Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 501 to 525 of 972 results

John 1:(1-9) 10-18

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... and 1:30). Robinson's examination of the prologue's common themes with the entire Gospel also notes John's focus on the miracle of seeing the divine glory (1:14 and 12:41), the particularity of Jesus as the only Son (1:14,18 and 3:16), and the exclusive vision that the Son has of God (1:18 and 6:46). For this week's purpose we will focus briefly on the Johannine celebration of life in the prologue - pre-existent, created and eternal. Verses 3 and 4 of the prologue are among the most thorny for translators ...

502. John 3:1-17

John 3:1-17

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... 1:7 (a direct Old Testament quote). While pneuma's linguistic history certainly shows an ample use of it for both "wind" and "spirit," by the time of John's writing, there had been distinct movement away from "wind" to the almost exclusivity of "spirit." One explanation for its translation here is rooted in the Protestant Reformation. Rejecting the official Catholic translation at that time, the Reformers chose "wind" over "spirit" because of their concern that the preached word does not enter into this ...

503. Matthew 9:35-10:8 (9-23)

Matthew 9:35-10:8 (9-23)

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... connection to Israel. In the eschaton, each of the Twelve will stand in judgment before each of the 12 tribes of Israel. Thus, the match-up at this point between the mission of the Twelve and the Israelites is intentional and exclusive. Matthew's emphasis of this witness, however, in no way diminishes the universal mission later proclaimed by Jesus to his disciples after his resurrection (28:16-20). Finally, Jesus stipulates exactly what the disciples are to accomplish during their missionary excursion ...

504. Ephesians 1:3-14

Ephesians 1:3-14

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... adoption as God's children and the confirming seal of the Holy Spirit. Whew! For the author of Ephesians, God's sovereignty and God's unceasing activity in the course of this world cannot be emphasized enough. Indeed, the writer seems to focus with such exclusivity on the benefits of God's extravagant grace that the cost of our redemption is played down. Verse 7 notes that we have been set free through Christ's "blood" a shorthand reference to the voluntary sacrifice of his life for our sins. But nowhere ...

505. Mark 1:14-20

Mark 1:14-20

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... radically new and different. Rabbis are sought out by students, who approach and ask to become "disciples." Jesus begins his public ministry by preaching the kingdom of God and then actively selecting and calling disciples to follow him. Based exclusively on the power of Jesus' personality and message, these first four disciples literally turn their lives around (metanoia). All the responsibilities and encumbrances of their old lives are pointedly described in these calls their boats and nets, their ...

506. LIVE-SAVING STATIONS

Mark 1:14-20

Illustration

Mickey Anders

... went by, the new station experienced the same changes that had occurred in the old. It evolved into a club, and yet another life-saving station was founded. History continued to repeat itself, and if you visit that sea coast today, you will find a number of exclusive clubs along that shore. Shipwrecks are frequent in those waters, but most of the people drown. That's a pretty graphic tale of some folks who forgot what they were supposed to be about. Sometimes I think we are like those folks. It's as if we ...

507. Jesus' Good News of a New World · Part 2

Matthew 5:1-12

Sermon

Mike Ripski

... children can be children. V. Jesus said, “Blessed are the merciful, for they will obtain mercy.” What is mercy? Mercy is when we are given what we don’t deserve. We deserve justice. We deserve to be punished. We deserve exclusion and estrangement. Instead, we are given forgiveness. For-giveness is mercy “given before,” before the offender can do anything to warrant it. Relationships aren’t possible without mercy. Without forgiveness. Without the parties in the relationship giving each other what ...

508. Sunday Of The Passion (Palm Sunday)

Isaiah 50:1-11

Sermon Aid

John R. Brokhoff

... 's voice strengthening you v. 4. b. Willingly accepts the suffering v. 5. c. Endures suffering patiently v. 7. d. Trusts in God to deliver from suffering v. 7. 2. The worst kind of suffering (50:6). Need: During Passion week we are inclined to dwell exclusively on the physical suffering of Jesus: the torture of a crown of thorns, the scourging, the carrying of the cross to Calvary, the nails in hands and feet and the slow physical draining until exhaustion. There is this side to suffering as our text says ...

