Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 1151 to 1175 of 4977 results

1151. Why Are You So Afraid?

Mark 4:35-41

Sermon

King Duncan

... . In one of the Chicken Soup For the Soul books there is a touching story about a young man, a veteran, ready to marry and settle down. But this young man had a problem a problem directly caused by fear. He was a responsible young man but he couldn’t keep a job and he was discouraged. Why was he in such a state? It was because he stuttered quite badly. He heard that a candy company in Plant City, Florida, was looking for a route driver. And he’d heard that the owner of the company, a man named Miller ...

1152. Holy Smokes! God Is Here

John 6:1-15

Sermon

King Duncan

... would not be. And he has not been. But he has preached and made known the powerful name and most loving person of Jesus ever since. (3) Now some of you might be listening to this message with some skepticism. Skepticism allows us to keep Jesus at arm’s distance. It keeps us from letting go and giving ourselves unreservedly to him. Could it have been a coincidence that a woman felt a strong compulsion to visit her ex-husband at just the moment he was about to have a heart attack? It could have been. Could ...

1153. Sister Act(s)

Luke 10:38-42

Sermon

Arley K. Fadness

... keys to lock doors, turn off the lights and turn off the fans. Yes, Marthas are the Energizer Bunnies of the church. They keep going and going and going.1 However, Jesus rebukes Martha by saying, "Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; ... time to die ... a time to break down and a time to build up ... a time to cry and a time to laugh ... a time to keep silence and a time to speak ... there's a time for everything." There is a time for every matter under heaven. There is a time to ...

1154. Mary's Song

Luke 1:46-56, Luke 1:39-45

Sermon

King Duncan

... t want people to have time to experience the rebirth of Christ within themselves. The temptations of the Advent Devil are diabolically clever. He makes it so easy for us to go along with the flow of seasonal celebrations. The Advent Devil’s business is to keep us so busy with holiday obligations that we forego daily prayer, Scripture study, and church services. Some of us have been fighting the Advent Devil this year. Hopefully, we now have him under control. Just a couple more days. I hope you are in a ...

1155. Not So With You

Mark 10:35-45

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... came down. How far down? All the way down, even to the point where Jesus washed his disciples’ feet, the filthiest parts of the body in the first century mindset. You don’t wash anyone’s feet without getting your hands dirty and wet. Holiness is not keeping your hands clean, but getting your hands dirty and wet in serving those Jesus loves. The mark of a clean heart? Dirty hands. Question #2: 2) Show me your scars. Do you have any battle-scars from our mission sorties in the world? Tell me your scar ...

1156. All in God’s Time

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

Sermon

Steven E. Albertin

... out for more faith. We are about to give up on God. But God's time is not our time. In his time, he truly does keep his promises. In his time, he rights the wrongs and saves his people. In today's reading, the dramatic conclusion to the entire book of ... to call an injustice ("My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?") was the ultimate working out of justice. This was God finally keeping his promise. And he did it in a way that was utterly different from the way we usually understand justice. We expect God ...

1157. The Assurance of Things Hoped For

Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16

Sermon

Charles L. Aaron

... Christ is, as Hebrews has worked so hard to explain to us. These things are still not seen, because they remain to be fulfilled. Faith is the persistent trust that these things will come to be in God's time, even though we do not see them. Faith keeps us going when the hope is not yet realized. Our faith can be strong because the hope is so well grounded in Christ. Faith feeds our hope and hope feeds our faith. In looking back to the Old Testament, Hebrews begins with creation, "By faith we understand that ...

1158. From Slave to Brother

Sermon

Charles L. Aaron

... Philemon to places he didn't want to go. For us, listening to people with whom we strenuously disagree, even over the most volatile of issues is part of being brother and sister. We may not come to an agreement, but maybe we can keep the dialogue open and keep the church intact. Liberals and conservatives are brother and sister to each other. Let us hear that and see where it will take us. When Paul made his decision about Onesimus, and wrote this letter, he stepped out in faith, not knowing exactly what ...

