Sermon and Worship Resources

Synonyms: complain, moan, groan, whine, mutter, grouse, bleat, carp, cavil, protest, rumble, gurgle, murmur, growl, roar, complaint, muttering, grievance, objection, protestation, quibble, criticism, charge, accusation

Showing 1 to 25 of 346 results

1. Mary's Complaint

Luke 1:26-38, Luke 1:39-45, Luke 1:46-56

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... cell. The martyrs to the faith thought of themselves as "favored." One named Polycarp would say as he was about to be burned alive, "Father, I bless you for counting me worthy of this day and hour." A list like that could go on and on...everyone with grounds for complaint but none willing to do so. "Favored." How many of us would count ourselves as "favored?" Not us. We are not in the class of a Mary or a Paul or a Polycarp. We do not think of ourselves as heroes of the faith. And it is just as well ...

2. Mary's Complaint

Luke 1:26-38

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... much use of complainers. No, we do not have as much to complain about as Mary. We do not even have as much to complain about as those folks whose stories we see on the evening news... but we do it anyway. Shame on us. If anyone had cause for complaint it was Mary. Listen and learn from her: “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for the Mighty One has done ...

3. How's the Old Complaint?

Deuteronomy 26:1-11

Sermon

Mark Trotter

... knows what it was, but there was speculation. Except it had to be a physical ailment, it was chronic, and it knocked him out for a season. We know that from time to time he had to stop what he was doing to recuperate. So how's the old complaint? He mentions it only once, and that is when he is telling the Corinthians that he has the credentials to be an apostle. You see, that is another thing that he has a right to complain about. His friends back in Jerusalem, the Judaizers, organized to follow him around ...

4. Complaint from the Kitchen

Luke 10:38-42

Sermon

Carveth Mitchell

A mother once told me that she wanted her daughter to be a complete Christian, so she named her Martha Mary. I have often wordered why she put the Martha first. As we read the Gospel for today I sense an underlying sympathy for Martha in some of the housewives of the congregation. It just doesn’t seem right, somehow, for one sister to be in the kitchen doing all the work of getting the meal while the other just sits and talks with the guest. This sympathy is not limited to the housewives here today. I have ...

5. Anybody NOT seeing red?

1 John 1:5--2:14

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... the YouTube video, or with a challenge like this one: What if we were to covenant with each other this morning that we would commit to going 24 hours without uttering a complaint of any kind. Try it. Just go 24 hours without uttering or muttering a complaint. A no complaints day. By no complaints I mean no email complaints, no twitter complaining, no phone irritation or personal griping. Just 24 hours. And for those same 24 hours, we would commit ourselves to bringing some joy, some smile, some happiness to ...

6. A Clear and Present Danger

Nehemiah 5:1-19

Sermon

James Merritt

... , that you are going to see the only time he stops the work on the wall. In doing so, he teaches us how to handle the clear and present danger of internal conflict whether it is in your marriage, your business, or a church. I. Sensitively React To Complaints And there was a great outcry of the people and their wives against their Jewish brethren. For there were those who said, "We, our sons, and our daughters are many; therefore let us get grain, that we may eat and live." There were also some who said, "We ...

7. Making Our Feelings Known

Job 23:1--24:25

Sermon

John A. Stroman

... my mouth;I will speak in the anguish of my spirit;I will complain in the bitterness of my soul. (7:11)I loathe my life; I will give free utterance to my complaint. (10:1) Here Job is correlating his own bitter defiance with the unrelenting pressure of God's hand upon his life. Job insists on seeking a resolution for his complaint not through the traditional religious practices of prayer and lament (as in the Psalms), but through a legal hearing, because he feels that he has a case against God. But Job is ...

8. Life's Not Always Fair, But God Will Straighten It Out

Habakkuk 2:2-20, Habakkuk 1:12--2:1, Habakkuk 1:1-4

Sermon

Mark Ellingsen

... broke those promises. Life is not fair, is it? This Sunday’s First Lesson portrays the sort of despair that comes when life’s promises are broken. Biblical scholars are not sure about the historical circumstances of when our text was written. It is a complaint psalm very typical of a lot of ancient Hebraic literature.1 Singing a song that reflected his despair about the injustices of life, the author of Habakkuk writes words that are timeless. The lyrics to his song capture the feelings you and I are ...

