Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 1 to 25 of 508 results

1. When Is It Tolerable to Be Intolerant?

Mark 9:38-50

Sermon

Donald Macleod

... ." Mark 9:38-50 (RSV) "No one who performs a miracle in my name will be able soon afterward to say evil things about me. For whoever is not against us is for us." (vv. 39, 40, TEV) Two words in our vocabulary conjure up opposite types of persons: the tolerant and the intolerant. One seems to wear a white hat; the other, a black one. Two little verses set these types in clear contrast. Jonathan Swift wrote: We are God's chosen few, All others will be damned; There is no place in heaven for you, We can't have ...

2. More Tolerable For Sodom And Gomorrah

Luke 10:1-24

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... that fact. Listen to verses 11 and 12 of our text again: "Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off in protest against you. Yet know this: the kingdom of God has come near. I tell you, on that day it will be more tolerable for Sodom than for that town. That, too, could be an entire sermon -- that judgment is implicit in our hearing but refusing to accept the gospel. You can play that one out later, also. How often have we heard the gospel? How often has the Word of God come clearly ...

3. Respect

1 Corinthians 12:12-31

Sermon

Harold Warlick

... body. The body and its limbs had been used by Roman senators with the Plebeians, and the Stoics had put the metaphor to good use in their political arena. This image was always a good one to drag out when trying to express unity and tolerance. Christianity was not unique among religions in appropriating the image of the body and its limbs to express the work of the Holy Spirit in creating unity, a sense of togetherness, amid diverse members of a group. In the Mahayana Buddhist tradition each member was ...

4. Don't Believe the Lie about the Truth

John 8:32

Sermon

James Merritt

... John Paul II says it is undermining the very foundations of all morality. What are these and other prominent leaders so upset about? The rejection of truth. Today principled conviction has been replaced by political correctness. Truth has been silenced by the muzzle of tolerance. That is why in the last quarter of the Twentieth Century, America has undergone a moral lobotomy. There was a cartoon in USA Today which had a picture of a young George Washington holding a hatchet in one hand, kneeling next to a ...

5. The Truth about Truth

John 8:31-32

Sermon

James Merritt

... fit the cylinder walls within one thousandth part of an inch if the engine is to run smoothly. Yet, we are told that when it comes to morality, and righteousness, and holiness, we ought to be tolerant. Well, I say when it comes to salvation, heaven, hell, homosexuality, abortion, pornography, obscenity, right and wrong, the word is not tolerance, the word is truth. If there is no such thing as truth, Jesus was both a liar and a fool. For He said, "For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come ...

6. Heaven: One Way And One Way Only

John 14:1-6

Sermon

James Merritt

... arrogant, bigoted, narrow-minded and worst of all intolerant. The greatest evil in today's culture is not rape, murder, or even child-molestation. It is intolerance. People today are willing to tolerate any viewpoint except the viewpoint that claims to be uniquely true. I want to emphasize that I believe we Christians should be tolerant if you understand tolerance properly. Tolerance used to mean, "Even though I may not agree with you, I respect your right to believe as you do." In that sense, I want to be ...

7. The Stop-and-Think Chair

Matthew 18:15-20

Sermon

Roy Howard

... don’t want any part of it. I think it is similar to other relationships in our lives. A marriage that tolerates abusive behavior has no life. A family that allows bad behavior without a structure for respect and love is bound for disaster ... new way of living. A friend of mine told his out-of-control, young-adult son that he must leave his home because the family could no longer tolerate his actions. It was the hardest thing he has ever done in his life. He did it in the hope that it will clear a path for ...

8. Loving Unconditionally

John 13:31-38

Sermon

Robert Bachelder

... high time to take that individual aside and argue the point with him. Today, with the rise of the religious right and with the rise of anti-Semitism in some parts of our land, it seems "high time" to argue the case for religious tolerance - tolerance which is grounded not in indifference but in the love of Christ. What is confusing is that in Scripture we seem at first to have prescriptions both for loving our opponents and for practicing "righteous persecution." Alongside Jesus’ admonition for us to love ...

9. Is Jesus The Only Way?

Matthew 22:1-14

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... instant rebuttal. St. Peter made that claim of Jesus even more blatant when he said, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12) Lots of Americans almost wallow in tolerance. They feel that as long as a person is sincere about his religious beliefs, it doesn’t matter what he believes. But isn’t it strange that they apply this logic to faith but not to any other area of their lives? They want the pilot flying their ...

