Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 1251 to 1275 of 4943 results

1251. Breaking The Cycle - God’s Answer In Forgiveness

Genesis 45:3-11, 15

Sermon

Derl G. Keefer

... here, but God.... Now hurry back to my father and say to him, "This is what your son Joseph says: God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me; don't delay." — Genesis 45:5-9 (NIV, emphasis mine) The answer to the question, "How do we continue in the journey of forgiveness?" is God. As Chuck Swindoll wrote in his final paragraph about Mr. Slagle. For your sake, let me urge you to "put away all bitterness" now. There's no reason to stay in POW camp a minute longer. The escape route is clearly ...

1252. Strengthening Your Grip On Prayer

1 Kings 8:22-23, 41-43

Sermon

Derl G. Keefer

... As A Lifestyle David Polish wrote, "Prayer is not an investigation, it is experience. Prayer is not a shopping list in the supermarket of the universe. We should not pray, ‘Help me win,' but rather ‘Help me live.' "[3] Solomon had a continual experience with prayer as a lifestyle. It came from his heart. In their book, Fully Alive, Jerry and Larry Hull remind us that people are to live a life of "wholeness." This wholeness includes "integration," meaning that life is built around a single purpose ...

1253. Earth, Wind, and Fire

Joel 2:23-32

Sermon

R. Kevin Mohr

... , however, looks beyond the present and the future to the final consummation of "the great and terrible day of the Lord" (v. 31), a day of "fire and columns of smoke" (v. 30) as well. Only with the removal of their shame by God's promise of continuing presence could the people begin to face the future with hope. It is the same for us. We are included in the message of hope, because the Spirit will be poured out on "all flesh." And in the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ we know that ...

1254. The Bride of Jesus

John 2:1-11

Sermon

King Duncan

... For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife and the two will become one flesh.” Then Paul adds these words, “This is a profound mystery but I am talking about Christ and the church.” The imagery of the Divine wedding continues all the way to the book of Revelation. We read in verse 19:7: “Let us be glad and rejoice and honor him; for the time has come for the wedding banquet of the Lamb, and his bride has prepared herself.” Who is the Lamb? Christ. Who is the ...

1255. The Ultimate Mountain Top Experience

Luke 9:28-36

Sermon

King Duncan

... it doesn’t pull God down to us; it pulls us to God. We must learn to say with Christ, the master of the art of praying: ‘Not my will; but Thine be done.’” (3) Maybe that’s why Christ spent time in prayer. Maybe the events that accompanied being continually in the public eye pulled his focus and his energy away from God. So he took time to be in the Father’s presence simply as a way of energizing his ministry once again. As Desmond Tutu put it, “I leave and go on retreat for two days a month ...

1256. Face to Face

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... live.” God hides Moses in a cleft in the rocks so that all he spies of God is his back, not his face. Yet elsewhere, throughout the Old Testament the faithful are urged to seek out the face of God. Seek the lord and his strength, seek his face continually (1 Chronicles 16:11) If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face . . . then they will hear from heaven (2 Chronicles 7:14) When thou said, “Seek my face,” my heart said, “Thy face, Lord I will seek ...

1257. Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32

Luke 15:11-32

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... moving in the twenty-first century as it was for its first-century audience. And as it has charged and challenged and changed those who have heard it in every century in-between. The “prodigal son” parable is both a headpiece for Jesus’ continuing teaching on the importance of true repentance, and an example of the height and depth of God’s forgiveness available to all who repent. As a gifted narrator Luke’s “write up” of this extended parable highlights the gospel writer’s narrative genius ...

1258. John 21:1-19

John 21:1-14

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... that they had been given in 20:22-23. They have returned to Galilee, of course. But it was their home. They are fishing, of course. But fishing had been the full-time occupation of some of these disciples. Neither of these actions suggests apostasy. Even as Paul continued to be a tent-maker, these metaphysical “fishers” also continued to cast their nets for the real deal. After all, they still needed to eat and feed their families. The author of chapter 21 sets his scene at daybreak, a mark of ...

1259. The Healing Fountain of Tears

Revelation 7:9-17

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... Adam and Eve the gift of tears — so that “when grief overtakes you, and your heart aches beyond enduring, and great anguish grips your soul, then there will fall from your eyes this tiny tear. And your burden will grow lighter.” The midrash continues, suggesting that when Adam’s and Eve’s first tears landed on the earth, the first “garden” outside of Eden sprang forth. The tears of anguish and abandonment became tears of new life and new hope. The white robes of the uncountable multitude that ...

1260. What the Ascension Tells Us

Luke 24:50-53

Sermon

King Duncan

... .” When he had led them out to the vicinity of Bethany, he lifted up his hands and blessed them. While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven. Then they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. And they stayed continually at the temple, praising God. Who was this man who had walked among them? No ordinary man to be sure. Foretold by the prophets, risen from the grave, ascended into heaven, surely he is who he said he was, the Son of the Most High God. Ascension Day ...

1261. Just Checking

Revelation 22:1-6

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... 17). This gift Jesus “earned” on the cross, and can only be received by followers. It can never be “earned” by any human works. Christ promises to return with the gift of life that he made possible through nothing less than his death. As Jesus continues his commencement address, he pronounces his enduring, ongoing presence: He is Alpha and Omega, first and last, beginning and end. While God the Father is also identified by two of these titles in Revelation — the Alpha and the Omega in 1:8 and 21:6 ...

1262. Just-Say-The-Word Disciples

Luke 7:1-10

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... . The message carried by this new entourage is remarkable. First, they reveal that the centurion originally sent out the Jewish elders to Jesus because he wanted to protect Jesus from his own unworthy, unclean Gentile presence. But as the centurion’s message continues, it reveals an astonishing faith in Jesus’ prophetic power. Just as the centurion knows that his words to those he commands will be carried out because he wields power and authority over his soldiers, so he knows that a spoken word from ...

