Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 1001 to 1025 of 2962 results

Matthew 5:9

Sermon

Wallace H. Kirby

... the development of the cruise missile and the neutron bomb, if we could encourage the President to write that letter calling for total disarmament, if we could do something about Rhodesia and the Middle East, would this merit us the title of peacemaker? Would it designate us as children of God? Time does change the meaning of words, and because it does, the meaning of this seventh Beatitude of Jesus has been narrowed. For us today, peace is largely a negative word. It describes mainly the absence or the end ...

1002. Do I Dare Be Different?

Matthew 5:10; 10:1-42

Sermon

Wallace H. Kirby

... category and expect him to stay there, conform to that pattern, act in that way. If he breaks out of it, we are suspicious of him or her. We like to label and categorize. When persons fail to conform to the prescribed pattern, to fit the categories we have designed for them, we don’t like them. Those who do not conform are certainly in for trouble. I am told that if you put a hen with different markings in a coop where all the other hens have the same markings, the different hen will be pecked to death ...

1003. Facing Up to a Power Problem

Acts 2:1-13

Sermon

Robert G. Tuttle

... and cleansing is now beginning to sweep across the world. "Did not our hearts burn within us as he walked with us on the way?" Is this the beginning of a cycle of God’s return? Are we ready to break into the new dimensions for which we were designed? We know that "the power that lifts us rip is greater than the power that drags us down." But, are we ready for it? Is the new Charismatic Movement for real? Is this the forerunner of this "Third Great Awakening" for our nation? One, with Jonathan Edwards, one ...

1004. Amazing Grace

Romans 3:21-31

Sermon

Robert G. Tuttle

... all of us to receive life. But "the working out of our own salvation in all seriousness" comes as a result of grace, not as the cause of grace. In the experience of God’s grace we begin to recognize and become empowered for the life "for which God has designated us." "He that putteth his hand to the plow," said Jesus, "and looketh back, is not fit for the Kingdom of God." "He that endureth to the end shall be saved." "Cheap grace" is wanting God to do it all for us, with no response on our part. "Costly ...

1005. The Glory of the Cross

1 Corinthians 1:18--2:5

Sermon

Hubert Beck

... words of Jesus to have been spoken? "Now is the Son of man glorified, and in him God is glorified." Stress the "now" in the sentence so that your guessing is almost pinpointed to an instant in time, for the word seems to have been deliberately chosen to designate the time of the "glorifying." What’s your guess? Is it immediately after a great miracle? Is it one of the first things he says after his Resurrection? Is it a response to a great confession of faith that has been made? Try the Last Supper. Make ...

1006. Binding Up the Fractured World

1 Corinthians 3:1-23

Sermon

Hubert Beck

... a tooth for a tooth." That, however, does more to purge out the evil than it does to install the good. So Jesus urges activity still more positive. Rather than use the courts for vengeance he calls on us to turn from ways of vengeance to positive and constructive deeds designed to raise up good in our midst. "Do not resist one who is evil. But if any one strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also; and if anyone would sue you and take your coat, let him have your cloak as well." Putting it ...

1007. Journey To The Cross VII (Easter): Jesus And The Women At The Tomb

Mark 16:1-20

Sermon

James W. Moore

... Us That Things Can Be Redeemed. Think of that. God can even redeem material things. For example, I’m thinking of John Wesley’s study desk on display in his home in London. It’s a prime example. That same desk once belonged to a bookie. Designed originally for taking gambling bets, it was redeemed to be a place of spiritual power where John Wesley thought through and wrote down his greatest sermons. I’m thinking also of a little church in the Fiji Islands. They have there an unusual baptismal font ...

1008. The Necessity of Moral Commitment

Gen 3:1-24 · Is 28:15

Sermon

Robert G. Tuttle

... is meaningful arrangement, determined from eternity by God." Of course, this can be argued pro or con, but when we look at life today we see a terrible hunger for meaningful arrangement. Creatures live in the universe in self-fulfillment - a fulfillment designed by the creator. This is the abundant life that Christ spoke of. It comes in the discovery of and obedience to God’s meaningful arrangement. If we rebel against order and structure and truth, either partially or totally, there is unfulfillment. The ...

