Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 476 to 500 of 1354 results

476. Job’s Joy

Job 38:1--41:34

Sermon

Richard F. Bansemer

... ?" Job’s patience has ended, and his perseverance begins. He curses the day of his birth. In the account that follows, he curses his life and begs for death. Of all Job’s requests, one stands above all others, and that is to face God face to face and defend himself. He will not and cannot let go of his righteousness. In it he has his security, and with it he challenges God’s action against him. He demands to know why God has not been fair with him. The bitterness of his complaints swells up into a ...

477. Stephen’s Stones

Acts 7:54--8:1a

Sermon

Richard F. Bansemer

... "spiritual" beings of the day. For in that account of murder we read a line that ought to raise the goose bumps on our arms: "The witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul." Paul. Devoted Paul. Protector of the faith. Defender of God’s Way. Consenting to the death and the killers who spilled Steve’s blood. Sounds more personal when we call him Steve. Looks more real - like he could have been someone we knew - and loved - and played with - and ate supper with. Paul walked ...

478. Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Romans 13:1-7

Sermon

Carroll Gunkel

... to face the Master and seek to reconcile his actions with the teachings of a Master who took no life, but most willingly gave his own. Bonhoeffer saw his action as that of tyrannicide ... the death of a tyrant. Rationally, Pastor Bonhoeffer defended his participation in plots against the life of Adolf Hitler by concluding that such actions were allowable when: There was clear evidence of gross misrule with irreparable harm to the citizenry. The overthrow of the anti-Christian government could be done with ...

479. Doctor Thomas Dooley

Matthew 9:1-8

Sermon

Carroll Gunkel

... conditions, to meet the needs of primitive people, often using primitive methods. Ironically, the same criticism was levelled against Tom Dooley as had been levelled earlier against Albert Schweitzer. Both were accused of practicing nineteenth century medicine. Dooley defended his medical practice, declaring that while he could be accused of practicing nineteenth century medicine, he was treating people who were in effect living in the fifteenth century, and whatever the grade of medicine he might offer, it ...

480. Mairead Corrigan and Betty Williams

Luke 1:67-80

Sermon

Carroll Gunkel

... example of the truth that for all too many people ... it is easier to criticize someone else than it is to work ourselves; It is easier to tear down than it is to build up. Mairead Corrigan and Betty Williams do not need me to defend them, but a word of defense is nonetheless appropriate. First, their actions speak for themselves. With little concern for personal safety or well-being, these two women rose to the challenge of bringing peace to Northern Ireland. Their movement may not have been the movement ...

481. "Lite Beer by Miller"

1 Corinthians 8:1-13

Sermon

Peter Rudowski

... the human condition we will disagree with each other, and we will fight with each other. The Lite beer commercial by Miller puts it so beautifully: there are those who like good taste and there are those who like less calories. Each side gets so busy defending its position that neither one can hear what the other person is saying. Can’t they both be right? I would ask you that the next time you see that commercial on television - the next time you see those people fighting - the next time you get sucked ...

482. On Being Lifted Beyond Ourselves

Romans 8:18-27

Sermon

Robert G. Tuttle

... within him: "I felt a terrible emptiness ... There was a big hole in my life ... something made me feel I needed a personal relationship with God." And again, "My self-centered past was washing over me in waves. It was painful. Agony. Desperately I tried to defend myself." He said to himself, "I’ve got to answer all the intellectual arguments first."3 Next comes the real spiritual struggle assisted by the Spirit of God. "Then I prayed my first real prayer. ‘God, I don’t know how to find you, but I ...

483. Shepherding One Another in a Collapsing World

Romans 9:1-29

Sermon

Robert G. Tuttle

... , Chuck, just call ... you’ve got a friend here.' " When he met Senator Hughes, who had been his enemy, the Senator said, "Chuck, you have accepted Jesus and he has forgiven you, I do the same. I love you now as my brother in Christ. I will stand with you, defend you anywhere, and I trust you with anything I have." Colson said of Harold Hughes, "He need not have said a word, I read him perfectly in my heart through his smile ... and the look of caring in his eyes." Do you see what I see? The world of Paul ...

