Sermon and Worship Resources

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1 Timothy 4:1-16

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... of us is gifted gifted for ministry and service. In the Christian view of reality we are never fulfilled, complete meaning is not ours until we use the gifts God gives us to serve Him and human kind. III. A third condition for growth is what I call "exposure and openness". Growth is not a private matter. We grow by exposing ourselves to persons and ideas. There is a simple way to test your level of maturity, also your readiness to grow. How do you feel in the presence of some one whose ideas are radically ...

2. Driven To Serve

Mark 9:33-37

Sermon

King Duncan

... spread into the bloodstream and vital organs. Mark was given two years to live. Unlike some who withdraw from life when faced with such a grim prognosis. Mark vowed that he would devote his limited time to educating others about the dangers of sun exposure. Pacing up and down beaches at midafternoon, Mark shared his story with beach dwellers. He talked to fathers and mothers about the need to check moles on themselves and their children, to lily-white Australian teens about the hazards of tanning and the ...

3. Let Me Tell You about the Birds and the Bees

Proverbs 5:15-23

Sermon

James Merritt

... steps to sexual catastrophe. You're going to find here a young man who was susceptible, an immoral woman who was available, and illicit sex that was desirable. When you have that combination remember that bad things are not only possible, but probable. a. Foolish Exposure "For at the window of my house I looked through my lattice, and saw among the simple, I perceive among the youths, a young man devoid of understanding, passing along the street near her corner; and he took the path to her house." (Prov. 7 ...

4. Counting the Cost of Discipleship

Luke 14:25-33

Sermon

Ron Lavin

... 14:34-35). In other words, it isn't enough to come to faith. The call to discipleship is a call to be faithful as well. William Arndt says, Salt can actually lose its character of saltness. In Palestine one can see lumps of it, which through exposure to the air ... have lost the character and virtue (of salt). Salt which has lost its saltness is fit for nothing, not even for the lowliest service imaginable. Food that has deteriorated can at least be used as fertilizer, but not savorless salt. The use of ...

5. No Instant Maturity

Matthew 7:15-23

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... , “You must become as a little child.” What is one of the primary characteristics of little children? They are open, flexible. They can grow and change. If we are going to grow, we need perspective. We can’t have perspective without exposure. And exposure means nothing unless we are open. CONCLUSION The last thing I want to say, and it really ties everything else together, is this: COMMITMENT IS THE CATALYST FOR MATURITY. Two thousand years ago, two impetuous men linked themselves to a wandering Jew ...

6. Radiate Love

Hebrews 13:1-8, 15-16

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... to large doses of radiation. That radiation is what changed them. So beware of your microwave. We laugh at the movies but we do know that there is some danger in radiation exposure. But it has also been harnessed for good, such as the radiation treatments which help cancer patients, or the radiation used in taking X-rays. As Christians, we're not called to expose ourselves to Atomic radiation, but we are called to Radiate Love. In a sense, others should be ...

7. Heavenly Wisdom

James 3:13—4:8

Sermon

Thomas Lentz

... wisdom that comes down from heaven, or the message that is earthly, unspiritual, and of the devil? You and I become what we focus our minds on, what we expose ourselves to. Hours of listening to inspirational messages will engender a pure, peace-loving, considerate personality. Hours of exposure to trash-talking lyrics, or degrading images on television will diminish your soul and arouse hostility or selfish ambition. Violent entertainment not only leads to violent acts, but encourages depression. Repeated ...

8. Be A Good Virus

Romans 8:1-17

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... when they emerged from the womb, or in the first days of life. But then came hygiene, which soaped away the immunizing viruses and placed newborns in totally antiseptic environments. Soon children were being born without any acquired immunity that came from early exposure to the virus. Suddenly mass outbreaks of polio were popping up in the most surprising places. Not in the slums but in the suburbs, not in the dirtiest places in town but in the cleanest and most hygienic homes which were defenseless during ...

