Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 51 to 75 of 517 results

51. Slippery Rock

Matthew 16:21-28

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... friends, the Christian Faith is always within one generation of extinction. If we do not care enough to pass it on to those who come after us, there will be no Christian Faith in the 21st century. I think our Lord has a special place in His heart for impulsive people—people who see a need and jump in to do something about it. Remember that time when there was a storm on the Galilee, and the disciples feared for their lives? It was the middle of the night, and the waves threatened to swamp the boat. Then ...

52. Childish or Child-like?

Mark 10:13-16

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... for the disciples - and for us. The one quality which I wish to single out this morning is enthusiasm, or spontaneity. Adults are careful and calculating. Children tend to jump right in, feet first, unafraid. They act on impulse, and that isn’t all bad. Someone once said: “Distrust first impulses. They are nearly always right.” But another has said, “Don’t look before you leap. If you do, you will decide to sit down.” There is among too many of us, such a careful, cautious attitude toward our ...

53. Living Deliberately

John 10:1-21

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... approach life in two ways. One, we accept and take for granted. Now that’s the way most of us live. We simply muddle along through life just move along accepting and taking for granted. Then there is a second impulse, and that is to look with inquiring wonder. Moses responded to the latter impulse. He made the decision to leave his shepherd task for a moment to turn aside from leading the flock, to leave that shepherd task for just a moment and follow his curiosity and see what was going on. So the ...

54. Epiphany: A Faith to Work Miracles

John 2:1-11

Sermon

J. Ellsworth Kalas

... more often if we were more ready to bear water for our Lord? You and I live in a time and place where miracles are badly needed, and in short supply. We are so trained to be skeptical, not only of God, but even of our own generous impulses, that the miraculous must struggle for any kind of hearing. That's why it's so important that those of us who believe in God, and who believe deeply in love, compassion, and service to others should be sensitive to our potential agents of the miraculous. Many prayers ...

55. For Those Who Can't Pray

Genesis 32:22-31

Sermon

Mark Trotter

... the Spirit himself intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words. That is just amazing. It says that prayer is not something that you do. The impulse to pray is there because God is already at work in you. That means that God is not just the one who hears your prayer, God ... the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Nothing can separate us from God, not even our inability to pray. For the impulse to pray is itself the prompting of God. If we try, and we fail to find the words, "the Spirit intercedes for us ...

56. The Revolution Against Evolution

Genesis 1:1

Sermon

James Merritt

... sitting next to you and just for one second look into their eyes. The eyes that you just looked at need about 130 million light sensitive devices to cause a photochemical reaction that transforms light into electrical impulses that go to the brain. Every second, 1,000 million of those impulses are zipped to the brain through the optical nerve system. That eye can handle 1.5 million simultaneous messages. When exposed to darkness, it can increase its ability to see by 100,000 times and 137 million nerve ...

57. Family Matters

Luke 2:41-52

Sermon

King Duncan

... they don’t allow anyone under the age of twenty-five to rent their cars. (3) That is not a slight at our teens. It is simply a statement of fact. Maturity takes time. Some young people, like some adults, are able to control their impulses and their emotions better than others. But, while that maturing process is going on, there can be almost intolerable tension between young people and their parents. It’s natural. Just because there is tension, however, does not mean that young people do not need their ...

58. The Gift of Comfort

Mark 1:1-8

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... He picked cherries in the orchard next to their home that day and slept under the trees that gave him his livelihood. Early the next morning Floyd returned to the couple who had shown him kindness. While he finished one last project in the orchard, Nancy, on an impulse, wrote him a letter telling of God's love. Then she tucked it with a little cash into a New Testament. She found his backpack in the yard, and stuck the packet inside. She imagined him traveling that day looking for work and at the end of the ...

59. Magnificent Fools

1 Corinthians 3:1-23

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... many of us know is like that of a sail boat without a rudder, like that of a ping-pong ball floating down a mountain stream. It expresses itself in our running rampant on pleasure binges, allowing our wild energies to swing loosely about, responding to the impulse of the moment without thought of others. This isn’t freedom; it’s a form of slavery. And men are slaves, said Bunyan, “Because freedom is difficult and slavery is easy.” That’s worth tucking away in the corner of your mind where you keep ...

