Sermon and Worship Resources

Synonyms: gospel, falsehoods, sinfulness, justification by faith, righteousness of God, righteousness, dead to sin, no condemnation, all things work together, living sacrifice, renew your mind

Showing 1 to 25 of 89 results

1. The Lamb's Book Of Life

Sermon

Phyllis Faaborg Wolk

... describes is only a place of our dreams, or if, in fact, we will be allowed to experience it? No one who practices abomination or falsehood will live in the kingdom of heaven. As Christians, we know that we do not live up to God's will for who we can ... the evil I do not want is what I do." No matter how hard we try, we cannot live sinless lives. We cannot escape from falsehood. Because this is true, does that mean that this beautiful picture of heaven is something we are able only to imagine, and never to ...

2. Called To Pull Down; Called To Rebuild

Jeremiah 1:1-19

Sermon

Robert A. Hausman

... God and country; in our moralism we confuse class and economic status with righteousness; in our faith we confuse feel-good religion with the coming of the kingdom of God; in our materialism we confuse conspicuous consumption with the good life. Against this monstrous falsehood the word of God moves relentlessly, tearing down and plucking up. We can continue to live in denial, believing that we are basically good, that we are in control, that our sickness is not unto death. Or we can come into the light of ...

3. Liberating Truth

John 8:31-41

Sermon

William G. Carter

... 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 ... Jesus, so that we might be justified by faith in Christ" (Galatians 2:16). That was it! That was the way out of every illusion, falsehood, and sin: through faith in the Christ who sets us free. You see, it's one thing to go looking for the truth. Sometimes we ...

4. What Do You Mean, "Repent"?

Mark 1:1-8

Sermon

Thomas Long

... hairdo, animal skins draped over his out-sized frame, popping honey-dipped locusts as his rough baritone howls like the desert wind to the gathering crowds, "Repent!" A God and a History, a Community ... but what a haircut! There is a truth, and there is a falsehood, in this portrait of John. The truth in the image is that John is intended to jar the readers of Mark, to shock our sensibilities. His presence sounds a willful note of discord in the initial harmonies of the gospel narrative. John is as out of ...

5. We Are Driven!

Jeremiah 20:7-18

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

... for. Faith that God is truly with us drives us to witness and work for Christ with utter boldness in confronting the evil and falsehood of our day. The Fire of Love There is no way we can keep love from expressing itself. Love cannot long be hidden, quieted, ... be put on the Mafia’s hit list or lose your job or have a cross burned on your front lawn. Why then oppose evil and falsehood? The love of God burning in our bones drives us to do it! The Fire of Praise No Christian can help but shout and sing praises ...

6. What Are Christian Liberals? - 1951

John 16:5-16

Sermon

Kent Moorehead

... in the extreme, for who is the self-appointed authority who can tell us just what the truth is, and who is he who can say excathedra what is error. No human being has that much intelligence, for there are phases of falsehood in every truth that we utter. And there are phases of truth in every falsehood that is propounded. What we insist upon is an open field and an open mind so that anyone can say whatever he pleases, and let the truth defend itself. If we don’t have that faith, we don’t have any real ...

7. What Is Your Response to the Resurrection?

Mark 16:1-20

Sermon

Eric Ritz

... for the Kingdom of God as a bystander. You must get involved and become a witness empowered by the good news of the resurrection. Another reason they were silent and afraid was this: if Jesus Christ was raised from the dead, truth had triumphed over falsehood. This would turn their despairing world topsy-turvy. It is a scary thing to see the truth. It demands a response. Dr. Robert Schuller, of the Crystal Cathedral, tells of a witness he felt compelled to make. In 1968, he felt called by God to make ...

8. FEAR NOT! You've Got To Be Kidding!

Luke 1:26-37

Sermon

John E. Harnish

... United Methodist Hymnal for a variety of reasons, but those of us "of a certain age" remember it as one of those hymns which stirred our spirits. The full text reads: Once to every man and nation, comes the moment to decide, In the strife of truth with falsehood, for the good or evil side; Some great cause, God's new Messiah, offering each the bloom or blight, And the choice goes by forever, twixt that darkness and that light. Then to side with truth is noble, when we share her wretched crust, Ere her cause ...

