Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 201 to 225 of 747 results

201. The Politics Of Love

Luke 10:25-37

Sermon

W. Robert McClelland

... and, consequently, it is one of those taboo topics in the church. The belief trails a long history. I imagine the Pharaoh of vintage Egypt did not appreciate Moses coming to court with his impudent demand, "Let my people go!" He must have been a firm advocate of the separation of church and state, no doubt because to grant the demand, would have disrupted the economy of the nation. Nevertheless, Moses was there because of a Holy calling. I mean to suggest that a biblical faith requires of us a mixture of ...

202. Obedience Is An Ugly Word!

Acts 5:17-42

Sermon

Barbara Brokhoff

... 't expect everyone to laud and love and accept and understand us. We can't expect affirmation for all our actions, even when they were motivated by love and obedience. It didn't happen to those early disciples, and it won't happen to us. But wait! An advocate for these men came from an unexpected qurter. Gamaliel, a Pharisee, a teacher of the law, spoke up and addressed the court and said, "I advise you to leave these men alone. Let them go. If their purpose and activity is of human origin it will fail. But ...

203. The Ascension Announces a Triumph

Acts 1:1-11

Sermon

Barbara Brokhoff

... is dimmed by the brightness of the One who sits upon it. Christ is there as our Savior and Redeemer. The marks of our redemption are upon him, and we shall know him by his nail-pierced hands. And he also reigns as our high priest, intercessor, and advocate. We lift our prayers to God the Father, but close them "in Jesus' name," or "for Jesus' sake." But he is there, too, as Lord and King. Right now, he rules over human affairs and destinies from his throne in heaven. The new hymnal of the United Methodist ...

204. Not

Isaiah 50:1-11

Sermon

Barbara Brokhoff

... . Does anyone dare bring charges against me? Let us go to court together! Let him bring his accusations! The Sovereign Lord himself defends me - who then can prove me guilty?" He knows that deliverance is certain, triumph is sure, victory is ahead - because God is his advocate, as he is also ours. Dr. Reynolds Greene told of a time when Dr. E. Stanley Jones was preaching for him. He was then 83 years old. He said, "The next 10 years are going to be the greatest I have ever had!" Then, as the congregation ...

205. God's Gift Of Life

Psalm 139:1-24

Sermon

Erskine White

... that the so-called "pro choice" churches have never offered a solid Biblical argument for their position. Many mainline churches have officially supported the right to an abortion, but they can only talk in vague terms about the Bible when they advocate for that right. Instead, official church statements talk about science and the Supreme Court - they let secular scientists and judges decide the crucial question of when human life begins. Imagine that! A church of the Risen Lord, Jesus Christ, surrendering ...

206. A Farewell Gift

John 14:15-31

Sermon

John M. Braaten

... ominous is about to happen. They are troubled and at a loss for words. With characteristic compassion, Jesus lays aside his own intense feelings and reaches out to comfort his followers. "I am leaving," says Jesus, "but you will not be alone. God will send the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, to teach you all things and will remind you of everything. I am also leaving you with something to remember me by - a farewell gift. It is precious beyond all measure. Don't be troubled. Don't be afraid. I am giving you ...

207. Paradoxes Of The Christian Faith

Matthew 10:1-42

Sermon

Carlyle Fielding Stewart

... now in the name of Jesus! Whatever your condition or predicament, you have the power to claim the victory by not allowing the cries of cynicism and despair to cloud your mental skies. God's children never go down in defeat because they have an advocate, a savior, a counselor, a liberator! Victory through defeat is the watchword of faithful Christians. Just when the world is counting you out, Jesus is counting you in. Just when others say that you are finished, that's when Jesus says, "We're just getting ...

208. Doing Our Homework

Matthew 9:9-13

Sermon

Larry Goodpaster

... comes along with a new idea, seeing new possibilities for the future, and there is a vocal hesitation. “Why should we change?” the long-time residents complain. “Things are just fine the way they always have been!” The inevitable conflict grows between those who advocate change for a different way of living in the present or the future, and those who want to keep things the way they always have been and are, forever and ever. Amen. It happens almost daily in our individual lives, often when we least ...

