Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 776 to 800 of 3926 results

776. Reactions to Rejection

Luke 9:51-62

Sermon

David R. Cartwright

... , the race was very close, but he lost. Many were urging the candidate to ask for a recount. A recount was well in the realm of possibility, but as the candidate reasoned, the people had spoken and since the vote was so close he would not have the support he needed to carry out his duties, so he gracefully conceded the election. Many still say that he would have made the best elected official the town could have had. Such is one way to react to rejection. As Jesus and his disciples went along the road, they ...

777. No Box Seats in the Kingdom

Mark 10:35-45

Illustration

William G. Carter

... ego is the fabric of some superchurches." A power struggle began, dividing the church into opposing sides. One day in September 1992, Gregory stunned many Southern Baptists by resigning from that prominent pulpit. There was also a divorce to throw into the mix. To support himself he traveled through Fort Worth neighborhoods as a door-to-door salesman selling funeral plans. A lot of people said he's a failure. Joel Gregory said otherwise. "For the first time in my life, at 46, I was learning what it means ...

778. Maintenance or Mission

Mark 10:35-45

Illustration

Brian Stoffregen

... Lutherans live within a twenty-minute drive of this church?" The mission congregation asks, "How many unchurched people live within a twenty-minute drive of this church?" 11. The maintenance congregation looks at the community and asks, "How can we get these people to support our congregation?" The mission congregation asks, "How can the Church support these people?" 12. The maintenance congregation thinks about how to save their congregation. The mission congregation thinks about how to reach the world.

779. Past, Present, Future

Isaiah 43:16-21

Sermon

Frank Ramirez

... show up for worship on Sunday. Churches prized their relationship with the state, and those who professed suspicion about this relationship were often branded heretics. Eventually, it was simply assumed that you couldn't have a church unless it was supported by the state, and supported the state in turn. Even the reformers, who did great work by challenging an established church by creating churches of their own, assumed that the church and state needed to work in concert, that their aims and goals were one ...

780. The Easter Era

Acts 10:34-43

Sermon

Frank Ramirez

... comfort zone that comfort takes on a whole new meaning and it has nothing to do with comfortable chairs and water beading up on the outside of a glass of iced tea and falling asleep in front of the ball game. Someone has to go and someone has to support them. Our customs and practices are so much fun that we hate to get out of that comfort zone. We like to stay put, until someone — usually the Holy Spirit — makes it impossible for us to rest until we help in some great or small measure for the Word ...

781. What Are You Looking At?

Acts 1:1-11

Sermon

Frank Ramirez

... chapters of a manuscript to a publisher who might have sent him a cash advance so he'd finish it, then publish it and send him royalties. Writing required a patron who supported the working artist until the work was completed. It seems likely that Theophilus - whose name means "the one who loves God" - was a wealthy convert, a Christian who supported Luke while he worked on his two-part history of Jesus and the action of the Holy Spirit. That first part of the work - the Gospel of Luke - told what Jesus did ...

782. Choosing to Believe

1 Kings 18:20-39

Sermon

Stan Purdum

... have come in several ways and at different times since, but none of it is what I can hand you in the sense of scientific proof. It comes down to this: Do you want to know God personally and follow Christ? If so, there is plenty of evidence to support that decision. If you don't want that, then there are ways to deny the testimony of the evidence. Among that evidence is the Bible itself. When Dives asked that Lazarus be sent from the death to warn his brother, Abraham said to Dives, "They have the scriptures ...

783. Giving Till It Helps

Mark 12:38-44

Illustration

... they were sure that he would like to make a substantial contribution to this program. "I see," he said, "so you have it all figured out have you? In the course of your investigation did you discover that I have a widowed mother who has no other means of support but me?" No, they responded, they did not know that. "Did you know that I have a sister who was left by a drunken husband with five children and no means to provide for them?" No, they said, we did not know that either. "Well, sir, did you know ...

