Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 2151 to 2175 of 4681 results

2151. A Favored One

Sermon

James Bjorge

... to cooperate with God in the fulfillment of his plan. This was being a "favored one." Sometimes lives that have never been called upon to face great difficulties have nothing to show but feebleness. When a man has been given something great to do and to bear, he begins to experience the favor of God. Blessings of a mission accomplished far outshadow the bruises along the way. Could it be that struggle is important for the development of real life? In a world corroded by sin can you win a victory for good ...

2152. God Got Personal

Sermon

James Bjorge

... trembled for now they heard from a prophet that which was in part written on their hearts. They knew then what the Lord requires of people. He seemed very impersonal. The contact was directive and corrective. There was no warm touch at that moment. History bears the footprints of God marching on. His hands seem to have been molding and making something for someone. But it was difficult to determine just what was happening and where it was all going to end. Schiller, the poet, said that "man originates in ...

2153. God Stood Up

Sermon

James Bjorge

... never reduce him to an impotent babe, a mere toy, an object of commercial interest. Too often we have toned down his messages and sugar coated his speech and stripped away his masculinity. And all we have left is an emaciated Christ and then we wonder - why we are teddy bear Christians. One person has said, "You can tell the size of a man by the size of the God he has." Maybe there is some truth to that. Let’s take another good look at the real Jesus who grew and stood up in the pages of Holy Scripture ...

2154. Unwrapping Presents ... and People

Sermon

James Bjorge

... marsh and the skies, By so many roots as the marsh grass send in the sod, I will heartily lay me a hold on the greatness of God." The second wrapping from which I need to be set free is guilt. The Gospel at Christmas tells it clearly, "She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins" (Matthew 1:21). We can never discard the words like "sin" and "guilt." If we do we shall only have to manufacture new ones for them. Sin is pictured in the Old ...

2155. An Identity Crisis

Sermon

James Bjorge

... : "In many and various ways God spoke of old to our fathers by the prophets; but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He reflects the glory of God and bears the very stamp of his nature, upholding the universe by his word of power" (Hebrews 1:1-3). Last fall I did a lot of pheasant hunting in Iowa with my older brother. On one of his visits he brought along his black labrador. A lab is supposedly a born ...

2156. Remember Lot’s Wife

Luke 17:20-37

Sermon

Don Yocom

... thing than we surmise. It reaches into the very substance of things in life. Actually, all of life comes under its scrutiny, for we are constantly being judged. Jesus was most popular when he fed the multitude, in his earlier ministry; but as he began to bear down in his preaching, people turned away to the extent that, at one time He asked His disciples if they, too, were going to leave Him. Jesus showed His knowledge of the Bible (the Old Testament in His day) by His reference to the story recorded ...

2157. Last Ditch Stand

Drama

Sarah Walton Miller

... can’t watch me all the time! JOHN: Nancy, I know you. You will obey me because you know deep down in your heart I’m right. NANCY: [tearfully crying out] I hate you, Daddy! I hate you! HELEN: Nancy! JOHN: I’ll have to bear that. It will pass. ROD: [awkwardly] Well, there’s no point in staying. JOHN: You’ll always be welcome, Rod. ROD: Under certain conditions? JOHN: Under certain conditions. NANCY: [stands before him, weeping] Oh, Rod! ROD: [looking at her a moment] Goodbye, Nancy. [He continues ...

2158. Plan for Heaven

Hebrews 11:9

Children's Sermon

Wesley T. Runk

... up the pup tent.] How many of you have ever been camping in a park or somewhere away from home? [Let them answer.] It is a lot of fun, isn’t it? First you set up your tent, find a safe place to put the food where the racoons and bears can’t get it, and then lay out your sleeping bags. Sometimes you have to walk a long way to find your water and bring it back to camp, but no matter what kind of work you do it still seems like fun. But it isn’t home, is it ...

2159. THE JOURNEY

Drama

Jerome W. Nilssen

... of my own. See! Look at it! GRACE It’s just a scar. Lots of people have scars. CAIN (Triumphantly) Yes, that’s it! Now you’re getting the point. Lots of people have defects. Because it’s natural! And here’s where the big idea starts bearing the juicyfruit - like watermelon on a goddamn apple tree. Because if you’re one of the outsiders, if you don’t already have a defect ... we’ll start a Limping School, and we’ll train people to fake stiff legs and amputations. We’ll provide jobs for ...

