Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 2276 to 2300 of 4962 results

2276. Praising God on an Oatmeal Box

2 Samuel 6:12-23

Sermon

John E. Harnish

... God, I pray that someone in that small- town Wyoming Methodist Church will welcome him, receive him, and gather him in: · With all of his pain and all of his brokenness · With all the sorrow of his life · With all the guilt and regret and grieving I hope that little Methodist church will be a place where even Ennis Del Mar can be gathered into the Body of Christ. Our mission is to gather. 2. AND OUR MISSION IS TO NURTURE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. I said that was the second place the Methodist church shows up ...

2277. The Magna Carta of the Human Soul

Romans 12:9-21

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... being.” Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another. Do ...

2278. Secret Revealed

Romans 16:25-27

Sermon

Donald Charles Lacy

... creates arguments and even conflict, so be it. To do less is to deny the very extraordinary person to whom we have vowed allegiance. Faith and works come into play. We see if there is faith, then there must be works and that means some form(s) of witnessing. Hopefully, we also see that legitimate works are born of genuine faith. It is a distinct privilege to be a disciple of the "Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world." 3. What God's people had been yearning to see becomes reality. We can only ...

2279. Precious and Privileged Children

Galatians 4:4-7

Sermon

Donald Charles Lacy

... love and the gracious gift of his Son. The fallen kingdom so long in force can now be conquered. Talk about faith, hope, and love! What does a really good parent do? He looks after his precious children, who are the most privileged in the ... the requirements of the Christian life. God remains faithful. So, you thought you got away? Does that sound just too pedestrian and secular? I hope not. Why? Because there is a profound truth here and it will not be cancelled out. It has to do with the innate preciousness ...

2280. Gift of Positive Thinking

2 Corinthians 1:18-22

Sermon

Donald Charles Lacy

... of this world; that has to do precisely with our topic at hand. At the same moment his wisdom is such that our perception of success may very well be failure which must receive the healing touch of the Master's hand. So, we hopefully cross into an arena that facilitates our every action and reaction into a great big beautiful "Yes!" Serious spirituality, I believe, is given birth by such illumination. Then, the gift of positive thinking glows in magnificence even on our bad days. Indeed, how shall anyone ...

2281. The Unshakable Foundation

Hebrews 7:23-28

Sermon

Lee Ann Dunlap

... wealthier, sexier, or more popular at work. We sacrifice our family ties on behalf of the job and labor long hours to please the company, so that we can have health and pension benefits once we've worked ourselves sick and tired. All of this is in hopes of attaining a place and time on Easy Street when we need no longer labor, or suffer, or struggle with our human relationships or mortal circumstances. Eventually, we discover it is all in vain. The people in whom we have trusted succumb to the same mortal ...

2282. Belonging? Don’t Be Longing

John 17:6-19

Bulletin Aid

Frank Ramirez

... To Worship Live in the world. Be not of it. Love all in the world. Stay in it. God is here. We are here. All may share. Collect In your name we gather, Hearts and hopes we raise. Spirit, Son, and Father, Equally we praise. Amen. Prayer Of Confession Lord of glory, we come before you this day, patient in our waiting, but hopeful as well that the day will dawn when your kingdom is established and you are fully present among us. In this time of waiting we pray that your presence among us in our worship will ...

2283. Don’t Turn Down a Sure Chance

Matthew 22:1-14

Illustration

Bill Bouknight

... that when Tom Lee approached some of those folks in the middle of the river, they had responded, "Thanks, but no thanks. Your boat doesn't look too impressive to us. We're going to just keep treading water in hopes that another boat more to our liking will come along." You're thinking - That would have been really dumb. Turning down a sure thing in hopes that something else might come along. That reminds me of the people who don't want to accept the salvation offered by Jesus Christ through the cross. They ...

