Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 576 to 600 of 2332 results

576. Job Is for Real

Job 1:1, 2:1-10

Sermon

Donna Schaper

... the desolate wasteland, the land where no man lives to make the wilderness blossom and cover the desert with grass? Who cuts a path for the thunderstorm and carves a road for the rain — to water the desolate wasteland, the land where no man lives to make ... the wilderness blossom and cover the desert with grass? — Job 38:25-27 There are many scriptures that take exactly this point of view. Psalm 104 is my favorite: It ...

577. Seek Life Over Death

Illustration

Steve Goodier

Both the hummingbird and the vulture fly over our nation's deserts. All vultures see is rotting meat, because that is what they look for. They thrive on that diet. But hummingbirds ignore the smelly flesh of dead animals. Instead, they look for the colorful blossoms of desert plants. The vultures live on what was. They live on the past. They fill themselves with what is dead and gone. But hummingbirds live on what is. They seek new life. They fill themselves with freshness and life. Each bird finds what it ...

578. The Things We Don't Need

Illustration

... a holy life. So he abandoned the conforms of Egyptian society to follow an austere lifestyle in the desert. Yet whenever he visited the great city of Alexandria, he spent time wandering through its bazaars. Asked why, he explained that his heart rejoiced at the sight of all the things he didn't need. Those of us who live in a society flooded with goods and gadgets need to ponder the example of that desert dweller. A typical supermarket in the United States in 1976 stocked 9,000 articles; today it carries ...

579. Right Where You Are

Illustration

... from the South where they still teach manners, or he's in the service.' I decided the latter was the most likely, so I asked, "You in the service?" "Yes, Ma'am, I am." "What branch?" "Marines." "Hey, Marine, where are you coming from?" "Operation desert Storm, Ma'am." "No kidding? Desert Storm! How long were you there?" I asked. "A year and a half. I'm on my way home. My family will be at the airport." I then commented that he must have thought about returning to his family and home many times while he was ...

580. Training with Water

Illustration

Source Unknown

Arabian horses go through rigorous training in the deserts of the Middle East. The trainers require absolute obedience from the horses, and test them to see if they are completely trained. The final test is almost beyond the ... is sure that he has their obedience he gives them a signal to go back to drink. Now this may be severe but when you are on the trackless desert of Arabia and your life is entrusted to a horse, you had better have a trained obedient horse. We must accept God's training and obey Him.

581. All I Want Is Water

Humor Illustration

... encountered a man selling neckties. "Would you like to buy a nice necktie?" the salesman asked. "All I want is a drink of water," the man growled. The salesman had no water, so the poor man kept crawling across the sand. Miraculously, out in the middle of that vast desert, he came upon a beautiful restaurant. At first he thought it was a mirage, but as he moved closer he saw that it was real. With his last ounce of energy he struggled up to the entrance and said to the doorman, "Please, I must have a drink ...

582. Miles Away

Humor Illustration

... life and make lemonade is the most determining factor in successfully coping with life's most difficult circumstances. Somewhere I read a story about an American serviceman who was stationed deep in the Sahara Desert. Finding himself with a few hours to kill, he put on his swimming trunks and began trudging merrily through the desert sand. One of his buddies asked in astonishment, "Where do you think you are going?" the carefree soldier replied, "Well, I've got a few hours leave and I thought I would take a ...

583. Looking for Rainbows

Genesis 9:1-17

Sermon

King Duncan

... mill, huh? Think you’re better than we are, do you? Just don’t want to have anything to do with hard working folks like us, is that it? I never thought you, Wayne, of all people would ever desert your family.” (7) But it wasn’t that Wayne Oates felt better than his peers, nor that he wanted to desert his family and friends. It was simply that Wayne Oates was sustained by a promise, the promise of his grandmother that if he kept trying, he would eventually end up at the broad end of the funnel. He ...

584. Mark 1:29-39

Mark 1:29-34

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... “party line”). Word got out — and around — at break-neck speed. Confronted with sudden popularity, Jesus’ response is surprising. He rises in the still darkness and once again heads out to the wilderness, to a “deserted space (“eremos”). Capernaum was not a particularly deserted or solitary environment. It was a densely populated, fishing and agricultural center, not known for its resources for solitary refuge. If Jesus wanted to “get out of town” he would be compelled to have risen ...