2160. THE OLD MAN IS WASTING

Drama

Jerome W. Nilssen

... Hell, even Cain didn’t know any senators. SETH He’s another generation. Times are changing. JAREL And those damn futures. You’re really full of a lot of great messages all right. SETH I’m a humble Messenger of Grace, sweetheart. I only report what’s given. I bear no ill will. JAREL Well, what about the card game? No bets. Just a simple game. SETH Don’t you want to find out about the futures? JAREL I want to get the game over with. And if I win, you get the hell out. SETH You sound downright ...

2161. Well, What Did You Expect?

Acts 12:1-19a

Sermon

Louis H. Valbracht

... of our praying. We are like the little boy who tore up the raffle ticket after the drawing, saying: "Didn’t expect nothin’, didn’t get nothin’." Our prayer is superficial because it has no roots in great expectation. It’s only by the grace of God that it bears what fruit that it does. We are told about the prayer wheels that are used in northern India and Tibet. Prayers are written on little tags and they are fastened to a wheel which is held in the hands, and as the wheel is spun around, the tags ...

2162. How Do You Like Yourself?

1 Peter 3:8-22

Sermon

Louis H. Valbracht

... more real or lasting significance than First National Bank or General Motors. The Church, in the early centuries, was known as "the beloved community," a community in which people lived together for the expressed purpose of glorifying God in their lives and making that glory bear flesh as they expressed it in the lives that they lived for each other. When you answer the call to the Kingdom, you, literally, supply all of the needs and the hungers and the emptinesses of the self. You make yourself fit to live ...

2163. Well, What's for Sure?

2 Timothy 1:1-2:13

Sermon

Louis H. Valbracht

... saved from a tragic mistake in his life by just such a conversion once said to me: "Pastor, if you run into anyone who doesn’t believe in God, just send him to me. I KNOW!" THE EXPERIENCE OF PRAYER AS COMMUNION WITH GOD. Centuries of Christian living bear witness to this, the ability to say that "When I am alone, I am not alone, for the Father is with me." Emerson said: "God enters a private door into every individual." He most certainly does. We have all known moments when we were completely sure as we ...

2164. Our Father Who Art on Earth

Proverbs 1:8-19

Sermon

Louis H. Valbracht

... the year have now, most of them, added a third - Mother’s day. But they’re a long way from adding this day to their days for religious obligations during the year. And then, think of the cards that we send. The cards for mother, for the most part, bear religious messages, religious sentiments or symbols. But about the best we can do for old Dad is a picture of a pipe or a fishing pole or an easy chair or slippers or a robe. Again, why? The answer is obvious, we don’t associate Father’s Day with ...

2165. Chapter I

Exodus 20:1-21

Sermon

Frank H. Seilhamer

... him and obey him. In a word, they would be as faithful to God as he would be to them. Hence, the style of life that would be lived between God and his people was to be determined by how much each meant to the other. Their relationship was to bear the marks of the love each had for the partner to whom they were bound. If God was loved enough to be central in their lives, his people would act in ways that demonstrated that. If he, indeed, were their Lord then it simply would follow as a matter of ...

2166. Chapter II

Exodus 20:1-21

Sermon

Frank H. Seilhamer

... captivity. Hearken to me, O house of Jacob, all the remnant of the house of Israel, who have been borne by me from your birth, carried from the womb; even to old age I am He, and to gray hairs I will carry you. I have made, and I will bear I will carry and will save." Isaiah 46:14 God always has wanted those whom he has loved and borne to love him as he has loved them. He wants that love. He needs that love. In the ultimate sense our love is that only thing that we have to ...

2167. Chapter V

Exodus 20:1-21

Sermon

Frank H. Seilhamer

... worthy way in which to help their children "go." It is a parent’s responsibility, with all of our faults, to help shape, actively, the lifestyle of our children. And in the process, one of the greatest resources we have to bring to bear is our experience in living. Age, which currently is a negative factor in the thinking of some of our young people, often signifies more than the accumulation of years. It also includes accumulated experience, and, frequently, valuable lessons learned in the process. These ...

