Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 2601 to 2625 of 2664 results

2601. If It Had Been a Snake

John 1:29-42

Sermon

King Duncan & Angela Akers

... in an unexpected context. In 2007, internationally known concert violinist Joshua Bell, dressed in casual clothes and a ball cap, positioned himself near a garbage can in a Washington, DC subway station and played the violin. Busy DC commuters passed him by. A few dropped coins into his violin case. No one expected to see an award-winning, internationally famous musician playing for coins in a subway station, so no one recognized him in this context. (1) Knowing I’m not the only one who misses the obvious ...

2602. Shiny Objects

Matthew 4:1-11

Sermon

King Duncan & Angela Akers

... social creatures. Some research suggests that we are more susceptible to Shiny Object Syndrome when we are facing a big challenge or a big project. The stress of facing a big challenge causes us to look for an easy fix. And the easiest, fastest fix is to drop what we are doing to chase a new trend, a new challenge, a new priority. You feel overwhelmed or you just don’t want to persevere in the face of a challenge? Then don’t. Pick some new challenge or project. Change course. This becomes an easy way ...

2603. What Power Fears Most

Matthew 2:13-23

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... the child, he issued a decree that all children ages two years and under should be killed both in and around the area of Bethlehem. The joy of the Messiah’s birth was over. Jesus’ family escaped, but many others didn’t. People’s hearts dropped into their stomachs that next day and joy turned to horror as soldiers invaded their homes, slaughtering their children. In our world today, we gasp with terror and revulsion at school shootings, wars, and abuse that take the lives of our babies and children ...

2604. The Big Move!

Matthew 4:12-23

Sermon

John Jamison

... basement of the synagogue, maybe a few speeches, probably with those old men sitting at a table in the back of the room shaking their heads, and the old women standing closely around Mary to give her strength, “Poor Mary.” At a minimum, a few folks would have dropped by the house to offer their best wishes and remind Jesus of the various laws he was going to have to be careful to remember if he was really going to go hang out with Romans and other non-Jewish people. As Jesus left, Dad would have been ...

2605. To Cross Over

Romans 4:1-5, 13-17

Sermon

Dr. Ronald Love

... was known to be untroubled at offending others in his sermons. It is reported that he was once preaching to a group of farmers and compared them to their pigs. He preached that as a pig never looks up at the oak tree from which the acorn is dropped that feeds them, just as the farmers never looked up to God who provided their blessings. Though Hill was educated at some of the best schools in England, because he was so outspoken churches would not let him use their pulpits, so he began to preach outdoors in ...

2606. Invictus

Romans 5:1-11

Sermon

Dr. Ronald Love

... the Giants win their first World Series of the modern baseball era in 1905. For his career Taylor was 115-103, with a 2.77 earned run average. Taylor was devastating on the mound because of his unorthodox corkscrew delivery. His best pitch was a destructive drop ball. Luther Haden Taylor was known by his teammates and the public as Dummy Taylor, because he was a deaf and mute. Taylor could not hear and he could not speak. In the early 1900s deaf and mute individuals were routinely called dumb, and this ...

2607. He's Not Dead Anymore

Matthew 28:1-10

Sermon

King Duncan & Angela Akers

... cross. He was positioned on a large cross at the top of a hill. On cue, he was supposed to be lowered from the cross into the arms of a man playing the part of a Roman soldier. Unfortunately, the Roman soldier did not catch him in time, and Chris dropped to the ground and rolled all the way down the hill. As he wrote, “Once I reached the bottom I had to be dragged off like a dead deer by a Roman soldier and a shepherd.” (1) When I read this story, I thought how embarrassing it would be to ...

2608. How Does Prayer Work?

1 Corinthians 2:1-12 (13-16)

Sermon

Charley Reeb

... bending our will to God’s will.” I remember going on vacation with my family when I was a kid. Our resort was next to a big lake, and you could take canoes out on it. One morning, I decided to go canoeing. On my way back in, I accidentally dropped the oar in the water -- and the current took it away. There I was, stuck in the middle of this lake. The current drifted me a little closer to the shore and I began to call out. Finally, a man saw me, grabbed a rope, threw it out to me ...

