Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 2251 to 2275 of 4884 results

Genesis 37:12-36, 50:15-21

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... When your dreams are convulsed by disaster, what do you do then? The first truth I declare to you today is this: SOME DREAMS DO GET DERAILED. Three years ago I conducted a funeral of a 35-year-old attorney who four days earlier had been in perfect health. In fact, he was a fitness buff. But suddenly he was stricken bya pneumonia-like infection that most of us could ward off with our healthy immune systems. But for some unknown reason, he had no defense against this specific infection. His young wife and two ...

2252. "Almost" Is A Sad Word

Matthew 19:16-30

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... . Then he asked, "What do I still lack?" In verse 21, Jesus makes both diagnosis and prescription. Since the signs of wealth were allover this young man, Jesus suspected that his soul might be in the bank with his stocks and bonds. So Jesus said, "If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me." That gives me a slight touch of the "willies" every time I read it. What if Jesus were to tell you or me in a vision too real ...

2253. The Cross In My Pocket

Isaiah 52:13--53:12, Luke 9:18-27

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... crosses were placed there by a West Virginian named Bernard Coffindaffer. He spent over $3 million erecting crosses along our public highways. In 1993 he went home to heaven. What a celebration there must have been in heaven that day! Bernard's passion was expressed perfectly in Isaac Watts' great hymn: "When I survey the wondrous cross on which the Prince of Glory died, my richest gain I count but loss, and pour contempt on all my pride." The entertainer Dale Evans, wife of Roy Rogers, is fond of saying ...

2254. How God Guides

Exodus 13:17--14:31

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... systems into most of his creatures. Just consider how those ducks and geese migrating up and down our Mississippi flyway know where and when to go. Let me tell you something about those wonderful birds called quail. Those little creatures have the only perfect weatherman on earth. Our weather forecaster on Channel 3 is accurate most of the time. But the weather advisor for the quail is never wrong. Those little birds know what the weather will be and change their schedules accordingly. God gave them an ...

2255. The Waiting Game

Sermon

James Bjorge

... the second coming in exaltation and glory. In the first advent Christ came to bring redemption - to jar us loose from our bondage to the world with a tidal wave of love and sacrifice and make us children of God. In his second advent he comes to judge and perfect - to bring to completion all the program of God’s project of reclamation. His second coming assures us that the future is in God’s hands and it will bear the name, Jesus. The second coming of Jesus is being taken out of mothballs in our day. For ...

2256. Grade Cards

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

Children's Sermon

Wesley T. Runk

... a surprise to most of you, I think. Here is the first card. Take a good look at it. This is the kind of card that everyone would like to have, but there are not very many cards like this. Every subject has an "A" beside it. This person is perfect, and I am sure that the person who gets a card like this is pleased and so are his parents. Whoever gets a report card like this has worked hard and used his brain to the limit. But let’s take a look at the next card. How many of ...

2257. THE JOURNEY

Drama

Jerome W. Nilssen

... Well, I never said anything like that. GRACE Oh, I know what you said. You’re going to change the world, that’s what you said; you and your artificial arm. But, personally, I think you’re crazy, and I would rather die than have anyone fool around with a perfectly good arm of mine. CAIN That’s the way it’s GOING to be. GRACE Not for me. I’m not going to let any crazy radio-smasher dictate my life to me. CAIN They’re just plans, for God’s sake. They’re not final. GRACE Well, I’m ...

2258. A Time for Tears

John 11:17-37

Sermon

Louis H. Valbracht

... , what did I tell the young woman with the severed leg and the dead husband? The only thing I could tell her. "Don’t be alarmed at the terribleness of your grief and depression and bitterness. Your feelings, under the circumstances, are perfectly normal. Life has accidentally dealt you several catastrophic blows. You feel angry toward God, because He allowed this to happen? well, don’t feel guilty, about that, either, because He understands. He suffers with you and forgives you. Go ahead, express your ...

2259. Worn Out? Tired? Weary?

Matthew 11:25-30

Sermon

Louis H. Valbracht

... to the Pepsi Cola commercial that tells us: "We’ve got a lot to live, and Pepsi’s got a lot to give," and we don’t believe it. The strange fact is that most people who are habitually tired today look like they are in the pink of perfect health. They reveal no symptoms whatsoever that they are physically run-down. They get plenty of sleep. They don’t work too hard. Their food bristles with pep-giving vitamins, and yet, they are tired, for the tiredness has very little to do with their bodies. It is ...

