Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 1401 to 1425 of 2962 results

1401. Let Not Thy Will Roar, When Thy Power Can But Whisper

2 Corinthians 12:1-10

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... a quote by Thomas Fuller: “Let not Your will Roar, when Your power can but Whisper.” (Ernie Larson and Carol Hagerty, Believing In Myself, Prentice Hall, 1991) Now that’s a word on which we can reflect for a long time. It is a graphic word designating for me common extremes to which we go in responding to life and seeking to cope. One extreme is to adopt a victim mentality; the other is a pretension to strength and sufficiency. The two stances are portrayed in our Scripture lessons from the Psalms and ...

1402. Power For Christian Living: Am I On My Own?

Romans 3:3-5

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... live in freedom and joy. The Holy Spirit Empowers us to Bear the Burdens of Life and be More Than Conquerors In His preparation to leave his disciples, Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit. In John’s gospel the Greek designation for Holy Spirit is translated variously “comforter,” “advocate,” or “counselor,” indicating the empowering presence of the Holy Spirit. I have seen it many times – persons who are transformed from people who are helpless objects of forces beyond their control into ...

1403. The Church: An Enclave of Resistance v2

Romans 12:1-8

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

In September of 1997 there was a groundbreaking service for a Catholic cathedral that is going to be constructed in Los Angeles. The Diocese of Los Angeles commissioned the famous Spanish architect Jose Rafael Moneo to design the building. Their hope is that the cathedral will be completed by the beginning of the millennium. It’s to be a peculiar witness to the glory of God. There were models of the cathedral at the groundbreaking service and on the basis of the models a Los Angeles Times ...

1404. Why Being A Christian Has Worn You Down v1

1 John 4:7-21

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... of being good. But it’s not just a periodic getting tired now and then – the truth is we get worn out – being Christian and practicing ministry wears us out. We talk about fatigue in all sorts of ways – what I’m talking about could be designated “compassion fatigue.” Boil it all down, refine it to its most precious essence, and you come out with this: love and compassion is the call of every Christian. Our scripture lesson is more than clear about that. The truth is I could have opened the New ...

1405. We Who Are Many Are One Body

Mark 5:1-20

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... promise, having no hope and without God in the world” (v. 12). These words are like a death-shroud over the spirit, hanging heavily over our souls even now: “having no hope without God in the world.” Paul uses the word “aliens” to designate foreigners. Since the Gentiles had never belonged to Israel, Paul must have been using the metaphor of an ancient city-state, which was made up of free citizens and also of resident aliens who had no civil rights. The disenfranchisement and deprivation was made ...

1406. In the Wilderness With Moses

1 Corinthians 10:1-13

Sermon

King Duncan

... not prudery. This is not being out-of-touch. This is but an acknowledgment that sex is one of the most powerful drives we have, and if it is prostituted--that is, if it is used in a way other than that for which God designed it--it can bring much harm. Inappropriate sexual activity has destroyed many people in our society--physically, emotionally, socially and spiritually. It has destroyed reputations and destroyed families. Anyone who does not understand that simply has his or her head buried in the sand ...

1407. A Time of Transition

Joshua 5:9-12

Sermon

King Duncan

... over that hapless inhabitant of the 1600s.” (4) Scary, isn’t it? Business consultant Tom Peters suggests that each one of us is an R. D. A. What is an R. D. A.? These letters stand for a “Rapidly Depreciating Asset.” How about that for a worrisome designation--you and I are a Rapidly Depreciating Asset? In business terms, if we don’t grow and change and learn new things, then our skills will soon become obsolete, says Peters. He suggests that we counter our status as R.D.A.’s by developing an R ...

1408. The Way Up Is the Way Down

Matthew 5:1-12

Sermon

Phil Thrailkill

... use the form of the announced blessing to indicate what kind of folk were in favor with God, or with the gods in the case of polytheism. It was a official congratulations in three parts: 1) An announcement of favor, “Blessed are....” Then 2) the designated recipients, “the poor in spirit,” and finally 3) the reward that justifies the blessed status, “for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” The blessing form was used for all sorts of purposes, one of which was to pass on wisdom. One of my favorites ...