484. The Importance of Unity

1 Corinthians 1:10-17

Sermon

Hubert Beck

... easier said than done. What was true in Corinth is true in this congregation today. We have a wide variety of gifts, of interests, of emphases, of opinions, of desires among us. How to maintain all these in one congregation with unity while defending the integrity at the same time of anybody’s opinion, like, dislike, gift, interest, is most difficult. That is why we need again to listen carefully to the core question Paul places before them when confronting them with this predicament: "Is Christ divided ...

485. Journey To The Cross V: Jesus and Simon Peter

Mark 14:66-72

Sermon

James W. Moore

One day some years ago, I was with a group of people when suddenly they began to gossip. They were attacking a friend of mine. They were spreading ugly, vicious rumors about him. They were crucifying my friend with harsh, cruel words. I started to say something to defend my friend. I wanted to say something to stop the verbal abuse but I didn’t know those people very well… so I kept my silence. But, later as I walked to my car, I was kicking myself. I was feeling sad and ashamed that I hadn’t seized ...

486. TONGUE POWER

Illustration

John H. Krahn

... of the tongue’s power when he says, "who steals my purse steals trash ... but he who filches from me my good name ... makes me poor indeed." God commands that we say nothing about a neighbor which would even tarnish his name. He wishes that we defend our neighbor, speak well of him and put the best construction on everything. Unfortunately, we destroy him in three subtle ways. First by gossiping. How often have we savored a choice piece of gossip and then shared it with someone else? "Have you heard about ...

487. The Agony and Ecstasy of Sight

John 9:1-12

Sermon

Richard Hoefler

... the young man, "Unless this man came from God, he would not be able to do a thing," indicates that for him Jesus is still just a "man come from God." The experience of being healed has given the young man the courage to stand up to his teachers and defend the validity of his new sight, but it has not enabled him to open his inner eyes to the profound insight that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of Man. Perhaps the healed young man is better off than the Pharisees, for he still has an open mind as to ...

488. Are You Under Arrest?

Heb 5:11-13; 10:39

Sermon

Robert Noblett

... . So far have they gone and no further will they go! What’s more, many so frozen go one sad step further and claim to have arrived at the plateau of truth for all times. Around their understanding of the truth they plant a wall and from that wall doggedly defend what they take to be the truth’s final word. In a sense people like that arrest themselves! It is this issue of arrest that Paul has in mind in this letter to the Hebrews, and J. B. Phillip’s translation of his words do an excellent job of ...

489. The Circus and My Faith

Ps 139 · Mt 22:37

Sermon

Robert Noblett

... experience, or one religious doctrine, or one school of theology, or one religious leader, or one religious movement. Finding themselves for whatever reason in one religious groove, they allow that groove to become a rut and eventually that rut becomes a trench from which they defend religious truth as they view it. What I am going to describe has to be one of the most annoying moments in life. You’re tired and your mind turns to music. Up you get, saunter over to your record collection, pick up a ...

490. The Therapy of Song

1 Samuel 16:14-23, Exodus 15:1-21, Psalm 5:1-12

Sermon

Robert Noblett

... I pray. O Lord, in the morning thou dost hear my voice; in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for thee, and watch. (Psalm 5:1-3) But it ends like this: But let all who take refuge in thee rejoice, let them ever sing for joy; and do thou defend them, that those who love thy name may exult in thee. For thou dost bless the righteous, O Lord; thou dost cover him with favor as with a shield. (Psalm 5:11-12) One of our Christian liturgical practices, somewhat in evidence but still relatively rare, is that of ...

491. A STORY OF THE FIERY FURNACE

Drama

Marcia Miller

... THE KING: Why? What are you charging them with? ADVISOR #2: They are under my watch-care. Yet they retuse to worship the statue. THE KING: What are you saying? Bring them here at once. COUNSELOR #2: Here they come. COUNSELOR #1: Let them defend themselves - if they can. ADVISOR #1: [Turns to COUNSELOR #1.] Shhhhhh! [SHADRACH, MESHACH, and ABEDNEGO enter. They bow.] THE KING: You dare to disobey my simple command after I put you in positions of authority. You are foreigners. There are many young Babylonians ...

