Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 1251 to 1275 of 4999 results

John 15:9-17

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... of in verse 11 is the joy that he knows as a result of his absolute obedience to the Father, and the perfect unity they share. Jesus urges his disciples to choose obedience and to experience his abiding love so that they may also experience this kind of total joy. Jesus' emphasis on "keeping his commandments" might have been unsettling to the tableful of disciples. After all, as good and faithful Jews they knew just how arduous keeping all that the Torah commands could be. Is Jesus saying that all they need ...

1252. A Plea for Fishing

Luke 5:1-11; Mark 1:14-20

Illustration

Darrell W. Robinson

... his fishing in order to have time to tell about the experience to the other fishermen. He was also placed on the Fishermen's General Board as a person having considerable experience. Now it's true that many of the fishermen sacrificed and put up with all kinds of difficulties. Some lived near the water and bore the smell of dead fish every day. They received the ridicule of some who made fun of their fishermen's clubs and the fact that they claimed to be fishermen yet never fished. They wondered about those ...

1253. Epiphany 3

Jonah 3:1-10, 1 Corinthians 7:1-40, Mark 1:1-8, Mark 1:9-13, Mark 1:14-20

Sermon Aid

John R. Brokhoff

... . 29-31). In these three verses Paul uses "as though" five times. He urges us to live as though conditions did not exist. It is a kind of "make believe" style of life. Since the end of the world is at hand, we are to live as though the world no longer existed. ... by Christ into discipleship. Out of this encounter comes the meaning and mission of life. Outline: Consider the encounter of the best kind. a. Christ encounters us as we are vv. 16, 19 ("Fishermen"). b. Christ encounters us where we are vv. 16, 19 (" ...

1254. Epiphany 4

Mark 1:21-28, 1 Corinthians 8:1-13, Deuteronomy 18:14-22

Sermon Aid

John R. Brokhoff

... to prevent such a debacle from happening to us, we need to evaluate our preachers to see if we should follow them. In this passage we have the criteria for a good preacher whom we can follow with confidence. "That prophet" was personalized in Jesus. Outline: God's kind of a prophet is – a. A good prophet "like me" v. 15. b. A mediator between God and his people v. 16. c. A mouthpiece for God v. 18. 2. Should you listen to your preacher? (18:15-20). Need: Not everyone listens (obeys) to his preacher. Maybe ...

1255. Epiphany 8

Mark 2:18-22, 2 Corinthians 2:12--3:6, Psalm 103:1-22, Hosea 2:2-23

Sermon Aid

John R. Brokhoff

... : The nature of God's second marriage – a. Love v. 14. b. Faithfulness v. 19. c. Intimacy of oneness ("know") v. 20. 2. Love in the wilderness! (2:14). Need: God wants to take his faithless wife to a wilderness to woo her. This is not the kind of place we would take a prospective spouse. We would think of a resort, a garden, the beach, or some attractive and comfortable place. God takes us to a wilderness. Why? Outline: Why God leads us to a wilderness – a. Withdrawal from the temptations of other gods ...

1256. A Life of Trust

2 Corinthians 5:1-10

Sermon

King Duncan

... makeup, or our relations with our parents, or, perhaps, difficult life experiences that we had at an early age left us with a basic sense of mistrust. It’s not that we don’t trust God. We don’t trust life in general. Obviously, this makes any kind of relationship very problematic. How do you develop this sense of trust as an adult? It’s difficult. It’s not something you can pick up off of a supermarket shelf. Actually I did read about a new chemical that someone has dubbed, “Trust in a Bottle ...

1257. Proper 20

Psalm 1:1-6, Proverbs 31:10-31, Mark 9:30-37, James 3:13-18

Bulletin Aid

B. David Hostetter

... embrace of a child rather than by rubbing shoulders with the powerful so that we may serve in the manner of your servanthood. Amen PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING God of wisdom, you are generous in sharing your wisdom with all who are receptive. Loving God, your kindness is exemplified in the humanity of Jesus and his openness to children. Spirit of peace, you can pacify our aggressiveness with our enemies. We are grateful for all that you have done for us in the events of Good Friday, and Easter, and Pentecost. We ...

