Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 1576 to 1600 of 2332 results

1576. Third Sunday in Advent

Psalm 145:5-10 or Luke 1:47-55, Isaiah 35:1-10, Matthew 11:1-19, James 5:7-12

Bulletin Aid

B. David Hostetter

... : the eyes of the blind are opened, the ears of the deaf unstopped, the lame leap like deer, and the dumb shout and sing. The Crucified is raised from the dead and the living water of the gospel brings flowers and fruits of faith to the desert of unbelief and meaninglessness. All praise to you, Creator of the human spirit, healer of the human body, renewer of the broken spirit. Amen PRAYER OF DEDICATION We show our reverence, God of beauty, truth and love, with flowers and art, with music and money, with ...

1577. Lent 3

Exodus 19:3-6, Psalm 95:1-11, John 4:5-42, Romans 5:1-11

Bulletin Aid

B. David Hostetter

... for your holy church in all its branches and for every member. Sustain the ministry of your people in the densely populated places as well as in the thinly populated expanses of the countryside. Rebuild the waste places, and make the wilderness like Eden, the desert like the garden of the LORD; may joy and gladness be found in your church, thanksgiving and the voice of song in congregations large and small. Cause righteousness and praise to spring up before all the nations. We pray for our nation and for ...

1578. Bread As A Weapon

John 6:25-59

Illustration

Brett Blair

... Karamazov, we read a fictionalized scene that takes place between an old church Cardinal who is engaged in the Spanish Inquisition with Jesus, who supposedly has now come back to earth. The crooked old cardinal chastises Jesus for missing his golden opportunity in the desert when he did not give bread to the people. "Mankind would have run after you, grateful and obedient, though forever trembling with fear that you might withdraw your hand and they would no longer have loaves. You did not want to make men ...

1579. Wise, Worshipful, and Wonderfully Wayward

Ephesians 4:17--5:21

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... to a “non-job” — to volunteer rebuilding the homes in the still devastated neighborhoods in New Orleans, or to volunteer service for the ravaged families in AIDS-riddled South Africa, or to volunteer time and money to the inner city neighborhoods in America that are deserts for hope. You say you follow Jesus? Then get off your high horse. Be wise. Be worshipful. Be wayward. Be fully human “homo sapiens” and never be afraid to step out of line. I want to end this sermon this morning with a story of ...

1580. Did You Know...That You Can Know God?

1 John 2:3-5

Sermon

James Merritt

... , named Bathsheba, and got her pregnant. To cover it up he called Uriah, her husband, back from the battlefield and tried to get him to sleep with Bathsheba, but he refused. He had Uriah sent back to the battlefield, put on the front lines, and then ordered him deserted by his fellow soldiers, so he would be murdered so it would look like a death in combat. David went into a cover up that would make Watergate look like a picnic. But the entire time he tried to cover up what he had done, he was absolutely ...

1581. Got Milk?

1 Peter 2:1-3

Sermon

James Merritt

... high school seniors think that Sodom and Gomorrah were husband and wife. If you want to experience a life that is shockingly refreshing, if you want to overcome overload, if you want to learn how to dip from an oasis of water as you go out everyday to face a desert called life, let me give you three pieces of advice that will change your life in a way that you can't even imagine. I. Develop A Heart For God's Word I am going to share something with you that many of you have never thought about and may ...

1582. A Stone’s Throw Away

1 Samuel 17

Sermon

James Merritt

... moment you could have heard a pin drop in that valley. You talk about a Kodak moment - the bookies in Las Vegas would have had a field day with this one. I read about a man by the name of Jacob, who was digging a well, out in the Israeli desert and he discovered a casket containing a mummy. After examining this mummy, he got on the phone and called the curator of a museum in Jerusalem and said, "I have found the body of a three-thousand year old man who died of a sudden heart-attack!" The curator said ...

1583. It’s Humble or the Umbles

Ephesians 6:10-20

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... give physicians more insight and information into how to diagnose and treat soldiers who were exposed to toxic biological elements during combat. These valiant volunteers were dubbed “white coats.” The “white coats” stood exposed in the Nevada desert while such biological bombs as Q fever, yellow fever, Hepatitus A, plague, tularemia, and Equine encephalitis bombarded their bodies. These unarmed “soldiers” believed they were helping physicians find a way to cure. The military leaders knew they ...

