Sermon and Worship Resources

Synonyms: contest, tournament, match, game, round, heat, fixture, event, meet, encounter, rivalry, competitiveness, vying, contesting, opposition, contention, conflict, feuding, battling, fighting, struggling, strife, war, opposing side, other side, other team, field, enemy, foe

Showing 1 to 25 of 87 results

1. Finding Answers to Family Feuds

Genesis 25: 21-34

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... , Lucy slugs him. “I had to hit him quick,” says Lucy, “he was starting to make sense.” So it is no wonder that Mother Theresa, the lover of the least, when asked what we can do to promote world peace, said, “Go home and love your family.” Family feuds. We may not be able to avoid them. But by the grace of God we can live through them and learn from them, and maybe, for the sake of future generations, overcome them. So, I have taken that old jingle and re-written it. It goes something like this ...

2. Family Feud

Genesis 29:15-30

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... NOTHING can separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus. To you and me living comfortably in Warren but sometimes faced with moments of quiet desperation, the good news is that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. An ancient family feud. Jacob, Rachel, Leah - what a bunch! But what a lesson! If God can use them for good, God can even use you...and you and you and you and you...and me. Wow! Be open to it. And remember, nothing can separate us from the love of God in ...

3. How to Spark a Feud

Illustration

Ron Kraybill

How to turn a disagreement into a feud: Be sure to develop and maintain a healthy fear of conflict, letting your own feelings build up so you are in an explosive frame of mind. If you must state your concerns, be as vague and general as possible. Then the other person cannot do anything practical to change the ...

4. Live Together In Harmony

1 Corinthians 1:10-17

Sermon

Richard Hasler

... two men who have a quarrel, and then one man kills the other man. Then the dead man's brother kills his murderer, and that sets off a chain reaction. Soon the cousins get in the act too. Eventually, everyone is killed off and that is the end of the feud. Of course, as Buck adds, "... it's kind of slow, and it takes a long time." Huck wonders what really caused the trouble in the first place. Was it land? His friend is not sure but probably it was a dispute over land that caused all the fighting. But that ...

5. Making Relationships Work

Matthew 5:21-26

Sermon

King Duncan

... up two messengers, gave them the two letters, and sent them on their way. You can guess what happened. The pastor accidentally mixed up the letters. The message for the town got sent to the farmer friend. The message for the farmer friend got sent to the feuding town. Here is the message that the townspeople received: "You had better see that your fences are put up well in the first place. Plough your ground deep; and sort your seed; be careful not to sow foul seed; and take care of that great, ugly bull ...

6. Jews and Christians: All in the Family

Romans 15:4-13

Sermon

Will Willimon

... to hear their altercations. It was harmless, cheap fun for us. Often, when we read the New Testament, we are peeking in, listening at the door, with glass put to the wall, on a family feud that has lasted centuries, a feud in which there has been little fun and much bitterness, even bloodshed -- a family feud between Christian and Jew. Today's scripture from Romans, like much of that epistle, is part of that debate. In some of his letters, Paul pleads to his fellow Jews to accept Gentile Christians into ...

7. Being Wronged versus Claiming One’s Right

1 Corinthians 6:1-11

Teach the Text

Preben Vang

... (cf. 1 Cor. 5:1–2). Illustrating the Text It is better to lose an argument than to lose your testimony. Personal Stories: If you are willing to do a little confessing, tell a story about a time when a debate, disagreement, discussion, or feud between you and another believer confused or discouraged an unbeliever or new Christian. Perhaps you were having a long-winded and esoteric theological debate at a restaurant and the server felt uncomfortable, or maybe as you tried to explain a quarrel in the church ...

8. Who Are the Christians?

Judges 1:1-36

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... the ministry. He baptized Devil Hatfield in the cold waters of Island Creek. Afterward his neighbors described him as "much changed." Somehow that baptism washed most of the devilment out of Devil Hatfield. He spent the rest of his life mending fences rather than shooting neighbors. The feud fizzled out, at the foot of the Cross. A Christian is one who has gotten fixed at the foot of the cross, and is so grateful that he spends the rest of his life extending the circle of God's love. If Butch were to meet ...

