Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 1576 to 1600 of 2404 results

1576. The Final Exam

Mark 10:17-31

Sermon

Steven Molin

... every day as to how we will live our lives, and there is a consistency in our choices. Some of us regularly choose to protect our wealth, others make choices to guard our popularity, and for others, it is a choice involving our social status, our academic achievements, or our physical appearance. If we take inventory of our lives, each of us would likely find that "one thing" of which Jesus spoke. And if we take this vignette at face value, it becomes for us a crossroads in our lives, the mother of all ...

1577. King Me!

John 18:33-37

Sermon

... will tumble all the way down the path, and you are likely to be the loser. My sense is (and the point of that sermon was) that many people perceive life in the very same way. Life is about getting ahead, about accumulating wealth and fame and achievement. We use the phrase "Climbing the ladder of success" and it is what drives many of us in this world, including pastors! Conversely, we desperately avoid the chutes. Failure of any kind in this world sends us backward down the path of wealth and success and ...

1578. Love That Surpasses Knowledge

Ephesians 3:14-21

Sermon

Thomas Lentz

... oddly ... all these are individuals whom Christ loves and for whom he died. God grant you strength in your inner being to grasp the depth of this love of Christ, so that you may attain to fullness of being. You and I have an incredible resource for achieving greatness in suffering love, for becoming great lovers. Listen to Paul's prayer: "I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power ... to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that ...

1579. Be Careful How You Live

Ephesians 5:15-20

Sermon

Thomas Lentz

... , hoping to find their soul mate. Don't be foolish, says Saint Paul, but understand what the will of the Lord is. God has planted a dream in your heart, but you have to take the right road to realize it. You have to make the right choices to achieve it. You have to keep traveling down that path until you come to it. One father told his children early in their lives, "Each of you has a specific God-given purpose for being on earth. You are different from everyone else who ever lived, and your reason for ...

1580. Yielding to Spiritual Maturity

Matthew 7:15-23, James 2:1-10 (11-13) 14-17

Sermon

Thomas Lentz

... grow good corn." So it is with our lives. If we are looking for peace, we must bring peace into our homes and workplaces. If we are looking for friends, we must be friendly to everyone. If we are looking for prosperity and well-being, we must help others achieve it as well. Our personal welfare is bound up with the welfare of those around us. If we want to grow good corn, we must help our neighbors grow good corn. In the early part of this passage from James, he warns against showing preference to those who ...

Nothing that is worth doing can be achieved in our lifetime: therefore we must be saved by hope. Nothing which is true or beautiful or good makes complete sense in any immediate context of history; therefore we must be saved by faith. Nothing we do, however virtuous, can be accomplished alone, therefore we are saved by love. No virtuous act is quite as virtuous from the standpoint of our friend or foe as it is from our standpoint. Therefore we must be saved by the final form of love which is forgiveness.

Reinhold Niebuhr

1582. Jesus Would Do What?

Philippians 2:1-11

Sermon

King Duncan

... Value others above yourselves?” That flies in the face of everything we are teaching our kids today. What is it that Whitney Houston sang a few years ago? “I found the greatest love of all inside of me . . . The greatest love of all is easy to achieve . . . Learning to love yourself, it is the greatest love of all.” Even in church we say, “You have to love yourself before you can love others.” Doesn’t St. Paul understand that? Of course he does. But he also understands that human beings are by ...

1583. The Bridge Over Every Troubled Waters

Philippians 3:1-11

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... they could enjoy full membership in the body of Christ. Paul would have none of it. Paul deemed such worship of the guard-rails subversive of Jesus’ sacrifice. Righteousness for Paul was a right relationship with God, and this had never been achieved through the workings of the Law. The history of Israel had proven that. A new way of salvation had been incarnated and inaugurated in Jesus Christ, a way that put a person above propositions; a way that put personal relationship above written principles ...

