Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 951 to 975 of 2404 results

951. The Choice Is Always Ours

Ecclesiastes 9:1-12

Sermon

Gregory J. Johanson

... the tough luck others have They scoff and speak with malice They set their faces against the heavens and their mouths speak blasphemies which pollute and contaminate decent public taste ... There is a dangerous emphasis in our twentieth century about achievement, winning, and mastery. When we forget that there are other values in addition to goals of excellence and class, we neglect to develop spiritual powers to the broader scopes. Recently The Oregonian announced a course on "The Psychology of Winners ...

952. Smart, Wise, and Foolish

1 Corinthians 1:18--2:5

Sermon

Gregory J. Johanson

... to be able to identify my biases - those of my culture, those of my family, those of my department, so that I do not blindly identify my opinion with truth. (Check your own biases the next time you discuss the progress of Black America in achieving full human dignity, or the next time you feel defensive over being questioned about the subtle implications of male-dominated language and sex-role stereotypes.) To be in touch with myself is then to recognize the ways in which the "tapes" of my past, the blind ...

953. In Praise of Feeling Guilty

Psalm 51:1-19

Sermon

Gregory J. Johanson

... good and evil" in our own being and in our every act. "The awareness of this ambiguity," says Tillich, "is the feeling of guilt."2 Or as Gaylin puts it, "Guilt is a form of self-disappointment. It is the sense of anguish that we did not achieve our standards of what we ought to be ... we have fallen short. We have somehow or other betrayed some internal sense of potential self. This is why guilt is the most internalized and personal of emotions. You-against-you offers no buffer - and no villain except ...

954. The Shadow Ascending

John 21:15-25

Sermon

Gregory J. Johanson

... -Go-Round Named Denial, and the alcoholic knows that what everyone has said is different from what has been done in the past or will be done in the future. He also knows that the one sure means of relieving his now intensified pain, of solving his problems and achieving a sense of being all right, is to drink again. And this is what he does, hoping perhaps in the back of his head that he will be able to get the benefit of drinking and be able this time to control it and its consequences. The play suddenly ...

955. A Lack of Feeding in the American Dream

Romans 6:1-14

Sermon

Gregory J. Johanson

... him What about other aspects: The American idea that it is a dire necessity for an adult human being to be loved or approved by virtually every significant other person in his/her community; the idea that one should be thoroughly competent, adequate, and achieving in all possible respects if one is to consider oneself worthwhile; the idea that if the neighbors drive a new van and have a large screen television set that we don’t that we are correspondingly diminished in self-worth; or the idea, especially ...

956. The Courage to Be Me

Sermon

Gregory J. Johanson

... my loss of self-respect to another trusted person is often crucial in beginning to master the occasions of that fear. Some persons are even afraid to acknowledge their own strength - as if they know inevitably that this will mean greater responsibility. The under-achiever in academic work is frequently a case in point. To disclose our strength may also seem to suggest a lack of humility - so we often sit quietly and passively, in the face of real human need. And uninvolvement leads to atrophy! Our fear of ...

957. No Fifth Wheels in God’s Economy

1 Corinthians 7:1-40

Sermon

Gregory J. Johanson

... companionship that has met as many or more needs than even a good marriage. They have discovered, in their freedom to come and go, a tremendous opportunity to love people and to be loved in a special way that marriage, with its exclusive demands, can never achieve. I have a strange feeling that the single person who is always wishing he or she were married would probably get married, discover all that is involved and not involved, and wish to be single again. So I encourage those of you who are single, for ...

958. The Family Was God’s Idea

Sermon

Gregory J. Johanson

... and it couldn’t happen, but it did. How were we blessed? We were blessed in the fact that somehow Abram, looking around himself and seeing all these other tribes sacrificing their children, asked himself, "Do I believe that much in my god? Would I sacrifice my only son, achieved in my old age, to my god?" He went all the way up to the point of doing it, and God stopped him and reminded him that this god requires nothing of a parent that contradicts the love which permits a family to be truly a family. The ...