9. 1 Corinthians 1:10-18

1 Corinthians 1:10-18

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... of slaves who apparently are on "Paul's side." The other names mentioned as related to Paul, however, are obviously rich men - Crispus (see Acts 18:8), Gaius and Stephanas. Far from disproving the economic foundations behind the Corinthian family's feuding, this combination of rich and poor within a single party demonstrates just how insidious was the inequality. The poor such as Chloe's people would most likely be associated with some wealthy householder. Thus the slaves, servants, freedmen and all the ...

10. Vendetta

2 Kings 1:1-18

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... obsession. Each becomes so obsessed with vengeance upon the other that it drives them to all kinds of outrageous acts. It’s a kind of “craziness” you might say that makes people sink to the lowest possible state of humanness. Think of the Hatfield and McCoy feud which became a war. In 1954 William Golding wrote a book about a similar state of human fallenness called “Lord of the Flies.” In the story, several boys are stranded on a desert island for a period of time, and in that time, as they face ...

11. Family Reunion

Genesis 29:15-28

Sermon

Will Willimon

... but work another seven years? Which he does. Then he receives from Laban at last the hand of Rachel. The story goes on. They lived happily ever after? No, this is the Bible and the Bible tells the truth, even about family. Rachel and Leah squabble, fight and feud. Well what would you expect? The whole arrangement is impossible. Two sisters married to the same man! Finally, the girls at last agree on something. They team up with Jacob to put one other on their old man, Laban. I can't go into the whole thing ...

12. Proper 19

Matthew 18:21-35, Romans 14:1--15:13, Exodus 13:17--14:31, Psalm 114:1-8

Sermon Aid

William E. Keeney

... anger or reprimand. After the truck was free and he had returned to the project, the driver of the truck exclaimed, "If he had only bawled us out, I could feel better about what we did!" The young men never tried the shortcut again. 7. A Family Feud in a Congregation · Two families had a bitter dispute. For years afterward they would never speak to one another even though two of the participants were brother and sister. It became an unwritten rule in the church that you could never put the parents of these ...

13. The Ten Commandments #6: No Murder

Exodus 20:1-21

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... ? Scientists tell us that the most overpowering instinct we have is that of self-preservation. If someone can deny that instinct long enough to take his or her own life, we could seriously question the rationality of the act. The commandment was given to prevent blood feuds, not the taking of one's own life. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said that we can "murder" folks with angry insults(7) - we disparage their worth as "images of God." In the twentieth century he might say we do the same by failing ...

14. Set Free Through Forgiveness!

Matthew 18:21-35

Sermon

King Duncan

... . If one man kills another man, the family of the victim is required to seek vengeance on any male members of the killer's family, even decades later if necessary. James Pettifer, author of the Blue Guide to Albania, reports that there are "some 2,000 blood feuds going on in Albania and that as many as 60,000 people are involved." (2) What a tragic loss of life! An integral part of the Christian ethic is forgiveness. Our Lord taught us that before we can be forgiven, we must forgive others. This emphasis on ...

15. Bitterness: How to Overcome What You Undergo

Hebrews 12:14-15

Sermon

James Merritt

... . It is known as "The Hatfields and the McCoys." It started in 1878; it ended in 1890. It was a twelve- year war between two neighbors that killed three Hatfields, seven McCoys, and two outsiders. What was the feud over—a hog! Bitterness over one hog stole twelve years and twelve lives. I'm going to talk to you today about a subject that I believe probably afflicts everyone at some time in their life, and it is the subject of bitterness. Many people who are hearing this message ...

16. Reconciliation Day

Matthew 18:15-20

Sermon

King Duncan

... be reconciled with those who have hurt us. God took the first step to heal the rupture with humanity; now we are to take the first step in healing any ruptures in relationships with others. You may know the story of the famous feud between John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. The feud began when Jefferson defeated Adams in his bid for a second term as President. On the eve of his inauguration, Jefferson went to the White House to tell Adams he hoped they could still be friends. Before Jefferson could say a word ...

17. Proper 4

1 Kings 18:20-21 (22-29) 30-39, Psalm 96:1-13, Luke 7:1-10, Galatians 1:1-12

Bulletin Aid

Julia Ross Strope

... news disturbs our souls. Is there peace anywhere? Is there a collaborative attitude somewhere in our nation? Let wisdom spring up in Israel and in Palestine, in Iraq and in Iran, in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and in America so that peace can escape from ancient feuds and a benevolent global village can be a reality. Healing Spirit — our mortality shows! Sustain us through life’s stages and let us learn to grow and to learn something about ourselves and about you each day. When we feel down, let us look ...

