Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 2501 to 2525 of 4962 results

2501. Honk If Something Falls Off

Matthew 5:43-48

Sermon

King Duncan

... to be that way. We can do better. Let me tell you about a woman who is trying to do better, though some of you will not agree with her actions. Go with me back about 18 months ago to the bombs that were planted at the Boston marathon. Hopefully that event is still fresh in your memory. Tamerlan Tsarnaev was the older of the two brothers who set those bombs in Boston, the one who died in the process of a police chase. After the tragedy, you may remember, no cemetery was willing to allow Tamerlan’s body ...

2502. Distracted by Disappointment

Luke 24:13-35

Sermon

King Duncan

... , don’t you think? They had been followers of the Master, but now he is walking along with them and they do not recognize him. Maybe, as with Mary, their despair stood in the way their disappointment with the way things turned out. That can happen. You lose hope, you discard your dreams, and you are blinded to the good things that still surround you. Pastor and author Leith Anderson, as a boy, grew up outside of New York City. During those years he was an avid fan of the old Brooklyn Dodgers. One day his ...

2503. What's It Take to Be A Saint? (All Saint's Day)

Revelation 7:9-17

Sermon

King Duncan

... life, according to Mama.” Strangely enough, this atheist’s statement about there being no God motivated Hornsby to go into the scripture and to learn for himself who God is and what God expects out of us. And in his research he discovered the God he always hoped existed a God of love and acceptance and forgiveness. (5) There are still far too many religious people who have a god who plays havoc with their lives and who punishes them for sins of which they are not even aware. So, it is important to note ...

2504. An Announcement about Our Future

Mark 13:32-37

Sermon

King Duncan

... truck and got her into place with two minutes to spare. Dick said all the way to the church, the lines from My Fair Lady kept running through his head: “Kick up a rumpus, but don’t forget the compass, and get me to the church on time.” (1) I hope your Christmas season will not be quite that hectic. But time is at a premium during the Advent season, isn’t it? Our song could be, “Kick up a rumpus, but don’t forget the compass, and get me to Christmas on time.” Welcome on this first Sunday in ...

2505. Faith’s First Impressions

1 Thessalonians 1:1-10

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... in Thessolonica offered up no mealy-mouthed faith, but were rousing enthusiasts for Jesus. It’s not that they had no doubts or despair. But they had “full conviction” and full confidence in the power of their faith. They had what such passion gives —- hope for the future and the dare to enact dreams about that future. You never know when first impressions’ 3 P’s power, presence and passion — might need to kick in. Trisha Sommers got bad news as a 45 year old cancer patient. Her liver cancer ...

2506. Changing Times

Mark 1:1-8

Sermon

Wayne Brouwer

... me again.” Once the moment of opportunity is missed it becomes a moment of judgment. As Whittier put it: “Of all sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these, ‘It might have been.’ ” This mirrors the urgency of Mark’s opening words. While some hoped for the day of the Lord to bring joy and meaning and blessing, those who ignored it would find themselves facing a future of terror. At the same time, the “good news” is that Jesus broke into our times to bring the blessings of the kingdom ...

2507. We Are Not The Light

Sermon

Craig MacCreary

... for the life of any church. Try and imagine what a bad or indifferent Christmas would do to the morale of your church. We want if not a “Currier and Ives” Christmas for our families at least enough joy and good cheer to override any past enmity. Hopefully tinsel, garlands, and ornaments will chase away any seasonal affective disorder we may be suffering. Most of us are determined that the retelling of the story will bring at least enough peace of mind to help us deal with a world that often seems to be ...

2508. Night of Light

Luke 2:1-7

Sermon

Timothy Cargal

... appeared, bringing salvation to all” (v. 11), the lesson we are to draw from that grace is that we need to “renounce impiety and worldly passions, and ... to live lives that are self-con-trolled, upright and godly, while we wait for the blessed hope and manifestation of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ” (vv. 12-13). The stance taken in this text is one that simultaneously looks back to Christ’s first advent (“grace ... has appeared”) and forward to his second advent (“while ...

