Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 151 to 175 of 538 results

151. Achish Sends David Back to Ziklag

1 Samuel 29:1-11

Understanding Series

Mary J. Evans

... must leave for the south at once, which they did. Chapter 30 reveals that their early return to Ziklag was providential. Additional Notes 29:1–11 1 Sam. 24–26 reflects on the question of bloodguilt and David’s protection from it as he refrained from killing Saul, Nabal, and then Saul again. 2 Sam. 1–4 discusses the deaths of Saul and several members of his entourage and denies that David had any part in the killing. W. Brueggemann (“Narrative Intentionality in 1 Samuel 29,” JSOT 43 [1989], pp ...

152. Rules for Basic Living

Luke 6:17-26

Sermon

Derl G. Keefer

... in a conservative evangelical denomination that said “No” to dancing (even non-contact square dancing), smoking, drinking, cussing, movies, and before my lifetime, circuses, professional baseball games, bowling, billiards, and more. Having a desire to be an authentic Christian I refrained from those activities that were “nos” in my day. After all, a rule is a rule. My denomination has evolved over the years and most of the rules are gone, but not without grief. If leadership on the local level would ...

153. Reach Out And Touch Someone

Mark 5:21-43

Sermon

Brett Blair

... You recall the familiar verses that read: There is a time to live and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to pluck up that which has been planted, a time for peace and a time for war, a time to touch and a time to refrain from touching. A sage person will appreciate the difference. When I was in seminary, there was on the teaching staff a psychologist by the name of Dr. Charles Gurkin. He was quite renowned within his field, having written several books. When I was at Emory you were required to take a ...

154. John Was not like Gene

Luke 3:1-20

Sermon

... have a shared understanding of the Christian Faith. This shared understanding reflects the conservative values of the community and the Amish/Mennonite heritage of our county. The Christian Faith is seen as a matter of maintaining a rugged individualism and refraining from such "sins" as drinking, smoking, cussing, and the like. There is very little understanding of a gracious God who is breaking in upon the world, bringing his Kingdom. As a result, evangelism is mainly seen as enforcing the community ethic ...

155. Excellence in Giving

2 Corinthians 8:1-15

Sermon

King Duncan

... minister in a little country church did who was having trouble with the collections. One Sunday he announced, “Now, before we pass the collection plate, I would like to request that the person who stole the chickens from Brother Martin’s henhouse please refrain from giving any money to the Lord. The Lord doesn’t want money from a thief!” The collection plate was passed around, and for the first time in months everybody gave. Well, surprise, surprise. That’s one way to make sure everyone pitches in ...

156. Letters from a Loving Prophet

Jeremiah 29:1, 4-7

Sermon

John Wayne Clarke

... know run counter to our Christian way of life and we would like to be able to do more to change those things whatever they may be. One of the main themes of Jeremiah is that of individualism. Jeremiah kept himself apart from society, and even refrained from getting married, in order that he might serve God more fully. And, although he kept himself isolated to a certain degree, he engaged the world in telling them what was wrong with the way people and nations were living. He preached that the individual was ...

157. Follow Your Calling (Series: An Invitation to Christian Discipleship)

Luke 2:41-52

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... very funny in the souls of many siblings who have struggled for respect and recognition in family systems. And the list goes on. Employers expect us to come to work on time and get the job done. Communities expect us to obey the speed limit and refrain from trespassing. Churches want us to support them with prayers, presence, gifts and service. We become what we do. There is a strong saying in the South which goes, “If Mamma ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy.” To say that Mary, the mother of Jesus, is ...

158. Barnabas and Saul Sent Off

Acts 13:1-3

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

... suggests that he may have been one of those “men from … Cyrene” who first preached the Good News to Gentiles in Antioch (11:20). There is little reason to think that he is the author. Again, the names are spelled differently, and if Luke refrained from divulging his own identity elsewhere, except for the occasional use of “we,” it is unlikely that he would have given it away in this fashion. Nor is there any reason to identify him with the Lucius of Romans 16:21. The fourth, Manaen, that ...

