Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 101 to 125 of 193 results

101. When Nothing Is Everything

Mark 12:35-40

Sermon

Cathy A. Ammlung

... blessedness, just as he is risen from the dead and lives and rules eternally."1 Because of our Lord's lavish self-giving of all his "wealth" -- life, power, authority, holiness, everything -- even destitute widows are freed to give themselves recklessly and beautifully into his wounded hands. Their "nothing" is turned, by his sovereign foolishness, into "everything." Because of Jesus' self-emptying, even pompous scribes and self-satisfied "fat cats" might be freed to pour out their bounty of wealth in self ...

102. Living Deliberately

John 10:1-21

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my accord. I have the power to pick it up and I have the power to lay down. Such daring boldness. What reckless fate, such confident trust. How audacious it must have sounded to the heavy ears that heard Jesus speak them. The dark shadow of the cross was already falling across Jesus’ path. By this time, he knew that the events were moving steadily and surely to a grim ending. With ...

103. Declaration Of Freedom

Galatians 5:1-15

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... marriage went to pieces and ended up in the divorce court. We think we might could have changed things, had we been different, or had we done differently -- but it's over now, and the guilt still persists. Maybe it was an abortion. In a time of reckless irresponsibility, you conceived -- you were not married -- and the fellow wouldn't follow through on his commitment -- you were desperate -- you didn't know what to do -- and so you did what you thought at that time was the best thing to do -- and now you ...

104. Draw Nigh To God

James 4:1-12

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... accept our limits. This means we know that hanging around our drinking or using "buddies" can remind us of "the good old days". Hanging around "slippery places" means we could "slip" back into our old ways. This isn't testing our sobriety; it's being reckless with it. So, let's accept our limits. Everybody has limits. When we know our limits, we protect our recovery against the people and places that pull us from our spiritual center. (Harper & Row, Publishers. 1989, for Day January 3). This is what James ...

105. Epiphany: A Faith to Work Miracles

John 2:1-11

Sermon

J. Ellsworth Kalas

... which Jesus ordered filled were not containers of drinking water; rather, they were wash water -- the jars for purification. When Jesus instructed the servants to take some water from those jars and deliver it to the steward of the feast, he was asking a reckless venture. Water in place of wine was bad enough, but wash water? The servants are the unsung heroes of this story. I marvel that they would hazard their jobs in such an absurd risk. When the steward sipped from the cup and pronounced it something ...

106. Let Me Say That Again

John 14:15-31

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... God was calling me. But my last turn in the road -leaving Christ Church and going to Asbury - has been my most dramatic one. For a 60-year-old to accept such a radically different expression of vocation - maybe at 45 or 50, but at 60! - smacks of recklessness. But the Lord has been faithful. We have been empowered and sustained. God is good - all the time. At particular times, when I needed the witness that I was not crazy, Christ was there. I had been at Asbury a couple of months, and the questions were ...

107. The Vocation of Leadership: A Prophet Among Them

Ephesians 4:1-16

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... of that “calling,” to be prophet/priest, to be as concerned about being as doing, to seek integrity of performance and identity. So comes the next word – abandonment. Formation is a dynamic process in which we seek more and more to respond recklessly to that primal question, “Who am I?” Pretension, then, is an enemy to vital spirituality and integrity of leadership. Likewise, imitation is an enemy. To project or to seek to fit into a standardized pattern of spirituality or leadership is to miss ...

108. Thanks Be to God

2 Corinthians 9:6-15

Sermon

Rick Brand

... of life. Our giving shows the size of our hearts. There is a narrow view of life, a stinginess of spirit, a miserliness of perspective that sows sparingly, cautiously, tentatively. There is a bigness of the heart that sows widely, sows broadly, sows recklessly. It was a casino night for the American Heart Association and some friends took a minister as a guest. Everyone was given ten dollars in chips and more chips could be purchased, with the money going to the American Heart Association. That minister ...

