Sermon and Worship Resources

Synonyms: young, youth, son in the faith, pastor, genuine faith, committed, guidance, practical, sound teaching, pastors, church leaders, instruction, good conduct, reputation

Showing 1 to 25 of 918 results

1. Counterfeit Faith

Acts 14:8-20

Sermon

Carl Hoefler

... in gear. So, the people of Lystra went through the appearance of an excited faith before they had ever heard the Word that produces faith. That is why their faith was counterfeit. Because it was not born from the hearing of the Word, it was not genuine faith. Last week we talked about the need of the heard Word becoming transformed into a life of faith. Today, we see the danger of a premature action - before the Word of God is fully and faithfully proclaimed. The people heard the nonverbals of the miracle ...

2. Justification By Grace Through Faith

Galatians 2:11-21

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... I know it is Mother’s Day before I preach I want to exhort you for a moment. There’s a marvelous verse of scripture in II Timothy, the 1st chapter, the 5th verse. Paul is writing to Timothy and he says, I often think of that genuine faith of yours, a faith that first appeared in your grandmother, Lois, then in your mother, Eunice, and is now, I am convinced, in you as well. I’m convinced that children are not likely to genuinely appropriate the Christian faith for themselves, unless that is witnessed ...

3. Standing Room Only Religion

Mark 2:1-12

Sermon

Maurice A. Fetty

... There are many things we do not know. But this we do know -- prayer and faith and forgiveness can make a difference in the healing process. Standing room only religion? Can it happen again? It certainly can whenever genuine faith and forgiveness are expressed. Oh, by the way, when there are genuine faith and forgiveness, you never have to worry about roof repair. I have a hunch the healed paralytic was back the next day with his four friends fixing Jesus' roof. Prayer: Eternal God, whose Mind is beyond our ...

4. The Family: A Place For Persons

2 Timothy 1:1-2:13

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... to talk and pray with this person’s wife, who committed herself to be yoked with her husband in that thrilling adventure. You can be sure that out of that family will come children of whom it can be said, as Paul said of Timothy, I often think of that genuine faith of yours, a faith that first appeared in your parents and is now I am convinced in you. So that’s it. Everybody needs a place. But not just any place, a place for persons. The family can be that place. It can also be the place where the ...

5. Broadband Discipleship

Luke 17:1-10

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... feats. Jesus declares that a command uttered with just a mustard seed-sized faith would be enough to cause the notoriously deep-rooted mulberry tree (“sycamine”) to loose itself from the earth and plant itself “in the sea”(v.6). Genuine faith in Jesus’ mission and in the coming kingdom, not some special infusion of super-faith, is what disciples are to use to fuel their actions and attitudes. Jesus continues to describe just what discipleship entails. At first reading, Jesus’ description of ...

6. Who Says A Good Man Is Hard To Find?

Luke 7:1-10

Sermon

King Duncan

... . It may take time, but if we make Christ a partner in the raising of our children, we will not live in a continuing panic that causes us to overreact. This Roman centurion was a caring man, a tolerant and humble man, a man of deep and genuine faith. How the world needs such men! How wives need such husbands! How children need such fathers! Let me read you parts of a letter written by another famous soldier. Gen. Norman Schwartzkopf, wrote these to his family on the eve of the Gulf War: "My dearest Wife ...

7. Humvee Holiness and Humble Holiness

Matthew 23:1-39

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... enabled Judaism to survive. Even though the “center” of their faith, the Temple, was destroyed, the local “satellites” of faith — synagogues and especially homes — made it possible for a living Torah-based life to thrive. Jesus recognized both the genuine faith and the grand folly that was combined in the Pharisees’ religious system. On the one hand Jesus declared that the “scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat,” that is, in a place of recognized authority. Therefore the faithful ...

8. The World's Greatest Cover Up

Romans 4:1-25

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... statutes is useless, Paul argued, without the inward infrastructure of faith. God easily reads our interior motives. God detects the presence or absence of true faith with a glance. This interior heartbeat of faith will be expressed by those with genuine faith, even as Abraham never wavered, and indeed continued to give glory to God (verse 20) despite his great age, despite the long passage of years between God's promise and fulfillment of the divine words. The interior necessarily affects the exterior ...

