Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 101 to 125 of 4943 results

101. Overcoming Obstacles - Together

Luke 2:1-7, Psalm 107:1-9

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... a doubt. Just like Jesus said, "In this world you will have trouble." What we have to do is remember the second half. "But take heart! I have overcome the world." When we invite God into the center of our lives, families and marriages, it is Jesus who takes up residence in our hearts through the power and presence of the Holy Spirit. We are woven and intertwined with the Son of God, our Savior, who has overcome the world. It is Jesus who gives us strength for life. It is the Holy Spirit who reminds us of ...

102. I am the Man Who Has Seen Affliction

Lamentations 3:1-66

One Volume

Tremper Longman III

... but he also beseeches God to come near him at his cry with the reassuring words that he should not fear. 3:58–60 Resh. See the previous stanza for information about the correct rendition of the verbs in this section. The passage is best translated: O Lord, take up my case; redeem my life. See, O LORD, the wrong done to me. Uphold my cause! See the depth of their vengeance, all their plots against me. The poet has called on God’s name to rescue him from the harsh treatment of the enemy and requests that ...

103. Israel Fights the Remaining Canaanites

Judges 1:1-36

Understanding Series

Cheryl A. Brown

... defeated the Canaanites and Perizzites and took Adoni-Bezek captive; they also cut off his thumbs and big toes (v. 6) Although this sounds extremely harsh, it was commonly practiced in antiquity because it guaranteed that the prisoner would never again take up arms, in addition to serving as an example to others who might attempt to rebel against the victorious adversary. Adoni-Bezek himself acknowledged the justice in his fate, having inflicted the same punishment on his own subjugated enemies (v. 7a ...

104. The Year of the Lord’s Favor

Isaiah 61:1-11

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

... there is a larger company of people who will give Yahweh no rest until this happens. In 62:10 the prophet apparently speaks further, this time not in testimony but in instruction. 61:1–9 The first of the five responses, then, is preaching. Once again the prophet takes up forms of speech as well as actual words from chapters 40–55. The first-person testimony corresponds to 48:16, 49:1–6, and 50:4–9, where it is also “the Lord Yahweh” who speaks (48:16; 50:4, 5, 7, 9). The claim that “the Lord ...

105. Living at Cross-Purposes

Matthew 10:24-39

Sermon

King Duncan & Angela Akers

... that the will of God is going to be a lot better and a lot bigger than we can see right now. After all, Jesus wasn’t asking us to do anything he didn’t do himself. Look at his words again in vs. 38: “Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me . . .” (emphasis mine). For Jesus, the cross meant death. But because of Jesus’ death and resurrection, the cross is new life for us. And that new life isn’t conventional or comfortable. It will separate us from the values, priorities and rewards of ...

106. Which Door Should I Take?

John 10:7-9

Sermon

James Merritt

... wrote his dad a letter that said, "Dear Daddy: I love you and I hope you live all of your life." The sad fact is that most people go through this life and they exist, but they don't live. Jesus didn't put you on this earth just to take up space, live a few years and die without any impact whatsoever. He wants every one of us to live a life of significance, a life of importance and a life of influence that never ends. Jack London, the famous author who wrote the books, The Call Of The Wild and ...

107. Have You Heard?

Matthew 4:12-23

Sermon

Mark Trotter

... end of the Gospel of John to illustrate this, the same scene that takes place in Matthew at the beginning of Jesus' ministry. In the Gospel of John it is at the end, after the Resurrection. The disciples think that Jesus is dead, so they go back to Galilee and take up their old business of fishing. Jesus appears to them, just as he did at the beginning of his ministry. Now he comes to them in their despair after the Resurrection. This time he says, "Feed my sheep." But it is the same thing. It is a call to ...

108. Simon

Mark 15:21-32

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... are the heroes of our faith, and especially to hear about the One who bore a cross for us, “Let him who would be a disciple take up and follow me.” And then one day it happens. We hear the One who bore the cross for us say it usually happens when the ... their response to hunger on the basis of political ideology. We hear the word of Jesus — “Let him who would be my disciple take up his cross and follow me,” and we get nervous in our spectator role of being among the 6% of the world’s population ...

