Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 2701 to 2725 of 3852 results

John 20:19-23

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... , the voice that drew fishermen from their ships, the voice that called children to sit on his knees. That it is the voice we are created to hear and that is the voice we are called to ventriloquize. The voice of Jesus is a layered voice. It is our original voice layered into the Jesus voice that’s the voice we speak as purely as possibly to the world. It’s not always a comforting voice. Jesus appeared and spoke to his disciples in the upper room not so they could be comforted, but so that they could ...

2702. You Have a Friend (Memorial Day)

John 14:15-31

Sermon

King Duncan

... for his absence. He says, “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate . . .” That is the New International Version translation, “another advocate” like someone who stands beside you in a court of law. The original Greek is allon parakleton. The King James Version translates this phrase as “another comforter.” The old Revised Standard Version translated it as “another counselor,” though it was changed to “another advocate” in the New RSV. The Message translation says ...

2703. Ignite: Set On Fire!

Acts 1:1-11

Sermon

James Merritt

... end of the earth.” (Acts 1:8, ESV) One of the most important words in the Book of Acts is that word “witness.” It is literally the word that gives us the English word “martyr.” Today, we think of a martyr as someone who dies for his faith. The original meaning was someone who simply bears witness to his faith. Remember, He is talking to people who are looking at Him in His resurrected body. They had put a finger in the hole of His hand left by the nail. Their hands had felt the opening in his side ...

2704. Ignite: The Fire Burns Brightly

Acts 2:42-47

Sermon

James Merritt

... about how your church is living out this early church example.] I am just amazed at how this early church sold everything they had, put it all in one basket and then passed the basket and just said, “Take anything that you need.” When you read this in the original Greek language it was not something that they did permanently. This is not a requirement for us, but it does tell us about the kind of spirit that we will have in our soul when the fire of the Holy Spirit is burning in our heart. It is the ...

2705. Ignite: Fire and Water

Acts 10:23b-48

Sermon

James Merritt

... is a technical question, but we have to answer it to get at a spiritual answer. I normally don’t do this, but in this case I am going to make an exception, because this is too important not to. The Greek word for baptism, which is the original language of the New Testament, is “baptizō”. The word “baptizō” was a very common word 2,000 years ago with one difference. It wasn’t a religious word, but a secular word. It is a word that literally means “to dip, wash, soak, or immerse.” It was ...

2706. Prison Theology: Bait and Bail

Philippians 1:12-30

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... social gospel movement. If you haven’t guessed it by now, the game that took off in the 1930s is now known as "Monopoly." This game, which has been the teething biscuit for generations of sharp-fanged, hardboiled capitalists was originally created to demonstrate how detrimental reigning real estate and investment practices were to the middle classes. Well, nothing fails like success. As anyone knows who has ever played Monopoly on a rainy Saturday afternoon, there is little sympathy for the poor person ...

2707. Living “I Don’t Know” While “In the Know”

Matthew 21:23-27

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... . Jesus challenged those who questioned his authority with a challenge of his own. They took the bait. But they could not answer the challenge. When Jesus asked them to declare whether John the Baptist’s baptism was “from heaven or was it of human origin?” the greatest of Judaism’s scholars and leaders could not bring themselves to give an answer. Instead they fussed about and made circles with their toes in the sand until they finally confessed, “We do not know.” Today we call this being “p.c ...

2708. The Landlord's Dilemma - World Communion Sunday

Matthew 21:33-46

Sermon

King Duncan

... s the only reason. Theologians have advanced many theories about why it was necessary for Christ to die. Some say it was so he could take the punishment that we deserved. Others have said it was to ransom us from Satan. Others declare that, in order to undo what the original Adam had done in the fall of humanity, it was necessary for a new Adam to suffer and die. Regardless of the theory of the atonement to which you subscribe, it all comes down to love. “God so loved the world that he gave his only son ...

