Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 2301 to 2325 of 4972 results

2301. Sneak Preview

Matthew 17:1-9

Sermon

Charles L. Aaron

... makes it to the headlines? With all of the things that seem to deny God's existence, or at least our ability to see God, we might wish we could have an experience like Peter, James, and John had. If only God would appear to us in an unmistakable way, leaving no doubt that God was behind the experience. Even if this vision of God terrified us, it would be worth it, just to know God was there. It didn't work that way for Peter, James, and John. This experience on the mountain did not take away the ambition of ...

2302. Faith to Follow

John 3:1-17

Sermon

Lee Griess

... the smooth, paved road, when we abandon the boring residential streets for the adventure of unmarked trails — that's when faith becomes real and that's the new birth that Jesus is promising us. Faith means being born again as a new person, leaving the comfortable behind to adventure with God. Dear friends, God asks us to be risk-takers for Christ. God calls us to follow Jesus on paths that are unknown. God invites us to venture forth in faith beyond the ordinary and mundane. How much faith does it take ...

2303. The True Shepherd

John 10:1-10

Sermon

Lee Griess

... my life for the sheep." For that is the difference between the real shepherd and the false one. Now, this is good news. Here is God's word of grace for us today. Jesus says, "I don't care how much trouble comes your way; the good shepherd will never leave you. I don't care how difficult times become, the good shepherd will never desert you. I don't care how helpless, how hopeless, how hapless your life may seem, the good shepherd will always be at your side. He will not desert you in time of need. For the ...

2304. Nations on Trial

Matthew 25:31-46

Drama

Chris Ewing

... , these children and young women working the crowd outside the hallowed halls of Notre Dame could not have embodied Jesus' mandate any better if they'd tried.3 2: They should have been in school. There should have been food and work. They shouldn't have had to leave their homelands for hope. 1: They needed all the help they could get. 2: So is France a goat? Are the countries they came from goats? 4: On the face of it, Elvira Arellano seems an unlikely fugitive from justice. A study in pink, the 31-year-old ...

2305. Can These Bones Live?

Ezekiel 37:1-14

Sermon

Schuyler Rhodes

... brothers, this is no preacher’s bromide or worn-out axiom. This is biblical truth. As we prepare together to march with Jesus into the city on Palm Sunday, we know that God’s word brings life! As we leave this Lenten journey, we do not depart from a valley of bones and brittle endings, but instead we leave behind a legacy of new life in God’s abundant spirit. Prophesy to the bones! Speak truth to the pain and emptiness. Call out in the power of God’s Spirit, and watch while life knits together the ...

2306. Being a Witness

Acts 2:14, 22-32

Sermon

Schuyler Rhodes

... another matter. Honestly, as long as everyone was okay, I didn't much care about the cars. I had a meeting to get to on the other side of town. Just as I was leaving, though, the police arrived. One officer asked if anyone had "witnessed" the accident. Several people standing there turned and pointed to me. I smiled, turned to leave, and the police officer said, "Could you please stay a moment? We need to hear from you as a witness." So much for my meeting. This experience, though, gave me pause as I was ...

2307. The Land Where Our Fathers Had Lived

Genesis 37:1-4, 12-28

Sermon

David J. Kalas

... more global purpose and mission: "in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed" (Genesis 12:3). A key element of God's covenant with Abraham was the issue of land. Abraham was living in the land of Mesopotamia when God called him, but God required him to leave that land (Genesis 12:1). At several points along the way, God assured Abraham that he intended to give a different land to him and his descendants (Genesis 12:7; 13:14-17; 15:18-21; 17:8). Abraham lived out his days as an alien there in that ...

2308. Small-Minded Christians in a Big World

1 Corinthians 1:10-17

Sermon

John N. Brittain

... that he was the only faithful person left in Israel — he might as well curl up and die. The Lord responded not with sympathy but by telling Elijah to stop feeling sorry for himself and to get moving. Then, almost as a footnote, we read God's words: "I will leave 7,000 in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him" (1 Kings 19:18). Seven thousand! Of course Elijah was right in one sense. He was the only prophet who had called fire down from heaven, the only ...

