Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 251 to 275 of 1858 results

251. Proper 22

Exodus 20:1-21, Isaiah 5:1-7, Philippians 3:1-11, Philippians 3:12-4:1, Matthew 21:33-46

Sermon Aid

John R. Brokhoff

... he built a watchtower and a wine vat. God is love and he deals lovingly with his people: claiming them as his own, and providing for them by giving them the best of everything to be fruitful. 2. Wild (v. 2). What does God's people return for all of God's goodness? He planted good vines but he received wild grapes. God expects justice and gets violence. He looks for the fruit of righteousness and he receives wickedness. God gets the opposite of what he gave to his people. 3. Judge (v. 3). God calls upon his ...

252. The Offense of Grace

Matthew 5:43-48, Matthew 5:38-42

Sermon

Susan R. Andrews

... us to do the same - to take the risk, to make the decision, yes, to follow him. He asks us to be foolish enough to spurn the ways of the world, and to do things in a new way. The writer and surgeon Bernie Siegel tells the story of Wild Bill, an inmate of a concentration camp, who after six years of serving the enemy as an interpreter, was still full of energy and physical health and a gentle positive spirit. To the other prisoners, he was a beacon of hope, an agent of reconciliation, one who was constantly ...

253. The Devil Takes Visa

Isaiah 55:1-13

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... Master's Card, which enables us to Forgive, when you feel like condemning. Accept when you feel like blaming. Love when you feel like hating. Give more when you feel like quitting. Return when you feel like running. The Master's Card entitles us to . . . Be wild. Be weird. Be predictably unpredictable. Do not, under any circumstances, be normal. It's the Devil who takes Visa, and shops until the hooves drop. The Master's Card is the only way to fill your spirit with the joy, the abundant life that God has ...

254. Keep Going, Today, Tomorrow and the Next

Philippians 3:12-4:1

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... jeweled collars, and bright lights couldn't dim the instinctual drives and primal nature of these cats. They're not just extra big, but now domesticated cats. They're wild animals, with thousands of years of behavior hard-wired into them. When Siegfried & Roy began believing their own illusion, their mythical ideal of a partnership with these wild creatures, they opened themselves up to real danger. Roy was right to insists that his attacker Montecore was a good tiger. It's just that everyone had forgotten ...

255. Earthquakes, Tsunamis, and Disaster: Why do the Innocent Suffer?

Psalm 69:1-36

Sermon

James W. Moore

... there with his surf board, not knowing what was about to hit him. Also, did you hear about this? After the devastation in Sri Lanka, they found thousands of human bodies destroyed by the giant wave... but very few wild animals. Some of the people there said they had noticed the elephants and other wild animals moving to higher ground before the tsunamis hit, but they didn’t know what it meant. Somehow those animals sensed the danger and acted to survive. What is it that they know that we don’t know ...

256. The Only One Who Is Number One

Exodus 20:1-3

Sermon

James Merritt

... goes." We are living today in a world where "anything goes." James Patterson and Peter Kim wrote a groundbreaking work entitled, The Day America Told the Truth. Under a chapter entitled, "A new moral authority in America: you're it!" they said this: It's the wild, wild West all over again in America, but it's wilder and woollier this time. You are the law in this country. Who says so? You do pardner...there is absolutely no moral consensus at all in the 1990s. Everyone is making up his own personal moral ...

257. Gentle On My Mind (Fruit of the Spirit: Gentleness)

Galatians 5:23

Sermon

James Merritt

... out of control. The word that is use in Gal. 5 for gentleness, or in other places meekness, is a word that basically means mild or soft. Sometimes it was used to describe a soothing medicine or a soft breeze. It was also used of wild animals, specifically wild horses who would be broken by a trainer so that they could be useful in work. Meekness simply means power under control. An unbroken horse is useless; medicine that is too strong kills rather than cures, and a wind out of control destroys everything ...

258. Away In a Manger

Luke 2:1-7

Sermon

James Merritt

... take place in three different nations, that illustrate a central truth about Christmas. The headline read "Japan Goes Wild for Ho-Ho Holiday." A nation, made up almost entirely of Shinto and Buddhist believers, has taken to ... a Home in Jesus crucified.7 The One who two thousand years ago was "Away in a Manger" can now be at home in your heart. 1 "Japan Goes Wild for a Ho-Ho Holiday," The Atlanta Journal, 12-5-92. 2 "A Test of Faith," Time, March 15, 1993, p. 35. 3 "Court Upholds ‘Zero' on Christ Report", ...