9. Gratitude: A State of Mind

Luke 17:11-19

Sermon

John Wayne Clarke

... wonderful miracle? All of the lepers must have believed that Jesus was capable of performing this remarkable healing. But the only one who takes the time to personally come back and thank Jesus, is a despised Samaritan. It is the Samaritan who has the genuine faith. Two men were walking through a field one day when they spotted an enraged bull. Instantly, they ran for the nearest fence. The raging bull followed in hot pursuit, and it was soon apparent they wouldn't make the fence. Terrified, the one shouted ...

10. Playing to the Right Audience

Matthew 6:16-18, Matthew 6:1-4

Sermon

Phil Thrailkill

... the affirmation that comes from God, alone and in secret. But Jesus wants us each to have a secret life with God, to have a bit of what he lived with constantly and to find a delight no one can take away. This is the sweet center of genuine faith, not just outward conformity to religious duties but a sense of intimacy and adventure with God. Douglas Coupland is the postmodern literary icon who coined the term Generation X with his novel by that name. He grew up secular, but in one of his books he discloses ...

11. Red, White and Pink

Luke 24:36-49

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... full witnesses to the bodily resurrection of Jesus. “Spirits” and “ghosts” do not eat. Words are required, however, to understand what Jesus’ presence means. “Signs” alone, even the ultimate “sign” of the resurrection, will not engender the genuine faith these “witnesses” must proclaim. Jesus first reminds the disciples of all the passion predictions he himself had made during his earthly ministry: “the words that I spoke to you” (v.44). He then continues his lesson by traveling ...

12. Doorkeepers, Lampkeepers and Wisdomkeepers

Luke 13:22-30

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... for hours in the uneventful stillness of the night, or he risked attack by thieves or spies in an instant of confrontation. Jesus plays the dual role of doorkeeper and lampkeeper in this week's Gospel text. He guards the entrance through the narrow door of genuine faithfulness, turning aside those whose words and deeds betray their false spirit. But if the door is narrow and well-guarded, how are we to gain access to the gift of salvation lying on the other side? Indeed, how do we even find our way to this ...

13. 2 Corinthians 5:16-21

2 Corinthians 5:11--6:2

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... ” are the graces offered to all the faithful, he now abruptly commands his Corinthian audience to “be reconciled to God” (v.20). The gift of a clean slate, of reconciliation and a new life in Christ, is available to all. But genuine faith and true reconciliation must be extended within the community as well as from God. Paul does not advocate “trickle-down” reconciliation. All whose debts are cancelled by the cross and forgiven by the grace of God need to release floodwaters of forgiveness ...

14. The Real Winning Attitude

1 Timothy 6:3-10

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, gentleness." (Verse 11) These qualities don't guarantee worldly success. They don't even make you a winner every time. In fact, winning isn't the goal at all here, the epistle proclaims. What is expected of the genuinely faithful is that we "...fight the good fight of faith..." Only then will we be able to "take hold of the eternal life, to which we were called" (verse 12). This is not winning. This is an uncontested victory – the victory of eternal life ...

15. When the Tie That Binds is a Slipknot

1 Corinthians 11:17-34

Sermon

Johnny Dean

... among you, for only so will it become clear to you who among you are genuine" (v 19). In other words, conflict and disagreement, even in the church, may not be all bad. The method used to resolve the conflict will show who has genuine faith in God and love for the body of Christ, the church, and who is simply seeking to promote their own agenda. How do we constructively deal with conflict in the church, whether the conflict stems from theological differences or perceptual differences? Perhaps the starting ...

16. Putting God to Work in Your Life through Peas, Squash, Lettuce, Thyme

Mark 8:31--9:1

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... outlook on its message. As Engle noted, “That’s why Jessica is ahead of the game. She’s skipped over cynicism and gone right to gratitude. At eighteen, she knows the value of peace.” (p.166) Disciples work to plant “lettuce” — lettuce be genuinely faithful, kind, patient, and loving with one another. That is hard work. If people were easy Jesus would not have had to go to the cross. Finally, to finish our garden we must have thyme: “Thyme for each other. Thyme for family Thyme for friends ...