1409. What Making a Difference Looks Like

Matthew 5:1-12

Sermon

Phil Thrailkill

... at the wrong things, happiness is concealed in an endless game of hide and seek where you never win. Always seeking and never finding may be a good definition of hell, now and later. To seek happiness apart from God is guaranteed frustration. Life is designed, as a wise man once said, according to the following rule: “Heaven takes care that no man secures happiness by crime.” 3 It is against the grain of the universe. You cannot make yourself happy; you were never intended to. Trying harder is only more ...

1410. The Privilege and the Price

Matthew 5:13-16

Sermon

Phil Thrailkill

... laugh at Christians. Ancient salt was full of impurities, and if salt was stored in a damp place, the moisture leached away the sodium chloride, our table salt, leaving only the worthless residue to be tossed out on the road. It is by God’s providential design that the world often acts as a harsh judge for backslidden believers and compromised churches. They laugh at us and make our sins plain. They sniff out our little hypocrisies and take delight in doing so. It is the devil’s delight since he is the ...

1411. What Is Required of Us?

Matthew 5:17-20

Sermon

Phil Thrailkill

... our bishops and theologians makes me wonder who they are trying to please, a morally indulgent American culture, their ivory tower ecclesiastical or academic colleagues, or the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who could not have been any clearer about the heterosexual design of marriage and the proper boundaries for ultimate sexual expression which is marriage only. Folks, we do not break God’s law so much as we break ourselves and our culture against them. Preachers who make it easy are engaging in the ...

1412. A Kingdom Investment Policy

Matthew 6:19-24

Sermon

Phil Thrailkill

... , and demonstrably so. Obedience is the path into the experience of the kingdom of God. Admiration is not enough; faith is a beginning; trust is always ongoing, and Jesus asks for serious obedience, which he meets with serious engagement. His word is bread and designed to sustain us as agents of the parallel kingdom. Willard stands against the popular notion that you can decide to enjoy forgiveness at Jesus’ expense and have nothing more to do with him. Getting a ticket to heaven with a quick sinner’s ...

1413. Wisdom and the Trinity

Proverbs 8:1-36

Sermon

Elizabeth Achtemeier

... . The Holy Spirit who comes to us is God. They are not lesser deities than the Father, and to all of them, Father, Son, or Holy Spirit, we pray and give our adoration. It is rather strange, therefore, that the lectionary for this Sunday of the Trinity designates a passage about Wisdom from the Old Testament, as if Wisdom is somehow a Person in the Trinity. The figure of Wisdom in our text for the morning is personified as a female figure. She calls to human beings to listen to her and to learn her teachings ...

1414. Torn Curtain

Luke 23:44-49, Luke 23:26-43

Sermon

King Duncan

... raised? At least one person profited greatly thanks to curtains. Russian immigrant Joseph Kaplan came to New York in 1901. Wherever he went in his new homeland, he saw plain old white shower curtains. So he started making shower curtains with colorful designs and fabrics. And he became a financial success. Good idea! Curtains may make great decorative items for our home. Window treatments they are often called today. Curtains also provide privacy. I read recently about two men sharing a hospital room. They ...

1415. The “Sad-You-See” Syndrome

Mark 12:18-27

Sermon

Michael Milton

... , “You live, you do what is right, you follow God’s moral laws, and then you die. That’s it.” This group, for all of their supposed intellect, did not know the Word of God. Jesus said this after hearing their fantastic story, which was designed to make Him look like a fool before the crowds. Their story was really an attempt at a reductio ad absurdum argument, that is, an argument that is intended to disprove a proposition by showing that it leads to absurd or untenable conclusions. So with sarcasm ...

1416. A Fool and His Money

Luke 12:13-21

Sermon

Mark Trotter

... , and still he is separated from God. He does not know God. That society would have said, that is impossible. But then comes the coup de grace, "Go sell all you have and give it to the poor." It is the most shocking way to say it. It is designed to get their attention. "A man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions." Now our text. There was a rich man, who had more than enough possessions to guarantee his comfort. The obvious conclusion was this is a righteous man, this is a man who ...