2609. With Peace for the Fearful

John 20:19-31

Sermon

April Yamasaki

... . At least there might be some safety in numbers, and they could share their grief and console one another. Then suddenly they were not alone. “Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you’” (verse 19). I can imagine the sudden, jaw-dropping silence as the disciples tried to make sense of what they heard and saw in that moment. Was this really Jesus? Or was this a ghost? Were they all seeing and hearing things in a mass hallucination, or was this real? For a moment, their confusion ...

2610. Framed by Love

John 14:15-21

Sermon

April Yamasaki

... with love? What would that look like? If there’s a family tragedy or some other difficulty among us, can we frame that with love by our prayers, by a visit, a hug, a card, a phone call or text or email, a casserole dish, some baking, dropping by with groceries, giving a ride, offering to care for the children, being quiet together, crying together. What about when we disappoint and fail one another? If the definition of love is Jesus, then failure seems inevitable, and can we frame that with love? When we ...

2611. Trusting God When You've Been Hurt

Genesis 45:1-28

Sermon

King Duncan & Angela Akers

... him for the damage. Carroll worked out his frustrations by writing a humorous song titled “United Breaks Guitars” and posting it to YouTube. The song quickly went viral. According to the BBC, within one month of the song’s debut, United Airlines suffered a 10% drop in its share price—equal to a loss of $180 million in value. (2) Those are fairly harmless and creative ways to get revenge. But what if the injustice is much more severe? Shouldn’t the revenge be equally severe? When we last saw Joseph ...

2612. Overcoming Envy

Matthew 20:1-16

Sermon

King Duncan & Angela Akers

... As he celebrated his climbing accomplishment a strong gust of wind almost blew him off the mountaintop. It was then that the more experienced climbers explained to him that when you get to the top of a mountain you never stand straight up, but rather you drop to your knees to avoid being blown off the mountaintop. Good advice in almost any situation in life. The third step to dealing with envy is to realize that some of the happiest people in the world have a servant attitude toward life. They actually take ...

2613. The Last Laugh

Luke 24:1-35

Sermon

Will Willimon

... . One of the legs of the trousers was nearly a foot short. He took the suit back to the man at Sears to complain. "The suit's all wrong," he said. "Put it on," said the clerk. "Now, let's see. Pull your left arm up like this. Yes, and drop your right arm down a few inches. Right. And lift up your left leg. Good. There ain't nothing wrong with this suit." So he made his way out of Sears, waddling down the street, barely able to walk. He met two of his friends. They spoke as he waddled ...

2614. Love In Action

Mark 10:17-31

Sermon

Will Willimon

... know what they needed to do to be liberal, right thinking, not necessarily to inherit eternal life. Besides, we're not all that rich. We do a lot of good with our big building. We have programs of community outreach, a day care center. What good would our drop of wealth do when plopped in the great bucket of the world's vast need? Such are our rationalizations in response to this story of Jesus and the rich young man. You can understand why, when Will Campbell visited us, I did not have him preach in Duke ...

2615. Dying, We Live

1 Corinthians 15:51-58

Sermon

Will Willimon

... issue of Science. There is a whole new field of science called "risk assessment analysis." An article in that issue by Richard Wilson and EAC. Crouch offers a comparative listing of various risks. People in police work have a 2 x10-4 annual risk of death (AR). Before you drop off the police force you should note that driving a motor vehicle has exactly the same AR. Being a frequent flier is safer (5 x 10-5AR) than riding in an auto, even when you factor in the risk of getting a seat next to a person who is ...

2616. Jesus' Final Exam

Luke 20:19-40

Sermon

Will Willimon

... . Which may be why Luke ends Jesus' final exam with the story of the widow's mite. Jesus looked at people passing the plate in Chapel, how the rich put their showy gifts in the plate. A poor widow only had two little coins to her name and she dropped in both. Jesus said, "She gave more than all the rest because she gave, not 10% off the top of her riches, but in her poverty, she gave everything she had. All. Everything." So just in case you thought Jesus was some professor who asks for nothing more of ...

