Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 926 to 950 of 2404 results

926. Surprise, It's Christmas!

Luke 1:26-38

Sermon

Brett Blair

... came from God. He is God’s Son. Yes he was born of a woman but his father is God. The emphasis is not primarily on Mary, but on the power of Almighty God. As one theologian put it, Jesus is not the product of human evolution, the highest achievement of the human race; he is the product of the intervention of a transcendent God into human history (Reginald H. Fuller). Think of the fear that must have gripped Mary. Her first reaction was, “You don’t know what you are talking about. I am still a virgin ...

927. The Need for A Community of Healing

Mark 1:29-34

Sermon

Maurice A. Fetty

... lesson from Mark, Jesus advises his critics and followers that healing and forgiveness of sins and casting out of demons somehow are connected. But is that true today? Do we understand sin and sickness that way? But equally important, how do we go about achieving wholeness and health and healing? I believe the stories of Jesus' healing provide a model for a community of healing. I. For one thing, notice that the friends of the sick cared about them. They not only brought them to the good physician without ...

928. Everyone Is Searching For You

Mark 1:35-39

Sermon

Brett Blair

... , "not to miss the things in life, that my uncle had missed." Frank Lloyd Wright saw in those tracks what his uncle could not: It is easy to let the demands of life keep us from the joys of living. We all recognize that any goal in life worth achieving demands a great deal of our energy. If you are a doctor you must spend vast hours alone and in residency studying the human body. The life of your patient demands it. If you are a teacher you must live in the library researching and preparing for your lecture ...

929. The Shepherd Who Loved His Sheep

John 10:1-21

Sermon

George Bass

... the way it was in ’75, it will take us forty years to double our population from four billion to eight billion. That means to keep the situation from getting worse, we would have to increase again as much in forty years as we were able to achieve slowly in 12,000 years." In less than a decade, Borlaug notes, population growth is slowing to where it will take sixty years to double the 1975 population, but the production of food and its attendant problems is still a massive problem that can only be solved ...

930. Love - A Christian Imperative

John 15:1-17

Sermon

George Bass

... must assume some responsibility for reducing this turmoil ... We dare not continue letting our inability to get along with each other destroy our cities, our gadgets, ourselves. What gain to be scientific geniuses if we remain social imbeciles? The responsibility for achieving social and emotional maturity ... lies entirely with you and me. What will you do about it?" In this chapter, Menninger proceeds to set out "seven standards that you can apply to your daily life and relationships with other people in ...

931. Man Of Sorrows

Isaiah 52:13--53:12

Sermon

Larry Powell

... the required 24-hour period between sentence and execution had been violated. The authorities had needed two things: (1) a go-between, and (2) an execution, carried out under the guise of legality. Both were awkwardly accomplished, so that the conspiracy had achieved its objective. There Had Been a Choice It was a custom at Passover that the governor would release a prisoner, the choice being left to the people. According to three of the gospels, Pilate stood Jesus beside a notorious insurrectionist named ...

932. Good News, Release, and Comfort

Isaiah 61:1-11

Sermon

Richard L. Eslinger

... feels like something has died, and we grieve and mourn that loss. Some here, or some related to us, may have known bitter failure in recent days: bad grades at the end of the semester, or a real defeat at work. Whatever it is, important goals are not achieved and we mourn the death of what might have been. Some parents among us suffer with the pain of a rebellious child we love very much, trying to keep a proper face on things before friends, but quietly desperate within our home. We grieve for the child he ...

933. Come Home!

Isaiah 60:1-22

Sermon

Richard L. Eslinger

... to Israel’s darkness. It was the knowledge that many relatives and friends had never come back. When the exile was ended, they had remained in far-off places. And that only added to this feeling of being "not home" in Jerusalem. We can rebuild the Temple, achieve a bit of prosperity, hope for a new shoot from Jesse’s branch; but, in spite of this, life is still incomplete. There are family and friends left behind, and what kind of homecoming is it when they’re not here too? Over and over, this sense ...

