Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 1251 to 1275 of 3099 results

Exodus 20:1-21

Sermon

Brett Blair

... the Ten Commandments time and again by defining their original intent. He spoke in the Sermon on the Mount: You have heard that it was said to the people long ago “Do not murder,” but I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment.” Sin begins not with the outer action but with the inner heart. It was the Ten Commandments that transformed the Hebrews from a nomadic tribe into a great nation. It is the foundation of our own civil law in America. It is the foundation of ...

1252. The Ten Commandments - Part 4

Exodus 20:1-21

Sermon

Brett Blair

1253. Dual Citizenship I - What Do We Owe To Our Country?

Matthew 22:15-22

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... to think about our dual citizenship. Today I want to ask: What do we owe to America? On next weekend my focus will be: What are our obligations to God? WHAT DO WE OWE TO AMERICA? St. Paul told us clearly in Romans, chapter 13 that we should be subject to governmental authorities because they are agents of God. I know it strains us to regard all politicians in that light, but that's what the Bible says. Though none of us is fond of paying taxes, St. Paul tells us clearly that we should. Also, most Christians ...

1254. What God Requires of Us

Drama

Curt M. Joseph

... strains to hear what I have to say. Lives can be changed by my eloquence. Souls lost if I falter. The responsibility is overwhelming. Aaron: What is your sermon topic? Caiaphas: I will preach on - humility. Obed: How can you preach a sermon on a subject you know nothing about? Caiaphas: Yes, Obed, you will enjoy Nazareth. The cold winters and the hot summers. Now let’s get down to business. Aaron: We have a serious problem with a certain Nazarene, named Jesus. Caiaphas: Ah, yes. Jesus. A serious problem ...

1255. Stewards and the Hungry

Matthew 25:31-46

Sermon

Jerry L. Schmalemberger

... and Reagan. No one wants the children to starve, and yet they do; and we see it on our television screen year after year. No one knows the reasons we continue to have so much world hunger; we can only depend on the authorities that we read on the subject and their opinions. They claim there’s a certain lack of understanding and concern and that we fail to take the time to consider why hunger continues to exist. We close our minds to taking any of the blame as American citizens who live very "high on the ...

1256. Stewards and Our Bodies

1 Corinthians 6:12-20

Sermon

Jerry L. Schmalemberger

... , and we must see ourselves as being a part of the design of the Creator. We Christians believe that human sexuality is a gift of God for the expression of love and the generation of life. As with every good gift, it can be subject to abuses which cause suffering and debasement. We see exploitation of our sexuality on every side: prostitution, media advertising, pornography, child abuse, filthy jokes, and language. These are all distortions of God’s good gift. In our homes and in our churches with our ...

1257. Stewards of Our Money

Mark 12:41-44

Sermon

Jerry L. Schmalemberger

... or give for services rendered. The widow’s offering at the temple that day is very revealing. Christian stewards give offerings as a response to God and in proportion to what we have had given to us. Do you think we need a biblical sermon on this subject today? You be the judge. Here are a couple of facts: 40 percent of the Christians in mainline congregations gave nothing in offering the first one-half of this year. The average per-Sunday gift for the first half of the year was $5.60. If you ...

1258. Stewards of Life, Death, and Beyond

Matthew 6:19-24

Sermon

Jerry L. Schmalemberger

... should legislate the rightness or wrongness of abortion. Sometimes it appears to me that our fundamentalist brothers and sisters in Christ see pregnancy and birth of a child as the deserved punishment for promiscuity. I can’t agree with our Roman Catholic friends on this subject either. They seem to see sexual relations as only for the purpose of conception and birth. I think God had a lot more in mind when he created us male and female. I’d also like to reject the distortions, the hysteria, the bigotry ...

1259. A Shepherd Who Became a Sovereign

2 Samuel 12:1-31

Sermon

R. Blaine Detrick

... Personality Another aspect of David’s nature was how thoughtful, how lenient, how understanding, how compassionate he was. In the day in which he lived, this was a rare attribute. Remember that he was an absolute monarch, with the power of life and death over his subjects. What he said would be done - no questions asked. He was not responsible to any man. An example, for instance, of his tender nature, was that when he was forced to flee for his life, he first made certain that somebody would care for his ...

