Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 4576 to 4600 of 4972 results

4576. Why We Do What We Do

Matthew 6:1-4

Sermon

Mike Ripski

... us his own life, broken and poured out for us the price of forgiveness. Why are we so prone to believe ourselves a failure? We fail. We mess up. As I did last Monday night as I was heading home on Highway 100. I plowed into a car that had stopped, totaling her car and mine. We are imperfect. We are not God. God is able to see beyond our failure. God wants us to see beyond it too. God wants us free from all bondage, including guilt. And so, after we confess our sins and hear words of forgiveness and ...

4577. Theology 101

Psalm 111:1-10

Sermon

Mike Ripski

... that all of life is a passage. It is movement. And even though we debate whether we want change or not, the reality is change is constant. At issue is not whether we want change, but what kind of change it will be. Just look in the mirror. We cannot stop life where we want it and build a wall around it to keep it that way. Botox is temporary. The covenant that God has commanded forever is that God is with us, redeeming us, renewing the earth, re-creating Creation. When we live in the fear that we’ll ...

4578. Touch

Mark 1:40-45

Illustration

... . And you know, it worked. Physical touch had made the difference. As important as physical touch is there is another kind of touch that is even more important. It is spiritual touch. And I would contend that when a people are denied spiritual touch a very similar thing happens. They stop trying to do and be good. Their lives fall in disrepair and violence, anger, lying, robbery, adultery, abuse and murder creep in.

4579. An Unnerving Experience

Mark 9:2-13

Sermon

King Duncan

... he could no longer climb, he crawled into a rocky cave. In the cave, Sharp slowly froze to death. While the blood in his arms and legs was turning to ice, 40 to 42 people passed by on their way up to the peak of the mountain. None stopped to help. By the time they started back down, it was too late. Sir Edmund Hillary, who was on the team that first climbed Everest in 1953, called it “horrifying” that climbers would leave a dying man. His own mother, however, has said that the decision to climb ...

4580. A Haunting Moment

Mark 9:2-13

Illustration

John Killinger

... was transported. "Then a dark thought crossed my mind, as if it had been a cloud passing between me and the sun. In a few years the woman would become old. The rose in her hair would die. Her soft hands would be gnarled and wrinkled by age. She would stop playing the instrument. She would be confined to a bed or a wheelchair. Then she, too, would die. "The music brought me back again to a realization of how beautiful it was. But I did not recover from the image of the violinist as an old woman. It haunted ...

4581. Give Me All

Mark 8:31-38

Illustration

Donald Deffner

... . I have not come to torment your natural self, but to kill it. No half-measures are any good. I don't want to cut off a branch here and there, I want to have the whole tree down. I don't want to drill the tooth, or crown it, stop it, but to have it out. Hand over the whole natural self instead. In fact I will give you myself, my own will shall become yours.

4582. What About Me?

Mark 8:31-38

Illustration

Billy D. Strayhorn

According to a story in Guideposts, Arthur Gordon visited a kindergarten class where the teacher frequently reminded misbehaving children to stop being a WAM. The kids straightened up as soon as their teacher pointed out they were being a WAM. What was a WAM? Why was being a WAM so bad? The teacher explained that WAM stands for "What About Me?" She was training the children to be less self-centered. ...

4583. The Miracle Fruit

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... teacher who praises a student in private and trashes that same student in public -A co-worker who seems to be a best friend, then sabotages any work that isn’t their own All those experience create cognitive dissonance. Our brain begins to stop trusting what it sees and hears because nothing makes sense. Cognitive dissonance can obscure the truth. Cognitive dissonance makes what is false and wrong appear to be right and true. When Jesus made his public announcement, his first of three passion predictions ...

4584. John 2:13-22

John 2:12-25

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... sacrificial animals, reserved for the poorest of the people) thus: “Take these things out of here!” (v.15). All this action cleans out the trading center that had encamped in the not centrally sacred, but still spiritual, “Court of the Gentiles.” Jesus’ order, “Stop making my Father’s house a market place,” recalls the final words of Zechariah 14:21, “And there no longer shall be traders in the house of the Lord on that day.” Jesus cleared from the temple the very things that kept the ...