209. How’s That Again, Jesus?

Matthew 10:1-42

Sermon

Larry Goodpaster

... from Matthew, Wesley challenges us to lose ourselves in God, to lose ourselves in the wonder of a new relationship that brings with it a new creation of life, by the grace of God. In our kind of world, these are rather harsh words from the one who advocated love and lived by grace. That our relationships with those who are closest to us may take on new character, and that we must lose some things we have come to count on are not our idea of what life is all about. Such disturbing comments shake us. Perhaps ...

210. Wash Up First For The Meal Before You Eat!

John 13:1-17

Sermon

Mark Ellingsen

... . Too often we are merely going through the motions and not really getting out of it what we should. The problem is that we are not adequately prepared!" Oftentimes I run across Christians who think this way and even explain their feelings. I am not advocating these sentiments if they are taken as an argument against frequent celebration of the sacrament. We can never receive too much love (too much of God's love)! However, a church committed to more frequent celebration of the Lord's supper needs to be on ...

211. Dispelling Ministry Illusions

Jeremiah 1:1-19

Sermon

Ron Lavin

... behavior. From prophet to priest every one deals falsely. They have healed the wound of my people lightly, saying "Peace, peace, when there is no peace." - Jeremiah 8:10-11, RSV In other words, Jeremiah attacked religion which had no heart for God and advocated the Word of God as a club to destroy priestly religion which brought comfort without truth. Martin Luther did the same thing in the 16th century. One of the great principles of Luther is "the priesthood of the baptized." Luther taught that all of ...

212. Everything Except God

Amos 5:1-17

Sermon

Richard Hasler

... are inspired at worship, if we do not translate that liturgical experience into concern for the people about us, many of whom do feel oppressed in one fashion or another, we have missed the point of ethical righteousness. The kind of worship that Amos advocates has a direct impact upon establishing “justice in the gate.” The best definition of peace-making that I have run across is these words by Clarence Jordan who starkly delineated peacemaking in these terms: “It’s what God does.”3 On a visit ...

213. Step One - Honesty

Luke 8:26-39 · Proverbs 23:29-35

Sermon

John A. Terry

... abuse. This sermon is going to look at substance abuse that makes life uncontrollable, and at a biblical basis for understanding that experience. Let me issue two disclaimers. While I am strongly against the use of any illegal drug, these will not be lectures advocating abstinence from alcohol, except for those for whom total abstinence is appropriate. I believe in temperance. That is not the same as abstinence. Also, I am not trying to do a Sunday morning therapy session. For those who need it, there is no ...

214. Here Comes the Judge!

Matthew 25:31-46

Sermon

Johnny Dean

... every time we have recognized the need to do some of these things and decided they didn’t fit in to our busy schedule and left them for someone else to do - well, I’m sorry, but that will also count. A man named John Jackson, who is an advocate for the poor in Orlando, Florida, tells of an event that happened one day outside a food distribution center where he was working. Jackson describes the event: "The line was long that day, but moving quickly. And in that line, at the very end of the line, stood a ...

215. The Women

John 20:1-9

Drama

William Grimbol

... Messiah, and if he keeps saying that the rich - the learned - the religious leaders will fall. He is asking to be killed. KAREN: Prophets always do. SHIRLEE: Prophets yes. Messiah's NO! PATTI: How crazy. Crucified for preaching love and peace. To die just because you advocate the truth. CAROL: Yes, but a truth that people don't want to hear. DIANE: Not if it costs them money or position or worldly pleasures. PATTI: Our whole world is sick if it would kill someone for preaching words of hope to a hopeless ...

216. The Elders

Drama

William Grimbol

... beautifully ... most impressive talker. RUTH: He teaches simple things. Love. Mercy. Justice. He really only asks people to be their best. DAVID: He teaches lies. He is not God. He cannot perform miracles. RUTH: How do you know? NATHAN: You must admit, Ruth, that he does advocate a total denial of the Law. RACHEL: I've heard differently. I've heard that he only believes that if you love your God and your neighbor, then the Law will just happen. It will just naturally unfold as a matter of course. RUTH: Plus ...

217. The Dynamics of Doubt

Sermon

Ron Lavin

... would see our doubts as natural expressions of our humanity and our limited existence, we could take them to God and deal with them honestly and openly. Thus we would stand in the biblical tradition. What some churches and pulpit pounders have often advocated is a watered-down faith that suggests that doubt is wrong and that a Christian is a mild-mannered, pious-sounding, ever-smiling, happy, cheerful and totally unrealistic dud. If you read the Bible, you discover the superficiality of that kind of ideal ...