1159. Live the Lullaby

Luke 1:46-56

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... can offer both enrobe with love and consolation, yet invigorate and energize with vision. It is impossible to escape “Santa Claus” this time of year. No matter how hard we try to make Christmas about Jesus, that big fat guy in the red suit keeps showing up. Instead of getting sucked into a consumer-culture’s Santa Claus, maybe we should be telling the “lullaby” of the original Santa Claus, the actual Saint Nicholas, the Magnificat Nicholas. Nicholas lived in the third century in what we now calls ...

1160. Can you Hear “The Voice?”

John 5:1-15

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... your eye on the ball. Swing! Some voices stay with us forever. What voices have spoken into your life? Can you still hear them? There are voices of encouragement that urge us to keep trying, keep working, keep doing what we know is right. There are also those voices we hear that accuse us of not being good enough, of being a failure, of not deserving anything better than what we’re getting. The voices we listen to in our heart and soul can strengthen us or shatter ...

1161. The Lord’s Prayer and The Stones-Serpents-Scorpions Story

Luke 11:1-13

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... as a prop, either a plain one [www.ostrich.com] or a decorated one from someone who has visited the Middle East, all the better. You might even consider giving an ostrich egg as a gift to your lay leader or key elder as a reminder to keep the church focused on the true Bread of Life.] COMMENTARY At a recent family reunion every family member received a T-shirt proudly proclaiming, “We are kinfolk!” But while all the shirts declared the same message, they came in a variety of colors. Each “branch” of ...

1162. The New Census

Ephesians 1:1-14

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

From our first days in school, or on the playground, we learn the “Count Off.” To keep track of a classroom full of kids, one of the first things first graders learn from busy teachers is to “count ... years was one of the original provisions the crafters of our Constitution called for. It is the easiest way for the powerful to keep tabs, keep current, keep control. The most recent census, in 2010, revealed significant change in the make-up of American households. Both retailers and politicians greedily ...

1163. The Lifesaver App

1 Corinthians 1:10-17

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... apps” that are available online, once you have made Christ the sovereign application of your life, you can keep “downloading” new “apps” every day. There is a never-ending resource of “Jesus apps” or “love apps” Christ ... over confrontation, acceptance over self-assertion. How about a “Barnabas blast” app? This may be the easiest and most fun to keep running, and the one that brings the most personal pleasure. Offer an unlooked for compliment and unsolicited encouragement to every one ...

1164. One For All

Romans 5:12-21

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... Skelton in Seattle. Brittany Skelton donated a kidney that went a recipient in Missouri, where another living donor offered a kidney as well. By the time this “round robin” was completed, there was an interconnected web of twelve donors and recipients. Did you keep count? That meant there were twenty-four people whose lives were transformed because they either gave or received the gift of life. That’s “one for all and all for one.” Dave Skelton got his transplant late at night. He went into the ...

1165. A Prayer for Persecuted Christians Everywhere

John 17:6-19

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... length within the Christian community for centuries. Not surprisingly both conversos and Moriscus’ had secret underground networks to keep them connected to their heritage and faith, no matter what they had to show to the political powers ... was the message of salvation and forgiveness that all humanity had been searching for. It still is. We keep fighting the same battles. We keep committing the same sins. We keep being horrified by the same actions. But we have had an answer for the last 2000 years. It ...

1166. Family Re:Union - Inverting the Pyramid

Deuteronomy 6:1-25

Sermon

James Merritt

... are the commands, decrees and laws the LORD your God directed me to teach you to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the LORD your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life.” (Deuteronomy 6:1-2, NIV) God’s blueprint for a happy home begins with the parents. A nation never rises above its home and a home never rises above its parents ...

1167. Trust

John 4:43-54

Sermon

James Merritt

... for people we know and love who are sick and ill. I want to emphasize that we ought to pray for the sick and we want people that we love to be healed. But has it ever occurred to you that we are more concerned with keeping the saints out of heaven than we are in keeping sinners out of hell? May I tell you something? It is no tragedy to go to heaven, but it is life’s greatest tragedy to go to hell. We’re more concerned so often that our saved fathers and mothers and grandfathers and grandmothers are ...