9. Look Inside and Discover Life

Numbers 21:4-9

Sermon

Richard Gribble

... Egypt, protests over the lack of food and water along the journey, and their disgust with manna. Rarely did the people complain against God. In today's lesson, however, the people complain to Moses and to God. This passage is the last and most severe of the complaint stories that are recorded in the book of Numbers. Again the people are disgusted with the food and want more water, but their protests are of a higher order since now they complain to God as well as Moses. The people seem oblivious to all God ...

10. 1 Kings 19:9-14

1 Kings 19:1-18

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... the traditional "the word of the Lord came to him" suggests that it might be a later addition. "The word of the Lord came to him" may have originally referred to God's voice in v.13. Whichever is the original or the later glossed addition, Elijah's complaint to the Lord is identical in v.10 and v.14. This is Elijah's evidence indicting Israel for its despicable behavior. Note that, while in the Carmel stories it was only the king and his household that participated in illicit treachery, now it is the whole ...

11. When God Seems Far Off

Psalm 10:1-18

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... and surely, and God has not done so. In great detail he gives evidence of their crimes and pleads for justice: In arrogance the wicked hotly pursue the poor; let them be caught in the schemes which they have devised” ( v. 2). “The core of the psalmist’s complaint was that around him were committing all kinds of mayhem and they were getting away with it. God not only seemed far off to the man of faith but also to the cynics and skeptics of the community. In fact, they went so far as to pay no attention ...

12. How To Handle Criticism? Keep Moving

Luke 9:51-56

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... for political power and influence, it is the constant lobbing of critical grenades that keep our own back yards blasted and barren of hope. The website complaints.com boasts on its home page: “Often a single complaint posted to Complaints.com about a business appears higher in the search-result rankings than the home page of the business that is the subject of the complaint.” If you look at the tv programs we’re watching, and the magazines we’re reading, it seems we all want our first course to be ...

13. The Proof Is in the Pudding

Exodus 17:1-7

Sermon

David J. Kalas

... same — dry, desolate desert — as far as the eye could see in every direction. Moses and the people snipe at one another. "We want water," they cry. "Why are you bugging me about it," he shoots back, suggesting that their real complaint is with God. But the people do not take their complaint to God. Instead, they fuss at Moses still more: "Why did you bring us and our children and our livestock here just to die of thirst?" This must have been a galling business for Moses. You remember that, back at the ...

14. A Cure for Complainers

Exodus 16:1-36

Sermon

King Duncan

... inscribed on his wife’s tombstone these words: “Here lies my wife in earthy mould, who when she lived did naught but scold; good friends go softly in your walking . . . Lest she should wake and rise up talking.” Of course, women have no corner on the complaint market. I dare say that a survey would show at least as many grouchy, grumbling men as women. Many of you would say a lot more! Moses had to put up with a whole nation of complainers. The Bible says the people were “murmuring.” Have you ever ...

15. The Terrible Burden Of Judging Others

Romans 14:1--15:13

Sermon

King Duncan

... about you." "What are they?" the pastor asked. "First," said the man, "when I was chairman of the properties committee, you tried to tell me how to do the job. You should just let the church leaders do their job the way they want." "What is the second complaint?" asked pastor Clot. "Well," said the man, "I don't like the hymns that the song leader picks out. I wish you would tell him to pick more of the old ones." Obviously the man was not aware of the mixed message. He wanted the pastor to refrain ...

16. A Ministry of Encouragement

1 Thessalonians 2:1-16

Sermon

King Duncan

... advances in the science of aromatherapy? Aromatherapy has to do, obviously, with smells. Here’s what is fascinating. There is a department store in Japan that pumps an unpleasant scent all around its complaint department. The department store hopes to cut down on customer complaints by making their complaint department as unpleasant as possible. (3) I believe they’re on to something. We’ve got enough complainers. Actually criticism gives off its own unpleasant aroma. It fouls the air in homes, in ...

17. Where Meek Souls Will Recieve Him Still

John 3:22-36

Sermon

Darrick Acre

... Jesus speaks salvation, but at what cost to his religious territory? One portrays self-abandon. The other demonstrates self-protection. One finds salvation. The other will soon find himself holding the dead body of Jesus. One celebrates with joy. The other speaks complaints. Then at the heart of it all, John the Baptist is saying, “He must become greater; I must become less.” Could the key be humility? Can we recognize Jesus without a proper understanding of our place, without humility? We may know of ...