1584. I’ve Lost the Cutting Edge

2 Kings 6:1-7

Sermon

James Merritt

... was arrested for trying to hold up a Bank of America branch without a weapon. King used a thumb and a finger to simulate a gun, but unfortunately he failed to keep his hand in his pocket. Last summer down on Lake Isabelle, located in the high desert, an hour east of Bakersfield, California, some folks who were brand new to boating were having problems. No matter how hard they tried they couldn't get their brand new 22-foot boat going properly. It was very sluggish in almost every maneuver no matter how much ...

1585. Close Up: Husbands - Be a Dream Lover

Colossians 3:19

Sermon

James Merritt

... appeared. The lifeguard shouted, "Shark! Shark! Everybody out of the water!" The woman's husband headed for the shore as fast as he could leaving his wife on her own. When she finally got to dry land, she was livid. She said, "That was a terrible thing to do deserting me like that. Don't you remember when we were married you told me you would face death for me?" He said, "Yes and I would, but that shark wasn't dead." Husbands, are you willing to give the death penalty to all that you expect from your wife ...

1586. What Do I Do When My Prayers Go Unanswered?

Deuteronomy 3:1-11, 23-26

Sermon

James Merritt

... 't answer some of your prayers! If you go to a high school reunion, do you know what you will find out? That hunk a hunk of burning love that quarterbacked the football team is now a big, fat tub of goo that looks like he eats footballs for desert. That beautiful babe that used to fit into a bikini now wouldn't fit into a tractor trailer. When I look at the beautiful, sweet, precious wife that I married and think about some of the girls that I could have married, I am absolutely convinced, "When God says ...

1587. Marriage 101

Ephesians 5:22-23

Sermon

James Merritt

... , "Shark! shark! everybody out of the water!" Well, the woman's husband headed for the shore as fast as he could, leaving her to struggle toward the beach as best she could. When she finally got on dry land she screamed at him, "That was a terrible thing to do, deserting me like that. I was scared to death. Don't you remember when we were married you told me you would face death for me?" He said, "Yes, and I would, but that shark wasn't dead." Well, you ought to love your wife enough to die for her. But ...

1588. We Are At War

Ephesians 6:10-20

Sermon

James Merritt

... basically gone the way of the world. The reason why you and the devil get along so well is because you're traveling in the same direction. Well, I want to tell every one of you if you are a Christian you're in the war. You may be a deserter, you may be AWOL, but you're in the war. You cannot straddle the fence in this war. You cannot be like Switzerland; you cannot be neutral. You're either on one side or the other. C. S. Lewis once said, "There is no neutral ground in the universe: every ...

1589. Name Dropping

Exodus 20:7

Sermon

James Merritt

... a man running away. He caught up with him and said, "Soldier what is your name?" The man said, "Alexander, Sir!" He looked at him and said, "What did you say your name was?" He said, "My name is Alexander. Just like yours, Sir!" He said, "Were you deserting?" He said, "Yes Sir." Alexander the Great got off of his horse, walked over to this man, took his face by the hands, got nose to nose with him and said, "Soldier, you either change your direction or you change your name." Good advice! You should be ...

1590. Bring It On

Hebrews 4:15-16

Sermon

James Merritt

... "For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are..." (v.15) Now I am sure the author of Hebrews had in mind when he wrote this sentence the time when Jesus met Satan in the desert. Put a circle around the phrase "in all points tempted as we are." Jesus faced the same temptations that we do. Does that mean that Jesus ever struggled with the temptation to be angry? Well, He was in all points tempted as we are. Does that mean He faced ...

1591. In God We Trust – Or Do We?

John 4:46-54

Sermon

James Merritt

... of my heart that God is going to do a great work at Cross Pointe is because I've already seen it. I don't have to believe it to see it—I have already seen it! I read a story one time about a man who was crossing a desert back in the days of the pioneers and he ran out of water. He was dying of thirst and he came upon a water pump near an abandoned shack. There was no water to prime the pump, but he noticed there was a jug of water with this note attached ...

1592. Which Door Should I Take?

John 10:7-9

Sermon

James Merritt

... door of the sheep. Nothing could go in unless the shepherd allowed it and no sheep could leave unless the shepherd allowed it. If you ever get a chance to go to Israel (where I have been many times) you can still see the sheepfolds out in the desert, particularly on the road that leads from Jerusalem down to the Dead Sea. One of the most amazing sites you will ever see is a flock of sheep following these shepherds. They simply go wherever the shepherd leads and they put their complete trust in the shepherd ...

