Sermon and Worship Resources

1 Peter 3:18-22

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... the one when everything is" (Cyndee Miller, "People Want to Believe in Something," Marketing News, 28, December 5, 1994, 1). And when we allow the label "sacred" to be affixed to everything from crystals to UFOs, we are treading ... "the truth is out there," and that is why God is hot even with the atheists, who confess to be on a spiritual search. Here is Peter Lamborn Wilson, in an article on Timothy Leary's successor in the technology and culture magazine 21C: "While I am not atheist in the strict sense ...

127. The Trace of Grace

Ephesians 2:1-10

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... the one when everything is" (Cyndee Miller, "People Want to Believe in Something," Marketing News, 28, December 5, 1994, 1). And when we allow the label "sacred" to be affixed to everything from crystals to UFOs, we are treading ... "the truth is out there," and that is why God is hot even with the atheists, who confess to be on a spiritual search. Here is Peter Lamborn Wilson, in an article on Timothy Leary's successor in the technology and culture magazine 21C: "While I am not atheist in the strict sense ...

128. Count Your Wows!

Luke 21:5-38

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... the one when everything is" (Cyndee Miller, "People Want to Believe in Something," Marketing News, 28, December 5, 1994, 1). And when we allow the label "sacred" to be affixed to everything from crystals to UFOs, we are treading ... "the truth is out there," and that is why God is hot even with the atheists, who confess to be on a spiritual search. Here is Peter Lamborn Wilson, in an article on Timothy Leary's successor in the technology and culture magazine 21C: "While I am not atheist in the strict sense ...

129. Waging Wisdom

James 3:13—4:8

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... the one when everything is" (Cyndee Miller, "People Want to Believe in Something," Marketing News, 28, December 5, 1994, 1). And when we allow the label "sacred" to be affixed to everything from crystals to UFOs, we are treading ... "the truth is out there," and that is why God is hot even with the atheists, who confess to be on a spiritual search. Here is Peter Lamborn Wilson, in an article on Timothy Leary's successor in the technology and culture magazine 21C: "While I am not atheist in the strict sense ...

130. The Great Postmodern Soul Train

Mark 13:1-8

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... the one when everything is" (Cyndee Miller, "People Want to Believe in Something," Marketing News, 28, December 5, 1994, 1). And when we allow the label "sacred" to be affixed to everything from crystals to UFOs, we are treading ... "the truth is out there," and that is why God is hot even with the atheists, who confess to be on a spiritual search. Here is Peter Lamborn Wilson, in an article on Timothy Leary's successor in the technology and culture magazine 21C: "While I am not atheist in the strict sense ...

131. An Advent Attitude

1 Thessalonians 3:9-13

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... the one when everything is" (Cyndee Miller, "People Want to Believe in Something," Marketing News, 28, December 5, 1994, 1). And when we allow the label "sacred" to be affixed to everything from crystals to UFOs, we are treading ... "the truth is out there," and that is why God is hot even with the atheists, who confess to be on a spiritual search. Here is Peter Lamborn Wilson, in an article on Timothy Leary's successor in the technology and culture magazine 21C: "While I am not atheist in the strict sense ...

132. Stable-Time

Luke 21:5-38

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... the one when everything is" (Cyndee Miller, "People Want to Believe in Something," Marketing News, 28, December 5, 1994, 1). And when we allow the label "sacred" to be affixed to everything from crystals to UFOs, we are treading ... "the truth is out there," and that is why God is hot even with the atheists, who confess to be on a spiritual search. Here is Peter Lamborn Wilson, in an article on Timothy Leary's successor in the technology and culture magazine 21C: "While I am not atheist in the strict sense ...

133. The Perfect Time to Lose Your Luggage

Colossians 3:12-17

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... the one when everything is" (Cyndee Miller, "People Want to Believe in Something," Marketing News, 28, December 5, 1994, 1). And when we allow the label "sacred" to be affixed to everything from crystals to UFOs, we are treading ... "the truth is out there," and that is why God is hot even with the atheists, who confess to be on a spiritual search. Here is Peter Lamborn Wilson, in an article on Timothy Leary's successor in the technology and culture magazine 21C: "While I am not atheist in the strict sense ...