159. Elijah Fed by Ravens

1 Kings 17:1-6

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

... die.” Just by being there, Elijah has focused God’s attention on the household in an unhelpful way (cf. Mark 1:24; Luke 4:34). Elijah picks up the exact wording of the second part of the complaint (“causing her son to die”) in his prayer, while refraining from any comment on the question of the cause of the tragedy. He is more interested in action than in speculation (cf. John 9:1–12). 17:21 He stretched himself out on the boy: The purpose of the action is not made clear. What is certain is that ...

160. The Lord’s Call for Judah’s Repentance

Joel 2:12-17

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... that he does not change—means that God does not “change his mind” on the basis of human decision. Thus, when Joel suggests that the Lord will “relent,” he is using human language to describe God’s unfathomable will in refraining from immediate divine judgment (2:13). Similarly, the book of Jonah represents the prophet’s struggle with God’s character as compassionate and merciful in light of his apparent failure to judge Nineveh for its evil behavior. Joel reinforces the inscrutability of ...

161. Lord of the Sabbath

Mark 2:23-3:6

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... will heal on the Sabbath. A shriveled hand is not life threatening and does not qualify as an exception to Jewish Sabbath rules. Mark places this story immediately after 2:27–28 in order to demonstrate Jesus’s revolutionary teaching of doing—not refraining from—God’s work on the Sabbath. Before healing the man, Jesus asks two questions. The first question, about doing good or evil, refers to healing the man; but the second, about saving life or killing, cannot refer to the man, since a shriveled ...

162. The Widow of Zarephath

1 Kings 17:7-24

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

163. Lord of the Sabbath

Mark 2:23-3:6

Sermon

George Reed

... ourselves the work of enforcing God's Law instead of sharing the love and compassion of God with others so that they, too, can find in God's good instructions a way that leads to a full, joy-filled life. This is not a call to go back to slavishly refraining from all activity one day a week. Nor is it a call to abandon the law as old-fashioned and irrelevant. It is certainly not a call to invite the state to impose God's instructions as legal prohibitions. It is rather a call to hear, with Jesus, the loving ...

164. A Faith That Burns

Luke 12:49-53

Sermon

W. Robert McClelland

... will love iron out the differences between friends and enemies, but indeed, we ought not have any enemies. So the pop theology croons, "What the world needs now is love, sweet love!" But in Jesus' view of things, love apparently does not mean that we refrain from conflict nor bow to the opposition. Jesus reminded his disciples that if everyone spoke well of them, something was wrong. We cannot pretend as though conflict does not exist. To be a Christian is to love all that Christ loved, and to be an enemy ...

165. Let the Journey Begin

Matthew 6:1-4

Sermon

Dean Lueking

... a deep sense of peace and hope in God, let us begin the Lenten journey. What guides us through is not what we give up, but the sacred life given for us upon the cross. Whatever we choose to lay aside and do without, let God alone know and refrain from broadcasting the word around. Lenten living that responds to this text is in large part a hidden journey to those with whom we share the journey. But that is as it should be. All hinges upon the Father's knowing us and our knowing the Father. With our souls ...

166. Soli Deo Gloria

Mark 12:28-34

Sermon

Mark McGilvey Livonia

... God will give us the grace and power to perform for Him alone! People in this no-commitment society will not understand. Living for God is a kind of fanaticism the world can do without. Who, they wonder, would be foolish enough to voluntarily suffer loss, refrain from pleasure, or lower their comfort level in life for an idea that cannot be proved? That seems like squandering the precious few days we have on this earth. But as martyred missionary Jim Elliot once said, "He is no fool who gives up that which ...

167. Gift of Positive Thinking

2 Corinthians 1:18-22

Sermon

Donald Charles Lacy

... the best contribution we can make to, and for, them. Please, let me help you see and, at least, partially understand God has not forsaken you. Please allow me to suggest what God may have for you. Whatever it is, he always seeks your betterment. A suggestion: refrain from saying, "I know exactly how you feel and here is God's will for you!" Our need to help and please people we love may tend to drive us in that direction. Summary And Conclusion To realize and fully accept our gift is a major turning point ...