109. In Search of Heroes

Matthew 16:21-28

Sermon

King Duncan

... can’t imagine voluntarily giving any of it up. And so we don’t know what to do when we come to church and hear this strange Galilean say to us, “If any man [or woman] would be my disciple, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” Say what? Deny myself? Take up a cross? What is it that Christ expects out of us? Let’s consider a couple of things that Christ does expect out of us all. The first thing Christ expects out of us is to recognize that the world doesn’t revolve around us ...

110. The Fear Of Taking The Plunge

Luke 12:35-48

Sermon

Richard Patt

... everywhere. The cross is our jewel and the substance of everything for which we stand. It is "a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys." In the cross our salvation is signed, sealed, and delivered. Now it is our turn to take up the cross and follow him -- even when it means taking the plunge. "

111. Out of Solitude

Luke 4:1-13

Sermon

John E. Harnish

... in 1995. In this incredible poem, she uses the image of evening to call us to Sabbath time, to calm and to rest. Let the light of late afternoon shine through the chinks in the barn moving up the bales as the sun moves down. Let the cricket take up chafing as a woman takes up her needles and her yarn. Let evening come. Let dew collect on the hoe abandoned in long grass. Let the stars appear and the moon disclose her silver horn. Let the fox go back to its sandy den. Let the wind die down. Let the shed go ...

112. The Reins of Power

2 Samuel 5:1-5

Sermon

... -love. At the same time, too, he pointed out that, while we should make the desire for this realm the prayerful passion of our lives, we should recognize that it is within our reach and must be established within us. As surely as he invited us to take up our crosses and follow him, he was challenging us to pick up the reins of power and live responsible lives in keeping with the will of God. We can live meaningful, fulfilled lives. We can conquer the passions of envy, hate, greed, and selfishness. We can do ...

113. Movin’ Around Room

Isaiah 43:14-28

Sermon

Thomas D. Peterson

... option, the freedom to claim a possibility in face of the experience of a lifetime. It is like turning a key in the lock. Being in the place of a new thing, he decides, "Yes, Lord, I do want to be healed." Then Jesus calls him to movin’ around room. "Take up your bed and walk." And from there on the man is on his own, equipped with room in which to live and to be. I can go on to numerous illustrations. We human beings become locked in to anything, and we will always be needing to do a new thing ...

114. It's Performance That Counts

Matthew 7:15-23, Matthew 7:24-29

Sermon

Larry Goodpaster

... to act; not only to hear with our ears, but to perform. We are here called to respond to the grace of God by doing the will of God. But that is easy to say and difficult to discern. We try to corner Jesus on this one: okay, suppose we take up your challenge. How do we know what to do? What is the “will of God” so that we can know for sure that we are “doing” it? What are “these words of mine” upon which we are to build the structures of our lives? Unfortunately, the answers are not neatly ...

115. King of Atlanta

Romans 8:28-39

Drama

Michael L. Sherer

... , Georgia, at the time. ANTAGONIST: I’m not arguing with the rightness of his cause. But look at the peril he put his family in. How can he justify that? PROTAGONIST: How can any of us afford to live in the shadow of the cross? If we take up our cross each day, as Scripture says, we live in peril too. ANTAGONIST: Maybe so. But when did you last have your house bombed? ANNOUNCER: Mixed reports are coming out of Montgomery, Alabama, this week. In the last several days, a hopeful sign has surfaced. For the ...

116. A Voice Calls in the Wilderness

Luke 3:1-20

Sermon

King Duncan

... that the coming of the Messiah would mean the coming of Extreme Makeover: World Edition. And that day is still to come--a day when the poor will no longer be oppressed, a day when the hungry will be fed, a day when the world will no longer take up arms, a day when children will no longer live in fear. And you and I are called to participate in that makeover. Are you willing to do your part? Or are you satisfied to participate only in that part of Christmas that feeds our desire for parties and presents ...

