Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 1 to 25 of 36 results

Mark 15:1-15

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... is a very live question, even in our own day. We are certainly not all agreed on the answer. Even we Christians, who claim to be followers of Christ, are not sure we want to follow Him that far. Most of us still look upon him as an impractical dreamer, out-of-touch with the realities of this world. If we are terribly honest, we might admit that most of our sympathy goes to Barabbas. Our votes certainly do! Our tax money does. Perhaps we should de-throne Jesus and erect churches to St. Barabbas. Which man ...

2. A Broken Vessel for Jesus

Mark 14:1-11

Sermon

Michael Milton

... . As the nard was pure, so was her heart, but the concern of the disciples was impure, just like their hearts. She came to Jesus to show her faith, and she anointed Him with a tangible expression of her love, her possessions. They found it impractical and wasteful. Some time ago, in this church, a Japanese student attended our First Friends International Ministry. While here, this young man confessed Jesus Christ as His Lord. He returned to his family in Japan. They heard the gospel of Jesus dying for their ...

3. Taking the Long View

2 Peter 3:8-15a

Sermon

Donald Charles Lacy

... upon. For John Q. Public and those primarily interested in "running the show" it is nothing more than unwanted stretching that goes no place. In truth the man or woman of faith is always more or less influenced by the idea presented. What appears to be so impractical must be considered for the health of our souls. Could it be our real value and destiny are tied to the God who takes a view we cannot begin to measure? The words, "is patient with you, not wanting any to perish, but all to come to repentance ...

4. Apostolic Instruction

1 Thessalonians 5:16-24

Sermon

Donald Charles Lacy

... most unique in a world of rudeness and crudeness. Someone must be out of his/her mind to live that way! Of course, how many people do you know who would agree with the ancients? My guess is that a very large number of people would insist on the sheer impracticality of it. It's a fine idea but it won't work in a real honest-to-goodness world. We serious-minded Christians have been in that bind for years. The world tells us in many ways that we should provide instruction that will work. Like Advent, Paul's ...

5. A Second Look

Matthew 5:27-48

Sermon

Will Willimon

... resolution to go through the day without thinking any impure thoughts about the opposite sex (perhaps in a youthful attempt to be faithful to Matthew 5:28). The resolution lasted no longer than my first fifteen minutes on the school bus. Therein I learned the impracticality of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. As you can see, I did not obey and pluck out the eye that caused me to sin. Rather, I took Junior High psychology wherein I discovered all sorts of psychological reasons why it 1s utterly unrealistic to ...

6. Topsy-turvy Christianity

Luke 6:17-26, Luke 6:27-36

Sermon

J. Will Ormond

... of Jesus may not arouse such reactions today. Their sharpness has been dulled by familiarity or by a kind of casual attitude toward scripture. "Oh, that's in the Bible, and was spoken a long time ago in a culture different from ours. It is far too impractical for our time." The Lucan beatitudes and woes are certainly at variance with the accepted criteria of our time concerning what it takes to make one healthy, wealthy, and wise. They also do not fit a theology which presents the gospel as a sure road to ...

7. How To Treat Your Enemies

2 Samuel 18:1-18

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

... all over to God. The vengeance is all his. I'll let him judge between Nabal and myself." There are many in our world today who point out that Christ's commands to go the second mile, turn the cheek, and forgive seventy times seventy are unworkable, impractical, in this dog-eat-dog world. But what happens when David walks in this way? David starved, Nabal got fat, and King Saul lived happily ever after, right? Wrong! The text says Abigail shared plenty of food with David. Nabal heard of his wife's generosity ...

8. Crackpots

Jeremiah 2:1-3:5

Sermon

Richard L. Sheffield

... to describe your actions, but that's not specifically what I'm getting at. According to The Random House Dictionary of the English Language the word "crackpot" is defined as: "a person who is eccentric, unrealistic, or insane." As an adjective "crackpot" means: "eccentric, impractical, insane, crackpot ideas." All of that might apply but it's still not quite what I'm getting at. It's the derivation of the word that relates to what God says about life through the prophet Jeremiah. The word "crackpot" is an ...