134. The Smell of Bread

2 Kings 2:1-2, 6-14

Sermon

Stan Purdum

... Revelation 14:13). To die "in the Lord," whatever that may mean in terms of physical experience, means only good things in terms of the spiritual realm. Another verse is from 2 Peter, where that apostle tells his readers, "... entry into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be richly provided for you" (2 Peter 1:11). That adjective "richly" means a lot, doesn't it? Still, another does not address dying per se, but it clearly applies nonetheless. To the Romans, Paul wrote, "For I am ...

135. Seat of Power

Mark 10:35-45, Matthew 20:20-28

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... “hand. This gives the metaphor even more meaning, as the “hand” of judgment, and “hand” of authority. In the scriptures, it is God’s right hand that intercedes, and our hearts that must lean to that “right” hand (Romans 8:34, Colossians 3:1, Hebrews 10:12-13, 1 Peter 3:21-22). We are saved by Christ’s authority in heaven, not by our own. Our seats in the heavenly kingdom are not about prestige, but about passion. The scriptures use this language of right and left also to illustrate how we ...

136. The Song of Servanthood

Luke 1:39-45 (46-54)

Sermon

Derl G. Keefer

... offered us his righteousness. We essentially make a trade by faith; we give him our sin and its accompanying death penalty and he gives us his righteousness and abiding presence. Peter taught it correctly when he wrote, “He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness…” (1 Peter 2:24 NIV). Fifth, the plan’s ultimate victory came through God’s resurrection of Jesus. Without the resurrection Jesus would only be a martyr, but because of the ...

137. Jumping through Hoops

Acts 11:1-18

Sermon

Frank Ramirez

... helped to break down barriers that separated people. As he would note later in a letter, "Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy" (1 Peter 2:10). But word has gotten back to the church elders, and they call Peter in to account for what he has done. In point of fact, he hasn't done anything. The Holy Spirit has accomplished this impossible task of bringing people together, but these elders fear a church that is open to all ...

138. Christ’s Call to Discipleship

Luke 5:1-11

Sermon

Derl G. Keefer

... ? “Master, we have toiled all night and took nothing!” (Luke 5:5a RSV). Through gritted teeth and a whiney voice Peter responded, “but at your word I will let down the net” (Luke 5:5b RSV). I am so much like Peter. How often I think, “I really don’t want to do this.” Then I say to the Lord, “But I ... life. He has promised never to leave us nor forsake us (1 Peter 5:7). Show your great love for him as he shows you his great love personally. Be his disciple by simply being his follower! Amen.

139. Prayers For the President

1 Timothy 2:1-7

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... regarded it as an absolute duty to pray for the emperor and his subordinate kings and governors. "Fear God," said Peter. "Honor the emperor" (1 Peter 2:17). Which emperor? How about Nero, that monster of cruelty who used Christians as human torches to light ... will hide my eyes from you; even if you offer many prayers, I will not listen." Why? "Your hands are full of blood" (Isaiah 1:15). Your walk should match your talk. Wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight! Stop doing wrong, ...

140. Lost Baggage: The Middle Seat

1 Corinthians 5:1-13

Sermon

James Merritt

... of the reasons why we have so little influence with those outside the church is because we are experts at condemning those who are on the outside while cutting slack for those who are on the inside. Yet, I Peter 4:17 says this, “Judgment must begin at the House of God.” (1 Peter 4:17, KJV) We expect to come to church and hear the pastor deal with divorce, immorality, pornography, materialism, greed, selfishness and apathy outside the church with judgment, but when it comes to all those things inside the ...

141. In Quest of a Treasure

James 1:1-18

Sermon

Larry Powell

... , the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand forever." (KJV, 40:6-8) In 1 Peter we read, "For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers and the flower of ... changed much, have they? INCREDIBLE JOURNEY It is claimed that for every pound of fat we add to our bodies, we also add somewhere between 200 to 1,000 miles of additional capillaries to feed body cells. I find that rather astounding. If this is true (and I assume that it is), and if I ...

142. The Only Fact That Really Matters

1 Corinthians 15:12-34

Sermon

Raymond Gibson

... the Corinthians that the Resurrection of Jesus was no idle dream, that it was a fact attested by many witnesses. "He (that is, the risen Jesus) appeared to Cephas (or Peter), then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time," Paul said, "then to James (his brother), then to all the apostles" (1 Corinthians 15:5-7). The people to whom Paul was writing lived in a skeptical and sophisticated society. They were the products of a pagan culture and the roots of Christianity ...

