Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 2551 to 2575 of 4945 results

2551. Something Different

Matthew 5:1-12

Sermon

James L. Killen

Jesus came preaching "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near" (Matthew 4:17). Then Jesus went up a hillside and gathered around him the people who were interested in what he was saying and tried to explain to them what he meant. That was the Sermon on the Mount, and our scripture reading for today is the first part of it. The kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of God are the same thing. This concept is one of the biggest ideas that you will find in the Bible. It is very important. It has many ...

2552. Gratitude and Coping

Matthew 14:13-21

Sermon

Tom Garrison

Nothing in recent years has been more upsetting than the sharp increase in the use of drugs among young. People have become so traumatized by the subject that any reasonable discussion of it has become well-nigh impossible. This is why I was particularly impressed with a speech made not long ago by a public health official at a large university, for he wisely avoided histrionics and went straight to the heart of the problem. He openly acknowledged that "the jury was still out" as to all of the physical ...

2553. Daniel’s Vision of a Man

Daniel 10:1--11:1

Understanding Series

William Nelson

The Final Revelation: Prologue: Chapters 10 through 12 form one long unit containing the last apocalypse of the book. This unit can be subdivided into three smaller sections: the prologue (10:1–11:1), the body (11:2–12:4), and the epilogue (12:5–13). The proper divisions do not line up with the chapter breaks in our modern Bibles because those chapter breaks are not original; they were inserted long after the Bible was completed and not always in the most helpful places. The prologue sets the stage for the ...

2554. Thank God We're Free at Last

Romans 6:12-23

Sermon

King Duncan

In January 1985, a large suitcase was discovered at the customs office of the Los Angeles International Airport. Inside the suitcase was the dead body of an unidentified young woman. U.S. Customs agents who discovered the body immediately launched an investigation. What they uncovered was a tale of a horrible tragedy that resulted from the desperate desire of two young people for freedom. The dead woman was the wife of a young Iranian living in the U.S. Her desire was to join her husband. However she was ...

2555. Faces of Failure: Pontius Pilate

Matthew 27:1-2, 11-26

Sermon

Don Tuttle

We all make choices. Sometimes they are binary. The optometrist asks: “Which is better, A or B?” Other times we choose from a plethora of options. Think Starbucks. Will that be a Mocha, Latte, Cappuccino, Macchiato? Tall, grande, venti? Decaf, half-caf, regular? Skinny or regular? Straight or flavor shots? Such is life. Our text today is about choices. The most obvious one is the one made by the chief priests, elders, and people. They choose between Jesus, the King of the Jews, or Barabbas, a notorious ...

2556. In the Wilderness with the Devil

Luke 4:1-13

Sermon

King Duncan

Paul Grobman in his book Vital Statistics tells about incident that occurred on January 21, 1996. This incident--which might be every child’s fantasy and every parent’s nightmare--involved two brothers, Antony and Jerome who live in Quebec, Canada. It seems that the two boys wandered off from their backyard and went to a nearby Toys R Us, the now defunct toy store chain. While amusing themselves in the gigantic toy store Antony and Jerome slipped into a playhouse where they promptly fell asleep. When they ...

2557. Preparing the Way

Matthew 11:2-11

Sermon

Dean Feldmeyer

In 1992, Hurricane Andrew devastated Florida. It destroyed entire communities and killed 26 people, obliterated more than 25,000 homes, and damaged more than 100,000 others. I remember one news program was going through a residential area where it looked like every single home had been blown to smithereens by bombs. There, in the midst of all that devastation stood three houses. Each of the houses had sustained some damage, shingles off, broken windows, some siding torn loose — but they were still standing ...

2558. Don't Stop Praying!

Luke 18:1-8, Luke 18:35-43

Sermon

Lori Wagner

Props: “job” application with pre-made questions / petition to the court for financial assistance I need some volunteers this morning! Come on up! Well, I have here an applications that I’d like you to fill out. The first one….I’ll let you do this one….is a job application. It’s for a “position” in a make-believe church…. not this one of course (smile). For those of you listening….. ____is going to read off some of the questions on the application, and maybe you can help him/her answer them. Okay? Here we ...

2559. Scroll Bread and Honey

Mark 1:1-8

Sermon

Lori Wagner

How many of you have tried to diet? Come on, I know you all have! Which ones have you tried? Everyone today has a special diet. I know some of you probably have tried the Atkins Diet, the South Beach Diet. What others? Some of you eat gluten free! Some of you cut out other allergens, like peanuts, or shellfish. A while back the rage was “mono meals.” The mono meal diet meant you ate only one thing, a fruit like bananas or a vegetable like potatoes. (This kind of eating regimen didn’t work so well for ...

