Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 526 to 550 of 3099 results

Mark 7:31-37, Mark 7:24-30

Sermon

Robert Leslie Holmes

... on the Lord and he will reveal himself because Christ is not in the business of playing spiritual hide-and-seek. Perhaps you already have and you know the truth. An anonymous hymn writer composed the words of one of faith's great hymns and it speaks directly to our subject: I sought the Lord, and afterward I knew he moved my soul to seek him, seeking me. It was not I that found, O Savior true; no, I was found of thee. Thou didst reach forth thy hand and mine enfold; I walked and sank not on the storm-vexed ...

527. The Struggle for Freedom

1 Corinthians 8:1-13

Sermon

Scott Suskovic

... flesh" (Galatians 5:1, 13). In other words, there are limits to our freedom. What are those limits? In his short book, Freedom of a Christian, Luther explained this freedom by saying that a Christian is "a perfectly free lord of all, subject to none ... [and] a perfectly dutiful servant of all, subject to all." Luther used the very teaching of Paul to say that while we are set free from the law through the gospel, the limit to this freedom is summarized in the words of Jesus, Paul and Luther, "The love of ...

528. Watching for a

Mark 13:1-31

Drama

Arley K. Fadness

... weekend. Husband: We’ve gone over that before, hush now. Wife: You’re stressed, I know. Husband: Three company break-ins in six months — wouldn’t you be stressed? Wife: (talks about the earlier subject — her mother’s coming) But Mom would be no problem — she’s so self-sufficient. Husband: (preoccupied with his subject — the company break-ins) And no insurance to cover the cost. Wife: She’d only stay a year or two. Husband: Better late than never to do something about it. Where is that ...

529. Did You Do Your Best?

Illustration

Gordon McDonald

... had applied for the nuclear submarine program, and Admiral Rickover was interviewing me for the job. It was the first time I met Admiral Rickover, and we sat in a large room by ourselves for more than two hours, and he let me choose any subjects I wished to discuss. Very carefully, I chose those about which I knew most at the time current events, seamanship, music, literature, naval tactics, electronics, gunnery and he began to ask me a series of questions of increasing difficulty. In each instance, he soon ...

530. Immortality: Quality vs. Quantity

Illustration

Gary R. Habermas & J.P. Moreland

... of immortality. They are interdependent sides of the same truth. See his volume, Raised Immortal: Resurrection and Immortality in the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1983), pp. 199-201, 209-214, 232-236, for a stimulating and detailed study of this subject. We also want to be clear that the term immortality is not to be confused with notions such as the Greek concept of immortality of the soul. Actually, three Greek synonyms (athanasia, aphtharsia, aphtartos) are used only eleven times in the New ...

531. A Dangerous Label

Illustration

... . After the service, one of the church officers came to counsel with him in the study. "Dr. Howard," he said, "we don't want you to talk as openly as you do about man's guilt and corruption, because if our boys and girls hear you discussing that subject they will more easily become sinners. Call it a mistake if you will, but do not speak so plainly about sin." The minister took down a small bottle and showing it to the visitor said, "You see that label? It says strychnine and underneath in bold, red letters ...

532. Parched Christians

Illustration

John H. Morgan

... parched cities in Italy and Spain, still used in some countries today. The objective foundation of our spiritual lives, the Word of God, is like a huge stone aqueduct. The subjective elements, our daily experience of Christ, is like the fresh water flowing through it. Some Christians neglect the Word and seek only subjective experience. But without the solid Word of God to contain and channel that experience, the experience itself drains away into error and is lost. Other Christians boast well-engineered ...

533. John 1:43-51

John 1:43-51

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... in today’s gospel text, Jesus journeys to Galilee. The text is grammatically unclear here about exactly who it is that makes this decision to journey to Galilee and who it is that offers the invitation to “follow me.” It is possible to assume that the subject of all this activity is still Andrew (from v.40). If that is the case, Andrew makes the decision to take the jaunt to Galilee where he continues to offer invitations to others to join him in his discovery of the “Messiah” in Jesus (from v.41 ...

534. It’s a New Year: Take 7 Steps Forward

John 1:43-51

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

535. I Want My Dollar Back!

2 Corinthians 8:1-15

Sermon

King Duncan

... s another way to raise money for the church, I guess. None of these approaches to raising money quite fits me. I hope you appreciate that. It’s not that I’m embarrassed to talk about money. Jesus, as you may know, talked more about money than any other one subject. He knew what money can do to people. And he knew the proper place of money in our lives. Money is important. We spend much of our life working for money. Some of us spend even more time worrying about money. It’s always been so. Some of you ...

536. Our Family Inheritance

Galatians 3:15-25

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... be legitimately rendered as either "immerse, dip, sprinkle, or pour." If the Lord had a particular method of baptism in mind, I am sure that would have been made crystal clear to us. Since he did not, then it would seem problematic to be dogmatic on the subject. However, as we know all too well, that does not stop folks from being dogmatic. Who is to be baptized? The church has endured controversy on this issue, as well. Some want to say that only those who have made a profession of faith in Christ should ...

537. Pax Christi Or Pox Christi?

Luke 12:49-56

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... for it, lost the battle, and left in a huff to form a new church. Mothers against daughters, fathers against sons, wives refused to cook for their husbands. It was a mess. All was calm by the time I arrived, but it had been bloody. On the subject of music in church, this is from an old article on 150 years of Presbyterianism in Illinois: In the early days the use of instruments in the church was also frowned upon. Dismal as the congregational singing must have been, still the authorities refused to use ...