259. Like a Good Neighbor, Jesus Is There

Luke 10:25-37

Sermon

James Merritt

... in their ambulance to offer a helping hand. Little old lady: dressed as a senior citizen, two hundred cars and five minutes passed by before two college students pulled over to help her. Dirty hippie: dressed in dirty, faded jeans, a loud floral blouse, and a wild blonde wig, three hundred and fifty cars and fifteen minutes passed by, and still nobody stopped, in fact, no one even slowed down. Mini-skirted sex symbol: dressed in a tight fitting mini-skirt, she no sooner had gotten out of her car until in ...

260. His Way is the Right Way

Psalm 23:3

Sermon

James Merritt

... always get off on the wrong path. Now the Palestinian shepherd was a master at reading tracks. In the Palestinian desert there were many marks and paths that crisscross the land. Some were made by wild beasts, others were made by robbers lying in wait. But to a sheep every path looks the same. Sheep do not realize that this path could lead to a wild animal, or this path could lead to a cliff. I am reminded of Prov. 14:12, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.” But ...

261. Me, Myself and God

Psalm 23:1-6

Sermon

James Merritt

... we need. II. God Gives Us Just What We Need “You anoint my head with oil;” (v.5b) Now the shepherd used oil for two reasons—as a repellant and as a medicine. You see, the worst enemy of sheep is not wolves, or bears, or snakes, or lions, or wild animals. It’s not even the danger of getting lost, or eating poisonous grass, or drinking bad water. The worst danger to a sheep is what is known as a nosefly. Noseflies are just what they are called. These are flies that will literally fly up the nose of a ...

262. Great Joy

Isaiah 35:1-10

Sermon

John E. Harnish

... s salvation, the hope of God's redemption, the joy of God's good news, and new life in our midst. But first, Isaiah describes God's judgment of evil. The poet prophet exhausts his wildest imagination to picture the desolation with smoldering ruins, haunted by wild beasts, the stifling stench of decay and the heavy silence of death. It's something right out of Dungeons and Dragons or The Lord of the Rings: And the streams of Edom shall be turned to pitch, and her soil to brimstone. Hawks and porcupines shall ...

263. Strength through Diversity

James 2:1-17

Sermon

Richard Gribble

... an interesting occurrence. She began her story: "There was a terrible racket outside my home and I went to the window to see what was happening. I saw a large dog standing outside the front yard fence and my dog was barking wildly at it. Have you ever noticed how the dog on the inside usually barks wildly if another dog passes by outside, yet, the dog on the outside does not bark at all? I guess that is the way it is with dogs." The woman continued saying, "I knew that the dog outside belonged to a neighbor ...

264. Our Ultimate Destination

Revelation 21:1-6a

Sermon

Lee Ann Dunlap

... weeks and hazardous conditions faced by those early pioneers as they opened up the wilderness. With the threats of foul weather, wild animals, isolation, and occasional bandits and hostile natives, it was not a journey for the faint-hearted. Indeed, few would have ... We have climbed mountains, crossed rivers, traversed deserts, sailed oceans, and trekked through the heavens. We have fought weather, wild animals, and hostile enemies, and we have buried comrades along the path. Many have turned back to safer ...

265. The Only Bible

Matthew 22:1-14

Illustration

Rebecca Pippert

It is important to come to church with our hearts prepared. This young man named Bill had wild hair and wore a T-shirt with holes in it, jeans, and no shoes. He was brilliant, a bit ... to students, but weren't sure how to go about it. One day Bill decided to go there. He walked in with no shoes, jeans, his T-shirt, and of course his wild hair. The service had already started, so Bill started walking down the aisle looking for a seat. The church was completely packed and he couldn't find a seat. By now people ...

266. A Postmodern Coat of Crayola Colors

Mark 4:35-41

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... while his ministry is one of reconciliation he is still reliant upon those who hear his message freely choosing to accept its truth. The freedom to accept or reject Christ's reconciling power is still in the hands of each and every individual. Wild Strawberry - Passion. Jesus decried tepidness. The disciples' timidity in the storm evoked sharp words from Jesus. In this week's epistle Paul calls himself an "ambassador," and as such puts the burden for getting God's message across to humanity squarely on his ...

267. The Crime of Christmas

Luke 2:8-20, Luke 2:1-7

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... the snow, in their languages, call him master too." The Reformed Journal, 40 (December 1990), 2,5. Do something that doesn't "make sense." As novelist Madeleine L'Engle reminds us, This is the irrational season When love blooms bright and wild Had Mary been filled with reason There'd have been no room for the child. The cacophony of activities surrounding December 25th led the hospital chaplain William Gaventa and biblical scholar Beverly Roberts Gaventa to appropriately title their annual Christmas letter ...

