Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 2526 to 2550 of 4914 results

2526. Nebuchadnezzer’s Dream of a Tree

Daniel 4:1-18

Understanding Series

William Nelson

The King Becomes a Beast-Man and Then Recovers: In terms of form, chapter 4 starts out as a letter from King Nebuchadnezzar addressed to all people everywhere. It begins in the first person with praise to God (4:1–3). Next, the king relates in his own voice the story of his dream (4:4–18). Then the account shifts to the third person for Daniel’s interpretation (4:19–27) and for the narrative of how the dream was fulfilled (4:28–33). Finally, the text reverts back to the first person as Nebuchadnezzar ...

2527. Faces of Failure: Judas Iscariot

Matthew 26-27 (selections)

Sermon

Don Tuttle

The story is told of a preacher whose method for selecting his Sunday scripture was, shall we say, unusual. Some pastors use what’s called a lectionary--a three-year cycle of readings that retells the story of Jesus every year using either Matthew, Mark, or Luke. Other pastors select a topic—maybe “grace” or “sacrifice”--and then biblical texts that address it. Still others preach through entire books. One church I know will spend almost all of 2017 going through 1 Peter verse by verse. But the preacher in ...

2528. Zeal!

John 2:13-22

Sermon

John Jamison

Have you ever had one of those times when you had just had enough? One of those times that you have held your breath, you have turned away, maybe many times, because you just don’t like what you see going on, but then finally come to the point that you just can’t turn away one more time? You’ve had enough, and you decide you just can’t be silent any longer. So you do something fairly dramatic. Looking back on it, it may not have been all that smart, but you had had enough and you did it. Can you remember ...

2529. How Intelligent Is God’s Design?

Matthew 2:1-12

Sermon

Susan R. Andrews

I wonder. I wonder how the wise men would react to our current controversy over intelligent design. I wonder how these sages, who were the educated intellectuals and sophisticated scientists of their day would react to this public tug of war? On the one side are those who see creation as a random process of nature. On the other side are those who see creation as the intentional plan of a designer God. I wonder if the wise men would find it difficult to reconcile the facts of science with the imagination of ...

2530. The Law of Unintended Consequences

Matthew 5:13-20

Sermon

King Duncan

Series: Seeing God More Clearly in 2020 How many of us consider ourselves to be law-abiding individuals—let me see your hands? Most of us take it for granted that most of the laws in our society are worthwhile and reasonable, and we’re thankful for them. Laws are absolutely essential to keeping us safe and providing us with an orderly society. But ever so often we encounter a law that has unintended consequences. For example, many states enact laws to protect the general public from those who have ...

2531. Blessed

Matthew 5:1-12

Sermon

Dean Feldmeyer

We hear it all the time. We hear it in church, in interviews with sports and movie stars, and we hear it a whole lot around the Fourth of July. “I’ve been blessed.” “We’ve been so blessed.” But what does it mean? What does it mean to be blessed? Usually we associate it with plentitude. It means that we have a lot of something: money, property, talent. Certainly, in that sense things haven’t changed much over the past 2,000 years. Ask any first-century Jew who the blessed people were in their community and ...

2532. Fleeced

Judges 6:1-40, John 20:24-31

Sermon

Lori Wagner

Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him. (Psalm 34:8) Prop: Fleece / lamb’s wool Shalom! Peace of the Lord be with you! I have here some genuine lamb’s wool. The wool of a lamb is called “fleece.” And it’s very soft, and very thick. Would anyone like to touch it. [Some can come up…..or you can walk it around and allow people to touch it.] We see something soft, or interesting. We want to touch it. It’s ingrained in us as humans to want to see, to touch, to feel, to ...

2533. The Funeral Crasher

John 14:1-4, John 14:5-14, John 14:15-31

Sermon

Lori Wagner

Ash Wednesday is only a few days away. For most of us Ash Wednesday means a time of sackcloth and ashes, repentance, mourning, sadness, the beginning of a season of Lent, a solemn time of contemplation and seeking until we enter Eastertide. The shift from Lent to Easter is the shift from cerebration to celebration. But most of all, Ash Wednesday reminds us of our ashes-to-ashes mortality. “From ashes we came, to ashes we return” is a reminder of our humanness, our inevitable cycle of birth, life and death ...

