Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 551 to 575 of 1182 results

Matthew 7:15-23

Sermon

Phil Thrailkill

... close to the truth. Because they know precisely what appeals to wayfaring pilgrims, they lure many away. They know the struggles because they were once on the path themselves. John Bunyan’s allegory of the path to the heavenly city, Pilgrim’s Progress, is the classic treatment of this theme. Beginning well enough at the narrow gate is no guarantee of a arrival at the heavenly kingdom. There will always be those beckoning you to leave the narrow for the broad way. They will tell you it is enough to have ...

552. Resurrection

Acts 10:34-43

Sermon

King Duncan

... Latin in high school. Her guidance counselor assured her that Latin is the root language for all other languages, and if she mastered that ancient tongue, all other languages, including English, would fall into place. She conjugated verbs, read short stories in the classics, and tried to speak like a famous Roman orator. “Many years have passed since high school,” says Rosemary Brown, “and for the life of me, all I can remember from those classes is Veni, Vidi, Vici -- I came, I saw, I conquered ...

553. In the Cross of Christ We Glory

Mark 8:31--9:1

Sermon

Michael Milton

... phrase: “The Son of Man must suffer.” It is the key to the self-disclosure of Jesus and to the plan of God for salvation for sinners. The Greek word for “must” is dei. It could also be rendered “it is necessary,” as William Lane states in his classic work on Mark.[2] In the mind of God, He purposed that He would come in the flesh, fulfill the Law in the flesh of man through His Son, and then cause His only begotten Son to suffer and to be slaughtered like the Old Testament sacrificial lamb for ...

554. Children in the Arms of a Loving God

Mark 10:13-16

Sermon

Michael Milton

... teaching of Jesus overturning laws and culture norms that hurt women and children. One of my favorite authors, who died recently, was Neil Postman. Some of you are perhaps familiar with this New YorkUniversity professor through his work Technopoly or the classic Amusing Ourselves to Death. But my favorite work of his is The Disappearance of Childhood. In that book, Postman, not a believer himself but a non-practicing Jew, showed that childhood, as we know it—the enchanted, protected 1950s Walt Disney ...

555. Spirit Power

Acts 2:1-13

Sermon

King Duncan

... one of the great legends of sports. Non-Aggies are often amazed to see the entire Texas A&M student body stand throughout an entire football game except during half-time. This unique Texas tradition is based on something that happened in 1922 during the “Dixie Classic” football game. The game was played in Dallas, and A&M was facing CentreCollege in a hard-fought contest. The A&M team was depleted by injuries to the point that Coach Dana Bible wasn’t sure he’d have enough to players to complete the ...

556. Thank God for Dads

Galatians 2:11-21

Sermon

King Duncan

... that many men grow up fighting for a place in the sun. Their first instinct is to be competitive, to look out for number one. This causes them to be insular. If you let others get too close they can find weaknesses. In other words there is much in the classic male makeup that works against being a loving mate and a loving parent. Many men need to die to their old selves and to be reborn with a new orientation. In Paul’s words, to be crucified with Christ and to find new life in him. Of course, this is ...

557. A Fool and His Money

Luke 12:13-21

Sermon

Mark Trotter

... ! This night your soul is required of you." Incidentally, the Greek word translated "required of you" can also be translated as "a payment due." That is the real point of the parable. Not just your possessions, but your life belongs to God. That is the classical, Christian understanding of our lives. We are sojourners here, pilgrims, travelers. In the beautiful words of the Letter to the Hebrews, "Here on earth have we no continuing place." We are here for a short time. We are supposed to use that time in ...

558. A Friend in Low Places

Mark 1:9-13

Sermon

Mark Trotter

... up a sword to go search for the Holy Grail. The Holy Grail for Roy Hobbs is to be found in organized major league baseball. Immediately he is tempted by the corruption of the game, by agents, and hangers-on, who try to seduce him. Especially a woman, the classic image of temptation. He rejects her. She takes a gun, shoots him, wounds him. He retreats, leaves the game, goes into obscurity, saying, "Life didn't turn out to be the way I wanted it to be." But then at the age of thirty four, he makes a comeback ...