959. Encouraging One Another

Hebrews 10:19-39

Bulletin Aid

Dallas A. Brauninger

Call to Worship Leader: Let us approach one another with a true heart in full assurance of faith. People: We want to generate love rather than discord and engender worthy achievement rather than failure. Leader: Let us approach our work with a true heart in full assurance of faith. People: We hope to kindle among our co-workers a spirit of healthy community. All: Now let us approach God with a true heart in full assurance of faith. Collect Because we ...

960. Called to Be Servants

Mark 10:35-45

Bulletin Aid

James Wilson

Call To Worship Leader: Let all who have gathered this day hear the Lord's call to service. People: Is there greatness to be achieved in the service of the Lord? Leader: Yes, but the rewards are eternal and not just of this world. People: Must we toil long and hard serving others to receive God's blessing? Leader: To serve with Christ, one must be willing to be the servant of all. All: Blessed ...

961. The Unexpected Universe

Matthew 11:1-19

Sermon

Maurice A. Fetty

... grace that we might continue to develop the potential that is within us all. And now in your fatherly tenderness, hear the requests we make for those in special need -- for the student bogged down by discouragement, worried that she will never achieve more than her parents; for the young man discouraged in his career because of reversals and misfortune; for the parents with a wayward child seemingly beyond reach; for the grandparents, lonely and not well and feeling neglected; for the spouses deadlocked in ...

962. The Star Thrower

Matthew 2:1-12

Sermon

Maurice A. Fetty

... arrested the attention of Robert Frost as much as it did that of the Wise Men. Carrying praise too far is a common problem in human history. We westerners came out of the nineteenth century patting ourselves on the back at our own proud achievements. In every way and in every day our world is getting better and better, we told ourselves with our theory of inevitable progress. The twentieth century, said some, would be the "Christian Century," the century when many of the highest Christian ideals would come ...

963. Getting It Together

Luke 6:37-42

Sermon

William G. Carter

... that sees life for all of its promises and pitfalls. God knows we are not the people that we want others to see. There is always a shadow between our intentions and our accomplishments. But God has sent Jesus Christ to save us from our own poor records of achievement. Jesus never had a log in his eye, but he was nailed to a great big piece of timber. And on the cross, he has taken away every sin. In his mercy, every speck and blemish has already been removed. Thanks to Jesus, we have been freed to serve ...

964. Even Our Business Belongs to God!

Jeremiah 32:1-44

Sermon

Mark Ellingsen

... Command and Will.6 Our work, Luther says, is a mask that God uses to give us his blessing. If we have earned any wealth by our work, if you are “comfortable,” it is not you who earned it. Not really. God gave us these successes and the ability to achieve them as unmerited gifts.7 Do you get the implications of this for the importance of your work? If God uses your work as a “mask” for giving you the goods of life, then God uses your work and the work of others to give other people the necessities of ...

965. A Vision of Freedom

Isaiah 65:17-25

Sermon

Mark Ellingsen

... of freedom that will help us to appreciate how we are not free yet. We need this new vision to make us yearn for true freedom. And with that yearning, by the grace of God, we may be enabled to live in that freedom and be instruments of God to achieve it. Our text today from the Old Testament has that vision. Let us hear its words again; the Lord God speaks through the text, and he says: For I am about to create new heavens and a new earth; the former things shall not be remembered or come to mind ...

966. God's Gifts Are Free: Enjoy

Deuteronomy 26:1-15

Sermon

Mark Ellingsen

... that will not only make you thankful; God will use it to set you free. You see, the more you realize how God gives his gifts freely, without regard for your worthiness, the freer you will become. Of course you and I cannot come to this awareness, achieve a spirit of thanksgiving, by our own powers. (When we try to make ourselves thankful, it is just more bondage, one more obligation hung around our necks.) I agree with Martin Luther at this point, when he says that we cannot really give thanks unless we are ...

967. Why Earthly Powers Need No Longer Enslave

Daniel 7:15-28, Daniel 7:1-14

Sermon

Mark Ellingsen

... power is relative, will not ultimately prevail, need not lead to political inertia. Let Martin Luther King, Jr., have a final word on that. In his final SCLC Presidential Address he wrote: Now power properly understood is nothing but the ability to achieve purpose ... There is nothing wrong with power if power is used correctly ... Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice, and justice at its best is power correcting everything that stands against love.12 Put the earthly powers in ...

