Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 1 to 25 of 46 results

Mark 6:7-13, Matthew 10:1-42, Luke 9:1-9, Luke 10:1-24

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... home is deserving, let your peace rest on it; if it is not, let your peace return to you. If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, leave that home or town and shake the dust off your feet. Truly I tell you, it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town. “I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves. Be on your guard; you will be handed over to the local councils and be flogged in ...

2. What If God Is Dependent Upon Our Praying?

2 Chronicles 7:1-10

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... she’s ever done. Jeri never heard from Kay. She even tried to get in touch with her by phone, but was unable to do so. I’m quite certain that little Kay died. But I’m more than certain that her last days and weeks were made more bearable because of those weekly visits from someone who first began to pray. I can’t even begin to imagine what would happen to our congregation, I can’t even begin to imagine what would happen to you and me as a fellowship if that quality of praying characterized our ...

3. What If

1 Chronicles 7:1-5

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... things she has ever done. Jerry never heard from Kay. She even tried to get in touch with her by phone, but was unable to do so. I'm quite certain that little Kay died. But I'm more than certain that her last days and weeks were made more bearable because of those weekly visits from someone who first began to pray. I can't even begin to imagine what would happen to our congregation. I can't even begin to imagine what would happen to you and me as a fellowship if that quality of praying characterized our ...

4. Transitions

2 Kings 2:1-12

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... prophet passes on, another is immediately raised. Transitions may be difficult, but the work of God will go on. That has always been the case in the church. One leader goes, another is raised up. The transition may be difficult, but it is bearable. Change, as we all know, is inevitable. As one commentator notes, Literature has always helped the human race rehearse change and come to terms with it, perhaps even find value in it ... Biblical literature goes even further, insisting that change is meaningful ...

5. Lord of the Harvest

Matthew 9:35-38, Luke 10:1-24

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... feet as a warning to you. Yet be sure of this: The kingdom of God has come near.’ I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town. “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles that were performed in you had ... been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. But it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment than for you. And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted to the heavens? No, you will ...

6. Living By The Calendar Instead Of The Clock (New Year's)

Luke 2:41-52

Sermon

Richard A. Wing

... it to the paper. Here comes the new year, full of ordinary time. We will enter it ready to slug it out for the common good while no one is looking. In the middle of ordinary time, God comes with extraordinary moments that make all others bearable, believable, and worthwhile. I have always thought that while our nation works out negotiations with other countries, like with North Korea, we only see the leaders in the news. But, if the whole story were revealed, we would see nameless people on both sides of ...

7. The Tale Of Three Women

Ruth 1:1-22

Sermon

John A. Stroman

... they are bound together in the midst of a hostile world. This is a story of relationships, of family. To be in any family is to venture forth like Ruth and Naomi, without guarantees for the future, but, even in the worst of futures, it is more hopeful and bearable when we bear it with one another. God was about to work out a remarkable future for Ruth. She wasn't sure what it all meant, but she had the feeling that her life was to have significance and meaning, if she was faithful and loyal, although things ...

8. Expanding The Boundaries

Ruth 3:1-18

Sermon

John A. Stroman

... and your God will be my God." They leave together for Israel. William Willimon reminds us, "To be in any family is to venture forth like Naomi and Ruth, without guarantees for the future, with only the confidence that the future, even the worst of futures, is bearable when we bear it with one another." The most remarkable part of this story is yet to be told. Ruth finally gets to Israel, thanks to Naomi. Ruth, by a strange set of circumstances, meets a man named Boaz. Ruth marries Boaz and they have a son ...

9. You Can Be In Heaven Or Hell

Psalm 139:1-24

Sermon

Michael B. Brown

... teaches is that in every experience we do not journey alone. God is near, enhancing our joys or comforting our sorrows. God is near, walking life's pathways beside us. God is near, and because of that the good times are better and the bad times become bearable. Ultimately if our Hebrew foreparents were correct, we learn that wherever God is, there is a place of peace called "Paradise." That is the Good News for all who have ears to hear. Wherever we are, God is. And wherever God is, there we can find peace ...