2284. Oh, You'd Better Watch Out!

Mark 13:32-37

Sermon

King Duncan

... futurists predict that by the year 2025 the world will have a billion millionaires. That’s a lot of wealthy people. I hope you’re one of them. They also forecast a new process to remove salt from seawater and make it drinkable at a ... people shouted their delight. They rang peal after peal on the bells. The Lion was back! Long live the king! John Phillips adds these hopeful words: “One day a King greater than Richard will lay claim to a realm greater than England. Those who have abused the earth in His ...

2285. Don’t Fear the Wait

Mark 13:1-8

Sermon

Richard Gribble

... is nothing I can do at this late hour. God has already decided my fate. I might as well continue what I have been doing all along." There are still others who might not change a thing they are doing, but not in a defeatist mode. Some of us hopefully would say, "Isn't this the event for which the world has been waiting? Isn't this the reason that I was born?" Possession of such an attitude would allow us to continue doing what we have always been doing, confident that our preparations have been sound. While ...

2286. Where Are You From?

John 18:1-19:42

Sermon

David T. Ball

... 't leave us alone. You know the type -- no matter how private and inconspicuous we try to be, they sooner or later find a way to start up a conversation, and they won't take any of our hints that we're not interested in talking. "Good book?" I had hoped that I could read some fairly dull book about church history without arousing anyone's interest. "Not bad." "Are you a pastor? I see it's about the church." Now I'm in trouble. Bad idea to read anything about the church on an airplane. Nobody but a pastor ...

2287. Where Is Your Trust?

Mark 4:35-41

Sermon

George Reed

... when things are not going well. But as good as these things are they are not foolproof. Insurance coverage that we thought was secure can be taken away. Assets can be lost or quickly used up. Family and friends may not be as helpful and supportive as we had hoped. Jobs are lost. The stock market falls. These may be helpful things but they are not to be trusted as the foundation of our lives. Most of us who come to church know this. It seems almost silly to bring the question up in a congregation, and yet ...

2288. Living Out the Promise of This Child

Isaiah 9:2-7

Sermon

Schuyler Rhodes

... courses through my soul. I guess that's a good thing. For many of us, certain events or words serve as triggers for memories or thoughts. There are some things that cause us to smile, some that cause us to wince, and some that stir the fertile substance of hope in our hearts. Isn't that true? Can we hear the strains of an old tune from days gone by and not set off down memory lane? Can we look at old photographs of family or friends without feeling something? Can we hear a recording of Martin Luther King ...

2289. What’s New?

Jeremiah 31:31-34

Sermon

Ron Lavin

... and the Babylonians who were about to conquer and deport the people of Jerusalem. Jeremiah also saw that something new was needed to give the people hope. That's the context for the prophet's words about the new covenant. The new covenant means hope for people who are down and out, people who are divided and estranged from God, from themselves, and from other people. Hope reaches out and touches us when we hear that God is doing a new thing. The new covenant means that God's Law will be written ...

2290. The Passion of the Servant Leader

Isaiah 50:4-9a

Sermon

Ron Lavin

... while during the day and said to me: "Tell me all about it so I can maybe help you understand." If Donna ever has children, I hope you will tell her to just pay some attention to the one who doesn't smile very much because that one will really be crying ... about to bake six dozen cookies, tell her to make sure first that the kids don't want to tell her about a dream or a hope or something. Thoughts are important to small kids, even though they don't have so many words to use when they tell about what they have ...

2291. Ephesians 1:15-23

Ephesians 1:15-23

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... to which he has called you;” 2) the “riches of his glorious inheritance;” and 3) “the great power” that was demonstrated “in Christ” (vv.18-20). This “hope” is knowledge of God’s ultimate design for the salvation of the world. For disciples to glimpse this divine hope for the salvation of the world is Paul’s prayer. What could bolster faith to new heights better than such “knowledge?” The “inheritance” Paul refers to is not the inheritance that awaits the faithful, but “God ...

2292. Yellow Wind

Mark 13:1-31

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... guys" will "get theirs. " We are so bogged down in creepy creatures getting the sequence of disasters correct and playing "Guess which beast this is?" that we have forgotten the primary purpose of apocalyptic literature was to provide a message of hope. Instead of this hope for the future, however, there seems to be a prevalent epidemic of "timesickness" - the widespread insecurity about time and the future - which seems to be one of the hallmarks of these latter days of the 20th century. Time, as Einstein ...

