Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 501 to 525 of 1230 results

2 Samuel 11:1-27

Bulletin Aid

Dallas A. Brauninger

... interfere. Let us dare to live with honor when those around us make lesser choices. Let us garner strength from God for the journey through our own human contradictions. Collect We look to you, O God, who has the power to keep us from wavering from our ideals. We ask you to awaken within us the desire and the choice to improve the way we live. For the sake of Christ. Amen. Prayer of Confession We are filled with contradictions, God. We are less scrupulous than we could be. We put personal matters before ...

502. Christmas Every Day

John 1:1-18

Sermon

T. A. Kantonen

... and practice, as the Model Man whose example we are to follow. The enmanment of God gives way to men’s efforts to realize their own divine potentialities. God’s way to man is abandoned in favor of man’s way to God. Ideas and ideals, programs and policies, take the place of the word that became flesh. The Christian message must never lose sight of its ultimate goal, the establishment of a personal relationship between human beings and the God who confronts them man to man in Christ. For this reason ...

503. The Fulfilled Promise

Acts 2:14-41

Sermon

T. A. Kantonen

... , and all other activities are but instruments of this basic purpose. The church exists by mission, as Emil Brunner puts it, just as fire exists by burning. The objective of the mission is not merely to teach Christian ideas, to promote Christian ideals, to create Christian atmosphere, to furnish a sequestered nook to which people may occasionally retreat while they go about their everyday activities in their own way. The mission aims at nothing less than a personal encounter with Christ himself and a whole ...

504. The Gospel for Labor Day

Matthew 20:1-16

Sermon

T. A. Kantonen

... , and the reward, is sheer grace. The kingdom of God, the God-ruled order of things, requires men and women filled with Christ’s Spirit. As Leslie Weatherhead points out in his interpretation of this parable, we cannot build an industrial or political program on the ideals of God’s kingdom "in a world in which pagan men work out pagan purposes for pagan ends." if we insist on remaining heathen in our everyday life, the kingdom of God will not work. Systems as well as souls must be changed if we are ...

505. In Praise of Feeling Guilty

Psalm 51:1-19

Sermon

Gregory J. Johanson

... answer to our last question - of what earthly use is it? First, guilt is the emotion that shapes so much of our goodness and generosity. It informs us when we transgress codes of behavior we want to sustain, and when we have failed our own ideals. Second, it is necessary for survival, a real biological necessity. We cannot survive alone. We must have community for both physical and emotional life. This is increasingly true of the whole world - we have the capacity to destroy it fifty times over! So our well ...

506. Signposts A Commencement Address

Sermon

Gregory J. Johanson

... of later-life tasks - and you gain practice and skill as well as sort out what is going to make up the person you call "me." Tonight is a signpost of your own increasing need to choose what is to be you - a self-conscious reflection of what values, ideals, and directions are going to be important. Such is eighth grade graduation - a brief time and a relatively short speech. You come and go within the space of an hour or so. But it also is a time of potentially great significance. It is a signpost of change ...

507. Are You Sure?

Mark 10:17-31

Bulletin Aid

Dallas A. Brauninger

Call to Worship Are you sure, Jesus, that with God all things are possible? That we are not just wistful? The ideals you offer are high. You call us to stretch to our finest. No one can be that good all the time. Collect We look to you, O faithful One, to be our guide as we move through the daily muck of chagrin, conflict, and letting ourselves down. Despite our inconsistencies, ...

508. You Are A Name!

Luke 2:21-40

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

... are somebody because you are Somebody's. You have a Christian name; you are a name, a Christian. What You Are To Do In the second place, a name describes a person's work. It shows what he is to do with his life. It explains the purpose, mission and ideals for life. The name describes a person's destiny, God's plan for his life, what he is here for. Jesus' name reveals not only his nature but his work. The name, Jesus, means "Yahweh saves," or "He shall save." This tells us just about all we need to know ...

509. How to Profit from Prophets

Luke 1:67-80

Sermon

Maurice A. Fetty

... too grand and mighty to comprehend. We thank you for your panoply of splendor. Look kindly upon us as we bow in your presence, and receive us not so much as the people we are, but as the people we want to be. The visions we have, the ideals we embrace, and the goals for which we strive seem often to recede as we approach them, and the things we know we should have done seem never quite to be accomplished. Forgive us when we fall short, especially of the moral demands you place in our consciences. The ...

