Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 676 to 700 of 2404 results

676. Proper 20

Luke 16:1-15, Psalm 113:1-9, Psalm 130:1-8, Amos 8:1-14, Hosea 11:1-11, 1 Timothy 2:1-15

Sermon Aid

George Bass

... addition to other monetary participation in past fund-raising efforts of the college. It is a remarkable story. The couple who gave this money really were making a kind of thank-offering to the college which gave them an education and, therefore, an opportunity to achieve success in life. The man came from a small town in Pennsylvania, was an excellent athlete who starred in football, basketball, and baseball, and was always on the dean's list, as well. He served in the Navy during World War II, and climbed ...

677. Proper 26

Psalm 65:1-13, Psalm 145:1-21, Psalm 32:1-11, 2 Thessalonians 1:1-12, Haggai 2:1-9, Exodus 34:1-28, Isaiah 1:1-31, Luke 19:1-10

Sermon Aid

George Bass

... to come down, and told him that he would spend the day with him. That wasn't only surprising; it was also preposterous - anyone who claimed to be the promised Messiah should have known who he was and passed him by. But Jesus knew who Zaccheus was, how he had achieved his wealth, and that he wasn't fit company for a righteous person. That's what the gospel is all about. Jesus came to seek and to save sinners, and in that brief visit, Zaccheus knew that God has visited him and that he had to change his ways ...

678. The Season Of The Evangel

Matthew 2:1-12

Bulletin Aid

Wayne B. Keller

... the Scripture differently even with this slight addition. Following the reading of the Psalm, ask the people to respond with words of forgiveness and thanksgiving. Proclamation of the Word Consider this: Focus upon the gospel as gift, rather than as something we attain or achieve. As gift, God offers the gospel to the whole world, not simply and only our world. And God offers that gift to the world and through those of us who claim to have received it. Stewarship Consider this: Center on the stewardship of ...

679. Friendship with God

John 15:18--16:4

Sermon Aid

Wayne B. Keller

... many acquaintances; few friends. The poet says that three friends in a lifetime makes us rich. Identify some of the qualities of friendship: 1. Willingness to listen. 2. Trust. 3. Patience. 4. Confrontation, assertively, not aggressively. 5. Commitment. In my book, "Achieving and Receiving Intimacy," I define love this way: "Love is not a feeling; love is a commitment which contains all of the feelings that people feel. Sometimes we're sad with each other; sometimes, angry at each other; sometimes, scared ...

680. When is Patriotism An Idol?

Matthew 22:15-22

Sermon

George Johnson

... all over. When Jesus was tempted to turn stones into bread, when he was tempted to fall down from the temple, to prove the power of God, when he was tempted to bow down for a moment so that his ultimate goal could be achieved, it was no easy decision. There were forces - circumstances and rational arguments for going along with the suggestions. Jesus' temptations were very real. They were tempting. Patriotism is a good thing. Every nation needs people who are committed to its security, its survival and its ...

681. Beyond Denominationalism

John 13:31-38

Sermon

Thomas Slavens

... Century the denominations are coming out of that period. Perhaps we are coming to understand that Christ’s statement on love and discipleship is related to our attitudes toward Christians in other denominations. How is one world-wide church to be achieved? Argument has been tried, and that has failed. Keen competition has been tried, and that has failed. Force has been tried, and that has failed. Perhaps Christians should take the Christ seriously and try love. In this day Christians should envision ...

682. A Habit of Happy Heirs

Sermon

Thomas Slavens

... withdrawn,Thank God for twilight bell, and coming dawn.19 God has been good in caring for personal needs. The hour of personal happiness should be used for thanksgiving. Freedom and self-direction are causes for gratitude. The thanksgiving which should accompany achievement is well expressed in these lines by Ronald Ross, written after his discovery of the germ responsible for yellow fever. This day relenting GodHath placed within my handA wondrous thing; and GodBe praised.20 God has been good in caring for ...

683. Finding Oneself in the Wilderness

Matthew 4:1-11

Sermon

Thomas Slavens

... is preferable to that. How often this temptation comes to people today. We are tempted to do almost anything for success. We are tempted to turn our eyes away from injustice, to lie to ourselves, to crush beneath our heels anyone who stands in our way of achieving our kingdom in this world. Here it is that the words of Jesus speak existentially to us today: “You shall worship the Lord your God and Him only shall you serve.” Jesus came out of the wilderness a better person for having gone in, for in the ...