2293. Uh-Huh!

John 18:33-37

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... not read these things because if one believes that there is truth and that what is not true is false, then one takes seriously ... the attempt to find the truth' (4). Is the right one the "right thing"? Do we have here the right one, baby? (Again, hope they say "Uh-uh!") Typical of the last decade's love affair with gimmicks and its "gimme" attitude, it is difficult to discern what exactly is the "right stuff" in that film's tale of the American space program. Is the right stuff the astronauts with nerves ...

2294. Toys R Us. NOT!

Ephesians 1:11-23

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... be lost to them when they die. The inheritance prepared for Christians is not one of "things." We are not defined by monetary wealth or the number of "toys" that have been accumulated and passed on to us. We inherit God's eternal gifts of love, hope, faith and power. The Christian inheritance does not begin with death. It begins with life - a life reborn in the Holy Spirit. The week's sermon title takes its strange grammar from the bizarre yet popular 1992 movie Wayne's World. This sleeper hit, based on ...

2295. The Monster Under Megan's Bed

John 6:1-21

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... dismissal. Jesus likes the child's solution. He uses the little boy's gift to feed the people. While the text does not say that the child had faith in Jesus' ability to create a miracle, this child's heartfelt gift does indicate that his vision and hope were not limited by the accepted norms of the day. He saw possibility, not puniness, in those five loaves and two fish. The child taught the disciples a lesson: They should have been looking for ways to succeed, not looking for excuses to fail. In the words ...

2296. God's in Charge (so shut up!)

Ephesians 5:15-20

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... to listen is better than the sacrifice offered by fools" (Ecclesiastes 5:1). Only when we stop up our mouths and open up our hearts, can we hope to hear God's words for us. "God's in charge, so open up!" It is only once we close our own mouths, and shut off the ... ventures and visions, grand schemes and global agendas that we previously would have dismissed as beyond our abilities, beyond all hope. In the earliest days of the age of great cathedrals, the master builder and stonemasons had to open their minds ...

2297. Anywhere Goes

Romans 14:1-12

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... meaning and purpose, joy and juice in their lives. Of course, scores of mainline/oldline/sideline churches across America find the whole concept of "Christian rock" an oxymoron. These range from ultraconservative churches who deem the rock scene beyond all hope of redemption, to theologically liberal congregations who simply find rock so culturally distasteful that they choose to assign and abandon it to high-decibel secularism. Rock music is an easy target for Christians to hit. By definition, it is almost ...

2298. Never Give Up

Luke 13:1-9

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... Baptist was beheaded. But God never gave up. - Peter denied he even knew him. But God never gave up. - The disciples all ran away. But God never gave up. To never give up should be the hallmark of every Christian. But it is not always easy to maintain hope in the face of a down-the-drain situation. Ever feel like Jeremiah: "For twenty-three years ... I have spoken persistently to you, but you have not listened" (25:3)? Have you been at it for 23 years? When the gardener in today's gospel text volunteers not ...

2299. Fingerprints of the Soul

Romans 5:1-5

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... calendar at one time or another, there are more than enough saints to fill every day of the year. It used to be that devout families incorporated the name of the saint on whose feast day their child was born into the child's name. The hope was that since the child shared the saint's name and feast day, this particular saint would take special care of the child. Saints are called saints because through their lives and often through their deaths, the saints imitated Christ and embodied Christ-like virtues ...

2300. New Beginnings

John 1:1-18

Sermon

King Duncan

... on his name has the potential to become a child of God. What does that mean? It means that you and I have the potential to be like Christ. We have a potential within our hearts and souls for peace, a potential for joy, a potential for hope, a potential for love, a potential for forgiveness that is greater than we can possibly imagine. Try to grasp the significance of that truth. We no longer have to live lives filled with inner conflict, anger, resentment, fear, hatred, guilt or rejection. By the power of ...

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