Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 751 to 775 of 4943 results

751. It's Thanksgiving Time!

Psalm 100:1-5

Sermon

James W. Moore

... as a servant people of God. Those outstanding people started our church right… and made our church what it is today. We owe them a great debt of gratitude… and even more, we owe God a great debt of gratitude. Now, it's our turn! It's our turn to take up the torch and be the church! It's our turn to accept the challenge. It's our turn to add our own unique chemistry and contributions to the celebrated history of St. Luke's This is our moment to express our gratitude to God, to His church, to each other ...

752. What Is Our City?

Acts 4:32-35

Sermon

Ken Lentz

... without the other. The many sales of Rick Warren's book, The Purpose-Driven Life, prove that many people are searching for purpose and meaning in their lives. For Christians, the purpose-driven life is the life that is given to Jesus who said, "Take up your cross and follow me" (Matthew 16:24). It is troubling that it sometimes appears that leaders of megachurches seem to imply that big churches are an expression of the "real" church because of the great numbers of "members" who worship there. One thinks ...

753. Consider Others Higher Than Yourself

1 Corinthians 8:1-13

Teach the Text

Preben Vang

... question posed by the Corinthians in their letter (cf. 7:1).1Moving from the larger question of human relationships, with a special focus on marriage, divorce, and singleness, he now takes up another pertinent question that relates directly to the domestic situation of the Corinthian believers, which includes relatives, friends, and co-workers. What about the meat Christ followers were served at dinner parties? Were Christians allowed to eat whatever they could buy in the marketplace? (See the “Additional ...

754. The Agenda Factor

2 Samuel 7:1-17

Sermon

William L. Self

... that God would be a great enhancement for living. Doesn't he part the seas and send the manna? With Jesus many followed at the beginning because he could heal them, feed them, raise them from the dead. Not a bad deal, Hosannah! This taking-up-the-cross stuff should be negotiated out. Sacrifice and the second mile sounds good but it is not to be taken very seriously. This agenda issue goes to church with the modern Christian also. Garry Trudeau, the creator of the Doonesbury cartoon, portrays a character ...

755. King Ahaz,Idolater

Drama

Peter C. Garrison

... keeps the gods in line. Ahaz: What do you mean? Other: Well, what good is a god without worshipers to be a god of, or a place to be god at? If your god doesn't keep up the good work, then you can move to a different place or take up someone else's god. It keeps gods humble -- in their place, if you get my meaning ... Ahaz: Yes. None of this, "You shall have no other gods before me," stuff. When I was king ... Other: Oh, you're a king? Ahaz: Was ... anyway, when I was a king, I worshiped ...

756. Real Solutions To Real Problems

John 21:1-14

Sermon

Lee Griess

... believing (we) may have life in his name." As we read those words, it is clear that here, in effect, John lays aside his pen and closes the book. But suddenly he remembers more. He realizes that the story is not yet finished. And so once again he takes up his pen and writes the final chapter. It's as if he remembers some final details, some loose ends that need tying up, some problems without clear solutions. So he picks up his pen to write an epilogue -- Chapter 21. He begins that epilogue with Peter and ...

757. Life on the Roller Coaster

Matthew 16:21-28

Sermon

Johnny Dean

... what Jesus said immediately after his rebuke of Peter would support that interpretation. He told all of his disciples, including Peter, that not only did HE have a task that was set before him by God, but that THEY also had work to do. "Deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow me," Jesus said. "Get on this new thrill ride with me. There will be many dangerous twists and turns in the tracks, but I promise you it will never be dull. It will mean putting someone other than yourself first, being concerned ...

758. Three Temptations Of The American People

Mark 6:1-6

Sermon

King Duncan

... . I'm talking about a level of intense commitment to Jesus Christ. We have a lot of people who believe in God, who believe in the divinity of Jesus, who believe in heaven. Every Gallup Poll indicates this. We have very few persons, however, who want to take up the cross and follow Him. How much difference does it make in your life to say, "Jesus is Lord"? Does it affect your manners and your morals? Does it keep in check your prejudices as well as your passions? Is the world a better place because Jesus ...