559. How Moses Handled Stress

Numbers 11:4-35

Sermon

Mark Trotter

... place. Where there is high crime, drugs, delinquency, and homes that don't take responsibility for children. Yet this teacher, named Jessica Siegel, has been tremendously successful with high school students. She teaches English. She teaches these kids the great classics of western civilization. Irving Howe wrote about this teacher, how she had overcome all the difficulties and given the children hope to take up the responsibilities of becoming adults in this society. Howe asked, "How did she do this?" He ...

560. Letting Go

Acts 7:55-60

Sermon

Bill Mosley

... asked this question in his 1940 work, The Problem of Pain. Professor Lewis was an atheist. But in searching himself with intellectual honesty, he became a Christian. He used his great intellect and talent for writing to produce some of the greatest modern Christian classics. One of the problems of believing, he says, is that heaven sounds like "pie in the sky, bye and bye." In the modern age, it's embarrassing to talk about heaven. To imagine a happy world in the hereafter is an escape from unhappiness ...

561. A Voice from Beyond

Genesis 12:1-9

Sermon

James L. Killen

Down through the centuries, philosophers and theologians have come up with a number of classical "proofs for the existence of God." The truth is that these "proofs" are not likely to convince anyone who is determined not to believe in God. But they can be helpful guides to experiencing God for people who want to believe. Most of the proofs for the existence of God ...

562. The Way to Happy Endings

Genesis 24:34-38, 42-49, 58-67

Sermon

James L. Killen

... of things happen that are contrary to what God wants to happen in our lives and in our world. God has to work with that as God continues to work in our lives. Leslie Weatherhead, the English preacher whose book, The Will Of God,1 has become a classic, speaks of the conditional will of God. There are lots of things that are made necessary by conditions that God did not want to exist. But God is active and decisive even in those difficult and complex situations of life. Many times, we will need to recognize ...

563. A Deliverer Is Born

Exodus 1:1-22, 2:1-10

Sermon

Arley K. Fadness

... , gays and lesbians, ethnic clans, and caste systems. It is easy to be blind to oppression in one's own backyard. It is just as easy to be blind to oppression in distant lands and places. Professor Jim Limburg of Luther Seminary, in his classic The Prophets And The Powerless, reminds us that the powerless are special groups of people in the Old Testament. They are the widows, orphans, poor, and strangers. Isaiah, Amos, and other prophets denounce the powerful who hold the oppressed down. There is the ...

564. Beautiful Feet

Romans 10:5-15

Sermon

Jeff Wedge

... . He selects a key word from the first question and builds the second question on that word, and again with the third, and again with the final question. And the series reminds us of the many times something like that has cropped up in other contexts. There is a classic folk song about an old lady who swallowed a fly, and then swallowed a spider, a bird, a cat, and an increasingly diverse series of animals to get rid of the fly and each other. This is only one example of the same sort of thing Paul is doing ...

565. Can't Help Dreaming

Acts 2:1-21

Sermon

Mark Trotter

You remember the story of Don Quixote, Cervantes classic novel about an old man who decides to become a knight, and live the life of chivalry. Cervantes wrote that book in the 17th century, long after all the knights were dead and the age of chivalry forgotten. It was read as a satire, and has remained a popular story ...

566. Have You Heard?

Matthew 4:12-23

Sermon

Mark Trotter

... for us, particularly as we look forward to a new millennium. So it is appropriate that on this Sunday the gospel lesson be Matthew's version of the call of the disciples. That is what I want us to look at this morning. There are two classic interpretations of this scene. One is by John Greenleaf Whittier, and the other by Albert Schweitzer. We can find Whittier's interpretation in the second verse of the hymn that we have just sung, "Dear Lord and Father of Mankind." In simple trust like theirs who heard ...

567. Let Us Pray

James 5:13-20

Sermon

Mark Trotter

... as ours. Denominational churches are languishing, that is true. They are losing members, fighting among themselves over theology and social issues. I have resisted attending any of those seminars. I throw the stuff away. But I did save one brochure because it is a classic. It's addressed to "large church pastors," announcing that the denominations were dead. In fact, the title of the conference was, "A Conference on Post-Denominationalism." So we have a new "post" now in the world. We now live in the "post ...