1263. Galatians 2:15-21

Galatians 2:11-21

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... . Rather it flowed as a part of his passionate rebuke of the actions taken by Peter and other Jewish Christians. It was a perfect “zinger.” Peter, apparently under pressure from the Jerusalem church, had stopped eating with Gentiles. He was advocating the continued need for the observance of at least the laws of “kashrut” (kosher). Paul zinged Peter “to his face” (2:11), calling him on the carpet for this retrenching mentality (vv.11-14). It is from this particular incident that Paul finds the ...

1264. It’s Complicated

Galatians 2:11-21

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

1265. Luke 9:51-62

Luke 9:51-56

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... . While John the Baptist had “prepared the way” for Jesus’ mission and message, the disciples are now sent out to prepare the way for the journey to Jerusalem. The Galilean ministry might have come to a close, but Jesus’ itinerant lifestyle continues, making it necessary for him to rely upon the hospitality of others to facilitate this trek. Surprisingly, Jesus and his disciples do not skirt the Samaritan region by taking the more commonly traveled TransJordan route to Jerusalem. Not only do they ...

1266. Mary AND Martha, Heart AND Home

Luke 10:38-42

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... word, as in “don’t play with me” or “he’s a player.” In the church the Martha and Mary story became a battle between the contemplative life (Mary) or the life of active service (Martha). In the Eastern Church the contemplative role of Mary continues to be strong. After the Reformation the work ethic of the Protestant theologians encouraged a more Martha-oriented life. Who has not heard, in one form or another, the sermon “Will it be a Martha or a Mary Christmas?” Both extremes miss the mark ...

1267. Waiting for Christmas

James 5:7-12

Sermon

Timothy J. Smith

... focus this season on God’s most precious gift — Jesus Christ. We need to let go of everything else and concentrate on what really matters. Waiting patiently does not mean that we just do nothing. We do not passively sit in our easy chairs and wait but instead continue to participate in what Jesus calls us and expects us to do. Ours is an active waiting. The year had been a difficult one for Rae Smith who lost her job for the second time in two years. Without a severance package to keep her afloat, time ...

1268. The Church Is the Place

1 Corinthians 1:1-9

Sermon

Timothy J. Smith

... church. When we do not see eye to eye with another person we need to follow Paul’s example and pray for them, thanking God for their witness. We experience God’s grace in our lives when we first respond to Jesus’ call upon our lives. Grace also continues to sustain us in our daily walk with Christ. God’s grace has a transforming element to it, working in our lives to draw us closer to Jesus. Grace can change and transform our lives making us more and more like Jesus each and every day. Paul assured ...

1269. Divided We Fall

1 Corinthians 1:10-17

Sermon

Timothy J. Smith

... , by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you be in agreement and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same purpose.” The issue that was tearing the church apart could not continue but needed to end as soon as possible. Resolution was needed. Paul was trying to recapture the passion that the people held for their church when he was with them. Paul wrote, “That all of you be in agreement.” Instead of focusing on their differences, on what ...

1270. Everyone Is Invited

Romans 1:1-17

Sermon

Timothy J. Smith

... him again in heaven.[2] Could you be the person who shares Jesus with someone who is confused and hurting? Faith and not works, grace and not law, and all humanity, not just some chosen few were the points Paul wanted the Romans to grasp. As we continue to live out our faith in Jesus Christ may we remember that we are saved in and through God’s amazing grace and that grace includes all people. Everyone is invited; no one is excluded from God’s grace. Amen. 1. www.thisibelieve.org. 2. Don Kimbro, “A ...

1271. Luke 16:1-13

Luke 16:1-15

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... by his employer, this business manager acts in accordance with the ways of the world. He offers those who are in debt to his master a cut-rate, one-time “deal.” It’s an offer designed to get in their good graces. The dishonest manager continues with dishonesty by offering to “cook the books” in favor of those who owe substantial amounts to his master. What is shocking about this parable Jesus tells is not that it condemns the “way of the world,” but that the master actually praises his self ...

1272. Luke 17:5-10

Luke 17:1-10

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... surprisingly “last goes first, first goes last” kingdom hierarchy he has been teaching, the relationship described in vss. 7-10 sound like the weary way of the world. The master is in charge. The slave is, indeed, a slave, and a slave who is expected to be working continually for the master and never invited to sit at the master’s table. The household master/slave relationship is one of Luke’s signature images (see 12:35-40, 42-48; 13:25-27; 14:16-24; 16:1-13). As uncomfortable as it makes us today ...

1273. Broadband Discipleship

Luke 17:1-10

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

1274. The Healing Power of Faith

Luke 17:11-19

Sermon

King Duncan

... lay people bowing their heads in prayer asking God to bring healing to someone who was afflicted with illness and broken with pain and watching as ever so often healing would come. Not every time, of course, but often enough so that that the tradition has continued from the early days of our faith until the twenty-first century. Our lesson for today from Luke’s gospel is a case of the healing power of faith. Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. He was traveling along the border between Samaria and Galilee ...

1275. Let It Go

John 3:1-21

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... recipe detail. “My roasting pan was too short,” great grandma declared, “I had to cut off the last few inches or the ham would not fit in the pan.” Although the conditions had changed for the ensuing generations of cooks, they had all continued to follow the old instructions, without knowing why, without embracing the new reality made possible by bigger pans for bigger hams. It is easy to get comfortable, to get routinized in a rut. Thinking “outside the box” requires flexing some mental muscles ...

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