585. Hit Me with Your Best Shot

Luke 4:1-13

Sermon

Frank Ramirez

... of us feel that the world owes us a reward, or at least a little slack. But in response to his obedience Jesus was led into the desert by the Holy Spirit to fast for forty days, and after this he was tempted. Couldn't the temptation come at a time when he was stron ... people. The word compassion is reminiscent of the words used for how Moses felt about the children of Israel in the desert. In quoting from Deuteronomy 8:3 Jesus deliberately called to mind the words of Moses to the people in the wilderness ...

586. The Speed Bump On the Road to Bethlehem

Luke 3:1-6

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... . Jack is not a bad imitation of the hero of our text. We meet him every year at this time in our preparations for the arrival of the Christ Child. To be honest, if it were not for the fact that the lectionary deposits us annually at his desert camp, we would probably barrel right on toward the manger without ever noticing him at all. But here he is again, a speed bump on the road to Bethlehem. The gospel writers apparently think John is a pretty important character in this Jesus narrative. All four talk ...

587. Maundy Thursday

Exodus 12:1-4 (5-10) 11-14, Psalm 116:1-2, 12-19, John 13:1-17, 31b-35, 1 Corinthians 11:23-26

Bulletin Aid

Julia Ross Strope

... ago, 4,000 years ago, Hebrew were slaves in the land along the Nile River. One man with his brother and sister mobilized the people with a dream of freedom. Moses, Aaron, and Miriam led the Hebrews out of plagues and Egypt into the Sinai desert where they experienced freedom to be as difficult as slavery! One night, they tiptoed out of Pharaoh’s land, grateful for divine help and for all their belongings. The Egyptians woke to find their eldest children dead and the brickyards with out any workers. The ...

588. Did God Really Say...?

Romans 10:8-13

Sermon

Steven E. Albertin

... and in control of your own life. Did God really say ... back there in the waters of the Jordan that you were ‘the Son of God, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased?' If that is what he really said, then why did he send you out into the desert for forty days? After that kind of treatment, aren't you hungry? Why not turn these rocks into bread? Then I might believe that God really said that you were his beloved son. Then even you could believe that you were his son. "Did God really say ... that you are ...

589. A New Point of View

2 Corinthians 5:16-21

Sermon

Steven E. Albertin

... to think that growing up and becoming mature means that we have become self-confident, that we know who we are, that we have become a "self-differentiated adult" immune to criticism of others. But that is simply not true. Unless we move to a deserted island or to the middle of the desert and live life in utter solitude, we can never escape the opinions and evaluations of others. If you have ever held a job (and it is hard for me to imagine any of us making it through life without having some kind of job ...

590. Running the Race

Philippians 3:4-11, 2 Timothy 4:7

Sermon

Steven E. Albertin

... 't need to break the rules. We don't need to resort to making excuses. Why? Because coming in second or third or fourth or even dead last doesn't matter. We have already won. We have nothing to lose, everything to gain, and nothing to hide. The fourth-century desert monk, Agathon, tells a story about what it is like to live your life and run your race when you have nothing to lose. Some thieves came one day to the dwelling of an old man and said to him, "We have come to take everything that is in your ...

591. An Uncomplicated Gospel

Galatians 1:1-10

Sermon

April Yamasaki

... to the Romans and elsewhere, "Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ" (Galatians 1:1-3). But instead of the expected words of thanks, Paul goes directly to the purpose of his letter: "I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel" (Galatians 1:6). Unlike most of his other letters, there is no expression of thanks in the opening to Galatians. There are no words of thanks at all in the entire ...

592. Lessons From a Hurricane

Jeremiah 17:5-10

Sermon

Derl G. Keefer

... , food, and help.[3] God will fill us with courage and hope as we continue to trust him in our hurricanes of life! II. Exist With God In Life's Hurricanes (Jeremiah 17:7-8) Jeremiah says in verse 6 that they will be like a desert shrub that exists in the desert parched land. Their lives are like the uninhabitable salt land that not only lacks water, but is poisonous to most plants, and is lonely and sterile. However, to exist with God is to be blessed by God as verse 7 indicates. The word "blessed" is ...

