Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 26 to 50 of 1522 results

Matthew 14:13-21

Sermon

King Duncan

... was in over his head that day when he set out to feed a multitude of 5,000 men and perhaps a greater number of women and children with only five loaves of bread and two fish. The disciples surely said to themselves, it can't be done! Impossible! It's like something Charles F. Kettering once said when he was Research Head of General Motors. When he wanted a problem solved, Kettering would call together his staff. However, he would first place a table outside the room where they would be meeting with a sign ...

27. The Reality of the Resurrection

Luke 24:36-49

Sermon

Brett Blair

... about you but I still like to be surprised, to see something happen that I didn’t think possible. And when something impossible happens, like the children, I have to resort to simple explanations. When the rain is big enough to be called a drop ... . Don’t confine it to the walls of Jerusalem. The resurrection of Jesus is a message to the nations, an amazing, joyful, impossible story that positively happened. It’s a simple story; that’s what makes it so real. It is a story of forgiveness; that’s why ...

28. Mary, Did You Know?

Luke 1:26-38

Sermon

King Duncan

... So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month. For nothing is impossible with God.” Underline that last sentence: Nothing is impossible with God. I have often wondered, is it anymore difficult to believe that God gave Mary a virgin birth than it is to believe that Abraham and Sarah and Zechariah and Elizabeth bore children at an advanced age? Certainly Mary in her shame ...

29. Seeing God In The Ordinary: Friends

John 11:1-45

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... is one who knows you as you are, understands where you've been, accepts who you've become, and still, gently invites you to grow. A faithful friend is an image of God who helps us See God In The Ordinary by helping us See And Do The Impossible. III. Experience Resurrection A. We can See God In The Ordinary because: Friends help us Experience Resurrection. Most of us are like Martha who said: "I know Lazarus will rise again in the resurrection on the last day." She didn't realize that much of this journey of ...

30. Audacious Faith

Mark 2:1-12

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... and fear plagues every step, you just don’t know if you can get through. Remember Jesus, remember that He walks with you, and in and through Him we can do all things, for tie gives us strength Faith never says, “I cannot”, or “Impossible.’ The second lesson we learn from the audacious faith of the paralytic’s four friends is that our faith saves others. Now that’s strong, but think about it. The paralytic would have never been healed, but for the faith of his friends. Augustine confessed ...

31. Jesus' No-Nonsense Guide to Being Rich

Mark 10:17-31

Sermon

April Yamasaki

... of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God." Camels are big animals. They can be easily seven feet tall and weigh up to 1,500 pounds. So Jesus' description of a camel fitting through the eye of a needle is laughable and impossible -- so impossible that some have tried to re-interpret his words. After all, the Greek word for a thick rope is very similar to the Greek word for camel. So maybe Jesus meant to say, it would be easier for a thick rope to get through the eye of a needle ...

32. Love Without Limits

Matthew 15:21-28

Sermon

Roger G. Talbott

... on the church, give up on other people, or give up on ourselves. It is then that only love, in this case the woman's love for her daughter, can break through the limitation of fear and despair -- call it the limitation of believing that some things are impossible. Everybody needs that kind of love. I once overheard a conversation between a mother and her six-year-old son. The six-year-old had recently been blessed with a new baby brother. One day, as his mother was working in the kitchen, she picked up his ...

33. Joy Songs, Trumpet Blasts, And Hallelujah Shouts!

Joshua 5:13--6:27

Sermon

Carlyle Fielding Stewart

... of Jericho would be one of the greatest in biblical history. Oddsmakers were stunned. Matchmakers thunderstruck. No woman, man, or child was spared in the conquest. God was put out with the Canaanites for their idolatrous and rebellious ways. The impossible had been achieved through impossible means. It was a great day for the Israelites, for they had journeyed long and hard to get to this point. They had awaited this moment for forty years, and now God had bestowed the blessing of victory through very ...

34. I Knew You’d Come

John 6:16-24

Sermon

Richard Hoefler

... stop at nothing, If a miracle is the only way to save us - then a miracle it is. The fact that it is difficult or even impossible for us to understand how he does it, or even believe he did it, is beside the point. He doesn’t do it to present a ... wind by the sheer force of it against his face. To preach that we should keep our eyes on Christ and then we can accomplish the impossible task is misleading. The point is we can’t! We are too weak, and the forces that rage about us are too strong and demanding. ...