2560. Lion of Judah

Gen 49:1-28, Judges 13-15, Matt 4:12-17

Sermon

Lori Wagner

[If there is a Lions Club still functioning in your community, find out if any member of your church is a member. Then either use this moment as an interactive to talk about their club, and rituals, or you tell the story and use them to back you up so that you make sure you’re getting the story right.] So the interview might go like this . . . . or turn this into a narrative . . . or make it a personal story. How many here belong to or know someone who belongs to a local Lion’s Club . . . . . Do you have ...

2561. Big Spender

1 Kings 10:14-29, 1 Kings 11:1-13, Luke 15:11-32

Sermon

Lori Wagner

Shopping addiction is right up there with drug and alcohol addiction. In fact, addicts shop for the same reasons that other addicts do what they do –the “high” of escaping negative feelings, the inability to cope with problems emotionally or spiritually, the need to fill an inner void, or a way to deal with anxiety caused often by approval seeking. The more the inner need to feel good or salve depression or anxiety, the more extravagant and flagrant the spending. The truth is, the lavish spender may be ...

2562. The Excellent Meal Ticket

Genesis 37:1-11, Genesis 37:12-36, John 21:15-25, Mark 8:1-13

Sermon

Lori Wagner

Props: shirt with pattern only in the front and shirt with pattern all around it Ever see those shirts where the pattern is only on one side? In case not, I have one here to show you today. You see this? I get so frustrated when I see these shirts. They offend my OCD sense of decorum because you turn, and the pattern just stops. It’s like, you can only turn one way in speaking to people, cause otherwise, it looks like the rest of you is invisible. The exciting part is turned toward the front. But turn ...

2563. Hiding in Plain Sight

Matthew 2:13-18, Matthew 2:19-23, Exodus 2:1-10, Exodus 2:11-25

Sermon

Lori Wagner

“Things are not as they appear. We will not know ourselves or our beauty until we see God.” C.S. Lewis (“Till We Have Faces”) C.S. Lewis loved secrets, symbols, layers of meaning, and mystery. In 2008, Michael Ward, currently Senior Research Fellow at Blackfriars Hall, University of Oxford, announced his discovery of a possible new connection between Lewis’s 7 fiction books, The Chronicles of Narnia. Based on Lewis’s love of the stars, cosmology, and time spent in the Oxford observatory, Ward believes that ...

2564. The Wind Came

Acts 2:1-13

Sermon

King Duncan

A woman named Alice tells about her nephew’s 10-year-old son who came for a visit one hot, July weekend. “Look, Alice,” he said as he ran over to where she was sitting. “I found a kite. Could we go outside and fly it?” Glancing out a nearby window, Alice noticed there was not a breeze stirring. “I’m sorry, Tripper,” she said, “The wind is not blowing today. The kite won’t fly.” The determined 10-year-old replied. “I think it’s windy enough. I can get it to fly,” he answered, as he hurried out the back door ...

2565. An Important Village with a Questionable Reputation

John 1:43-51

Sermon

King Duncan

According to a recent report from the BBC News, inhabitants of a village in northern Nigeria are celebrating the renaming of their village. The old name of the town was “Area of Idiots.” Wonder why they wanted to change it? “Area of Idiots.” The new name of the village is “Area of Plenty.” I believe you will agree with me that’s an improvement. The local emir announced the name change after residents complained that they had been mocked for years because of that name and were ashamed to tell people where ...

2566. And That’s All I Need To Know

John 10:11-18

Sermon

Timothy W. Ayers

As many Sunday school teachers do, Miss Johnson pulled together her young students so they could prepare to memorize Psalm 23. She approached the pastor wanting to have the students present their memory work to the whole congregation on Sunday morning a month from that date. Little Bobby was initially excited about the memorization and being able to recite his part before the church. He wanted to invite his grandmother to watch him do it. Unfortunately Bobby froze when it came to memorizing just about ...

2567. Which King Do We Worship?

Matthew 2:1-12

Sermon

King Duncan

Think about the last trip you took to a new place. Maybe you went on vacation or maybe you just went across town. Did you notice that it seemed to take more time to reach your destination than it did to return home? This sensation of seeming to take longer to make a trip than it is to return home is universal and even has an official scientific name. It is referred to as the “return trip effect” by those who research it. There are plenty of theories behind what causes the “return trip effect.” Researchers ...

