Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 1526 to 1550 of 4938 results

1526. Mary and Martha: Nine to Five and Five to Nine

Luke 10:38-42

Sermon

Maurice A. Fetty

... stop giving approval to cheating in school, lying to authority, abusing drugs and alcohol, and cheapening and making banal the sexual experience. If our children are to become something more than worker bees in a mindless drive toward more, parents need to give up worshiping at the shrine of the dollar. The Marys of the world call us to our spiritual and ethical foundations. Woman: The Marthas of the world are important and crucial. They get the research into practical application. They get the architects ...

1527. Mordecai Persuades Esther to Help

Esther 4:1-17

Understanding Series

Timothy S. Laniak

... the cause of his predicament (and without asking why), she sends clothes to cover his self-imposed state of ritual humiliation. Her intention may have been to give him access into the palace compound to talk face to face. If so, Mordecai refuses to give up his provocative appearance for such an important conversation: he would not accept them (v. 4). 4:5–9 The next verses detail the indirect communication between the cousins through one of the eunuchs who is under orders with the queen. Intermediaries are ...

1528. Haman Hanged

Esther 7:1-10

Understanding Series

Timothy S. Laniak

... appeal was based not only on the king’s favor with her but perhaps even more on the king’s own honor. Someone close to the king was plotting the destruction of his queen! Had the king been “taken for a ride,” bribed unwittingly into giving up his wife? Once Haman was identified as the culprit who had, literally, “filled his heart with this thing” (v. 5), The king got up in a rage . . . (v. 7). As this scene unfolds, Haman’s demise becomes increasingly inevitable. The narrator refers to Esther ...

1529. The Rejection of Jesus in His Own Hometown

Mark 6:1-6

Teach the Text

Grant R. Osborne

... been seen in 3:1–6, 20–21: the ferocity and unfairness of opposition from those around God’s messengers, even those closest to them. In 3:20–21 it is Jesus’s own family who thinks that he has lost his mind and comes to force him to give up his divine mission. Here it is the neighbors with whom he grew up from the time he was about two until he began his ministry at about age thirty-four, those for whom he had been the village carpenter. What happened to Jesus happened to all the prophets (see ...

1530. The Good Life

Luke 6:17-26

Teach the Text

R.T. France

... the oversimplification that sometimes is connected to the concept of blessing. Being a disciple may entail deprivation and hardship. Biography: Jim Elliot. Elliot (1927–56), a famous missionary to Ecuador who was killed by the Auca people, said, “He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.” Certainly, the experience of Elliot, whose story is well recorded in books and articles, as well as in film, would bear out the truth of what appears on the surface as unrewarding ...

1531. The New-Covenant Blessings: Peace and Hope

Romans 5:1-11

Teach the Text

C. Marvin Pate

... toward humankind. God the Father is the author of love. The love that he shares with the Son and the Spirit he also demonstrated by creating the world as the object of his love. In fact, God loved the world to the point that he was willing to give up his Son—that is, to withhold his love from his Son on the cross. The death of Christ on the cross for humankind obviously revealed his immense love for sinners. That love not only absorbed the sin of a hostile world but also was willing to suffer divine ...

1532. Jesus Predicts His Death

Matthew 16:21-28

Understanding Series

Robert H. Mounce

... the dominant goal of existence, true life is forfeited. It is only by losing life that true life can be gained. Even if a person were to gain the whole world he or she would still come out the loser if the conquest involved giving up “higher life” (Williams). Nothing is as valuable as life in this ultimate sense. “What could a man offer to buy back his soul once he had lost it?” (Phillips). Though Jesus’ statement is ultimately eschatological, there is a profound sense in which self-interest ...

1533. In the Light of His Glory

Isaiah 60:1-6, Matthew 2:1-12

Sermon

King Duncan

... to juggle all this while also mourning the untimely loss of her younger sister, who died of kidney failure. Her father’s health worsened considerably during those seven years too. But Bessie kept pushing herself, in spite of the pressures all around her to give up. And eventually Bessie’s persistence paid off. Today Bessie Pender is not only a 5th grade teacher in the Norfolk Public School system, where she once mopped floors and scrubbed desks, but, in one recent year, she was also voted Teacher of the ...