35. What Will They Think Up Next?

Luke 1:26-38

Sermon

Mark Trotter

... the way it is. There is nothing you can do about it. There's a tragic dimension in the Bible. I suppose you could say Job is about tragedy. But essentially the Bible is about comedy, because it's about surprises. Comedies are about the impossible happening. Comedies are about the proud being humbled and the humbled being lifted up and exalted. When you see that in a Charlie Chaplin movie, for instance, the humble, lowly, forgotten person being exalted, and the proud people being humbled, you laugh. Have you ...

36. Seeing the End from the Beginning

Numbers 13:1-2, 17-33

Sermon

James Merritt

... title—Admiral of the Ocean Sea; (c) the permanent position of governor of all new territory; and (d) all of his honors and rights passed on to his heirs. In other words, Columbus had to see before he could sail.2 By any measuring stick this appeared to be mission impossible. So the question is raised: How could Christopher Columbus see it, and why did he try to do it? Well, the answer is: His vision was God-given. Listen to what he said in his own words: It was the Lord who put into my mind (I could feel ...

37. Christ: The Victor over Death

1 Corinthians 15:51-58

Sermon

Richard Gribble

... , which one day will lead to union with God. It will not be an easy journey, if taken seriously, but it is the only path that will one day lead to eternal life. Let us, therefore, walk the road; let us take on what seems to be mission impossible. Certainly the parents of Nicholas Green had no desire to walk the road that came their way, but they realized their son could give new life to so many and thus, despite their grief, made a courageous decision. In a similar way, God will strengthen us, reward our ...

38. House Rules, Forgiveness, and Why Rat Poison Is not Good for You

Matthew 18:21-35

Sermon

Roy Howard

... in Jesus Christ, renewed every single day, that makes it possible to forgive those who hurt us. Christians have no other model than the triune God, and we have no other strength than the power of the Holy Spirit at work within us to do what is otherwise impossible. When Jesus told Peter to forgive seventy times seven times, he was inviting him into a way of life with forgiveness at the center. It is this same way of life that you and I are invited to live. Forgiveness is a way of life that begins with ...

39. The Pastor Who Created A Monster

Haggai 1:1-15, Haggai 2:1-9

Sermon

Thomas G. Rogers

... congregation was going, they would never get a new sanctuary. She said they were trying to do too much, that it was impossible. Pastor Jenkins groaned inside at the comments he heard from both of the members. He decided to himself that something had to ... . Bruce explained that his finances had been lagging the last couple of years and that he had begun to think that it would be impossible. He told the pastor that he had slid into some negative thinking. Bruce said that he began to tell himself that he couldn't ...

40. Some Things We Can Do, God Can't

2 Timothy 2:13

Sermon

King Duncan

... . And that brings us to the final thing to be said, GOD CANNOT TURN AWAY ANYONE WHO COMES TO HIM IN FAITH. Think about that for a moment. God cannot turn away anyone who comes confessing their faith in Jesus Christ and repenting of their sins. It is impossible for God to reject such a person. Oh, there may be some people God would like to turn away. Murderers, adulterers, thieves, those who gossip and bear false witness. Some of us WOULD turn such persons away, but not God. "He who comes to me, I will not ...

41. I Can Have Anything?

John 14:5-14

Sermon

King Duncan

... give up. Our text for the day says that you and I are capable of amazing things when we set out to serve Jesus Christ. Jesus was speaking to his church when he said, "If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it." Nothing is impossible for the church of Jesus Christ. But there is something else just as important... Jesus adds a qualifier: "And whatever you ask in My name," Jesus promises, "that will I do, THAT THE FATHER MAY BE GLORIFIED . . . " Christ will do anything we ask if it glorifies the Father ...

42. The Truth About Miracles

John 2:1-11

Sermon

King Duncan

... . Jesus used his miracles to prove his identity, to profoundly affect people's lives, or to further his ministry not to be someone's errand boy. My guess is that this is the problem with many of our requests to God: WE ASK GOD TO DO THE TRIVIAL OR THE IMPOSSIBLE OR THE UNNECESSARY. When we do that we treat God like our servant and not our sovereign. When a young athlete comes off the field and says, "God gave us the victory tonight," we hope he is saying, "I thank God who gave me a good body so I can ...