1260. A Man Who Was a Lion-Tamer

Daniel 6:1-28

Sermon

R. Blaine Detrick

... as everybody else did? Why not? Who would know? What difference would it make? He was far from home. And the food was desirable - the rich delicacies of a wealthy court, appealing to the appetite. Yet realizing all of this ... realizing that he would be subject to ridicule and mockery ... realizing that he was risking the anger of the king ... realizing that he was jeopardizing his whole future and possibly even his life ... still Daniel said, "I will be faithful to my God. I will not defile myself. I will ...

1261. Francis of Assisi: a Faith for Every Day

Sermon

Jerry L. Schmalemberger

... also that his sign is our sign, too: the sign of the cross. "We can glory in the cross," said Francis to Brother Leo. With the sign of the cross, Francis summarized his inspiration for life, the sustenance of his vitality, the focus of his commitment. Francis’ subjection to the cross had begun long ago in the empty church of St. Damian, when he thought that the lips of Christ spoke to him about his mission. Francis had seen a vision of the living Christ; he heard the cross and obeyed. When he taught his ...

1262. Mother Teresa and the Dying Poor

Sermon

Jerry L. Schmalemberger

... are dying, the Holy Spirit wants desperately to work through the doctors, medical health teams, hospitals, hospice personnel, pastors, church members, spouses, and family so they might die unafraid, with dignity, and especially knowing they are loved. We Christians must address the whole subject of medical ethics because we now live in a time when the heart of a baboon can be transplanted into a little Baby Fay in California. We need to ask when, and if, the machines of intensive care ought to be turned off ...

1263. Living in the Future Present

Mark 9:2-13

Sermon

Thomas Long

... which comes when one knows the future. I once had the privilege of having a private conversation with a man who was well-known for his books and lectures on human relationships. He was an elderly man, and the kind of open spirit who welcomed questions on any subject, so I felt brave enough to ask him what was the main change that aging had brought to his life. He thought for a bit, then replied, "I view everything from the point of view of my death." At first his answer struck me as strange, even morbid ...

1264. Blind Bartimaeus - Model For Healing

Mark 10:46-52

Sermon

James W. Robinson

... insisted that he sit down and remain quiet. The poor man meekly acquiesced. He slid into his seat and thereafter maintained a discreet silence. The man’s inquiries had been reasonable, and politely phrased. He had simply sought light on an important subject, and everyone present would have benefited if he had been permitted to complete his line of questioning. But he folded weakly, cowed by the frown of rebuke, and left the room with feelings of frustration and futility. Children can teach us much ...

1265. Take a Close Look (At the Widow)!

Mark 12:41-44

Sermon

James W. Robinson

... into a pattern. You go to dinner with them, you go to their house, you invite them back. Then all of a sudden, it stops."[4] It is not that people are unsympathetic. They simply cannot find the right words to say. They dare not bring up the subject of death, not realizing that the bereaved find it therapeutic to talk about the departed. At any rate, we may well imagine that Mark’s widow would have felt utterly forsaken and forlorn if she had not experienced the abiding, personal presence of God. As did a ...

1266. In Control

Mark 13:1-31

Sermon

James W. Robinson

... Days and that the End is just over the horizon. Christ is about to return. Perhaps. Perhaps not. Christians disagree on the imminence and the particulars of the Second Coming. I. Before we go further, it may be helpful to summarize the major viewpoints on the subject.1 A. The a-millennia1 view. The classic view of the medievul church and the reformers. There is no literal millennium or reign of peace on the earth. The Second Coming will mark the time of judgment and the end of the order of existence that ...

1267. Inevitabilities and the Last Days

Mark 13:1-31

Sermon

James W. Robinson

... in government did not like the sound of that. They retaliated swiftly. A tenant farmer was arrested, upon instructions of the governor, because he had let the bishop and his companions stay overnight in his house. Inhabitants of the area were subjected to pressure tactics from the military; the mission school and medical clinic were destroyed; and a priest was condemned to six of years imprisonment by a military court. Then, in 1973, a military detachment forcibly entered the bishop’s residence. Occupants ...

