Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 701 to 725 of 1354 results

701. I Believe In Jesus Christ

Colossians 1:15-23

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... the sanctity of worship and the poor people from exploitation. If you want to see God’s compassion, watch Jesus weep with grieving friends over the death of his friend Lazarus. Or watch him touch the lepers whom everybody else ran from. Or watch him defend a terrified, guilty adulterous woman. Or see him notice poor blind Bartimaeus whom everybody else considered just a part of the landscape. If you want to see God’s forgiveness, see Jesus as he hangs in agony on a cross, looking down on those who ...

702. I Believe In The Holy Spirit

John 16:5-16

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... The Greek word for the Holy Spirit—“parakletos”—means all those things. The Holy Spirit is God in the present tense. Through the Holy Spirit, God is able to be in millions of places simultaneously, comforting, helping, counseling, strengthening, and defending. That Greek word “parakletos” actually comes from a military context. In ancient times, Greek soldiers went into battle in pairs, so that each soldier would have a partner helping him and protecting his back side. His battle partner was his ...

703. Strong in Faith: A Little Dab'll Do Ya

1 Corinthians 16:13

Sermon

John E. Harnish

... will believe in anything from astrology to Satanism and Scientology… believing just about anything." [1] Now, don't get me wrong. As an American, I believe in freedom of religion and I celebrate the diversity of religions it has spawned. As an American, I will defend the right of people to believe anything they choose. But as Christians, in this vast marketplace of religious ideas, we anchor our faith in the risen and living Christ. We dare to place God's revelation in the "word made flesh" at the very ...

704. Deep Calling to Deep

Ephesians 1:3-14

Sermon

Donald Charles Lacy

... regular in worship attendance can embarrass themselves. Naming the gospels and the golden rule may be about as far as it gets. I am not trying to be unkind. Certainly my purpose is not to be judgmental. My great concern is how can such persons defend our precious faith. It becomes "oh you know" kind of thing. We all have wide and deep gaps in our knowledge of spiritual matters. We can rightfully excuse ourselves upon occasion. However, to drift along in some dreadful bliss can be a disaster. For example ...

705. The Paradoxical Power of Weakness

2 Corinthians 12:1-10

Sermon

Maurice A. Fetty

... crowds were looking for strength, but when he seemed to be weak they turned against him. The disciples were looking for violent revolution, but when he allowed himself to be arrested, they forsook him. Pilate expected him to be shrewd enough to defend himself with clever half-truths, but washed his hands of him when he persisted in the powerlessness of silence. And yet, despite all that weakness and powerlessness and silence, Christ has spoken powerfully to millions upon millions for centuries and centuries ...

706. Engage Mind before Putting Mouth in Gear

James 3:1-12

Sermon

Richard Gribble

... is natural for us to "circle the wagons" and create a defensive shield around ourselves when be believe we are being attacked. Even when we know in our hearts that what the other person is saying may be true, we do not want to admit it. We defend ourselves, often with significant barbs for the person who we perceive is attacking our person. We simply cannot allow what others say to go without our response. Words are easy to use — as the expression says, "talk is cheap." Yet, in the end, words can be very ...

707. Forgiveness Is Not Innate

Matthew 18:21-35

Illustration

Will Willimon

William Willimon writes: "The human animal is not supposed to be good at forgiveness. Forgiveness is not some innate, natural human emotion. Vengeance, retribution, violence, these are natural human qualities. It is natural for the human animal to defend itself, to snarl and crouch into a defensive position when attacked, to howl when wronged, to bite back when bitten. Forgiveness is not natural. It is not a universal human virtue."

708. Really Only One Choice

John 6:56-69

Bulletin Aid

Frank Ramirez

... life. We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God. Collect God we are gracious for these words of eternal life. We praise you, adore you, and serve you. Amen. Prayer Of Confession Lord Jesus, your gospel offends the world, but defends the outcasts, marginalized, forgotten, and forsaken. We have come to believe you are the Holy One of God. We will risk the anger of the world. In our worship today we praise you. We choose you, who chose us before the creation of the world. Amen. Hymns ...