43. Sarah Laughed

Genesis 18:1-15

Sermon

King Duncan

... is stupid enough to suggest it. And courage, which we grownups make so much of, is for the child the most natural thing in the world. (3) No wonder Jesus used a little child as an example of the Kingdom of God. Children are perfectly at home with the impossible. That is a pretty good place to reside. A famous writer was passing a hospital that bore at its main gate the sign, "Home for Incurable Children." "They'll get me in there one of these days," the writer commented, with a twinkle in his eye. That is ...

44. Seeing the Good News

Luke 3:1-20

Sermon

John P. Jewell

... what it would be like: War is just a memory. Hunger and poverty a thing of the past. Every human being experiences love and caring community. Sounds like heaven doesn't it? And... when you look at the state of human affairs these days, it sounds impossible... For mortals. Nevertheless, this is a time of year for dreaming. Many of our children are writing lists of all the things that would fulfill their dreams. The child within us reaches out for the wonder and mystery of this "season of good cheer." One ...

45. Loving Like God Loves

Matthew 5:43-48

Sermon

Phil Thrailkill

... me. I can’t do these things on my own, and neither can you; that’s just the point. But, and here is the good news, in the company of Jesus and through the interior work of his Spirit we can be changed so that we begin to desire impossible things, and then, by the miracle of God’s supporting grace, find ourselves sometimes getting it right and surprising even ourselves! Jesus welcomes us into a parallel reality called the kingdom of God. We are invited to plug in! It is a new world in the midst of the ...

46. Deep Water!

Matthew 14:22-33

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

... it ought to be. It is only when we look up to God that we seen any difference - the sustaining hope of all nations. The One who is able. The One who sustains me. Indeed! For those who tackle a cause, a work, a labor with God, so big, so impossible, so unthinkable, that it is doomed to failure unless God is in it, we must remember, it is only by God's strength that we can do what we do - preach, convert, sustain, and grow the church. That means less self-ego, more divine worship. Less looking to ourselves ...

47. As Long As It Is Day!

Matthew 18:21-35

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

... , "I will repay you in full!" The king had pity on him, the text says. Rather than throwing him in jail, he simply forgave him his debts and let him go. Jesus is saying God is like a king who has pity on us. He is willing to cancel out impossible debts and he is willing to forgive. Did you know that the Greek word for forgive means to let loose? That's right. It's like a terrible knot that suddenly gives and is completely untied. It's like a dark bondage from which there is sudden release. Try this ...

48. Sing Praise

Colossians 1:15-23

Sermon

April Yamasaki

... homelessness, building community, feeding the hungry, supporting victim-offender reconciliation efforts, and finding alternatives to warfare. Idealistic? Yes! Overwhelming? Definitely! Impossible? Well, just as impossible as turning Paul from an enemy of the gospel into its servant, as impossible as transforming the Colossians from estranged and hostile to holy and blameless, as impossible as Amish forgiveness, as impossible as caring for all God's creation. We may not be able to do all of these things, or ...

49. A New Name for a New Year

Ephesians 1:1-14

Sermon

King Duncan

... Quixote’s family tries to make him face reality. They want him to see the world as it really is. They try to shock him into reality. As they begin to succeed, his health and his spirit begin to break, and he is at the point of giving up his impossible dream. But just then Aldonza comes into his room. She looks at him with grateful eyes and says, “You looked at me and called me by another name Dulcinea.” Aldonza had become a lady; her life renewed by someone who dared to believe in her and call her by ...

50. Trust in Me

Matthew 1:18-25, Luke 2:1-7

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... is not leading us into deeper paths of love and grace, then it’s not God’s guidance. Do you think you’re too old for the impossible? Do you think you’re too young for the impossible? Do you think you’re too disabled for the impossible? Tell Elizabeth that. Tell Mary that. Tell Joseph that. Tell Zechariah that. Tell God’s people that! The impossible is made possible through trust in God’s promises and the promptings of the Spirit. I invite you now to trust, to entrust your spirit into the ...

Showing results