of shape — we really smeared his name. I wonder if Superintendent Dariman ever got over ...

4546. The Difference Between Getting and Giving

John 1:1-18

Drama

Arley K. Fadness

... differed. Devout Gentleman: See here, my good fellow. In the gospel of our Lord according to Saint Luke, in chapter 6, verses 30 through 31 and verse 38, we read thusly.... Narrator: The gentleman was obviously schooled in Bible and theology and he read quite a puzzling array of verses about giving to everyone who asks, and doing to other people the things you want to get back from them, and God giving to you when you’ve given to others. Devout Gentleman: And furthermore ... Old Man: (interrupts, stressed ...

4547. The Waiting Man

Mark 1:1-8

Drama

Arley K. Fadness

... , don’t you hate to wait? Waiting Man: Yeah. I guess everybody does. (pauses) Passerby: What are you waiting for? Waiting Man: I’m not at liberty to say. Passerby: Oh, sorry. Didn’t mean to pry. (pauses) Been waiting long? Waiting Man: Yes, quite a while now. Passerby: Must be something pretty important, that you’re waiting for, I mean. Waiting Man: It’s really important. Of critical importance, you could say. Passerby: But you can’t discuss it. Waiting Man: Please. Passerby: Sorry, sorry, I’m ...

4548. The Waiting Room

John 1:1-18

Drama

Arley K. Fadness

... pacing, then approaches Vickie) What’s your problem? Vickie: Can’t you tell? (hiccups) I’ve got the hiccups! (hiccups) Mr. Rush: Hiccups? That doesn’t sound very serious. Vickie: Well, I’ve had them for three days! (hiccups) Mr. Rush: Ooooh, that is quite a while. Does it bother you? Vickie: Not really, I don’t even notice anymore (hiccups) but my teacher made me come to see the doctor. Mr. Rush: Your teacher? Why? Vickie: Well, my class was taking final tests yesterday and I hiccuped through ...

4549. For What Do We Wait?

Luke 1:26-38

Drama

Arley K. Fadness

... Nurse: Mrs. Abernathy. Mrs. Abernathy: (growls) About time! (Nurse and Mrs. Abernathy exit as Bart enters.) Bart: Hi, Suzie. Suzie: Hi, Bart. Bart: How long have you been waiting? (takes off coat and sits) Suzie: I just got here, but I think these other people have been waiting quite a while. Bart: Boy, I hope I don’t have to wait too long. I’ve got to get home before the letter carrier gets there. My grades are coming today and I’ve got to see ’em before Dad does! Suzie: How come? Bart: I’ve got ...

4550. Better To Be A “Lert”

Mark 13:1-31

Drama

Arley K. Fadness

... tap each other.) Narrator 1: By tapping a book, they could comprehend it in a few seconds. (Nods tap a book.) Narrator 1: You see, the people of Nod were brilliant, unusually intelligent, and sensitive. But, unfortunately, they did have one flaw. Quite without warning, they would nod off and fall sound asleep! (Nods fall asleep, wake each other up, and fall promptly to sleep again.) Narrator 1: Oh, they were geniuses. But their attention spans were soooo short and their memories were, unfortunately, shorter ...

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