709. A Clock or a Compass?

Mark 1:9-15

Sermon

David T. Ball

... longer put up with life as we know it, that a change of direction is coming, and we’d better get with the program. God no longer consented to the “peace of Rome” under which the people of Galilee were living, that had been defended despite its shortcomings as a net benefit to the well-being and security of the people. In fact, “Jesus’ prophetic message of denunciation and announcement hearkens back to a similar apocalyptic vision proclaimed by Isaiah: ‘On that day Yahweh will punish the host of ...

710. Where Are You From?

John 18:1-19:42

Sermon

David T. Ball

... come out of Nazareth?" (John 1:46). Who Jesus was, in that culture, was a function of his lineage and place of origin. Apparently, Nazareth wasn't anything to brag about. Jesus refused to answer the question. Pilate had questioned his stature, which he made no effort to defend. That didn't make Pilate happy. Maybe Pilate had intended to inquire about how a humble man from a rural town had come to think of himself as a king. Maybe he was hoping beyond hope that he could make up some kind of claim about Jesus ...

711. I Am the King’s Servant, But God’s First

Matthew 22:15-22

Illustration

Michael Manning

... scene that he is not made of the stuff of martyrs. He doesn't know for sure if he is doing the right thing. In the end, Moore is convicted of treason for his refusal to acknowledge that the king was the supreme head of the Church of England, Moore defended his actions by saying, "I am the king's servant, but God's first." He weighed all decisions relative to his commitment and love for God. Even if it results in his personal loss of freedom.

712. A Level Playing Field for God

Isaiah 40:1-11

Sermon

Schuyler Rhodes

... his glory whenever we build the community of love that allows his grace to flow and thrive. Christ comes among us and is shown in his childlike wonder whenever we remember to put children first — not last. Christ emerges in power and truth whenever we stand up to defend the friendless and the oppressed. And we need to know down deep that Jesus walks right along side us whenever we walk down the path of equity and justice; when we stand firm and tall for the things that are good and right. So I ask you the ...

713. Great Expectations

2 Kings 5:1-14

Sermon

Schuyler Rhodes

... sail together on a sea of our common experience, learning and growing as one people who expect that life will challenge what we believe we know. Imagine, if you can, how such an openness could impact our world. Rather than spending time defending our impressions and expectations, we could spend that energy exploring new ideas brought by the life experiences of those around us. Rather than insisting that the rivers of Damascus are better than the Jordan, rather than insisting that our nation is better than ...

714. What Part of “You Shall Not” Don’t You Understand?

Exodus 20:1-17

Sermon

Ron Lavin

... . "I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it" (Matthew 16:18). In other words, when we Christians take up the weapons of the Spirit, we fight for the cause that will prevail in the end. We will not just be defending the gates of home and church. In partnership with the unconquerable Lord, we will knock down the gates of the barbarians and demons that threaten us. In the battle with evil, God always wins. 1. Ron Lavin, The Big Ten (Lima, Ohio: CSS Publishing Co., 2005). 2 ...

715. The Outstretched Arms

John 19:28-37, John 19:17-27

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... his tender and vulnerable heart to us. Not only is the cross God's answer to evil; it reveals the very heart of God. It is God's own way of turning the other cheek. Many are those who represent God as a great Monarch whose chief aim is to defend his own honor and to pursue his own glory, but that is not the God revealed in Jesus Christ. In Christ we encounter the true character of God - his love, his humility, his meekness. Through we mock him and rail against him, though we crucify him in our hearts as ...

716. Global Warming

Genesis 2:18-24

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... win/we lose" is the epitaph on many marital tombstones and has driven immovable wedges between parents and children. It now threatens to be the final words spoken at the interment of our whole ecosphere. The NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) mentality defends irresponsible islands of privacy by refusing to see the connectedness of our basic humanity. My backyard is also your backyard. Chernobyl's fallout threatens the way of life of the reindeer-herding Laplanders. Soot from the burning Kuwaiti oil wells falls on ...

