Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 51 to 75 of 1522 results

Luke 7:11-17

Sermon

Larry Powell

... not hear the word, but she could "feel" the word being spoken by placing her hand on her teacher's mouth and throat. I stood by the pump for a while and thought to myself, "Thank God for Anne Sullivan." Anne Sullivan (herself, partially blind) assumed the "impossible" task of teaching a blind deaf-mute child. We can only imagine how many times she must have thought, I cannot do this as she encountered one frustration after another. But God could, and she would be God's agent. God was at the pump. God was ...

52. The Secret of Survival

Joshua 5:1-12

Sermon

Carl Hoefler

... transcendent God. Because he was the Lord over all other gods, he could use nature and history to serve his purpose for his people. The secret of Israel's survival was the strength that they received from God, together with their unswerving belief that their God could do the impossible. How big is your God? Is he the Lord over all of history? Does he hold the whole world in his hand? Or, is your God so small that he is confined to the church? Is your God so small that he can be contained in the limitations ...

53. Cross Purposes

1 Corinthians 1:18--2:5

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

... of all time. This one death was supposed to be so efficacious that the wrath of God was turned away from man and now man is supposed to be in God's good graces. Now that is not reasonable. That is not an impossible possibility. That is an utterly impossible impossibility. Thus, the world hates the cross as folly. You see, here is where faith goes beyond reason. Here is a case where the heart understands more than the mind. Now we see that knowledge and understanding are limited in comprehending full Reality ...

54. I Kid You Not

2 Kings 4:8-37

Sermon

... days of Abraham to the birth of Christ, and to the present time, God has led and prepared his people. In our time, through his Holy Spirit, he works in and with the church. The unfeasible becomes attainable, and as the Marines say, "The impossible takes just a little longer." One commentator sees Elisha’s word as a prophetic intervention. He says: It is the word or act or person of the prophet which drastically changes situations which seem hopelessly closed. The church now has no more important preaching ...

55. Is Repentance Necessary?

Acts 2:14-41

Sermon

... at least for recovery. It begins with an acknowledgment of your true condition that life is out of hand. You cannot control it. You cannot manage and make yourself do what you really want to do at times. Isn’t that what Jesus said - "With man it is impossible"? Having acknowledged that, you recognize that there is a power greater than yourself Who can take charge of your life and turn it around. That is what Jesus said as well, "With God it is possible." So the third step is to let God have control of ...

56. Do It For the Joy of It!

Matthew 22:34-40

Sermon

... way. He didn’t love us on condition that we’d pay him back. Maybe, from our point of view, God was a fool not to tie strings to his great gift. Maybe. But God is not as small as that. He knows that trading merely traps people in an impossibly thick web of obligation, guilt, and anger. So he gives the gift without condition, simply saying, "I love you for your own sake. There are no strings. And trading time is over." 2. Reck-less Time Has Come Let’s try a second cartoon. This one first appeared in the ...

57. The Stiller of Storms

Matthew 14:22-36

Sermon

Dennis Kastens

... times we, too, desire to push ahead without the Lord and bluster and swagger our way through some experience. How quickly, however, because our human resources are limited, we lose our cocksureness in this world. How quickly we can become overwhelmed by the impossibilities. How often courage turns to cowardice. The Apostle Paul is an example to all of us in this regard. Having been purged many times of his own self-righteous Pharisaism and pride, Paul discovered how the storm-torn heart can be stilled. "I ...

58. An Altered State of Consciousness

Romans 5:1-11

Sermon

Robert G. Tuttle

... faithful, looking forward, praying in spite of laws and orders? They’ve suffered grief and fright already, and eaten the first fruits of scorn. Then what’s this wind like the blast of a great horn swaying them to strange words? What are these bright impossible crowns of flame, this pouring light - it hurts - dear God, it hurts like being born. We can’t believe it now, women and men forced in scientific climate to bloom by pure reason; yet ever and again something shatters our isolating gloom: we ask ...