934. Where’s the Power?

Mark 1:40-45

Sermon

Daniel G. Mueller

... "positive thinking" like to tell us that if we want something badly enough we can get it, no matter what it is. All we need is the desire, the hunger, the commitment, and if we have these three things, we can accomplish whatever we want. If we fail to achieve our goal, it is only because we didn’t want it badly enough. Positive thinking has much to recommend it, but it has its limitations. One such limitation is this: we cannot always have what we want "just because we want it." All the girls in the Miss ...

935. Coping When It Seems Impossible

Sermon

Robert G. Tuttle

... practice is excellent. I have all the money I need. I have two cars and a lovely home. I have a wonderful wife and three beautiful children. Why do I want to blow my brains out?" "It seems that all this has been your God," my son replied, "You’ve achieved all your goals. You’ve lived your life. It’s over. But before you end it all, I want you to try one thing. Turn the whole thing over to God: your practice, your self, your wealth, your home, your family. From now on, work not for yourself but for ...

936. Christ and Healing

Sermon

Robert G. Tuttle

... . Christ is just that near to us all the time. Sometimes it takes a special experience to open our eyes. One of the truly outstanding psychiatrists of this nation told me a fascinating story. He had reached the top of his profession. His goals had been achieved. Frustration was setting in. Things were not so good at home. Desperate, he tried to get away from it all by taking a canoe trip into the wilderness of Canada. It had rained all day. There was water, water everywhere, above, below, and all around. It ...

937. Service

Mark 10:35-45

Sermon

Warren Thomas Smith

... outlet, then improving, growing, learning. Earl Marlatt’s "Are Ye Able" became the motif for youth of the 1930s and 1940s. In fact, they sang it to death. Perhaps it exemplified the optimism of the time. Maybe it did place emphasis on human achievement (something many contemporary theologians frown upon), but it did convey youthful willingness to go out and live for noble purposes, and to do battle against slums, war, Jim Crow-ism, poverty, ignorance, and sin. It called for a new age and high-minded ...

938. Enduring

Mark 13:1-31

Sermon

Warren Thomas Smith

... children, were all massacred. And Mother Russia became Communist. It could have been avoided. The saddest aspect of our three monarchs is that personally they were all respectable human beings. Family men, they were loyal to their wives (a remarkable achievement, indeed). They loved their children. These royal figures were not monsters in the mold of Nero, Attila the Hun, Ivan the Terrible, or Adolph Hitler. Charles, Louis, and Nicholas were all professing Christians: Charles was Anglican, Louis a Roman ...

939. A King - A Kingdom

John 18:28-40

Sermon

Warren Thomas Smith

"For this I was born, and for this I have come into the world ..." (v.37) Who is this Jesus? Shakespeare said, "Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them."1 In Revelation we are told Jesus is "King of kings and Lord of lords" (19:16). Still we ask, "Who is he?" One of the essential, significant elements of our Christian faith is the concept of the Kingdom of God. We ...

940. Called to Be Saints

Matthew 5:1-12

Sermon

Warren Thomas Smith

... in heaven. Attitudes What better text than the Beatitudes - the "Beautiful Attitudes." Some claim that we have an impossible list of spiritual/ethical/moral requirements. How can anyone measure up? Others maintain that Jesus was simply giving a set of standards which he alone could achieve. If this be the case, why are we taking time to study them? How do the Beatitudes relate to the saints? To us? We have in Matthew 5:1-12 the outline for Christlike living. It begins with recognition of one’s poverty of ...

941. The Father Who Wanted His Son To Succeed

1 Kings 2:1-12

Sermon

Alton F. Wedel

... remains a byword through the generations, and the envy of succeeding kings and emperors and presidents across the centuries who sought to reach that glory, too. Or can we forget the temple on Mount Zion, the building and the worship ritual that were his most magnificent achievements? "Be all that you can be!" - and Solomon was all that he could be. But Not Quite All Not quite, we have to add. The history of succeeding years reveals that this is not yet what God had in mind when he made covenant with David ...

942. The Word To The Wise

Proverbs 2:1-22

Sermon

Alton F. Wedel

... -made heaven, that we can mold our children in our image, that if we can set up colonies on planets we can solve the problems of world hunger. Or what illusion is it that flashes on your mental image? Humanity in its own wisdom has achieved great heights, only to create another pit. We conquer one disease to be engulfed by still another. We solve one problem, only to discover we have aggravated others. The United States pursues one plan for peace, the Soviets another, only to discover that their plans for ...

