Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 701 to 725 of 1131 results

701. When God Speaks You Better Listen

Jonah 1:1-17

Sermon

James Merritt

... our disobedience. Other times God allows storms into our life because of our obedience. But either way, those storms are always meant to draw us close to Him; to see how helpless we are without Him; and to bring us back to a point where we are totally surrendered to Him. That's why the psalmist said, "Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep Your word." (Ps. 119:67) I was reading the other day when Hurricane Hugo was hitting Charleston, South Carolina, there was a group of Christians in a small ...

702. O Holy Night

Philippians 2:5-11

Sermon

James Merritt

... mouth the Lord Jesus." Christmas reminds us that we are going to accept His lordship. "…that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth." (v.10) To bow the knee is a sign of surrender. It is an act of humility and deference. It is something you do when you're going to worship someone and pay total homage to the person so honored. Paul makes it plain that every knee will bow, whether by choice or by force. Every knee above us in ...

703. Why You Should Trust In God

Proverbs 3:5-6

Sermon

James Merritt

... will be filled, crooked places will be straightened, rough places will be smoothed, doors will be opened, walls will fall down. In other words, God will clear out every obstacle that gets in your way to get you to where He wants you to go. When you surrender your life to Jesus Christ, you put your total trust in Him, God becomes your Father, Christ becomes your Shepherd, the Spirit becomes your teacher, and together you're guided and directed into the path that He wants you to take. Shortly after the end of ...

704. Guilt: How to Keep Your Conscience Clear

Psalm 32:1-11

Sermon

James Merritt

... s an old statement that says, “Nothing is ever settled until it’s settled right, and nothing is ever settled right until it’s settled with God. My friend, God is ready to settle things, and if you will meet God at the foot of the cross, surrender your life to the Lord Jesus Christ, confess your sin and receive God’s forgiveness, the verdict for you for all eternity will be “not guilty.” 1. Ogden Nash, Leadership, Vol. 8, No. 2. 2. John MacArthur, The Vanishing Conscience, p. 19. 3. Ibid, pp. 20 ...

705. Why You Should Spend Time with God

Psalm 37:4-7

Sermon

James Merritt

... that scale, minus the final note, would toss and turn on his bed; his mind unable to relax because the scale had not been finished. Finally, in consternation he would stumble down the stairs and hit that previously un-struck note; only then would his mind surrender to go back to sleep. I am convinced that the missing note in the average Christian’s life is neglecting to simply take time out of every day where you do nothing but spend time with God; reading His word, speaking to Him in prayer; listening ...

706. Why You Should Study the Bible

Psalm 119:105

Sermon

James Merritt

... that form, and when it hardened it looked just like the foundation of my home, which is exactly what the form intended for it to do. God has a form of truth for us. It’s called the Bible—His Word. If we will pour a soft heart and a surrendered life into that form, God will see to it that that form, that that heart and that life takes the shape of His word, His truth, and see to it that we become just like Him. Now let me say one last thing. There is one difference between the Bible ...

707. The Compassionate Christ

Matthew 14:13-21

Sermon

King Duncan

... released he turned again to selling drugs. Again, he served a five-year stretch in jail. And again Orion visited him every week. This time, however, the young man began to come around. It was in the midst of the second jail term that his son made a decision to surrender his life to Jesus Christ. Orion said, “I had to learn the hard way that only God can change a person’s life. Only God has the authority to forgive our sins and set us on a new path. That’s why I have the slogan on the back of ...

708. An Excellent Epitaph

2 Timothy 4:6-8

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... different team. Is there a struggle in your life that is so tiresome, so demanding, so draining that you wonder how long can you keep going? If it is a worthwhile struggle, a God-glorifying struggle, God is challenging you, “Don’t give up! Don’t surrender! I’ll help you. Just don’t quit on me.” I have a slogan framed and resting on my desk. It was written by the late great Secretary-General of the United Nations, Dag Hammerskjold. It reads, “Life only demands the strength you possess. Only one ...

