Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 51 to 75 of 972 results

51. The Image of Gold and the Fiery Furnace

Daniel 3:1-30

Teach the Text

Ronald W. Pierce

... town is impossible. Trying to embrace the one true God and false deities at the same time tears apart the hosting heart. God jealously refuses competition for worship. Resist the temptation to value other persons and things so highly that they get in the way of exclusive, wholehearted worship of God. God uses tests to bring him glory and to refine his people. Film: The Lord of the Rings. In J. R. R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, hobbits Sam and Frodo endure suffering on a lengthy quest to defeat the forces ...

52. Paul’s Life as an Example of the Truth of the Gospel

Philippians 3:1-11

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... obvious in the Greek text but somewhat obscured in most translations) is highly significant. Being found in Christ means that Paul can no longer be found in the Jewish law—the two are mutually exclusive conditions. And if they are mutually exclusive for Paul, then they are mutually exclusive for all other Christians, including the Philippians. Now Paul’s righteousness, and the righteousness of all who follow Christ along with Paul, comes from God through faith in Christ. Paul reminds the Philippians ...

53. Faith or Observance of the Law

Galatians 3:1-14, Galatians 3:15-25

Understanding Series

L. Ann Jervis

... be meaningless outside the frame of reference provided by the gospel story, [it] stands for the whole story and distills its meaning” (The Faith of Jesus Christ, p. 197). Crucifixion in the Greco-Roman world was the form of capital punishment used almost exclusively for society’s less privileged. It was rare for a Roman citizen or a wealthy person to be executed by means of this barbaric form of execution, except in the most extreme cases of high treason (see M. Hengel, “Crucifixion,” in The Cross ...

54. Idolatry Forbidden

Deuteronomy 4:15-31

Understanding Series

Christopher J. H. Wright

... nature of Yahweh as a consuming fire (cf. Exod. 24:17), but the point was not merely a matter of physical fear in the presence of spectacular cosmic pyrotechnics. The fire of Yahweh as a jealous God is the fire of an exclusive commitment to this people that demands an exclusive commitment in return. It is, in short, the fire of redeeming love that had brought them out of the fires of bondage (v. 20) and would therefore tolerate no rival. The apparent contradiction between verse 24 and verse 31 is in reality ...

55. "No Contest"

1 Kings 18:16-46

Sermon

Barbara Brokhoff

... have always been the only two alternatives we've been given -- and to fail to choose God is always to choose Baal -- or some other false god. God wants us to learn the lesson of how worthless all other gods are. The God of the Bible insists on exclusive loyalty. In fact, the first of the ten commandments is an emphatic and absolute rule: "Thou shalt have no other gods before me!" Joshua had made the same challenge. After the death of Moses he called for a renewal of the covenant and said, "Now if you are ...

56. Lent 4

Psalm 32:1-11, Joshua 5:1-12, 2 Corinthians 5:11--6:2, Luke 15:1-7

Sermon Aid

William E. Keeney

... the love of the father was enjoyed every day as they lived and worked together. 4. The Church and the Older Brother. Does the church as a body ever act more like the older brother than like the body of Christ? Does the church by its exclusiveness and condemnation of those with whom it disagrees drive people away instead of receiving them into fellowship? Does the church show occasions of rejoicing and celebrating for persons who were lost and are found, that those who were on the way to death find life? 5 ...

57. Living Our Lives On The Edge

Leviticus 19:1-37

Sermon

Paul E. Robinson

... much as a particular club which met in our home. It met usually three times a day, and the meetings were always at meal time. I'm talking about The Clean Plate Club! Now just in case there is someone here who missed out on membership in this exclusive club and therefore is uninformed as to its nature, let me explain. The club is really quite easy to describe and the rules are supremely easy to understand. The Clean Plate Club is composed of those proper boys and girls who eat everything that is dished up on ...

58. Thistles Among The Wheat

Genesis 28:10-22, Psalm 139:1-24, Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43, Romans 8:12-25

Sermon Aid

William E. Keeney

... how? Is the church intended to be inclusive so that it encompasses anyone who wants to belong? Or is the church exclusive, so that certain conditions are established for entrance into and continuing in membership in the church? It is the issue posed by Troeltsch in ... his description of the church as inclusive or the sect as exclusive. Which should be the true form of the church? Another broad issue raised by the interpretation of the parable is the presence of ...