2260. Well, What's for Sure?

2 Timothy 1:1-2:13

Sermon

Louis H. Valbracht

... answered: "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. For we KNOW AND ARE SURE" - WE KNOW AND ARE SURE - "that you are the Christ, the Son of God." Sounds great, doesn’t it? Here is a man who, by his confession, makes it perfectly clear that he is REALLY SURE about something; and yet, a few weeks later, we know that that same man denied that he even knew Christ. Someone has said that ours is an age that is hopeful in few things, frightened about many things, and tentative in all things ...

2261. Perhaps Next Summer...

Acts 24:1-27

Sermon

Louis H. Valbracht

... that the other was responsible for next summer’s not coming. One of his biographers said of Lord Byron: "This should have been a noble creature, instead there is only chaos." Once, sitting in a Hollywood night club, I heard what I thought was the perfect squelch. There was a man sitting at a ringside table who was heckling the comedian throughout his entire performance. Finally the comedian came over and stood directly in front of the man. He looked at him intently for a moment, and then he said with ...

2262. Chapter III

Exodus 20:1-21

Sermon

Frank H. Seilhamer

... who wove those absolutes into his creation. But, if there is anything that the Bible says about God it is that he is compassionate to the core. Even in the midst of these absolutes he is not a God who seeks to destroy, but who wants to rescue and perfect the men he created. God is not a senseless, pitiless, cosmic imbecile, toying with our destinies like a child banging around a rag doll. He is not capricious. He is involved with us in love, even when he has to deal with us in the midst of our disobedience ...

2263. Chapter V

Exodus 20:1-21

Sermon

Frank H. Seilhamer

... the people; and he shall be a mouth for you, and you shall be to him as God" (Genesis 4:14f.). Moses, warts and all, faults and all, was to be treated with the same respect, and as having the same "weight," as God himself. Moses was by no means perfect. Nevertheless, through him God was going to do a job that needed doing. In a similar way in the New Testament Jesus selected seventy persons to go on a missionary journey for him. As he prepared to send them on the road, he gave them advice to take no "purse ...

2264. Whispering The Lyrics (revised)

John 14:15-31

Sermon

Thomas Long

... Jimmie in chapel," they said, "and judge for yourself." So Sacks did watch Jimmie in chapel, and there he observed an astounding transformation. He saw an intensity and steadiness in Jimmie that he had not observed before. As he received the sacrament, there was "perfect alignment of his spirit with the spirit of the Mass." There in worship, Jimmie was no longer at the mercy of a faulty and fallible memory. "He was wholly held, absorbed ...." He whose mind was broken was given in worship, "a continuity and ...

2265. Wearing the Ashes

Jonah 3:1-10

Sermon

Michael J. Anton

... ashes is turning from our revolt to obedience to our Creator. The king of Nineveh said it, "Let every one turn from his evil way and from the violence which is in his hands." Lent is a time for turning. Lent is a time for change. Lent is a perfect opportunity to scrutinize ourselves carefully under the light of the cross to determine where we are weak as we try to execute the Word of God. What are the soft spots in our commitment to the Suffering Servant? Is it my irregular worship life? Is it my hesitation ...

2266. Snoring through Sermons

Sermon

Michael J. Anton

... may well be sitting in fear and trepidation, wondering what we are going to say about his sleeping habits. The matter of napping through sermons has become the source of many jokes and humorous stories. And although we could do so, since a pulpit is a perfect location for seeing what goes on in the pew, we really have no intention of naming names or embarassing anyone in particular. Nor do we intend to reinstitute the practice of the early Puritan churches where someone was appointed to stand in the back of ...

2267. DOORKEEPER

Ezra 7:24; Psalm 84:10

Illustration

Stephen Stewart

... very costly objects. So it was reasonable that they should mount a constant guard over them. Since, of course, the Ark of the Covenant was the most precious object in the Temple, a special guard was placed over it. This guard was formed of the most perfectly developed men of the tribe (Levites), and it was a great honor to be a member of it. Surprisingly enough, considering the nature of their job, doorkeepers in general received a very small fee, although, of course. those who served in the Temple were tax ...

