Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 2701 to 2725 of 4997 results

Matthew 14:22-33

Sermon

King Duncan

... people like Peter Cartwright, think what Jesus could do with Christian people with conviction and courage. Being a follower of Jesus isn’t for wimps. It’s for those who are willing to do whatever it takes to bring in Christ’s kingdom. That’s the kind of devotion Jesus needed from Simon Peter. Throughout the Gospels, Simon Peter is more a reed than a rock. Throughout the Gospels he is almost a comical figure in his eagerness and impetuosity. He wants to walk on water, but at the first sign of trouble ...

2702. This Woman Was a Fighter

Matthew 15:21-28

Sermon

King Duncan

... right thing. It is so much easier to do the expedient thing than to do the right thing. That’s true in school when bullying is taking place. That’s true at work when ethical corners are being cut. That’s true in the community when injustice of any kind is occurring. I say it takes a strong person to stand up to one’s peers. I wish I could say simply, it takes a Christian to stand up to one’s peers, but often Christians are content to be “nice” and “sweet” rather than people who stand up ...

2703. Broken Promises

Matthew 21:28-32

Sermon

King Duncan

... that the time and the money that you devote to them is your sacrificial gift because you care for them? Evidently not. They sure don’t act like it. C. S. Lewis kept his promise. He had no power to control his friend’s widow’s response to his kindnesses. But he did have the power to choose to keep his word. It’s important to do what you say. In fact one could make the argument that the key to a successful life is to be a promise keeper. Certainly that is true in important relationships like marriage ...

2704. Among You Stands One

John 1:6-8, 19-28

Sermon

King Duncan

... own life. He is prevented from suicide by an angel, however, who gives George a chance to see what life would have been like for everyone else if he had never been born. His faith in himself and his neighbors is restored as he finds out that his acts of kindness have made a difference. One of the most important questions that each of us confronts in life is this one: Is the world a better place because we were born? Have we left a trail of acts of ...

2705. The Three Kings

Matthew 2:1-12

Sermon

King Duncan

... an old story of a young man dying on a battlefield who asks for a chaplain. “Give me a light, chaplain,” he says. The chaplain finds a cigarette and starts to put it between the boy’s lips and the young man whispers, “No, no chaplain. The other kind of light.” The chaplain reaches into his pocket and brings out a New Testament and begins to read, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (John 8:12). “That’s it. That’s ...

2706. Such a Little Thing

Mark 4:26-34

Sermon

King Duncan

... stool, looked down at the quivering little man and snarled, “It’s my dog. Why?” “Well, sir,” squeaked the little man, obviously very nervous, “I believe my dog just killed your Pit Bull.” “What?” roared the big man in disbelief. “What kind of dog do you have?” The little man answered nervously, “It’s a small Pekinese.” “That’s ridiculous!” roared the biker, “How could your Pekinese kill my Pit Bull?” The little man, swallowing hard, said, “It appears it got caught in ...

2707. Without Conflict There Is No Story

Mark 6:1-13

Sermon

Ron Lavin

... the things that we have heard you did in Capernaum' " (Luke 4:23). Going from bad to worse, the crowd entered a kind of mania as they shouted slurs against Jesus and pushed and shoved him in front of them, headed for a hill. The Luke ... of the women in that group have suffered sexual abuse. They have helped other younger women, like you, who have suffered abuse." "Pastor, you are so kind to offer all this. I know I should have sought help with the rape, but I was afraid others would look down on me if they ...

2708. Who Does Jesus Belong to Anyway?

Mark 7:24-37

Sermon

Rick McCracken-Bennett

... was at Wendy's the other day. I was tired. I needed to get away from the phone and the other interruptions and just have some quiet time with this gospel text and my fries. As I approached the line a man waiting to get his food gave me the kind of friendly welcome you usually get from someone you know. I'm usually pretty good with faces and thought that I had met him somewhere but couldn't place him. Turns out that he didn't know me either. He was just being friendly. Long story short, after asking about ...