2568. The Joy Of Being Found

Luke 15:1-10

Sermon

Richard Hasler

D. L. Moody tells the story somewhere of going to a jail to preach and when he began to preach he saw a sign in the back of the hall that read in large bold letters: DO NOT PREACH ON THE PRODIGAL SON. Apparently, the prisoners had had enough sermons on that particular parable, even though it is one of Jesus’ most powerful parables about God’s redeeming grace. Fortunately, our lectionary text Luke 15:1-10 does not include the parable of the prodigal son. We do have two similar parables: the lost sheep and ...

2569. The Gift of Forgiveness

Matthew 18:21-35

Sermon

King Duncan & Angela Akers

Jim Talley and Terry Benner in their book True Colors tell the story of a man named Joe who decided to take an afternoon walk through the foothills just above a lake where he had been fishing. Joe was comfortably dressed in shorts, a T-shirt, and tennis shoes. Suddenly, he felt a sharp pain in his leg as he stepped over a small log. It was then he noticed a large diamondback rattler slithering into the undergrowth beside the log. He looked down at his leg and saw that he was bleeding from two small ...

2570. Master Teacher

Matthew 15:10-28

Sermon

Lori Wagner

The Christian Testament scriptures are the most fascinating set of inspired and brilliant stories we can possibly read and learn from. The scriptures are amazing. But too often, we miss the best parts. This can happen when we read either from habit and read over clues that we’ve never noticed before or when we don’t see the entire picture and have a hard time imagining what’s happening in real-time. I like to employ two “clues” or “helps” therefore when reading scripture. These can deepen our understanding ...

2571. Haunted

Mark 6:14-29

Sermon

Lori Wagner

Ok…How many of you have had the experience of looking back at your life and lamenting (perhaps over and over) a mistake you wish you wouldn’t have made? I think we’ve all done that at one time or another. How many of you have had it keep you up at night? That nagging, awful feeling of blame and guilt that just won’t let you go. The nightmares, the sleepless nights! We can be awfully hard on ourselves sometimes. Wrestling in itself is not bad. It helps us discern right from wrong. It helps us learn and grow ...

2572. Faith and Fury

Luke 19:28-40

Sermon

Lori Wagner

A brand-new book came out in the past couple of months that immediately hit the #1 New York Times Bestseller List and has remained on the list for 14 weeks straight. It’s called “The Let Them Theory.” Written by Mel Robbins, who researched and developed its premise in response to her own personal journey from feeling “stuck” and hopeless in her life’s situation to becoming one of the most successful behavioral experts in the country, the book helps people and organizations alike battle depression and ...

2573. Proper 14

Hebrews 11:1-40, Jeremiah 18:1--19:15, Genesis 15:1-18, Luke 12:35-48

Sermon Aid

George Bass

THEOLOGICAL CLUE The kerygmatic theology, which is built into the church year framework for the liturgy, is almost imperceptible by this Sunday, the middle of the Pentecost cycle/season. There are more evident signals coming to the church from the calendar year. Summer is nearly over. Labor Day sees the beginning of fall activities - the end of vacation time, back to school and college for students, rally day in Sunday church schools, resumption of rehearsals, and planning for stewardship programs in less ...

2574. Good Works Will Not Save You!

John 14:15-31

Sermon

Mark Ellingsen

Jesus was still in the middle of his farewell discourse to his disciples. He was trying to comfort the despair that they were feeling when they had first heard the news (during the last supper) that Jesus would be leaving them (John 13:21, 33; 14:1). He had comforted them with the good news that he was on the way to God the Father, that in associating with Jesus, the disciples had been in fellowship with the Father (John 14:6-11). Whoever believed in him, Jesus said, would be able to do the works that he ...

2575. Chapter I

Exodus 20:1-21

Sermon

Frank H. Seilhamer

"I am the Lord your God ..." Exodus 20:2 A few years ago I had the opportunity to return to the homestead where I spent some of the happiest days of my youth. It is a farm situated in the midst of the wheatgrowing country of Pennsylvania, where my grandparents once lived. Shortly after I arrived, I walked out to a little knoll that overlooks the fields and sat down beneath the huge old walnut tree that has stood there for over a hundred years. From there I looked out over the fields. The wheat at the time ...

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