Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 576 to 600 of 1185 results

576. The Authority of Scripture: God's Breathed Word

2 Timothy 3:10--4:8

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... to do God’s bidding. Get the movement now. When our minds are open to understand the Scripture, our hearts are open to receive God’s grace. And when our hearts are open to receive God’s grace our wills are softened to do God’s bidding. We could pursue that in a lot of different ways – let me focus on God’s call to holiness – nothing illustrates what I am talking more than this. Listen, friends, holiness is not an option for God’s people. God makes it clear in His Word: “Be holy as I am ...

577. The Vocation of Leadership: A Prophet Among Them

Ephesians 4:1-16

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... nun. It is one of the strangest relationships in history, probably, but also one of the most intriguing and beautiful. Here is Shaw, the intellectual, the playwright, a man of the world, a man of considerable wealth; and the nun, cloistered, who gave up worldly possessions, to pursue a life of work and prayer. In one of his letters to her, he wrote, “The next time I’m in your neighborhood, I will peer through the bars of your cell to see the freedom on the other side.” (Quoted by Mark Trotter, in a ...

578. The Work of An Evangelist

2 Timothy 3:10--4:8

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... to say that a few should never be ordained. But I would put these two up in any arena. The young man is well above average in intelligence and understanding and commitment to ministry. The young woman is exceptional in every way, and is likely to pursue a Ph.D. in Biblical studies at a world-class university. Between the two, the reasons for holding them back were three-fold. 1) Too strong an emphasis on the transcendence and holiness of God. 2) An unwillingness to surrender a “Father image” of God. 3 ...

579. The Conversion Of Saul

Acts 9:1-19a

Bulletin Aid

H. Burnham Kirkland

... surrounded me with joy. Leader: I will not be silent; I will sing praises to you. People: Lord, you are my God. I will give you thanks forever. Collect O Lord, as you appeared to Saul while he was bent on persecuting your followers, come to us as we, too, pursue those who do not believe as we do and ridicule those who seek peace in our time through the path of love. Blind us to the folly of our ways, and make clear to us the path you would have us follow that we may become true disciples of our ...

580. What Making a Difference Looks Like

Matthew 5:1-12

Sermon

Phil Thrailkill

... are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.” In Romans Paul gives us his version of the seventh blessing and clarifies that peacemaking is communal; it reduces social friction and builds up social capital, "So then,” he wrote, “let us pursue the things which make for peace and the building up of one another.”12 There are some things that peacemaking is not. It is not the avoidance of issues that require attention. Another name for avoidance is peace-faking, and if carried to extremes ...

581. Peacemaking and Self Control

Matthew 5:21-26

Sermon

Phil Thrailkill

... Will I always have this temper to keep me humble before you?" While on her knees, the Lord injected a verse of Scripture in her mind: "The Egyptians whom you have seen today you will see no more forever." God spoke these words to Moses when the Egyptians pursued the Israelites to take them back into bondage. Frances related the verse to her temper and the way in which Satan used it to pull her into bondage. She saw that God could tame her inflamed temper. She asked, "Lord, could it be forever?" It seemed to ...

582. A Kingdom Investment Policy

Matthew 6:19-24

Sermon

Phil Thrailkill

... principle, not as a disembodied religious idea rattling around in your head, but as self-authenticating Presence lurking around the edges of life. He is after people every day all day long. Whatever I think I know about a person, I do know this: they are pursued by Christ who is working through the concrete details of life to get their attention. Someone is looking for them, and my chief job as a pastor is to say, “I think I see him here. What do you think?” The Four Gospels give us the contents ...

583. Humility

Luke 18:9-14

Bulletin Aid

H. Burnham Kirkland

... up. Come, let us worship together. Collect Almighty God, you are the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. We live in an era of changing customs and lifestyles. We are bombarded on every side by advice to nurture our self-esteem, to put our own welfare first, and to pursue our own individual goals. In such a time, Lord, we need your guidance and help to keep us humble and to prevent us from building ourselves up at the expense of others. May this time of worship be an opportunity for us to renew our faith so ...