1168. Envision: The Great Commandment

Matthew 22:34-40

Sermon

James Merritt

... God just reading my Bible. We don’t have to wonder what it means to love God, because God himself tells us what it means and then we understand that love really is not a feeling – it really is a commitment. I John 5:3 tells us, “Loving God means keeping His commandments.” (1 John 5:3, NLT) Jesus himself said in John 14:21, “Those who accept My commandments and obey them are the ones who love Me.” (John 14:21, NLT) It is real simple and not complicated at all. To love God the way God wants to be ...

1169. Up Close & Personal: Coming Into Focus

1 John 1:5--2:14

Sermon

James Merritt

... how he was praying to God and praising God and yet, he said, “If there were sin in my life that I treasured, sin in my life that I cherished, sin in my life I would not let go of the Lord would not have listened.” Unconfessed sin will keep you from being “up close & personal” with God. When you want to have a deep, private, personal, intimate conversation with someone you do it up close. You do it face-to-face. Have you ever tried to engage someone up close that had bad breath? You know what that ...

1170. Lost Baggage: The Middle Seat

1 Corinthians 5:1-13

Sermon

James Merritt

... heart, but we can say, “You profess to be a follower of Christ and you are a member of this church. If you keep acting like this I cannot have fellowship with you.” But the church then like the church now had it backward. We refuse ... who should live like sinners. It is our job to judge saints who shouldn’t live like sinners. Too many churches want to keep sick sinners out and keep sinning saints in. There is something wrong with that picture. Church, let’s always be willing to take the plank out of our ...

1171. The Runner

Romans 9:30--10:21

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... s first desires and designs for God’s children. No longer innocent, human beings needed a way to become obedient children of God once again. God offered Moses and the Israelites the “Law,” 613 of them to be exact. But the overwhelming power of sin made even keeping God’s 613 laws skewed and slanted. A “human solution” for the power of sin just did not pan out. Sometimes there is only a “divine solution.” Sometimes the Lord has to be the One to fight the battle. Some of you need to hear that ...

1172. Drowsy Disciples

Mark 13:1-31

Sermon

David J. Kalas

... stay awake. Our meeting came at the end of what had apparently been a tiring day for him, and now the meeting itself was running long. No one there would question this member’s devotion to the church or his commitment to its work. But he simply could not keep himself awake. His eyes would blur and begin to flicker, his head would start to bob, and finally his chin would sink into his chest. As is so often the case in settings of involuntary sleep, he did not slumber for long. A few moments would pass, his ...

1173. Waiting in Life's Waiting Rooms

1 Thessalonians 5:16-24

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... can relax and glide for a bit. Gliding is a sweet spot, but it does not take us very far. A “glide” is like a “recess” at school fun for a bit, but class as usual resumes in a short amount of time. There is the waiting that keeps us flapping no matter what. There is the waiting that gives episodes of gliding that are a gift. But the greatest waiting we can embrace is the wait that allows us to soar. Almost nothing is more impressive than a soaring eagle. Seemingly without effort, these creatures ...

1174. Spiritual Marines

Luke 9:18-27

Sermon

James Merritt

... every hospital, but then she came to Jesus; touched the hem of his garment, and immediately she was healed. I’m sure there were a lot of people then who thought to themselves: “This man can not only cast the devil out of my heart, he can keep disease out of my body.” But then they had discovered he had power over death. For beginning verse forty-nine of that same chapter he raised the daughter of Jairus from the dead. Then they discovered he had power over disaster. Because they had already seen how ...

1175. Everything Must Go: Striking It Rich

1 Timothy 6:3-10

Sermon

James Merritt

... want to spend more time with my family and give more time to God, but I’ve got to work 60-70 hours a week just to keep up with everybody else – Trapped! I would like to give more money to people that need it and to the causes of Christ, but I owe so ... to compromise your integrity If you pad the expense account If you cheat on your income taxes If getting it and spending it and keeping it is more important than giving it Every time I see Armour meats in the grocery store I think about the man who founded ...

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