2509. Still Surprised After Christmas

Luke 2:21-40

Sermon

David J. Kalas

... might say that nothing he does would surprise us. Yet, we leave the manger and are filled with wonder and awe day after day, year after year, as we keep being surprised by our marvelous God. An Alternative Application Luke 2:22-40. “Patron Saint of Hope.” Luke reports that “it had been revealed to (Simeon) that he would not see death until he had seen the Lord’s Messiah.” What we don’t know, however, is how long Simeon had waited between the time when that guarantee was revealed to him, on the ...

2510. An Announcement for a New Year

Galatians 3:26--4:7

Sermon

King Duncan

... kept a diary on his way to the New World. It was not an easy voyage. The men were on the verge of mutiny. Many of them wanted to turn around. Yet every day the last entry that he would write in his log was: “Today we moved westward!” I hope you were able to write in your journal each day this past year, “I moved forward.” Though it hasn’t been an easy year, and some of us have had quite a difficult year, we can still move forward, if not physically or financially, at least mentally and spiritually ...

2511. The God of Second Chances

Jeremiah 30:1--31:40

Sermon

King Duncan

... shocked them by asking, “Do you know with which group Jesus was more at home?” He went on to attack the congregation for their materialism, greed, and insensitivity to the poor. William Willimon’s mother turned to her son at the conclusion of the sermon and said, “I hope that he is having a good time preaching here because he will never be invited back.” (7) I don’t know if Colson was ever invited back, but I do know that Chuck Colson is living proof that a person’s life can be changed by the ...

2512. Get Out the Ticker Tape - Palm Sunday

Mark 11:1-11

Sermon

King Duncan

... to be close to Christ remained faithful when the crowd turned against him. One of his disciples denied him and another betrayed him with a kiss. But then Jesus said the tares and the wheat grow together and at the harvest they will be separated. I hope that on the day when that separation comes, we will be counted as wheat, don’t you? Of course some persons were there just out of mere curiosity. They were just following the crowd. They saw the excitement and wondered what was going on and just started ...

2513. Building a New Team

Mark 8:31--9:1

Sermon

Wayne Brouwer

... all of the compatriots. So it is in these biblical glimpses of the mission of God. In a world turned cold to its creator, in an age riddled by Delphic oracles and temple prostitutes and emperors claiming divinity, in a little corner of geography where messianic hopes ran high, God calls together a strange team to make its mark by playing a different game. Walter Wangerin Jr.’s, great allegory, The Book of the Dun Cow (as well as its wonderful sequel, The Book of Sorrows), captures both the scope of the ...

2514. Je Suis Jesus

1 Corinthians 7:1-40

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... God. The love that brought Jesus into this world at a particular time and place is past. The love that keeps Jesus in this world and lives in our hearts and hands is present every day we confess Christ to the world. The love that assures our greatest hopes and dreams is already a reality, even though it lies in the future. That’s why Christians are such God Magnets. Or at least should be. Have you ever noticed that certain people in your life are God Magnets…just being in their presence draws you closer ...

2515. The Kingdom Is at Hand

Mark 1:14-20

Sermon

King Duncan

... justice and righteousness are irrelevant in our modern society . . . No longer can we act as if life has no meaning and that there is no hope. The Kingdom of God is nearer than it has ever been before. Here’s something for you to think about. Did you know that there ... and women working to reverse his situation. Someone needs to tell him that miracles are occurring every day. He should not give up hope. And he needs to know, above all else, that by the power of God his life can still have meaning today. The ...

2516. What Do You See?

Luke 10:25-37

Sermon

James Merritt

... you can react to a person in need. II. Respond with Your Heart For those in the crowd listening to this story there is still hope. The priest has failed. The Levite has failed, but there are still a lot of great Jewish people out there. Surely, there is a good ... with your mind. The question a good neighbor asks is, “How can I help?” That is when you respond with your heart. I hope you know who the real Good Samaritan is in this story. It is Jesus. You see there was a man who traveled that Jericho ...

2517. Are You a Polar Bear?

Ephesians 1:1-14

Sermon

... relationships with other people and with Him. God created us to be happy and healthy and all we can be. Isn’t that what you would hope for, for your children? How’s that working out for you? Are you happy and healthy and all you can be? Maybe from time to ... knew that we could never be totally holy and blameless. But through His love, that is how God sees us. And that is how God hopes we will be--not for His benefit, but for ours. God only wants the best for us just as every loving parent wants only the ...

