Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 1251 to 1275 of 3852 results

1251. Straight Talk, Due Process and Grace

Matthew 18:15-20

Sermon

William J. Carl

... ’s so hard to do, you say. Of course it is. So we don’t, or we do it around behind the scenes in destructive ways or we store up all our problems, which is called gunnysacking and dump them out on some poor soul or group when we really originally had only one item of contention. Bosses often do this to employees and spouses especially do it to each other. Straight talk without pretense or hidden agenda is so hard for some of us that we either gossip or gunnysack. But for some of us, it’s not hard at ...

1252. What's In The Final Exam?

Matthew 25:31-46

Sermon

George Johnson

... or the use of hunger funds for advocacy. One can use this text for many purposes, but we should not overlook the context and overall scope of its purpose as intended by the author. This text takes us back to Genesis because it deals with the original purpose of God's creation, the ordering of right relationships and use of resources so that all creation may experience wholeness. It takes us back to the Old Testament covenant with God's people which included the expectation to do justice, love mercy and walk ...

1253. When Is Justification By Faith A Heresy?

John 8:31-41

Sermon

George Johnson

... God as they had come to know it. They were intelligent and knowledgeable. But often they were wrong, misguided, blind or enslaved by tradition. Sometimes they had misunderstood the Torah or read only parts of it. Sometimes they had altered its original purpose to fit their self-centered purposes. Sometimes they had fallen into the trap of believing that blessing meant privilege, tradition meant truth, credentials meant insight. This led to arrogance and, at times, heresy. I encourage you to read the gospels ...

1254. Beyond Bread and Butter

Luke 12:42-48

Sermon

Thomas Slavens

... moved a long way since Sarah Cleghorn wrote: The golf links lie so near the millThat almost every dayThe laboring children can look outAnd see the men at play.16 The labor movement has taken this country beyond the bread-and-butter stage, though its original purpose was to protect workers and their families from the pangs of hunger. Jesus said, “Every one to whom much is given, of him will much be required.” Because labor has more today than it has ever had before, it has more responsibility than ever ...

1255. The High Cost of Christian Living

Matthew 16:24-28

Sermon

Thomas Slavens

... of the good news which came into the world through him, and in this task he promised the help of God. “Deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me.” This call of the Christ comes to moderns as freshly today as it did to those to whom it was originally spoken. To give people the way and the strength to accomplish his tasks, God has sent his Son and his Spirit. In God, then, not in the self alone, do Christians find the ability to deny ourselves, take up our crosses and follow the Christ. A young man ...

1256. A Pause That Refreshes

John 1:1-18

Sermon

Thomas Slavens

... do we need grope along an uncertain path to God, for ‘‘the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” Advent can become a season of refreshment by interpreting Advent experiences from a Christian viewpoint. Christians have long been geniuses at this. Originally December 25 was a pagan Roman holiday, but when the Roman Empire was Christianized this holiday eventually became the Christian Christmas. The use of Christmas trees is said to have gone back to the tree worship of pagans in northern Europe, but ...

1257. Trumpets on the Other Side

John 11:17-37

Sermon

Thomas Slavens

... death ends all.” That philosophy changes ones s view of the world. It makes the universe a mad, haphazard one composed of billions of atoms swirling everywhere, going nowhere. It makes it a scramble of old elements thrown together with unexplainable origins and meaningless destinies. If this view be accepted, growth, progress, and evolution make no sense. Even the ideas of past, present and future are nonsense. Many of the best scientists cannot accept such a world view. “But,” some will assert, “I ...

1258. A Farewell Gift

John 14:15-31

Sermon

John M. Braaten

... of God's love and rest secure, knowing that all things belong to God. Then a wonderful thing happens. As we surrender our burdens to God, they are replaced with a gift, the farewell gift that Jesus left with his disciples. While it is a gift with ancient origins it has a power which continually regenerates itso that it is brand new for you and me. Even more, it's a gift that keeps on giving. It is the gift of peace, a peace which the world cannot give or understand, but as Jesus said, neither could ...