2709. What's in Your Wheelhouse...That You Can Offer Jesus?

John 6:1-15

Sermon

King Duncan

... young lad had five barley loaves and two small fish that he offered the Master, and look what happened. Can you imagine how that young man felt when he got home? Can you imagine his excitement as he tried to tell others? You and I can know that kind of excitement. All we have to do is to give Jesus what is in our wheelhouse. 1. Source: “A grand opening,” Connections, 18th Sunday of the Year, August 1, 1999. Cited at http://www.spirit‑net.ca/sermons/a‑or18‑fuller.php. 2. William Barclay, And He Had ...

2710. She Gave More than Bill Gates

Mark 12:38-44

Sermon

King Duncan

... her poverty, when he said that those two coins were all she had. If indeed, she did give all she had, she must have done it trusting that God would provide her with her daily bread. That’s a tremendous amount of trust. That kind of trust, that kind of confidence, that kind of hope is pleasing to God. The late United Methodist Bishop, Charles Golden, told of visiting a mission school in India where the students sang an African-American spiritual. They sang it to him as a courtesy, he said, because he’s a ...

2711. Light Living

John 1:(1-9) 10-18

Sermon

Susan R. Andrews

... full of grace and truth. The grace to heal us. And the truth to refine us. And so with no effort on our part, we were — we are — given a second chance. And the other kind of darkness — the dull, desperate, dangerous kind of darkness — so different from God’s dazzling darkness the dull, desperate, dangerous kind of darkness has never been able to overcome the dazzling light of incarnation. I have become afflicted in middle age with a craving for the darkness. No matter when I go to bed, no matter ...

2712. In the Light of His Glory

Isaiah 60:1-6, Matthew 2:1-12

Sermon

King Duncan

... anticipation. One of the videotapes contains a scene in which three women move into the foreground. They are pushing carts of some kind. The three of them stop and reverently pick up some mysterious white circular rolls. Their eyes glaze in ecstasy as they handle ... stern male figure arrives, clad in a white uniform. He resembles a guard, or perhaps an officer of some kind--definitely a figure invested with authority. “Ladies,” he says, “please don’t squeeze the Charmin!” The three women continue ...

2713. A GPS for Your Life

Luke 6:27-38

Sermon

King Duncan

... “So how are you able to bring so many of them to Christ?” Aldrich asked. “I love them,” he replied, “until they ask me why.” (6) That’s it. That’s the hope of the world. Jesus knew not everyone was going to listen to his teaching. The kind of love, generosity and mercy that he expected from his followers---it doesn’t make sense. It’s risky. It’s asking us to give up our rights and our pride and our comfort. And yet it’s the most powerful way possible for us to show the world that ...

2714. The Greatest Sin

Luke 13:6-9

Sermon

King Duncan

... ) Bono understood that to be confronted with such misery required that he do something. I don’t know how many people worldwide that Bono has helped since that awakening. I’m sure it’s in the thousands, perhaps the millions. You and I don’t have the kinds of opportunity that Bono has, but even if we help only one person, according to Christ, it will not go unrewarded. But notice something quite interesting in this story of the fig tree. I realize that a sermon like this can be quite guilt-inducing if ...

2715. If the Stones Cried Out

Luke 19:28-40

Sermon

King Duncan

... .” You see, it is not enough for us to acknowledge that Christ is our King or that because of his sacrificial love, our sins have been forgiven. There must come a time when we allow him to be the Lord of our lives, when we begin to live as the kind of men and women God created us to be. Recently I read about a Sunday school class for three-year-olds. Their lesson for the day was the story of Jesus’ visit to the home of Mary and Martha. Afterwards, the teacher asked, “What would you do if Jesus were ...

2716. They'll Know We Are Christians by Our...

Galatians 5:1-15

Sermon

King Duncan

... But the goats had more sense than that. One of them lay down on the trail and let the other literally walk over him--and both were safe. (3) It takes humility to follow Christ, but humility means accepting one another. Let me give you an example of the kind of openness we are to have to others. In 1999, Scott Ginsberg attended a convention at which all the participants were encouraged to wear a name tag. We’ve all been to meetings like that, and you rip off the name tag the minute you leave, right? Except ...

