Sermon and Worship Resources

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Romans 8:12-25

Sermon

Steven E. Albertin

... thwart his love. Even our sin, even his own anger and disappointment with what we have done with this world cannot get in the way. God hears the groans and the cries of pain. God knows that we are children in search of a home. He cannot bear to hear it any longer. He puts himself between us and the grave so that it all doesn't come to a grinding halt. He sends Jesus, his very own Son, "very God of very God, begotten and not made," to be the friend of sinners and sufferers and orphans and childless parents ...

2. When Will The Pain Go Away?

Matthew 24:1-35

Sermon

George Johnson

... in the promises of God. Not pious platitudes or empty ritual, but promises - promises from one who has been there before, one who goes with us on our journey, and who will be there to receive us when we arrive at the finish line. When will the pain go away? I don't know. But I do know that hope is a gift of God given to those who embrace the darkness, act in love before all the evidence is in, root their lives in community, connect with creation, participate in storytelling and hold on to the promises of ...

3. The Place beyond Punishment

Sermon

Donna Schaper

... of the spill; the other family has another point of view. One knows only punishment, the other knows the place beyond punishment, where ruined things are prepared. The milk doesn't "unspill." The floor doesn't automatically get cleaned up. But unlike the milk, we are not ruined. Today, I want to talk about the issue of pain and punishment. You and I know that there are at least three perspectives on the passion story, the one that spills the wine of Jesus for some reason or another. One is the atonement ...

4. Thorns of Grace

2 Corinthians 12:1-10

Sermon

King Duncan

... are many self-absorbed people in our society who are that way partially because life has been too easy for them. They find it difficult to relate to people who have less than they have. They haven’t a clue how much pain their neighbor is in because they’ve never experienced much pain themselves. They simply cannot identify with persons who have been crushed by life. They dismiss them as losers, as if they were somehow responsible for their fate. It’s interesting how St. Paul begins this passage: “To ...

5. Prayers for the Sundays After Easter

Bulletin Aid

Rolland R. Reece

... unlimited money. But even as we say these things we begin to feel uneasy. A fourth grader could embrace this list without embarrassment, but we having lived longer know this wish list is not possible. While we don't like to wrestle with hard problems, put up with physical suffering, or endure the pain of a broken relationship, we do admit that in going through such experiences, in company with your spirit, our lives recognize a wisdom, a love, and a truth that we would have never imagined otherwise. To look ...

6. What If It Happens To Me? The Fear of Suffering

2 Corinthians 12:1-10

Sermon

James Merritt

... with his great faith he found himself asking the question, "Where is God when it hurts?" Paul is talking about his own personal suffering. He is hurting. This pain and this suffering was so bad, that he kept it a secret for fourteen years. Nobody else had ever known about this problem until just now. This was a pain that had not left him for fourteen years. It wasn't a pain that he had known every now and then or a day here or a week there. For fourteen years non-stop, he had known this terrible, horrible ...

7. Not

Isaiah 50:1-11

Sermon

Barbara Brokhoff

... said, "The Sovereign Lord has taught me what to say, so that I can strengthen the weary. Every morning he makes me eager to hear what he is going to teach me." I don't like to admit it, but the most of what I have learned about God has been, not in the bright sunlight hours of my life, but in the dark midnight hours of pain. Even Jesus learned this way. "Though he was a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things he suffered (Hebrews 5:8)." A small child often learns best and quickest from being hurt. We ...

8. God Where Are You? - The Problem of Evil

Genesis 3:1-6, Judges 6:13

Sermon

James Merritt

... our lives and cause good to come out of it if we are committed to His will and His purpose. Take for example the problem of pain. There is good in pain, because pain can give us warning of an even greater evil. Pain teaches us not to touch a hot pan. Our built in nerve endings detect pain so we won't continue to hold a hot pan if we pick it up. Many times it is a small pain that can lead you to go to the doctor to discover a bigger problem that would have killed you had it not been discovered. As surprising ...

9. Rise Above It

Hebrews 4:14-5:10

Sermon

King Duncan

... was suffering from one of two things: either from a hardening of the heart, or a softening of the brain. He's absolutely right. Is there any purpose to pain? Any advantage to adversity? Any solace in suffering? "Don't be discouraged, Charlie Brown," Schroeder tells him. "These early defeats help to build character for later on in life." "For what later on in life?" asks Charlie Brown. "For more defeats!" replies Schroeder. Charlie Brown then invests in five cents' worth of Lucy's psychiatric help. At first ...