1009. What Are You Going to Do About Death?

Mt 10:28 · Lk 12:4

Sermon

Robert G. Tuttle

... else is expressing joyfully his creative gifts for our sakes. In other words, "It is delightful to all in heaven to communicate their delights and blessings to others." In this new state of life we are moving closer and closer to God. To sum it up, "man designs and eventually comes to the world of his own choices" - heaven or hell. My young friend feared that a hope of heaven would take our minds off of the service of mankind. To the contrary, when we begin to glimpse the goodness, the love, the sharing of ...

1010. I Knew You’d Come

John 6:16-24

Sermon

Richard Hoefler

... is that he cannot build a boat to match his boasts." In many ways we have been able to conquer the sea. When it loomed up as a barrier to our progress across the earth we built boats to sail on it, created atomic submarines to travel through it, and designed jets to fly over it. What’s more, we can even swim in it. But we cannot become master of it. The story which forms the miracle we consider now is about a man who did master the sea - in fact he walked on it. And that defies all that ...

1011. A Daughter of Jacob

Matthew 15:21-28

Sermon

Richard Hoefler

... Jesus was a heathen - a pagan - a Gentile. Mark calls her a Syrophoenician. Matthew refers to her as a Canaanite. Harvey comments that this "is a piece of antiquarianism on the part of Matthew."3 It is really an Old Testament word used to designate those people who were occupying the promised land when the Jews arrived. This, however, might be suggestive of the seriousness in which Matthew held this encounter between Jesus and a Canaanite woman. The whole history of the Jews since they had arrived in the ...

1012. "Can Do" Christianity

Philippians 4:10-20

Sermon

Raymond Gibson

Those who lived through the long years of World War II remember a remarkable group of men called the Seabees. "Seabees" was their nickname, based upon their official designation as the U.S. Naval Construction Battalions. These were the men who went ashore right behind the Marines during the Pacific island battles, constructing the new facilities necessary for the support and establishment of our nation's combat forces. They referred to themselves as "can do" people, and were often ...

1013. What It Takes to Stay Christian

1 Thessalonians 1:1-10

Sermon

Raymond Gibson

... to fully understand, but nevertheless it is because of our acceptance of what God did in Jesus Christ that we are made new men and women. Charles Wesley spoke for all of us when he sang, ‘Tis mystery all! th’ immortal dies! Who can explore his strange design? In vain, the first-born seraph tries To sound the depths of love divine. ‘Tis mercy all! Let earth adore; Let angel minds inquire no more. The key to understanding St. Paul’s phrase is the little preposition, of. It is the work of faith that ...

1014. A SERMON-DRAMA FOR EPIPHANY

Drama

Tom Eberle

... . Truth is not something we stumble across, but something which searches out and discovers us. Epiphany is the celebration of the reaching out of God which challenges the Socratic assumption that truth lies within reach of our own enlightment. In a playful sermon-drama designed to be performed by youth, star-gazing is placed in contrast with the God who shines upon us. A SERMON-DRAMA FOR EPIPHANY Matthew 2:1-12 [to be read before the drama] [The following is an Epiphany sermon-drama for a cast of seven ...

1015. Dessert in the Desert

Deut 32:10-12 · Ez 37

Sermon

Robert Noblett

... in a movement, then surely it will be discovered in a new and promising friendship. In a religious wasteland, meaning is always beyond us. We all experience these symptoms at one point or another, and the concern is presented here not by happenstance but by design. If we listen carefully and look closely, we will begin to hear people telling us of these moods. And even if they don’t tell us, their faces often express what their words belie. What can and should we say, then, to people who find themselves ...

1016. What Is Your Holy Week Address?

Matthew 27:45-56

Sermon

Robert Noblett

... and that in our liberality we have conserved too little to be effective. That, too, is to be lost. By the grace of God, though, there is yet another place where we can reside, and that is with Easter’s triumph. This is no bland yearly offering designed to give the Christian story a nice ending, glossing over the grime and gruesomeness of Calvary. Not at all. Instead it is the human conviction, born of our experience and celebrated in the gospel of Jesus Christ, that when the story does not end nicely, it ...