784. Same Table, Different Chairs

John 15:11-17

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... new appoint doesn't mean that the relationship is over. It means the friendships can go on and on and on. Pastors come and go, but friends are friends forever (as the song says). And I will support you as friends. But please know that Lara is my friend also, and to be her friend and colleague in ministry I'll support her as your Pastor in whatever way I can, while we remain simply friends. II. In My Heart A. There's a movie titled "In Her Shoes" starring Toni Collette, Cameron Diaz and Shirley MacLaine. It ...

785. Changing Dysfunction Into Function: Isaac, Jacob and Esau

Genesis 27:15-24, 30-34

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... other our side of the story, our position, our wants and our needs that we become deaf to the message our family is trying to convey. A message that simply says, "I love you." The family is a supposed to be a place of nurture, development, discovery and support of every kind. From a Christian perspective, Christ has to be the first priority in our lives. But when Christ has first priority, then we can be about the business of Changing Dysfunction Into Function. And we are able to both say and hear those all ...

786. Cross Eyed: Promise

John 3:14-21

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... who migrated to the West Coast during the First World War. Part of his reason was that he wanted to do his part to support the war effort. Unfortunately, they wouldn't let him enlist. He was too old and had a large family. So, he did the next ... just expressions of appreciation for his part in the war effort. In the mean time, he'd taken a second job which paid cash, in order to support his family. (5) As funny as that is, it's also sad and tragic. There are a lot of people just like that man, who still live ...

787. Jesus Saves, We're Called To Invest

Matthew 25:14-20

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... want to be able to do, so don't let the fact that you can't give what you want to give keep you from doing what you can. Continue to invest yourself. You see, you can support the church and invest in God's work with your presence, your prayers and your service until you get back on your feet and you can support it with your gifts. If tithing is the issue for you, then challenge yourself, as a spiritual quest, to grow 1% at a time until you are tithing. Don't be a one talent servant. Invest yourself ...

788. Reassessing Our Laughter (Series: Questioning Our Values)

Luke 6:17-26

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... up by long posts. A member of this congregation took one look at our house and exclaimed, “Howard surely bought this house in the dark. Nobody would locate on a hill like this in the daylight.” He is right. My point is this. Those long posts fortify and support the deck. They hold it up. I could correctly say that my deck is “comforted” by these posts. Do you get the picture? That is what comfort means in the Bible. It is not pity. It is not control. Comfort is Aaron and Hur holding up the arms of ...

789. Why Am I So Lonely? (Series: Real Faith For Real People)

Acts 2:42-47

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... a trouble go to waste. What God has begun in us, must now move through us that this church may continue to bear fruit in the Kingdom of God. That needs to happen in at least two ways. First, every Sunday school class, prayer group, UMW Circle, support and service network must become a “Saving Station along the road to Holy Living.” We are great at caring for one another. Could we not become great at helping one another find the Lord? Secondly, what is now happening in part must expand to the whole. We ...

790. Some Second Thoughts about Giving

Mark 12:41-44

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... husband with five small children and no means of providing for them?” No, they hadn’t known that. “Did you know that I have a brother who was crippled in an accident and will never be able to do another day’s work in his life to support himself and his family?” No, they hadn’t known that. “Well,” he thundered triumphantly, “I’ve never done any thing for them, so why should I do anything for you?” (Ray Balcomb, Stir What You’ve Got). That makes the point in a sadistically humorous way ...

791. Updating Some Ancient Laws

Exodus 20:1-21

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... laws in the universe by which we must live if life is going to come out God’s way. The issues addressed in the Ten Commandments are wrong, not because the Ten Commandments say so - God said they were wrong because the moral law of the universe won’t support killing and stealing and committing adultery. It doesn’t matter in what period of history we live, it’s still wrong to steal. Wrong whether we do it by shop-lifting or cheating on our income tax or failing to give our employer a full-day’s work ...

792. When Nature Says No

2 Corinthians 4:1-18

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... it. God doesn’t get rid of our suffering; he uses it for our good and his glory. Let me lodge two sentences in your mind as support for this truth, or as another way of saying it. One, life is not fair - but life isn’t God - life isn’t fair, but God is ... outward nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed every day.” Paul has another marvelous word for us that supports this one. In Romans 8, he asks the question, “What shall separate us from the love of Christ - shall tribulation or ...