510. The Unexpected Universe

Matthew 11:1-19

Sermon

Maurice A. Fetty

... . And blessed is he who takes no offense at me" (Matthew 11: 4-6). (And yet we still take offense at him and have difficulty really believing what he said.) These were indeed Messianic answers taken from Isaiah chapters 35 and 61. Yes, the Messianic Age was idealized as a time when all diseases would be healed. Yes, the Messianic Age would be the occasion of the poor having the good news of shared prosperity preached to them. Yes, the Messiah would inaugurate a new era of peace and prosperity, but it was to ...

511. Having to Stay When You Want Out

Titus 2:1-15

Sermon

Harold Warlick

... . The nativity of our Lord is forever linked to our baptism. Many interpreters view this lesson from Titus as reminiscent of ancient baptismal liturgies.2 The author of the passage writes it in a single long sentence in Greek. Titus, in spite of his less than ideal situation, is being pointed to God’s saving grace in Jesus Christ for all people. The emphasis is on how God’s grace forms us. It is a saving grace because it teaches us to live as “self-controlled, upright and godly” people. This ever ...

512. Exposed!

2 Corinthians 2:12--3:6

Sermon

Harold Warlick

... or tinted windows, holding to memories of a dead husband. Christianity can, indeed, become a veiled experience, separating us from our fellow human beings as we retreat into what Paul calls “secret and shameful ways” (4:2). Paul clearly renounces the “chosen people” ideal of legalistically keeping to laws (the Jews had 613 of them) as a kind of divine insurance policy. Rather than viewing faith in Christ as a divine aspirin to take in secret to ease morbid anxieties over our own health, Paul is ...

513. When Life Gets Hard, Christian, Rebel!

Lamentations 1:1-22

Sermon

Mark Ellingsen

... for them that despitefully use you.”4 The next time life gets hard for you, the next time you chafe over injustice, rebel! In the Name of Christ, protest. Assert the meaningfulness of life through word and deed, even if you are not very sure of your ideals. Get in the trenches and work for justice (organize, protest), even if it looks like a lost cause. Some people of goodwill rebel that way, but they don’t stand a chance ultimately. You and I do not have the courage it takes to be “maladjusted” in ...

514. Days of Promise

Jeremiah 33:1-26

Sermon

Harry N. Huxhold

... God. For David Jeremiah pushes the promise further by reporting that God says, “I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David.” The reference obviously is to what God had done for Israel through the servant King David. David had been that ideal king whom God had established upon the throne for Israel. David had been exemplary, because he had trusted the covenant God had made with the people. Because David had been this model, God had promised God would continue the line of rulers who would be ...

515. A Messenger of Promise

Malachi 2:17--3:5

Sermon

Harry N. Huxhold

... of the prophet thought that the prophet who wrote or uttered them was the one to make these assurances real for the people. In time, the people were able to see the promises fulfilled with the rebuilding of the Temple. Yet tensions remained between the ideal and the reality. The religious community was to experience dark days in the future just as they had in the past. The Messenger Of The Covenant It is unlikely that the prophet who delivered this oracle saw its fulfillment. The editor who collected his ...

516. Light from the Word

Nehemiah 7:73b--8:18

Sermon

Harry N. Huxhold

... though this text is found in what appears to be the memoirs of Nehemiah, the story’s central character is Ezra. We read that it was in the beginning of the month of Tishri when this took place, for them possibly the beginning of a new year, an ideal time to begin anew. That would be late September or early October on our calendar. It was the people who organized themselves and requested that Ezra come and read “the book of the law of Moses, which the Lord had given to Israel.” We cannot be sure of ...

517. Christian Liberty

Luke 6:17-26

Sermon

Brett Blair

... his disciples he said blessed are you when men hate you on account of me. The beatitudes are a wonderful description of what disciples are suppose to be like. Blessed are the meek. Blessed are the peacemakers. Blessed are you who are poor. They sound so ideal, so spiritual. They probably come in fourth in the “framed scripture hanging on a wall category.” Just behind The Ten Commandments, Psalm 23, and the Lord’s Prayer. But truth be told few of us ever come close to truly living them out. Why? Here ...

