Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 1026 to 1050 of 2332 results

1026. Listening or Hearing?

Matthew 13:1-23

Sermon

Dennis Kastens

... where there can be no germination. With no sprouting, where will such people be when the Great Reaper and King (God) comes with his sickle on the last day to reap his harvest? Will he find a harvest, or will he find a slick street that lies empty and deserted because there was no time for spiritual growth to take place? Or supposing we’re not the "hustle and bustle" type of person. What does our parable have to say to us? Let’s look at the second soil. "A sower went out to sow. And ... other seeds fell ...

1027. The Lacking Christian?

Matthew 14:13-21

Sermon

Dennis Kastens

... in this text. (1) We Christians, like all within the human family, lack many things. (2) Unlike other people, we turn to Christ for a rich supply. A famished crowd of 5,000 persons is encountered by Jesus. The need is great, for they are in a desert (Mark 6:35), and food for the multitudes is not available. The need is great, for the small neighboring villages would not have sufficient food to supply all; besides, many pilgrims are on their way to the Passover (John 6:4) and are overcrowding these villages ...

1028. The Stiller of Storms

Matthew 14:22-36

Sermon

Dennis Kastens

... as we are - to be aware of our shortcomings and to make allowances for them - and to remember that we are not all alike but that each of us has a unique function in this world. We don’t have to try and fake our way like the desert traveler in California whose skeletal remains were discovered in the shifting dunes. Clutched in his bony hand was a chunk of mica with pyrites, resembling gold, that had deceived him. He had mistaken the yellow streaks in this rock for gold. On a scrap of paper under the ...

1029. A King Worth Having

Zechariah 9:9-13

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

... team must have a captain; an army, a general; a ship, a pilot; a business, a manager. Each person needs someone in charge, someone to look up to for guidance. That someone is a person’s god. When the Israelites at Mt. Sinai felt Moses and his God had deserted them, they came to Aaron with the demand, "Up, make us gods!" To them it did not matter which god, so long as they had a god to worship and serve. Without a King-God, people are confused and bewildered. In the era of the Judges, it is reported ...

1030. Is God Still God?

Isaiah 44:6-23

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

... are other gods of our own making. Idols were made out of wood, stone, or iron and people foolishly worshiped them. If we do not have the one and only true God, we will make a substitute. When the people figured that Moses and his God deserted them at Mt. Sinai, they came to Aaron with the demand, "Up, make us gods!" In obedience to public demand, Aaron fashioned a golden calf before which the Israelites worshiped. Even in our enlightened age, we are still making gods. In 1983, the Washington Redskins won ...

1031. Does God Give A Damn?

Exodus 5:22--6:12

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

... richest country of the world. In New York City, 36,000 people walk the streets, sleep on park benches or in alleys and eat out of garbage cans because they have no place to stay. Imagine sleeping night after night over a warm air vent on a sidewalk of a deserted city street! Does God care that people are hungry and homeless? Indeed, he does, just as much as he was concerned about the 5,000 in Jesus’ day. If so, why then do we have so many hungry and poor people? God does care, and he cares enough to ...

1032. Sick Of A Sick Society

Jeremiah 14:1--15:21

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

... after his parole, he murdered an innocent man in a New York restaurant - the third man he had killed. Smart, but wicked! In fact, our learning can be our undoing. We can be too educated for our own good. There is a legend about three wise men crossing a desert. To prove their knowledge, one claimed he could produce the skeleton of a lion out of the sand. He did. The second boasted he could put flesh on the bones. He did. The third claimed he could outdo the other two by breathing life into the lion. He did ...

1033. Separation of God and State?

Isaiah 44:24--45:25

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

... people take goods worth twenty-four billion dollars! Pornography is another evil practiced by the common man in our society. It has invaded adult video games. One is entitled, "Custer’s Revenge." It shows Custer walking naked, except for a hat and boots, across a desert. He meets an Indian woman whom he ties up, tears off her clothes, and rapes. The manufacturers claim it does not appeal to prurient interests. To them it is only a fun game. We are a nation that allows pornography to flourish and poison ...