709. Is There Hope For World Peace?

Matthew 24:1-35

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... troubled world. Someone will suggest that we retreat from the rest of the world and just build a “Fortress America” along our borders. Someone else will suggest that we withdraw from the United Nations. Someone else will declare that if all nations would surrender their nuclear weapons, the world would be safer. But what does the Bible say? Let’s see if God’s word can give us answers concerning world peace. The 24th chapter of Matthew’s gospel is filled with Jesus’ predictions about the future ...

710. I Believe That Jesus Suffered Under Pontius Pilate

John 1:29-34

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... hung on that cross as the ultimate sign of God’s love. And to this very day the cross is still pointing upward, reminding people everywhere of the God who loves them. Do you see the point of the parable? All three trees had to surrender their own selfish ambitions in order that they might find their greater destiny within the purposes of Christ. This message plants two questions squarely on our hearts: first, have you placed your ultimate trust in the Christ who gave himself on the cross for you? And ...

711. A Defiant Response to a Dangerous Theology: Does God Desire to Wipe Us Out?

Gn 6:1-8. 9:6-17

Sermon

... Why me?"…. gradually expand to "Why us?"….and sometimes even to "Why them?" In my youthful years of academic games playing, I toyed with them. In my middle years of anguished pastoring, I chafed under them. And in my later years of trustful surrendering, I have made increasing peace with them. As concerns such questions, neither Job nor Billy Graham got an answer. So why should I? And I could have left it there, had not others jumped into the fray, trumping my mystery with their certainty….especially ...

712. The Lord's Song in a Foreign Land

Psalm 137:1-9

Sermon

John E. Harnish

... . That's the song which needs to be sung, the song which the world needs to hear. Out of the incomprehensible conflict and deadly cost of the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln desired to bring the nation together. On April 9, 1865, General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant at the Appomattox Court House, and two nights later, a crowd of people gathered at the White House to serenade President Lincoln. They asked the President if there was anything he would like them to sing. Lincoln said, "Yes. There is ...

713. Toward the Cross

Luke 19:28-44

Sermon

John E. Harnish

... is he who comes in the name of the Lord." "Peace in heaven and glory in the highest." 1. HE COMES…RIDING ON A DONKEY. Let me say quickly that the colt, the donkey, was not necessarily the sign of contrite humility, and certainly was not the sign of surrender or submission. The conquering soldier returning from battle was still coming as the victor, but the way in which he came sent a message about the kind of victor he would be. This symbol of the colt is the sign of one who comes to reconcile, one who ...

714. Modeling a Necessary Future

Ephesians 2:11-22

Sermon

Maurice A. Fetty

... religion. But Christ came to put an end to these dividing walls and barriers of hostility and exclusivism. Rather than attempting to assert himself as a davidic messiah to build an exclusivistic, nationalistic kingdom based on heredity and narrow tradition, Jesus surrendered himself to build a universal kingdom where all are included, for he realized more than anyone, we are all in this together. And it is working. The church is universal and includes people from almost every nation, culture, class, race ...

715. One Lord, False Profits

Deuteronomy 18:15-20, Psalm 111:1-10

Bulletin Aid

Frank Ramirez

... , I will die." Now we ask that you reveal your Son, your true prophet Jesus to us in fire and glory. Perhaps we will die. Perhaps we will be reborn, transformed, adorned with a light to shine to all the nations. No matter. Have your own way with us. We surrender. We admit that Jesus Christ is Lord! Amen. Hymns Here In This Place Precious Lord, Take My Hand Holy Spirit, Come With Power

716. Saving Grace

Matthew 20:1-16

Illustration

Donald Dotterer

... him. There is one wealthy parishioner who is particularly harsh on the poor minister. In part this is because of her personal bitterness toward God. However, as this woman draws near death, the priest somehow manages to break through the barriers and helps this woman to surrender her life to God. With his help, she is able to believe in eternal life. The pastor shares these words with the woman at the moment of death. "Be at peace," he tells her. And as the woman kneels to receive the peace of Christ, the ...

