Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 251 to 275 of 312 results

251. Living The Alternatives

Luke 17:1-10

Sermon

W. Robert McClelland

"Christ" is the Greek word for Messiah or King. To believe in Jesus Christ, therefore, is to affirm more than certain doctrinal statements about his divinity or the assurance of eternal life. To believe in Christ is to refuse to acknowledge anyone else in this life as King. It is to insist that the powers and principalities of this world do not have authority over us, even when they appear to be in charge. The New Testament writers boldly portray Jesus meeting the powers of this world head on in a showdown ...

252. Hang Time: A Good Friday Sermon

Matthew 27:45-56

Sermon

Carlyle Fielding Stewart

Lent is a season for recalling the suffering and triumph of our Lord, Savior and Liberator, Jesus Christ. It is a time where all Christians should take spiritual inventory in their lives; a time of discarding those things which hurt us and holding on to those things which help us. Lent is a time of remembering the passion, suffering, and resurrection of Christ. As heirs of his kingdom, we become co-participants in the struggle for love, justice, and truth as we are crucified and resurrected in the daily ...

253. Endorsing The Future

Sermon

Harold Warlick

One of the first things you do when you move to a new place is establish a checking account with a local bank. We can all tell stories of inexperienced people and their checking account problems. I remember a student who wrote check after check, only to discover he had no money left in his account. In exasperation he explained to the teller, "But I still have some checks left." My sister-in-law, during her first semester in college, receiveda notice from the bank that she was $27.60 overdrawn in heraccount ...

254. Lent

Sermon

Betty Lynn Schwab

Lent 1 Reader 1: God spoke to Moses saying: "You shall keep the Festival of Shavuot for the Lord your God, contributing a freewill offering in proportion to the blessing that you have received from the Lord." Reader 2: In Jesus' day, the Festival of Shavuot required every male in Israel to travel to the Temple of Jerusalem. There he offered God the first ripe fruits of this land. It was a time of thanksgiving for the goodness of the land. On Shavuot, it was said, Heaven decided the fate of the trees and ...

255. WHAT IS MAN?

Sermon

Larry Powell

Fascinations often come upon me from the strangest sources. For instance, two recent obituaries strike me as being peculiarly fascinating. The first is that of Vitaly Rubin, aged fifty-eight, a Soviet scholar. Rubin, a native of Moscow, was the former leader of the Soviet Jewish emigration movement. The intrigue here is that in 1976, Rubin, a Russian, was allowed to emigrate to Israel where he taught Chinese philosophy, of all things, at Hebrew University. The other obituary was David Wadell Guion's, aged ...

256. ASAPH: The Fish Who Taught Courage

Jonah 1:1-17

Sermon

Wesley T. Runk

Jonah 1:15 & 17 So they took up Jonah and threw him into the sea; and the sea ceased from its raging ... And the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah; and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. What is your very favorite place to hide in the whole world? You do have a favorite hiding place where you like to go when you want to be all alone, don't you? I can remember when I was a little boy that I liked to hide behind my garage, or beneath some steps in our basement. It ...

257. Remember That You Are Not Alone

John 3:1-21

Sermon

Robert V. Dodd

You have a wealth of resources in Christ! We had just moved into our new parsonage and we were right in the middle of unpacking when the doorbell rang. I went to the door, and there stood two women who engaged me in a friendly but general conversation. Supposing that they were members of my new congregation, I invited them inside. But as it turned out, they were Jehovah's Witnesses who were in our community to make evangelistic calls. During our conversation I learned that one of the women had formerly ...

258. Desert Springs

Isaiah 35:1-10

Sermon

Nothing stings quite like the desert. I remember standing one time in the midst of a desert at high noon, overlooking a large saline lake. It was so hot you could see the shoreline shrinking in front of you, as the sun drew the water into the air. On the far side of this dwindling lake, cattle sought shelter in caves. Only the flamingos feeding on pink larvae in the water stood untouched by the burning heat of the day. Being in that desert was really a life threatening situation. I could not stay in that ...