2309. With Our Own Eyes

2 Peter 1:16-21

Sermon

John N. Brittain

... eludes us, world hunger widens, universal greed and lust for power remains our nemesis. Our personal biographies reveal our dark side. What else is that than our godlessness — ‘godlostness'? The human experience is God's judgment on our narcissistic dreams. God's judgment is to leave us in the dark."1 Let's consider a concrete example of what I am talking about. A favorite topic of such thematic preaching is money, and isn't that a favorite topic for most of us? Take a few facts, albeit a little out of ...

2310. In the Balance

Romans 5:12-19

Sermon

David O. Bales

... , Adam. It's not as though the Bible presents Adam like a villain in a movie who wants to destroy all life on the planet. His is more like a drama in which one person's bad choice and his blaming others cause untold suffering to many. If you'd leave the movie world and shift to the health sciences, you can think of Adam's sin as a virus set free by mistake into human life that makes us all sick. The result of this, Paul says, is death. Sin infects society and individuals. It creeps up into minds, gnaws ...

2311. Spiritual Resuscitation

Romans 8:6-11

Sermon

David O. Bales

... faith and habits for service. We struggle for justice for the oppressed and care for the needy. That's setting our mind on the Spirit. If it helps you in your following Jesus to think of seeing your breath as you speak to God, picture air leaving you as you speak to God in prayer. In prayer, exhale your bitterness, fears, laziness, sin, and disobedience. Then inhale God in prayer and receive the energy, inspiration, and more and more of God's loving Spirit into your life. Let us pray. Loving God, thank ...

2312. Righting Wrong

Romans 9:1-5

Sermon

Larry Lange

... one of the pastors just after he returned home at nine o'clock the night before. The president skipped the well-attended potluck and showed up just before the meeting was scheduled to begin and was very anxious to leave, because he had to be back home with his son since his wife was leaving town for a business trip of her own. The president disregarded the pastor's advice to consider and approve the reports from all twenty of the boards and committees all at once. Instead, the president marched the anxious ...

2313. A Spiritual “Re-formation”

Romans 3:19-28

Sermon

Mary S. Lautensleger

... . It's the way in which we sometimes channel our anger that gets us into trouble. The parson in The Canterbury Tales appropriately describes anger as the "Devil's Furnace." In vengeful anger, we put ourselves into God's place, becoming the judge instead of leaving that to God. Paul reminds us that "... it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay,' says the Lord" (Romans 12:19). God has given us an indescribable gift in our salvation. Through God's grace, our scarlet sins are washed white as snow. We ...

2314. Lifestyles of the Rich and Faithful

2 Corinthians 9:6-15

Sermon

Mary S. Lautensleger

... happy as kings." Paul has sounded forth the "call to alms" for the early church and for us today. All that we have belongs to God. To celebrate Thanksgiving in its truest sense is to place life into its proper perspective. We began life with empty hands and will leave it the same way. All we have belongs to God, who loans it to us to use as good stewards. In doing so, our thanksgiving becomes thanks-living. We are not self-sufficient. We are totally dependent on the grace of God. All that we have is a gift ...

2315. When Bullies Take Hold

Luke 19:45-48; Mark 11:15-19

Illustration

Brian Stoffregen

... to thrive once again, someone tries to bully the leaders out of the attempt. And almost every time a turn-around takes place, such persons are lost along the way because they are no longer allowed to get their way. When they can't get their way, they leave. Not even Jesus got through the journey with all of the Disciples. Why should we expect to? Of course, we should not set out to intimidate the bully or to kick people out of the church. But a strong response means that we care enough about the future ...

2316. Luke 14:25-33

Luke 14:25-35

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... the starting point. The central portion of Luke’s gospel often reminds readers that Jesus is “on the way” to Jerusalem. But the message and examples found in today’s gospel text recall what Jesus, and all who would be called his disciples, must leave by the wayside to move forward “on the way.” Previously Jesus had been speaking to the Pharisees and scribes, the religious elite within Judaism. But now the scene shifts. Jesus addresses the “large crowd” that is following along with him as he ...