593. The Healing Fountain of Tears

Revelation 7:9-17

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... cannot wipe the tears away for themselves. And it is our job, our joy, to help cry those who too hungry, too thirsty, too dehydrated for tears to form in their eyes. There is an old Jewish saying: “In the desert of the heart, let the healing fountain start.” Whatever the desert of your heart this morning, let the healing fountain start. Give God your tears this morning. Your tears from loss. Your tears from loneliness. Your tears from shame. Your tears from anger. Give God those tears that run silently ...

594. When God Tests Us

Exodus 32:1-33:6

Sermon

Argile Smith

... the Israelites confused silence with absence. They hadn’t heard from God or Moses, his messenger, in a while. Consequently, they figured that God must have left the mountain and Moses must have died there, leaving his people waiting anxiously in the middle of an unforgiving desert. In their anxiety, they wondered who would take them on from there. How do you react when God seems to give you the silent treatment? Do you assume that he’s absent? If so, what do you do about it? Poor Aaron didn’t help the ...

595. Thanksgivings to Remember

Deuteronomy 8:1-20

Sermon

Argile Smith

... them. And despair overwhelmed them. With nowhere else to go, they cried out to God. He came to their rescue and showed them the way home. A wilderness doesn’t have to be literal in order to be awful. You may remember the agony of wandering in a spiritual desert because you lost your way. Then God showed you the way home when you finally turned to him. You owe God a debt of gratitude because he put you on the right path. How do you show him that you are thankful? In the imaginary worship service created by ...

596. Let Them Eat Cake

2 Timothy 1:1-2:13

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... little more finesse and measuring. But pound cakes continue to be the backbone of a great number of decadent deserts. If you’ve got a pound cake in the freezer and anything else sweet in the house — maple syrup, chocolate sauce, jams or jellies ... , ice cream, whipped cream — you’ve got a great, company-ready desert good to go. Pound cake is a combination of nutritionally really bad-for-you things—butter, eggs, sugar, flour. But when ...

597. God’s Story Time

Jeremiah 23:1-8

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... have been enough for us. Had He brought us through it dry-shod and not drowned our oppressors in it . . . It would have been enough for us. Had He drowned our oppressors in it and not helped us forty years in the desert . . . It would have been enough for us. Had He helped us forty years in the desert and not fed us manna . . . It would have been enough for us. Had He fed us manna and not given us the Sabbath . . . It would have been enough for us. Had He given us the Sabbath and not brought us to Mount ...

598. A Straying Heart

Psalm 95:1-11

Sermon

King Duncan

... care. Today, if you hear his voice, 8 do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah, as you did that day at Massah in the desert, 9 where your fathers tested and tried me, though they had seen what I did. 10 For forty years I was angry with that generation; I said, “ ... home and wanders for many years, living in fear of his brother’s vengeance, until their fateful meeting in the desert of Gilead. (Gen. 31-33) Joseph’s brothers: standing before him in the royal Egyptian courts, exposed for the violent ...

599. Breaking News: A World Gone Wild

Romans 8:18-27

Sermon

James Merritt

... that there is a better world coming. Verse 21 says, “The creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.” (Romans 8:21, NIV) God is going to create a new heaven and a new earth. The desert is going to blossom like the rose. The lion will lie down with the lamb and the lamb will not be in the lion! God made this world a good creation. Today, it is a groaning creation, but one day it will be a glorious creation. In the meantime, we ...

600. On the Ropes: Round 1 - Doubting God

Habakkuk 1:1-4

Sermon

James Merritt

... with this question, “If God is good and God is in control why is the world the way it is?” Habakkuk is literally drying up in a desert of doubt. If you have ever been there or you are there or one day you find yourself there, one thing that Habakkuk encourages us to remember ... afar. They fly like a vulture swooping to devour; they all come bent on violence. Their hordes advance like a desert wind and gather prisoners like sand. They deride kings and scoff at rulers. They laugh at all fortified cities; they ...

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