2168. Chapter VIII

Exodus 20:1-21

Sermon

Frank H. Seilhamer

... here in the first place. "Be fruitful and multiply," God told man after he made him (Genesis 1:28). That directive meant more than to fill the earth with babies! To be "fruitful" meant that we are responsible for providing for persons other than just ourselves. The fruit it bears is not for the tree. It is for those who pass by. God calls us to do just that as we pass through life. Those who do not do it steal life. That is why the man who makes his financial bundle and squirrels it away while people starve ...

2169. This Is Our Song

Psalm 121:1-8

Sermon

Michael J. Anton

... getting tired or frustrated or losing his patience and pooping out. "The Lord is your keeper and shade; he defends your right hand. The sun shall not smite you by day, nor the moon by night." It does get awfully hot on this trip. There are pressures, so many pressures bearing down. If I don’t produce on my job, I’m cut. If I don’t act like a half-decent father, I get static. If I don’t participate in my community like a model citizen, I get the cold shoulder. And I get guilty. I get scared. I ...

2170. FORESTER

Nehemiah 2:8

Illustration

Stephen Stewart

... to make beams. for the gates of the fortress of the temple, and for the wall of the city, and for the house which I shall occupy." I suppose that when we are reminded of forest rangers, or foresters, almost automatically, our thoughts turn to Smoky the Bear. And, if they had known about him in biblical times, I imagine they would have adopted him as a symbol in the same way that we have. Because the duties of the biblical forester were mainly custodial and for fire prevention, just as today. The Holy Land ...

2171. HUNTER

Genesis 25:27; Proverbs 6:5

Illustration

Stephen Stewart

... of hunting are mentioned in the Bible: 1. shooting with the bow and arrows; 2. snaring by the spring net and cage, especially for birds, such as quail, duck, and partridge; and 3. pits covered with a net and brushwood to catch deer, foxes, wolves, bears, lions, etc. In hunting wild animals for protection or to destroy a scavenger, the spear, sword and club were used. Eventually, hunting came to be regarded as a sport, although the people in general were strongly opposed to this. It was a sport reserved for ...

2172. SOLDIER

1 Sam. 4:10; Acts 12:18

Illustration

Stephen Stewart

... from twenty to fifty were eligible to serve in the army, whose basic corps was the infantry. The military tactics employed included sieges, ambushes, raids, and surprise night attacks. In the actual battle, the first line of defense was a line of shield-bearing spearsmen. Behind this front line were archers who, besides carrying bows and arrows, carried a sword and buckler. Most battles resulted in hand-to-hand fighting. On campaign, the soldiers lived in camps and slept in tents. Today’s soldier has more ...

2173. The Great Commission

Matthew 28:16-20

Bulletin Aid

James Wilson

... we pray. Amen. Prayer Of Confession Lord, so often we seek Your gifts and power but are unwilling to walk the paths that would share Your Love in the world around us. We see the wonder of the Cross yet we do not want to make the personal commitment to bear our crosses for You. We would be called Christians, but would rather walk in the ways of the world. Forgive us, Lord. In Christ we pray. Amen. Hymns "I'll Go Where You Want Me To Go" "Are Ye Able" "Take My Life, And Let It Be"

2174. Thy Kingdom Come

Luke 17:20-37

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... of the Kingdom of God is better reflected in a statement in the will of our Methodist founder, John Wesley. He wrote: "When I die, do not employ a hearse; have no parade. Instead, find six poor men who need employment. Pay each of them 1 pound to bear my body to its resting place." Jesus would say to us today, "The Kingdom of God is not just some dramatic, cataclysmic event when God will close down history. The Kingdom is among you now, because I am there. It is coming in small but significant increments ...

2175. Marriage is Forever

Matthew 5:31-32, Matthew 19:1-12

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... a trial separation. Years of effort have passed, but things have only gotten worse. Furthermore, I see clear signs that real damage is being done to persons by the continuance of this marriage. Therefore, I am going to ask God's forgiveness for whatever fault I may bear in the failure of the marriage. Then I am going to receive God's forgiveness and make a new start. Here as in all of the Sermon on the Mount, we have absolute ideals and absolute grace, without one compromising the other. As we are healed by ...

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