60. Stepping Into the Stream

Matthew 14:22-33

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... ? Are you willing to attempt something big enough that failure is certain unless God steps in? What is the one thing that God wants to do through you in the time you have left on earth? Getting out of the boat is an invitation not an impulse. Peter did plenty of impulsive things in his life that he later regretted. He bragged too much, acted too quickly, boasted too often. Here he has enough sense to seek direction. Verse 28 says, “Lord, if it is you, tell me to come to you on the water.” The Lord said ...

61. The Temptation To Pass By On The Other Side

Luke 10:25-37

Illustration

Robert Beringer

... named Kleve were rebuilding the Church of St. Mary that had been bombed during the war. Something triggered in Ray's memory. He found his old logbook in the attic, and suddenly realized that it had been his bomb that had destroyed the church back in 1944. An impulse was born in his heart as he thought about that tiny town, and how the loss of their church must have touched those people. But then came the temptation to pass by on the other side. He says he thought to himself, "Come on, Ray, after all, the ...

62. Hitting the Boss Key

Matthew 4:1-11

Sermon

King Duncan

... is to be tempted tempted to anger, tempted to lust, tempted to sloth, tempted to stubbornness, tempted to vengeance, and the list goes on and on. How do you say no to the tempter? “Impulse control” we call it in children, and it is the most important virtue they can acquire. But how do we learn to control our most basic impulses and desires? It is tough. For one thing, the tempter hits us where we are most vulnerable. That is to say, your temptation may not be mine, and vice versa. A writer named Susan ...

63. Living for God

1 Peter 4:1-11

Understanding Series

Norman Hillyer

... ; 6:12; 2 Tim. 2:4; Rev. 12:17). He who has suffered in his body: cf. Gal. 2:19–20 Is done with sin: cf. Rom. 6:7 4:2 Evil human desires (anthrōpōn epithymiais): lit. “for impulses of human beings.” NIV adds evil by way of interpretation since this is clearly what is meant (v. 3). The human impulses are based on ignorance of God’s standards (1:14) and are antagonistic to the soul’s welfare (2:11); cf. 1 John 2:16. The will of God is a regular theme in this letter (2:15; 3 ...

64. Queen Vashti Deposed

Esther 1:1-22

Understanding Series

Timothy S. Laniak

... become a public spectacle as a spurned lord. (His anger will again flare when he finds Haman on the couch with Esther in 7:8.) The fact that the king resorts to legal counsel is humorous but also explainable. He is drunk and enraged, but his impulses must not overstep the boundaries of the legal system. Persians were known for making decisions while drinking but confirming them while sober. As the biblical sage warns, “It is not for kings, O Lemuel—not for kings to drink wine, not for rulers to crave ...

65. The Last Passover

John 12:1-11

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

... hair to wipe her tears from Jesus’ feet and only afterward anointed them with perfume; in John, Mary pours perfume on his feet only to wipe it off immediately (v. 3)! It is argued that such details are at home in the Lukan story of an impulsive forgiven prostitute but illogical in John’s account of the devotion of Jesus’ close and dear friend, and therefore that the two situations have merged to some degree in the telling. This may be true, but it should not be forgotten that the washing—and drying ...

66. Jesus’ Compassion and Authority to Do the Miraculous

Matthew 14:13-21, Matthew 14:22-36

Teach the Text

Jeannine K. Brown

... disciples in Matthew’s Gospel. He often functions as their spokesperson (e.g., 15:15; 16:16; 17:24–27; 18:21; 19:27). At other points in the narrative he is portrayed in somewhat distinctive terms. For example, here and elsewhere he appears as rash or impulsive (16:22; 17:24–25; 26:33). 14:31 You of little faith . . . why did you doubt? Jesus refers to Peter as one with “little faith,” the same description that Jesus uses for the twelve disciples across the narrative (6:30; 8:26; 16:8; 17:20 ...

67. The Exorcism of a Child Develops a Humble Model for Faith

Mark 9:14-32

Teach the Text

Grant R. Osborne

... at times return [Matt. 12:43–45]). Jesus is in complete control. 9:26 the spirit shrieked, convulsed him violently. This is the last of the four sets of descriptions of the effects (vv. 18, 20, 22, 26) and shows both the power and the destructive impulses of the demon. In this final episode this last act of violence is in essence the “death throes” of the possession. This final attack is the most successful of the four; the child is left so “like a corpse” that people concluded “He’s dead ...