9. Friendship? Yes, Please!

2 Samuel 11:1-27

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

... Next, Solomon says that friendship not only brings synergy and encouragement, it brings comfort as well. "If two lie together, they are warm: but how can one be warm alone?" Perhaps Solomon is remembering his own father's death. King David evidently suffered from exposure. The Bible says he shivered and no amount of blankets could warm him. So they put another human being in the bed with him and he was warmed and comforted. In other words, more and more "things" could not comfort him. Only another person ...

10. Ready Or Not -- He Comes

Mark 13:32-37, Mark 13:1-31

Sermon

John A. Stroman

... really got excited about something? How long has it been since you got a lump in your throat or shivers up your spine? We seem to have become so dead to feeling, so void of wonder. Television, radio, sonic booms, traffic congestion, saturation advertising, and media exposure to world calamities have killed off our senses. We have become numb to feeling. We do not even realize that wonder has disappeared from our existence. We have lost touch with the world around us. We live in a day of "high tech" and "low ...

11. Why A Cross?

John 19:17-27

Sermon

Robert Beringer

... and staves to arrest him. All through his ministry, our Lord chose the path that led to the cross. His whole life had a beauty and purity that exposed the ugliness and the brokenness of life about him. It was because his enemies could not stand that exposure that they were driven to take his life. The artist, Holman Hunt, has captured this sense of the cross as the logical outcome of our Lord's whole life in a painting that is titled, The Shadow Of Death.1 The picture shows Jesus as the village carpenter ...

12. Moving At The Speed Of Light

Ephesians 3:1-13

Sermon

Frank Luchsinger

... from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brethren; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure upon me of my anxiety for all the churches. -- 2 Corinthians 11:24-28 I have heard stories of lost luggage, missed connections, poor accommodations, hazardous driving conditions, and questionable cuisine ...

13. Moving At The Speed Of Light: In Corinth Or Cana?

1 Corinthians 1:1-9

Sermon

Frank Luchsinger

... who travels or comes home late from the office or who is stressed at the end of the day. I want my spouse to be a civic leader and a pillar of the church. And I want my spouse to exercise regularly and I want my spouse to control "over-exposure to the sun" so that my spouse will always look young. Lately we have been learning that building a good marriage calls for the claiming of a shared marital vision -- what is our dream for our marriage; what do we want our lives together to be? If I take the ...

14. Uncovering Cover-Ups

John 15:18--16:4

Sermon

Maurice A. Fetty

... believed to have violated his oath. Under threat of impeachment, President Nixon resigned his office in 1973, turning over the presidency to Gerald Ford, Congressman from Grand Rapids, Michigan. The cover-up had been uncovered. Since that time, we have had no shortage of the exposure of cover-ups and as a result, the image of some of our dearest heroes has been tarnished. For example, my father and his generation were great admirers of J. Edgar Hoover, head of the F.B.I. But recent books and articles have ...

15. Would We Rather Be Comfortable Or Comforted?

Matthew 11:1-19

Sermon

Mark Radecke

... the identifying characteristic of life in late twentieth century suburban America: all of these things and dozens more are guaranteed to make us uncomfortable. Those who are determined to keep their comfort level high therefore avoid dealing with these things, or at least minimize their exposure to them. Let's be careful: Not all people of wealth are comfortable in this sense of the word, nor does one have to be wealthy to be comfortable in this way. What one needs to be in order to be comfortable in this ...

16. I Am The Good Shepherd

John 10:1-21

Sermon

Ronald Lavin

... we need new beginnings because we are "cast down." Sheep can be "cast down," turned over on their backs, unable to raise themselves up. They are pathetic and vulnerable when they are cast down. They need to be restored by a shepherd or they will die from exposure or from attack. People are like that too. We need renewed life. "He restores my life." He gives life to my life. Life of itself can be lived at a physical, animal level. Food, sex, shelter are all necessities for living. But they aren't enough! We ...

17. Liberating Truth

John 8:31-41

Sermon

William G. Carter

... a disclosure about ourselves. Jesus reveals the truth about who we are and who we are not. In Jesus, truth comes down to a world of falsehood, just as light breaks into a world of darkness. Either way you look at it, truth and light both mean exposure, and honesty, and stripping away every pretense. Sometimes people wise up, and somebody else will wish they hadn't. It can be very painful. A priest in the inner city wanted to help some neighborhood kids. He wanted them to see something more than their own ...

