Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 1151 to 1175 of 1858 results

1151. What Can Christians Learn From Jews?

Genesis 12:1-3

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... . The Gospel spread with the help of outpost Jewish synagogues in the Greek world. By A.D. 50, approximately one-third of Jerusalem were followers of The Way. When early Christians wanted to bask in their own chosenness, Paul warned them sternly: “If you, though a wild olive shoot have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root, do not boast over those branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you (Romans 11:17-19 ...

1152. From Greed to Generosity

Mark 10:17-27

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... in fear. We fear we will not have the fundamental necessities of life — food, shelter, safety, stability — so we keep saving for a rainy day. When is enough, enough? Meanwhile, Jesus says “relax," don't be so preoccupied with getting. If God gives attention to the wild flowers of the field, don't you think he'll give some attention to you? Has anyone, by fussing in front of the mirror, ever gotten taller by so much as an inch? Seek first the Kingdom of God. Don't worry about tomorrow. God will ...

1153. Living in Gratitude

Philippians 4:4-8

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... . When all the entries were in, the judges narrowed the competition down to two. One painting featured a majestic lake, so tranquil and still that the lush hills behind it were perfectly mirrored in its reflection. Above was a blue sky, around it were blooming wild flowers. Behind it were deer grazing in the meadows. It was a piece to behold. It was a picture of peace. The other finalist portrayed a terrible storm, winds blowing, trees bending, and debris flying through the air. The sky was dark, the sight ...

1154. Finding Our Place in the Body of Christ

1 Corinthians 12:12-20

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... thing that sometimes occurs in the human body. A mutiny happens. We call it a tumor. If the tumor is malignant, we are in big trouble. Cancer is a group of disloyal cells that decide to defy inhibition. They multiply without regard to other cells. They grow wild and try every way possible to take complete control. Each is a healthy, functioning cell but totally disloyal to the rest of the body. Out of control cancer cells will kill you, as many of us know. When the Church stops taking its cues from Christ ...

1155. Holy Waste

Mark 14:1-11

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... this show on the road, and you do something like that! And Jesus, drenched in nard, says, “Leave her alone; she’s done a beautiful thing.” (Trotter, “Do Something Beautiful”) That’s the story — the story of holy waste, extravagant love expressing itself in wild abandon. What does it say to you and me? It says, first of all, that sometimes it is inappropriate to be sensible. Did you hear that? Sometimes it is inappropriate to be sensible. Now parents, I’m not undercutting what we teach our ...

1156. A Shepherd's Story

Luke 2:8-20, Luke 2:1-7

Sermon

Charles L. Aaron

... myself out for the night shift watching other people's sheep. Tending sheep would not be my first choice, you understand. First, I have to stay awake all night. Then, there's counting the sheep to make sure one or two haven't wandered off. Thieves are always a problem. Wild animals, now that's what really scares me. I don't want them to get the sheep, but I sure don't want them to get me. None of us could get by without sheep. Where else would we get the wool, the meat, the skins, even the horns? If ...

1157. Streams of Living Water

John 4:5-42

Sermon

Lee Griess

... enough to God to allow God to touch us and change our hearts inside. We attend church when we can. We open the hymnal and hold it in front of us. We hear to the pastor's words each Sunday, but inside a thousand other thoughts are running wild. The same self-righteous judging of others still plagues us. The same seeking and striving to be better than those around us continues. The same selfish nature still rules unchecked within our hearts and the seeds of faith planted within us never seem to take root. We ...

1158. How Jesus’ Friendship Makes Your Burdens Light

Matthew 10:1-42

Sermon

Mark Ellingsen

... of resisting Hitler, spoke of the loneliness and inward suffering of the wealthy. Their wealth cannot buy the most important things in life — inner peace, love in marriage, he claimed. Bonhoeffer believed that even those intoxicated with life, rushing from day to day, wildly plunge into their supposed happiness because they do not want to admit that they are unhappy and burdened, too.4 This great German theologian is right about us in our context today, isn't he? There is a lot of unhappiness out there ...