259. Responding to Christ's Birth

Matthew 2:1-12

Sermon

Telling the story of Christ's birth was not enough for Matthew! He also told about two reactions to the birth of the Messiah. The first reaction, as Matthew told it, was from the Magi who came from the East to Jerusalem and asked the question, "Where is the newborn king of the Jews?" Contemporary customs - children dressed in faded bathrobes, tired Christmas pageants, and unsightly stable scenes in church parking lots, have taken away from the wisdom of the Wise Men's story. It is difficult to understand ...

260. A Most Amazing Night

Luke 2:1-7

Sermon

"But Mary kept all these things, pondering them in her heart. (Luke 2:19) The shadows are getting long in late afternoon as Joseph comes running into the house bursting with news: Caesar Augustus has ordered a census for the whole Roman Empire. Everyone will have to go to their family’s hometown to be counted and to pay a tax. For Joseph and Mary, this means travelling to Bethlehem. Mary wants to know more, but Joseph can’t answer her questions. The Romans are not in the habit of explaining themselves to ...

261. Hail! Your King!

Mark 15:1-15

Drama

Setting: One platform, or chancel area, should have an ornate chair in the center for the Pilate’s throne. A bowl of water and a towel should be on a table somewhere on the stage. Near it, a sign with the words, "King Of The Jews." At the edge of the chancel, front center stage, there will be a stand for the cross. The cross should be substantial in size but not too difficult for an actor to hold it on his shoulder and carry it. The cross may be placed in one of the aisles toward the back but not so far ...

262. A New Kind of Teaching

Mark 1:21-28

Sermon

Maurice A. Fetty

Teachers and teaching have existed as long as humankind. Early man taught his children how to survive -- how to hunt, how to plant and harvest, how to provide shelter and protection, how to fight, how to raise his family in the tribal ways. Learning and teaching took a great stride forward in classical Greece 450 years before Christ with the arrival of Socrates and his brilliant student, Plato. The radiant light of learning was passed on from Plato to Aristotle, and the world ever since has been their ...

263. Shaping People's Lives Through Forgiveness

Luke 7:36-50

Sermon

Brett Blair

At the University of Notre Dame in 1981 a rather prophetic lecture was given that predicted the collapse of the Soviet Union. The lecturer called Communism “a sad, bizarre chapter in human history whose last pages are even now being written." A year later the same speaker told the British House of Commons that the march of freedom and democracy "will leave Marxism-Leninism on the ash heap of history." Years later, in 1988, students at Moscow University sat and listened as this same speaker told them how ...

264. Blood Sprinkled On A Modern Altar

Exodus 24:3-8, Mark 14:12-16, 22-26, Hebrews 9:11-15

Sermon

King Duncan

Wesley Tracy tells about a letter he once received. “I have hundreds of biblical photographs,” the letter said, “including several of the Garden of Eden.” “Wow!” says Tracy, “I have seen and taken a lot of photos of biblical places—tiny mustard seeds on the Mount of Olives, the Temple courtyard, and the Lord’s supposed birthplace guarded by a soldier with an automatic weapon—but Eden? Did they have cameras in [Eden]?” “Where was Eden anyway?” he asks with tongue firmly in cheek. “Though a headline in a ...

265. Ultimate Thanksgiving

Matthew 25:14-30

Sermon

King Duncan

When Helen Hayes cooked her first turkey for Thanksgiving, she called her husband and son together and said, "Now I know this is the first turkey I've ever cooked. It if isn't right, I don't want anybody to say a word. We'll just get up from the table without comment, put on our hats and coats, and go down to the hotel for Thanksgiving dinner." She then went into the kitchen to get the turkey. When she returned to the table, her husband and her son were standing there with their hats, gloves, and coats ...

266. Persistence In Prayer

Luke 18:1-8

Sermon

King Duncan

I believe you will agree with me that this is one election season that all of us will be happy to see come to an end. One of the candidates for president . . . I won’t say which one . . . was campaigning in West Virginia recently. Some of the coal miners were not real happy about it when the candidate asked for their vote. “Vote for you?” one of them jeered. “Why, I’d sooner vote for the Devil!” “Fair enough!” called out the candidate, “But in the event that your friend doesn’t run, may I have your ...

267. A Family Celebration

Hebrews 1:1-14

Sermon

King Duncan

Bob Morely was a counselor for a senior high summer camp in California. One summer Bob was between regular jobs, and was therefore rather short of cash. Word of his situation spread around camp, and the campers took up a special collection and raised a hundred dollars which they presented to him. Now the camp had a tradition of having a farewell party on the last day, Friday night. The youth would usually pool their money together, and one of the counselors would go to town and purchase snack food for them ...