4585. Barking Dogs and Daily Bread

John 2:12-25

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... sacrifice, blood, and priestly intercessions. There were hoops that had to be jumped through. There were dues that had to be paid. There were temple officiates who had to be recognized. The road to personal redemption was studded with official, theological stop-lights. Jesus changed all that. By his death and resurrection, Jesus changed that forever. And when Jesus “cleansed the temple,” as recorded in this week’s John text, he gave “Cliff Notes” to this future for those who witnessed his words ...

4586. Give Me Back My Bite

John 2:13-22

Illustration

Richard J. Fairchild

... worship, and the snake would often bite people with his poisonous bite. One time a swami was on his way to the temple and the snake jumped out to bite him, but before the snake could bite him the swami put the snake into a trance and ordered him to stop biting people. "It is not right to bite people with your poisonous bite," the swami told him. "From now on, you shall not bite anyone." A few months later the swami was passing that way again, and he notice the snake lying in the grass beside the path. The ...

4587. No Time Left

John 12:20-36

Illustration

Brett Blair

A man had been driving all night and by morning was still far from his destination. He decided to stop at the next city he came to, and park somewhere where it was quiet so he could get an hour or two of sleep. As luck would have it, the quiet place he chose happened to be on one of the city's major jogging routes. No sooner had he ...

4588. What Have You Done for Me?

John 12:20-36

Illustration

George Bass

... luxury, and he was an extremely gifted individual. Zinzendorf had been reared and trained for a diplomatic career in the Court at Dresden. Beyond all of this, it has been said of him that he was a child of God. One day, on a trip to Paris, he stopped for a rest in Dusseldorf; during his stay in the city, he visited the art gallery. There he caught sight of Domenico Feti's painting of the crucified Jesus that he calls "Ecce Homo." The artist had written two short lines in Latin beneath the painting: Hoc feci ...

4589. A Natural Born Pessimist

John 20:19-23

Illustration

Mickey Anders

Joe Gordon says a pessimist is someone "who can look at the land of milk and honey and see only calories and cholesterol." It was difficult for Thomas to follow Jesus for he was a natural born pessimist. Thomas was absolutely certain that disaster awaited them, but in an act of tremendous faith and loyalty he was ready to go with Jesus. Just because he was pessimistic, that was no reason to stop following where Jesus led.

4590. Easter 3

Luke 24:36-49, 1 John 2:28--3:10, Acts 3:11-26

Sermon Aid

John R. Brokhoff

... than that children of the King. How do we know we are God's children? We know it because of the cross and resurrection, because of God's Word, because of faith, because the Spirit witnesses to our spirits that we are his children. Now stop and think of what it means to be a child of God. PREACHING POSSIBILITIES 1. Explain It, Please! Need: When something big happens, we make an investigation after the fact to determine why it happened. If it involves national interest, often a presidential commission is ...

4591. Epiphany 8

Mark 2:18-22, 2 Corinthians 2:12--3:6, Psalm 103:1-22, Hosea 2:2-23

Sermon Aid

John R. Brokhoff

... calls for celebration. On the other hand, Jesus is taken away and then the fasting will resume. Those who do not fast probably base their action on verse 19 and overlook verse 20. When Jesus returns, never again to leave us, we can stop fasting and forever celebrate. In this sermon we need to "sell" fasting as a worthy and helpful activity. Outline: Why Christians fast – a. Fasting keeps the body in subjection. b. Fasting expresses repentance. c. Fasting influences the action of God. d. Fasting relives ...

4592. An Easter Heart

John 20:1-9

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... new life to the world. 2) An Easter heart church throws off the old grave clothes. Have we shred our shrouds? Death shrouds separate the dead from the living. Death shrouds wrap sinking, stinking corpse in fine linens and sweet spices — but they cannot stop the inner decay. Instead of wrapping ourselves in costly, starchy grave clothes, a church full of Easter hearts wears blue jeans. An Easter heart church is a blue jeans church. It lives its faith in everyday, working day clothes: clothes that are tough ...