538. What Does the Bible Really Say about Divorce?

Mark 10:1-12

Sermon

King Duncan

... leaned over, put her head on husband’s shoulder and whispered in his ear, “I just love to watch your muscles ripple when you take out the garbage.” Our lesson from Mark’s Gospel is about marriage. It is also about the more painful subject of divorce. A man tells about browsing in a Christian bookstore one day. He discovered a shelf of reduced‑price items. Among these items was a little figurine of a man and woman, their heads lovingly tilted toward one another. The figurine was obviously designed ...

539. Learning the Recipe for Love

Colossians 3:1-17

Sermon

Richard Gribble

... has she done?” “You have seen and heard all the others,” said the king’s aide. “This one is their teacher!” With this the people all applauded and the king came down from his throne to honor her as the greatest of his subjects. Those at court learned that while worldly success might initially be perceived to be of greatest importance, the true formula for life is learning from others and teaching others to be successful. Contemporary society measures success by the number of things we possess ...

540. Learning the Recipe for Love

Colossians 3:12-17

Sermon

Richard Gribble

... has she done?" "You have seen and heard all the others," said the king's aide. "This one is their teacher!" With this the people all applauded and the king came down from his throne to honor her as the greatest of his subjects. Those at court learned that while worldly success might initially be perceived to be of greatest importance, the true formula for life is learning from others and teaching others to be successful. Contemporary society measures success by the number of things we possess, accolades ...

541. The Utmost Patience for the Foremost Sinner

1 Timothy 1:12-17

Sermon

Charles L. Aaron

... ! We're not perfect by any means, but what we do is piddly stuff, right? A psychologist conducted an experiment in which he asked people to describe a time they had hurt someone. Then, they were to describe a time when they were hurt. When the subjects described a time they had hurt someone, they invariably thought the hurt they caused wasn't too bad and didn't last long. The other person got over it. What they had done was justifiable, unpreventable. But, when they described their own hurts, the pain was ...

542. The Call of Holiness

Isaiah 6:1-8 (9-13)

Sermon

Derl G. Keefer

... we buy for our guest bathroom, but a dirty old rag, wet with the sweat and dirt of men's feet. - Norman Schouten[6] Just a year before the death of A.W. Tozer, he was asked to speak at a conference of ministers on any subject he chose. God's holiness was the subject and he is quoted as saying, I believe we ought to have again the old biblical concept of God which makes God awful and makes men lie face down and cry, "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God almighty." That would do more for the church than everything ...

543. Look Who's Talking

Acts 11:1-18

Sermon

David J. Kalas

... prepared him to think about and respond to Gentiles differently. This is the episode, then, in which God is the one who does the talking. "What God has made clean," he says to Peter, "you must not call profane" (v. 9). This is God's word on the subject of the Gentiles, and it laid groundwork in Peter for what lay ahead. It was wise for Peter to share with his critics his own experience. After all, he had no doubt shared their initial reflex in response to Gentiles. We discover that remembering how ...

544. The Servant Leader

John 13:1-17

Sermon

King Duncan

... the twentieth century. She was the perfect example of the kind of greatness Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. once talked about: “Everybody can be great,” he said, “because anybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and verb agree to serve . . . You only need a heart full of grace, a soul generated by love.” Dr. King was correct. Everybody can be great and you don’t have to put on the habit of a nun to do it. Pastor Don Friesen tells of a ...

545. Prelude to the Passion

Matthew 21:1-11

Sermon

King Duncan

... donkey. This is what separates the King of Kings from the royalty of this world, he rode upon a donkey. Some of us may remember when organizations would raise money by sponsoring donkey basketball games. Teachers or other prominent members of the community would subject themselves to ridicule by playing basketball on the backs of donkeys in order to raise funds for a good cause. I understand the practice still exists but that it is not as widespread as it used to be because of protests by animal rights ...

546. Breaking News: A World Gone Wild

Romans 8:18-27

Sermon

James Merritt

... Paul puts it, “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope.” (Romans 8:18-20, NIV) Not only do we have to suffer the consciences of Adam and Eve’s sin, but so does this earth. You may ask, “Why was the world also cursed?” The worst thing ...

547. Follow the Directions

Psalm 119:9, 18, 89

Sermon

James Merritt

... purpose to lead you into a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Jesus said in John 5:39, “You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life.” But even more to the point, the Bible only has one subject and that subject is Jesus Christ. Too many people think you only meet Jesus when you get to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Actually, you meet Jesus from the very first chapter. Don’t take my word for it. After Jesus was raised from the dead He was ...

548. All In: Skin In the Game

Malachi 3:6-18

Sermon

James Merritt

... heart is. If your heart does not belong to God completely neither will your checkbook. I want to share with you why we have this struggle. I want to share with you why we are so sensitive about talking about this subject and I want to share with you why many people would rather hear about any other subject than this one. There is only three things you can do with money. Spend Save Give I purposely put that in that particular order, because that is exactly the way that most of us manage our money. Let me put ...

549. Jesus Heals Body and Soul

Mark 1:29-34

Sermon

King Duncan

... surely. If I did, many of you would surround me after the service. “Why didn’t God heal my daughter?” someone might say to me painfully. “I prayed night and day.” That’s why the church is very cautious about prayer and healing. It’s a complex subject that none of us can truly understand. But Jesus does heal. I don’t have any doubt about that. Trust him when you’re hurting just as much as you trust him when you’re healthy. No one is ever sorry for praying and trusting, even if physical ...

550. When the Unthinkable Happens

Mark 13:1-8, 24-32

Sermon

King Duncan

... opportunity to talk with his disciples about the end of time. This is the content of Mark 13, one of the so-called apocalyptic chapters in the Bible, a chapter that has been used to strike fear in many hearts. The end of time is still a subject of speculation in many Christian churches, and many pastors and teachers are still using it to keep their fearful congregations in line. I don’t mean to offend any of you by wading into this controversial topic, but I believe it is my responsibility to deal with ...

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