Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 476 to 500 of 4943 results

476. Are We There Yet?

James 5:7-10

Sermon

John N. Brittain

... calling us to Christlikeness. And we do have to work at it, sometimes putting on patience like that garment. The root meaning of patience is "suffering." It is bound up in Christ's words, "If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it" (Luke 9:23-24 NKJV). It cannot be much clearer that this demands constant and deliberate choice. Patience includes ...

477. What'll You Have?

Mark 8:27-38

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, "Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things." [34] He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. [35] For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. [36] For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and ...

478. Adopted! Thank God!

Ephesians 1:1-14

Sermon

King Duncan

... nature of God’s Son, Jesus Christ. San Diego pastor Mark Trotter, a few years ago, told a beautiful story about a boy whose parents were missionaries to India. When the boy was 12 years old, his parents left him and his younger brother to go to India and take up their tour of duty there. Their intention was that once they got settled they would send for the boys. But shortly after they left America, World War II broke out. They couldn’t get to the boys, and they couldn’t get the boys to them. So the ...

479. God Will Provide the Resources

Matthew 14:13-21

Sermon

King Duncan

... only had five loaves of bread and two tiny fish. And yet in the Master’s hands, that was enough. Some of you may know the story of Dorothy Day. Day was a Roman Catholic lay person and a person of strong faith. Dorothy Day started a newspaper to take up the cause of the poor. She had very little in the way of finances. However, a friend of hers named Pete Maurin convinced Dorothy Day that God had sent him to help her in this work, and that whatever she had would be sufficient. This was quite a remarkable ...

480. The Landlord's Dilemma - World Communion Sunday

Matthew 21:33-46

Sermon

King Duncan

... of Jesus. After telling it, he turns to his listeners and asks a simple question, “Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” His listeners, caught up in the story by this time, are like some of us, ready to take up arms. “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end,” they reply, “and he will rent the vineyard to other tenants, who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time.” Then Jesus drops the bomb: “Have you never read in the Scriptures ...

481. Mordecai Persuades Esther to Help

Esther 4:1-17

Understanding Series

Timothy S. Laniak

... placement to perform acts of loyalty and courage she could hardly imagine. With some coaxing on his part, the scene ends with Esther joining the rest of the Jewish community in their fast. With the risk of death in full view, she will take up their cause in the inner circle of power to which she alone has access. The series of conversations in this chapter, though brief, trace a significant development in Esther’s character. We know that Mordecai is a strong, principled person who deliberately defied ...

482. Sin and Punishment

Jeremiah 8:4--9:26

Understanding Series

Tremper Longman III

... , which took the form of an incursion of the Babylonian army. At the end of the oracle God states a determination to destroy Jerusalem as well as the surrounding countryside (Judah). It will be made such a heap of ruins that wild animals like jackals will take up their homes there. Why? (9:12-16): 9:12–16 This prose oracle asks the question, Why? Why has the land been punished so thoroughly? Who is so wise to give an answer? The Lord finally gives the answer, but not because the question is difficult ...

483. The Death of Jesus

Luke 23:44-49, Luke 23:26-43

Teach the Text

R.T. France

... and mocked by others, but confidently placing himself in his Father’s hands. Understanding the Text The crowd demanded Jesus’s crucifixion in 23:21, 23, and that now takes place, cruelly embodying Jesus’s earlier warning that to follow him would mean to “take up the cross” (9:23; 14:27). A variety of reactions on the way to “the Skull” and at the cross reflect the different ways people have responded to Jesus and his claims within the Gospel. But as the scene progresses, a sequence of positive ...

484. Blood Vengeance in Gibeah

2 Samuel 21:1-14

Teach the Text

Robert B. Chisholm Jr.

... Israel for Saul’s crimes (v. 1) and restores divine favor only when justice has been served and Saul’s actions have been avenged to the satisfaction of the Gibeonites (vv. 6, 14). This episode is a reminder that God is just. He takes up the cause of the victims of injustice and will eventually punish those who perpetrate crimes against others. In the case of the Gibeonites, divine justice is executed shortly after the crime is committed. We know from Scripture and experience that this is not always ...