943. Ode to Wisdom

Job 26:1--31:40

Sermon

Alton F. Wedel

... shining jewel in the darkness, picking up one ray of light and boldly beaming it to make its presence known. It serves as closure to the dialogue of Job with Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar, a summary of Job’s best confidence that wisdom can be found not in our own achievement, but as a gift of God. Wisdom never comes as a result of our own effort, but only as God gives it and God speaks it. "Whence then comes wisdom? And where is the place of understanding?" Let this be known. "It is hid from the eyes of all ...

944. Greatness

Mark 9:33-37

Drama

Robert F. Crowley

Theme: The kingdom of God is different than any other. To be first in the kingdom you must be servant of all. Summary: Peter, James, and John want to be great and they are arguing about their achievements. Jesus sets them straight. Playing Time: 3 minutes Setting: The Holy Land Props: A small black book Costumes: Peasant, first century Time: The Time of Christ Cast: Peter James John Jesus JAMES: (ENTERS CARRYING A SMALL BLACK BOOK) I've got the list right here. You'll see. PETER: (ENTERS) ...

945. The Advent Hope

Romans 14:1--15:13

Sermon

T. A. Kantonen

... prayer, "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." But for its final consummation the Advent hope looks beyond history to the fulfillment of Christ’s promise of his return in glory. The ultimate triumph of Christ is based upon the victory achieved by his resurrection. Karl Heim, one of the great theologians of our century, describes this in a dramatic way. High above an Alpine valley are towering mountains bearing a tremendous mass of snow. A gunshot or some other vibration of sound is sufficient to ...

946. Christmas Every Day

John 1:1-18

Sermon

T. A. Kantonen

... becomes a living and saving presence. He is now more than a word. He is Immanuel, God with us. The biggest problem which the world faces today is the transformation of human nature. This has become acutely important in the nuclear age when man has achieved mastery over the basic forces of physical nature but has not learned to control the destructive power of evil within himself. The solution does not lie in developing man’s natural capacities but in implanting God’s life into man’s life. One of the ...

947. Christ and Time

Galatians 3:26--4:7

Sermon

T. A. Kantonen

... revolve. He is the realizer of God’s plan for the universe, he is the fulfiller of human destiny. The years no longer roll on without "purpose, heart, or mind, or will," for under the direction of the Lord of history they move toward the achievement of God’s purpose. There is no sudden outward change that divides history into B.C. and A.D. "How silently, how silently the wondrous gift is given." Yet with the coming of Christ a genuine new era began. Before Christ, cruelty, selfishness, violence, and ...

948. The Exalted Christ

Ephesians 4:1-16

Sermon

T. A. Kantonen

... of his creation, "Show yourself to us as the Mighty, the Radiant, the Risen! And so that we should triumph over the world with you, come to us clothed in the glory of the world." All the worlds of science and art and society have their existence and achieve their purpose only through him. There is not one thing in the entire universe which does not bear the stamp of his ownership. It is all one vast temple in which everything we see or touch must be consecrated to his glory. With a grasp of this truth ...

949. The Holy Trinity

John 16:5-16

Sermon

T. A. Kantonen

... church not felt constrained to assert emphatically that Christ is nothing less than "very God of very God," there would have been no need for the doctrine of the Trinity. Greek antiquity was familiar with various "sons of God," men who were regarded as having achieved the rank of deity or at least of demi-god. A man such as the physician Aesculapius, for example, was thought to have actualized the divine potential in human nature and became the god of healing. But when this line of thinking was applied to ...

950. The Home Under God

Matthew 6:5-15

Sermon

T. A. Kantonen

... ourselves. The third main characteristic of fatherhood is forgiving love. This is what our Lord particularly stressed. He asks us to be merciful as the heavenly Father is merciful. It is true that a father has to enforce discipline if the child is to achieve wholesome maturity. Yet to let yourself into the business of being a father is to be prepared to forgive, not seven times, but seventy times seven. To be a father is to have a heart, a heart that understands and pardons with constant patience the ...

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