109. Night Vision

2 Peter 1:12-21

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... . There are, of course, countless examples of those with bleeding heart myopia to counter such a claim. What is it that forces our hearts and minds and bodies to discount the risk that's right before our eyes, and instead choose to act with reckless compassion. (I got this story from Wendy Owen; [1]wendyowen@news.oregonian.com.) Flames Force Decision To Act at Crash Scene The Oregonian, 18 January 2005, A1. Travis Jackson couldn't believe his eyes. Driving home late one night from work, the 1996 Jeep ...

110. Be Ready!

Matthew 24:36-51

Sermon

King Duncan

Mr. Smith is riding through Manhattan with a reckless cab driver. At the first intersection they come to, the cab driver runs a red light. “Hey, what’s the big idea?” Mr. Smith yells. “That was a red light!” “Don’t worry, fella,” the cabbie replies, “My brother drives a cab too, and he does that all the time.” ...

111. Lent 1

Mt 4:1-11, Rom 5:12-21

Sermon Aid

Marion L. Soards, Thomas B. Dozeman, Kendall McCabe

... of his power, but the faithful trust he manifests in relation to God's will. The devil quickly picks up on Jesus' line by inviting him to demonstrate radical trust in God by throwing himself off the pinnacle of the Temple. Satan calls for reckless self-abandonment in a fantastic fling of sensational leaping, and he joins Jesus in quoting scripture to illustrate or document his point. (Even Satan can quote the Bible!) Yet, Jesus once again refuses to take the devil's bait. Jesus sees Satan's scheme ...

112. Changed Lives: Adam and Eve

Genesis 3:1-24

Sermon

King Duncan

... his account to the National Enquirer, he did not seek a huge advance from Random House to spell out all the lurid details. In contrast to so many of today’s celebrities, he never sought public sympathy. Rather, he understood how his recklessness had brought embarrassment to his wife and country and almost brought his government down. Not long afterward, he contacted Toynbee Hall, a charitable mission in the East End of London, and asked whether they needed any help. This blue‑blooded British aristocrat ...

113. When Do You Feel God's Pleasure?

Matthew 3:13-17

Sermon

James W. Moore

... man from Scotland named Eric Lidell. Eric is doing his college work in Edinburgh preparing himself to be a Christian Missionary in China… He is also preparing to represent Great Britain in the Olympics. He is a world-class sprinter who runs with joy and reckless abandon… and he does become an Olympic Champion. When my “channel-surfing” produced Chariots of Fire (as luck would have it), I just happened to hit it right at the beginning of one of my favorite scenes in the film. It’s a classic scene ...

114. Gave It All Up

Acts 2:1-21; Matt 28:16-20

Illustration

C. T. Studd

... red-hot, unconventional, unfettered Holy Ghost religion, where neither church nor state, neither man nor traditions are worshiped or preached, but only Christ and Him crucified. Not to confess Christ by fancy collars, clothes, silver croziers or gold watch-chain crosses, church steeples or richly embroidered altar cloths, but by reckless sacrifice and heroism in the foremost trenches."

115. The Paradox of Our Time

Galatians 5:1-15

Illustration

Jeff Dickson

... less. We have bigger houses and smaller families, more conveniences, but less time. We have more degrees but less sense, more knowledge, but less judgment, more experts, yet more problems, more medicine, but less wellness. We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too angry, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too little, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom. We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too ...

116. Courage Under Fire

Jude 1:22-23

Sermon

James Merritt

... for the fires of hell. We need "courage under fire", a holy boldness not only to condemn the apostate, but to confront those who are vulnerable to the apostate's teaching with the gospel of Jesus Christ. But our courage is not to be a reckless courage. Three words should mark our courage: they are the words care, share, and beware. I. Care for Confused Sinners "And on some have compassion, making a distinction." (v.22) A better translation of that verse is: "Have compassion on those who are doubting." Jude ...

117. Thou Shalt Not Judge - True or False?

Matthew 7:1-6

Sermon

James Merritt

... the definition should include any criminal acts, plus a willful failure of the President to fulfill his duty to uphold and execute the laws of the United States…[another] factor that I think constitutes an impeachable offense would be willful reckless behavior in office; just totally incompetent conduct of the office and the disregard of the necessities that the office demands." That law professor was Bill Clinton.4 Another example is how one recent presidential candidate considered the trustworthiness of ...