1258. John the Baptist, Sanctified Indifference, & the King of Pop

Mark 6:14-29

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... impressed by all our flamboyant “toys,” or our flush bank accounts, or the degrees we hold, or the opinions of others. We don’t like them because the truth they reveal can be uncomfortable, awkward, harsh and unyielding. It’s hard to know which of these two kinds of people offends our sensibilities more: the liar or the truth-sayer. Can you remember the first time you got in trouble for telling the truth? I can. Can you, really? I’ll tell you my story if you tell me yours. [This would make a great ...

1259. The Spirit of Cross Pointe

1 Corinthians 9:19-23

Sermon

James Merritt

... and he has to put it mildly an extremely laid back personality. Nothing ever seems to fluster him and I have never known him to raise his voice. He is always been just a very calm person with the classic poker face that never shows emotion. One afternoon, as kind of a team building exercise, I decided we would go rent some horses and ride them. When I went and talked to the foreman, he told me the horses were well trained and that basically you could just let them have their head and they would take you all ...

1260. Got Milk?

1 Peter 2:1-3

Sermon

James Merritt

... condition called scurvy would begin to afflict many of the people. Their joints would swell, their teeth would begin to fall out and their organs would begin to shut down until they died. It is not that they were not eating. The problem was they were eating the wrong kinds of food. I want to be very frank and open and honest. The reason why we find it so hard to cultivate an appetite for God's word is because we live on spiritual junk food. In fact, we are living in a spiritual junk food culture. The reason ...

1261. Belling the Cat

John 6:60-71

Sermon

King Duncan

... in that area, on those streets, in the nearly three years since Joyce Riley obeyed the voice of God. (2) Would you be that courageous? Joyce Riley was willing to bell the cat. Robert A. Schuller tells about a young woman named Patty Wilson, who had a different kind of courage. As a preschooler Patty had a minor history of convulsions. Then one day when Patty was seven, she had a severe convulsive attack in school. She began to shake so hard that she fell to the floor. Her eyes rolled back in her head. The ...

1262. All By Myself: The Fear of Loneliness

2 Timothy 4:9-21

Sermon

James Merritt

... to be lonely. You see some people are lonely because they want to be lonely. We even have a name for these kind of people. We call them "loners." They are alone because they want to be alone. They are lonely because they choose to be ... lonely. Their problem is not separation, it is isolation. Solomon even talked about these kind of people. He said, "A man who isolates himself seeks his own desire; He rages against all wise judgment." (Proverbs 18:1, NKJV ...

1263. The Revolution Against Evolution

Genesis 1:1

Sermon

James Merritt

... Depending on the definition, there may or may not be a problem with the word "evolution". When textbooks say something like, "evolution has occurred" sometimes they just mean that "change sometimes happens." When that is the case, nobody has any disagreement with it. Certain kinds of limited change do occur in nature. There are really two meanings to the word "evolution". Sometimes the word refers to what is known as "micro-evolution". Micro evolution simply states that change does take place within certain ...

1264. Here Today Gone Tomorrow

Genesis 5:21-24, Hebrews 11:5

Sermon

James Merritt

... with all your heart." (Jeremiah 29:13, NASB) Let me just give you fair warning. If you are going to have a walk with God and the kind of intimate fellowship with God that Enoch did, you are going to have to take the time to do it. If you are not walking with ... I, a little boy of six was left quite alone in the world. You sent me word that you would give me a home and be a kind mother to me. I have never forgotten the day when I made the long journey of ten miles to your house in North Killingsworth. I can ...

1265. Standard Building Codes

Matthew 5:27-30

Sermon

James Merritt

... says, "But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart." (Matthew 5:28, NASB) The Bible calls the soul of our being, our innermost thoughts, the heart. The Bible talks of all kinds of hearts – a pure heart, a contrite heart, a deceitful heart, and a proud heart. The heart is where the core of the problem of adultery begins. That is why Jesus did something no one else had ever done concerning adultery – He goes to the heart of the ...

1266. Like a Good Neighbor – Jesus Is There

Luke 10:25-37

Sermon

James Merritt

... that are full of priests and Levites. A Gallup survey discovered that only 10% of American church members are active in any kind of personal ministry, and 50% of all church members have no interest in serving in any ministry. In other words, 50% of ... about what he ought to do about that little boy. All of a sudden a middle aged lady walked by. She bent down, spoke some kind words to the child; brought him into the shoe store and bought him some brand new shoes and socks. As that boy shivering in the ...