17. Believing Isn’t Easy

Hebrews 11:1-40

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... our doubts. I do not think that Christians ought to stick their heads in the sand and ignore their doubts. I think we all ought to bring our doubts out into the open and deal with them honestly. I believe that doubt is a prerequisite to a genuine faith. Without doubt, we would be liable to fall for any wild scheme that comes down the pike; we would be gullible and easy prey for every religious con artist around...and there are plenty of them around these days. Faith without doubt is gullibility. God does ...

18. The Temptation to Talk Transformation

James 2:14-26

Sermon

Eric Ritz

... From the beginning to the end of it, It doesn''t once say, "ME." Here at [name of church], we do our best NEVER to allow anyone in our church fellowship to go hungry! [You might offer examples of your congregation''s ministries to the hungry.] Genuine faith is never indifferent, but always looking for a place to be involved. We put our love into action! As Dwight Moody once said, "We put the gospel message into shoe leather or boots!" Third, belief is confirmed by behavior. In verses 18-20, James says, "Yes ...

19. Preaching Your Life

Acts 2:14-41

Sermon

... For Thomas, seeing was believing. And, in a miracle, Thomas did see. On this day, Christ appears to him, speaks to him, holds out his hands to him. Thus Thomas believes: "My Lord and my God!" Does this mean we must have a vision of God to have genuine faith? If so, who could ever believe? Only a few mystics over the centuries have claimed such a visible encounter with God. Even Christ downplayed the idea when he said, "Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe." If we are to believe in Christ, we ...

20. Oh Me of Little Faith

Matthew 14:22-36

Sermon

Johnny Dean

... as a simple act that shows trust. Jesus even suggested that children are our best teachers in the search to understand what it means to have faith. But if faith is simple, it’s also challenging. Faith calls for more than intellectual agreement with a formula. Genuine faith is a response that shows itself in what we do. For example, it’s one thing to say that we believe that a certain person could go over Niagara Falls in a boat and survive; but to be willing to climb into the boat WITH that person ...

21. The Cross Burden or Blessing?

Philippians 3:12-4:1

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... that “imitation” is a good thing. While the world teaches us that anything that is an “imitation” is a second-class, knock-off of little value, that “imitation” is a mark of inferiority, Paul regards “imitation” as the ultimate sign of genuine faithfulness. The apostle urges believers to imitate Christ and to imitate the Christ-like behavior they see exhibited by others in the Christian community. While the world cringes at being labeled or called an “imitator,” for Paul it is a life ...

22. Secret Revealed

Romans 16:25-27

Sermon

Donald Charles Lacy

... is to deny the very extraordinary person to whom we have vowed allegiance. Faith and works come into play. We see if there is faith, then there must be works and that means some form(s) of witnessing. Hopefully, we also see that legitimate works are born of genuine faith. It is a distinct privilege to be a disciple of the "Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world." 3. What God's people had been yearning to see becomes reality. We can only imagine in faith the yearning that had taken place through ...

23. Waiting for Christmas

James 5:7-12

Sermon

Timothy J. Smith

... Christmas? Our goal come Christmas Day is to be different as a result of our spiritual preparation during our Advent journey. The book of James is filled with much practical advice for those striving to live the Christian life. The apostle James believed that genuine faith results in outward actions and responses. The way we treat each other speaks volumes about our own understanding of faith. If we do nothing to help a sister or brother who is going through a difficult time, then we need to seriously re ...

24. Responding To The Roadblocks Of Life

Philippians 1:1-11

Sermon

Eric Ritz

... , Jr., in a very powerful sermon titled "Shattered Dreams" shares how we are to deal with those times in our lives when we experience shattered dreams. He says our capacity to deal creatively with shattered dreams is ultimately determined by our faith in God. Genuine faith imbues us with the conviction that beyond time is a divine Spirit and beyond life is Life Eternal. However dismal and catastrophic may be the present circumstance, we know we are not alone, for God dwells with us in life's most confining ...

25. Religion's Built-in Hazard

Isaiah 58:1-14

Sermon

Robert Beringer

... God in their speeches, and to be photographed going to their church or synagogue. We Americans would still like to believe that our public officials are pious men and women who acknowledge the rule of God. Of course, many of our elected officials are people of genuine faith, but many others in spite of their public displays of piety, have turned out to be hypocrites, people who say one thing with their lips, and another with their lives. I often recall the story of the little boy who simply refused to go to ...

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