Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 576 to 600 of 3926 results

576. Embalmed Alive

John 14:5-14

Sermon

Louis H. Valbracht

... average person; Get an average job, and work the average number of hours, at the average amount of effort, at least as hard as the average person; Be decent to your neighbors; Pay your taxes; Be a good citizen; Be a good parent, according to PTA standards; Support the church, attend once in a while when it’s convenient; See that your children go to Sunday school; Keep the dandelions out of your lawn, so the seeds won’t blow on the lawn next door; Carry enough insurance to pay the undertaker; Brush your ...

577. Salvation as Hope

Romans 13:8-14, 1 Thessalonians 4:13--5:11, 1 Corinthians 15:35-58

Sermon Aid

T. A. Kantonen

... to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven" (Colossians 1:20). The ultimate goal is "that God may be everything to everyone" (1 Corinthians 15:28). These statements, however, cannot be detached from the rest of Paul’s teaching and made to support universalism. The contexts show that Paul is speaking of the universal nature and offer of the salvation accomplished in Christ, which many reject and are lost. In Romans 11, where he speaks of "mercy for all" he is thinking of races, not individuals ...

578. Strained Gnats

Matthew 23:1-39

Sermon

Herchel H. Sheets

... and took her bodily out of the orchestra pit. She was under age and should be in school, they said. They were going to see that children did not work - and that was that! But they seemed not to care that at the moment she was the only support of two members of her family. Miss Wilson says, "They were very sentimental about a child’s playing the piano two hours a day, but they weren’t even sympathetic about shelter and food and medicine for three people."1 Those people had counterparts in Jesus’ days ...

579. Reverence For Life

Exodus 20:1-21, Matthew 5:21-26

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... the child or that the child would interfere with the parents' life style. To abort an unborn child for those reasons is just plain wrong. But the faith community must do more than just label things right or wrong. We must offer more support systems, homes for unwed mothers, financial and counseling services, and assistance with adoption. We must help young women see that there is a better option than abortion for unacceptable pregnancies. Let me offer a word to those women or couples who have had abortions ...

580. Turn On The Lights!

Matthew 5:13-16

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... ways. FIRST, WE ARE TO TURN ON THE LIGHT BY PLEDGING AMBITIOUSLY OUR TIME, TALENT AND MONEY. At the close of my sermon today, the offering plates will be passed again. You will be invited to hand in a commitment card, estimating your level of financial support for God's work in 1996. Some years ago a Methodist layman in Columbia, South Carolina was running late on a Sunday morning". He didn't have time to drive the five miles to his church. So, he decided to visit the little non-denominational church ...

581. Balaam and His Talking Donkey

Numbers 22:21-41

Sermon

Don Yocom

... stopped by a talking donkey. When at last he looked out from a mountain top on the army of Israel, he said, "I behold no iniquity in Israel!" He just could not curse the children of God. Nor can anyone today condemn successfully those who live in and support the Kingdom of God. There is a battle going on. Look at the contrasts: - God versus Satan - Good versus Evil - Works of the Flesh versus Fruits of the Spirit - The Ungodly versus the Righteous Add to the list; then decide which way YOU will go. Don’t ...

582. SURVIVAL IN THE RAT RACE

Psalm 46:1-11

Sermon

Louis H. Valbracht

... one of their posters over near Drake University the other day, and I’m pleased that students haven’t lost their sense of humor. Notice the twists in the poster. All of our big, desperate problems - they’re laughing at them. "Support your local Police?" No! "Support your local poet." "Expedience is the best teacher." "Hire the morally handicapped." "Cancer cures smoking." "Save water, shower with a friend." "Chicken Little was RIGHT!" They’re LAUGHING at you - and so is God! That’s what we don’t ...

583. Hungry for Anything?

Matthew 6:25-34

Sermon

Louis H. Valbracht

... behaviour prove that our desires in life spring from our hunger to be significant, to feel important. You want to be rich or famous or loved or secure only because these things will satisfy your central desire to BE SOMEBODY. There is much evidence to support this thesis of Adler’s. When, for instance, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was only in his teens, he expressed the central desire in man. "The fact is," he said, "that I most eagerly aspire after future eminence. My whole soul burns most ardently for it ...