584. On Level Ground

Luke 5:1-11

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... and wife, when I stand at a graveside and would comfort the bereaved, when I listen in a telephone call confessional or that which occurs around a kitchen table in the early hours of the morning, when I pronounce absolution and offer peace to those who are pursued by demons into the depths of hell itself. At such moments I ask myself, as Karl Barth did, "What are you doing there with the Word of God upon your lips?" How can you presume to minister when you yourself need ministry? How dare you speak God ...

585. Fire Falling from Heaven

Luke 12:49-53

Sermon

R. Robert Cueni

... to the good life than just acquiring more and more. Some realize that their Christian faith calls them to do something for others, rather than just feeling good about themselves. Sometimes people decide to go to seminary rather than law school. Some decide to pursue a Master of Divinity rather than a Master of Business Administration. Some people feel the heat of God's presence and are moved to extravagant generosity. Some people catch on fire with the presence of God and do things that disrupt their family ...

586. Letting Go

Acts 7:55-60

Sermon

Bill Mosley

Michael Crichton was a doctor. But he also had other talents and the itch to write. So he determined to let go of his ambition of a life of medicine and pursue a career as a writer. He says in his 1988 autobiography, Travels, he relates that he was following his passion. That's admirable. There are enough people trapped in jobs and occupations they don't like. Find what you like, what you want to do, and find some way to ...

587. Surprised by God

Genesis 28:10-19a

Sermon

James L. Killen

... needs of all of the poor people who would approach him. Then one day, as he was walking in the crowded streets of Calcutta, a certain persistent beggar, a gaunt little woman with a lethargic baby in her arms, fastened herself to him and pursued him through the crowded streets of that Indian city demanding something that the clergyman had resolved not to give. The few minutes during which that was going on seemed like a lifetime. All of his neat explanations of the troubles of the world were shattered ...

588. An Incredible Encounter

Genesis 32:22-31

Sermon

Arley K. Fadness

... , extensive dream he was entertaining. Almost without exception, the members of the board would gulp, blink, and stare back at him in disbelief, resisting even the thought of such a thing. But unless every member resisted the idea, Disney usually didn't pursue it. Yes, you read that correctly. The challenge wasn't big enough to merit his time and creative energy unless they were unanimously in disagreement ... Is it any wonder that Disneyland and Disney World are now realities?"3 The pummeling and punching ...

589. Forgiveness and Reconciliation at Last!

Genesis 45:1-15

Sermon

Arley K. Fadness

... be designed to get Joseph's brothers into the right frame of mind for penitence. When Joseph demands that the youngest brother (Benjamin) be brought to Egypt and then retains Simeon as a hostage, they are all the more convinced that God is pursuing them with retribution. The brothers return with no Simeon, the food is running out, and distress is rampant in Jacob's family. The brothers now face something worse than punishment. They face the final exposure of their souls, raw and sickening. All the foulness ...

590. Strong Medicine

Judges 4:1-7

Sermon

Charles L. Aaron

... memory erased. No one should have to see this or ever live through it." Just as Jael had to do what no one should have to do -- drive a stake through a man's head -- so Salsgiver had to see and hear what no one should. He did it to pursue justice on another continent. He saw an outrage and just couldn't let it go by without trying to change it. He continues to write, speak out, and work for the abolition of slavery.2 We may get only a sip from Judges, but it is strong medicine. We may ...

591. Always?

1 Thessalonians 1:1-10

Sermon

Rick Brand

... wants too much of it. Yet, enormous spiritual work is launched every day on propositions embedded in paradox, incongruity, contradiction. Four big ones: God is everywhere, yet invisible. Life is lived forward, as Kierkegaard said, but only understood backward. Happiness is best pursued through selflessness. The incarnation is at the center of the Christian story, but just try explaining it to a stranger."2 It is the work of faith to take our fragile pieces and hold them together in a miracle of purpose and ...

592. The Cloak

1 Thessalonians 2:1-8

Sermon

Rick Brand

... God because the poet is afraid that in serving God, all the beauties and blessings of earth will be taken from him. In order to serve God, the poet fears that he will have to abstain from all the good things of the earth. But God continues to pursue. God, the Hound Dog of Heaven, keeps stirring up the hunger of the heart. That hunger that is not satisfied with anything the earth offers. "Naught shelters thee," God tells the poet, "Nothing will shelter thee, who will not shelter Me." So that in the end the ...