684. The Christmas Song

Luke 1:39-45, Luke 1:46-56

Sermon

James Garrett

... those of low degree; he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent empty away.” At Christmas we celebrate a mighty act of God. God sends the gift of a child into the world. All the conditions of normal human action and achievement are absent. They’re not there. It is totally, entirely, completely, absolutely the work of God. The Child is a gift of God’s grace. Of course, every birth is a gift of God’s grace. Every child represents a new potential. Each newborn is a sign God ...

685. Joy Songs, Trumpet Blasts, And Hallelujah Shouts!

Joshua 5:13--6:27

Sermon

Carlyle Fielding Stewart

... of Jericho would be one of the greatest in biblical history. Oddsmakers were stunned. Matchmakers thunderstruck. No woman, man, or child was spared in the conquest. God was put out with the Canaanites for their idolatrous and rebellious ways. The impossible had been achieved through impossible means. It was a great day for the Israelites, for they had journeyed long and hard to get to this point. They had awaited this moment for forty years, and now God had bestowed the blessing of victory through very ...

686. Illusion Or Reality?

Sermon

Harold Warlick

... protected him from reality. Most rich people's religion is a comforting illusion. That's one reason Jesus said it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God. The more we accumulate and achieve in life the farther that seems to take us from the reality of how the rest of the world lives. Even our religion becomes illusion - a way of escape from the harsh, brutal realities of human existence. Religion can be a useful illusion. It can uplift, inspire ...

687. A Road Map to the Kingdom

Mark 10:13-16

Sermon

Thomas Peterson

... of what is within us and what is before us, and the skill and power to put them to work together. To be able to yoke ourselves with others and with new possibilities is a precious privilege. When we are as children, we remain adaptable, flexible. We achieve a mature skill -- the freedom to move ahead whatever the obstacles before us, move ahead whether we go straight, around, under, or over. We make forward motion. We do not hold on to pride, keep battering our heads against the odds. We move into new ways ...

688. The Rich Young Ruler

Mark 10:17-31

Sermon

Brett Blair

... like him. He does not repulse us; we are envious of him. Finishing first, winning, conquering and succeeding are all popular goals, whether in sports, politics, academics, or business. This is a story about ranking and how we get our ranking--by being aggressive, achieving, by being superior. Yet, this story raises the issue of how God sees true success. Spencer Haywood, a former pro basketball player, once said: They call me a superstar. I’ll tell you who the superstar is. The guy who is raising 4 kids ...

689. Nothing Is Impossible

Exodus 13:17--14:31

Sermon

Walter Kimbrough

... be wholly thine! Faith, then, is an active expression that characterizes one’s relationship with God. Let our lives, therefore, be grounded in faith, having the assurance that God works around the clock in protecting us from all. Our challenge is to develop an excellent relationship with God that is achievable through prayer. A consistent, dialogical relationship with God will give us an edge in life. Nothing is impossible when we walk with the Lord.

690. In The Presence Of God

Exodus 17:1-7

Sermon

Walter Kimbrough

... living conditions. They were, therefore, on the threshold of a major revolt. In our day and time we would say the Israelites were about to stage a riot. I am convinced that riots cause more harm than good. The accumulated good achieved after the 1965 riot in Watts of California could never offset the great destruction that it produced, not to mention the eternal scars. And certainly, the riots of 1968, following the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., accomplished nothing. Racism, prejudice ...

691. Competition In The Kingdom?

Matthew 20:17-19

Sermon

Mark Ellingsen

... is in us, and we are alive. The same promise is made in a veiled way in our first lesson. God promises to raise us up on the third day. The suggestion is a pointer to Easter where God makes us new (Hosea 6:1). We do not need to achieve or to compete with our neighbors at their expense. God has set us free and given us the marks of greatness. He has made you and me his people. Referring back to an earlier comment he had made to James, John, and their mother about his passion (the cup he ...