59. "Can Do" Christianity

Philippians 4:10-20

Sermon

Raymond Gibson

... . He mocked her for her religious practices of faithful worship and prayer, and try as she would, she could not persuade him to join her. "I just can’t witness to my husband," she said, "it is impossible for me to win him." "I agree with you!" I replied. "It is impossible for you to win him for Christ, but it is not impossible for Christ to win him through you." "But how preacher? How can Christ win him through me?" I encouraged her not to nag her husband, but to love him, not to push him but to lead him ...

60. Our Three-Faced God

Matthew 28:16-20

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

... can stand in God’s holy presence? Who dares to look at God? Who has the right words to say to God? It is utterly impossible for sinful man to get close to God. That is why man needs a mediator, a go-between God in Jesus. Jesus takes our petitions ... to be made of crimes committed. How can man ever repay God? How can man make it up to God for his many sins? It is impossible. God the Son comes to our rescue. He paid the price of our sins on the cross. Now man is accepted, justified because God the Son ...

61. When Love Runs Out of Breath

Matthew 22:34-40

Sermon

Barbara Brokhoff

... is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself." Note the order that is given here - first we take care of the God-relationship, and then the human-relationship. And here our dilemma begins, for modern man has chosen to reverse this order. But it is impossible to love people (some people are so unloveable you can’t even like them), unless you first love God. Today’s system is not Christian, but humanism. We’ve said: "Let man be center, let man be the focal point, let man be first, let man be ...

62. The Forbidden Anger

Matthew 5:21-26

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... sinful. Almost all divorce is outlawed. When someone does us wrong, we are labeled as sinful if we get angry; we are told to turn the other cheek. We are commanded to "be perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect." It is as if Jesus made the law impossible to keep and then charged us to keep it. What are we to make of these unrealistic, exalted expectations of Jesus? Philip Yancey, the author of a little book entitled "The Jesus I Never Knew" has helped me with this problem. The Sermon on the Mount is God ...

63. The Secret Of His Success

Galatians 2:11-21

Sermon

King Duncan

... told a parable about a certain rich man who bought a team of excellent, faultless horses. His own Coachman was somewhat inept and undisciplined, but the rich man hoped that the quality of the horses would offset this. After a few months, it was impossible to recognize the once proud horses. They were dull and drowsy, their pace inconsistent, their stamina gone. They developed strange quirks and bad habits. So the rich man called the King’s coachman who knew horses. After he drove the horses for a month ...

64. The Forgiven

Hebrews 10:1-18

Sermon

King Duncan

... Billie, and he confessed that he deserved to go to hell for his actions. Gently, Robert began explaining to his father about Christ, Heaven, forgiveness, and salvation. And when he was finished, Thomas prayed and asked Christ to become his Savior. God had done the "impossible." But the road was not all smooth yet. Everyone around Billie was encouraging her to get a divorce. Robert was the only one who asked her to stay and try to forgive his father. Robert drew up a contract of change for his father that ...

65. It Could Happen To You!

Luke 24:36-49

Sermon

Siegfried S. Johnson

... of the disciples' reaction. "Startled and terrified, they thought they were seeing a ghost." Could it be Jesus in the midst? No, the news is too startling. Can't have happened. Jesus tries to assure his friends that what they are seeing is real. The impossible has happened. "Why are you frightened, why do you have doubts in your hearts?" Jesus is saying, "It Could Happen. Not only could it happen, but it HAS happened, and it has happened to you." How were the disciples to receive such glorious news? Like ...

66. A More Perfect Union

Habakkuk 2:1-5

Sermon

Mark Trotter

... for, and it is not easily achievable. In fact, the vision that Habakkuk is talking about is the Kingdom of God. That is the vision that the Old Testament holds up. It is not achievable at all. It is called "an impossible dream." All the visions that are in the Bible, in fact, are impossible dreams. Which is to say, we as human beings cannot achieve them by ourselves. It can only be done through God's grace. The vision of the Kingdom of God is what is called an "eschatological vision." "Eschaton" is a Greek ...

67. When the Pressure Is On

John 6:1-14

Sermon

James Merritt

... place and he had the money, there wasn't enough time to get it; fourth, even if there was enough time everybody would only get a little bit of food. So Philip looked at the size of the multitude and the sum of the money, shrugged his shoulders and said, "Impossible!" Philip was what I call a "statistical pessimist." He had a slide rule for a mind, and if he could get it to fit in that slide rule fine, if not, forget it. There are always people who are willing to take the time to figure out how something ...