68. Job Hears the Whispers of God’s Works

Job 26:1--31:40

Teach the Text

Daniel J. Estes

... he is not able to prevent the adversities that they experience. In maintaining that evil is real and that God is good, Kushner rejects that God is all-powerful and in charge of the world. Like Job and unlike Kushner, we must resist the impulse to view God through the lens of our experience, but must instead view our experience through the lens of God’s greatness and goodness. As Job considers the implications of God’s infinite knowledge and overwhelming power, he concludes that humans are limited in ...

69. “As the Deer Pants for Streams of Water, So My Soul Pants for You, My God”

Psalm 42:1-11, Psalm 43:1-5

Teach the Text

C. Hassell Bullock

... .” 42:1 As the deer pants for streams of water.The verb “pants” also occurs in Joel 1:20, where the nuance is to stretch the head in a certain direction.8In 42:1 the impulse for relationship with God is found in the psalmist (“so my soul pants for you”), while in 43:3 the imagery changes, and the impulse is with God. There the suppliant prays that God might send forth his light and truth (NIV: “your faithful care”) and lead him to the house of God. Both are valid ways of talking about ...

70. Abraham Justified by Faith

Romans 4:1-25

Understanding Series

James R. Edwards

... Jesus called him from tax collecting, but the call came while he was at his tax table, during business hours. The outcry was immediate: “Why does [Jesus] eat with tax collectors and ‘sinners’?” Romans 4 is a similar probe of the impulse of grace, an impulse which Paul sees already at work in Abraham. Abraham’s justification lies in the justification of Gentile sinners “apart from the law.” Abraham is therefore a theological prototype for Paul and the father of faith for both Jews and Gentiles ...

71. Paul the Minister to the Gentiles

Romans 15:14-22

Understanding Series

James R. Edwards

... . In the fourth servant hymn of Isaiah (52:15) Paul found a witness to his mission, which he quotes in verse 21. Him and hearing refer to the servant of Yahweh and his report, which Paul sees fulfilled in Jesus Christ and the gospel. It is this impulse, i.e., Christ and his gospel, which is the source and power of Paul’s commitment to proclaim the gospel to the least likely and farthest removed—the Gentiles. 15:22 For years Paul had desired to visit Rome, but had been hindered from coming because of ...

72. Saul's Jealousy of David

1 Samuel 18:1-30

Understanding Series

Mary J. Evans

... there may be a hint that Saul was not thinking logically, the text nevertheless—by recording Saul’s thoughts—presents Saul’s throwing his spear as a conscious act with the intention of killing David. Twice Saul threw his spear at David, so this was not an impulsive loss of control. It is feasible that Saul saw David’s avoidance of death as a further sign that God was with David and not with Saul and that this added to his fear. In a calmer moment Saul’s response was to send David away in ...

73. Seven Ways to Give

Illustration

Editor James S. Hewett

1. The Careless Way: To give something to every cause that is presented, without inquiring into its merits. 2. The Impulsive Way: To give from impulse, as much and as often as love and pity and sensibility prompt. 3. The Lazy Way: To make a special offer to earn money for worthy projects by fairs, bazaars, etc. 4. The Self-Denying Way: To save the cost of luxuries and apply them to purposes of religion and ...

74. The Sign of Jonah

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... story as well. As the guests of the bridegroom clothe themselves for the feast, Peter clothes himself to present himself before Jesus, having experienced the miracle of his power yet again. In an expression of humility, and perhaps the typical Simon-Peter like impulsivity as well, he leaps into the water, immersing himself and swimming/wading to the shore to Jesus. This immersion is a kind of baptism experience, as well as echoing the emerging of Jonah onto the shore of after his womb-like period of inner ...

75. Secret Savior

Matthew 6:5-15, Matthew 6:16-18

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... , becomes very, very …personal. But we cannot do this alone….we must ask for further help. Do not let us fall into the power of temptation and protect us from all evil: For all who follow Jesus, all who worship God, fear and temptation, evil forces and impulses can be shoved away by God. No matter how unloving we can tend to be sometimes. No matter what mistakes we desire to make, what judgments we are tempted to dole out, in this very personal prayer, we ask God to prevent that from happening. We admit ...

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