9. Close the Loopholes

Ephesians 4:25-5:2

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... ." (Plato) Recently converted Gentiles, it would seem, needed to be told that truth-telling was a pledge and badge of discipleship. After 21 centuries of Christian teaching, you'd think we'd have just about gotten the idea by now. But the counsel to "put away falsehood" is as timely today as it was then. In fact, in many walks of life, lying is part of the way things work. An early 1997 study of teenagers revealed that 75 percent admitted to cheating at school. Lying is such a widespread social disease that ...

10. Aroma of Christ Church

Ephesians 4:17--5:21

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... that enables individuals to stand against the prevailing culture. Just as he had already reminded his readers that they have “put off” or “put away” their “former way of life” (4:22), the author now urges them to put away (“apothesthai”) falsehood. Falsehood and deceitfulness are to be replaced by a positive action — “speaking the truth.” This directive seems to echo Zechariah 8:16-19, where the prophet describes the promises of the new Jerusalem, which is known as the “City of Truth ...

11. Secret Savior

Matthew 6:5-15, Matthew 6:16-18

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... of Your Kingdom and talk of Your power; To make known to the sons of men Your mighty acts and the glory of the majesty of Your kingdom. Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and Your dominion endures throughout all generations.… (Psalm 145:11-13) Keep falsehood and lies far from me; give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. (Proverbs 30:8) “Look down from heaven, your holy dwelling place, and bless your people Israel and the land you have given us as you promised on oath to ...

12. Sometimes, You Gotta Get Your Feet Wet First

Joshua 3:1-4:24

Sermon

Robert S. Crilley

... more to it than that. Like it or not, taking the first step is never easy. There are always risks involved whenever one ventures out into uncharted waters. C.S. Lewis says as much when he writes: You never know how much you really believe anything until its truth or falsehood becomes a matter of life and death to you. It is easy to say you believe a rope to be strong and sound as long as you are merely using it to cord a box. But suppose you had to hang by that rope over a precipice. Wouldn't you ...

13. Grapes Of Wrath Or Grace?

1 Kings 21:1-29

Sermon

Barbara Brokhoff

... bondage, and the damage to body and brain is an intolerable price to pay. Or consider the telling of a lie. It seems so simple, so much more convenient, and often easier than the truth. But once told, the habit becomes a never-ending chain of falsehoods, each larger than the last, and finally there is the terrible knowledge that no one believes you even when you do tell the truth. Or what of the one who for one short moment of sexual gratification promiscuously indulges in illicit sex and then pays the ...

14. Can We Love Too Much?

Deuteronomy 6:1-25

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

... souls love him, we want to be with him in his house, the church. We want to thank and praise him for his unending goodness to us. We want, out of love, to hear his Word in sermon and sacrament that we might know the truth to be free from falsehood. We say with the Psalmist, “I was glad when they said to me, ‘Let us go into the house of the Lord.’" Another way to love God with our souls is to hear the Word. The Word is proclaimed in preaching and teaching. It may be a personal Word in ...

15. Charlie Used To Do That

John 6:25-59

Sermon

Robert Salzgeber

... . This bread, Jesus was saying, would have the preservative of the Father's kingdom. What is this bread of life like then? Since in Aramaic one of the meanings of Satan or evil is distortion, the bread of life would be able to discern truth as opposed to falsehood. Thus, the preservative of the kingdom would be to preserve the people from illusion. The bread of life then, would be to not let the people become separated from the reality and love of God. The bread of life would be to know that the bread of un ...

16. Second Sunday In Advent

Sermon

David M. Oliver

... and thanksgiving became ugly and controversial. Those who saw themselves as defenders and preservers of the faith became resisters of God and deniers of Jesus the Messiah, God's Son. So certain were they of their own ability to discern truth from falsehood, good from evil, they stopped trusting in God and, instead, trusted in their own understanding and righteousness. They refused to accept the new understandings of the faith that God was trying to show them in the life and ministry of Jesus. Claiming ...