2268. HERALD

Daniel 3:4

Illustration

Stephen Stewart

... , and his words will still carry over the airwaves. But the herald had to have a very loud voice, and had to virtually shout his proclamation! We are, perhaps, familiar with the idea of heralds from the Christmas carol HARK THE HERALD ANGELS SING, which illustrates perfectly what I have been saying. The herald angels were making a proclamation - an announcement - a message from God to man. They were proclaiming the birth of the new King. The most marvelous announcement the world has ever received!

2269. SURVEYOR

Zechariah 2:1

Illustration

Stephen Stewart

... what was at hand. And what is always at hand? A rope or a cord, of course! Or, perhaps, the wife would be willing to lend a piece of twisted linen thread. This cord was then marked off into cubits, and there you were - home free with a perfectly good measuring line. The only trick involved was in getting enough cord, in long enough lengths, to enclose the area to be surveyed. Having done so, he could then make an approximation of the modern-day blueprint, by noting the survey in plans and in writing. In our ...

2270. Hay, Harmony, and Hallelujah

Luke 2:1-7, Luke 2:8-20

Sermon

G. William Genszler

... peace and good will, even for her enemies. How she pitied them because they never knew a God who could sleep on the hay with his people. As she dropped off to sleep even the bellow of the cows and the bleet of the sheep seemed to blend into perfect harmonies. Into her dream world the harmonies seemed to swell and rise like a choir of angels singing, "Hallelujah, and He shall reign forever and ever, King of kings and Lord of lords." Nanuska was glad because He was her friend and, for love of her, this mighty ...

2271. Dead to Sin

Romans 6:1-14

Bulletin Aid

James Wilson

... must walk with Christ toward the Cross. People: We each must let Christ into our hearts and turn away from sin. Leader: In Christ we are dead to sin and washed clean before Almighty God. All: Blessed be the name of the Lord! Collect O God, You are total perfection and cannot accept sin, yet You loved us so much You sent the Christ to pay the debt of sin and wash us clean. We praise Your holy name, Lord. In Christ we pray. Amen. Prayer Of Confession Lord, so often we would accept Your Grace and forgiveness ...

2272. Judgement Day Is Coming

Matthew 13:24-30, Matthew 13:36-43, Matthew 13:47-52

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... gives to most people many chances to repent of sin and claim Jesus Christ as Lord. HERE IS A THIRD TRUTH: ONLY CHRIST AND HIS ANGELS ARE AUTHORIZED TO JUDGE. No person is authorized to compose a list of those who are going to hell. It is perfectly proper to say out of love, "If you reject the gracious offer of Christ, you will spend all eternity apart from God." That is a truthful, loving statement. But to say, "You, brother or sister, are going to hell" is judgmental and presumptuous. Jesus warned, "Judge ...

2273. Picking A Winner, Claiming A Treasure

Matthew 13:44-46

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... socialite who traveled to Europe with several friends. Her husband stayed home and played the stock market. While in Paris she found a fur coat that was the most beautiful she had ever seen. She sent a telegram to her husband that said, "Have found the perfect coat for only $50,000. What do you think?" He responded immediately with a telegram saying, "No, price too high." Imagine his surprise when she returned home with that $50,000 coat. The irate husband said, "Didn't you get my telegram?" "Yes," she said ...

2274. Marriage is Forever

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

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... those little defects that kept me from getting a better husband." Everybody has his or her defects. Success in marriage is not so much finding the right person as being the right person. The greatest marriages on earth are not the so-called "perfect fits," those "never had a cross word," silky smooth, slurpy sweet couples. Any dim wit could stay married in those circumstances. The greatest marriages are those between people who can honestly say, "If Christ were not the boss of this marriage, we would not ...

2275. A Thanksgiving Question

1 Corinthians 4:1-21

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... for that. It was in the genes. On the other hand, I recall that great country song which declares, "You're the reason our kids are ugly." It's certainly not the children's fault. The writer of the book of James echoes this truth when he declares, "Every perfect gift comes from above, from the Father of lights." (James 1:17) If I were not confident that God does and will provide vital resources for each day, I would never have dared to pastor any church, least of all this one. Oh no, I would have found the ...

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