1267. How to Make Heaven Happy

Luke 15:1-10

Sermon

James Merritt

... females, the males have a ritual they go through; they challenge other males for the right to mate. They stand several feet apart, and they run full speed at each other and butt heads. Now that mature male sheep has major horns on his head. Can you imagine what that kind of head-butting does to the ability of that sheep to think at all? Did you know that two male sheep will butt heads for as long as 20 minutes until one will finally back down? If you've ever seen this on television they say you can hear the ...

1268. Minority Report

Matthew 13:1-9; 18-23

Sermon

James Merritt

... life was choked out. IV. Surrendered Hearts Reproduce The Word "But others fell on good ground and yielded a crop: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty." (v.8) Now Jesus here talks about a soil that is fertile and a soil that is fruitful. Now what kind of heart is this? "But he who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty." (v.23) Now Jesus says three things about this soil. First of ...

1269. God and the Minimum Wage

Matthew 20:1-16

Sermon

James Merritt

... to provide for their families. Now these first workers were hired at six o'clock in the morning. You notice we are told, in verse 2, that they had an agreement for what pay they would make. In fact, you are going to see in this parable there were two kinds of workers. These were men who were hired early, but they would not work until they knew how much they would make. The word "agreed" is somewhat of a legal term, and so in effect what they had was a verbal contract. They would work for a solid day and ...

1270. Use It or Lose It

Matthew 25:14-30

Sermon

James Merritt

... , we did not know that we would be allowed to go and get into a receiving line to meet him. We were told that there would be no pictures with the President, and we were to just speak to him very briefly and move on. Well, the President was very kind and engaged in some conversation with us, and then we moved on into a room where there were refreshments. While we were standing there a man came in to that room with an invitation, and it had been signed by the President. Teresa asked the man where he got it ...

1271. The Opportunity of a Lifetime

Matthew 25:14-30

Sermon

James Merritt

... speak, we did not know that we would be allowed to get into a receiving line to meet him. We were told that there would be no pictures with the President, and we were to just speak to him very briefly and move on. Well, the President was very kind and engaged in some conversation with us, and then we moved on into a room where there were refreshments. While we were standing there a man came in to that room with an invitation, and it had been signed by the President. Teresa asked the man where he got ...

1272. A Song for Tomorrow

Psalm 1:1-6

Sermon

James Merritt

... the things you are going to be doing. Even if you don't sing and you don't play, you are going to learn very quickly - perhaps to do both. The Bible makes it very plain there is always music in heaven. Of all the arts and crafts that human kind has learned over the last several thousands of years, the only one we are told specifically in the Bible we will take from earth to heaven is music. We are continuing a series of messages that I am calling "Soul Music." Soul Music is just that – it is music that ...

1273. The Maybe Moment

2 Samuel 11:1-15

Sermon

Stan Purdum

... course, is that temptation, no matter what its subject is, can arise from a thought, a suggestion, a craving, or, as in David's case, a chance glance. There is no sin in that, and we generally cannot prevent such happenstance. Temptations of some kind, and more likely, of several kinds, come to us all. I saw a cartoon once in which a man was praying, "And I want to thank you for finally delivering me from temptation." The man was shipwrecked on a tiny, barren island barely six feet in diameter.2 Even there ...

1274. Putting God to Work in Your Life through Peas, Squash, Lettuce, Thyme

Mark 8:31--9:1

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... on its message. As Engle noted, “That’s why Jessica is ahead of the game. She’s skipped over cynicism and gone right to gratitude. At eighteen, she knows the value of peace.” (p.166) Disciples work to plant “lettuce” — lettuce be genuinely faithful, kind, patient, and loving with one another. That is hard work. If people were easy Jesus would not have had to go to the cross. Finally, to finish our garden we must have thyme: “Thyme for each other. Thyme for family Thyme for friends.” Jesus ...

1275. What Price Must We Pay?

Luke 6:20-31

Sermon

John Wayne Clarke

... a little later in this chapter, he says, "... do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return" (v. 35b). You see, the world looks at us and sees that we do good and that we ask for nothing in return. Notice that Jesus did not say, "If you become this kind of giver, you will have nothing in return," he tells us to expect nothing in return. Let us quote verse 31 one more time, "Do to others as you would have them do to you." All of the previous verses are summarized in this one verse. In fact, living this ...

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