584. Well, What's for Sure?

2 Timothy 1:1-2:13

Sermon

Louis H. Valbracht

... of uncertainty, like Luther. He said one place: "Some days I believe, and some days I doubt," but underneath is the sureness. Like Paul’s statement and attitude: "I KNOW whom I have trusted." The basis of that assurance is the same basis that supports most of the important certainties of life - not theory, not science, not intellect, but experience. Think of some of them: THE EXPERIENCE OF WONDER. A few months ago we stood among the magnificent snow-covered peaks of the High Alps of Switzerland. Again, I ...

585. Thy Kingdom Come

Luke 17:20-37

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... , agencies like Mid-South Christian Services or Birth-Right or Bethany Christian Services. You see, if we provide enough support, emotional and financial and spiritual, a young woman might regard abortion as her last alternative rather than her first ... around. This would be a young person who shows promise for rehabilitation. You could train him or her and offer the kind of supportive encouragement that would maximize his or her chances for success. If you do, the Kingdom will come a bit closer. What if you ...

586. Pillars of the Church

Exodus 17:8-16, Colossians 3:1-17

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... us Christians need to be hugged along life's pathway. With fellow Christians up front who know the way and can lead, and with others behind, gently encouraging, we too can pass safely. A wonderful place to be "hugged" is within a Christian support group. Most of us need a small support group of Christians who will meet with us regularly. Jesus said, "Where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them." Here is the dynamic secret of the small group. Jesus is there in a special way. Because he ...

587. The State Of The Church

Matthew 28:16-20

Sermon

Robert Allen

... God. This is what prayer is all about. We pray for our needs ... our family ... our concerns. And then, we expand our prayers and begin praying for others. When you join the United Methodist Church, you promise to support the church with "your prayers, presence, gifts, and services." The promise to support the church with your prayers means you pray for the people. Shortly after I moved to my present pastorate, I was calling on a couple who lived across the street in an apartment complex. When I left the ...

588. Five Minutes After Death

Revelation 21:1-27

Sermon

Robert Allen

... can assure you that these girls are not gone forever. I know that you will see your daughters once again. You will be reunited with them one day." I have no documentary evidence to support such a hope. There is no way to prove what happens to us at death. I realize now, as surely as he did then, that philosophical and theological hope must support such an assertion of faith. But, I want you to know that in the sanctuary of my soul, I believe that the hope and promise of our faith is that five minutes after ...

589. We Know Jonah

Jonah 3:1-10

Sermon

Frederick C. Edwards

... it, especially in circles where expressions of prejudice are not socially acceptable, but it is there. Don’t take me wrong, though. We’re good people. We know we are. We work hard. We are reasonably honest. We love and are devoted to our families. We support good causes. We stand up for public morality and honesty and treat our neighbors with respect. We want a peaceful world where everyone is fed and housed. We go to church and worship and pray. But in all fairness we should say that all those things ...

590. A Prophet Like Me

Deuteronomy 18:14-22

Sermon

Frederick C. Edwards

... popularity sake, or even for self-preservation. Churches tend to silence prophetic preachers. They do it very effectively by withdrawing support, or by trumping up some other excuse to get a pastor moved. Our division of human affairs into the artificial ... pious preachments of politicians whose own participation in religion may be tangential at best, but who invoke religious phrases to support partisan political ideas and presume to set the agenda for what the religious institutions ought or ought not to be ...

591. Whatever Happened To Sanctification?

Exodus 20:1-21

Sermon

Durwood L. Buchheim

... the question of "being born again." Only once in my entire career as an ordained minister of the church, have I ever been questioned as to my lifestyle. I have a letter in my file (grown more precious over the years) that took me to task for supporting and promoting a church remodeling program when there were so many hungry people in the world. The closing shot in that letter was the opinion that pastors who had more than two suits in their closets - were hustlers! To the best of my recollection (one tends ...

592. Stewards and Our Gifts

1 Corinthians 12:12-31, 1 Corinthians 12:1-11

Sermon

Jerry L. Schmalemberger

... has given to each one of us. To use our gifts out in the world where our ministry happens is crucial. We have gifts from God which are to be shared and not hoarded. Together we are Christ’s alive body here and must use our talents to upbuild and support that body. Paul wrote all this to the Christians at Rome: "So we are to use our different gifts in accordance with the grace that God has given us" (12:6). It was simple for Jenny Lind, when she rehearsed before one of her concerts: she sang out a long ...