10. Is It God's Will?

Hebrews 2:5-18

Sermon

Erskine White

... her on the wrong side of the road? That's not how God works. Our God is loving, not cruel. He delights in our joys, not in our tears. We see how God works by looking at Jesus Christ and we don't see a single instance in any of the gospels where Jesus hurt anybody or inflicted pain. No, sometimes suffering might seem incomprehensible, but we need not make sense of it by blaming it all on God. A second visitor comes and says to the paralyzed woman, "Repent of your sins and maybe you'll understand why this has ...

11. From Hurting to Helping

Mark 10:46-52

Sermon

King Duncan

... He’s calling you." Throwing his cloak aside, Batimaeus jumped to his feet and came to Jesus. What a beautiful word-picture: "Throwing his cloak aside, Batimaeus jumped to his feet and came to Jesus." He wasn’t going to stay stuck in his pain, not if he could help it. You and I see it all the time--people who remain stuck in their pain. The spurned spouse who will not let go of the rage he or she feels toward his or her ex. The widow or widower who will not let go of the grief following the loss of their ...

12. Shake It Off!

Matthew 10:1-42

Sermon

Carlyle Fielding Stewart

... things that we regret, but we must work hard to see that the memory of the sin or the sin itself does not slither back to fasten on us and hold us back. One way of shaking off the pain of that dropped pop-up was by confessing my error and working hard to make sure the same mistake didn't happen again. Repentance means turning around, changing directions, and starting all over with a clean slate. God wants this for us and has made a way through Christ to make this happen. We must shake it off by confession ...

13. Mary Of Nazareth

Luke 2:1-7, Luke 2:8-20, Ephesians 1:15-23

Drama

Lynda Pujad

... , but the soldiers had not done it. Inside the tomb we only saw neatly wrapped linens. There was no body. The linens were not left haphazardly, but as though someone had untied them and left them where the body had laid. We couldn't believe the new wave of terror that met us. I wondered how much pain a person could go through and still function. Hymn "Go To Dark Gethsemane" (vv. 3, 4) We went out to ask the gardener where Jesus had been taken. We did not know the gardener, but as he spoke, we knew it was a ...

14. You Have a Story to Tell

John 9:1-41

Sermon

King Duncan

... up with a disability, I could not accept the traditional interpretations of disability that I heard in prayers, in Sunday school, and in sermons. ‘You are special in God’s eyes,’ I was often told, ‘that’s why you were given this painful disability.’ Or, ‘Don’t worry about your suffering now—in heaven you will be made whole.’ This confused me. My disability had taught me who I am and who God is. What would it mean to be without this knowledge? “My family frequented faith healers with ...

15. Pop Verses: Lamentations 3:22-23

Lamentations 3:22-23

Sermon

Charley Reeb

... have taken several steps the answers will begin to appear. In those times you will find that your hope and faith will grow. Throughout my life I have learned this to be true. God is always right on time. Through all my pain and problems and confusion I have learned I can trust God. Even though I can’t always see God at work or even feel him, I know I can trust God to see me through my suffering and redeem it. I have learned that God is bigger than my problems. Mary Ann Franco of Stuart Florida understands ...

16. A Colt Is Not A Horse

Mark 11:1-11

Sermon

King Duncan

... hand, One of his heralds, yes, I would sing loudest hosannas, ˜Jesus is King.'" Well, it's a great hymn, but though the hymn ends there, the story of Jesus in Holy Week doesn't end with the Palms. It ends with the Passion, with the death of the innocent Jesus. That's not a story of Jesus we love to hear . . . it's too painful. The irony of the Palm Sunday story is how it ends with a fizzle instead of a sparkle. It begins with elaborate preparations to secure a colt. Jesus then parades into Jerusalem as the ...

17. When a Member of the Family Dies

John 11:17-37

Sermon

R. E. Lybrand

... of grief and loss. They cried because they hurt! So when your life is touched with grief after some great loss, or the death of someone you love, cry and cry some more. Cry as much as you need to and don't be ashamed of it. For your tears will help wash the pain from your heart! God Is With You The second thing you should do when a loved one dies is to remember that God is with you! In Matthew 28:20, our Lord's final promise to us before he ascended into heaven was this: "Lo, I am with ...