1584. Gummy Old Men

Matthew 3:1-12

Drama

Arley K. Fadness

... She was a class act. So was the champion lamb. Hated to sell her. Norb: Good times, eh, Earl? Earl: Yeah ... but ... Norb: But what? Earl: Oh, nothin’. Norb: What do you mean — nothin’? (pauses) Spit it out, Earl! We’re either satisfied and proud of our achievements or we’re not. Earl: Well, it’s not that simple. Norb: What isn’t that simple? Earl: You know ... Norb: You know? What in the sam hill are you getting at? Earl: Well — Norb: You got regrets. Oh fine. Earl: No, not really. Norb: Oh ...

1585. Jesus Will Lead Us Home

Isaiah 40:1-11

Sermon

Richard Gribble

... to communicate, Shackleton realized their only option was to move the crew to a place where rescue was possible. While several options existed, the conditions told Shackleton that he must try for Elephant Island to await rescue. This goal was achieved, but the island's barren terrain was very inhospitable, although there was sufficient food from seals and penguins. Almost immediately, however, Shackleton realized that his only option was to return to South Georgia Island, inform people of their status, and ...

1586. Recognizing the Lord

Isaiah 60:1-6

Sermon

Richard Gribble

... the dropkick as an effective scoring weapon, and played professional baseball for seven years. He was a star in basketball, track and field, swimming, and lacrosse. Jim Thorpe, a true All-American athlete, was the best there was. His recognition for a lifetime achievement in sports did not come, however, without help. Thorpe was born in 1886 in the Indian territory, now the state of Oklahoma. He lived with his family in relative obscurity. No one cared about him, his family, or his people. He was a ...

1587. Contemporary Prophets Speak the Truth

Deuteronomy 18:14-22

Sermon

Richard Gribble

... for the Catholic weekly, America. After her assignment was completed, she went to the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception to pray. As a recent convert to Catholicism, she asked God for direction in her life. She wanted to know the goal and the method to achieve it. It would not be long before God would answer her plea. When she returned to New York, her friends told her that a middle-aged man had been asking for her in her absence. George Shuster, managing editor of The Commonweal, another Catholic weekly ...

1588. Be An Apostle! Proclaim Life!

Acts 1:15-17, 21-26

Sermon

Ken Lentz

... is worth doing and refocus one's self from that which is mundane to that which is more essential and meaningful. Luke's account in Acts 1 describes the process of replacing the apostle Judas so that the full compliment of twelve apostles is again achieved. The loss of Judas (did he commit suicide or did he accidentally die?) is not as important as maintaining the complete number of twelve. The perfection of the number twelve (the number of the tribes of Israel) seems to be important. The focus on structure ...

1589. Dedicating Temples

1 Kings 8:1- 6, 10-11, 22-30, 41-43

Sermon

Donna Schaper

... day. The temple (that will one day be destroyed) is just now being dedicated. It is a moment of consolidation for the Jewish people, consolidation of leadership, of architecture and of nationhood. It is a good time, like the 800 years in France that achieved the great French cathedral at Chartres or the period after the American Revolution when America was war free for a time. Things were able to come together. People had time to think. Solomon's attention turned from wisdom to the generation of principles ...

1590. A New Perspective

Illustration

Staff

... God, I fulfilled my dream. But I wouldn't do this again for anything." FOLLOW UP TO THE STORY OF LARRY WALTERS Larry Walters; Soared to Fame on Lawn Chair From The Los Angeles Times, 24 November 1993 by Myrna Oliver, Times Staff Writer Larry Walters, who achieved dubious fame in 1982 when he piloted a lawn chair attached to helium balloons 16,000 feet above Long Beach, has committed suicide at the age of 44. Walters died Oct. 6 after hiking to a remote spot in Angeles National Forest and shooting himself in ...

1591. Always Improving

Illustration

Staff

A certain amount of permanent dissatisfaction with one's talents is probably a healthy thing. Those who are totally satisfied with their work will never reach their potential. The great pianist, Paderewski, achieved tremendous popularity in America. Yet, said Paderewski, "There have been a few moments when I have known complete satisfaction, but only a few. I have rarely been free from the disturbing realization that my playing might have been better." The world considered Paderewski's playing near ...

