Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 201 to 225 of 391 results

201. Character Approved: Stand Up or Stand Out?

Luke 14:1-14

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... zero. It was all those who could never hope to repay their host, either with a return invitation or with a leg up the social ladder. In worldly terms, Jesus is directing his host to invite the “worst” society had to offer. Jesus isn’t adhering to the rules of the world. Jesus is advancing the cause of the kingdom. Jesus isn’t advising his host to make all the right moves. Jesus is admonishing him to imitate God’s righteousness. Jesus isn’t agonizing over etiquette. Jesus is actualizing equality ...

202. Luke 15:1-10

Luke 15:1-7

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... company he was keeping. This is not the first time the Pharisees had taken umbrage at Jesus’ choice of dining companions (see 5:30 and 7:34). The religious establishment found Jesus’ libertine approach to tablemates a threat to their strict adherence to ritual purity laws. In contrast to the scribes and Pharisees, who are busy voicing their criticisms, the “tax collectors and sinners” come near to Jesus and “listen” to his message. Their proximity and attitude suggests these tax collectors and ...

203. WWE Raw, Jesus Style

Luke 6:17-26, Luke 6:27-36

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... of “WWE Raw.” It’s our celebration of the church’s most muscle-bound ancestors. It’s also the church’s challenge to each new generation to start flexing their own spiritual muscles. The “saints” are really those who most adhered to Jesus’ cardio-vascular soul exercises. The “saints” are those whose moral muscles, whose hearts and minds, were stretched and strengthened, flexed and freed, in ways the world had never seen before. Jesus’ workout regime for his followers, and for all ...

204. The True Nature of Happiness

Matthew 5:1-12

Sermon

Brett Blair

... the face of everything that the world has taught us. The problem so often is that we put the cart before the horse. We study his teaching and hope that they will change us. The fact is that it is Christ who changes us. And, as we are changed, we adhere to his teachings. Thus, the Sermon on the Mount is the pattern of living for those who have received Christ as Savior. With this thought in mind, I would like to focus on two standards of living as set forth by Jesus, which we call today the Beatitudes. I ...

205. Matthew 5:38-48

Matthew 5:38-42

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... the rules of “shame” and “honor” were inviolable. Without modernity’s fashion accessories of big SUV’s and flat screen TVs, the social status of one’s family was maintained by a strict code of behaviors. Life revolved around adherence to what was deemed “honorable.” The status of anyone could be severely diminished by shameful behavior. To avoid losing status the rules of retribution which regulated reclaiming honor after being “shamed” were precisely proscribed and practiced. Some of ...

206. Romans 4:1-5, 13-17

Romans 4:1-25

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... of the “righteousness” that his faith had gifted from God. In fact, as Paul continues he finds that “faith” and “law” are mutually exclusive. If you have one, you do not have the other. Paul insists that if it is only by adherence to and practice of the law that one becomes an “heir” to the blessings of God’s promise, then faith itself is “emptied out” or made “null” (“kekenotai”) and the “promise” can no longer even exist. It is “void” or “abolished” (“katergetai ...

207. Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23

Matthew 13:1-23

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... “fruit” for the kingdom because it is so contaminated and controlled by thorny powers of worldly wisdom. The key to the success of the seed “sown on good soil” is hearing and understanding. This “understanding” is not merely an intellectual adherence, but is borne out in bearing fruit and resulting in a tangible “yield.” Note that while all the “seeds” in this final group fall on “good soil,” there are different results. Good soil, a genuine hearing and understanding, will still ...

208. The Thing about Laws

Mark 12:28-34

Sermon

Steven Molin

... in the answer to that question. Those who think that Christians must walk the walk and talk the talk or they are obviously not Christians will hold firm. They would demand righteousness from their sisters and brothers, and expect it of themselves. They would attempt to adhere to every law, and avoid every unsavory deed. To do otherwise would be to go soft on sin; "It's a slippery slope!" they would say. "Let's draw a line in the sand and say, ‘No more!' " They echo Karl Menninger's question in his ...