218. Monologue: A Slave, A Jailer, A Child Of God

Acts 16:16-40

Drama

Robert F. Scott

... t suit her owners one bit. As they saw it, Paul had interfered with their property. Luke told me the girl's owners seized Paul and Silas, dragged them before the magistrates in the marketplace, and said, “These men are disturbing our city; they are Jews and are advocating customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to adopt or observe." It was a pack of lies, of course, but the mob was on their side: they saw Paul and Silas as vagabond Jews, spreading some kind of perverse superstition -and there's a lot ...

219. Save Us From the World-Savers

Luke 15:11-32

Sermon

Carl Jech

... . A San Francisco Chronicle editorial said of him: "There is no visible ego in the man ... he does not profess to have all the answers ... he dwells not on our actions of the past but our responsibility for the future ... he has become an advocate for life, peace and human dignity." God save us from self-appointed world-savers! Such Messiah-complexes look shallow and dangerous next to a person like Wiesel. Meeting Elie Wiesel reminds one of the New Testament image of Jesus as reluctant to be identified ...

220. Speak From Personal Experience

Matthew 6:25-34

Sermon

Robert V. Dodd

... ,Just tell the love of Jesus,And say he died for all.5 Remember the man who said of Jesus, "All I know is this: once I was blind, now I can see," And none could deny the reality of his experience. 1. Ira Galloway, The North Carolina Christian Advocate, January 24, 1974. 2. Revelation 3:14-15. 3. Nels F.S. Ferre, The Extreme Center, Word Books, 1973, p. 20. 4. Robert G. Tuttle, One Man's Journey, Tidings, 1974. 5. "There is a Balm in Gilead," No. 212 in The Methodist Hymnal, The Methodist Publishing House ...

221. The Same New Jesus

Acts 1:1-11

Sermon

Carl Hoefler

... Ascension. Our status as born-again children of God is confirmed by the Ascension. As the early church fathers put it, "Christ became what we are in order that we might become what he is." But more! The Ascension assures us that Christ is our eternal advocate - our "defense attorney." When the Evil One stands and accuses us of sins in the court of God, Christ intercedes for us. Our Lord pleads our innocence based on his sacrifice on Calvary for our sins. He covers us with the innocence of his righteousness ...

222. Museum or Mission?

Luke 15:1-7, Luke 15:8-10

Sermon

Wallace H. Kirby

... They wanted attention given to those who were stable, pious and not a liability if invited to the country club. Their’s was a "let’s have our synagogue programs be for us dependable, like-minded types," as some present-day church-growth advocates. Jesus disappointed them by insisting that the issue was one of mission: to reach out to those who needed great mercy, lessons in etiquette, social graces, and perhaps a bath. Paying attention to these "lost" persons would change the comfortable fellowship the ...

223. The Sermon on the Level

Luke 6:17-26

Sermon

... Lazarus fell victim to the terror of death, and when Jerusalem chose death instead of life. He promises a trade with us - the garments of the white-robed saints before the throne for the rags of our unrighteousness. On the level, then. Jesus does not advocate pious poverty to be displayed as holiness. Some of those who are his friends are very rich, as Joseph was, whose tomb became the place for Jesus’ burial. Jesus does not hold up hunger for our adulation. He had compassion on the multitude who followed ...

224. Advancers Over Decliners

Luke 19:11-27

Sermon

... ’s economy with all its complications, the ups and downs of bonds and stocks and bank certificates, the interest rate, inflation, and tax structures, good stewardship requires just a little more of savvy than a tin can buried in the yard. Nor does the story advocate an economic policy whereby the rich get richer, and the poor become poorer, as the parable appears to say, "to everyone who has will more be given; but from him who has not, even what he has will be taken from him." And certainly the parable ...

225. Of Preachers and Preaching

Micah 1:8-16

Sermon

... and lies saying, ‘I will preach to you of wine and strong drink,’ he would be the preacher for this people." Doubtless one could find many preachers today with similar sentiments - preachers who have been rebuked or lost their pulpits for advocating needed social change, while other preachers, mouthing safe traditions and avoiding controversy, have prospered or even been lionized. Micah could have been looking down the corridors of time and seeing a long line of splendid windbags standing in pulpits and ...

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