1593. Minority Report

Matthew 13:1-9; 18-23

Sermon

James Merritt

... trials, troubles, and tribulations come into their life. They're like a person who wants to march in the army as a four-star general, but when the first fighting starts, and the first bullet flies, and the first bomb hits, they are the first one to desert. My ministry is littered with people who walked down the aisle of a church, crying big crocodile tears, got baptized, and for a brief while came to every service of the church. You would have thought they were on fire for God, but they just flamed out ...

1594. Law and Order

Nehemiah 7:73b--8:18

Sermon

James Merritt

... discovered that God's Word called for a New Year's festival known as The Feast of Booths or the Feast of Tabernacles to be celebrated. This feast was designed to remind the people of how God had delivered them from Egypt and had provided for them in the desert. The feast was to last seven days. During that time the people were to live in booths or what we might call huts made of boughs of trees. It was the same type of dwellings that their forefathers had used as they were making their way to the Promised ...

1595. Finishing Strong

Nehemiah 9:38--10:39

Sermon

James Merritt

... peoples of the land, nor take their daughters for our sons." (Nehemiah 10:30, NKJV) For years and years, believing Jews had been marrying unbelieving pagans and Gentiles. It was a great problem. Why? It was causing many of them to compromise their belief and some of them even to desert their faith. If you are single, I cannot tell you who it is God's will for you to marry, but I can tell you who it is God's will for you not to marry. It is God's will that you never marry a non-Christian. Think about ...

1596. Building a Victorious Life

Luke 6:39-49

Sermon

Gary L. Carver

... that the durability of our houses will depend upon their foundations. The Tower of Pisa was begun in 1173. Its original constructor worked twelve and one-half years, completed three and one-half stories and then it began to lean — so much so, that he deserted the project, and eighty years later another builder came. He thought he could correct the defect and he built the tiers even straighter, he thought; but that did not solve the problem. Ninety years later, another builder put the dome on its top, but ...

1597. Abba, Your Kingdom Come

Luke 11:1-13

Sermon

Ron Lavin

... with the kingdom of God. Tomorrow's bread is the bread of the coming kingdom of God. This bread comes to us in Word and sacraments as we meet in Christian fellowship. It is like the manna from heaven given to the ancient Hebrews as they crossed the desert on the way to the promised land. Our spiritual journey is like that of the ancient Hebrews. We are no longer in Egypt, but we have not yet reached the promised land. We are wanderers in the wilderness of life. The wilderness is a place where we need ...

1598. The Freedom to Interpret

John 8:31-36

Sermon

John Wayne Clarke

... . "We've never been slaves," they claimed. "How can you say that we need to be set free?" Talk about short memories. What about all of that exodus stuff? What about the parting of the Red Sea and Pharaoh's army chasing their ancestors through the desert? That whole "Moses-leading-them-out-of-slavery-in-Egypt-thing" was central to their faith. But all of a sudden, they get amnesia. And what about the Romans that were parading up and down their streets? What about the Roman Prefect, Pontius Pilate? How could ...

1599. Building God’s Kingdom: The Christian Challenge

Romans 10:8-13

Sermon

Richard Gribble

... Heaven," as British poet Francis Thompson put so powerfully in his epic poem, God relentlessly and diligently searches for our souls. While 99 percent will receive a grade of A+ in school, that is not satisfactory for God. God will leave the 99 in the desert and search for the one lost sheep. Yes, we have the privilege of Jesus, the great physician, who is with us every moment and each step of our lives. The great and multiple privileges of the Christian life come with significant responsibilities as well ...

1600. Enduring the Trials of Faith

Revelation 7:9-17

Sermon

Richard Gribble

... , guiding them to springs of life-giving water. God will wipe away all of their tears. Jesus' whole life and ministry was, in many ways, a constant negotiation of various hurdles and obstacles of faith. Immediately after his baptism, Jesus went to the desert and was tempted by Satan as preparation for his life's ministry. The Lord was tempted with the three great sins of humanity — power, wealth, and prestige. Demonstrating power by commanding stones to turn to bread was not what Jesus needed or desired ...

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