2534. Rise Up

Ezekiel 37:1-14

Sermon

Lori Wagner

November 2019, the virus we know as the “Coronavirus” or “COVID-19” appeared in Wuhan, China. Today, nearly five months later, that same virus is affecting people around the world. At nearly 400,000 cases worldwide, COVID-19 is on a trajectory that will continue to infect people in 150 countries for months to come –their health, their finances, and their weary spirits. This event, next to Sept 11, 2001, may be the most devastating world event of the 21st century and is already being compared to two ...

2535. Hungering for Some Time Off

Mark 6:30-34, 53-56

Sermon

King Duncan

How many of you have a hard time taking a vacation? We all want a vacation. We all need a vacation. But do you have trouble finding the time for one? Do you have trouble leaving work back at the office when you go on vacation? Do you feel like your vacation is re-charging you or draining you? Futurist and author Faith Popcorn claims that, compared to the rest of the world, Americans suffer from a condition called “vacation starvation.” The average employee of a large business gets about two, maybe three, ...

2536. Rejecting The Message — Rejecting The Person

Luke 4:21-30

Sermon

Derl G. Keefer

Jesus wanted people to know and experience his loving Father — the true God. Anything else was false love….false gods. Christ’s message came directly from the heart of God. He and the Father were so intimately connected in heart, soul, and spirit. His whirlwind preaching and teaching tour in the synagogues in the communities of the region of Galilee landed him in his own hometown of Nazareth. His celebrity status brought in the crowds on that powerful Saturday. The liberal minded people of Galilee were ...

2537. A Day of Passion, Praise and Prophesying

Acts 2:1-21

Sermon

King Duncan

Let me ask you a question this morning: how many of you are bilingual—that is, you speak two languages? Or tri-lingual . . . if you want to show off? If so, were you raised speaking a language other than English, or did you learn that second language as an adult? There is a federal agency called the Foreign Service Institute that trains diplomats to operate in other countries. The folks at FSI also provide advanced language training in over 65 languages. Sometime back, they ranked all the major languages ...

2538. The Way of the Fox and the Way of the Lamb

Luke 13:31-35

Sermon

Lori Wagner

Can you spot a “pretender?” A “poser?” That person who maybe holds a high-level position and a high level of bravado but is low on actual follow-through? The one who issues threats but when confronted himself hides behind his staff? A sneaky, inept, degenerate, cowardly lowlife, who sounds menacing but doesn’t have it in him to stand face-to-face with his target?Who can hurl accusations and warnings but would turn and run if confronted by the object of his disdain? A loner, who needs the approval of his ...

2539. Your Ordination

Luke 3:15-17, 21-22

Sermon

Will Willimon

My colleague, John Westerhoff, used to say, ''If you are a pastor who is spending more than fifteen hours a week working in projects outside the congregation, you are probably wasting your time. We need you in the congregation equipping the saints for their demanding ministry in the world.'' On the other hand Westerhoff said to the laity, ''If you are a layperson who is spending more than fifteen hours a week working in projects within the church, you are probably wasting your time. Your ministry consists ...

2540. Inside Out

James 5:7-10

Sermon

Charley Reeb

Harvard University once revoked their acceptance of ten incoming students because of inappropriate content they had posted on Facebook. A description of the Harvard College Class official Facebook group states, “Harvard College reserves the right to withdraw an offer of admission ... if an admitted student engages in behavior that brings into question his or her honesty, maturity, or moral character.” A recent study showed that over 40% of colleges and universities look at the Facebook pages and other ...

2541. After Everyone Had Gone Home

Matthew 2:13-23

Sermon

John Jamison

It was over. The shepherds had gone back to their flocks. The three wise men had gone to wherever they were going, the other visitors that had come to see what was going on had drifted away to other things, and the animals had begun to settle back down in the straw. Mary was resting and the baby was sleeping soundly. Joseph looked around the room and let out a long, deep breath. “It was over.” He leaned back against the wall and closed his eyes, looking forward to a much-needed long night’s sleep. Then the ...

2542. Judgment on Israel

Amos 2:6-16

Understanding Series

Elizabeth Achtemeier

Oracles against the Foreign Nations: In the prophetic corpora, oracles of judgment against the foreign nations usually follow a prophet’s oracles to his own people (Jer. 46–51; Ezek. 25–32). Here in Amos, however, the prophet begins with the announcement of judgment on the foreign peoples immediately surrounding Israel, and his purpose in doing so is entirely theological. These foreign nations posed no serious threat to Israel’s life in the time of Jeroboam II, although that king may have carried on ...