59. Wicked Tenants

Matthew 21:33-46

Sermon Aid

William E. Keeney

... the consequence. It has been so in the past and continues to be so. 4. Constant Reformation. When an institution gets so bad, it either must be reformed or it will be destroyed and replaced. The passing of the gospel from a Jewish exclusiveness to a Christian inclusiveness and universality is one example of the need for reformation or replacement. The sixteenth century Reformation is another example of a need for change and the passing of responsibilities to others when it appeared that the medieval church ...

60. The King's Wedding Feast

Matthew 22:1-14

Sermon Aid

William E. Keeney

... consigning the unrighteous to outer darkness with weeping and gnashing of teeth? Jesus seems to have presented both a loving, gracious, and forgiving God and an angry, wrathful God. How do you harmonize the two understandings of God's nature? Question 4: Is Christianity exclusive or inclusive? The conclusion of the double parable is "For many are called, but few are chosen" (v. 14). The invitation seems to be wide open and inclusive. Both the good and the bad are brought into the feast (v. 10). The one who ...

61. The Banquet

John 6:25-59

Sermon

Robert Salzgeber

... not readily accessible. God did not associate intimately, so they thought. But this was actually an aberration of the original covenant as we see in today's lesson. So the people had a strong need to lure God, to manipulate him, to appease and pacify him with exclusive sacrifice and ritual. God could never be close if it took this much work and currency to get his attention. And if it was this difficult to approach God, how could God ever be intimate with men and women? For the Gentiles, the issue was just ...

62. The Presence Of The Spirit

Acts 2:1-13

Sermon

Charles Curley

... of the gifts of the spirit poured out on all, what I hear is a rather narrow-minded celebration of spiritual provincialism - "We have the spirit and you don't!" It makes me sad that claims of the presence of the spirit of God should be made the exclusive possession of any one group of Christians, no matter what they call themselves. And it makes me ask, what are the signs of God's spirit in the church today? The spirit which God has promised to pour out "on all flesh." Considering that question reminds me ...

63. One Flock, One Shepherd

John 10:1-21

Sermon

Jerry L. Schmalemberger

... to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd (v. 15, 16).” Notice Jesus says one shepherd and one flock, but not one fold. One of the hardest things in the world to unlearn is exclusiveness. Once a people or a group of people get the idea that they are different from other people, it is very difficult for them to realize that the privileges which they believe belong just to them are, in fact, open to all people. When I was director of a ...

64. The Banquet

John 6:25-59

Sermon

Robert Salzgeber

65. Rejoice! It's Lent

Joel 2:1-11

Sermon

Carl Hoefler

... . In popular practice Lent possesses all the marks of a six-week funeral. The paraments are the deep purple of a dowager's dress. Hallelujahs are silenced within the service of the liturgy. Social celebrations are cancelled - or at least curtailed. Our attention is focused exclusively on the crucified body of a young man dying in agony on a criminal's cross. Our emotions are moved to tears by such words as suffering, sacrifice, passion, and death. All of this emphasis on the cross is intended to drive us to ...

66. No Grey Area

Acts 15:1-21

Sermon

Carl Hoefler

... is that the Holy Spirit works better in the corporate context of a convention or at a council meeting than he does in isolated individuals who claim that God has spoken to them privately and personally and has given them an exclusive revelation. The guidance of the Holy Spirit thrives best in the conflict of publicly-expressed opinions, where people meet together and struggle, honestly and openly, with various biblical interpretations, theology, the mission, and the business of the church. This was the ...

67. Barefoot in the Palace

Luke 13:22-30

Sermon

Wallace H. Kirby

... part, too. A congressional leader said that there would have been no civil rights legislation if the church, and individual Christians, had not insisted upon it. These were days when the doors of the palace were thrown open. The dominant majority legislated a sharing of its exclusive privileges and powers. And men will come from east and west, and from north and south, and sit at table in the kingdom of God. Barefoot in the palace is an image of our times. It is a time, like no other time in history. It ...