18. Teach Fear To Say Its Prayers

Mark 4:35-41

Sermon

Charles R. Leary

... to me that faith and fear have at least one thing in common: both are highly contagious. You and I are delicately impressionistic, vulnerable to the contagious influences around us. And our lives are formed, conditioned, shaped by the influences to which we have the most exposure. By our very natures, we pick up the vibes from the strongest people around us. If everybody else is afraid, then we are likely to be afraid, too. You have to be a strong person to keep faith if those around you are ruled by fear ...

19. The Set Face And The Turned Head

Luke 9:51-56, Luke 9:57-62

Sermon

Larry Powell

... from robbers, dangers from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brethren; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. And apart from other things, there is the daily pressure upon me of my anxiety for all the churches (2 Corinthians 11:24-28)." Compared to Paul, flypaper is a lesser example of tenacity. However, compared to Paul, our own commitment might be ...

20. Two Doors; One Choice

Luke 13:22-30

Sermon

W. Robert McClelland

... by many reversals, defeats and disappointments. Since what I was meant to be is different from what anyone else was meant to be, no formula, maxim, generalization, or dogma can distinguish for me between the real and the apparently real. Life is exposure to contradiction, error, guilt and regret. Its deepest lessons are taught the worst of all possible ways. Man is the only creature with potential, but this potential is found only in, through, and despite the bumbling, awkwardness of human development. (We ...

21. The Conversion of Saul

Acts 9:1-19a

Sermon

Barbara Brokhoff

... anything wrong with red shoes, I knew I could not afford others. There was a woman, supposedly of the Way, but that day was definitely in the way of my becoming a Christian. People are Christians in spite of us or because of us. On the other hand, however, exposure to the Word of God as it was preached, and taught, and lived, meant that the Holy Spirit came to me again and again with entreaty, with wooing urgency, to give my life to Christ. Along with the Spirit's gentle and powerful drawing me like a moth ...

22. Our Own Mountaintop Walk

Matthew 28:16-20

Sermon

Leonard H. Budd

... that the harsh limits of brutality, fear, hate and force are not the ultimate boundaries of human life. In Jesus' century, no death was more tortuous, brutal, demeaning than that of hanging naked upon a wooden cross and publicly dying of thirst and hunger and sheer exposure. It was cruel. To the Jew it was shameful. It was meant to break every possible quality of human will, and in the end to break the physical body as that last breath was expelled, or that last drop of blood issued. The possibility of ...

23. Is Anybody There? Does Anybody Care?

Isaiah 49:8-26

Sermon

Robert Beringer

... is so powerful that even sitting in the audience, you begin to feel the loneliness of Washington and his rag-tag army in the field, fighting for a cause in which no one seems to care. On goes the endless debate in Philadelphia while men are dying of exposure and disease. Finally, the character who portrays John Adams, sings a song. It is a song that arises from the depths of his own heart, but it speaks for those in any age who question the ways of God as it asks, "Is Anybody There? Does Anybody Care ...

24. One Flock, One Shepherd

John 10:1-21

Sermon

Jerry L. Schmalemberger

... had become ill, had strayed away from the farmhouse into a large field of weeds. The mother and father had searched and searched in the field, but could not find her. They knew if she remained there very long in her thin nightgown, she would die of exposure. They rang the dinner bell which signaled all the neighbors to come in for an emergency. Farmers from all around came to the farm and walked through the large acreage of weeds, criss-crossing back and forth trying to find the little girl. It was to no ...

25. Where the Scary Things Live

Matthew 4:12-17

Sermon

Johnny Dean

... is every bit as real as a sunrise? Hear the good news: "The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death, light has dawned." And like new, green plants which grow instinctively toward the sun, our exposure to the true light of Jesus calls us to grow toward him, to live in the warmth of his love, to learn who we are and how to use the gifts and talents God has given us to "catch people," to begin the transformation of our world by transforming ...

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