1534. Be Ready for the Possibility of the Resurrection

John 20:1-18

Sermon

R. Robert Cueni

... not good. You have a very aggressive form of cancer.” That was Mary Magdalene’s experience that Sunday morning in the garden cemetery. She felt as though her life had caved in. She was on the verge of being crushed by despair. Yet Mary did not give up. She kept alive a little spark of hope; a tiny flicker of faith’s possibility. In spite of all that weekend’s evidence to the contrary, Mary Magdalene remained open to believing that the Creator and sustainer of this world is a God who intends things ...

1535. Loving Through Action

1 John 3:14-24

Sermon

Richard Gribble

... fail to love and, therefore, find death or we demonstrate love and find life. He goes on to give the best example of love in the life and most profoundly the sacrificial death of Jesus. As difficult as it is for any of us to imagine, Jesus chose to give up his life for countless believers, all of whom were unworthy, that would seek to follow in his footsteps. But then John goes on and presents the great challenge for all of us. He puts it very clearly: “We know love by this, that he lay down his life for ...

1536. Meet the Rose Family

Mark 3:20-35

Sermon

Dean Feldmeyer

... , And the pear is, and so’s The plum, I suppose. The dear only knows What will next prove a rose. You, of course, are a rose — But were always a rose. Robert Frost believed that you could be a member of the Rose family without becoming a plant, without giving up your DNA and entering a new kingdom. You could be a member of the animal kingdom, as we are, and still be a rose by simply acting like a rose. By being a beautiful person. By being kind and loving and fair and generous and good we can become ...

1537. Shake It Off

Mark 6:1-13

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... to become disillusioned when we seem to keep on trying and failing every time. It’s easy to get down on ourselves when we feel we must be doing something wrong or that people just don’t like us. It’s easy to become frustrated and want to give up when we feel our attempts at mission or relationships are useless. But Jesus’ message is clear. Let that debris that is cluttering up your life go! Dust yourself off and keep on moving. Go out to my people in love. Love them. Heal them. Share with them the ...

1538. Table Manners

John 2:12-25

Sermon

Craig MacCreary

... way, Jesus’ encounter with the temple makes clear that his work is in alignment with the full body of scripture. Walter Brueggemann points out in Hopeful Imagination, that scripture invites us into a world of relinquishing and receiving. We are invited to give up that which inhibits the kingdom so that we may receive what God will establish as his next line of brick in the “house not built with human hands.” John sets the seemingly chaotic scene of stampeding animals, coins ricocheting, and tables ...

1539. Abraham and the Meaning of Consecration

Genesis 22:1-19

Sermon

Don Yocom

... land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. For he looked forward to the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God" (Hebrews 11:8-10). For God asked Abraham to give up his most precious possession, his son born in his old age. That was quite a test! Consecration does not mean a token gift. Nor does it mean we will be free of life’s challenges. It does mean surrender of the most valuable possessions of life, to Almighty ...

1540. Jesus Predicts His Death

John 12:20-36

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

... world (15:18–21). He never tells his disciples to hate the world in return, but he does tell them to hate their life in this world and so gain eternal life (v. 25). What is required of a disciple in the face of the Teacher’s death is to give up the vested interest he or she has in the world and follow Jesus in the way of servanthood. When that requirement is met, Jesus says, where I am, my servant also will be (v. 26a). He does not specify where that will be; all that his disciples need to know ...

1541. What's a Human Book?

Luke 13:10-17

Sermon

King Duncan

... One year after John Patterson’s life-changing experience with the God of love, he was scheduled for a heart transplant. He was only forty-nine years old. On the night before his surgery, John’s surgeon presented him with a difficult decision: would he be willing to give up his donor heart to save the life of a 17-year-old boy who was dying? Wow that was a tough one! Did he have any assurance that another donor heart would become available for him? No, he didn’t. But John did have assurance that if he ...

1542. The Main Thing

Luke 12:32-40

Sermon

Dean Feldmeyer

... watch they had given up, convinced that he wasn’t coming. They just didn’t believe anymore. And so it is with us. We have convinced ourselves that God always comes in a certain way at a certain hour and, when God fails to show as we expect, we give up. We get distracted by false messiahs. Spend a few moments browsing through the self-help section of the books on Amazon and it doesn’t take long to see that there are messiahs everywhere. They all have a path, a plan, a prayer, a gimmick, a gizmo, a ...