2617. Redeem the Time

Matthew 24:36-44 · Romans 13:11-14

Sermon

Will Willimon

... Jesus warns us, not on the basis of human catastrophe, but divine advent. ''Therefore you must be ready," he says, "for the Son of man is coming at an hour you do not expect." Christians are those who have been schooled to fear not that the Bomb will be dropped and we won't have done anything to stop it, but that God will sweep in among us and we will be caught wasting our time doing that which is insignificant to God. The flood we fear, the thief for whom we await, the night visitor whose advent wakes ...

2618. Love And Boundaries

Matthew 15:21-28

Sermon

William G. Carter

... how the story began. Here was a woman whose daughter was tormented by a demon. We do not know the specific details. Perhaps she saw her child awaken each morning with twisted limbs beneath her. Or maybe she watched under the hot noonday sun as her daughter dropped clean laundry in the dust and placed fingers on a throbbing head. Perhaps it happened after the moon came out and the mother’s peaceful sleep was pierced by her daughter’s screams. We don’t know the details of the situation. But we do know ...

2619. One Tough Master?

Matthew 25:14-28

Sermon

Will Willimon

... us to decide. What do you think of this master? When the story begins, we are not inclined to think of the master as a hard-hearted business man. In fact, we might think just the opposite. How many hard-hearted business people do you know who will drop fifteen years of wages on one of their employees and then leave town? As the story opens you might say that this master is anything but hard-hearted. He appears to be soft-headed, lavishing about 100 pounds of sterling silver on three servants, giving them no ...

2620. The Inverting Promise

1 Corinthians 1:27-29 · Genesis 25:21-34

Sermon

Will Willimon

... ," says Jacob, "it's Boeuf Bourguignon." "Whatever," says Esau, "let me have it!" Little brother Jacob sees his chance. "How hungry are you?" "I'm dying!" said Esau. "Dying? Good. Let me have your birthright and I'll let you eat." In other words, drop dead, big brother. Give me your inheritance. Make me the older brother, the heir, the first born, bead of the family. Subvert the entire pattern of Near Eastern social arrangement, the foundation upon which a whole culture is based, to hell with primogeniture ...

2621. You've Got to Go Lower

Matthew 16:21-28

Illustration

Angela Akers

... guard. “Lower still.” The man knelt down on one knee and looked up into the face of Christ. The new vantage point yielded new beauties to behold and appreciate. But motioning with his torch toward the ground, the guard said, “Lower. You’ve got to go lower.” The man now dropped down on both knees and looked up. Only then as he looked up at the painting from such a low posture could he realize the artist’s intended perspective. Only then could he see the full beauty of the cross.

2622. John the Baptist and Mrs. Nolan

Mark 1:1-8

Sermon

King Duncan & Angela Akers

Kelly LeDoux, Duluth, Minnesota tells about a time when she and her four-year-old son were putting out cookies for Santa on Christmas Eve and she accidentally dropped one of the cookies. “No problem,” she said, picking it up and dusting it off before placing it back on the plate. “You can’t do that,” argued her four-year-old son. “Don’t worry,” Mom said, “Santa will never know.” Her son shot her a look. “So he ...

2623. How a Baby Changed the World

Luke 1:26-38

Sermon

King Duncan & Angela Akers

... a gift for you because I love you.” It was signed, “An angel of the Lord.” In her driveway the woman found an almost new car. It was just what she needed to replace her unreliable, twenty-year-old automobile. A neighbor child asked, “Did God just drop the car down from heaven?” That would be scary. The woman’s answer was not reported, but she did hang a poster on her garage that said, “THANK YOU, GOD.” Mark DeHaan shares this woman’s story in the devotional book Bless the Lord, O My Soul ...

2624. Heaven Sent

Luke 1:26-38

Illustration

Angela Akers

2625. God's GPS

Exodus 20:1-4, 7-9, 12-20

Sermon

King Duncan & Angela Akers

... , a former drug addict who, after spending most of her life in and out of jail, graduated from college with a degree in political science. Burton first experimented with drugs at age 6 when her mother gave her some marijuana. By age 14, she had dropped out of school due to her addiction to hard drugs. As an adult, she lost custody of her children, became homeless, and ended up in jail a few times. Ironically, she credits “the law” with turning her life around. After her fourth arrest, police officers ...

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