268. Finding The Right People

Mark 1:14-20

Sermon

Eric Ritz

Someone has compiled a list of "intentionally ambiguous job recommendations." See if you recognize any of these. First the recommendation and then the translation: Recommendation: While he worked with us, he was given numerous citations. Translation: He was arrested several times. Recommendation: You simply won't believe this woman's credentials. Translation: She faked most of her resume. Recommendation: You will never catch him asleep on the job. Translation: He's too crafty to get caught. Recommendation ...

269. So, You Want To Know About Love?

John 13:31-38

Sermon

King Duncan

(Mother's Day) Have you ever noticed that, across time and space, mothers everywhere share certain similarities? Someone compiled a list of possible sayings of Biblical mothers. See if any of these sound familiar: DAVID! I told you not to play in the house with that sling! Go practice your harp. We pay good money for those lessons! ABRAHAM! Stop wandering around the countryside and get home for supper! SHADRACH, MESHACH AND ABEDNEGO! Leave those clothes outside, you smell like a furnace! CAIN! Get off your ...

270. Are You Praying or Pouting? (Part IV)

Philippians 1:1-11

Sermon

Eric Ritz

The well-known television talk show host, Phil Donahue, shares an insight to the reality of prayer. When stationed in Dayton, Ohio, he was called to cover a coal mine disaster in West Virginia. The following is an excerpt from his book, MY OWN STORY. "The rescue teams came out of the mine, and the men had soot all over their faces. The lights on their hats and one smudge pot were the only sources of illumination. Worried relatives of the trapped miners were waiting in the snow. They all gathered around the ...

271. Grace in the Midst of Limited Resources

2 Corinthians 8:1-15

Sermon

Glenn McDonald

Year after year Stumpy and Martha attended the fair in their home state, and every summer it was the same story: Stumpy was tantalized by the old-fashioned bi-plane in which anybody could take a ride for ten dollars, and Martha was disgusted by such an obvious waste of money. "Ten dollars is ten dollars," she would always say. And Stumpy would go home without his airplane ride. One year Stumpy said, "Martha, there's that bi-plane again. I am 81 years old and this year I want to go for a ride." Martha ...

272. A Christian Style Of Being And Doing

Colossians 3:18-4:1

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

This section of scripture is Paul's instructions about how we are to live together. He first gives us instructions about relationships within the family. Then he talks about the relationship between slave and master and master of slave. Then he moves on to talk about our relationship to what he calls "outsiders". In all of this, Paul is giving us instructions for a Christian way of being and doing -- especially a Christian way of relating to others. Instead of simply "trusting the Lord" -- or using that as ...

273. I've Been To The Mountain

Luke 9:28-36

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

When I first came to Memphis, I visited downtown -- Mid-America Mall. I wanted to see the sculpture commemorating Martin Luther King -- the sculpture entitled "I've been to the Mountain." I must confess that I've never felt too good about that piece of art. It doesn't excite me. Maybe that's my dullness. Maybe my imaginative and visual senses are not cultivated enough. But Martin Luther King's speech is unforgettable. As was the rule for King, he took images from Scripture. "I've been to the Mountain", he ...

274. The Chair

Psalm 46:1-11

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

"God is our refuge and strength." These opening words of Psalm 46 are almost the signature words of this hymnbook we call The Psalms. "God is our refuge and strength . . . The Lord of hosts is with us, the God of Jacob is our refuge . . . Therefore will we not fear, though the earth be removed, though the mountains move in the midst of the sea." Here's a hymn that celebrates one fact, one foundation on which you can build your life: God is with us. No matter that the earth shakes, and the mountains move, ...

275. Be Kind

Ephesians 4:17--5:21

Sermon

James McCormick

Since before I can remember, I went to Vacation Bible School every summer. I loved Vacation Bible School and I have many fond memories of my experiences there. I remember rousing games of “Red Rover” in which the boys tried to impress the girls. I remember making first century houses out of clay. There were times when we dressed up in bath robes and re-enacted Biblical dramas. I remember spatter painting – I loved spatter painting! We would get a leaf or a flower or some other object and put it on a piece ...

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