Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 1176 to 1200 of 4944 results

1176. Come To The Party!

Luke 14:15-24

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

I read a story recently about a man who went into a bus station in Athens, Georgia to buy a ticket to Greenville, South Carolina. As he paid for his ticket, the clerk said, "The bus is a bit behind schedule. Have a seat, and it will be along shortly." As the man sat down, he noticed one of those novelty machines that purports to tell you everything about yourself. He thought it might be interesting, so he pumped in a quarter. The machine whirred and buzzed a bit, and out came a slip of paper: "Your name is ...

1177. Torn Curtain

Luke 23:44-49, Luke 23:26-43

Sermon

King Duncan

Imagine you are directing a movie. It’s a controversial movie about the life of Christ. And suddenly, during the Sermon on the Mount, your lead actor, who plays Jesus, is struck by lightning. Someone sees fire on the left side of his head and light all around his body. Smoke is seen coming out of his ears. Cast members are screaming. Wouldn’t you think, if you were the actor playing Jesus that, just maybe, God was telling you something? Well, such an event really occurred during the shooting of Mel Gibson’ ...

1178. Happy Marriage...It's All About Choices

Matthew 5:1-12

Sermon

James W. Moore

The power mower broke down and wouldn’t run… and the grass in the front yard was getting totally out of hand. The wife was embarrassed about the way the lawn looked… so she began hinting to her husband that it was time to get the power mower fixed. But, somehow her hints didn’t work. The message never sank in. Finally, she thought of a clever way to make her point: When her husband arrived home one day, he found her seated in the tall grass on the front lawn fussily snipping away (one blade of grass at a ...

1179. Instructions to Timothy

1 Timothy 4:1-16

Understanding Series

Gordon D. Fee

The False Teachings Censured Because of the content of 3:14–16—the statement of purpose climaxed by the hymn—it is easy to think of chapter 3 as bringing us to some kind of conclusion, or major break, in the middle of the letter. But to view 3:14–16 that way is to miss the very close tie between chapter 4 and what has preceded. Paul is about to elaborate in some detail upon the two matters expressed in the charge in chapter 1: the nature of the errors of the false teachers (4:1–5; cf. 1:3–11, 19–20) and ...

1180. Signs, Sayings, and Oracles of Judgment

Ezekiel 12:1-28, Ezekiel 13:1-23, Ezekiel 14:1-11, Ezekiel 14:12-23

Understanding Series

Steven Tuell

Laying the Blame and Taking Responsibility: The typical Ezekielian expression “the word of the Lord came to me” recurs throughout the chapters between the second vision of the Glory in chapters 8–11 and the oracles against the foreign nations in chapters 25–32—except in chapter 19. Indeed, in the twenty-six chapters between Ezekiel 11 and 38, this is the only chapter in which that characteristic phrase does not appear. This chapter stands out, therefore, in the larger structure of Ezekiel. Further, after ...

1181. Eliphaz's Third Speech to Job

Job 22:1-30

Understanding Series

Gerald H. Wilson

No Gain for God The “third dialogue cycle” begins again with Eliphaz and his response to Job. He begins with a series of rhetorical questions that recall the tactics of his earlier two speeches (4:1–5:27; 15:1–35). In those utterances Eliphaz sought to undermine Job’s claims of innocence by arguing that no human can be declared innocent before God (4:7–9, 17–19; 15:14–16). Since even the angels—who stand above humans in Eliphaz’s understanding of creation order—are charged “with error” by God (4:18–19; 15: ...

1182. In Search of Heroes

Matthew 16:21-28

Sermon

King Duncan

On one of his programs years ago, legendary broadcaster Paul Harvey told the thrilling story of a man named Ray Blankenship. It seems that one summer morning as Blankenship was preparing his breakfast, he gazed out the window and saw something that made his heart nearly stop. A small girl had fallen into a rain-flooded drainage ditch beside his home and was rapidly being swept downstream. Blankenship knew that not far away the drainage ditch disappeared beneath the road and then emptied into the main ...

1183. Proper 19

Matthew 18:21-35

Sermon Aid

Russell F. Anderson

COMMENTARY Old Testament: Exodus 14:19-31 The presence of the Lord in the pillar of fire, that normally went ahead of the people to lead them, moved to the rear of the community as an obscuring cloud, a kind of buffer between them and the army of the Pharaoh. The Lord caused a strong wind to dry up a pathway through the sea so that the Hebrews passed to the other side. The pursuing Egyptians became mired in the mud and the waters closed in upon them. Thus, the Lord delivered his people from their enemies. ...