268. Just Showing Up Doesn't Get the Job Done

Matthew 25:1-13

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... . The slur is this: "You're becoming American." Resist the temptation to slide into being an "American" Christian. Be present with passion. Be Yourself. It has always been true: Everybody wants everyone else to be just like them. Oscar Wilde said that the first duty in life is to be as artificial as possible. Wilde continued: "What the second is, no one has yet discovered." God has called us to "show up" and "be present" because God has need of the unique gifts and strengths each one of us has to offer to ...

269. A Mother's Love

John 15:1-17

Sermon

King Duncan

... and again until the calf finally stands on its wobbly legs. And then what does the mother giraffe do? She kicks it off its feet! Why? She wants it to remember how it got up. “In the wild, baby giraffes must be able to get up as quickly as possible to stay with the herd and avoid becoming a meal for lions, hyenas, leopards, and wild hunting dogs. The best way a mother giraffe has of ensuring that her calf lives is for her to teach it to ‘get up quickly and get with it.’” It makes me glad I’m not ...

270. Interpreting Failure

Mark 6:1-13

Illustration

Sadhana de Mello

... horses from the hills and this time the neighbors congratulated the farmer on his good luck. His reply was, "Good luck? Bad luck? Who knows?" Then, when the farmer's son was attempting to tame one of the wild horses, he fell off its back and broke his leg. Everyone thought this very bad luck. Not the farmer, whose only reaction was, "Bad luck? Good luck? Who knows?" Some weeks later the army marched into the village and conscripted every able-bodied youth they found there. When they saw ...

271. Close Up Parents: Be Cheerleaders, Not Jeer leaders

Colossians 3:21

Sermon

James Merritt

... ." (Colossians 3:21, LB) Unfortunately, some parents are like the mother who sent her daughter upstairs with these instructions, "Go see what Sam is doing and tell him to quit it!" You want to give you children the freedom to soar like eagles, but not to fly wild like a plane without a pilot. The best way to do that is to give your children the freedom to succeed or to fail whenever they are engaged in a constructive activity, but never give them the freedom to engage in a destructive activity. This is why ...

272. No Need to Worry

John 10:11-18; 27-30

Sermon

James Merritt

... I once read where a shepherd, who embarked on a long journey with a flock of sheep was considered successful if he arrived with more than fifty-percent of the sheep. The reason is there were so many dangers to the sheep such as disease, poison grass, water, and wild animals. That is why Jesus Christ is like no other shepherd and that is why He is called "The Good Shepherd" the one of a kind shepherd, because when Jesus starts out with one hundred sheep, He ends up with one hundred sheep. He doesn't lose one ...

273. Triumphing over Obstacles

2 Corinthians 5:20-6:10

Sermon

Richard Gribble

... woods. One night he lit his lamp to study the holy books before going to sleep, but a fierce wind came up, knocking over the lamp and breaking it. The rabbi decided to go to sleep saying, "All that God does, he does well." During the night some wild animals came and drove away the rooster and thieves stole the donkey. Moshe woke up, saw the loss, but still proclaimed, "All that God does, he does well." The rabbi then went back to the village where he was refused lodging, only to learn that enemy soldiers ...

274. All Is New in Christ

John 11:4-6, Philippians 3:4-11

Sermon

Richard Gribble

... again see each other. He was taken to see the Emperor who pronounced upon him the sentence of death. Soldiers took him to a stone cell beneath the palace where he was to await the day of his execution. Finally, he was led to the arena. The crowd cheered wildly as a lion, which had not been fed for four days, was let loose on Androclus. The animal roared and ran toward its easy prey. Androclus realized he had no chance and, thus, he closed his eyes and braced for the impact and pain. Instead of searing pain ...

275. Do Not Be Quickly Shaken

2 Thessalonians 2:1-12

Sermon

Donna Schaper

... . Saint Paul enters this remarkably interesting double bind to tell us that we are not to be easily or quickly shaken. In other words, we are to have a wild equilibrium in the middle of great disequilibria. We are to be peaceful in the midst of conflict. We are "all shook up" for Jesus. Christians are wildly happy, luxuriously free, and always in trouble, according to one old folk saying. "Ministers appear dangerous to people," observes social critic, David Heifetz, "When you question their values, beliefs ...

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