10. Joseph's Pit

Genesis 37:1-11

Sermon

Jerry Eckert

... of breads, how long, and under what conditions. That worked for the first few years, but even that got boring. Perhaps the routine finally held me in place. I guess the friendship with the other guys at work, their joking around, their being bored, too, made things bearable. I take too long to get to my story. Just a quick word about how I rejoined Joseph. When my boss was executed by the Pharoah, our kitchen group was all very anxious. There was a series of people who tried to be head baker. After two ...

11. Taking Life Seriously

Luke 16:19-31

Sermon

W. Robert McClelland

... that life is serious business because we have only one life to live; one chance to land. As the selfish rich man woefully found out, there are no second chances. We only have a few years to make this planet a better place; or the life of the neighbor more bearable. We have three score and 10 years, the Psalmist says, or even if by reason of strength (and the luck of the draw) we have four score, yet we are soon gone. We fly away like a sigh. The lesson to be learned is that we need not be actively ...

12. The First Christmas Message

Luke 2:1-7

Sermon

James Garrett

... sleep of death, And dreamed there was no grave. -- Author unknown Not only “that night” but every night since his birth people of faith have been able to dream and live with new hope. It’s what makes the good times great and the bad times bearable. Fred Craddock tells about a trip to his home state of Tennessee. He was in a restaurant in the Smoky Mountains. It was one of those informal places where the proprietor is the waiter, the cashier, and the greeter. He moved from table to table, visiting with ...

13. Find Your Way Home

Hosea 4:1-19

Sermon

Keith Hammer

... I want most is your deep and faithful repentance, not your lovely liturgical ‘burnt offerings.’ ” The next Sunday Terry sat beside Sherri in the second pew. It felt so good to Terry to have a sister who cared enough to help make this morning bearable. “I hope you can find here the peace I’ve found,” Sherri whispered, “God really does want you back. Welcome home!” In another place in the Old Testament, God says through the prophet Jeremiah, “I will make a new covenant with my people… and ...

14. Working and Praying Go Together

Matthew 14:13-21

Sermon

... . One of the significant impressions the book left with me was that a sizeable number of folks find their daily work to be a negative experience. It wasn't the "work" of work that made jobs a drag for most people, though. Physical labor was accepted and bearable. Mental effort, too, was something most could stand, if that's the kind of work their jobs called for. Even a busy-busy schedule could easily be endured by most of the people. It was rather an over-all viewpoint, a personal outlook toward the whole ...

15. Is God With You, Or Not?

Exodus 17:1-7

Sermon

... , and speaking kindly to me as though I were a child, "Don't you understand? Your mother is not there because she deserves to be, but because we care for all those other patients, too. She does them so much good. Her spirit, her hopefulness, her kindness makes it bearable for all those around her. We wish we had someone like her for every ward in this hospital!" Did my mother's difficulty mean God had left her? Of course not! And if I could ask her today, "Mother, did you mind? Did God desert you in your ...

16. Battle Cries

2 Samuel 1:17-27

Sermon

Michael Mills

... in the grief process. He talks about the dead loved ones and weeps openly. He accepts sympathy from others in the camp who knew Saul and Jonathan and the others who were slain. The pain of loss does not go away, but with time’s passing it does become more bearable. God uses time to heal us. Grief is a season when we need to turn to the Bible, and be refreshed by the living words of the Word. Someone bowed down by death once wrote, I ... looked at a page of Psalms til the wintry sea of trouble was soothed ...

17. Stephen’s Stones

Acts 7:54--8:1a

Sermon

Richard F. Bansemer

... promised to work in the secret small places of our lives. His providence is at work through the words and actions of his people, and that means that we are his agents. His agents of forgiveness, of reconciliation. We, as Christians, forgive, not because the pain was bearable, nor the sin small. We don’t even forgive because God tells us to, or we feel we ought to. We forgive because we desire wholeness more than vengeance. We desire our own guilt to be cleansed. We trust in the providence of God to work ...