143. Don't Roll It Back

1 Peter 2:4-12

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... and upon this petra (we bedrock) Jesus promised to build his church. The Me is built upon the We. In Christ Peter’s insecurities will be made solid, as will ours. Here in 1 Peter, “stones” become living things, not just basic building blocks. “Stones” become a metaphor for living people, not just any people but disciples living a resurrection life of Jesus. Peter might have been the most flighty, spontaneous, impulsive, momentarily insightful yet weakest of all Jesus’ disciples, but he must have ...

144. The Three Kings

Matthew 2:1-12

Sermon

King Duncan

... that pioneer on dying and how it relates to living, once wrote: “People are like stained glass windows: they sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within.” In 1 Peter 2:9 we read, “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” Someone put it this way: “Suppose you were ...

145. Shepherding One Another in a Collapsing World

Romans 9:1-29

Sermon

Robert G. Tuttle

... why are we not brokenhearted? There is an urgency about God and a lost world. Meyers writes it into a poem, "Saint Paul"1: Then with a thrill the intolerable craving Shivers throughout me like a trumpet call; O, to save these, to perish for their ... myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren." Paul was willing to give up everything if it would lead the Jews to Christ. Peter reminds us (1 Peter 29 NEB) that we are, "A people claimed by God for his own, to proclaim the triumphs of him who has called (us) ...

146. Moving At The Speed Of Light: Nazareth: Family Ties

1 Corinthians 1:10-17

Sermon

Frank Luchsinger

... Paul," or "I belong to Apol'los," or "I belong to Cephas," or "I belong to Christ." "Is Christ divided?" asks Paul (1 Corinthians 1:10-13). In the Corinthian church there was a controversy over allegiance. To whom will we be loyal; to whom will we ... must not be obeyed. When a manmade law is in conflict with God's law, there is no compromise....2 And he would quote Saint Peter: "We ought to obey God rather than men" (Acts 5:29). William Hanby was a vigorous critic of the Fugitive Slave Law and well he should ...

147. Creative Preaching

Sermon

Michael Rogness

... away from visual aids because they can so easily be trite or corny. For a visual generation, however, they can also be very effective. They give the listener a "hook" by which the message of the sermon sticks to them. For example, I preached a post-Easter sermon on 1 Peter 2:9-10: But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people, that you may declare the wonderful deeds of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were no people, but now you are God ...

148. Double Citizenship

Matthew 22:15-22

Sermon

Jerry L. Schmalemberger

... not the critic, is the dangerous citizen." A good citizen - here is the truth Jesus tells - is both a good citizen of his country and of the Kingdom of God. He will serve both his fellow persons and his creator God. As Peter puts it, "Fear God, and honor the king" (1 Peter 2:17). There is often a fine line between the two kingdoms - the two areas of loyalty and responsibility, and our conscience must here enlighten us and be our guide. Thomas Jefferson, a serious student of the Bible, wrote: "I always have ...

149. An Unlikely Witness

John 20:1-9

Sermon

King Duncan

... canal of eternity and has returned to assure us that God is love, and that there is a place prepared for any who will accept the Good News. Whether our name is Marie or Mary or Peter or even Judas, Christ came into the world to save sinners. Won't you accept his offer of a new life today? 1. Contributed by Russell J. Horning, Shinglehouse, PA. 2. THE BROADMAN BIBLE COMMENTARY, VOL. 9 (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1970), pp. 363-364. 3. Information about Mary Magdalene was taken from a book by Dr. Alan Walker ...

150. Cast All Your Anxiety on Him

1 Peter 4:12-14, 5:6-11

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... lives as well as in our families. A Word that will help us be better parents and better spouses. Listen to what Peter writes in 1 Peter 4:12-14, 5:6-11 (NRSV) [12] Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that is taking place among ... future. Your job, their job. Your health, their health. How do you not dread? How do you not be afraid? THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT PETER WAS TALKING ABOUT. The only real answer is Trust. You have to trust the second half of verse 7 very specifically in relation to your ...