209. Genuine Hope

Romans 4:13-25

Sermon

Nancy Kraft

... to do what he had promised. (Romans 4:18-22) Now, like Abraham, there were those in Paul's own generation who were also made right before God by faith, "In order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his descendants, not only to the adherents of the law but also to those who share the faith of Abraham" (4:16). What binds God's people together is not their ethnicity, but it is the faith of Abraham. Abraham's children aren't just the Jews, but they are all those who have faith. Paul ...

210. Just the Basics

Illustration

... practiced by the most excellent, innovative corporations. They are: Act quickly. Serve the customer. Encourage creativity and innovations. Know the value of your employees Stay close to your business. Do what you do best. Don't get fat at the top. Adhere to established values while allowing employee independence. Peters points out that some of these characteristics are so basic that they are like "motherhood" and "apple pie." They bore to yawns the average business student. On the other hand, says Peters ...

211. An Adhesive Bond

Illustration

... tape is not made for repetitive use. The strongest bond adhesive tape is capable of making is formed with the first surface to which it is applied. You can remove the tape and reapply it to other surfaces several times, and it will still adhere. However, with every application, some of the adhesiveness has been compromised. Finally, if you continue the practice long enough, there will not be enough adhesiveness left to make the tape stick to any surface. God intended that the bond between mates be the ...

212. When the Service was Interrupted

Mark 1:21-28

Sermon

King Duncan

... -Christian family named Palmer Ofuoku was placed in a mission school by his Nigerian parents because they knew he would receive a good education there. He attended the school for years, yet he did not convert to Christianity. He remained an adherent of a traditional African religion. One year a new missionary came to the school who began to develop close relationships with the students, including Palmer. Eventually the missionary led this young Nigerian to Christ. Palmer Ofuoku explained the missionary’s ...

213. Celebrate the Small Stuff

Mark 4:30-34

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... purpose. The zealots were wrong to think they could bring the kingdom in through military revolution and political action. The seers were wrong to thing they could read the signs and predict the moment of apocalypse. The legalists were wrong to think that adhering to every jot-and-tittle of the Torah would bring the kingdom in more quickly. In this week’s gospel text both of the parables Jesus relates celebrate the small, because they are harbingers of God’s providence and purpose. As Jesus revealed ...

214. How Many of Us Does It Take to Screw in a Light Bulb?

Mark 7:1-23

Sermon

King Duncan

... clothes. For instance, they always kept their heads covered and always wore a little prayer shawl to show their constant devotion to God. Because of their traditions, everyone knew who they were and what God expected them to do. Tevye is molded by his adherence to tradition, but he is not a rigid man. He has the capacity to compromise . . . until his last daughter asks his approval to marry an atheist. This he cannot compromise. He loudly declares, “Some things I will not, I cannot allow tradition!” (6 ...

215. The Business Of The Church

Galatians 1:1-12

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... congregations of the day were: namely, how should new Gentile Christians be incorporated into the faith? Some, the so-called "Judaizers," argued that since the Jews were God's chosen people, these new Christians should become Jewish — obey Jewish law and adhere to Jewish tradition and practice including the ritual of circumcision for male converts. This was part and parcel of the business of the young church. In a way, that thinking had a certain appeal to these new believers. Obedience to the Jewish ...

216. Don’t Compromise Your Beliefs

Galatians 1:1-10

Sermon

Richard Gribble

... the Galatians when he formed the community a few years earlier. Paul chastises the Galatians for deserting the gospel he preached for one preached by false apostles. Paul presumably is speaking of the Judaizers, a sect of the "new way" that demanded full adherence to the Mosaic law. It seems the Judaizers had accused Paul of preaching a false message, one not from Christ, because he suggested circumcision was not essential. Paul's opponents believe he has "watered down" the message to make it more palatable ...