1034. Jesus' Consecration

Matthew 3:13-17

Illustration

Brett Blair

... is with Jesus' Baptism. He submits to John's baptism of repentance even though he himself was perfect and had no need to repent. Jesus identified with our sins by being baptized. He joined in the popular movement of his day. It was a grass roots movement started by a desert monk named John the Baptist. John was calling for the repentance of Israel. Jesus choose to be baptized because he wanted to participate with the people in their desires to be close to God.

1035. Peter’s Net

Luke 5:1-11

Sermon

Richard F. Bansemer

... ’s’activities in the sermon text for today we see what happened to him as it relates to his faith. It was a narrow little lake, about thirteen miles long and eight miles wide, a big splash 680 feet below sea level. Now it is nearly deserted, but in Peter’s day nine villages lived on its shore, and the tropical climate was pleasant. Jesus was there changing his style of ministry. Until now he had preached at the synagogue, but this message is being proclaimed at the seashore. The synagogue will soon ...

1036. One Final Meeting

Sermon

Carroll Gunkel

... on the Appian Way, Peter has a vision wherein he meets the Lord Jesus walking toward him and Rome. Falling on his knees, humbly before the Lord, Simon Peter asks, "Quo vadis, domine?" "Where are you going, Lord?" To which Jesus responds, "If thou desert my people, I am going to Rome to be crucified a second time." Whereupon, Peter, realizing that his leaving Rome is indicative of failure to fulfill his ministry, rises to his feet. Through all of this, Peter’s companion, Nazarias, stands in amazement, for ...

1037. "At Beneficial You’re Good for More"

Isaiah 63:7--64:12

Sermon

Peter Rudowski

... out, "How long must we wait until we are fulfilled? How long must we wait until we have the things that make life rich? How long? Isn’t there a Beneficial office in the heavens where we are good for more?" God’s people often feel lonely and deserted. To those lonely feelings - to those feelings of disappointment - to those cries of hurt - God comes with a message. The message is simply this: "In God’s kingdom, you are good for more." God will give us what we need and even more. God will give to us ...

1038. Born to Play Second Fiddle

Luke 1:57-66

Sermon

George Bass

... them to himself in Jesus Christ. He knew that it was God whom he was to serve all his life - not himself - and he gladly accepted the role of a servant. John must have had some spiritual struggles, but they must have been left in the desert when he emerged from it and began to preach and baptize. Just as Christ overcame the Tempter in the wilderness, so it could have been with the Baptist. Tennyson might have been writing about John when he said: He fought his doubts and gathered strength, He would ...

1039. A Person Approved by Christ

John 1:43-51

Sermon

George Bass

... and the east, to the north and the south, and all the tribes of the earth shall bless themselves by you and your descendants. Be sure that I am with you; I will keep you safe wherever you go, and bring you back to this land, for I will not desert you before I have done all that I have promised you." And the man who had said to Jesus, "You are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!", must have remembered how Jacob awakened from his dream and said, "Truly, Yahweh is in this place and I ...

1040. Do I Dare Be Different?

Matthew 5:10; 10:1-42

Sermon

Wallace H. Kirby

... Those early Christians were different. They were different in their moral life, different in their social life, different in their working life, different in their economic life. Their difference was lived out in the world. Paul did not write to the saints in the desert or to the saints in a monastery. He wrote to the saints in Philippi and Rome. Those Christians daily confronted their world with their different life-style. And the world couldn’t stand it. For the presence and life of the Christians were ...

1041. Faith A New Potential for Life

Romans 4:1-25

Sermon

Robert G. Tuttle

... a few years ago, I chanced to have dinner with an official of the London Oil Company, which was then drilling in Libya. He told me that in drilling for oil they had discovered an immense lake of fresh water (something like the Great Lakes) underneath the desert. He said this could mean more to Libya than the oil. It could mean new life to Libya, irrigation for fertile soil, farms, green life. And then he added, "You know, when they bring this water to the surface, it might even start raining in Libya again ...

1042. Life - The Womb of the Eternal

Romans 8:18-27

Sermon

Robert G. Tuttle

... a Golden Sermon But I didn’t like the look of the Mount. And I would’ve fed fifty thousand But the press wasn’t there to count. And the Business in the Temple Had a team of Coppers on the door And if I spent a year in the desert I’d have lost my pension for sure. I’m going to shave off my beard and cut my hair, Buy myself some bullet-proof underwear, I’m the Liberal Christ And I’ve got no blood to spare.3 When will we learn that the struggle is life, and ...