1159. Kingdoms in Conflict

Matthew 21:33-46

Sermon

Wayne Brouwer

... and again. Coaching is nothing without a team that responds. Leaders are merely overblown egos if there is no one who will follow. During the tumultuous French Revolution of 1789, mobs and madmen rushed through Paris streets. One journalist reported a wide-eyed, wild-haired wastrel lumbering along one day, feverishly demanding from all he saw, "Where is the crowd? I must find them! I am their leader!" This is the problem Jesus pointedly identifies in his parable. God is the greatest coach, but the team is ...

1160. Dressed for the Banquet

Matthew 22:1-14

Sermon

Chris Ewing

... 's The Team? Coaching is nothing without a team that responds. Leaders are merely overblown egos if there is no one who will follow. During the tumultuous French Revolution of 1789, mobs and madmen rushed through Paris streets. One journalist reported a wide-eyed, wild-haired wastrel lumbering along one day, feverishly demanding from all he saw, "Where is the crowd? I must find them! I am their leader!" This is the problem Jesus pointedly identifies in his parable. God is the greatest coach, but the team is ...

1161. Masks

Matthew 23:1-12

Sermon

Chris Ewing

... want to be. (put on mask)1 Masks are interesting things. We all wear them, you know, and not just on Halloween. We put on the brave smiling mask when our hearts are breaking. We put on a gruff mask to keep people at a distance. We put on a wild and crazy mask to get attention or to avoid responsibility. We put on an "expert" mask to gain respect or to earn a living. Most of us have many masks. Masks can be a means of survival for us, a way of hiding, perhaps, in a world that seems hostile ...

1162. Nations on Trial

Matthew 25:31-46

Drama

Chris Ewing

... them this message from the sovereign Lord: What sorrow awaits you shepherds who feed yourselves instead of your flocks. Shouldn't shepherds feed their sheep? As surely as I live, says the sovereign Lord, you abandoned my flock and left them to be attacked by every wild animal. And though you were my shepherds, you didn't search for my sheep when they were lost. You took care of yourselves and left the sheep to starve. Therefore this is what the sovereign Lord says to his people: I will judge between one ...

1163. A Honeymoon at Church Camp: A Real Homecoming

Jeremiah 31:7-14

Sermon

Tony Everett

... and hopeless. Any possibility of returning to the way things were — and the way they ought to be — seemed beyond the realm of possibility. For the displaced and dispersed children of God, the way back was through a dangerous, dry, barren wilderness brimming with wild beasts and bandits just waiting to pounce on the vulnerable traveler. Just like Wally at the well, retrieving their dream seemed like a lost cause. Or was it? "For thus says the Lord," proclaims Jeremiah in the first verse of today's text ...

1164. To an Unknown God

Acts 17:22-31

Sermon

Schuyler Rhodes

... be of help at some point down the road for them. Such is the focus of the "unknown god" that Paul describes in this passage from Acts. All this is, of course, well and good for your average Roman. Good, that is, until Paul comes on the scene with these wild stories about Jesus. Paul invokes the "unknown god" in order to say that in Jesus Christ, God has become known, and the option of laying out a place setting for a God who may come along has been removed. In other words, no more "Plan B." No more backup ...

1165. Choosing to Love

Genesis 24:34-38, 42-49, 58-67

Sermon

Stan Purdum

... mom and dad together and there is a healthy relationship between the generations. But it is healthy because Andy chose his primary loyalty. Still another choice real love requires is choosing to love the actual person we've married. Because falling in love is such a wild and crazy emotional ride, we sometimes fail to see the other person as he or she really is. In other words, we may fall in love with a romanticized ideal image of the other person instead of the actual person. Then later, when the flames of ...

1166. A Man of the Moment

Genesis 25:19-34

Sermon

Stan Purdum

... He is his father's favorite, especially because the old man has a taste for the meat Esau brought home from his hunting forays. Jacob, however, is more of a homebody, and a quiet person more given to the pursuit of personal advancement than of wild game. Jacob is his mother's favorite. There is also one more thing that sets them apart: the issue of primogeniture. That is the principle practiced in their society whereby the firstborn son — Esau in this case — is the one designated to take over leadership ...

1167. God’s Providence: The Long and Short of It

Genesis 45:1-15

Sermon

David J. Kalas

... to Potiphar, an important and wealthy Egyptian. Back home, the brothers took advantage of Joseph's distinctive coat to create an alibi. Pouring animal blood on it, they took it to their father as apparent evidence of Joseph having been attacked and devoured by some wild animal. So he was given up for dead. No one was out looking for him. There were no "Have you seen this child?" posters being distributed. No one was going to find him or rescue him. His situation was inarguably hopeless. By any reasonable ...