968. Salvation Includes Social Justice

Jeremiah 23:1-8

Sermon

Mark Ellingsen

... not prevail. Christ reigns! Jeremiah in our First Lesson reminds us that under Christ’s Lordship justice will prevail! No longer can the Church, no longer can our church, stay out of politics and remain silent about the plight of the poor. When will justice be achieved and poverty ended? In a sense Jeremiah said that was in the future. In another sense with Christ that future has now come. Justice, the end of poverty, will not come tomorrow. But it is close. As Martin Luther King, Jr., put it: There is ...

969. Do You Know?

Hosea 11:1-11

Sermon

John W. Wurster

... . Looking beyond yourself is hard. I know that. Do you know me? Absorbed in yourself, how can you know me? “I rejoice in your triumphs. I enjoy seeing you use well what you’ve been given. You are capable of much in body and mind, but also in heart. Your achievements reflect well on your creator. Do you know that? “I am sorry for your setbacks. It pains me to see you disappointed. I want good things for you. I want you to realize that what may seem to be a dashed hope or a broken dream or a missed ...

970. The ABC Gospel

2 Kings 5:1-27

Sermon

Robert Leslie Holmes

... anything worth noting. Others seem to possess a charisma that takes them quickly to fame and following. They make a name for themselves that attracts others like a magnet. Naaman was like that. Wherever he went he stood head and shoulders against the crowd. He was an achiever. Look at some of the superlatives from this one-verse introduction. He was a commander of the army of the king of Aram. He was a great man. He was a high favorite with his master. He was a winner: “The Lord had given victory to Aram ...

971. With All Your Heart

Joel 2:12-17, Joel 2:1-11

Sermon

Carlyle Fielding Stewart

... with resentment and hatred. God wants to redeem his people. God wants his people to have a heart and spirit of redemption for others. The people of Joel’s time were hurting from their past. Some of them had lost all hope of ever achieving the spiritual greatness of their forbears. But God always sees new possibilities amid the disabilities of our human condition. God is always making a way out of no way, seeking ways of restoring his people to spiritual wholeness, health, and vitality. No situation is ...

972. Not Your Leftovers But Your First Fruits

Deuteronomy 26:1-15

Sermon

Carlyle Fielding Stewart

... and keep watch over them. God, then, must be honored with their first fruits and not their leftovers. God must be placed first in all things because it is the mercy, grace, providence, and power of God that makes their survival possible and their dreams achievable. How often today do we give God our leftovers and not our first fruits? God wants our first fruits. First, we must give God more than our leftover thoughts and thinking. After many years of thinking or after occasional crises or in 911 situations ...

973. Days of Promise

Jeremiah 33:1-26

Sermon

Harry N. Huxhold

... God must also work through the people opposed to the divine will. The result is that God must set the stage for working out God’s purposes through whatever is at hand. God chooses the right time, the propitious hour, and the most helpful circumstances for achieving the divine goals. In Advent, as we prepare for the observance of the Birth of our Lord, we think of how God chose the most favorable moment for the birth of our Lord and the most advantageous time for the expansion of Christianity. The Apostle ...

974. A Town of Promise

Micah 5:1-4

Sermon

Harry N. Huxhold

Sometimes little towns, ordinarily only dots on the map, achieve great fame. Green Bay, a rural Wisconsin town, is notable because it sponsors a National League Football team. Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, was settled by Moravian Christians in 1735 to be a peaceful town of the simple life. The Moravians were descendants of John Hus, who suffered martyrdom for his faith in ...

975. The Child of Promise

Isaiah 9:1-7

Sermon

Harry N. Huxhold

... throne of David, he adds that the new King would “establish and uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time onward and forevermore.” What God had always intended that the throne of David should have been among the nations of the earth is now achieved throughout the nations of the earth by the Holy One, who sits at the right hand of the Father to rule over both heaven and earth until that day when he comes to judge all the nations of the earth in righteousness. What began so humbly and ...

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