68. The Fifth Sunday of Easter

John 14:1-4

Sermon

Kendall McCabe

... as we know it in Jesus Christ, with a healthy disregard for what people tell us the facts are. I once served a parish located on an island. If you lived on the island you belonged to the parish and the parish was Methodist. It had been exclusively Methodist for over a hundred years. As has been the regrettable case in so much of our history, the allegiance to Methodism was coupled with strong anti-Catholicism, although few of them had ever known a Roman Catholic on more than a passing basis. The prejudicial ...

69. THE BEAUTY OF SELF-LOVE

Illustration

John H. Krahn

... have a rather high regard of ourselves. It is natural and normal to enjoy the beauty of self-love. Although the Bible does not stroke self-love, it does not deny its validity either. What it speaks out against is selfish love, a love of ourselves that is exclusive of God and of others ... a love that has its priorities wrong. Whereas self-love is beautiful, selfish love is not. In order to have the beauty of self-love, the Bible states that we must get our love priorities in order. The first object of our ...

70. I Knew You’d Come

John 6:16-24

Sermon

Richard Hoefler

... started to walk on the water. Then he noticed the wind. He was afraid and started to sink. "Save me, Lord!" he cried out. And at once Jesus reached out and grabbed him. What a parable this is of the frailty of human faith. So many of us view faith exclusively from its human side. We interpret it as determination. Where you set your jaw and double up your fists and say, "I can do it." Now this is an admirable virtue in many areas of life, but in the realm of faith, it is appallingly inadequate. This view of ...

71. A Daughter of Jacob

Matthew 15:21-28

Sermon

Richard Hoefler

... would be blessed. The prophets never lost this perspective, but the Jewish leaders and the ordinary Jews viewed their election as a separation out from an unclean world to be a holy and pure people. Therefore, they erected about themselves strong barriers of exclusiveness. It was left to Second Isaiah to solve the puzzle of this impossible tension (Isaiah 49:5-6). Second Isaiah revealed that there were two stages in God’s redemptive work - first, the restoration of Israel to its true purpose and destiny ...

72. God’s Generosity Resented

Matthew 20:1-16

Sermon

Jerry L. Schmalemberger

... resting place: "She died serving." Let us remember that the difference here is in the motivation to serve. Let us recall always that God is generous, and that God has encouragement for us. The story tells us that God is kind. We have a warning - to beware of being exclusive like the Jews, and beware of thinking that we who are a long time in the church, are more privileged than others. "Don’t I have the right to do as I wish with my own money? Or are you jealous because I am generous?" And Jesus concluded ...

73. A Reason For All To Be Thankful

Romans 8:28-39

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... world. This is a free and a sinful world. But in the lives of those who love God, he can take even the worst tragedy and bend it to some good purpose. Now, Let's Catch The Reflection Of A Second Truth From This Mighty Verse: God's Promise Is Exclusive It's not for everybody, even though God hopes that all persons will discover it. This promise is only for those persons who love God and are trying to fit into his plan. The verse reads: "In everything God works for good with those who love him, who are called ...

74. Our Inclusive Christ

Colossians 3:1-17

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... take offense. But in the First century, the term "barbarian" referred to all non-Greek speaking peoples. The word meant nothing offensive; it was just a synonym for foreigner. Paul was declaring that Christ transcends all national dividers; our Lord opposes any narrow, exclusive nationalism. I am so very proud to be an American. But I have an even deeper linkage to the Russian Christian in Pskov who is my brother or sister in Christ. Memphis is privileged to host many persons from foreign countries. Some ...

75. Christ Plus

Acts 15:1-21

Illustration

Larry Powell

... : 1. salvation hinges upon but one requirement - faith in Jesus Christ; 2. Christianity would widen it’s orbit to become a world religion. The message of Christ was conceived to be too wonderful to be confined to a clique, territory, or any exclusive setting; 3. Christianity, unlike a religion based upon legalism, is a matter of the spirit. The issue had clearly been what Charles M. Laymon calls the matter of "Christ-plus." "Christ-plus" refers to whether or not salvation requires anything in addition ...

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