1592. Lovejoy's Martyrdom

Illustration

Brett Blair & Paul Simon

... American hero, editor, school teacher, and Presbyterian clergyman Elijah Lovejoy left the pulpit and returned to the press in order to be sure his words reached more people. The Civil War might have been averted and a peaceful emancipation of slaves achieved had there been more like him. After observing one lynching, Lovejoy was committed forever to fighting uncompromisingly the awful sin of slavery. Mob action was brought against him time after time; neither this nor many threats and attempts on his life ...

1593. A Collective Conscience

Illustration

Robert P. Dugan, Jr.

What is culture? It is the ways of thinking, living, and behaving that define a people and underlie its achievements. It is a nation's collective mind, its sense of right and wrong, the way it perceives reality, and its definition of self. Culture is the morals and habits a mother strives to instill in her children. It is the obligations we acknowledge toward our neighbors, our community, and our ...

1594. The Narrow Road

Illustration

Nothing that is valuable is achieved without effort. Fritz Kreisler, the famous violinist, testified to this point when he said, "Narrow is the road that leads to the life of a violinist. Hour after hour, day after day and week after week, for years, I lived with my violin. There were so many things that I wanted to do that I had to leave undone; there were so many places I wanted to go that I had to miss if I was to master the violin. The road that I traveled was a narrow road and the way was hard."

1595. Lincoln's Battle

Illustration

... the prudence of even attempting to follow it through. During this time he wrote, "I am now the most miserable man living. Whether I shall ever be better, I cannot tell. I awfully forebode I shall not." But somehow, from somewhere, Abraham Lincoln received the encouragement he needed, and the achievements of his life thoroughly vindicated his bout with discouragement.

1596. Take Life By the Throat

Illustration

Most would agree that Ludwig van Beethoven was a musical genius. But few realize the adversity he had to overcome to achieve greatness. In his twenties, Beethoven began to lose his hearing. Because he couldn't feel the music as he once had, on one occasion he said his fingers became "thick." His hearing problems haunted him into the middle years of his life, but he kept it a guarded secret. By ...

1597. A Race Down the Mississippi

Illustration

Max Lucado

... race, but burned their cargo. God has entrusted cargo to us, too: children, spouses, friends. Our job is to do our part in seeing that this cargo reaches its destination. Yet when the program takes priority over people, people often suffer. How much cargo do we sacrifice in order to achieve the number one slot? How many people never reach the destination because of the aggressiveness of a competitive captain?

1598. Bear the Burden

Illustration

David Augsburger

... , denied, or forgotten without doing treachery in hidden ways. It must be dealt with responsibly, honestly, in a decisive act of the will. Either the injured and justifiably angry person vents his feelings on the other in retaliation (That is an attempt at achieving justice as accuser, judge, and hangman all in one) or the injured person may choose to accept his angry feelings, bear the burden of them personally, find release through confession and prayer and set the other person free. This is forgiveness.

1599. Religion of the Founders

Illustration

Brett Blair

John Adams, our second U.S. President, observed the following: “The general principles on which the fathers achieved independence were the general principles of Christianity. I will avow that I then believed, and now believe, that those general principles of Christianity are as eternal and immutable as the existence and attributes of God.” A few decades later the House Judiciary Committee Report, on March 27, 1854, after a ...

1600. Employee's Seven Deadly Sins

Illustration

... job. They are listed below in decreasing order of irritation value. Irresponsibility, goofing-off and doing personal business on company time. Arrogance, ego problems and excessive aggressiveness. Bosses dislike those who spend more time talking about their achievements than in getting the job done. Absenteeism and lateness. Not following company policy. Failure to follow the rules makes management feel an employee can't be trusted. Whining and complaining. Laziness and lack of commitment and dedication ...

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