717. Our Hope, Our Terror

Matthew 22:1-14

Illustration

Barbara Brown Taylor

... by the hands that turn your life upside down. Our hope, through all our own terrors, is that we are being saved. Sometimes God's blessing does not come until daybreak, after a full night of wandering in the wrong direction. Our job is to struggle with the terrors, neither surrendering nor stealing away until they have yielded their blessings.

718. Body Sculpting and Self Shaping

Mark 1:21-28

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... , different personalities different carriages, because God created each one of us to be an original. The notion that with the right effort and willpower you can have the body you want to have denies that God is our sculptor. God is the shaper. We are not our own. When we surrender to the Master Potter, we are being "shaped" by God. Romans 9:20-21 reads: "What right have you, a human being, to cross examine God. The pot has no right to say to the potter: 'Why did you make me this shape...' "

719. How to Play Fair in Foul Play

Mark 8:27-38

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... Person: What It Takes to Live with Courage, Gratitude, and Integrity (San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1990), ethicist Lewis Smedes talks about forgiveness as being "always a decision to put up with an uneven score." "In the inner act of forgiveness, people first surrender the right to get even." Context, 22 (15 January 1991),1 Christians don't get even, they forgive. If there are seven deadly sins which tempt us throughout our lifetime to engage in "foul" behavior, there are at least seven guidelines we can ...

720. Prophets or Professionals?

Deuteronomy 18:14-22

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... , reports of its death have been greatly exaggerated. Jesus, in his words to the disciples (Matthew 16:18), affirms the church's continued and growing strength and presence in the world. The church will grow, not wither; it will march, not falter; and it will prevail, not surrender. The challenge, then, is to find out what God is doing, how God is doing it and where God is doing it! The prophets among us will attempt to follow God and be part of the action; for good or ill, the professionals among us will ...

721. Quenching St. Anthony's Fire

Mark 8:27-38

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... must go. Genesis 2:25 conveys this powerfully in the image of nakedness: "And the man and his wife were both naked, and were not ashamed." In the words of Dorothee Soelle: To be naked means to be without protection; it is to be unarmed. It requires our surrendering the "weapons" that we usually carry around with us. My credit card, my doctorate, the books I have written the whole fortress in which I live are all "clothes" that I have to get rid of in order to love (To Work and to Love: A Theology of ...

722. A Concert of Prayer

1 Corinthians 1:10-18

Drama

Leonard Sweet

... before you start the service, you will get cold feet. You will be tempted to return to a more familiar format. I encourage you to pass through this anxiety, to enter the chaos and to experience the "out-of-control" sensation of surrendering your control to that of the Spirit. Remember the words of Margaret J. Wheatley, in the best management book published in 1994: "The things we fear most in organizations - fluctuations, disturbances, imbalances - are the primary sources of creativity" (Leadership and the ...

723. Freedom in Bondedness

Galatians 5:1-15

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

There is a paradox at the heart of the Christian faith that we are most free when we are tied to Christ and surrendered to the Spirit. Americans love to celebrate Independence Day, to flaunt their freedom before the whole world. Thomas Jefferson's bold assertion that each individual has an "inalienable right" to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" still sounds sweet to our freedom-loving ears. Despite the imperfections and foibles ...

724. Philippians 3:4b-14

Philippians 3:4b-14

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... his chosen path. "Trust" in this context implies the concepts of "confidence," "reliance" and "hope." This confidence or "trust in the flesh" surely reached beyond the physical particulars Paul notes in rapid succession in verses 5 and 6, encompassing his complete surrender to the total system of Jewish ritual observances as the path to righteousness. Paul's personal reasons for confidence were many. From the lineage he inherited as an Israelite to the first act of obedience to the law his circumcision on ...

725. Weakness into Strength

2 Corinthians 12:1-10

Sermon

James McCormick

... know the truth that Paul spoke in response: “When I am weak, then I am strong.” Prayer: Loving Father, so many of us have experienced the good news that Your grace is sufficient for every need. Now help us to use our strength in Your service, and help us to surrender our weakness to You, so that You can touch it and turn it into strength. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

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