492. Christ the King

Matthew 25:31-46

Sermon

Jerry L. Schmalemberger

... the crowds, the Scripture says that they wanted to make him king. He explained over and over again with his parables what his kingdom was really like. Richard Roberts tells of a student of Tolstoy who was hauled into court for refusing military service. When he defended himself by quoting from the Gospels, the judge impatiently said, "But that is the Kingdom of Heaven; and it has not yet come." The student replied, "Sir, it may not have come for you, but is has for me." Today’s Scripture tells us about ...

493. The Christian’s Style - 1960

Matthew 11:1-19

Sermon

Kent Moorehead

... view him. Had I lived back in his day, I hate to think how I might have misjudged him, considered him merely a disturber, a revolutionary, at very least a subversive influence. Who knows, I might have been just such a smug, ecclesiastically conditioned defender of the status quo as old Caiaphas himself. Seeing the upstart peasant stirring up the people, and hearing of his traitorous threats to destroy the Temple, I might have taken the same attitude he did. Believing that something had to be done to thwart ...

494. Christians In A Warring World - 1941

Galatians 6:1-10

Sermon

Kent Moorehead

... that prepares for peace. Pacifists believe in fighting, but only with the weapons of the Spirit. Pacifists believe in resisting violence, evil, and unrighteousness, but not by adopting the same wicked means and methods we deprecate in the aggressor. Pacifists believe in defending their country, but not by resorting to use of those evil agencies which destroy those who use them more surely than they destroy those against whom they are used. Pacifists are willing to die for their country, for they love it ...

495. No Reserves, No Retreats, No Regrets

Luke 9:57-62

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... us to focus our attention on the opportunities and challenges in front of us. If we are alert, we will notice the troubled person who needs a good listener and the colleague who needs an introduction to our Savior. We will see the principle that needs defending and the underdog who needs befriending. Every day has its Kingdom tasks. We must be alert enough to see them and faithful enough to complete them. So, there you have Jesus' guidelines for discipleship--the costs are high; the time is now; and the way ...

496. The Bite of The Lying Tongue

Exodus 20:1-21, James 3:1-12

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... help us in this regard: Is it true? Is it necessary? Is it kind? When supposedly mature persons hurl charges like "congenital liar," "devil," and "racist," it should not surprise us that less mature and less stable individuals reach for guns. Secondly, we must defend those who are being gossiped about or slandered. To listen silently to gossip, though we do not add a word, is to be an accomplice in the sin of gossip. We are obligated to offer our services as "defense attorney," asking questions like, "How ...

497. Worn Out? Tired? Weary?

Matthew 11:25-30

Sermon

Louis H. Valbracht

... to maintain our position, the stance of our ego. The first question that we ask about anything is: "How will this affect me?" The next question we ask is: "How will this impress other people?" The worrier is always sensitive, easily hurt, always on guard to defend what is his, his pride and his possessions. He compromises only when he’s afraid. He listens to reasons only when his face will be saved, when his pride will not be sacrificed. Psychologists tell us that one of the worst burdens that tears us ...

498. Chapter VIII

Exodus 20:1-21

Sermon

Frank H. Seilhamer

... late innings a Detroit Tiger runner got on base, representing the game’s tying run. With two outs, and no order from the bench to do such a thing, the runner took off for second base, only to be thrown out, ending his team’s chances for victory. To defend the player and soothe the hometown fans, the announcer tried to find something good to say about the player’s strategy. Why had he taken such a chance in a situation as crucial as that one? "I don’t know why he took off like that," the sportscaster ...

499. Chapter IX

Exodus 20:1-21

Sermon

Frank H. Seilhamer

... can make another appear to be an undesirable, untrustworthy, useless cad, who is at fault for all sorts of things, and is one for whom everyone else should watch out. The great potency of such a lie is that it rarely gives a person a chance to defend himself against it. Lies, or "information," told about people get passed on in ways that are hard to trace down, let alone correct. Moreover, they have a way of perpetuating themselves, and growing in size and power as they do. Even worse, they have that habit ...

500. This Is Our Song

Psalm 121:1-8

Sermon

Michael J. Anton

... help. I need a God who won’t go to sleep on me. Man, as much help as I need, I really need a God who will stay with me without getting tired or frustrated or losing his patience and pooping out. "The Lord is your keeper and shade; he defends your right hand. The sun shall not smite you by day, nor the moon by night." It does get awfully hot on this trip. There are pressures, so many pressures bearing down. If I don’t produce on my job, I’m cut. If I don’t act like a ...

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