793. In the Lions' Den (Dealing with Stress)

Psalm 16:1-11

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... that comes from pressure to perform, whether in our jobs or in our interpersonal relationships, if we will take control - run our job rather than allowing it to run us, admit our limitations and be willing to become vulnerable. It’s amazing how others will identify with and support us when they realize that we’re not giants, and we don’t see ourselves our giants. IV. ALLOW GOD TO BE GOD That brings us to the fourth and final direction that I would offer to assist us in living in he lion’s den: Allow ...

794. The Gospel Through the Person

Galatians 4:8-20

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... Second World War. He had been principal of the Methodist Girls’ School in Hiroshima during the bombing. In John Hersey’s book about tragedy, he is mentioned prominently as one of the heroes of those days. Alice Johnson remembered that her sister had given money to support the education of a young boy in Japan named Takuo Matsumoto, and she wondered if this was the same person. She resolved to go to Champaign to hear him speak, but she got sick that day and had to stay home. That night someone told Mr ...

795. The Shared Life of the People of God, Part 2

Galatians 6:1-10

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... the shared life of the people of God we are to judge each other, but this judgment is assessment in love not condemnation. Then the third signal Paul gives defines the mutual support and correction we should provide for each other : restore in the spirit of gentleness Remember, gentleness is a fruit of the Spirit. Our supporting, correcting, guiding and restoring activity is in the Spirit of Christ. He is gentle and calls us to gentleness. We handle each person with the kind of gentle care with which we ...

796. Design for Discipleship

Acts 2:14-41

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... member told m the story of her friend’s suicide. As she wept, she confessed: “This has been my temptation. You don’t know how many times I have been on the verge of suicide. I couldn’t follow through on my temptation, because of the love and support of Christ through this church. I want you to know that Marge and Jim, Bob and Karen, Ben and Ann have kept me alive.” Those persons she named were in her growth group.” At the heart of the fellowship of growth groups is the genuine care that all ...

797. Living on Full Alert

Revelation 22:12-14, 16-17. 20-21

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... deeply divided. Nowhere is that division more sharply expressed than over the institution of marriage. While I happen to support the ongoing position of our denomination that the practice of homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teachings, and that marriage is a ... sacred covenant uniting one man and one woman, I also support the ongoing position of our denomination that all persons are of sacred worth and deserve the ministry of the Church ...

798. What Can Christians Learn From Jews?

Genesis 12:1-3

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... , Paul warned them sternly: “If you, though a wild olive shoot have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root, do not boast over those branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you (Romans 11:17-19). C. We pursue the same path of righteousness. Amos, that troubler from Tekoa, marched down to the city hall of his day and dared to say, “Let justice roll on like a river, and righteousness like a never failing ...

799. Hard Words to Hear at Christmas

Matthew 3:1-12

Sermon

Charles L. Aaron

... that the trees would be chopped down and thrown in the fire along with the chaff from the wheat. We might be safe in assuming that he thought the corrupt religious leaders would at least be set straight when the Messiah arrived. The writings of the Essenes support the idea that the coming of the Messiah would prove a comeuppance for those who oppose God. One of their prayers implored God to "Lay Thy hand upon the neck of Thine enemies."1 How does this work for us as preparation for Advent? We usually think ...

800. With a Firm Foundation, Application Is Second Nature

Matthew 7:15-23, Matthew 7:24-29

Sermon

Mark Ellingsen

... of the parable: No matter how spiritual you try to be, you need to be sure you have built the foundation of your faith on Christ. He is your firm foundation, the rock! Let's talk about foundations. Foundations are the chief means of supporting a building, supporting the loads (the weight) of the building. If the building were constructed on surface soil, any movement of the earth might topple the structure. The issue, then, is not how you apply Jesus' words, what you do, but where you "settle" with your ...

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