2518. Brushing Your Teeth with Oreos

Luke 2:41-52

Sermon

King Duncan

... them on the trip home from Jerusalem. But Mary and Joseph loved Jesus and he loved them, and they brought him up to love God. It is no wonder, at age 12, that he was aware that he had a special relationship with God. I hope your children, whatever their age, know they have a special relationship with God too. 1. Matthew Cole, Plant City, Florida. Cited by Andy Simmons in Reader’s Digest (Reader’s Digest USA). 2. Gizmag Emerging Technology Magazine, www.gizmag.com. 3. Tom Phillips, “Chinese University ...

2519. "Gotcha" Questions from Mean-Spirited People

Sermon

R. Robert Cueni

... to convince him to tone down his rhetoric. They decide to kill him! Can you imagine? I submit to you: these are mean-spirited people. Each day of the week Jesus preaches in the temple. Ordinary folks compose most of his audience. They come with great hope and expectation. Their agenda is to see him, hear him, and perhaps be healed by him. The religious leaders of Jerusalem, scribes, Pharisees, Sadducees, and the like, are fewer in number but always present in the crowd. They do not want to learn from Jesus ...

2520. King Jesus

Luke 1:46-56, Luke 1:26-38

Sermon

Wayne Brouwer

... specifics of the gift were revealed through the person of Jesus, it remained a "mystery." Even the prophets were somewhat in the dark about the exact contours of the great gift that was to be revealed. But now the wrappings are off, and the proclamation of Jesus is the hope of the world. Some gifts we receive are simply add-ons to the polite niceties of the relationship. For instance, a man might give a woman a book as a Christmas gift. He knows she likes to read and this happens to be a best-seller she has ...

2521. What Are You Seeking?

Matthew 2:1-12

Sermon

King Duncan

... else. Power, wealth, pride, even an attachment to the status quo can be the enemy of God. We must lay every other motive in life before the child of Bethlehem. Our prayer must be, “Take my every thought, O Lord, everything I am and everything I hope to be, and help me focus on one thing, your kingdom and your righteousness. For it is in the name of the child born in Bethlehem that we pray. Amen.” 1. http://www.joewright.org/sermons/xfig.html. 2. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1995), p ...

2522. A Lost Boy

Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32

Sermon

King Duncan

... It was then that father understood what the Prodigal’s father felt when he embraced his boy and welcomed him back home. (3) It’s a story told time and time again . . . a young person wanders far away from home . . . a parent waits and hopes and prays . . . and then, hopefully . . . reconciliation takes place. Even if we have not had a young person in our family who has wandered into the far country, it is still our story. For it is the story of the human heart wandering far from God until that day comes ...

2523. Sunday's Here

John 20:1-9

Sermon

King Duncan

... . . . and then we knew beyond a doubt, death had been defeated. Friday was over; Sunday was finally here. It is said that when Queen Elizabeth I (1533-1603) of England was dying she exclaimed, “All my possessions for a moment of time!” Isn’t that the hope of us all--especially for those we love--that there will always be more time? But what evidence do we have of that except for Easter Sunday? Sunday’s here and Jesus is alive! But do not be misled. The Bible is very forthright. Fridays are still ...

2524. Aliens To The Rescue

Illustration

Brett Blair

... that there is life elsewhere in the universe. In a moment of wit he said, “It’s nice to think that there is someone out there that can help us.” A funny statement, but Sagan was secondarily implying that there is no God. He knew that a hope of help from other beings was unlikely. It assumes first that other beings exist and second that their race will not be affected with the same depravity that is so evident in all human endeavor. It also assumes that they would be interested in helping us. It ...

2525. Jesus Taken Up into Heaven

Acts 1:1-11

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

... the least to the greatest, and he would forgive them (Jer. 31:34) and pour out his Spirit upon them (Joel 2:28). For Jesus’ contemporaries, as for all generations before them, the kingdom conceived of in these terms was no more than a distant hope. With what astonishment, therefore, must they have heard Jesus’ announcement that it had become a present reality (see, e.g., Mark 1:22, 27). “The right time has come,” he said (i.e., the anticipated time of its manifestation), “and the kingdom of God ...

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