1043. Clouds and Son-Shine

Ephesians 3:1-13

Sermon

Hubert Beck

... from the Father to humankind, the way by which the world would be freed from its enslavement to death and all that leads to it, for in him all those enemies that make up death would be opposed and defeated. Compared to a journey across the desert or even to shipwreck and torment of body, this undertaking of the Christ far surpasses all other "undesirable" callings. It means that the encounter must be with far more than physical death; it must be with the very forces that make physical death inevitable. His ...

1044. Journey To The Cross IV: Jesus and Judas

Mark 14:43-52

Sermon

James W. Moore

... he did. He started slowly, but soon the words were flowing easily as the truth of his story came out. His father had beaten him unmercifully when he was a little boy. He had lots of scars to show for it. When he was eight years old, his father had deserted the family. His mother from that point on began to entertain a succession of men in their home. When he was about 10, his mother taught him how to steal… and encouraged him to take anything he could get his hands on. Later, as he entered his teen years ...

1045. JUNK FOR JESUS

Illustration

John H. Krahn

Simon Peter was the disciple with a foot-shaped mouth. "I will never leave you no matter what the others do," Peter protested one day after the Lord told the disciples that they would all desert him. Not much later, Peter denies the Lord three times in the courtyard, swearing the third time that he never knew the man. After his resurrection Jesus appears to some of his disciples. They have some breakfast together, then Jesus turns to Peter and says, "Simon, son of John, do ...

1046. Faith Opens the Door

Genesis 12:1-8

Sermon

Robert G. Tuttle

... to find the God who had made it all and was still in control. He was seeking a new society of persons, structured by God himself. William Barclay suggests some legends that have arisen around the story of Abraham: Young Abraham looked out across the desert to the unsurpassable glory of the sunrise, and he said to himself, "Surely the sun is God, the Creator." But then in the evening the sun sank in the west and disappeared, and young Abraham thought to himself, "No, the author of creation cannot set." Then ...

1047. The Gospel According to Christ’s Enemies

John 11:1-16

Sermon

Richard Hoefler

... a statement of the fact: "Lazarus whom you love is ill." Augustine comments on this, pointing out that it was sufficient that Jesus should know only of Lazarus’ illness, for it is not possible that any man should at one and the same time love a friend and desert him.9 The plot begins to thicken. He Whom You Love It is amazing how the gospel is frequently tucked into a carefully turned phrase of the biblical record. Here is a case in point. The message the sisters sent to Jesus was, "Lord, he whom you love ...

1048. Forever His

Romans 14:1--15:13

Sermon

Raymond Gibson

... with his own blood shed on Calvary’s cross. We know that we are his because he himself said so: "I know my own and my own know me, as the Father knows me and I know the Father" (John 10:14-15). We also know that he will never desert us nor fail us, again because he said so: "I will not leave you desolate; I will come to you" (John 14:18). We know we belong to Jesus as long as we live, and that we can trust him explicitly because Jesus never told a lie, never failed to ...

1049. When the Church Is the Church

Philippians 2:1-11

Sermon

Raymond Gibson

... his eyes when Peter denied Christ for the third time and the Scripture records that "the Lord turned and looked at Peter" (Luke 22:61). Agape love is sacrifical love, suffering love, believing love, love which loves us in spite of our failures and frailities, desertion and denials. It is the kind of love that seldom fills a church, but when the church is the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ, he always provides enough agape so that every member can have a sufficiency. Eugene L. Smith, in Mandate for Mission ...

1050. A SERMON-DRAMA FOR EPIPHANY

Drama

Tom Eberle

... me. I’m not used to people following me. I come when they call me, so I figure that they ought to respect my privacy. Well, these characters wouldn’t let me out of their sight. I thought I had managed to ditch them in the Arabian desert, but when I got to Jerusalem they were still on my tail - figuratively speaking. You notice that stars really don’t have tails. [motions as if to show them] So I figured I would pick some backwoods little village and stop there - just to confuse them. [Three wise ...

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