18. "Preference by L’oreal"

Lk 17:11-19 · Mt 6:25-33 · Jn 6:25-35

Sermon

Peter Rudowski

... senses, the things we can touch, the things that we can taste, the things that we can feel, the things that we can hear. I think of the houses that we have and the heat that provides us with comfort in the winter and the cooling systems that make them bearable in the summer. I think of the houses filled with the smell of turkey this morning, pumpkin and mince pie, and the anticipation of the friends who are coming to share the joy of the day - that family that’s going to be here. Truly we are rich and ...

19. A Tale of Two Cemeteries

Matthew 5:1-12

Sermon

George Bass

... tall and 127 pounds wringing wet." The garbage man was to be his teacher; he was "large of heart, but small of brain" - a fourth grade drop-out who could barely read or write. He lived out a fantasy - to make his life as a garbage man bearable; as he drove the garbage truck along the prescribed route, he would pretend that he was piloting an airplane. He carried on a conversation with an imaginary "tower" and initiated Pat into the mysteries of navigating a plane. This was his way of escaping from reality ...

20. House-Building Time

2 Samuel 7:1-17

Sermon

Richard L. Eslinger

... much support in the present. The first citizen of David’s city lived in an Imperial palace, filled with social and political goings-on. It was like the American embassy in a poverty-stricken African state - not the best of assignments, but the parties made it more bearable. This promise, though, was still in effect. At the very time when it was coming to pass, all of the signs of the times said that it was null and void. But it had never been retracted by Israel’s God. Persisting through all of the ill ...

21. The Church Should Go to Hell!

Luke 4:1-13

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... Get involved in the political arena. Use government to accomplish your holy ends. If you have to make a compromise here or there, if there are occasional evils that you should ignore so as to not compromise your access to power, your ability to make hell a bit more bearable for everyone, well...that is not such a great price to pay, is it? The third temptation: "The devil led [Jesus] to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. 'If you are the Son of God, [and the Greek in all of these ...

22. When You Are Anxious About Many Things

Luke 10:38-42

Sermon

King Duncan

... they couldn't be sure, they felt probably he had died there. "My father was a devout Christian," the guide said. "We were told that often he came here to place his hand over the face of Jesus." (6) These soldiers knew where to turn to make their lives bearable. So did Mary. She positioned herself so that she could look into the face of Jesus. Wise people of every age have learned that same lesson. You and I are anxious about many things. We need to get our priorities in order. We, too, need to begin by ...

23. Set Free

Ephesians 1:1-14

Sermon

King Duncan

... tell. Things had gone from bad to worse and then to unbearable, the stranger said of his life. At first it was a single drink to be sociable, then it was two, then several. Before long, there was a bottle in the desk drawer to make the long afternoons more bearable. "You wouldn’t believe how much booze I could put down in a single day," he told his seatmate. "I would start with a juice glass full in the morning." Then he began to tell of his business going nowhere. He spent a lot of time trying to make ...

24. The Forgiven

Hebrews 10:1-18

Sermon

King Duncan

... people who worked hard and left the raising of their sons to various maids. Neither parent spent much time with the boys, and neither parent took the effort to encourage the boys or show them affection. But family life was still bearable, until Robert's father, Thomas, began drinking. Thomas' behavior embarrassed the family, and Thomas and Robert's mother, Billie, began arguing constantly. Christmas became the worst time of year for the Lewis family. Thomas would become drunk, Billie would become angry ...

25. A Great Love Story Gone Awry

Genesis 24:1-67

Sermon

King Duncan

... mother’s death.” Here is the cycle of life lived out. A man and woman go out from their homes and pledge themselves to one another. They still love their parents, but they make a new life for themselves. This is one of the things that will make it bearable for them when they lose a parent to death. Now they have one another. I would like to say Isaac and Rebekah lived happily ever after, but that would not be true. A little girl had just been told the story of “Snow White” for the first time in her ...

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