2709. About that Salesman

Matthew 23:1-39

Sermon

King Duncan

... . (4) There is something repulsive about a person who pretends to be one thing, but is altogether something else. Now the cynical among us might say that Ceausescu was a normal politician. Maybe so, but it is still repulsive. Some of you know the origin of the word “hypocrite.” It comes from a Greek word commonly associated with the theater. Hypocrites were actors on a stage. Since actors often played many roles in the same plays, they would commonly wear a mask to show which character they were playing ...

2710. Winners and Losers

Matthew 25:31-46

Sermon

King Duncan

... her own balloon in place so that a boy could pop it, and then he did the same for her. When all the balloons were gone, the entire class cheered in unison. Think about what happened in that misunderstood game for a moment. In the original game only one child could win. In their version, everyone won! In normal balloon stomping the participants are momentarily alienated from one another (it’s you against me), but as these children played it, the game was an occasion for camaraderie. (4) Which version of ...

2711. Humvee Holiness and Humble Holiness

Matthew 23:1-39

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... 12: 14 it says “They came to him and said, “Teacher, we know that you are a man of integrity. You aren’t swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are; but you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth.” The original Greek for “you pay no attention to who they are” or “you do not look on the outward appearance” translates literally “you do not look on the face” or “you do not look at faces.” In other words, Jesus does not look on the surface. Jesus does not ...

2712. Drowsy Disciples

Mark 13:1-31

Sermon

David J. Kalas

... us a backdrop of New Testament eschatology against which to read Isaiah. As such, Isaiah’s plea that the Lord “would tear open the heavens and come down” has a layer of meaning for us as Christians that it would not have had for Isaiah’s original audience. Likewise, the assurance that God “works for those who wait for him” has added meaning for us. Waiting for him is precisely the current condition of Christ’s followers, and it is the setting of so many of Jesus’ end-of-time teachings. The ...

2713. Still Surprised After Christmas

Luke 2:21-40

Sermon

David J. Kalas

... time being up. The expressed purpose of God’s carefully timed action was to “redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as children.” If we were to separate the two phrases in this sentence and ask Paul’s original audience to whom each referred, we might get two different answers. “Those who were under the law,” of course, is clearly a reference to the Jews. Those that “might receive adoption as children,” however, might have been construed as a reference to the ...

2714. Odd Ducks in a Rubber-Ducky World

1 Thessalonians 4:13--5:11

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... more money, more fame, more power, more influence. Christian faith is odd and at odds with a rubber-ducky culture of celebrity that insists that if our lives are not on stage, on screen, on YouTube or US Weekly, we are inconsequential. Christians are the original “odd fellows,” “odd ducks” who know life is not about what we own, or who we are, but whose we are. Odd ducks say “no” to a rubber-ducky consumer culture which tells us that a successful life comes from “heaping it up” — money ...

2715. The Full Advent: Whoa! No Way? Wow!

Mark 13:1-31

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... “gather his elect,” a message that suggests that those not “elected” are in fact “rejected.” It is a grand vision of a heavenly empowered divine “son of man” coming to earth to extend judgment. This “son of man” is a historic figure of heavenly origin, a divine being who becomes human and will change the course of human history. The final word in this week’s gospel text from Mark is to “keep watch,” to “watch out” for the signs that will reveal that the approach of this “son ...

2716. An Announcement for a New Year

Galatians 3:26--4:7

Sermon

King Duncan

... the known world. In every major city, there was a synagogue. This was the first place the early Christian evangelists went to proclaim the new faith. It is clear biblically that there was no other faith than the Jewish faith from which Christianity could have originated. The stage was also set culturally for his coming. About 300 years before Christ, a son was born to a Macedonian king named Philip. The son was called Alexander. We know him as Alexander the Great. It took Alexander only 12 years to conquer ...

2717. A Guide to a Rich and a Joyous Life

Exodus 20:1-21

Sermon

King Duncan

... evident. Once, he prepared for a program to be broadcast live just before Yom Kippur. Yom Kippur, also known as Day of Atonement, is the holiest day of the year for the Jewish people and it begins at sundown. In L.A., where Benny’s program originated, the program would end before sundown, but Mr. Benny realized that back east, the sun would have already set, and people might think that he was working on Yom Kippur and thus desecrating the holy day. Someone pointed out that the Jews would be in synagogue ...