168. Three Wise Gifts

Matthew 2:13-23

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... are both resins that come from wounds in the bark of trees that grow only in northeast Africa and southern Arabia. In the first century, the frankincense resin was considered divine and could only be gathered by special families who would refrain from "impure acts" (i.e., sex) during harvest season. No wonder the whole civilized world at Jesus' time was begging for frankincense as both a fragrance and a medicine that cured everything from bad breath to skin infections. Modern researchers have discovered ...

169. Jesus Radical Prescription

Matthew 5:21-26

Sermon

Mike Ripski

... would be if there was something more important that needed to be done. Is there any doubt in you mind what Jesus believes is most important? I wish Jesus had added a third example. I wish he’d told political candidates running for office to refrain from using anger to get elected. For one of the main strategies for winning is to portray oneself as totally good and one’s opponent as totally evil. Therefore, the election takes on the character of a holy crusade. One’s enemy becomes God’s enemy ...

170. Legacies of Power

Ephesians 1:15-23

Sermon

Mary S. Lautensleger

... 's own power to do good in our world. Unfortunately, even Jesus' followers maintain the old lust for power, as we see in the ambitions of James and John for places beside Christ in his kingdom (Matthew 20:20-28). Jesus doesn't say that we are to refrain from power but teaches both the disciples and us how to use power. He presents a new model for us all, the model of a servant. A buzzword we hear frequently today is empowerment, which is the act of giving power to another. We discuss groups that have felt ...

171. John 5:1-9

John 5:1-15

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... for a series of events and hostile encounters that will continue throughout Jesus’ ministry. It also underscores his increasingly prickly relationship with the religious establishment. John now ominously notes, “That day was a Sabbath” (v.9). Sabbath observances included refraining from one’s usual work. But by the time John’s gospel was written, Pharisaic Judaism had begun to delineate a much more extensive notion of what constituted “work” and thus what must be avoided during the Sabbath. In ...

172. I Don't Get No Respect

Luke 4:14-30

Sermon

King Duncan

... or your employer? Every time a person resists a temptation to betray his or her moral code, he or she boosts his feeling of self-respect. Anytime you do or say anything simply and solely because it is the right thing to do or say, and anytime you refrain from doing or saying anything because it is wrong, you boost your self-respect. Every temptation is a test. When you pass that test you feel better about yourself. We’ve taught our young to have self-esteem, but have we modeled for them what it means to ...

173. I Have Come Into My Garden

Song of Songs 5:1-16

Understanding Series

Elizabeth Huwiler

... ). But all of this is in the realm of double entendre. Contrary to the claims of some interpreters, on a descriptive level the passage narrates the man’s visit to the woman’s house. Yet the language raises sexual associations in every line. 5:8 The beginning of the refrain from 2:7 and 3:5 recurs in 5:8, but there is a break after the first line, I charge you, daughters of Jerusalem. This time the woman haltingly asks them to tell her lover, if they find him, that she is faint with love. 5:9 This ...

174. The Rich Ruler

Luke 18:18-30

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... accuse him of blatant hypocrisy. Instead, he probes deeper. The ruler has placed one thing above God, namely, his riches. If he really desires eternal life, he must sell all and follow Jesus. Obedience to the law does not merely consist in the ability to refrain from certain sins; it means that one has placed God above everything else in one’s life. God is not supreme if one is not willing to follow Jesus in discipleship. Jesus has also removed any sense of respectability the ruler could derive from his ...

175. Known By Our Love

John 13:31-35

Sermon

R. Robert Cueni

... ’em what General Cheatham says.”2 There were 7,621 casualties at Perryville. Thousands of the children of God in both Union and Confederate armies lost their lives in that conflict. There is, of course, something positive to say about Christian military commander refraining from coarse language. However, Jesus instructed us to be known for our love. To my knowledge, he did not encourage us to kill our enemies while refusing to cuss. In that same way, Jesus did not say that the faithful will be known by ...

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