717. The Crime of Christmas

Luke 2:8-20, Luke 2:1-7

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... that, Christ being inextricably involved in Christmas, it debases him. The Incarnation put the mystery of God's presence into our hands. We are left, then, with the work of culture. We are charged with making a life in which God can be with us. To defend Christmas, we must not only worship; we must rummage among our customs to find any that can help us. But what will they be?" Basney suggests we start with some contact with nature - "with snow, with the mud-brown, with animals. Nature is the one permanent ...

718. Healing Aerobics

2 Kings 5:1-15ab

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... king to the temple of Rimmon. Naaman begs forgiveness for this action before it even occurs. Confession, it seems, has always been good for the soul, but hazardous to the continuation of "business as usual." How often do we fail to confess our faith, publicly defend our God or define a moral stance because we fear the resulting fallout? Standing up for our faith and rising from our sickbed to proclaim our newfound health is the final stage of healing. Until we show others that we are now whole, the good ...

719. The Gravity of Grace

Ephesians 1:3-14

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... shelters and crimping funds for the poor and homeless. In the bipartisan, in-your-face flaunting of truth-telling and integrity-living practiced by so many of our political leaders. In the fact that last year, the example Hollywood chose to cite as a defender of our most cherished constitutional rights was Larry Flynt, the publisher of some of the most violent, abusive, degrading pornography in the country's history. It is not our mission as the church to sit on the sidelines bemoaning the thinning of the ...

720. Was Jesus the First Buster?

Matthew 21:23-32

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... ; when he began his public ministry, which was late in life, he wasn't into church growth and bigness he formed a small band of friends, and invested in them; the group of friends he surrounded himself with, however, were very diverse; he defended those who were down and out from the "uppity" and "in." His biggest problem was with the authorities and religious institutions of his day; Jesus was skeptical of their intentions and had little patience for their majoring in dogmas and minoring in forgiveness ...

721. The Devil's Sermon

Philippians 3:17-4:1

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... 't Make Change." We sure don't. We resist change or making changes, and the more set our routines of life become, the more we don't make change. I am finding in my own life, as I get older, that it is easier to get in the habit of defending positions rather than making discoveries. Sigmund Freud wrote once: "I have examined myself thoroughly and have come to the conclusion that I do not need to change much." How many of us can look in the mirror and be so smug? Few of us, deep down, can stare in the ...

722. Call the Tribe of Issachar Together

Luke 12:49-56

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... of the tribes of Israel paraded before David and presented him with a special gift. It was the unique gift of the tribe of Issachar that they knew "what ... to do" (v.32). - Miners refuse to work after death - Juvenile court to try shooting defendant - War dims hope for peace What is keeping us from becoming a tribe of Issachar? What signs of the times are we ignoring or misreading in a futile attempt to safeguard our institutional assumptions? Sign 1: Cultural Confusion In his book There Are No Children ...

723. 1 Samuel 16:1-13

1 Samuel 16:1-13

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... make himself an example, good or bad, for the sake of the gospel. While today we encourage people to "write what they know," Paul apparently came under fire for his personalized preachings before some Christian communities. In 2 Corinthians we find Paul defending himself against a number of unspecified accusations, one of which appears to be the criticism that he talks too much of himself and not enough about Christ. The fourth chapter of 2 Corinthians thus begins with Paul disclaiming any gift of special ...

724. Ephesians 4:25-5:2

Ephesians 4:25-5:2

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... 's immediate reaction is incredulity that Absalom was left there alive. He tempts the informant by offering both monetary rewards (ten pieces of silver) and military honor (the belt) if he would kill the helpless Absalom. The informant responds with calculated shrewdness. Defending his own inaction based on loyalty to David, the informant suggests to Joab that, had he been there himself, Joab simply would have stood by and then let his underlings do the dirty work of dispatching Absalom for him. Joab is so ...

725. 1 Corinthians 15:1-11

1 Corinthians 15:1-11

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... no doubt that the fish are there. Simon's answer is barely respectful. His retort clearly indicates that he is convinced that his old way of fishing, his established way of living and making a living, is the only true assessment of the situation. Having defended his reputation before Jesus in verse 5, you can almost hear Simon muttering disgustedly under his breath as he "humors" Jesus by casting out his nets anyway. The fact that despite their doubts Simon and the others do act creates the turning point in ...

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