18. Discipline

Hebrews 12:1-13

Sermon

King Duncan

... months. The experience was devastating for Nancy and her husband. Guthrie writes, “Early on in my journey, I said to God, ‘Okay, if I have to go through this, then give me everything. Teach me everything you want to teach me through this. Don’t let this incredible pain be wasted in my life!’” She continues, “God allows good and bad into our lives and we can trust him with both. Trusting God when the miracle does not come, when the urgent prayer gets no answer, when there is only darkness--this ...

19. Grace Under Pressure

Luke 4:1-13

Sermon

King Duncan

... ’s not easy. It’s not a one-time decision. It’s a decision that you may have to make ten times a day every day until you come out on the other side of your pain with some new wisdom, some new growth, some new clarity. It’s a huge step of faith when you are enduring a wilderness time to say, “Lord, I don’t understand why You’ve brought me here. But I’m placing my total trust in You. Please teach me what You want me to learn here. Please make me into the person You want me ...

20. Grace in the Midst of Unanswered Prayer

2 Corinthians 12:1-10

Sermon

Glenn McDonald

... . It's not surprising that so many people break down. But Paul grasps something of infinite significance. He realizes that suffering and sacrifice are prime ways in which God is repairing a broken world. If things had gone differently in the Garden of Eden, it's a safe bet that pain wouldn't even be in the picture today. But this is a broken world, and God powerfully uses suffering to put things back together. With Paul we can affirm that God never wastes ...

21. I Wonder Why Bad Things Happen to Good People

Romans 8:28-29

Sermon

Charley Reeb

... their faith, or stop believing in God altogether. I have also seen people use it as an excuse. Some feel that as long as they wear a badge of prideful agnosticism they will not have to deal with the truth of God in their lives. Don’t allow unfair pain and suffering to harden your heart. A good way to protect yourself from cynicism is to reflect on the insightful words of Harry Emerson Fosdick: “Goodness is a far greater problem for the atheist than evil is for the believer.” Instead of focusing on the ...

22. I Never Promised You a Rose Garden

John 16:17-33

Sermon

James McCormick

... you hear it one more time? Jesus never promised us a rose garden. He said, “In the world you have tribulation. (That’s the way it is.) But be of good courage. I have overcome the world!” And you can too! Prayer: Father, we still don’t know why life is as frustrating, as painful, as difficult as it is. In all honesty, we must say that we wish it were easier. But we are grateful, Father, that You have not left us alone to live only by our own resources. We are grateful that You are with us, and that ...

23. A Man Named Pain (Part 1)

1 Chronicles 4:1-23

Sermon

Eric Ritz

... ." He was the first king of Israel who did not go to war. And, of course, Jesus: God saves; Emmanuel: God is with us. I believe you will agree with me, though, it is unusual to name a child "pain." "His mother called his name Jabez, saying, ''Because I bore him in pain.’" Can you imagine what it was like growing up? "Oh, no, here comes Pain." "We don’t want Pain on our team." "You really are a Pain, you know." What could Jabez’ mother have been thinking of? Surely she was not thinking of the natural ...

24. Pop Verses: Romans 8:28

Romans 8:28

Sermon

Charley Reeb

... he would also be taking away our freedom to do good. The shadow side to a world with free will is that there is room for bad choices, mistakes, bad timing and decisions, all of which can cause pain, difficulty, frustration, tragedy and adversity. But when bad things happen it doesn’t mean God caused them to happen. In fact, Jesus himself dispelled this misguided belief in the gospel of Luke. In the 13th chapter Jesus references a construction tragedy that killed 18 laborers. Many people in Jesus’ day ...

25. Been There, Done That

Matthew 2:13-23

Sermon

William B. Kincaid, III

... going there, or doing that again. This popular saying means different things to different people. Some places and experiences were so full of disappointment and pain that there isn't much desire to revisit them. We only have to suffer the humiliation of divorce once to know we don't want to do that again. We only have to make ends meet through one stretch of unemployment to know we don't want to go through that again. We only have to hold the hand of one loved through a terminal illness to know that once of ...

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