Sermon and Worship Resources

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James 3:13-18

Sermon

Eric Ritz

... than we are. Years ago, a famous London newspaper ran an essay contest titled, "What is Wrong with Man." The winning essay was short and simple. It said, "I am." Signed by G.K. Chesterton. This is the beginning of wisdom. To know that wisdom does not originate from us--yet can live in us--when it comes as a gift from above. When we seek and strive for this wisdom from above we can: Tackle Troubles Triumphantly Trip Up the Tempter Trust the Truth Tackle Tough Tasks and Tame the Tongue Second, in verses ...

577. The Measure of Love

1 John 4:7-21

Sermon

Eric Ritz

... that loves without measure. FIRST, THE MODEL FOR LOVING WITHOUT MEASURE COMES FROM GOD, NOT THE HUMAN FAMILY. It is easy to hate. We are really good at hating people because of skin color, ethnic origins, language, and religious orientation. It is simply unnatural to love. Every time someone debates with me on the doctrine of original sin (better to be called inherited sin), I tell them to read the morning newspaper from the first page to the last page, to listen to the full 30 minutes of the evening news ...

578. Easy to Say, Hard to Do

1 John 4:7-21

Sermon

Paul E. Robinson

... it properly. Sooner or later, and probably sooner, you will find that the copied program just doesn't work properly. It's not properly integrated with all the files, something the installation process does automatically. Frustrated, you have to go searching for the original installation disks or CD to install it properly. My friends, Christian love, the sort that moves mountains, the kind Jesus died to reveal, is not just a nice feeling or set of good intentions. Real love, which enables one to forgive the ...

579. Grace in the Midst of Weakness

2 Corinthians 4:1-18

Sermon

Glenn McDonald

... call of God he said, "Here am I, Lord. Send Aaron!" Gideon gasped, "You can't choose me. I'm the least of the least of the least in my family tree." Jonah was told to head east, so he immediately jumped on a boast heading west. Peter had the original case of Foot and Mouth Disease, repeatedly putting both of his feet in his mouth at all the wrong moments. Every one of the Twelve seems to have had a bad case of spiritual amnesia. As Tevye, the main character in the musical Fiddler on the Roof, puts it, "Lord ...

580. People See Through Us

James 2:1-13

Sermon

Harold Warlick

... the bottom of the ladder -- slaves, strangers, widows, orphans, and the poor -- would be protected as part of God's command to us. People see through us! Daniel Maquire in his seminal work, The Moral Core of Judaism and Christianity, argues that the original Jewish and Christian teachings, like today's texts, produced real cultural and moral revolutions. These teachings pioneered subversive modes of community. They built communities on the basis of shared ideas and commitments and not on accidents of ethnic ...

581. He Is Not Here He Is Risen

Mark 16:1-20

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... at those women’s response to this shout of Easter, verse 8: “And they went out and fled from the tomb; for trembling and astonishment had come upon them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.” That’s the way the Gospel of Mark originally ended. “They said nothing, for they were afraid.” He is not here; He is risen. The women couldn’t believe it — couldn’t take in the meaning of that. At best, it was wishful thinking. So with the resurrection of Jesus. “He is not here; He ...

582. Singing The Lord's Song In A Strange Land (i)

Psalm 137:1-9

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... intention. But in my preparation, I concluded in midweek that I had to preach two sermons on this psalm. I was forced to this decision as I wrestled with this fact – that a static faith is an inadequate faith, and as I looked at the entire psalm. Originally I was going to deal with only the first six verses. Then I found in the balance of the text a perfect illustration of the limitation of a static faith. And I also came head-on with one of the most perplexing issues confronting Christians in every ...

583. In The Beginning And The End...God

Genesis 1:1-2:3

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... shout of the soul to the God who brings order out of chaos who speaks and it is done. With his word, Creation happens. Incandescent amazement! Now the other word about the debate. For secular education people to insist that only evolution, as a theory of the origin of the earth and man be taught in public schools, is as much a fundamentalist mentality as to take the position that the Bible teaches us that the earth is between six and seven thousand years old. Our secular schools, if they are to be committed ...