10. Mulliganeers, All

Luke 13:10-17

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... . Christianity has a Redeemer. Religions have faith in moral systems. Christianity has faith in Christ. Faith in forgiveness. Faith in God’s grace. Faith in the power of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. Jesus knows no “zero tolerance” policy. There is no “zero tolerance” policy in Christianity because Christ came to bring us all a “second chance.” Christians are “second chance” people. We are given a second chance, and a third chance, and a fourth chance, and a lifetime of chances to ...

11. The Ultimate Solution For Sin

Mark 9:38-50

Sermon

King Duncan

... it is less and less fashionable to do so. There are some things about sin we need to know. Jesus was probably the most tolerant man who ever lived. Notice in our lesson for today. One of his disciples, John, told him, "Teacher," said John, "we saw a man ... me to sin, it would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a large millstone tied around his neck." Not much tolerance there. And it gets worse: "If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with ...

12. Peace And The Peacemakers

Luke 12:49-53

Sermon

Richard Patt

... heroes of faith who have suffered martyrdom in the cause of bringing the peace of the Gospel in a hostile world. Back in the year 1170 Thomas Becket was literally murdered in a cathedral at the hands of King Henry II in England because he refused to tolerate Henry's cry of "peace, peace," where there was no peace. Most of the apostles of Jesus himself were martyred at the hands of those who became unnerved by these messengers of peace. Those whose mission was to bring the peace of God often brought the ...

13. Love And Resurrection

Mark 16:1-20

Sermon

Don M. Aycock

... or drink or smoke too much. Understanding alone is not enough. We need action, too, and experience. Gabriel Marcel, the well-known French writer and religious thinker, once said, "To love someone is to say, 'You will not die.' " Why? Because love will not tolerate any limits. It won't tolerate the limits imposed by time. Nor will it allow the limts of the grave to stand. To love truly is to love forever. The resurrection has to do with life and with love. God said to Jesus, "I love you." He was saying "You ...

14. Beware! Caution! Danger!

Acts 14:8-20

Sermon

Barbara Brokhoff

... admit to frustration by the well-intentioned comments of those who so glibly say, "Well, after all, we're all headed for the same place," or "We all worship the same God, don't we?" I know they mean well, but how very dangerous such comments are! I believe in tolerance as much as is humanly possible, and will almost run from most fights, but when we must compromise the basic truth of the Bible, then we finally must recoil in horror, and say, "No, no, no!" One God is not as good as another, we do not all go ...

15. The Agony and Ecstasy of Sight

John 9:1-12

Sermon

Richard Hoefler

... -old mystery of suffering may not be solved for all times; but the suffering of this young man can now be seen in a new light. To repeat the words of John Marsh, "No event in the past can make such undeserved suffering tolerable to the human spirit; only one thing can make that tolerable - what God makes of it when he does his work upon it ... when God has done his work, then some purpose will be discernible in it."23 Our Creation Story It is interesting to note that John follows this miracle story of the ...

16. Easter Turns ONLY into ALSO

Acts 10:23b-48

Sermon

Donald Macleod

... frightened lad to the great statue of Lincoln, he added, "But somehow I feel it wouldn’t have bothered him a bit." Two words in our American vocabulary are the key to many of our national and local problems. These words are: "prejudice" and "tolerance." And they are most controversial - and indeed relevant - when they figure in the field of religion. How frequently are we able to trace a rift in the church or community to human prejudice which someone once called "a lazy person’s substitute for thinking ...

17. How Many Times Should We Forgive?

Matthew 18:21-35

Sermon

King Duncan

... ? If we are pagans, ilunga is enough. If we are followers of Jesus, we forgive as many times as it takes. 1. From Uncle John's Slightly Irregular Bathroom Reader by the Bathroom Readers' Institute (Ashland, OR: Bathroom Readers' Press, 2004), p. 56. 2. Stan Toler, God Has Never Failed Me, But He Sure Has Scared Me to Death a Few Times! (Tulsa: Honor Books, 1995) 3. THE JOKESMITH 4. Time Apr. 5, 1999. Cited in "Currents," Discipleship Journal, Jul./ Aug. 1999, p. 14. 5. Bring ‘Em Back Alive–A Healing ...