509. Epiphany

Ephesians 3:1-13, Matthew 2:1-12, Isaiah 60:1-22

Sermon Aid

John R. Brokhoff

... is revealed that God wants the Gentiles to share in the kingdom. Christ is for all men; he died for all. This implies that the church has an obligation to spread the gospel to all nations that all might come into God's realm. 2. Can the church be exclusive? If it is the will of God, as the Second Lesson claims, to include all people (Jews and Gentiles) in the kingdom, the church must fulfill that will. Thus, the unity of humankind should be a reality in the church, for both Jew and Gentile are one in Christ ...

510. Easter

Psalm 118:1-29, Luke 24:1-12, John 20:1-18, Acts 10:34-43, 1 Corinthians 15:19-26

Bulletin Aid

B. David Hostetter

... our own. We find it difficult to discern the similarities below the surface differences and the deeper reverence for you that we may share. We need to learn to witness to our faith in you without pride of race and nationality. Forgive any exclusive attitude that may prevent our communicating the Good News of the resurrection of our dying, rising, living Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. Declaration of Pardon Pastor: Friends, hear the Good News! The Lord’s love endures forever. People: The Lord chastens us but ...

511. Proper 14

Psalm 50:1-23, Isaiah 1:1-31, Luke 12:32-40, Hebrews 11:1-40

Bulletin Aid

B. David Hostetter

... wine of sacrificial giving. Gracious Savior, may your love work an end to divisiveness in the church at every level. Show us how to help rather than hinder, to be constructive rather than destructive, open rather than shut, inclusive rather than exclusive. Let the church be an example of love overcoming strife. God of our ancestors, bless this land, its leaders, legislators, and judges. Grant that without fear or favor they may maintain the rights of all, tempering justice with mercy and defending those ...

512. Ephesians 2:11-22

Ephesians 2:11-22

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... existed between the individual and the divine, was through membership in Israel’s covenant with God. That covenant was physically marked by circumcision, and faithfully maintained by obedience to the law. But now, Ephesians announces, that special, exclusive relationship has been dissolved. The boundaries that had kept strict barriers between “Jew” and “Gentile” no longer even exist. Circumcision had been circumnavigated by the power of Christ’s sacrifice. The border patrol had been fired ...

513. Backsliding - Sermon Starter

John 6:56-69

Illustration

Brett Blair

... . While on the journey they begin to discuss an individual by the name of Temporary. He had started the pilgrimage, but along the way he fell by the wayside, or, as Bunyan worded it, backslid. That term was picked up, particularly, but not exclusively by the Methodists in early America and became a stock phrase. It referred to those once faithful individuals who had lost interest in their Christian pilgrimage. There are some denominations who do not affirm the concept. They say once saved always saved ...

514. One Nation Under God

2 Chronicles 7:14

Sermon

James Merritt

... let go of your sins and have revival, or you can hold on to your sins and not have revival. But you cannot have both. You can forsake your sin and have revival, or you can hold your sin and forfeit revival. But sin and revival are mutually exclusive. Repentance is the road to revival, and revival is the route to repentance. The word revival comes from a Latin word made up of the prefix re which means "again" and the word vivo which means "to live." It literally means "to live again." Charles Finney defined ...

515. Picture Perfect Close Up: Children - Get Under The Umbrella

Colossians 3:21

Sermon

James Merritt

... This is the key take away for you today - Obedience honors parents and pleases God. I am going to do something today that I have never done in any message I've ever preached in my entire ministry. I am going to talk directly and primarily and almost exclusively to kids - that is both to children, to teenagers and to any child that still lives under the authority of his parents. The word here for "children" is a general term for children and it is not limited to a specific age group. It refers technically to ...

516. American Idol

Exodus 20:4-6

Sermon

James Merritt

... :21 "They have provoked Me to jealousy by what is not God; they have moved Me to anger by their foolish idols." (Deuteronomy 32:21, NKJV) Let me explain to you why God is a jealous God. It is because God has a monopoly on being God. He has the exclusive copyright. He has the eternal patent. You can't share His files with anybody else. He has cornered the market on being God. No human being ever has the right to be jealous of another human being because you are not the only human being that there is. No ...