9. Details

Matthew 9:35-38, Matthew 10:1-42

Sermon

Marc Kolden

... ? Whoa! Watch the details. Jesus did not ask for volunteers from among the disciples or anyone else. What did he say? "The laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord ..." (9:38). The need is great, so pray to God to do something about it. So un-American; so impractical. But the point is that we do not make ourselves into missionaries or any other co-worker of God. We are to ask God to do it. It is not our mission after all; it is God's. The old question asks why conservative churches grow. There are lots ...

10. The Scariest Sound in the World

Matthew 25:1-13

Sermon

Johnny Dean

... still room for you, "plenty good room in the Father’s kingdom," as the old spiritual says. God is gracious and forgiving, always, forever and ever, Amen. But now, just a few weeks later, what has happened to grace? The bridesmaids may have been foolish or impractical or short-sighted, but they weren’t evil, were they? Yet, when they finally arrive at the party, the door is shut, locked, bolted and they can’t get in. I know consistency isn’t everything, but why on earth would Matthew include both of ...

11. Praying With Tears in Your Eyes

Hebrews 1:1-14

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

... tears? We, too, want to live. We enjoy life. We dread the unknown and leaving loved ones. I myself had to face up to this issue some years ago. Having a fear of heights, for many years I refused to travel by air. The time came when railroads were impractical for travel. I had a preaching mission in a distant state and found that I could keep the appointment only by flying. A couple of weeks in advance I bought the ticket. Until the time of departure, I had my own Gethsemane. I was sure I would die either ...

12. How To Bring Tears To Jesus' Eyes

Luke 19:28-44

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

... . His kingdom was one of truth and justice. His royal law was to love one another. They wanted pomp, but he came in humility. They wanted military glory, but he came as a suffering servant. To them, Jesus seemed to be too idealistic and impractical for their situation, a world of hard realities and tough situations. Because he was rejected as king, Jesus wept, not because of hurt feelings over the non-acceptance, but because he foresaw the consequences of that rejection. "He came unto his own, and his own ...

13. Is Christianity Practical?

Jeremiah 17:19-27

Sermon

Louis H. Valbracht

... something that will really work?" All right, young lady. Fair question. But there is another group much larger than yours - the vast number of people who believe in the gospel of Jesus Christ as a personal creed, but yet they still look upon it as impractical and irrelevant in saving the world or solving its most pressing problems. One man perhaps expressed the feeling of thousands when he said, "I am a Christian, but I say that we have to stop being Christian when it comes to dealing with the Communists ...

14. Natural Or Supernatural?

Luke 9:28-36

Sermon

Louis H. Valbracht

... for him. He was a capitalist. He owned his own boats, and he got his own profit. And yet, this same, down-to-earth Peter said: "Let's stay here. Let's stay here on the mountain, far from the fish, the nets, the boats, and the business." Impractical? You bet your sweet life! A delve, perhaps, into the supernatural? Well, maybe. But Peter said it later, as he wrote in his epistle: "Do you think we were making up cunningly devised fables when we told you about the power of the coming of Jesus Christ? We ...

15. Cross Work

Matthew 5:27-30

Sermon

George Bass

Jesus might have been loving, kind, and good, but he wasn’t very practical. As he closes out this first section of the Sermon on the Mount, it is pure Gospel we hear today that supercedes the law of last week. And Jesus shows us just how impractical the Gospel actually is. He instructs the disciples and us, to... ...offer no resistance to wicked people who might hurt or offend you; ...turn the other cheek if someone hits you on one side of the face; ...give your coat as well as your shirt to anyone who ...

16. Christians In A Warring World - 1941

Galatians 6:1-10

Sermon

Kent Moorehead

... is equipment for and skill in killing and destruction. This method has been practiced so long, has been so widely accepted as inevitable and thus seems so obvious, that one who doubts it and particularly one who denounces it as insane and suicidal is considered impractical, visionary, and Utopian. For the average man in the street, the necessity of resorting to war as the final method of settling disputes is as clear and as certain as that the sun goes around the earth or that the earth is flat. All of ...

17. Is Someone Knocking?

Luke 2:1-7

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... . Allow me to make several specific suggestions for helping someone who is hurting. Most of us know a family that has lost a loved one during the past year. Wait until those depressing days right after Christmas. Then visit that person or if distance makes that impractical, write to him or her. Share some incident related to the one who died. Perhaps you remember something he said or did. Perhaps the two of you worked on a project or traveled together. Tell or write that to the one who is grieving. It will ...