1417. How to See the Future

Matthew 26:17-30

Sermon

Mark Trotter

... those days would stay away from communion, and why it was celebrated so seldom, they would tell me, was because they didn't understand it. But I don't think that was it. I think the problem is, they did understand it. It communicated clearly what it was designed to communicate: that this is a remembrance, this is the memorial of the death of a man, and it our fault that it happened. The service never really got beyond that, "This is my body broken for you." But Jesus said more than that at the Last Supper ...

1418. Simeon's Song

Luke 2:21-40

Sermon

Mark Trotter

... time. She has authority, credentials, only hers are different than Simeon's. She is a woman, so she probably would not have been trained in the scriptures the way Simeon would have been. Her expertise comes from life. She is a widow. In those day that designated a sociological class. To be a widow in those days was synonymous with being poor and oppressed. You will remember that Jesus made widows the subject of two of his teachings, at least. In the Temple he told his disciples to watch that widow put her ...

1419. Shalom Shattered

Genesis 37:1-4, 12-28

Sermon

Arley K. Fadness

... in the chalice. The firing has exposed weaknesses in the clay and when the chalice is brought out of the oven and cooled, it shatters into useless shards. Undeterred, the potter begins again and in a short time the potter's wheel is spinning with designs for a second, even more splendid and more sturdy Grecian chalice. So in the story of Joseph and his brothers, the unity and cohesion of Jacob's family is broken. Shalom, the Hebrew word for peace, unity, and good will, like the Grecian chalice, breaks ...

1420. Free Living Water for All

Exodus 17:1-7

Sermon

Arley K. Fadness

... ploy -- a bit of both? An elderly man by the name of Fred was engaged by the leaders of the city of Custer, South Dakota, some years ago. Fred was a witcher. So, with copper wires bent a certain way and held tightly in his hands, he traversed a designated area and determined, to the chagrin of everyone, a spot where he predicted the precise number of feet needed to dig down for a city well and where he predicted the precise number of gallons per minute the well would produce. When the well was dug, it was ...

1421. One Degree As God’s Relation

Acts 17:22-31

Bulletin Aid

Frank Ramirez

... , we seek your wisdom today. Amen. Prayer Of Confession Gracious Lord, we see your handiwork all around us in nature. We worship you and praise your name for that glory which is evident in the world we share. We see our handiwork, manufactured, crafted, and designed, all around us as well, and we recognize that these things, as clever as they might be, have their origins in you as well. We strive to praise you through our possessions, recognizing you as their source, even as the world worships these things ...

1422. All Our Ducks in a Row

Genesis 1:1—2:4a

Bulletin Aid

Frank Ramirez

Call To Worship This world is no accident, but the product of design and purpose. Our presence here is no accident as well, but planned before time by a God who loves us. Collect (Unison) O Lord, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth! Amen. (Psalm 8:9) Prayer Of Confession Purpose and meaning are built into your universe, ...

1423. Families in Christ

Romans 9:1-5

Sermon

Jeff Wedge

... family gets together are only a few examples of the folks who are often thought of as only vaguely part of the family. Then there is the difficulty of the "black sheep" many families have as a part of their membership. The source of the designation varies greatly from family to family, but the result is often similar. Relations with the black sheep are usually strained, sometimes severed, on occasion to the point that the rest of the family changes its name to avoid any association with a black sheep who ...

1424. All Your Facilities Intact

Acts 17:16-34, Colossians 1:15-20

Sermon

Mark Trotter

... "? Why do we as Christians, who are not allowed to make images out of gold or silver or stone, make images out of words? Exalted images, such as we heard this morning in the Nicene Creed, which contains the most exalted language every used about Jesus. I designed the worship this morning to include all of these exaltations of praise for Jesus. As it says in the Nicene Creed, "Very God from very God, begotten, not made." We heard the same language in the Letter to the Colossians, "He is the first-born of all ...

1425. Being More than Civil

1 Corinthians 1:1-9, 1 Corinthians 1:10-17

Sermon

Mark Trotter

... salutation. Grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. It is the salutation that Paul uses in all of his letters. In fact, you could say that this is Paul's trademark. He is the only one who uses it. It is designed, I suppose, for the diverse nature of the churches that he founded in the Mediterranean World, this inclusive society of the Roman Empire, where churches were made up of people of all kinds of ethnic backgrounds, and especially Greeks and Jews. So the greeting, the salutation ...

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