584. East Of Eden

Genesis 3:1-24

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... something else. Treason is challenging the power of the state to make laws, thus it challenges the very foundation of ultimate authority -- the sovereignty of the state over the will of an individual person. Original sin is treason, not crime. D. R. Davies, in his book, Down Peacock's Feathers, puts it sharply: "Original sin is treason, not crime. In the affirmation of his own will over against God, man challenged the foundations of existence and being. He tried to appropriate the power of the state itself ...

585. At the Corner of Church and Main

Luke 6:17-26

Sermon

David J. Kalas

... . If your experience was like mine, then perhaps you grew up seeing these Beatitudes on a poster in a Sunday school room or on an embroidery in the church parlor. We cherish these familiar teachings. I wonder, though, what the reaction was of Jesus' original audience. I wonder if they resisted these Beatitudes. They are, after all, quite surprising. Even counter-intuitive. Blessed are the poor? Fortunate are the hungry? To be envied are those who weep? That makes little or no sense to us. Happy are you when ...

586. The Promised Messiah

Micah 5:1-4

Sermon

Elizabeth Achtemeier

... , to be able to say clearly and boldly just exactly who and what he is. But we cannot do that with this promised Messiah. His "origin is of old," says our text, "from ancient of days" and that latter phrase is used of God in the Book of Daniel (Daniel 7: ... 9, 13, 22). The promised Messiah, Micah is telling us, will come not just from a small clan in Judah. He will also have his origin in God, and his birth will have been planned by God a long time ago. This ruler of the world, whom God will send to save his ...

587. The Glory of Christ

Isaiah 60:1-22

Sermon

Elizabeth Achtemeier

... will be drawn to Israel's light, to worship that saving God. (The thought is the same as that found in Isaiah 52:13--53:12 and Zechariah 8:22-23.) So to be true to the text, the preacher can apply this passage to Israel, as it was originally intended, or the preacher can take the text as a reference to Jesus, as in the tradition of the church. There is, however, another option that preserves the integrity of the text. Suppose we read this passage as an address to the church, the new Israel in Jesus Christ ...

588. The Prize of the High Calling of God

Philippians 3:12-4:1

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... idea. Religious folks have not missed this communication opportunity. So you have the traditional bumper sticker message: “Honk if you love Jesus”. And the more avant-garde, “In case of the rapture, this car will be empty”. I saw one recently which I think originated by some cynics who questioned a “sloppy agape” theology. It said, “God loves you…the rest of us think you are a jerk”. As intrigued as I am, I have never put a bumper sticker on my car. A psychiatrist could have a field day ...

589. Going Hard against the Grain

Matthew 5:33-37

Sermon

Phil Thrailkill

... to using words as smoke and mirrors. Yes to peacemaking; No to peacebreaking. Jesus would have nothing to do with pious round-abouts. Heaven is God’s throne; earth is his footstool; Jerusalem is his city; you are God’s child, and underneath your current hair color the original remains. Don’t swear at all. “Let what you say be simply Yes, Yes or No, No; anything else comes from evil.” We are to walk in the light, not in the shadows. Tell the truth, which means you have to know what it is, and tell ...

590. The God Who Must Be Pursued

Matthew 7:7-12

Sermon

Phil Thrailkill

... on knocking,” and then a universal invitation, “For every one....” Prayer is aerobic exercise that increases our capacity to run with God and not quit. TURNING TO THE TEXT a) vv.7-8 An Invitation To God’s Wisdom. When I took the time to explore the origin of verses 7 through 8, I discovered they were from the world of beggars, who were common in that day.10 Jesus used the example of beggars to teach his disciples about prayer. Beggars were isolated, cut off from the supports of family which was the ...

591. Message from a Cloud

Acts 1:1-11

Sermon

King Duncan

... assignment. That is why he promised them that they would not go about the task alone. His Holy Spirit would be with them. “We think of the Holy Spirit as Comforter,” says biblical scholar William Barclay, “but the original meaning of the word ‘comfort’ was ‘with strength.’ The original meaning of comfort was to give courage to, to imbue with strength.” (5) The Holy Spirit was coming to empower them to continue the work Christ had begun, the work Christ calls us to today. Christ would not ...

592. What Do You Call Success?

Luke 10:1-24

Sermon

King Duncan

... free showing of Mel Gibson’s THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST. Since Gibson’s portrayal of the crucifixion has been criticized for its brutality, Andrea inquired if he was showing the original version or the less-violent edited version, which cut out most of the beatings and blood. “No, we’re showing the original,” said the campus pastor. “The edited version,” he said, “gives the impression that Jesus was sentenced to ‘Community Service.’” (4) I like that. Jesus was not sentenced to community ...