1543. Do We REALLY Know What Time It Is?

Romans 13:11-14

Sermon

Heather Sugden

... only sparing work for the hotel clerk. I believe part of my motivation was control, too. By running the alarm clock myself, I would not have to depend on this person at the front desk. I would not have to worry about the staff member forgetting to call me, or giving up if I did not wake up right away. Who knew if this person was reliable or not? Who knew if they would even care if I stressed out about rushing all around and being late? Surely I was capable of waking myself up better than a stranger who had ...

1544. Saved by the Bell

Luke 23:26-43

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... to produce a list of problems kids face today. This is what they wrote: kidnapping, parents being on the pipe, adults being crazy, parents beating their kids, and getting popped in the head. We live in a culture that buries people too quickly. We especially give up on poor kids too quickly. In the world out there the bells are not just tolling. The bells are pealing. People are being buried alive today in . . . (You may want to consider actually passing out bells, and when they see images of people in need ...

1545. Rise Above It

John 21:15-19

Sermon

James W. Moore

... them too! He brings them out of the tomb of disillusionment and they get back with the other followers, i.e., they get back in church! Disillusionment… we all know about that, don’t we! The problems of the world weigh heavily upon us and tempt us to give up. Some years ago, The Saturday Evening Post (9/87) once ran a cartoon showing a man about to be rescued after he had spent a long time ship-wrecked on a tiny deserted island in the South Pacific. The sailor in charge of the rescue team stepped onto ...

1546. Strength to Overcome Suffering

Romans 5:1-11

Sermon

James R. Tozer

... she exclaimed, "God is great! With his help I do have dreams I can accomplish. I am grateful for what God can do through the heartache I face. The love of Christ will enable me to be honest with my friend who has hurt me. I’ll never give up to despair!" In those moments I found God sustaining my spirit. Betty and I could rejoice in our sufferings. Romans 5:7 can be translated, "For because of our faith in Christ he has brought us into this place of highest privilege where we now stand, and we confidently ...

1547. Jesus Out of Character

Mark 7:24-30

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... gentiles...and yet you persist in asking me to do you a favor? Remarkable!” Here was a powerful faith that would not take no for an answer. Even moreso, here was a pushy person. I’ve known some folks like that. They persist - they never give up. I had a senior minister once who was always having his favorite pet projects voted down by church official boards. “Don’t worry,” he would say, “they’ve heard about it. They’ll hear about it again.” Barclay says that symbolically this woman stands ...

1548. In the Wilderness

Matthew 4:1-11

Sermon

April Yamasaki

... and fervent hopes. Our promising beginning may fall flat, our careful plans may dissolve on us, and we too may find ourselves in an unfamiliar place of wilderness. At those times of testing, we might feel disappointed, discouraged, or afraid, tempted to give up, lost in the wilderness, and wanting desperately to get out. But where is the way forward, and how do we find it? In his wilderness, Jesus confronted three specific temptations, and each time he responded with the words of scripture. Turn these ...

1549. Natural Or Supernatural?

Luke 9:28-36

Sermon

Louis H. Valbracht

... , but they're very glad that they have quarantines and sanitation and antibiotics and inoculations that they can really depend upon. Like Russian peasants, they find that crop rotations and proper fertilization is more effective than the holy water - but they kind of hate giving up the holy water. So, they stand in the natural, and they feel rather silly, as we all feel silly, don't we, crying for favors up to the supernatural? What is really silly is this stupid picture of the split cosmos. This is one ...

1550. The Cost of Discipleship

Mark 9:2-9

Sermon

Charley Reeb

... is taught in a Dale Carnegie course on “How to Win Friends and Influence People,” Jesus spoke some of the hardest words we find any-where in the gospels. He said, “Do you really want to follow me? Consider what it is going to cost you. You must give up everything that is dearest to you, take up a cross, and follow me. Unless you do that, you cannot be my disciples.” That is not what the crowd wanted to hear. They thought this magnetic man was on his way to his own empire. They hoped that if they ...

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