518. Experience the Mountaintop But Don't Forget the Valley Below

Luke 9:28-36

Sermon

Brett Blair

... . I hear you are sick.” “O yes, very sick.”… “Can you talk about it?” “Sure. What would you like to know?” “What’s it like to be only 24 and dying?” “Well, it could be worse.” “Like what?” “Well, like being 50 and having no values or ideals, like being 50 and thinking that booze, and making money are the real ‘biggies’ in life.” “But what I really came to see you about,” Tom said, “is something you said to me on the last day of class. I asked you if you thought I ...

519. Thank God, We're Not Alone!

Psalm 133:1-3

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... . We have a specific command from the Lord to love our neighbors in the same way and to the same degree that we love ourselves. Rugged individualism might be nice for novels or movies or television, but in the world that the Lord presents as the ideal, individuals appear only to have place as we relate to one another. Think about what scripture has to say about our interrelatedness. Back in Genesis, in the story of how all this came to be, you will recall that God created something and declared that it ...

520. The Lord's Prayer: Thy Kingdom Come

Matthew 6:5-15

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... , if they are not displaying the kind of near perfection that we expect from professional athletes, the questions come - "What's wrong? What's wrong? What's wrong?" You see, we sports fans have some vision of speed skating's or football's or any sport's ideal in light of which our favorites regularly leave room for improvement. To be sure, those same questions about what is wrong arise from us in matters much more serious. We see a young mother in the prime of life attacked and murdered by some drug-crazed ...

521. The Most Vexing Question In The Bible

Luke 13:22-30

Sermon

King Duncan

... he our example? Yes, he is that too. His life is the pattern for our lives. Of course, we can never be as loving, as forgiving, as courageous as he was. Our lives will be but a pale imitation of his life. But still, his life stands as the ideal. I read a story recently that I believe is faithful to Christ~s teaching and his example ” particularly his teaching that the first will be last and the last first. A school teacher in Seattle tells a story about Peter, a popular student in the junior high school ...

522. Destined To Have A Great Year

Ephesians 1:1-14

Sermon

King Duncan

... here of our destiny. He says to us that we are destined to be God's sons and daughters through Jesus Christ. Do you believe in destiny? Do you believe you were put on this earth for a purpose? Do you believe that written into your very genes is an ideal script for your life? And if you do believe there is a purpose for your life, do you believe that you have found it? Some people have a very strong sense of destiny. That's the first thing we need to see. There are people who believe that God has ...

523. Running From God

Jonah 3:1-10

Sermon

King Duncan

... through town on the way to war. Life shouldn't be merely a struggle for existence, he concluded; it must be "A Will to War, a Will to Power, a Will to Overpower!" Nietzsche tried to compensate for a tender, overly sensitive nature by idealizing the values of honor, bravery, manhood, pride, and power. He began to despise Christianity as a religion of pity and weakness. Friedreich Nietzsche concocted a philosophy of the "superman." According to Nietzsche, the strong not only have a right but they have a duty ...

524. You Shall Call His Name Jesus

Matthew 1:18-25

Sermon

King Duncan

... holiday than a sacred one. It has become an occasion for blatant materialism and superficial piety. Persons who never think of Jesus the rest of the year put stars on their trees and maybe even a crÃ¨che scene on their mantle. It is an ideal excuse for ceaseless parties and stolen kisses under the office mistletoe. Amid all this celebrating and sentimentality, it is easy for us to lose sight of the true meaning of his coming into the world. We read in Matthew's Gospel, " . . . .she shall bring forth ...

525. A Song, A Star, A Savior

Matthew 2:1-12

Sermon

King Duncan

... Church." How the world needs a Christmas song and a Christmas church. IN THE SECOND PLACE, WE NEED A STAR THAT WE CAN FOLLOW. Indeed, it may be that the greatest need of our time and our generation is to find a star ”a singular goal, objective, or ideal ”upon which we can fix our gaze and toward which together we can move. The tragedy of our time is that people are pulling in so many different directions that, rather than moving toward the Kingdom of God, we seem more likely to be headed toward anarchy ...

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