18. Just A Whisper

Isaiah 9:1-7

Sermon

Frederick C. Edwards

... not even hold a weapon against the invading foe? Ahaz put aside Isaiah’s appeal and took the apparently more practical course. He appealed to the Assyrian king for help, and made himself and his people subservient to Assyria. Isaiah was not so impractical a dreamer as it might have seemed. Had faith in God stiffened Ahaz’ resolve the disaster might not have happened - but it did. As it was Israel paid heavily for its reliance on Assyria. Heavy tribute was exacted. Rebels were punished. Much of Judah ...

19. Courageous Preaching

Isaiah 50:1-11

Sermon

Durwood L. Buchheim

... , and comfort dulled their memory of home. They were getting tired and angry about the old stories and promises of home. Some probably doubted whether or not the preachers knew what they were talking about, for it seems that preachers are always making those impractical, grandiose promises for God. So the threat of Babylon changed into the temptation of Babylon. Babylon became home. It seemed to be one of those tough truths that go with living: When we ignore our history, we make an idol out of the present ...

20. The God of the Unlikely

Deuteronomy 34:1-12

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... midwife could even arrive. So the Pharaoh revised his order - let the girls live; take the boys and drown them.(1) Suddenly, baby Moses arrives. His parents were not anxious to comply with the Pharaoh, so they hid him for three months. When that became impractical, Moses' mother Jochobed came up with a bizarre scheme - she fashioned a makeshift boat, placed the baby in it, and set it afloat among the reeds along the bank of the Nile. What could she have been thinking? Hard to imagine. We know what happened ...

21. Living In Spite House

Matthew 18:21-35

Sermon

King Duncan

... , each barely able to accommodate a stick of furniture. The neighbors complained that the bizarre structure would blight the neighborhood, but city officials could find no code or regulation to disallow it. When it was finished, the millionaire moved into his uncomfortable and impractical house. There he stayed until his death. The house, which became known in the neighborhood as "Spite House," still stands as a monument to one man's hate. (1) I wonder how many people today live in Spite House? A couple in ...

22. Like Everest Without Oxygen And Wimbledon Without A Racquet

Luke 10:25-37

Sermon

Frank Lyman

... just sit here quietly each night, playing my bagpipes." (1) In the earlier years of this century many seminaries had professors who were known as "Professors of Practical Theology." That term "practical" is interesting. I wonder if any seminary had "Professors of IMPRACTICAL Theology." If theology cannot be practical then what benefit is it? In his dialogue with a lawyer Jesus proves himself to be a professor of PRACTICAL theology. The lawyer asks him, "Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" The ...

23. Trust Your Upbringing

2 Timothy 3:10--4:8

Sermon

King Duncan

... about Grace? tells about a friend Terry Muck who studied legalism among Buddhist monks in Sri Lanka as part of his Fulbright fellowship. The monks had all agreed to follow the 212 rules of the Buddha, many of which were now outdated and impractical. Terry wondered how the monks could reconcile their need to live in the modern world with their adherence to an ancient legalistic code. For example, the Buddha had specified that no monk should carry money, and yet Terry regularly observed monks paying fares ...

24. Who Is Jesus Christ?

John 14:5-14

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... alleys. And here we have a paradox: millions of people proclaim Jesus as the greatest Teacher who ever lived, but only a handful dare to take His teachings seriously. When it comes right down to it, most of us are inclined to dismiss Him as an impractical dreamer. The meek shall inherit the earth, He said. What nonsense! The powerful have inherited the earth—and they certainly aren’t meek. But wait a minute. In our day, as never before, we are coming to realize that unless we stop being belligerent and ...

25. Staying Alive All Your Ministry Life: Will You Finish Well?

Exodus 32:1-33:6

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... , we need to recognize that the mood of discouragement is often the psychological reaction to extreme mental and physical fatigue. When you’re seeking to deal with discouragement, be sure that you are adequately rested. Second, discouragement often results from an impractical idealism, an illogical attempt at perfectionistic activity. Now, I know about that. You will be hard-pressed to find a more optimistic, idealistic person. How often have I had to cry out, “Oh, hopeless idealist that I am: who will ...

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