Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 2676 to 2700 of 4962 results

2676. The Future Present

Luke 1:46-56

Sermon

Susan R. Andrews

... focus on us, but to focus on God. “My soul magnifies the Lord,” she sings. In other words, my soul, my life is a magnifying glass enlarging God. The blessings of my life are not about me — but about the one who blesses all of creation with hope and meaning. We are left this morning with the purpose of the Christian life — a purpose defined by this model of discipleship named Mary. The purpose of our Christian lives is to bear the image of God within our very bodies, within our very souls. And when ...

2677. How Are You?

1 Cor 15:35-58; Philip 1:12-30

Illustration

Dr. Joseph Leroy Dodds

... going to have to be junked one of these days. But the real person who lives inside this jalopy is a different story. God is much more real and his truth shines more brightly. The companionship of Christ is more constant through His Holy Spirit, and He holds out a hope for a new model, after this jalopy is junked. This, I think, is what Paul had in mind when he spoke of the reward that God, the righteous Judge, would give him on that day. I think it is also what he was writing to the Philippians about his ...

2678. The Last Word

Illustration

Paul Hovey

... and a quick thrust of a spear had ended it all. Those hours when His voice was stilled, and His hands were quiet were the blackest through which the race has ever lived. If Caesar could put an end to Jesus, then no man could ever dare aspire or hope again. Hope, in such a world, could be nothing better than a mockery. Then came Easter morning and the glorious word: "He is risen!" And evil's triumph was at an end. Since that hour when Mary in the garden first discovered the staggering fact of victory, no man ...

2679. A Solemn yet Joyous Feast

1 Corinthians 11:17-34

Sermon

King Duncan

... where or when we celebrate it. So before you come up here to partake of it, please ask yourself: why are you coming forward? What are you proclaiming? I hope you are reminded of Christ’s death and resurrection--the ultimate act of love that brings joy to our hearts. I hope you are also reminded of how much Christ loves all the people of the world. And I hope you are reminded that we are a family; we are responsible for one another. This is the Lord’s Table and we are His family. Thank God for that ...

2680. A Loving Parent

Revelation 7:9-17

Sermon

King Duncan

... doctors and nurses with medical training totaling in the hundreds of years. But it was a salesclerk in a flower shop, a woman making $170 a week, who--by taking the time to care, and by being willing to go with what her heart told her to do--gave Douglas hope and the will to carry on.” (3) Sometimes all we can do is pray and weep and offer a word of encouragement. What we need to see is that God does all that and more. In our time of need God also comes to us with His love and comfort ...

2681. In Which City Do You Live?

Revelation 21:10-14, 22-23

Sermon

King Duncan

... , citizens were encouraged to spy on one another and report on any “anti-government” activity they witnessed. Anyone arrested for anti-government behavior could be imprisoned, tortured or killed. All around her, Prodan witnessed isolation, sadness, confusion, lack of hope. She hungered for truth and for freedom from her oppressive society. Prodan earned her law degree and went to work for a government agency. Through a Christian client, she became a Christian and discovered the peace, joy, truth and ...

2682. Can We Really Love Our Enemies

Luke 6:27-36

Sermon

Charles H. Bayer

... my enemy into a friend. We will never resolve international issues by throwing an army at someone or threatening him with a bomb. That may temporarily keep the peace, but it won't solve the problem. But when we learn to treat our enemies differently, there is hope. Right now the Soviet Union is beginning to act differently, while we in the United States are keeping our guard up. If we are really the Christian nation we claim to be, why hasn't the initiative first come from us? As James said to the early ...

2683. What Super Power Would You Choose?

Luke 10:1-11, 7-20

Sermon

King Duncan

... we give to the spirit of evil that sometimes inhabits the human heart. Regardless of how we feel about Satan, however, all of us will agree that we live in a world in which the power of hatred and injustice and cruelty are all too common. Where is hope in such a world? It is found in those who follow Jesus out into the world. A woman named Carolyn Arends tells of hearing some missionaries speak at her church when she was a child. The missionaries told about an enormous snake that slithered into their home ...