1017. John the Baptizer

Isaiah 40:1-31, Luke 1:67-80, John 1:19-28

Sermon

Warren Thomas Smith

... born at Hebron, some six months prior to the birth of Jesus. Naturally the neighbors and kinspeople assumed the child would be named Zechariah, for his father. Both parents, however, insisted he bear the name John, for God had so designated to them. "None of your family is called by that name," pleaded the puzzled relatives. Immediately all speculated, "Whatever will this child become?" Zechariah’s speech surprisingly returned, and he gave his fatherly and prophetic blessing. His Benedictus looked to ...

1018. THIS MAN NAMED JESUS

Drama

Marcia Miller

This Man Named Jesus is designed to bring into focus certain biblical truths about the Son of Man and his mission on earth. It is a dialogue among three people, each of whom has a different point of view in telling about Jesus. First, there is a person who tells the story of Jesus and his ...

1019. Can We Really Get Along?

John 4:1-26

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... well. Jesus rested at the well while the disciples went into the nearby village of Sychar to buy some food. Verse 7 tells us that a woman came to the well to draw water. She was a loose woman morally, perhaps wearing too much make-up and clothes designed to advertise the contents. Immediately she could tell that Jesus was a Jew by the clothes he wore. She expected him to move aside and ignore her. But to her amazement, Jesus said, "Give me a drink." The only explanation she could figure for such conduct was ...

1020. Don't Be Afraid of the Future

Matthew 28:1-10

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... up now and go back to the good old days when Jesus taught by the Sea of Galilee, performed healing miracles, and fellowshipped with his friends over supper? Can’t we turn back the clock? You and I should be able to empathize with Mary. We have lots of schemes designed to slow down or reverse the clock. We are part of a youth-glorifying, death-denying culture. After about the age of 29, we try not to get any older, or at least not to look like it. Rather than looking forward to the future, we try to fend ...

1021. Miracle On Main Street by Dr. George A. Buttrick

John 1:1-18

Sermon

Leonard Mann

... a certain colosseum. I pulled beyond the miraculous space so as to back in. The car behind me stole the space front-end first. The attractive lady exclaimed, "Oh, Bill, you shouldn’t!" Bill said, "What the hell!" Exact language, for he’d already arrived at the designated place. I didn’t let the theft trouble me because I’ve often stolen the black man’s place in suburb or pew or store. I mean by keeping my mouth closed. Weren’t we silent far too long about the Viet war? We didn’t stop Communism ...

1022. The Cunning Craftsman, God

Luke 18:9-14

Sermon

Allan J. Weenink

... . Our diminishing global influence and importance in the eyes of the world attests to the indifferent attitudes harbored by the multitudes who have not clearly heard the great commission to witness and serve as demonstrated by our common Lord. It is a good world that God has designed, but it is not a beautiful world for the eye to see. For here and there and more frequently than we want to admit, we have let the tool slip from our hand and have hurt rather than helped the cause. Now it is in our mutual ...

1023. Forgiving Is Forgetting

Sermon

Harold Warlick

... , placebos have helped patients feel better. Regardless of usage, placebos achieve an effect in about thirty-five percent of the cases. The word "placebo" comes from the Latin "I shall please." It was used in the 15th century to mean "flattery" and later for "courtesy designed to please." Part of the positive effect of a placebo lies in the fact that while a patient is taking one he puts out of his mind the unpleasantness of his feelings. His mind blocks out the imagined and lingering ailments and gains a ...

1024. Justification and Reconciliation

Romans 3:21-31

Sermon Aid

T. A. Kantonen

... leading one’s life as a human. Thus it is used even to describe Christ’s humanness, as in John 1:14, "The word became flesh." But since human existence apart from the redeeming work of Christ is sinful alienation from the Creator, flesh also designates the distance between man and God. Flesh is not intrinsically evil, but it is corrupted by sin and becomes the base of operations for sin, for it gives sin its opportunity (Romans 7:11; Galatians 5:13). Natural human frailty opens the door to sin. To ...

1025. Drastic Surgery

Matthew 5:27-30

Sermon

Herchel H. Sheets

... . And it is urgent that we know what it was. Sin Is Serious For one thing, he was saying that sin is serious - deadly serious. One of Blaise Pascal’s Provincial Letters deals with the policy of certain religious leaders of his day which was designed to make confession more pleasant and penance less difficult. As the policy worked out, it played down the seriousness of sin and made legitimate just about anything a person wanted to do. No longer were persons obliged to "avoid the proximate occasions of sin ...

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