593. A Messianic King

Isaiah 11:1-10

Sermon

Elizabeth Achtemeier

... obey and reverence God, and the Lord’s universal kingdom will be established throughout the world. God’s messiah comes to save all on this earth (cf. Isaiah 45:6; 52:10; 66:23). Verse 10 is a later addition to our original text, and the “root of Jesse” here no longer stands for the origin of the messianic king, as in verse 1, but rather refers to the messianic king himself, who will be an ensign, that is, a standard, a signal, lifted up for all to see and to which all shall come, a note reminiscent ...

594. Shalom Shattered

Genesis 37:1-4, 12-28

Sermon

Arley K. Fadness

... stars all bow down to him. The dreams -- haughty, even nasty -- turn out to be in fact prophecies of what is to come out of "the now shattering family shalom." Joseph's dreams, however, are seen as a product of his own arrogance and not divinely originated about destiny and ultimate purpose. The second crack in shalom is the ten brothers' envy. "His brothers said to him, â€˜Are you indeed to reign over us? Are you indeed to have dominion over us?' So they hated him even more ..." (Genesis 37:8). Betsy ...

595. A Peek at the Resurrection

Revelation 7:9-17

Sermon

Charles L. Aaron

... some affirmations about life in the resurrection. We get not so much information as hope, not details, but assurance. John of Patmos gets a peek beyond the creation we live in. With the antenna of a vision, he sees things our senses cannot tell us. Originally, John's vision was a call to courage and endurance in the face of persecution. At the time of his writing, some Christians had been killed outright, and others had suffered harassment or ostracism on account of their faith. In chapter 2, we learn that ...

596. Removing Obstacles

1 Corinthians 1:10-18

Sermon

James L. Killen

... who are committed to one common purpose. Paul suspected that something else was going on in Corinth. There were lots of other differences in the church in Corinth. There were people of different races and national origins, people of different religious origins, people of different socio-economic classes, and people of different dispositions. All of these caused differences with regard to certain aspects of the Christian faith. Some seem to have been incorporating some kind of Greek "wisdom" philosophy ...

597. The Church that Jesus Built

1 Peter 2:2-10

Sermon

Richard W. Ferris

... they would try to receive a direct word from God in their dreams. If they weren't getting any messages in their dreams while lying in their own beds, then they would sleep in the Temple, where they believed it would work better. And thus we have the origin of the time-honored tradition of sleeping in church. I wanted to point that out at the beginning of the message so that those who would appreciate it the most would have a chance to hear it. Brick and mortar. Lumber and nails. Arches, rafters, and flying ...

598. Irrevocable Gifts

Romans 11:1-2a, 29-32

Sermon

Jeff Wedge

... Greek, much more emphatic than the way it gets translated in most Bibles, including in our lesson. "By no means!" Or, "Certainly not!" Or, "Of course not!" All these are rather pale representations of the words in the original Greek. In a printed document, Paul's answer should at the least be in bold type and entirely in capitals. When the lesson is read, the answer should be spoken loudly, perhaps even shouted, "No! No! No!" Because the gifts of God are irrevocable. So irrevocable, that even the threat ...

599. Like None Other

Acts 2:14a, 36-41

Sermon

Mark Trotter

... they are dependent on adults. Their state is officially called "innocence." You may question that. I remember an old story about a man driving with his children on a vacation, who said that after the first day in the car together, he believed in "original sin." After the second day, he believed in "total depravity." But in our more reasonable moments, we question whether children need to repent of sin. But the Church still baptized them, always has, right from the beginning. Even the New Testament hints at ...

600. Look Ma, No Hands

Mark 6:7-13

Sermon

Mark Trotter

... dress, but also in poverty. They took vows of absolute poverty. They owned nothing, not even the tunic on their back. So if they found somebody who had less than what they had, they were to share what they had. These were the Franciscans, the original Franciscans, and as long as St. Francis was alive, they followed this rule. They followed it literally. They took nothing with them on their journey. So they were "mendicant" friars, which means they begged for their living. So we must ask, is that what Jesus ...

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