593. A Radical Faith

Matthew 6:25-34

Sermon

Mark Trotter

... such as the path the Franciscans took, who would go out into the world, to the poor and the outcast, to those who were suffering most in this life, and love those persons in the way that Christ would love. The other path, to love God, was pursued by cloistered nuns and monks who leave the world and love God by prayer and devotion twenty-four hours a day. Both paths were considered legitimate ways to become like God. To follow them resulted in accumulating "merit." Positive actions of love, that's what merit ...

594. The Day Life Increased

Matthew 28:1-10

Sermon

Mark Trotter

... do to one another, and to the creation, and says, "You meant this for evil; but I am going to redeem it, and I will give it back to you as something good." No matter how much we mess up our lives, God is determined to redeem our lives. He pursues us until he does it. No matter how worthless we may feel that we are, or how insistent we are in acting out this self-assessment of who we are, God is determined that someday we are going to discover that we are daughters and sons of God, and begin ...

595. This Is a Test

Genesis 22:1-14

Sermon

Mark Trotter

... without that person. We ask, "Why did this thing have to happen to me? Why did God do this?" And there is no easy answer. Just as there is no easy answers to why God had Abraham sacrifice Isaac. We don't know. And it is best that we not pursue that, not speculate upon it. Because the text that we read this morning is not designed to answer that question. It is designed to make one affirmation only: we are to trust the Giver of the gift of life, and not the gift itself. So if the gift is taken ...

596. Proper 5

Matthew 9:18-26, Matthew 9:9-13, Hosea 6:1--7:16, Hosea 5:1-15, Romans 4:1-25, Genesis 12:1-8

Sermon Aid

John R. Brokhoff

... love and loyalty. God has appealed to them through the prophets. He sent judgment to get them to repent. He wants from his people love and a relationship of peace, but they are content to render cheap sacrifices and burnt offerings. Here we find a wooing and pursuing God and a people whose love for God is fickle. Epistle: Romans 4:13-25 1. Promise (v. 13). The Bible is full of God's promises to his people. What is a promise? Is it not based on words? Sometimes the promises are connected with a sign ...

597. Proper 22

Exodus 20:1-21, Isaiah 5:1-7, Philippians 3:1-11, Philippians 3:12-4:1, Matthew 21:33-46

Sermon Aid

John R. Brokhoff

... . Epistle: Philippians 3:12-21 1. Press on (vv. 12, 14). Paul uses this phrase twice in this passage. It must have been important to him in getting across his plan. He is not idly waiting for perfection to come to him. He is not neutral. He is urgent, pursuing, energetic in getting to his goal. To become like Christ is a process over a lifetime - ever striving to be like Christ in every area of life. At the same time, Paul would say that God was in him pressing on, working in him. A Christian dare not be ...

598. Jesus Transforms the Darkness into Light

John 20:1-18

Sermon

Richard Gribble

... barriers that keep us from one another and from God. Then we encountered Lazarus and realized that as Jesus set him free from the chains of death, we are often bound by other forms of chain that hold us hostage and do not allow us the freedom to pursue the life God asks of us. Jesus is the one who can unbind us from these restraints and set us free. In today's gospel, we hear how Jesus conquers death and encourages us to be transformed. What needs transformation? The answer can be found through a question ...

599. What Is Success?

Matthew 7:24-29

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

... as if it were the first item on a scavenger hunt. We had no idea what it was, where to look for it, how much it cost, whether it was in season or what it looked like, but from that day on we got up early in the morning and pursued it until late at night. Sometimes we heard that another classmate had found it, but when we confronted him, he assured us that if he had, he would be happier. "By our tenth reunion, no one had found it yet. The men struggled in their jobs and fertilized their lawns ...

600. As Long As It Is Day!

Matthew 18:21-35

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

... of sins. Dostoevsky's novel Crime and Punishment is about this. The novel is little more than the tale of a young, fascist, poor student who murders a rich, old lady so he can get her money and continue his studies. But the student, hounded by guilt, pursued by his sins, finally confesses his crimes and is punished. Eloquently, so eloquently, Dostoevsky shows us what the real world is really like, a world where sin comes due like all debts and must be paid in full as the creditor comes calling us to account ...

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