118. Put Up and Shut Up

Proverbs 18:21

Sermon

James Merritt

... . It said, "He who thinks by the inch and speaks by the yard should be kicked by the foot." I could put it this way: "When you open your lips, don't shoot from the hips or you'll shoot yourself in the behind." Only a fool speaks rashly and recklessly. Indeed a person who is hasty in his words is worse than a fool. For Solomon says, "Do you see a man hasty in his words? There is more hope for a fool than for him." (Prov. 29:20) It's like the man I heard about who walked into ...

119. The Battle of New Orleans

2 Timothy 3:1-4:8

Sermon

James Merritt

... speaks openly of his faith in God and his trust in Christ, and he is told to shut up. Well, I believe 41,000 Southern Baptist pulpits must not be silent. There is a cultural rebellion we must confront. That is a battle worth fighting. II. There Is a Doctrinal Recklessness We Must Condemn In verse 8, Paul warns about people in the last days who will "resist the truth." In the last days we will find people who claim to be on the same side of the fence as we are, at least supposedly. But in reality they will ...

120. Walking on the Water

Matthew 14:22-36

Sermon

King Duncan

... Than Good, tells about the 2002 Winter Olympic Games when sixteen‑year‑old Sarah Hughes skated her way to a gold medal. Sarah stepped on the ice, says Zig, not believing she had a chance of winning any medal, so she just skated with reckless abandon, unconcerned about the live audience, the television audience, or for that matter, the judges. She just gave it all she had. That sheer abandon she exhibited expressed the total joy she was feeling at the time and she turned in a spectacular performance ...

121. The Twenty-Ninth Chapter of Acts

2 Timothy 4:1-22

Sermon

John E. Harnish

... this, that in the last days there will come times of stress. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, inhuman, implacable, slanderers, profligates, fierce, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding the form of religion, but denying the power of it." And into that kind of a world, Paul commissions Timothy with his final message in Chapter four. St ...

122. Debts in Roman Society

Matthew 18:21-35

Illustration

James R. Davis

... , or to have the debtor's relatives pay his debt. The creditor would demand slave labor of the entire family so that the debt might be worked off. There were legal restrictions to prevent extreme cruelty, but in spite of the laws the entire system of debts and sureties was recklessly abused in the ancient world. The prophets frequently condemned violations of the laws.

123. Is Your Christmas Spirit a Controlled Substance?

1 Thessalonians 5:12-28

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... of every Christian poised for ministry and mission in our world. They should be, for those words are the essence of the true “Christmas spirit.” “We have to go out. We don’t have to come back.” That is the real Christmas spirit. Not reckless. But selfless. Not focused on making it. Focused on making a difference. The spirit that the gift of Christ imparts is not of shallow sappiness. The spirit that the gift of Christ imparts is of sublime strength. The Christmas spirit may have been best captured ...

124. Rock-Bottom Living

1 Peter 2:2-10

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... breathing faith community. Alternative Sermon Ideas Don't Count the Cost Just as Mary Magdalene pours out her expensive ointment without counting the cost, so we are to pour our precious love on the vulnerable and invaluable we are to be spendthrifts with love; reckless with forgiveness; imprudent with passion. But how do we decide where to pour out our love? How do we determine what is our mission together? How do we look for our mission, our future, as individuals and as a church? Joanna Macy, an educator ...

125. John 20:19-31

John 20:19-31

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... their own Thomas. But rather than being an "easy sell," Thomas adopts a hard-liner attitude refusing to believe unless he, too, sees the risen Jesus. Earlier in John's gospel, Thomas had been depicted as fiercely loyal to Jesus, even recklessly zealous for Jesus (see John 11:16). The contrast makes his current "doubtfulness" especially powerful. John uses emphatic language to describe Thomas' rejection. The Greek describing the disciple's witnessing efforts is better translated as they "kept on telling him ...

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