2684. Are You a Super-Fan?

Luke 19:1-10

Sermon

King Duncan

... had the joy of telling him that Daniel Maina was now the youth minister of the church in Nairobi. He was now leading other “glue heads” to Jesus and discipling them. Daniel had also enrolled in technology school, and he was at the top of his class. He had a hope and a future. His life had been transformed by the message of Jesus, and now he lives to transform the lives of other street kids who need to know the love and the truth of a Savior who was looking for them. (7) Zacchaeus had a need. Jesus had a ...

2685. Surprise! Surprise! Surprise!

Matthew 24:36-44

Sermon

Dean Feldmeyer

... Look, there it is! It is in the love of a mother for her infant child and in the laughter of a teenager. It is in the affection of husband and wife for each other and in the sacrificial living of a missionary doctor. It is in the courage, hope, and the vision of those who remain in the mission field long after the crisis is over. It is in the simple lesson of a Sunday school teacher and the complex ruminations of a seminary professor. Grace is striking all around us: In the forgiveness of one sorely wronged ...

2686. Can These Bones Live?

Ezekiel 37:1-14

Sermon

Brant S. Copeland

... of the creation story. But there is more to it than that. Now that the dry bones have become a living, breathing, vibrant multitude, Ezekiel is told, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are clean cut off.’ Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I will open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people; and I will bring you home into the land of Israel . . . And I will put ...

2687. Healing

Luke 17:11-19

Sermon

Molly F. James

... scar. It is as if it never happened. I think we often wish more of life was like that. When we are sick or injured, we hope and pray for healing. We want a transformation. We want our health completely restored. We want it to be as though we were never sick or ... wife died. It is okay to be angry at God — especially when we have experienced an outcome far different than what we were hoping for. What is not helpful, though, is to stay angry at God. Because staying angry at God only serves to deepen our own ...

2688. Thy Will Be Done

Luke 20:27-38

Sermon

Molly F. James

... We see resurrection. So, we are reminded that when we narrow our focus, we cut ourselves off from possibilities. We cut ourselves off from the big picture. It is incumbent upon us as Christians to remember that the big picture is a picture of resurrection. It is a picture of hope. We are not to impose our categories on God nor on other people. To do so is arrogant, but it can also be self-destructive. Racing out to buy my spouse a new lamp might have made me feel better in the short term, but in the end it ...

2689. How Would You Introduce Jesus?

John 1:(1-9), 10-18

Sermon

King Duncan

... the next few weeks, our theme will be “Seeing God More Clearly in 2020.” It’s a play on words, of course. But that’s the whole purpose of life, isn’t it? To get to know God and God’s purpose for our life and for this world. My hope is that, by the end of this series, you will have some profound insights into the mind of God and His plan for your life. In our Bible passage today, the writer John is charged with a monumental task—that of introducing Jesus Christ to the world. Imagine yourself in ...

2690. An Attitude of Gratitude

John 6:25-35

Sermon

Molly F. James

... asks or invites us to slow down, to take stock, and to give thanks for the blessings in our lives. Something I would imagine many of us do not do enough of. We could all use a pause, a break, a time to reflect on the blessings in our lives. Hopefully for most of us, today is a good day. It is a day of joyful celebration. We give thanks for the gifts in our life, and we celebrate Christ as our king who has freed us from the bonds of sin and death. On joyous days like this it is ...

2691. Blessed

Matthew 5:1-12

Sermon

Dean Feldmeyer

... and opportunities. “I am not what I wish to be. God, who knows my heart — knows I wish to be like him. “I am not what I hope to be. Before long, I will drop this clay tabernacle, to be like him and see him as he is! Yet, I am not what I once ... child of sin, and slave of the devil! Though not all these — not what I ought to be, not what I might be, not what I wish or hope to be, and not what I once was — I think I can truly say with the apostle, ‘By the grace of God — I am what I am!’” ...

2692. Broken Yet Sincere

Luke 24:13-35

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... bewilderment. They were so beside themselves they couldn’t recognize Jesus, even when he walked and talked beside them. Their faith had been shattered like this pot. [You can shatter a pot if you wish...or hold up the pieces of a shattered pot]. Their hopes had been decimated. Their belief in everything they thought Jesus was and would be had disintegrated along with their faith in the future he had promised, in the future God had promised. Doubt is one of the most shattering of illnesses. Doubt is one of ...