2543. AAA=A

John 6:35, 41-51

Sermon

Lori Wagner

“Jesus, the incarnate God, the substance of the Father come down from Heaven to teach, to feed, and to save.” It was hard for Jesus’ own disciples to believe, let alone those who knew his family, grew up with him, taught beside him, saw him as a fellow rabbi and Jew. Now Jesus begins to say some pretty unbelievable things, at least unbelievable to the rational mind, the Jewish mind, anyone’s mind! As we traverse through about 5 weeks of clips in this grand dialogue about Jesus as the Bread of Life, we ...

2544. Epiphany 5

1 Corinthians 1:18--2:5, Matthew 5:13-16, Matthew 5:17-20, Isaiah 58:1-14, 1 Corinthians 2:6-16

Sermon Aid

Russell F. Anderson

Theme: God's Illuminating Spirit COMMENTARY Lesson 1: Isaiah 58:1-9a (9b-12) (C); Isaiah 58:7-10 (RC); Isaiah 58:5-9a (L) This passage is a dialogue between the pommeled people of Israel and God. The prophet voices the complaints of the people, as well as the Lord's response. This profound passage is from the hand of trito-Isaiah in the sixth century B.C. and the issue is fasting. The people complain that their pious acts of fasting, a sign of sorrow and supplication, are unnoticed by God. God responds ...

2545. Proper 8

Romans 6:1-14, Romans 6:15-23, Jeremiah 28:1-17, Genesis 22:1-19, Matthew 10:1-42

Sermon Aid

Russell F. Anderson

COMMENTARY Old Testament: Genesis 22:1-14 God tests Abraham's faith and loyalty by ordering him to sacrifice his son. Just as he is ready to plunge the knife into the child, God stops Abraham, commenting that now he has proven his obedience to the Lord. A ram caught in a thicket substitutes for Isaac as a sacrifice. Old Testament: 2 Kings 4:8-11, 14-16 A woman from Shunem extends hospitality to Elisha the prophet by serving him meals and appointing a room in her house for the prophet to lodge whenever he ...

2546. Proper 4

Deuteronomy 11:1-32, Genesis 12:1-8, Matthew 7:15-23, Matthew 7:24-29, Romans 3:21-31, Psalm 31:1-24, Psalm 33:1-22

Sermon Aid

THEOLOGICAL CLUE From this point until late in the Pentecost season, on Sundays there is only the general theological framework of the church year to provide biblical/theological clues for worship and preaching themes. Pentecost, as "the time of the church," is eschatological; the church worships and waits, learns and grows, and witnesses and works for the coming of the fullness of the kingdom in Jesus' promised return. On the Sundays of Pentecost, the church is counting time, not marking time, until the ...

2547. Sinner to Saint

Matthew 9:9-13

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax office; and he said to him, "Follow me." And he rose and followed him. [Matthew 9:9] "You’ve come a long way, Baby" is an expression used by a popular cigarette commercial. You are shown a 19th century girl who is hiding her smoking with embarrassment. In contrast there is a 20th century girl openly, proudly smoking a cigarette. Indeed, women smokers have come a long way from public displeasure to acceptance. To become a saint, a ...

2548. A Man Whose Dreams Came True

Genesis 37:1-11

Sermon

R. Blaine Detrick

We are seeking to tell the story of the Bible by selecting certain key people at particular points along the way. In the previous chapter, we indicated how God had decided, after the fall of man, to choose one person and through him to build a nation - a nation to be the instrument by which his message of redemption might reach the whole world. That man was Abraham. After Abraham, we pass very quickly over his son and grandson, Isaac and Jacob. This is difficult to do, because there are so many interesting ...

2549. Paul's Prayer For Us

Ephesians 3:14-21

Sermon

King Duncan

Sometimes bizarre stories make the newspapers. Like the one in New York involving Daisy Fernandez. It seems Daisy won $2.8 million in 1981. Subsequently she was sued by her son's teenage friend. Why did he sue her? It was because she had asked him to pray for her. The friend, Christopher Pando, prayed to his favorite saint. When his prayer was answered, Christopher claimed half of Fernandez's jackpot. The case went before a panel of five State Supreme Court judges, who ruled against the boy, declaring ...

2550. The Leadership Principles Of Jesus

Hebrews 5:11-6:12

Sermon

King Duncan

It was during the early years of the National Football League. As the second quarter ended in the championship game between the Green Bay Packers and the New York Giants, Green Bay Coach Curly Lambeau thought about what to say. This would be one of the most important chalk talks of his career. With the Packers losing 16-14, the players counted on him for a revised game plan. Unfortunately, Lambeau never gave that all-important halftime talk. He got lost in thought on his way to the locker room. He opened ...

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