759. Superstition Or Authentic Faith?

Luke 13:1-9

Sermon

King Duncan

... tough one. Here's one even tougher. It is the question Charles Colson asked. With so many persons in this land who claim to be followers of Jesus, why are we not having more influence? Maybe it's because some of us are out searching for fourleaf covers rather than taking up a cross and following him. 1. Donald W. Morgan, HOW TO GET IT TOGETHER WHEN YOUR WORLD IS COMING APART, (Old Tappan, N.J.: Fleming H. Revell, 1988). 2. JOHN R. BRANHAM 3. Stephen Jannsen

760. Two Promises For A New Year

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

Sermon

King Duncan

... for a few minutes on a plane flight. Imagine traveling for weeks by foot or on a donkey carrying a small child. Imagine not having a place to lay your head at night except for the hard ground. Mary and Joseph didn't jet down to Cairo and take up residence at the Hilton. Life was unimaginably hard for them just as it has been unimaginably hard for millions of believers in Christ over the century since. If you think that giving your life to Jesus will make all your problems disappear, good luck. In fact, if ...

761. Breaking The Negative Cycle

Matthew 5:1-12

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... yes to the demands of maturity. Yes to the adult responsibilities he must begin to assume. There is a place for the negative. And sometimes we need to deny in order to affirm. Jesus marked the way, if any man would come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it and whoever will lose his life for my sake in the gospel, will find it. One aspect of denying in order to affirm is the principle of delayed gratification. One of the paramount ...

762. Grace for a Complaining People

Exodus 16:2-15

Sermon

Arley K. Fadness

... today, according to a Gallup poll taken in the 1990s, is this: It is the need to find purpose and meaning and direction in one's life. People are asking and wondering, "What is God's will for my life? Why am I here on this earth taking up space? What is my holy calling?"4 Dr. Victor Frankl, a concentration camp survivor and a psychotherapist, wrote a wonderful book titled Man's Search For Meaning. The book is now in its 73rd printing. It has been published in twenty languages, and the English editions alone ...

763. How to Motivate People

Matthew 10:1-42, Matthew 9:18-26

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

... chaplaincy ministry to the unteachable, unavailable, and irresponsible members who somehow got on the church roll. Dear people, I'm here to make disciples. I'm not here to coddle you. If you will be teachable, responsible, available, then rise, take up your cross and follow Jesus. He chose twelve to be with him. That means they experienced life together. Their lives were prioritized around Jesus. Is yours? Socially? Mentally? Spiritually? Physically? Too many prioritize their lives around making money and ...

764. John 10:11-18

John 10:1-21

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... . He knows that redemption awaits on the other side of death. Jesus gives up his life “in order to take it up again.” As the Good Shepherd, living with perfect knowledge of the Father, Jesus has “power” to both “lay down” and “take up again” his life. But personal “power” is not the motivating factor behind the actions of Good Shepherd Jesus. The good shepherd, who calls the sheep together, knows all his sheep, protects all his sheep, and will finally sacrifice his own life to save ...

765. Lost, But Not the TV Show!

Luke 15:1-7

Sermon

King Duncan

... good question. We shelved the concept of sin long ago. We minimize our adulteries as petty and meaningless affairs. We compromise our business ethics with the conviction that everyone is doing it. We fill our lives with the cheap and the trivial while the call to take up a cross and follow Jesus goes unheeded and unanswered. There is a deep flaw within us and that is what the Bible calls sin. A reporter once asked the great evangelist of an earlier age, Dwight L. Moody, what people gave him the most trouble ...

766. Where the Church Gets Its Power

John 17:6-19

Sermon

King Duncan

... , “I believe that Christ wants his church to be unshockable, a fellowship where people can come in and say, ‘I’m sunk, I’m beat, I’ve had it.’ Alcoholics Anonymous has this quality our churches too often miss it.” “Now before you take up arms to shoot some wag that would compare your church to the corner bar,” Chuck Swindoll continues, “stop and ask yourself some tough questions, like I had to do. Make a list of some possible embarrassing situations people may not know how to handle ...

767. The Lord’s Case Against Israel

Micah 6:1-8

Understanding Series

Elizabeth Achtemeier

... in this court case. Indeed, it has not only lost its faith by failing to remember; it has also violated Yahweh’s covenant requirements. It is the latter which the next verses, 6–8, make clear. 6:6–7 An unknown speaker, representing the people, takes up the legal dialogue in verse 6 and gives a counterargument to what Yahweh has said in verses 3–5. But the presuppositions of that counterargument are amazing. Israel still has not understood that the fault lies not with God, but with itself. And so in ...