1184. A Lack of Faith

Mark 6:1-6

Sermon Aid

Richard A. Jensen

Our text for this week records a sudden change of context. Jesus had just been at the home of Jairus, a synagogue ruler, and raised his twelve-year-old girl from death. Now, suddenly, he has come to his own country; he has come to Nazareth. It is not just the scene that shifts. In his own home country people take offense at his very presence. "Where did this man get all this?" the hometown folk wonder aloud. "What is this wisdom that has been given to him?" (Mark 6:2). This is a striking shift in the story ...

1185. Jesus: The Ultimate Ordinary

John 18:28-40

Sermon

Thomas Peterson

Once again Jesus gives a curious, cryptic teaching that leaves us wondering. “I have come into the world to bear witness to the truth. Every one who is of the truth hears my voice.” These remarks are hard to interpret. Yet, as with all he says, we are inclined to believe they hold great value for us. Not long ago in a study group a man asked me if Jesus were “ordinary.” The question was unusual. On the spur of the moment I replied, “Of course, Jesus is ordinary.” His reply, “Jesus is the ultimate ordinary ...

1186. God's Training Wheels

Luke 3:1-20, Luke 3:21-38

Children's Sermon

Brett Blair

Exegetical Aim: To teach that baptism is a foundational event in the life of a Christian. Props: Bicycle training wheels. Lesson: Good morning. (response) What do I have in my hands? (response) How many of you have bicycles? (response) How old were you when you learned to ride? (response) Who taught you how to ride? (response) Before you learned to ride you had to use some special wheels. What were they called? (training wheels) That's right and these are training wheels. What would have happened, when you ...

1187. The Penalty for Betraying God’s Trust

Numbers 27:12-23

Sermon

It was when the people of Israel were almost within sight of the Promised Land that Moses received the biggest disappointment of his life. He had been their prophet and leader from the beginning of their departure from Egypt right up to the very border of the land God had given them. It had been a difficult time, forty years of dealing with the fear and faithlessness of the people. There were so many crises during that time that he probably had forgotten, at least the incident must have been tucked away in ...

1188. Paul in Chains

Acts 21:27-36

Sermon Aid

CSS

Paul’s arrival in Jerusalem was inauspicious. Although "the brethren received us gladly," the elders were fidgety and fearful. Not one word of gratitude is recorded for the gifts which Paul and his companions brought with them to alleviate the poverty of the church at Jerusalem. One wonders why? Perhaps those who came with Paul to bring the gifts were too evidently "Gentile Christians." These Gentiles must have felt rebuffed, finding prejudice against them where they might have anticipated brotherly ...

1189. A Prayer for the Faithful

John 17:6-19

Sermon

George Bass

Were the disciples of Jesus to hear the prayer in today’s text in the context of our worship - between the Ascension and the Day of Pentecost - it would have taken them back to supper the night Jesus was betrayed. They would have remembered how he got up from the table and washed their feet, and then how he returned to the table and told them that one of them was not clean and would betray him. They would have recalled how he answered Peter’s question, "Who is it, Lord?" with "It is the one to whom I give ...

1190. The Future Shapes the Present

1 Thessalonians 3:6-13

Sermon

Harold Warlick

Sometimes you and I read the Bible as if it were a blast from the past. In reality, it also sends us future messages about what it means for each of us to be a child of God and a disciple of Jesus Christ. Scripture is often out ahead of us, inviting us to live a richer and nobler life today. In essence, today’s epistle lesson is a fax from tomorrow concerning how Christians are to respond to the great promise of God’s return or reappearance before humankind. A necessary piece of equipment for many modern ...

1191. Persevere - What Would Bill Do? (New)

1 Thessalonians 2:1-16

Children's Sermon

King Duncan

Object: None Lesson: Persevere Have you ever tried to learn something new that was very difficult? (ride a bike, read, play an instrument) Did you ever feel like giving up? Or did you just keep trying? There is a word for that. It is persevering. It means that you don’t give up. You just keep on keepin’ on. Is that easy? In our Bible lesson today Paul is reminding his readers how hard it was for him to keep on preaching about Jesus. There were a lot of people who did not like for him to preach about Jesus ...