17. "The Loneliness Of Injustice"

Psalm 26:1-12, Mark 14:53-65

Sermon

R. Sheldon MacKenzie

... ; of the lies told about innocent people, of the ways in which people are manipulated and used against their will, of the inhumanity in our established institutions. We remember these things too were the experiences of Jesus. We remember his silence in the face of falsehoods about his teaching. We remember his courage in the challenge to his identity. We remember his loneliness in his rejection by those he came to save. Help us, Good Lord, so to confess Jesus as the Lord of all life that by our words and ...

18. A Faith That Burns

Luke 12:49-53

Sermon

W. Robert McClelland

... of Christ-like love and there is no reason to doubt the authenticity of the teaching. To love people as Jesus did is to stand for something. To stand for justice is to stand against injustice. To stand for truth is to oppose hypocrisy and falsehood. G. K. Chesterton observed that tolerance is the easy virtue of people who do not believe anything. Some unknown bard has put the observation poetically. Popularity was his middle name. Its prod was pride, its price was pain. He never learned the word called, "no ...

19. The Highway to Peace

Luke 2:1-7

Sermon

Thomas Slavens

... : “You shall love your neighbors as yourself.” (Mark 12:31) Love is stronger than hate. But in the final analysis this is a matter of faith. Those who believe in God believe that good is stronger than evil, that truth is stronger than falsehood, that love is stronger than hate. History witnesses to the truth of this faith. In A.D. 410 it seemed that Christian civilization neared its end. The Huns, a violent people from northeastern Europe, invaded, sacked and spoiled Rome. Churches were destroyed and ...

20. The Temptations Of Christ And Our Temptations

Matthew 4:1-11

Sermon

Mark Ellingsen

... 6:16: "You shall not tempt the Lord your God." This brings us to the third temptation that Jesus endured. It is also not unrelated to the first temptation, except this time it is on a larger, more tempting note. Jesus is tempted by the messenger of falsehood to do what everybody in Israel expected the Messiah to do - to be a political leader who would conquer the kingdoms that oppressed the Jews. Does not the world also tempt us with the promise of power? Do we not yearn to achieve - to be famous, to ...

21. At The Name Of Jesus

John 12:12-19

Sermon

Theodore F. Schneider

... enemies would be prayed for, not hated, where persecutors would feel the pressure of the Golden Rule, where sharing would be more prevalent than shoving, where hate would give way to love, where caring would overcome indifference, and where truth would be stronger than falsehood.3 We have a king. He has a kingdom, and that kingdom is already in our midst. He is the king over all history and over all creation. He is our Lord. Paul, most probably quoting an early Christian incarnational hymn, has written ...

22. Charlie Used To Do That

John 6:25-59

Sermon

Robert Salzgeber

23. A Great Light (Sermon for Candlelight Service)

Matthew 4:12-17

Sermon

Brett Blair

... is to let people know that there is hope. That life is worth living no matter what. We should not be discouraged to the point of despair. In Jesus Christ we shall cling to the hope the life overcomes death, that love conquers hate, and that truth will prevail over falsehood. We are the people of light and we must share that light in a dark and a dreary land. Why do you think that God chose to use a star to guide the Wisemen to Bethlehem? I am convinced that it was not by accident. It was an eternal reminder ...

24. On Having "The Right Stuff"

Luke 14:25-35

Sermon

Wallace H. Kirby

... . That would be to miss the richness of its meaning. The resurrection is not just about Jesus’ triumph over his cross. It is a statement about the way life really is, all of the time: good overcomes evil, freedom prevails over tyranny, truth conquers falsehood, and life proves stronger than death. We live in a universe where resurrection is the final word. If that’s true, and if we really trust in this possibility, then we find the courage to exhibit the sacrificial and daring "right stuff" that Christ ...

25. Fixing The Fox!

Luke 13:31-35

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

... of the church because he knows her work is the work of God serving the world. The Christian will continue to respect, love, and serve the church, no matter what the world thinks of the church. So, here is the conflict: Christ versus antichrist, truth versus falsehood, Bible versus tradition of man. Here is the battle between a Christian and his enemy, his Herod. Who will win out? Because the Christian is on God's side, will he win? It would be great to say at the end, "They lived happily ever after." But ...

Showing results