117. Jesus Takes the Initiative

Luke 21:5-38, Luke 21:1-4, Luke 20:41-47

Teach the Text

R.T. France

... on those occasions would not be mistimed, wherein a judicious instructor would take the opportunity of referring to the sufferings of the primitive Christians; to the torment of the martyrs; to the exhortations of our blessed Lord Himself, calling upon His disciples to take up their cross and follow Him; to His warnings that man shall not live by bread alone . . . ; to His divine consolations, “If ye suffer hunger or thirst for My sake, happy are ye.” Oh, madam, when you put bread and cheese, instead of ...

118. Proper 8 & Pentecost 6

2 Kings 4:8-37, Genesis 32:22-32, Psalm 89:1-52, Psalm 17:1-15, Isaiah 2:6-22, Jeremiah 28:1-17, Matthew 10:1-42

Sermon Aid

... peace on earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother ... and a man's foes will be those of his own household. A "decision for Christ" also involves taking up one's cross and following Jesus, which will have its final reward in the age to come. Three short sayings, two of which are about the reception of the evangelists, while the third is about giving a cup of water to "one of these little ones," conclude the charge ...

119. Francis of Assisi

1 Corinthians 1:18--2:5

Drama

Michael L. Sherer

... did no more than what the New Testament calls all of us to do. ANTAGONIST: You really think he had the wounds of Christ on him? PROTAGONIST: There’s been a lot of debate about that. Scholars think there must be something to it. At any rate, he understood what taking up your cross was all about. We’re all called to the same thing in our Baptism. Once in a while somebody like Francis comes along and actually takes the whole thing seriously. LECTOR: If any person would be my disciple, let him ...

120. Table Manners

John 2:12-25

Sermon

Craig MacCreary

... and those who will find this all a stumbling block. They will say they have found the secret recipe — vote democratic or republican, plastics, intelligent design, mindless living, of doing your own thing, twelve ways to make chicken soup of the mind. Yet, our work is taking up the cross, of putting our lives on the table for God’s work, joining in the task of making sure all can come to God’s table — tabling, in the American sense, our own grand designs in order that God’s plan for us to grow ...

121. When Fisherman do Strange Things

Mark 1:14-20

Sermon

Mark Trotter

... , who left everything that was a part of the old age, and started living in the new age. That is why to get into the Church, the society that lived as if the new age were here, you had to repent. Which means, to put off the old, and to take up the new. Which is exactly the meaning of baptism, as it was practiced in the early Church. They renounced the evil powers of this world, and pledged their allegiance to Christ and his Kingdom. The symbol of that was to take off their clothes and be immersed in the ...

122. The Law and the Promise

Galatians 3:15-25, Galatians 3:1-14

Understanding Series

L. Ann Jervis

... to be a response to what the troublemakers may have been preaching or what Paul understands as the consequence of their advocating of the law. Paul is convinced that the result of the rival gospel is to set aside or add to God’s covenant with Abraham. 3:16 Paul takes up the matter of the promises that he introduced in 3:14. Normally Paul speaks of promise in the singular, as he did in 3:14, but in this verse and 3:21 he uses the plural (see also Rom. 9:4). The biblical narrative has God making a promise ...

123. Faith or Observance of the Law

Galatians 3:1-14, Galatians 3:15-25

Understanding Series

L. Ann Jervis

124. Is Sunday Just a Fun Day?

Exodus 20:7-11

Sermon

James Merritt

... on earth has a God-given work that they are to do. The very fact that you are living on this earth this moment, means that you have a work God has given to you that He wants you to finish. You have not been put here to take up space; you have been put here to be fruitful, to be productive, and to make a contribution to this world. In the last sixty years we have almost ruined this nation by adopting governmental policies that encourage laziness and slothfulness, while rewarding people who refuse to work ...

125. Set Life Free

Matthew 13:1-23

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... little fruit. Some lives will bear great amounts of fruit. Some who respond will produce no fruit at all. Other lives will produce just enough to see them through day-to-day. Jesus himself is the sower in today's parable. But each one of us who takes up and takes in the Word Christ plants in us – each one of us who takes seriously the life-task of nurturing that Word into a fruitful life – each one of us will ourselves take on the identity of sower. Sowing seed, spreading the word, becomes our gardener ...

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