485. “They Will Proclaim the Works of God and Ponder What He Has Done”

Psalm 64:1-10

Teach the Text

C. Hassell Bullock

... be against us (Rom. 8:31)! The psalm uses the imagery of war to describe David’s personal conflict—his enemies have used their tongues as weapons to destroy him (64:8a). The imagery is switched from the psalmist’s enemies to God, who takes up the role of warrior and aims his arrows at the psalmist’s foes. While this image may make us a bit uncomfortable, the idea of God’s participation in our human conflict is most reassuring (see “Our sharpshooter God” in “Illustrating the Text”). While ...

486. David Returns to Jerusalem

2 Samuel 19:9-43

Understanding Series

Mary J. Evans

... , but he did not need the financial reward and was too old to appreciate the status. He preferred to stay at home. But his son Kimham, presumably a younger son who would not be responsible for managing the family estates, would be delighted to take up David’s offer. Providing Kimham with a significant position in David’s court kept good relations with the surrounding tribes and confirmed David’s reputation as a worthy ally to have. 19:41–43 The whole of Israel, north and south, wanted David back ...

487. The Branch from Jesse

Isaiah 11:1-16

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

... aware that it is God’s world. It is also in keeping with the vision of Proverbs that this wisdom issues in the giving of fair judgment, which corresponds to a judgment that takes the side of the weak and resourceless (vv. 3b–5). Almost every word in these verses takes up phraseology from previous chapters. The branch will put right the failure of the community and its leadership that has been berated in these chapters. The branch will reflect Yahweh’s own concerns pictured in these chapters and will ...

488. Hard and Soft Hearts

Mark 10:2-16

Sermon

Steven E. Albertin

... of what kind of messiah he was and what his kingdom was all about, Jesus insists that they let the little children come to him. It is to such weak and vulnerable ones, to such marginalized and outcast, that the kingdom belongs. And to make his point, he takes up those little children in his arms, puts them on his lap, and blesses them. Believe it or not, this is a very fitting way for Jesus to respond to the hard-hearted "Is it lawful?" questions of the Pharisees and disciples. You don't get into the ...

489. You Can Talk the Game, but Can You Play the Game?

1 Corinthians 9:24-27

Sermon

Will Willimon

... Christianity was roughly synonymous with being a thinking and caring person, church as a sanctified form of Rotary. God's Junior League. Who needs discipline for that? Who needs to be in training to win that race? Here's service to a game where we are told to take up our cross and follow, to deny ourselves, to forgive our enemies, to....and nobody can do that without a great deal of old fashioned egkrateia. Jesus called us, not just to sit in the stands and cheer, but to get in the game and you can't get ...

490. On The Road To The Cross

Luke 20:9-19

Sermon

Glenn E. Ludwig

... who I am." He went around talking to winos, prostitutes, cheats, tax collectors, and said, "Look here, God loves you and cares about you. You are an important person because you, too, are one of my children." And Jesus went around telling stories about sons who take up their inheritance and go out and blow it on wine, women and song; ending up slopping the pigs and going home to a father who waited and celebrated his return. He told stories about lost sheep and a shepherd who risks life and limb to find ...

491. On The Cross-Road

John 7:45--8:11

Sermon

Glenn E. Ludwig

492. Easter 3

Revelation 5:1-14, Acts 9:1-19a, John 21:1-14

Sermon Aid

John R. Brokhoff

... and prepares an early breakfast for his friends. We can see Jesus' purpose in going to the disciples: a. To recover them for his cause.Led by Peter, they went back to fishing, their former livelihood. Apparently they dropped out of the cause of Christ and intended to take up where they left off. Jesus had to re-enlist them as disciples and leaders of the future kingdom. If he had not done this, his cause would have been lost and his mission in vain. b. To recall.The disciples had left the call to follow him ...