2718. The Condemning Heart

John 3:1-21

Sermon

King Duncan

... informed this young man that he was not welcome back at home because he could not tolerate his sexuality. The father said the boy should be dead but because he is his son he would spare him. Can you even imagine that? The young woman, also originally from Jamaica, but now living in the States, was moved with indignation when she read this post. She says her tears fell freely and she gripped her stomach. “How does a parent condemn their child?” she asked. She thought of her 5-month-old daughter who ...

2719. A Watery Grave

Mark 1:9-13

Sermon

David J. Kalas

... of cross references, definitions, examples, and explications. Of course, that is what our preaching and teaching ought to provide. Finally, there is beauty and significance in Jesus’ initial declaration: “The time is fulfilled.” The word for “time” found in the original Greek is not the more pedestrian chronos, but rather the provocative kairos. The Greek kairos has a sense of a “decisive point,” often “divinely ordained.” This “time” is not merely the minutes and hours marked on the ...

2720. Prescription on a Pole

John 3:1-21

Sermon

David J. Kalas

... out once upon a people who were dying. They needed some cures, and fast. And so he wrote out a prescription for Moses to fill: a bronze snake hung up on a pole for all to see. It was not an expensive remedy — at least not in its original incarnation — nor was it a painful procedure for the needy patients. And it was only at an intellectual level that this prescription was hard to swallow. The Old Testament lesson this week tells us the story of this prescription on a pole. The gospel lesson invites us ...

2721. Getting to a Teachable Moment

Mark 15:1-15

Sermon

Craig MacCreary

... students are soon captivated by how the one juror, the Christ figure, is able to lead the members of the jury through their fears, blind spots, self-doubts, emotional hang-ups, and closed-mindedness to a point where they doubt their original certainties. The lone juror’s relentless pursuit of meeting the others where they are, speaking what they are able to hear, risking rejection, and patiently waiting creates a powerful, teachable moment that turns things around. The jurors are saved from mindlessly ...

2722. Jesus Heals Body and Soul

Mark 1:29-34

Sermon

King Duncan

... healing is physical. In one of his books Robert A. Schuller, the younger Schuller, tells about Lory Jones, the wife of actor Dean Jones. Some of you are old enough to remember Dean Jones. He starred in many Walt Disney films, such as The Love Bug (the original one) and The Shaggy D.A., and in the television show, The Teddy Bears. In February of 1974, Lory and Dean Jones took a vacation to Mexico City. One day when they were sightseeing, they decided to tour a Roman Catholic cathedral. As they followed the ...

2723. Skull Hill

John 12:20-36

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... Jesus offers, as he enters into Jerusalem and into the final phase of his earthly ministry, is all about being strong even as the world sees Jesus as being broken. This week’s text starts with some Greeks coming to Philip (whose own name is Greek in origin — so he is a “brother”) and a known disciple of Jesus. These Greeks ask Philip “we wish to see Jesus.” This “see” (“eidon”) is not just a request to hang out with a new teacher. It is a hope to “see” truly the essence of Jesus, to ...

2724. Christians and Grits

Acts 4:32-37

Sermon

King Duncan

The Rev. Brian Bill tells about a friend of his named Ray who is originally from the South, but is now living in Chicago. Being a southerner, Ray says that one of the most challenging things about living in the Windy City is that it’s difficult to find a restaurant that serves grits. Rev. Bill asked Ray once what a “grit” is? Ray informed ...

2725. Everything Must Go: The Treasure Principle

Matthew 6:19-24

Sermon

James Merritt

... was a ministry. It took a few weeks for the results of our efforts to be completed, but then the day came that it came in the mail. I opened up the package, looked at the very front page and read the words of a document that originated almost 5000 years ago. The words were simple, “Last Will & Testament.” As I told you the concept of the will dates back almost 5000 years. In the past, the word, “will” was used to specify real estate to others while “testament” was used to identify the personal ...

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