18. A More Perfect Union

Habakkuk 2:1-5

Sermon

Mark Trotter

... prophets used for themselves, as watchmen on the wall. He says, "I will take my stand to watch, and station myself on the tower, and look forth to see what he will say to me, and what I will answer concerning my complaint." The prophet's complaint is the usual prophetic complaint, that the people don't live up to the vision. They don't behave the way they are supposed to behave. That vision was manifested in the Covenant, and the standard for the people in the Covenant was called "righteousness," and the ...

19. A Purse and Two Swords

Luke 22:35-38

Sermon

... which I close. Eavesdrop with me on a great gathering in heaven, where all the people who ever lived have assembled before the throne in order to be judged for their lives on earth. However, they were far from a submissive crowd. They had complaints to make. It was a lot like a clergy meeting at Annual Conference, or sessions of some Administrative Boards I have known. One group of complainers consisted of Jews who had suffered great persecution. Many had died in gas chambers and concentration camps. How ...

20. Beware: Hypocrites on Premises

Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21

Sermon

David T. Ball

... the inner journey within ourselves, which we can only reach by disciplined reflection. This is a time for a fuller appreciation of the inner, of our intentions, of what it is that motivates us to follow Jesus Christ on the Christian journey. The common complaint about hypocrites in the church directs our attention to the challenge of making our Christian journey a part of our daily way of being. This challenge is an especially appropriate one for us to work on during Lent, when we seek to make changes ...

21. Jesus' Good News of a New World · Part 3

Matthew 5:1-12

Sermon

Mike Ripski

... served. But such a deep and thorough peacemaking requires truth and justice and mercy and generosity and self-sacrifice. Jesus, as Paul puts it in Colossians 3:19-20, “made peace through the blood of his cross.” During my almost 34 years as a pastor, I’ve heard endless complaints about worship. People don’t like the way I preach, or the hymns picked to sing, or the music the choir does, or how the organ is too loud or those who speak aren’t loud enough, or the space is too hot or too cold, or the ...

22. Minding the Store of Our Lives

1 Corinthians 10:1-13

Sermon

Richard Gribble

... a history of Christianity that demonstrates a secure path, and most especially we have the scriptures. Thus, it is all up to us. Raising our voice to complain seems to be, as they say, "par for the course" these days. Sometimes our complaints are completely legitimate. We may have been wronged; some injustice could have been perpetrated against us. Possibly our opinions or ideas on some issue were summarily dismissed without a hearing. Too often and too loudly, however, we complain for no justifiable reason ...

23. Diving Deeper

Luke 5:1-11

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... was too loud. He’d go up to visitors and say “Don’t you agree the music is too loud?” John said when I got a call from OSHA one day talking about the sound decibels at airports and music concerts and that they had to investigate a complaint from the church, I knew that it had to be Ralph. The problem was that nobody at the church believed Ralph could change, so he didn’t change. Someone should have called him into a deeper life of discipleship so that his mind could have been on higher things ...

24. Ollie, Ollie, All In Free!

John 8:31-36

Sermon

Steven Molin

... and we were afraid, so we hid from you." And that is the human condition, you see; we know we have messed up, we know we have sinned, and so we hide. On Reformation Day, pastors like me love to recount the story of Martin Luther boldly nailing his 95 complaints to the door of the church at Wittenburg, Germany. I think it gives us a perverse sense of pride when we suggest that Lutherans get it and Catholics don't. I have made that error and I have hurt some feelings along the way, so I'm not going to ...

25. A Resume of Righteousness

Genesis 15:1-18

Sermon

David J. Kalas

... land. Not even an acre of it, really. And so he wants to know: "How am I to know that I shall possess it?" He's looking for a little proof, a guarantee, a sign. That concludes the words of Abraham in this watershed moment. Two questions and a complaint. That's it. We think of far more heroic and exemplary words by other characters at other times. We think of Joseph's integrity when he was seduced by Potiphar's wife. We think of Joshua and Caleb among the whining spies. We think of David before Goliath or ...

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