4593. Proper 19

Proverbs 1:20-33, James 3:1-12, Mark 8:27-30, Mark 8:31--9:1

Sermon Aid

John R. Brokhoff

... of Jesus. Christ is the anointed one the Messiah, Redeemer. This was crucial for Jesus. For a few years he lived among them: teaching, preaching and healing. He never disclosed who he was. He wanted the people to come to their own conclusion. Before he could stop his public ministry and begin his work of Messiah in terms of suffering and dying, he had to know if, at least, the disciples knew who he was. Otherwise, his death would be only a martyrdom. This is still Jesus' method: The messiahship for us must ...

4594. Proper 25

Job 42:1-6, Job 42:7-17, Mark 10:46-52, Hebrews 7:11-28

Sermon Aid

John R. Brokhoff

... helpless and handicapped. The other is the Messiah, son of David, who is human but also divine. One son cries to another Son. Through the divine Son, both can be sons of the Father. 3. Call (v. 49). The cries of Bartimaeus touched the caring heart of Jesus. He stopped and asked for Bartimaeus to come to him. Why did Jesus not go to him since he was blind? Was it a test of Bartimaeus' faith? A person needs to make a response; he needs to express his faith. Note that the call did not come directly from Jesus ...

4595. The Power of Belief

John 20:24-31

Sermon

King Duncan

... of their eyes changes as they switch personalities! Weird! This is why voodoo doctors are said to have such power. People can have their heartbeat affected by believing that a hex has been put on them. If they believe this strongly enough, their heart can stop beating altogether. (2) First you have to believe. The power of belief can help us achieve amazing things. This is what Dr. Norman Vincent Peale was teaching fifty years ago there is power in positive thinking. Some of you who are football fans may ...

4596. The Holy Trinity

John 3:1-21, Romans 8:1-17, Isaiah 6:1-13

Sermon Aid

John R. Brokhoff

... altar and Isaiah's sin was burned away. God did not become merciful and forgiving until Jesus died on the cross. Always God has been ready to forgive those who confess their sin and seek forgiveness. 4. Send (v. 8). Most Christians are content to stop with forgiveness in their experience with God. Worship to be true must result in consecration, dedication and commitment. When the gospel is heard, a normal reaction is, "What must we do about it?" At the close of the experience, God asks, "Whom shall I send ...

4597. The Rush and the Hush of Pentecost

Acts 2:1-13

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... personal commitments—if you let the Holy Spirit in. The disciples, waiting for a miracle receive . . . sound that becomes silence, a holy rush that becomes a holy hush, a brassy, brazen message that is at the same time a calm, delicate mystery. What a heart-stopping “rush, what a heart-filling “hush” Pentecost was . . . and is. The Spirit of God wants to flood your soul with whatever it needs this Pentecost morning . . . . do you need to feel the rush? do you need to feel the hush? It’s yours.

4598. Only Obedience

John 10:11-18

Illustration

J. Scott Miller

... Mari as John and Mack went to work, the one in charge, the other obedient. Sometimes, tearing at top speed around the flock, Mack would jam on four-wheeled brakes, his eyes blazing but still on the sheep, his body tense and quivering, but obedient to the command to stop. What the shepherd saw the dog could not see the weak ewe that lagged behind, the one caught in a bush, the danger that lay ahead for the flock. "Do the sheep have any idea what's happening?" I asked Mari. "Not a clue!" she said. "And how ...

4599. Do You Know My Business?

John 10:11-18

Illustration

Keith Wagner

... watches the young man make a selection and bundle it into his Cherokee. As the car starts to pull away, he calls out: "If I can tell you exactly what your business is, will you give me my sheep back?" "Okay, why not?" answers the young man, stopping the car. "You are a consultant" says the shepherd. "That's correct," says the yuppie. "How did you guess?" "Easy," answers the shepherd. "You turn up here without being asked. You want to be paid for information I already have. And you don't know anything about ...

4600. A Violent Wind

Acts 2:1-13

Sermon

King Duncan

... . We need that kind of Spirit if we are going to be what God calls us to be. Here’s the final thing to be said about wind: wind cannot be controlled; it blows where it will. As Dr. DeYoung puts it, “Wind is a powerful force. It cannot be stopped or controlled by people. Likewise, the Holy Spirit is not subject to human control. The moving of the Holy Spirit is God at work. There is great variety in the wind. It may be a soft whisper gently rustling the leaves on the trees, or it may be a hurricane ...

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