68. Is God Pleased With Me?

Hebrews 11:1-6

Sermon

James Merritt

... just happened by chance, than it does to believe that there was a God that created it. I please God when I define faith properly. I please God when I declare faith positively. I also please God when.... III. I Personally Demonstrate My Faith "Without faith, it is impossible to please God." (Hebrews 11:6, NIV) Now think about that. No matter what else you do or how well you do it, if you do not believe God, you will never please God. Life's number one purpose is to please God, because nothing else matters in ...

69. Unlocking the Power of God

Hebrews 11:29 – 12:2

Sermon

Clayton A. Lord

... is taken. What made it possible? Joshua never hesitated to follow God's lead. He simply believed and did what he was told. Today he is lifted up as an example of faith. The scriptures are filled with stories that point to the role of faith in turning impossible situations around. A boy named David stood up to a giant with only a slingshot and a few small stones. He did what the army was afraid to do. He came away victorious. A prophet named Elijah risked embarrassment and certain death. He stood up to fifty ...

70. God's 'Yes!' To Every Promise

2 Corinthians 1:18-22

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... as a first installment. In other words, as William Barclay put it, Jesus is God's 'Yes!' To Every Promise. (1) I. Promises Promises are extremely important. In The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, Frodo Baggins, a hobbit, takes on the almost impossible task of destroying the Ring of Power, in The Cracks of Doom in a dark and evil land called Mordor. No one had any idea what this simple little ring really was when it came into his possession. Gandalf, the wizard, understands that this is not ...

71. Radical Love is Risky (Series: Radical Love in a Risky World)

Luke 6:27-36

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... of love is a better way of life, if the way of love is the superior way of relating to humanity, then why not? Well, why not? Some of us would immediately have an answer to that. We would say it can’t be because: B. Such Love is Impossible Lucy says in a Peanuts cartoon, “I love humankind; it’s people I can’t stand.” If by Christian love we mean the fellowship of kindred minds, a mutual friendship of all people, a common bond of likes and dislikes, then you are right. Loving all people like that ...

72. From Greed to Generosity

Mark 10:17-27

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... ? Jesus wasn't pulling any punches about this. He turned around to his disciples and said I've got news for you, it's almost impossible for you people who have money to get into the kingdom of God. Verse 23: How hard it will be for those who have wealth ... inscribed on our coins “In God We Trust"? Do we or don't we? Isn't that the real question of life? What's impossible with us is possible with God. The year was 1861. Our nation was engaged in a bloody civil war. Then Treasury Secretary Salmon P. ...

73. Reversal and Victory

Judges 4:1-7

Sermon

Timothy J. Smith

... field, playing the games." This remarkable, God-filled woman accomplished these things at a time when many people thought a woman had no business doing such things.3 God is at work in our lives and in our world, working with ordinary people to accomplish the seemingly impossible. God is at work even at those times when we are unaware of God's presence. If only we knew in times of uncertainty which direction we should take. Unfortunately, we do not always know, but we do know that God is with us. God has an ...

74. Whose Wife Will She Be?

Luke 20:27-40

Sermon

King Duncan

... after the funeral, and they drive into Washington Memorial Cemetery, and the road pulls right up to a grave which is carved out of the ground on the top of a hill. And many people think: the road stops here; the road stops here; there is no more; it is impossible for the road to go any farther.” (3) But, of course, the road does go farther. Death is not the end of the journey. There is more beyond. A healthy approach to death is to deal with it as a time of transition. Death is but a journey from this ...

75. Dream Power

Matthew 2:13-18

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... . Remember: the dream God sent Joseph put him on the road with a wife and a newborn infant who wasn’t his to a foreign country with no family ties or any business connections. Sounds like a fun trip, doesn’t it? Yet Joseph embraced the Impossible Dream. 2) The DreamScape Community must make sure its dreams are Big Dreams, dreams we can give our lives to with a full heart and whole soul. For Matthew the Dream and the Dreamer were one. The Dream became Law under Emperor Constantine. Centuries later, the ...

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