2693. The Proof is in the Roof

Luke 5:17-26

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... not yet at the point of attacking Jesus. They were his peers. They admired him. They came to hear him teach, because he was fresh and brilliant. They grumbled and were shocked at what he did. But using it as an instructional moment to reach them, Jesus hopes to turn their minds. And at the end of the story, we read that all (including the Pharisees and scribes) were glorifying God in amazement, and they couldn’t wrap their heads around what had just happened. It was outside of their realm of reality. And ...

2694. The Light That Dwells Among Us

Matthew 16:13-20, Matthew 16:21-28, Matthew 17:1-13

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... . The “light” of mystery can be frightening. It can be like opening “Pandora’s box.” We don’t know what to expect. And once we’ve taken that step, we can’t go back to the way things were. But the Light of Jesus is the light of hope, health, salvation, Life. Jesus IS the light of the world, and the tabernacle of the Holy Spirit. Will your life let the mystery shine? Will you trust to step into the Light? There is an ancient story that comes from Celtic Christianity. It goes like this: One day ...

2695. Stargazers

Luke 2:21-40

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... . But just as Jesus shone with the Light of presence in His transfiguration, so too does Jesus here shine with the Light of the divine in his tiny manger bed. The Light had come into the world, and the magi knew it! We all dream a dream of hope. A Christians (little Christs), every Christmas as we celebrate the arrival of the Light into this world. And we acknowledge that the Light is here. The Light is real. And as Christians (little Christs), we know that the Light is both around us and within us. For we ...

2696. The Plank

Matthew 5:38-48; 7:1-6

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... Kings 3:16-28) God Empowers Othniel, First Savior (Judge) of Israel (Judges 3) God Entreats Judges to Judge As God Would Judge With Love (2 Chronicles 19:4-11) The Song of Deborah (Judges 5) Psalm 7: We Fall into the Pits We Dig Psalm 25: No One who Hopes in You Will Be Put to Shame Psalm 37: The Lord Upholds the Righteous Psalm 50: Those Who Testify Against Their Brother are Arraigned by God Psalm 58: David Declares the Unjust Rulings of the Judges Psalm 125: The Lord Will Be Good to Those Who Are Good God ...

2697. Mending Fences

Luke 16:1-15, Luke 16:16-18

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... Prodigal, a Son who makes a bad move, repents, and is forgiven and welcomed home by his Father, resulting in relationship healed 2) The Dishonest Manager, a Representative of the Master who screws up and tries in some way to make amends through reparations in hope of redeeming himself by mending broken relationships and 3) Lazarus and the Rich Man, a story in which the Rich Man thinks he’s doing fine and in reality has missed the mark and ends up in the fires of punishment, because he has not understood ...

2698. It's Okay to Cry

Luke 13:31-35

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... to want to say that if we have faith in God, if we put our trust in Jesus, if we are filled with the joy and hope of the Lord, we will never experience grief, or sorrow, or sadness, or loss. But we do. We are not Stepford children. Nor would God want ... never stop loving them. And when and if they fail, we mourn that failure greatly, as if it were our own. And we never lose hope that they will return to the fold. God our heavenly parent created us to learn, to grow, to choose, to try the world out on ...

2699. Even in Our Hiding

Matthew 2:19-23, Matthew 2:13-18

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... Corrie and her sister Betsie spent 10 months in three Nazi prisons. Betsie died in Ravensbruck near Berlin. Her nephew Christiaan died in Bergen Belsen, and her brother Willem died of spinal tuberculosis shortly after the war. Only Corrie survived after serving as a light and hope to others in her camp. When Corrie returned home from the death camp, she realized her life was a gift from God, and at 53, she began a worldwide ministry testifying to God’s love and to Jesus as Victor. She would go on to write ...

2700. A Restless Spirit

1 Samuel 28:1-25

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... am KING after all!) demands a “different” answer! Of course, Saul already had an answer. It just wasn’t the one he was hoping for. But he thinks that if he keeps on pestering, God will relent and give him a different one. Praying isn’t ... the most inopportune time to remind us how awful we are. These kinds of “ghosts” keep us from living in joy, in peace, in hope. These “ghosts” can become a living hell. The most ghastly ghost is not a “ghost” grasping hold of us; it’s a “ghost” we ...

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