18. The Day Is Not For Sleeping

1 Thessalonians 4:13--5:11

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... student who is taught at home that homosexual behavior is morally wrong is now taught at school that it is as viable a lifestyle choice as heterosexuality. This is the tolerant, valued-neutral position." (Colson, pages 80-81). But, Friends, it is not value-neutral. Its value is tolerance -- a god is made of tolerance and when tolerance is God, everything goes. That's just one issue.Bring it home, friends. What are the moral issues involved in cigarette and liquor advertising? Where were we when two years ...

19. Tangled Up in the Vines

John 15:1-8

Sermon

John Jamison

... leave that to the hand of the owner of the vineyard, the vine grower, the only one who has the ability to measure the value of any vine. The other definition of the word abide is “to remain, to continue in relationship with, to dwell.” It means more than to tolerate, or put up with. It means we believe in something enough to live with it. It is where we stay. With that in mind, it may help us understand what Jesus is saying a bit better. Was Jesus saying that even if we don’t like what he wants, we ...

20. What Are Christian Liberals? - 1951

John 16:5-16

Sermon

Kent Moorehead

... right. The worst sin you can commit, from the standpoint of the Communists, is any sort of deviation from the line, and they will do all things to coerce you into that kind of thought control. This is abhorrent to the liberal. There must be tolerance. We come then to the fifth major characteristic, which is the test or the guide on which liberals rely. Not in any absolute sense, but as a major guide, there is reason. The supremacy of reason - my reason, your reason. Any dogma, any decree, any authoritarian ...

21. Journey To Jerusalem

Luke 9:51-56

Sermon

Brett Blair

... that destruction of one's enemies is not the Christian way. In fact, Jesus' choice to go through the villages of Samaria looking for hospitality tells us that he was extending a hand of friendship to enemies. Tolerance. It is a hard lesson. One that took the disciples years to learn. But, the virtue of tolerance, and tolerance for the right cause, needs to be taught in the church. So, what is our cause? Why should we befriend an enemy? Our cause, simply put, is Christ. I know of no other cause. That was his ...

22. Whatever Became of Sin?

Romans 6:23

Sermon

Lowell D. Streiker

... Prize! We have become so conditioned to accepting less than we pay for, to scaling down our expectations, to maintaining modest hopes. We are part of an unspoken conspiracy to tolerate incompetence, dishonesty, and inferiority: I will tolerate your incompetence, dishonesty, and inferiority in hopes that you will tolerate mine. Dodging Responsibility Sin is dodging responsibility. "Why did you disobey my instructions?" God asked Adam in the Garden of Eden. Adam's response, a classic of shifting the blame ...

23. Hurting People Hurt People

Luke 6:27-36

Sermon

King Duncan

... Ortberg, one of the most common terms used today among psychiatrists is, "LFT." This abbreviated term addresses a prevalent problem in our society. "LFT" stands for Low Frustration Tolerance. Many Americans are walking time-bombs just waiting to explode. They have allowed circumstances, situations, schedules, and people to crowd out their ability to tolerate frustrations. For this reason they are living on the edge and quickly erupt with anger when frustrations arise. (4) Some of us are in that group. LFT ...

24. A Deserter in God's Army

1 Timothy 4:9-10

Sermon

James Merritt

... church was the body of God. Had he not believed the Bible and all that was in it, you can rest assured he would have never served with Paul. There were two things the Apostle Paul absolutely would not tolerate. He would not tolerate laziness in the ministry, and he would not tolerate liberalism in belief. Without question, Demas was as theologically straight as a gun barrel. c. They Were Together In Danger They both felt the cold steel of prison doors clanging shut behind them. They had both been singed by ...

25. The Cost of Being a Prophet

Mark 6:14-29

Sermon

George Reed

... the example of John the Baptist when it comes to the way in which he died. Fortunately for those of us who are not looking forward to being beheaded, it is not a common practice in this country. Almost any form of religious expression, no matter how bizarre, is tolerated in the United States. You can be about as weird as you care to be and folks may think you are looney but they won't bother trying to divert you from your craziness. But then John the Baptist wasn't beheaded for his diet or his choice of ...

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