517. Heaven: One Way And One Way Only

John 14:1-6

Sermon

James Merritt

... He did live and He did die shows there was no other way that our salvation could be achieved. His resurrection proved that He was who He said He was and He did what He said He did and gave Him the right to make this narrow, exclusive, dogmatic, but true statement. Unlike any other religious leader who has ever lived, Jesus Christ authenticated who He was by what He did. He lived a perfect life. He fulfilled scores of century old prophecies made before He was even born. He performed miracles. He healed the ...

518. RSVP—By Invitation Only

Luke 14:15-24

Sermon

James Merritt

... you some great news. When God invites you to salvation He doesn't invite you to a funeral, He invites you to a feast. One of the greatest myths we have to battle with non-Christians, is the belief that somehow for Christianity faith and fun are mutually exclusive. Quite frankly, a lot of Christians give that impression. The way some of you worship the expressions on your face look as if you are getting ready for a gall bladder surgery. I know some church members who if they were to smile one time I believe ...

519. Life on the Rock

Matthew 7:24-29

Sermon

James Merritt

... you would be better off to build a log cabin on a rock than you would to build a mansion in a swamp. One of the most amazing true stories I have ever heard in my life is of a builder who developed a subdivision of glamorous expensive exclusive homes in Canada. This happened several years ago, and these homes sold for over $250,000 each. Now on the outside it was a beautiful magnificent subdivision. But winter came, snow fell, the winds began to blow, and all of a sudden first one house, and then another ...

520. WeatherProofing Your Home

Matthew 7:24-27

Sermon

James Merritt

... how you build, but where you build. I think you would agree that you would be better off building a log-cabin on a rock than a mansion in a swamp. I read an amazing true story about a builder who developed a sub-division of glamorous, expensive, exclusive homes in Canada. This happened several years ago and these homes sold for over $250,000 each. On the outside, it was a beautiful magnificent sub-division. Winter came, snow fell, the winds began to blow and all of a sudden, first one house and then another ...

521. Here Comes the Bridegroom

Matthew 25:1-13

Sermon

James Merritt

... in which the Son of Man is coming." (vv. 11-13) Well, by the time the foolish bridesmaids get there it is too late. The last five words of verse 10 will haunt some people for all eternity: "...and The Door Was Shut". This is a door of exclusion and inclusion. All who were in were safe. All who were out were lost. Think about what had happened. Not only were these bridesmaids shut out from the presence of the bridegroom; they were separated from the wise bridesmaids. The wise women went in. The foolish women ...

522. Stopping Pettiness

Mark 9:38-41

Illustration

Jerry Goebel

All too often, gossip, silence, and exclusion serve just these purposes, cutting off the prophetic from the congregation. This is what the Apostles were doing to this one man "caught healing." They were demanding that Jesus hobble his powerful works because he wasn't one of them. We can stop our pettiness by taking four actions: 1. ...

523. Our Task: Acceptance and Challenge

Luke 2:41-52

Sermon

Gary L. Carver

... aspect of our human uniqueness. I am saying, then, that our children need both of these things from us — acceptance and challenge, and let me acknowledge that it is genuinely difficult to keep a proper balance between these two. It is far easier to emphasize one to the exclusion of the other; in fact, this seems to me to be the problem Jesus began to experience in today's passage. He was twelve years old at the time, which means he was not regarded as "a son of the law," and thus was eligible to go up ...

524. Welcome, Rich and Poor

Luke 16:19-31

Sermon

Ron Lavin

... Jesus as Lord of all is difficult for wealthy men and women. The principles of success in this world and the principles of eternal status are not the same. Pop, there goes another misconception about eternal life. In this parable, Jesus teaches that heaven is not exclusively for poor people or rich people. Poor people don't go to heaven because they are poor any more than rich people go to hell because they are rich. Salvation is dependent on whether or not we believe and follow the Word of God which ...

525. Standing Tall in the Lord

Philippians 3:17-4:1

Sermon

Richard Gribble

... best foot forward, to promote our accomplishments, especially in the highly competitive nature of our contemporary twenty-first-century society, we often tend to go too far. We exalt our name, position, or accomplishments to the detriment of others. We become exclusive, in ideas, attitude, and action. Arrogance can be deadly in the way it kills others' ideas and hopes. The darkness of intolerance is also quite strong today. Business, in fact, every realm of society today, mandates that we perform. We are ...

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