217. Enemies of the Cross

Philippians 3:17 - 4:1

Sermon

Steven E. Albertin

... their own self-gratification. In pursuit of their own pleasure they have little concern for the welfare of others. On the other hand, there are those scholars who see the "enemies of the cross" as Jewish Christians who insist that followers of Jesus must still adhere to the law of Moses. In other words, one must become a Jew before he could become a Christian. "Their god is their belly" when they insist on enforcing all the Jewish food laws. And "their glory is in their shame" when they demand circumcision ...

218. A Resume of Righteousness

Genesis 15:1-18

Sermon

David J. Kalas

... . The Jews recognized that God's law articulated God's will and his covenant with his people, and so they understood that thorough conformity to that law was the definition of righteousness. However, Paul, who was himself a Pharisee — zealous in his adherence to the law — had discovered that the law was unable to make him truly righteous. The law could only serve to diagnose our sin; it couldn't cure our sin. Consequently, the law could not make us right with God; it only proves our unrighteousness ...

219. Shepherds Who Will Shepherd

Jeremiah 23:1-6

Sermon

R. Kevin Mohr

... of conscience and done or allowed things to happen that violate at least the spirit if not the letter of our "covenant" — the US Constitution? Isn't that true in the church or the family as well when we cave in to societal pressures or slavishly adhere to tradition and how things have always been done or put our own needs and wants before those whom we are supposed to be shepherding? The failure of Zedekiah and those shepherds immediately prior to him is a precautionary word for all who would lead God's ...

220. When We Don't Know God

Philippians 3:1-11

Sermon

King Duncan

... Sunday school attendance for seventeen straight years, and it would have been longer if the doctor hadn’t insisted that the flu was not something I needed to share with my sisters and brothers in Christ. “(But) I woke up one day and realized that . . . my strict adherence to the rules meant little to me. I was always striving to be good, to be the best, to be righteous, but I was constantly frustrated with my failures . . . Everything that I have tried to do in my life to make God like me now seems so ...

221. Galatians 2:15-21

Galatians 2:11-21

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... and stark declaration. To those who still argued for a form of justification or righteousness achievable through the law, Paul asserts that if that were true then “Christ died for nothing.” What a zinger. If you’re right, Paul argues, then “Christ died for nothing.” Continuing to adhere to the law does nothing less than nullify (“athetein”) the grace of God and make Christ’s trip to the cross pathetic and pointless. No “spirit of the staircase” here. Only the spirit of the cross.

222. It’s Complicated

Galatians 2:11-21

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

223. No Substitutes

Galatians 3:15-25

Sermon

King Duncan

... churches that the Apostle Paul wrote his epistles to were a mess. They would probably have booed a speaker at a communion breakfast. In today’s lesson, Paul is writing to the church in Galatia. The Galatians had a controversy going on about adherence to the Hebrew Law. Some of them were still observing the Law of Moses rather than experiencing the freedom that Christ brings. Paul warns them about accepting any substitute for authentic faith. This is how he begins: “Before the coming of this faith, we ...

224. Can You Hear the Music?

Luke 18:9-14

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... might sway. The two main characters are a Pharisee and a tax collector, two groups that have been juxtaposed several times already in Luke’s gospel. Pharisees (and Scribes) have consistently been presented as a group intent upon analyzing Jesus’ adherence to the details of the Torah, and challenging his “slip-shod” interpretations and practices of Torah mandates. Jesus had also previously noted a Pharisaic fondness for higher social status (Luke 16:15). Tax collectors, on the other hand, have been ...

225. Let It Go

John 3:1-21

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... think that the opening into our car has suddenly turned into a glass container with a lid. We know the inference of our language. But Nicodemus simply could not accept any way of entering into the kingdom, of experiencing God’s presence, other than adherence to the Torah. By clinging to the literal, Nicodemus sought security and refuge in his old belief system which protected him from the notion that God had sent a new presence into the world, a new possibility, Jesus the Christ. To the left-brain literal ...

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