2317. Help Me, I'm Lost

Luke 15:1-10

Sermon

King Duncan

... They did not know that there is no such thing as spiritual superiority in the kingdom of God. We are all sinners saved by grace. The second thing we need to see is the eagerness of the shepherd and the woman to find that which was lost. The shepherd leaves the ninety-nine sheep in the open country and goes after the lost sheep until he finds it and when he does, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, “Rejoice with me; I have found my ...

2318. Called To Freedom

Galatians 5:1-15

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... Communion this morning, think about those people who have gone before us and made the freedom we have possible. Then think about those things which keep you from giving your whole life to Christ. Think about them and surrender them to Christ. Leave them at the altar and leave unburdened and free. "For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for ...

2319. Broken Lives and Broken Chains

Luke 8:26-39

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... step and a different light in their eyes. Blackie was even able to reconcile with his children. Why, because God is in the reclamation business. There is no trash, no Damaged Goods, ready for the trash heap. Jesus helped Blackie change the Legacy he was leaving behind. Conclusion On the cross, Jesus broke the stranglehold that sin and death have over us. Through the cross and the empty tomb, Jesus won forgiveness for us. He has redeemed us. He has claimed and reclaimed us as his own. He has made us new ...

2320. Tears, Perfume and Forgiveness

Luke 7:36-50

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... impressive home of her potential in-laws, she was greeted by the parents and their much-beloved, but rotten-tempered, poodle, Cleo. Well, the dog got a whiff of the bacon grease on the young woman's shoes and followed her around all evening. Wouldn't leave her alone. At the end of the evening, the pleased parents remarked, "Cleo really likes you, dear, and she is an excellent judge of character. We're absolutely delighted to welcome you into our little family." (1) Cleo may very well have been a great judge ...

2321. Step By Step

Acts 11:1-18

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... as the Counselor, the Companion and the Encourager. All three of those aspects of Jesus are there in our everyday lives. Jesus said, "I will not leave you orphaned." He also said, "Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." The Second Step is to realize: YOU ARE ... them to have a sense of purpose; a sense of mission in life; We want them to have a sense of love and we want to leave them a legacy of love; We want them to have a sense of security. We want them to know they are safe; that their family ...

2322. Oops! I Didn't See You

Luke 16:19-31

Sermon

King Duncan

... was a special lady who could neither see nor hear, but still was an outstanding author and speaker. Wollcott knew that beautiful flowers would mean nothing to a blind woman. So when he went to see Helen Keller he took her great bunches of geranium leaves. The leaves emitted a spicy, fresh fragrance that he knew she enjoyed. Wollcott learned one of the lessons of caring: fit the gift to the recipient. (7) That takes a very special sensitivity. Love sees and love acts. One guy was trying to be humorous. He ...

2323. Which Kingdom?

Luke 16:19-31

Illustration

James Merritt

... dead." Well, that's what we all wish, but you have to decide which kingdom you are going to be a part of on this earth. You've got to decide what you are going to surrender your life to on this earth. You've got to decide before you leave this earth where you are going to spend eternity after you leave this earth. Whatever decision you make, when you die you will live with for all eternity.

2324. What'll You Have?

Mark 8:27-38

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... read a story about a waitress who couldn't get a smile out of one of her customer for love nor money. The old woman was dour, depressed and dejected all through dinner. And the food really wasn't all that bad. As the lady paid her bill and was leaving, the waitress said, "Have a nice day!" And the woman responded snappishly, "I'm sorry, but I've made other plans!" (6) What are your plans? How will you answer the questions raised by Jesus? Today and every day, you're given the menu and asked to make a choice ...

2325. Remember: No Deposit, No Return

Ephesians 4:25-5:2

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... of the altar. Remember, that chair is Jesus' chair. It reminds us that Jesus is present with us in all we do. So here's the plan, toss that sack of sin, that sack of trash on the garbage heap that was Golgotha. Don't leave it in your heart or in you mind. Leave at the foot of the cross where it belongs. Then, having been set free, experience the blessings of God's love and grace. Then make your fragrant offering to Christ as you accept His offering for you. TRUST JESUS, LET GO AND DUMP IT. REMEMBER: NO ...

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