493. Lent 1

Mt 4:1-11 · Rom 5:12-21 · Gen 2:7 - 3:7 · Ps 32

Sermon Aid

Russell F. Anderson

... of Jesus, they seem to have painted a portrait of a rather weak, confused and indecisive Messiah. Nevertheless, the last scene provides some fodder for thought. Jesus is on the cross and he is dreaming that he has escaped from the cross to take up a new life as the husband of Mary Magdalene. This is, of course, pure fiction and the mere suggestion that Jesus might have considered such an alternative may strike us as heretical. Yet, it seems reasonable that such a temptation could have been presented ...

494. A Faith That Burns

Luke 12:49-53

Sermon

W. Robert McClelland

... as though conflict does not exist. To be a Christian is to love all that Christ loved, and to be an enemy of all that crucified him. To follow him is to make enemies. Jesus did not win a popularity contest. He was awarded a cross and he bids us take up one and follow him. "If the world hates you," Jesus warned, "know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, therefore, the world hates you. Remember the word that ...

495. Even God Called Time Out

Mark 2:23-3:6

Sermon

James Weekley

... going to make a trip to a memorial park sooner than we expected. Overworked, we will simply destruct. We need our rest, our relaxation, our fellowship. To make our recovery complete - mind, body, spirit - we need to process ourselves through him. For the Christian his Spirit takes up residence within. Paul writes, "Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?" (1 Corinthians 3:16) The Spirit's housing must keep a tight ship. Here is the bottom line. It's not how much prime ...

496. Time and Timing

Habakkuk 1:12--2:1, Habakkuk 1:1-4

Sermon

Paul W. F. Harms

... a promise. A guide at the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem explained it this way: A devout Jew who lives far from Jerusalem has his heart set on getting to the Wailing Wall during his lifetime. He dies without having made the journey. Then his children take up the wish and the dream. They do not make it. Then the grandchildren. They are not successful. Then the great-grandchildren, the great-great-great-grandchildren. At last one of the great-great-great-great-grandchildren does get to the Wailing Wall. In the ...

497. Easter 3

Acts 9:1-19a, Revelation 5:1-14, John 21:1-14

Sermon Aid

... and prepares an early breakfast for his friends. We can see Jesus' purpose in going to the disciples: a. To recover them for his cause Led by Peter, they went back to fishing, their former livelihood. Apparently they dropped out of the cause of Christ and intended to take up where they left off. Jesus had to re-enlist them as disciples and leaders of the future kingdom. If he had not done this, his cause would have been lost and his mission in vain. b. To recall The disciples had left the call to follow him ...

498. The Need for Transfiguration

2 Peter 1:12-21

Sermon

Hubert Beck

... obedience of a Son who can bear the eternal glory to the mountain that holds our attention on this day and can also bear the sins of humankind on another mountain that shall hold our attention not many weeks from now. In this way the love of God takes up the sins of the world, nailing them to the cross of Jesus, and the transfiguration of the entire world begins to take shape and form. Remember how we started the thoughts of this sermon? We asked, "Who has not felt the need for transfiguration? Who has not ...

499. When the Guest Becomes the Host

Mark 14:12-26

Sermon

George Bass

... as genuinely committed Christians. The mark of Judas’ betrayal - and his renunciation of his commitment to Christ - is upon all of us tonight as we "dip bread into the dish." Like the disciples, we, too, are asked to put Christ first in our lives; to take up our cross, leave everything else behind, and follow him, dedicating our lives to him and his mission in the world. Aren’t we rather surprised when people do just that? Betty Mitchell, it is said, still holds out hope that her husband, who was taken ...

500. Calamity and Hope

Joel 2:23-32

Sermon

John Wayne Clarke

... . God will not allow us to be forever afflicted with doubt and uncertainty. God will intervene as happened on the day of Pentecost. Joel had no way of knowing that his prophecy would be linked to a fisherman by the name of Peter, but God did. Joel takes up his stand as if some of his prediction had already taken place. Only a confident person can do such a thing. We are to find that same confidence in Joel's message and, of course, in the life, ministry, death, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ ...

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