692. The Best Offense Is A Good Defense

Zephaniah 3:1-20

Sermon

Richard Hasler

... them plodding along until the inventive movement comes. Science fiction writer Ray Bradbury in a recent book on writing has a great deal to say about the value of discipline for the creative person. He observes that behind the remarkable artistic achievements of Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo were thousands and thousands of unknown sketches. He calls our attention to the surgeon who before he operates on a human being in a critical condition has dissected and redissected thousands of tissues and organs ...

693. Where You Go — I Will Go.

Ruth 1:1-22

Sermon

Robert A. Kramer

... re-creates us. The partnership becomes more than the sum of two persons uniting. It is the budding of new risks of self and meaning, the discovery of beauty, truth, and goodness. One couple put it this way: “This is the beginning of the achievement of common goals, the desire to provide a loving home for our family, sharing and growing together as individuals building a marriage that is mutually enriching.” It is my privilege to share in the public celebration of this union of ____ and ____. Each ...

694. Rejoice In The Lord

Isaiah 9:1-7

Sermon

Robert Beringer

... we have been separated, and the joy that one feels lingering in the heart, even when tears run down our cheeks. You see, the joy of which Isaiah speaks is a gift of God. It is like a light shining in the darkness. It is not something we accomplish or achieve, or fashion, or even earn. We find joy as we find a treasure by surprise, or we are found by it as the wind finds the sail of our boat. As Teilhard de Chardin has said, "Joy is the most infallible sign of the presence of God." This remarkable joy ...

695. God's Christmas Greeting

Isaiah 11:1-16

Sermon

Robert Beringer

... we can ever imagine happening on our earth. We have our own methods of dealing with wild beasts. The high-powered rifle is our answer and that is just one more evidence of how we identify a golden age to come with materialism and our own achievement and power. Our visions of a peaceful age are based on greater prosperity, more government services, no unemployment and more of the good life for everyone. But Isaiah's vision of justice and peace is much more than some human effort to reorder the society. It ...

696. At The Name Of Jesus

John 12:12-19

Sermon

Theodore F. Schneider

... just leaps into the air with a bold kick and soars relieved and unencumbered into the so-called eternal fields. He leaps over the present. He disdains the earth.... After all, besides the temporal defeats, he has the eternal victories, and they are so easily achieved.2 To live under the kingship of Christ requires a radical change of thinking. We think of power, Jesus thinks of love. We think of security, but Jesus thinks of risk-taking for the gospel. (He talked of "cross bearing.") We ask what we can get ...

697. The Signs Of Salvation

Luke 19:1-10

Sermon

Theodore F. Schneider

... salvation is an important part of the Christ event. Among the synoptic gospels, Luke is the only one to assign to Jesus the title "Savior." Paul writes of awaiting and working out our salvation. For Luke, salvation is something already achieved. "Today salvation has come to this house." The ancient Hebrew root word most often associated with salvation can be translated "to become spacious, or to enlarge." It is the opposite of being confined, constrained, or oppressed. To "be delivered," therefore, means ...

698. Palms By Day And Plots By Night

Sermon

Erskine White

... ...that I know I shall not be put to shame,[for] He who vindicates me is near. We ought to remember this as we make our way on the highways and byways of life. Jesus' experience of Palm Sunday suggests that life rarely gives pure, unblemished truimphs. Achievement and adversity often come hand in hand. If there are plams by day, there are also plots by night. But even when trouble leaps out of nowhere to stab us in the back, we do best by keeping our face set forward - looking toward God. It doesn ...

699. Death of a Nineteen-year-old

Philippians 4:2-9

Eulogy

Louis M. Pratt

... the unjust are left without the presence of Christ to sustain them in their hour of trial, because they will not accept Christ. When we accept Christ, we can say, with Paul, "I have the strength to face all conditions by the power that Christ gives me." Further, to achieve our "strange victory," we need one another; we need to be a healing community. We need to be present to one another in those hours of crisis which come to all of us one time or another. We need to be present to the dying and to those the ...

700. Death of the Unchurched For a Recovering Alcoholic

Eulogy

Alan Bacon Bond

... would we thank him for the tough love he developed for those among us who needed and sought help from him and people like him. You turned to him for that very quality of strength to help you cope when your going got tough. One of his proud achievements was the formation of an A.A. group for adolescents. It is out of that context I would like to draw an illustration. Each of you in Bill's family is faced with the singularly most difficult adjustment of your life. The question with which you are now faced ...

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