1268. Finding the Truth That Makes Us Free

John 8:31-41

Sermon

James W. Robinson

... of miners, for help and made a vow to become a monk. He selected a monastic order that demanded much in the way of discipline. Here, he reasoned, was the best setting in which to concentrate on good works, the true way to please God and save his soul. He subjected his body to great discomfort. He fasted for days on end, prayed for hours at a time, and went often to confession. But all his good works failed to give him the assurance of his soul’s salvation. What a great day it was for Luther - and for the ...

1269. Happiness Is ... the Kingship of Jesus

John 18:28-40

Sermon

James W. Robinson

... from branches above them. And, feeling rebuked, he resumed his silent prayers of thanksgiving, petition, praise, and intercession. This world, the man reflected, pulls our eyes downward. It fills our minds with the ordinary and the mundane. Its rulers require their subjects to bow and scrape, and to approach them submissively, figuratively, or literally on their knees. But the kingship of Jesus insists only that we walk in dignity, with head erect, so that we may see - and rejoice in - the beauty of ...

1270. Waiting

Isaiah 63:7--64:12

Sermon

Thomas D. Peterson

... must wait many years for their work to be tested. Will their discovery cure the disease or does it produce side effects worse than the cure? Statesmen wait for decades to know if their policies produce peace. To wait effectively we must know a lot about the subject at hand. We have to know what the facts of nature are, the hard facts. This kind of knowledge is practical, common sensical, and scientific. We must also know the facts of human nature, knowledge of others and the self. When do we begin to get ...

1271. Christmas Gift

Isaiah 61:1-11

Sermon

Thomas D. Peterson

... , the wise men, and the infant in the manger bent down and whispered into the ear of a tired and despairing world, "Christmas gift." Once more it was hard times. Roman occupation forces were a constant reminder to every Jew that they were a subject people. Blasphemies against their religion rubbed salt into the wound. Little wonder that with the whisper Israel saw a vision of triumph. They had been given, once more, garments of God’s favor. The occupation forces would be driven out. Israel’s fortunes ...

1272. You Don’t Really Feel That Way

Job 6:1-7:21

Sermon

Thomas D. Peterson

... the lonely process of finding the truth that lay behind his suffering. He plunged the depth of life’s meaning. In doing so he came into a new spring, though hardly the one he thought he deserved, which would be to vindicate himself before God. Instead he bowed in subjection to God and found the mystery of life. Job insisted on the integrity of his plight. He knew that "the night is long, and I am full of tossing till the dawn." Even with his tears he knew that his life "is a breath"; and he faced what ...

1273. The Baptism of Our Lord

Genesis 1:1-2:3, Acts 19:1-22, Mark 1:1-8, Mark 1:9-13

Bulletin Aid

Paul A. Laughlin

... power of your forgiving grace. Forgive us our faithlessness, O God; teach us to trust you and your Holy Spirit, without which all our words and deeds are hollow and meaningless. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen Gospel: Mark 1:4-11 Theme: The subjectivity and secrecy of the first epiphany Exegetical note Unlike the descriptions of Jesus’ baptism delivered by Matthew and Luke, Mark’s earlier version describes the opening of the heavens, the descent of the Spirit, and the voice of God as a private, inner ...

1274. Epiphany 8

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

Bulletin Aid

Paul A. Laughlin

... : in hearts that have been enlivened and activated by your Spirit through Jesus Christ. In his name we pray. Amen Gospel: Mark 2:18-22 Theme: All things made new in Christ Exegetical Note The issue in this pericope is clearly fasting, but the real subject is novelty, as seen in the two attitudes reflected here: (1) that of Jesus himself, that his presence and ministry have created a new relationship that abrogates the need for Jewish ritual fasting; and (2) that of the early church, that Christ’s absence ...

1275. The Resurrection of Our Lord

Isaiah 25:1-12, John 20:1-9, John 20:10-18, Mark 16:1-20, 1 Corinthians 15:1-11

Bulletin Aid

Paul A. Laughlin

... of the soul or a more recent Gnostic belief in "realized resurrection," apparently need convincing. His starting point is an objective rehearsal of the basic creedal elements - Christ’s death, burial, resurrection, and appearances - the last of which he elaborates, with special subjective attention to the grace that Christ’s appearing brought to him. Call to Worship Leader: Rejoice, Christians, and be glad. For Jesus who was dead is now risen! People: THIS JESUS WHO WAS DEAD WAS RAISED AGAIN TO LIFE AND ...

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