2717. Jesus' Guide to Wise Investing

Luke 12:13-21

Sermon

King Duncan

... —all in glorious High Definition. And, of course, we must have a membership in the local health club. It’s almost demonic. The more we have, the more we seem to need. So we have to increase the financial goals we once set for ourselves. We want the kind of life “so worldly, so welcome” as the MasterCard commercials used to say. That means that it is not enough to make a living. We need to make a killing. Someday when the children are grown, and the mortgage is paid, and all of our goals have been ...

2718. Joseph, When Did You Know?

Matthew 1:18-25

Sermon

King Duncan

... . They thought the motto on the banner was a good message for a wedding too. The banner read, “Worth the Risk.” (3) When Joseph originally heard the news of Mary’s pregnancy, he was going to very discreetly arrange for a divorce. He was a kind and merciful man. He could have had her stoned for adultery—a very public, humiliating and painful death. It would have brought shame on her whole family. The fact that he even considered this divorce option tells us that he was unsure that marriage to Mary ...

2719. If Your Cry for Help Is Loud Enough...

Luke 17:11-19

Sermon

King Duncan

... ? Do you expect comfort? Do you expect an answer? I think these leprous men just wanted Jesus to see them. To pray over them. To offer them some words of hope. They were so cut off from normal life, so isolated and hopeless. If Jesus could just offer them some kind words and the presence of God, just for a moment, I think these outcast and dying men would have been satisfied. But Jesus had so much more to offer them. The story of the ten lepers is a great image of our faith journey, and what it means to be ...

2720. Jesus Destroys the Power of Sin

Mark 2:1-12

Sermon

Richard Gribble

... Needless to say, this was a difficult task. One Sunday, when da Vinci was at the local cathedral he saw a young man in the choir who looked exactly as the artist had conceived Jesus. He had the features of love, tenderness, caring, innocence, compassion, and kindness. Arrangements were made for the man, Pietri Bandinelli, to sit as the model for Christ. Years went by, and the painting was still not completed. Da Vinci simply could not find the right face for Judas. He was looking for one who was filled with ...

2721. Recognizing Who God Is

Job 42:7-17

Sermon

King Duncan

... a God, and I'm not Him."] The priest says that in 35 years of religious studies he has only learned two incontrovertible facts: "There is a God, and I'm not Him." Here is an educated man, a man who has spent his life in service to God. What kind of answers can he give people who want to know about the Lord? "There is a God, and I'm not Him." Is that all? If we were to ask Job what he knows about the Lord, I suspect this would be his answer also: "I know there is a ...

2722. Patches

Luke 5:36

Children's Sermon

Wesley T. Runk

... Him thought that He was an angry old man who was always trying to get even and punish the poor people on earth. Jesus said that this kind of thinking was old and out of style. The new thought is that God is a God of love and forgiveness and not hate. There were ... but it is the only real way to know God. A patch is all right for clothes, it makes them last longer if you have the right kind of patch. But you can't have a patched up religion, because it won't work. What you need is the brand new Jesus and then ...

2723. Aha! I See It Now!

John 1:29-42

Sermon

King Duncan

... would face an increased risk of cancer in the long run. Yet they still stepped up and volunteered for the work. They wanted to save the younger men from suffering and death, so they willingly volunteered to take their place. (7) I wonder how many of us would make that kind of sacrifice? In his Aha! moment, John saw just how far sin has taken us from the presence of God. In his Aha! moment, John saw how far God would go to bring us back. And finally, in his Aha! moment, John knew he had to share the message ...

2724. Sitting Shiva Behind Closed Doors

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... them here, and will comment on some others you find as well! An image exegesis is a way of looking at the scriptures in technicolor, in moving pictures, and with a soundtrack that helps the uncovering of even more connections in what you see and hear. It’s a kind of “you were there” experience if you will. I think you will find that you notice many things you didn’t notice before. So put on your 3-D glasses. Here we go. If you see the story as a living and active motion picture rather than a static ...

2725. Godstruck

Acts 2:1-13

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... . And when we do “tune our hearts to sing God’s praise,” we’ll see the wonder of God everywhere. The beauty of Pentecost is the ability to recognize God’s voice in everything around you, to see how God reveals Jesus to you in all kinds of ways. To recognize the unity you have with others, all singing God’s song together --in different beats and different notes and different words, but all singing the same Song. God’s kingdom is not about one lonely flower, or one lonely song from one solitary ...

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