568. Moving on Up

Luke 14:1, 7-14

Sermon

Mark Trotter

... Every group arranges itself according to status. People ask, “Where do I fit in this group?” Or, “Can I make a contribution?” “Will it not be received?” “Can I be myself, or will I be put down?” F. Scott Fitzgerald’s American classic, The Great Gatsby, revealed that status seeking is a part of American society. America saw itself as being a classless society, proud that it was not like Europe and its stratified societies. Fitzgerald, in his powerful novel, revealed that America has created ...

569. Plant It and Stand Back!

Luke 17:5-10

Sermon

Mark Trotter

... is qualitative. Faith is a relationship. Faith is a relationship with God. Faith is simply trusting God. Either you trust God, or you don't. That is why you read the Bible, the story of people who trust God, you see amazing things. Like David and Goliath, the classic story of facing life, and all its dangers and difficulties, with faith alone. That is what that story is about. David, just a lad. Goliath, a giant of a man. I think of Goliath these days, I think he must have looked like Randy Johnson on the ...

570. Pre-Game Analysis

I Corinthians 9:19-27

Sermon

Mark Trotter

... the people who will live according to the very best, the highest that we know? Henry Steele Commager pointed out that the founders of this country were motivated by the Greeks. Some years ago he wrote this: "Gone is that sense of citizenship gleaned from the classics, which animated the Founding Fathers. No longer are we inspired by Pericles extolling the Athenians to view this busy spectacle of our great city, life as we have it before us day by day, falling in love with her as we see her and remembering ...

571. Stay in the City

Luke 24:44-53

Sermon

Mark Trotter

... the Festival of Artemis. He began converting the Ephesians, telling them, as Christians we cannot participate in idolatry or sexual immorality. As a result, he was dragged before the magistrates with the charge of, "They are ruining our city." In Thessalonica the classic charge brought against the Christians was, "They are turning the world upside down." It is amazing. This little band of Christians, turning the world upside down. How did they do it? They did it with "power from on high." They made things ...

572. The Extended Family

John 13:31-35

Sermon

Mark Trotter

... like Jesus. They got a short distance from the city and discovered that he was not with them. They retraced their steps, and found him in the Temple, debating theology with the professionals. Mary says to him, "Son, why have you treated us so?" It's a classical "Jewish mother" question, "Why do you do this to me?" Jesus replied, "How is it that you sought me?" Which means, "What are you doing here?" He concludes by saying, "Did you not know that I must be about my Father's business." The irony is wonderful ...

573. The Light of the World

John 20:1-18

Sermon

Mark Trotter

... of death itself, the darkness could not overcome the light. Which means that Jesus Christ is Lord over all areas of our life. I understand that in the port of Genoa there is a statue that is called the Christ of the Deep. It is in the form of those classic statues of Jesus with his arms outstretched, as if to say, "Come unto me all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." The statue is placed beneath the surface of the water in the harbor, descended into the depths of the ocean, as a ...

574. The Time of Waiting Is Over

Mark 1:14-20

Sermon

Mark Trotter

... it by yourself Nobody else can stand it for you You have to stand it by yourself. Years ago Alan Paton, a great South African novelist, wrote about his country, in a number of stories, living under the tyranny of apartheid society. The article became something of a classic. It had the title, "The Challenge of Fear." He talked about how our lives were determined not so much by forces or powers outside of us, but by the fears that are inside of us. That is what controls our lives. Fears, in the case of South ...

575. This Nation, Under God

2 Samuel 7:1-9

Sermon

Mark Trotter

... had died instead of you." It's all there. All the passion and adventure, the tenderness and tragedy of the human drama, written with literary skill that is rarely matched, over 3000 years ago. So it is both one of the earliest written histories, and one of the classics of literature. You ought to read it if you are going to be a literate person. But that is not why we read it in church. We read it in church because we believe that the Word of God can speak to us through these words, through words addressed ...

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