768. The Story of Israel and the Story of Gentiles

Romans 1:18-32

Teach the Text

C. Marvin Pate

... actually been service to the true God. The audience could be asked: Is this a form of natural theology? If so, do you agree or disagree with Lewis’s perspective? To fill out Lewis’s perspective, it would be useful to refer to The Abolition of Man, in which Lewis takes up the same subject.

769. Be Holy

1 Peter 1:13-2:3

Understanding Series

Norman Hillyer

... . 19:2; the same words recur, and Lev. 20:7 also is close). Apart from more or less clear allusions to passages in the OT, there are eight other direct quotations, in 1:24–25; 2:6, 7, 8, 22; 3:10–12; 4:18; 5:5. Peter takes up proof-texts from Scripture to validate his teaching, to demonstrate that he is not expressing his own ideas but passing on divine teaching. Remember the Cost of Your Salvation 1:17 Following the example of their Master, who addressed his Father as Abba (Mark 14:36), Christians have ...

770. What To Give The God Who Has Everything

Psalm 50:1-23

Sermon

Erskine White

... what you are giving thanks for! That’s what a group of commuters on a London train did one day. It seems that the 5 p.m. train from London out to the western suburbs was supposed to take just half an hour, but it ran late every evening, taking up to an hour, even an hour and a half sometimes. The trip was even slower on Fridays, when everyone was especially eager to get home and start their weekend. One Friday evening, the train made it out to the last suburban stop in just 20 minutes. Better than being ...

771. Different

1 Corinthians 1:18-31

Sermon

James L. Killen

... in love, we don't have a very clear idea of just what that could mean. We suspect that it has to do with some kind of unrealistic sentimentalism. And the message of the cross tells us to live in commitment to something bigger than ourselves. It tells us to take up our own cross, that is, to be ready to suffer if we have to and to live in commitment to the purpose of God. That is pure nonsense in our culture. Our culture tells us that life is about getting all you can for yourself no matter what you have ...

772. Foundations for the Future

1 Corinthians 3:9-14

Sermon

James Merritt

... is really going to go forward, and be all that we can be, we have got to do the "grunt giving" before we do the "glamour giving." But we must also exercise the privilege of doing the glamour giving. You see, you never hear of a church taking up a love tithe; you take up love offerings. Why? The tithe belongs to the church. It belongs to the budget. It pays the bills. It pays the staff. It provides the opportunity for us to minister on a daily basis. But beyond that we can then give offerings to do even more ...

773. Reviewing Our Hungers (Series: Questioning Our Values)

Luke 6:17-26

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... entry. “I am embarrassed to say it, but I am full of myself, my needs, my feelings, my desires.” Hundreds of us could say that. Jesus had a better idea. He says it well in Luke 9:23, “If anyone would come after me, let them deny themselves, and take up their cross daily, and follow me.” Life is not about us. To think otherwise is to be full of it. We are full of our WORRIES. There are things to worry about. No society in the history of the world has ever enjoyed the standard of living that Americans ...

774. Eyes Fixed Upon the Goal

Philippians 3:8-14

Sermon

King Duncan

... to learn that. Most of us have already learned it in our daily lives. We simply need to be reminded from time to time. Author Steve Goodier tells the inspiring story of Fred Lebow. Fred complained to his doctor that he lacked energy. His doctor advised him to take up running. And Fred discovered a new love! He was 39-years-old when he entered his first race. He beat only one other contestant: a 72-year-old man. But he loved it! Fred joined the New York Road Runners Club. Fred later organized New York City ...

775. The Angel and the Little Scroll

Revelation 10:1-11

Understanding Series

Robert W. Wall

... s Revelation. Nothing beyond this very basic speculation should be advanced with confidence. In our view, however, the prohibition not to write down what John hears has the rhetorical effect of directing the reader to the importance of John’s commission to take up the little scroll to eat it. Apparently, the seer is privy to “insider’s information” that his audience lacks, and this establishes his authority to write down divine revelation that is normative for their faith. 10:5–7 The mighty angel ...

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