593. Resurrection: From Slave to Child

Galatians 3:26--4:7

Sermon

Leonard H. Budd

... , in link with Christ, with a claim to a Heavenly Father who claimed him. In that union Paul wrote back to the Christians he knew in the region of Galatia - a number of communities, each holding a handful of faithful ones who knew that tie, that loving, supportive tie with God and God’s son Jesus. Paul wrote back about the relationship begun on the road toward Damascus: God sent forth his Son ... so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into ...

594. What Do You See?

John 1:43-51

Sermon

Thomas Long

... clinic had been established for the families of migrant workers because the public health resources were inadequate and burdened with red tape. In the debate one of the officers spoke forcefully against supporting the clinic because, as he put it, "Most of the patients are illegal aliens, so we’d just be supporting illegal activity." "But they’re people," said another in the group, "and they need medical care." Back and forth went the discussion, with much passion but without resolution. Taking a vote ...

595. Inevitabilities and the Last Days

Mark 13:1-31

Sermon

James W. Robinson

... the differences between the Eastern religions and Christianity. Both the Confucian and Buddhist faiths offer no practical way of meeting earthly problems, he mused, and "Shamanism urges the turning to gods as a means of getting out of trouble; it does not offer inspiration and support to those who are already in trouble. "In Christianity, however, we have a God who sent His Son to become like us so that He could share our sorrows and burdens, be one with us in our suffering, and show us the way to overcome ...

596. A Cup Running Over

John 11:17-37

Sermon

James W. Robinson

... with a rousing rendition of the chorus: O yes, He cares; I know He cares His heart is touched with my grief ... When the days are weary, the long nights dreary, I know my Savior cares. Jesus wept. He cares. The milkman, working like a slave to support his family during the Great Depression, knew it. III. We find an abundance of faith in this story. A. Faith is reflected in the words of the two sisters, Mary and Martha. Martha, like Mary, fervently exclaimed, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not ...

597. Thanksgiving Day

Joel 2:18-27, Matthew 6:25-34, 1 Timothy 2:1-15

Bulletin Aid

Paul A. Laughlin

... prayers, they may become evermore effective and godly agents of your wisdom and will and may direct us in the way you would have us go. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen Prayer of Confession God of infinite mercy, we confess that we are not as thankful for or supportive of our political leaders as we should be. We are partisan in the worst sense, praising and praying for only those whose views match ours, or those whom we know to be religious like us. Forgive us, we pray. Remind us that you are God of all and ...

598. The Tragedy of the Unprepared Life

Matthew 25:1-13

Sermon

Brett Blair

... Christian work, has authored books, and has been an advocate for prison reform. His conversion is truly a genuine one and I affirm that. Bill Clinton, for some, was a great president but even those who support him cannot deny that in his great moment he disgraced it. It has been said by many, both detractors and supporters, that he is still in search of a legacy. The tragedy will always be there that when his great opportunity in history came, he was not prepared, and he missed it. Oh the tragedy of missed ...

599. The Parable of the Talents

Matthew 25:14-30

Sermon

Brett Blair

... two men, then I could have accomplished something. We like to play that game too. I would love to teach a Sunday school class, if only I had her ability. If only I had his voice I would sing in the choir. I would support the church if only I had a little more money. We would fully support the mission and ministry of the church if only we had a little more money in the budget. It is a dangerous game because it too easily gets us off the hook. I love the story of the thirty-eight-year-old scrubwoman ...

600. It Might Have Been ...

Luke 22:1-6, Matthew 26:14-16, Matthew 27:1-10, Matthew 26:47-56

Sermon

... against Rome in the dusty garrisons of the middle east. Judas Macabbeaus had overcome greater odds for a time a couple of hundred years earlier. Likewise, the popular support that was evident in the reaction by the crowds to Jesus’ symbolic entry on Palm Sunday, indicated a final chance to raise the standards for freedom. (That the support was more than minimal was evident from the Pharisees’ attempt to suppress it.) Twice, then, Jesus had the opportunity to lead a revolt, and twice he declined - and ...

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