1168. No Partiality

Acts 10:34-43

Sermon

John N. Brittain

... to identify theft since my wife, Eileen, had hers stolen before the term "identity theft" had even been coined. She was victimized the old-fashioned way when somebody stole her purse, altered her driver's license, opened numerous credit cards in her name, and went wild. The point is not to "blame the victim" and say that anyone whose identity has been stolen is to blame. But we do have to admit that some of these schemes should be pretty transparent. There are some things about the message of scripture that ...

1169. Caught in the Middle

1 Corinthians 1:1-9

Sermon

John N. Brittain

... . They are not what they were, but they have also not arrived. Once again, we see two extremes, neither of which is beneficial. The one is the extreme of impotence. The Corinthian Christians, small as their fellowship might have been in a large and wild center of commerce, had what they needed to succeed in proclaiming the gospel for one reason only: God had equipped them. Whatever strengths they had, it was because of the grace of God given in Christ Jesus, and they needed to use those strengths. When ...

1170. The Ordinary in God’s Hands

1 Corinthians 11:23-26

Sermon

David O. Bales

... and that God turns the ordinary into extraordinary, we come to our Lord's table. No matter how ornate the tables that we celebrate this meal upon, Jesus used an ordinary table of his time. Here, at this table, we trust that God will again do the wildly out of the ordinary. Whether we are weak, ordinary, or even foolish, for us and for our salvation God turns this ordinary loaf and this ordinary cup into the living presence of our Lord Jesus Christ. When we receive here God's gracious gifts, we become the ...

1171. Boast in Our Suffering

Romans 5:1-8

Sermon

Steven E. Albertin

... phone rings in the middle of the night. There is only one reason why someone would call you at this time of the night, and it can't be good. The deadpan voice of the police officer tells you the horrible news rather matter-of-factly. Your imagination runs wild. You were not there, but you can hear the tires screeching, the metal smashing, the glass breaking, and the sirens whining. It was not supposed to end this way. She had so much of life yet to live. Your boss calls you into his office. Other members of ...

1172. Seeing God Work for Good

Romans 8:26-39

Sermon

Larry Lange

... feeding people who were hungry in body and soul. There in a rust and beige pole building that smelled like fried fish, pine cleaner, cigarette smoke, and mold, where Larry finally began to feel the love of God. Paul's opponents did, of course, stop his wildly successful mission trips. Paul also spent some time on death row. Paul was executed. The early church most certainly must have wondered how it could survive such a storm. Larry did not make enough money that year in order to pass the family farm on to ...

1173. Silly Putty, Play-Doh and Potter's Clay

Jeremiah 18:1-11

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... doesn't bounce, it just kind makes a thud and splat when it hits. And it doesn't transfer images or words like Silly Putty. But it does keep its shape. You can make almost anything out of Play-Doh. All you have to do is let your imagination go wild. I love watching my grandson, Zach, play with his Play-Doh. The only problem with Play-Doh is that it's not made for creating permanent objects. "Play-doh is designed to be used over and over again. If allowed to harden (to preserve a creation) it will most ...

1174. Radiate Love

Hebrews 13:1-8, 15-16

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... all the faulty science and scientific assumptions plus the early 50's and 60's concepts of computers. It's really a hoot. With the development of Atomic Power in the 40's, Sci Fi writers and film makers started letting their imaginations run wild. We didn't know that much about Radiation and the effects of radiation, so everything was fair game. The movie industry started churning out such classics as "Them" in which the monster was giant ants. "The Amazing Colossal Man" who kept growing and growing until ...

1175. Just a Little Faith Will Do

Luke 17:1-10

Sermon

King Duncan

... play 13. It was a trick play that had never been used before in a game. It had never been used for good reason‑‑it had never worked in practice. Well, the impossible happened! Play 13 worked! At the very last second Oklahoma State scored! The fans went wild. As they carried Randy off the field, his coach asked him, “Why in the world did you ever call play 13?” Randy answered, “Well, we were in the huddle, and I looked over and saw old Harry with tears running down his cheeks. It was his last ...

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