1259. Kim's Wish Come True

John 14:1-4

Eulogy

Ron Lavin

... 00 a.m. worship service, she arose at 3:00 a.m. When Kim wanted something, she was willing to make the appropriate sacrifices to get it. She wanted to be baptized. She told me just a few short weeks ago that it was her desire to be baptized originally, because she was afraid that she would be punished for not being baptized. She also indicated that she had come to a much more positive and holistic view of Baptism through the classes. She wanted to be baptized because she knew God wanted her as a part of his ...

1260. Marked For Mission

Sermon

George Bass

... has to be communicated to people before they can believe that Jesus Christ is Lord and that “the cross is there” for them. Mission is basic to the business of Christian ministry. It is certainly true that this command was given to the apostles originally, but we are all called to be witnesses to the Christian faith by reason of our baptism. Listen to a Roman Catholic New Testament and liturgical scholar, Father Gerard Sloyan: “With you… there is the reiterated pledge of fidelity to the promises of ...

1261. Marked At The Table

Sermon

George Bass

... man then, but you will see it for me.”15 Eisley sensed that he would not live long enough to see the fulfillment of his father’s prophecy; he didn’t. In one of his posthumously published writings, The Lost Notebooks of Loren Eiseley, the original introduction to The Night Country is published. In it, Biseley tells how his grandmother, who, he claims, saved his sanity simply by sitting with him during the long, sleepless night when he became an insomniac after his father died, sensed that her death was ...

1262. African-American Spirituality: The African's Gift To America

Exodus 3:1-22

Sermon

Carlyle Fielding Stewart

... formal observances of the great contributions black people have made to world civilization in general and to America in particular. We are a great people who have literally and spiritually come a long, long way. We have built the pyramids and originated the mathematical, medical, and physical sciences. We invented the first alphabet and gave to humanity its first language and systems of civil and political government. We have made our mark in literature and letters. Our writers range from Socrates and Aesop ...

1263. Hostage Crisis

1 Kings 19:1-8

Sermon

Carlyle Fielding Stewart

... to fear. It is a fear induced by a crisis in faith. Somewhere between Mount Carmel and Mount Horeb, between Mount Horeb and the cave, he lost confidence in God. Before he was strong, and now he is weak. Whatever holds us hostage, we can trace its origins to a crisis in confidence, where we no longer hold fast to our faith in God's ability to redeem and deliver. Every spiritual crisis culminating in our spiritual incarceration is due to lack of belief in God. It is only by retrieving our faith and trust ...

1264. Living Beyond Unhappily Ever After

Genesis 21:8-21

Sermon

Carlyle Fielding Stewart

... Why would he do such a thing to her? Why the desert? The loneliest, most desolate place on earth? Her heart was truly broken by this inexplicable act. She loved the man. She needed the man. She had a child for the man, for it was Sarah who originally suggested that Hagar bear children for her and Abraham since Sarah was barren. It was Sarah's suggestion that Hagar be taken in and Sarah's suggestion that Hagar be put out to die. What an unhappy situation! Hagar, while on the desert, knowing both she and her ...

1265. This Life Is Yours To Live!

Ezekiel 18:1-32

Sermon

Keith Hammer

... to all of the problems you will ever face. Yet, what I am doing, I believe, is illustrating the fundamental truth which God is trying to communicate through the prophet Ezekiel in our text this morning. The people of Israel to whom this text originally was addressed found themselves to be detainees, “guests” who couldn’t go home, exiles in a strange land. The armies of Babylonia had swept over their country and led them away into captivity. Now they were beginning to wonder who was responsible for ...

1266. The Invitation

Drama

Timothy W. Ayers

Topic: Inviting others, evangelism, encouragement, caring Characters: Three women on the phone Scene: A table will be set up with a phone on it. Characters 2 and 3 will have their backs to the congregation. Each character's original spot will be marked with tape with her number on it. As the characters rotate, they move to the next spot in a counterclockwise circle. #1 will be standing next to the phone as the lights come up. When she finishes her lines the three move in a counterclockwise way ...

1267. Dim Visions And Blind Guides

Sermon

Harold Warlick

... Italy had grown to 77 churches and the twenty in Asia had grown to 165 churches. Why? Obvious answer. The Holy Land churches had the disciples, their families, and their descendants in them. Every time there was a dilemma, they just went to some descendant of the original group and asked, "What do we do now?" And, for three hundred years every time they got a new idea or revelation I imagine many in the Holy Land heard the seven famous last words of the church: "We've never done it that way before." Jesus ...