18. Jesus’ Four Surprising Road Rules for the Missional Highway

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

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... . Jesus chose to invite and include this ostracized group at the outset. And they rejected him. No room at the inn. We don’t want any. Guess what? Go away! No wonder James and John responded with a recommendation for fire and brimstone. Like any good “feud,” the desire for revenge, to get in the last lick, fueled their first response. James and John didn’t realize that as followers of Jesus they were not on a road to revenge. They were on a road to redemption. Jesus’ journey to Jerusalem wasn’t ...

19. Poem: In Memoriam

Eulogy

Alfred Lord Tennyson

... him die. Ring out the old, ring in the new, Ring, happy bells, across the snow: The year is going, let him go; Ring out the false, ring in the true. Ring out the grief that saps the mind, For those that here we see no more; Ring out the feud of rich and poor, Ring in redress to all mankind. Ring out a slowly dying cause, And ancient forms of party strife; Ring in the nobler modes of life, With sweeter manners, purer laws. Ring out the want, the care, the sin, The faithless coldness of the times; Ring out ...

20. One Bride For Seven Brothers

Luke 20:27-40

Sermon

J. Will Ormond

... brother dies without fathering a child. Finally the woman herself dies. The Sadducees now ask the question which they are sure is the clincher: "Whose wife will the woman be in the resurrection?" I suppose those who ask the question have in mind a ridiculous picture of a family feud in heaven in which seven brothers argue about whose wife this woman was. "I saw her first. I was married to her before any of you gave her a second look. All of you married her only from a sense of duty, but I loved her. She is ...

21. A Promise Is Given

Luke 24:36-49

Sermon

Glenn E. Ludwig

... was obviously too much for them to handle. Well, fortunately, the story doesn't end there either, for if it did we'd have the rational guys against those always irrational girls argument all over again with Easter being a rehearsal of the old, time-worn feud between the genders. Maybe God knew that would happen, so Jesus made a few more appearances, this time to the more rational side of the house -- the men. First, there is that marvelous story where Jesus appeared to two of his followers on the Emmaus ...

22. The One Thing That Would Make The Biggest Difference

Matthew 18:15-20

Sermon

Roger G. Talbott

... , more loving, or more fair than rebuilding a broken relationship. Nothing would create more peace in our hearts and minds and in the surrounding world than rebuilding a broken relationship. Wars and crimes of violence, racial tensions, strikes and political feuds are only the sum total of many interpersonal conflicts: the conflicts between brothers and sisters, parents and children, husbands and wives, neighbor and neighbor. In fact, one of the time-honored methods of reducing conflict in a family or in ...

23. Where The Halls Cross

Luke 10:25-37

Sermon

David O. Bales

... stands but don't play the game. They're trying not to get involved." "Now, the guy who stops. Notice what he's called?" "Samaritan." "Heard of good Samaritans? This is the fellow who started it all. And in Jesus' time Jews and Samaritans didn't get along. They had feuded for centuries. That's why Jesus uses the Samaritan in the story. So what can we say about the Samaritan? What's he like? What would you name his kind of behavior?" "He's okay. He does what he'd want someone else to do for him." "How are the ...

24. The Word Of The Lord Came To The Prophet Haggai

Haggai 1:1-15

Sermon

Frank Ramirez

... behind, the landless and impoverished, thought they were the true remnant. These latter came to be known as the Samaritans. You would think the two sundered branches of the family would greet each other with joy, but there's nothing like cousins for feuding. A lot of energy was expended in the struggle. A few bribes were made by Judah's enemies. Suddenly there were difficulties with the building permits. The ones called "the people of the land," those who had remained behind during the exile, filled ...

25. As We Forgive Those Who Trespass Against Us

Genesis 32:22-32

Sermon

Steve Burt

... on ad infinitum. There's no end to it, no way to ever get even, is there? And through it all, both countries, millions of people, and the whole world -- everybody -- suffers. There's no real justice and no real sense to that, is there? Take the Hatfield/McCoy feud of legend. A Hatfield kills a McCoy, so a McCoy has to go out and kill a Hatfield. But that doesn't really even the score, because every Hatfield knows a Hatfield is worth two McCoys, and every McCoy believes a McCoy is worth three Hatfields -- so ...

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