1192. Handling the Harshness of Life

2 Corinthians 4:1-18

Sermon

Eric Ritz

She had every reason to be bitter. The circumstances of life had dealt a ton of harshness for her to handle. Though talented, she went unrecognized for years. Prestigious opera circles closed their ranks when she tried to enter. American critics ignored her compelling voice. She was repeatedly rejected for parts for which she easily qualified. It was only after she went to Europe and won the hearts of tough-to-please European audiences that stateside opinion leaders acknowledged her talent. Not only was ...

1193. Escape from the Island of Spiritual Sloth

Matthew 6:16-18

Sermon

Frank G. Honeycutt

I was noodling around on the internet not long ago, doing some research on the "Seven Deadly Sins," and came upon what has surely been an overlooked theological resource in explaining the mysteries of what Gregory the Great, in the sixth century, called "a classification of the normal perils of the soul in the ordinary conditions of life." There is quite a bit of material out there referring to the deadly list of seven but by far the most intriguing theological website was one I discovered titled, "The ...

1194. A Broken Vessel for Jesus

Mark 14:1-11

Sermon

Michael Milton

It was the ancient custom to anoint the feet of the honored rabbi. Jesus was likely anointed on many occasions, but two stand out. One is recorded in Luke 7:36-50 in the house of Simon the Pharisee. There, in a scene filled with pathos, a woman tenderly wipes Jesus’ feet with her tears. The other is our text for today. As we come to Mark 14, we come to plotting and betrayal. But sandwiched between this evil is the second story of anointing. It is the story of a broken vessel by a broken woman. It just may ...

1195. Live and Learn

Matthew 15:21-28

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

Is anyone's memory of study hall a fun one? Either you were the studious type, who really wanted to use that hour of enforced peace and quiet to get some work done, or you were the kid that was bored, trying to think of ways to sneak out, send notes, shoot spit-wads, or otherwise somehow liven up that deadly hour. But the shushings of study hall monitors and librarians aren't common to all cultures. At traditional Orthodox yeshivas, the bais midrash, the study hall, is filled with noise. Not just noise, ...

1196. Saving Private Ryan

Acts 1:8

Sermon

James Merritt

Steven Spielberg recently directed a powerful movie entitled, "Saving Private Ryan," which was a box office hit. Though I have not seen the movie, and do not recommend that you see it, because of the foul language, the plot of the story is extremely powerful. A group of soldiers is given the responsibility and assignment of saving one single soldier, by the name of Private Ryan, after his three brothers were killed in the war. Their job was to rescue this one soldier and get him back home to his family. ...

1197. The Power of Purpose

2 Timothy 3:10--4:8

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

Paul had laid down the flail of the persecutor and took up the torch of the evangel on the Damascus Road. There he began the course of a great adventure, an adventure that sent him trudging through the then-known world – through the deserts and over the mountains, through blinding blizzard and blistering sun, traveling in peril of his own life, shipwrecked, beaten by the Romans, stoned by the Jew. Yet, throwing back his great cloak to show the scars of his beatings there saying, I bear in my body the marks ...

1198. Holiness of Heart and Life

Romans 2:21-23

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

At Stanford University there is a psychologist named Festinger who has a theory which he calls “cognitive dissonance.’ If you teach at a university like Stanford, you are supposed to use big words like that. As strange and new as it may sound, it’s very simple. It means that there is a big gap between my ideals and my actions, what I believe and what I do, my goals and my deeds. There is a difference between the image I have of myself and the image I try to project for other people and that discrepancy is ...

1199. When God Speaks

Psalm 29:1-11

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

It was a young adult Sunday school party back in the days when I could still be considered a young adult. It was supposed to be a pool party, but as people gathered, it started to rain. As a pastor, I don't like it to rain on people's parties. I always get the blame. “Howard,” people say, “Can't you do something about the weather?" Normally I reply, “I am in sales not management." That day my explanation gave no satisfaction. So in an act of desperation I stepped up on a picnic table, stretched my hands to ...

1200. Supernatural: Taken By Storm

Mark 4:35-41

Sermon

James Merritt

One of the most life changing things you can ever do as a believer is to go on a mission trip. Not only do you get to share Jesus with people who are hungry for the gospel, see lives transformed by the power of Christ, you also get to see and experience a lot of things you wouldn’t otherwise. But, there is only one country in the world that I encourage everyone to visit whose very geographical landscape can change your life and that is the land of Israel. To know that you are walking where Jesus walked, to ...

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