1268. Nothing Is Impossible

Exodus 13:17--14:31

Sermon

Walter Kimbrough

... the wind to work all night long. Now, keep in mind that the sea was not cooperative, for it was not desirous of having its form disrupted. The wind would blow, but there was a resistance in the water. Every time the wind blew, the water came back to its original place. So, therefore, God called on a strong east wind to work on this assignment. The east wind was probably used because it came from the rising of the sun. It had the capacity to stack water on the one hand, but had a drying cycle on the other ...

1269. What Happens To You When You Die?

Luke 24:13-35

Sermon

Mark Ellingsen

... that you and I have, the lives that we are living, are a bit like the seeds that God is planting. Someday a beautiful plant will grow from that seed. That beautiful plant which will stem from you is your resurrection body, the perfect you - the way God originally intended you to be. Of course, for all that to happen, in order for your resurrection body to grow, the seed has to disappear. It has to die. That is why even though Jesus died for our sins, we still have to die. We die, so that those beautiful ...

1270. The Road To The Cross

Matthew 27:11-26

Sermon

Mark Ellingsen

... gathered in the palace of the high priest, who was called Caiaphas, and took counsel together in order to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill him (Matthew 26:3-4)." The plan of the religious establishment to put Jesus away seems to have had its origins in jealousy over the influence that Jesus was having on the crowd in Jerusalem. What else is this but social sin and thirst for power and influence? The chief priests and the elders, the religious establishment, were afraid that Jesus was taking away their power ...

1271. Transformed For The Great Awakening

Sermon

Ron Lavin

... them, saying, "Rise, and have no fear. "And when they lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only. - Matthew 17:1-8, RSV In this story of Jesus' transfiguration we have the key to transformation: "They saw Jesus only." In its original context this phrase meant that Moses (standing for the Law) and Elijah (standing for the prophets) had disappeared. Peter, James and John saw only Jesus. They saw him in all his glory. These three apostles were transformed because all distractions were removed. For us ...

1272. From Inferiority To Fulfillment

Isaiah 62:1-12

Sermon

Ron Lavin

... Isaiah 62:4)." My Delight There is nothing more important for young people today than the affirmation that they are genuinely loved. Most of the unsocial behavior and many of the crimes of youth come from this feeling of forsakenness. Drugs and alcohol abuse originate for many because of this feeling of forsakenness and rootlessness. How important it is that youth today discover the God who takes delight in them. The story of Jesus at the wedding feast at Cana is about this God of affirmation, although this ...

1273. Robert Paul, You Were Right!

Daniel 7:1-14, Daniel 7:15-28

Sermon

Richard Hasler

... the nations of the world? The music, the speeches, the drama? For me, the high point of the pageantry is when a runner enters the stadium carrying a torch that has been transported to this particular place from Olympia, Greece, the origin of the Games. Conveyed across national borders, sometimes spawning the oceans, the torch signifies the relationship between the current Olympics and those Games that have gone on before. The runner ascends the steps, lights the flame and the Games officially begin ...

1274. The Dreamer Within You

Joel 2:18-27, Joel 2:28-32

Sermon

Richard Hasler

... over a trial at Richmond that exonerated both of them of serious crimes. We probably never will known completely what Burr’s motivation was in his Southwest plan. Was it conspiracy or something else less heinous? One thing we do know is that he lost his original dream. It was shattered beyond recovery. His last years were lived as a broken and a disillusioned man. No matter how promising our dream might be, it is possible to lose sight of it along the way. Since it takes time for a dream to unfold ...

1275. The Best Offense Is A Good Defense

Zephaniah 3:1-20

Sermon

Richard Hasler

... childhood. Once we had made up our mind on something we did not like to change it. In fact, we might have feared changing it. New evidence that threatened to undermine our cherished ideas was unsettling. Far better for us to remain in our original thought patterns than to venture forth into the uncertain and often painful task of revising our ideas. We often reason that at least we can manage our small and restricted world. On the other hand, disciplined people realize that learning is a lifetime occupation ...

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