Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 2801 to 2825 of 2844 results

2801. Selling Out

Luke 8:26-39

Sermon

Dave Zuchelli

When I was in Israel several years ago, I took one of the boats that crossed the Sea of Galilee. When we reached the far shore, we were whisked by bus to a place near the ancient city of Gadara. In its heyday, Gadara was an urban area — one of the cities of the Decapolis. It was at the southern end of those Ten Roman Cities of fame. Gadara is no longer a city. In fact, it is nothing but a few ruins now. The place of interest for us weary pilgrims was nothing but some rocky crags. Nearby stood the ruins of ...

2802. Find Joy Again!

Romans 15:4-13

Sermon

Charley Reeb

There are many hysterical stories associated with my parents and family. There is one that has been the source of great laughter over the years. The event occurred one weekend when my parents drove me to a tennis tournament in another city. After my match, I was hungry, so my dad drove us to Shoney’s. I don’t know if they are still around, but they used to have a big breakfast buffet. My dad loved to eat. It was a real hobby for him. As a result, he had the “Dunlop” disease. His belly “dun- lopped” over ...

2803. Watch This!

Luke 14:1, 7-14

Sermon

Dave Zuchelli

The first verse of this chapter in Luke is fascinating all on its own. Luke indicated that Jesus was being “carefully watched.” It almost sounds like a spy novel. Better yet, it sounds like Big Brother keeping an eye on unwary citizens. Jesus, of course, knew all this was happening. He warned us to be alert, and I’m sure he was vigilant as well. As a congregation, we’ve gotten access to the demographics of our surrounding area. It’s amazing what we know about the people we call neighbors. We are located in ...

2804. Response Ability

Luke 17:5-10

Sermon

Lori Wagner

Responsibility. We all would say that it’s an important feature of adult life. We all would say that we as people need to take responsibility for our actions, our lives, and our engagement with the world. We all would say that it’s wrong to simply expect everyone else to do everything for us. This is what it means to graduate from childhood to adulthood. We learn and we grow, and then we take our place within our families and communities as contributors, taking responsibility for our jobs, our deeds, and ...

2805. Secret Swerve

Matthew 1:18-25

Sermon

Lori Wagner

A secret is like a dance you do in the dark. It’s cautious with its steps, limber in its quiet strength, and loyal to its passion. It swerves past danger and leans into adventure, all the while sidestepping to keep safe from detection. For a time, it avoids the revealing the light it knows but cannot reveal. Yet it looks forward to the coming dawn when the beauty and force of its power breaks free. Mary and Joseph shared a secret –a powerful secret that would change the world. She carried within her dark ...

2806. Sent

John 9:1-41

Sermon

April Yamasaki

Last week a friend sent me a copy of her recently released book. When I opened the outer package that gave my address, I discovered another layer of wrapping, this time brown craft paper adorned with a golden leaf and a brief handwritten message in green ink. On the back, a sticker matching her book cover completed the package. Her book was so beautifully presented that I hesitated to unwrap it further, but when I did, I discovered another heartfelt and handwritten message on the book’s inside cover. ...

2807. Forgiven

Matthew 28:1-10

Sermon

April Yamasaki

Instead of making new year’s resolutions, each year I like to choose a key word to help set my direction for the coming year. One year I chose “wonder,” which for me meant being curious, exploring new things, and asking questions. It meant being filled with wonder at God’s creation and work in the world and in my own life. That year it seemed as if the word had chosen me, for as soon as I settled on “wonder” as my word for the year, I started seeing wonder everywhere. This year I chose “blossom,” and when ...

2808. The Big Move!

Matthew 4:12-23

Sermon

John Jamison

Just so you know, we are going to use our imaginations today. We’re not going to just kind of play around and make things up, but we are going to use our imaginations to see if we find some new meaning in a passage we have probably read or heard many times before. We’re going to try and remember what was going on back in the first century when this story actually took place and see if that might give us any new thoughts about why John wrote this down. John was writing about what happened when John the ...

2809. Moksha

Romans 8:6-11

Sermon

Dr. Ronald Love

Evagrius Ponticus, also known as Evagrius the Solitary, was a Christian monk and ascetic who resided in a monastery in the Egyptian desert. Concerned with the temptations that besought people, in the year 375 AD he compiled a list of the eight terrible thoughts, also referred to as the eight evil temptations. The eight patterns of evil that Evanrius listed are: gluttony, greed, sloth, sorrow, lust, anger, vainglory, and pride. The list was not to be one of condemnation; rather, it was to raise awareness to ...

2810. When You’re Out Of Tune

1 Corinthians 3:1-9

Sermon

Charley Reeb

Bill Self wrote about a bluegrass radio station in Missouri that received a unique phone call. The caller said to the DJ, “Hello, I am a farmer living alone on my farm. My wife is dead. And my children and grandchildren have moved away; I don’t see them very much. There are three things in my life that give me comfort: One is the farm. Second is my radio. The third is my fiddle. Sometimes in the night, when you are playing songs that I know and love, I get out my fiddle and play along with you. It brings ...

2811. When Time Stands Still

John 11:1-45

Sermon

Lori Wagner

Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning." Psalm 30:5 Some of you may remember the song released in 1971 by Don McLean, “American Pie.” The folk rock tune is said to have memorialized the death of music legend Buddy Holly, who died in an unexpected plane crash, along with other musicians. But Don McLean himself tells a different story. When McLean was 15 years old, he had a premonition that his father was going to die. A few days later, it happened. His father died right in front of him ...

2812. Professional Angel

1 Peter 2:19-25

Sermon

Ronald Love

Marie Curie was devoted to science, determined to discover the medical possibilities for radiation. Working with radium slowly affected her health. Curie would often become ill, a result of radiation sickness. Painful burning lesions would appear on her hands and face, caused by handling radioactive material. Eventually, her vision was impaired; the only way she continued to work was by wearing thick lensed glasses and taping large color coded signs on her laboratory instruments. Yet, through this ...

2813. When You Are Weary

Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30

Sermon

King Duncan & Angela Akers

One of the amazing facts about the human race is how alike we all are. We share most of the same hopes and dreams, likes and dislikes. Even in a world of almost 8 billion people, there are certain universal things that most people agree on. To prove this, I’m going to read a series of statements. If you agree that a statement is true in your life, raise your hand. Here’s the first one: I’m a really good singer in the shower or in my car. Here’s the second: My pet understands me when I talk to it. Or: my ...

2814. Afraid at the Thank God Ledge

1 Kings 3:5-12

Sermon

King Duncan & Angela Akers

Have you ever been in a situation so challenging that you didn’t know what to do? Few things will make us feel more alone than facing down a challenge that is greater than our resources. If I’m describing almost every sleepless night you’ve ever had, then today’s Bible passage is for you. I read an interview with a young man named Alex Honnold, who is famous in the sports world for his free solo climbing adventures. Free solo climbers don’t use any ropes or harnesses or other equipment in their climbing. ...

2815. Rest

Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30

Sermon

William G. Carter

I don’t know of a more inviting invitation: “Come to me and I will give you rest.” Jesus speaks to the woman who cannot sleep, to the child who is anxious, and to the man is bone-tired. Come ... rest. The invitation is gentle, not forceful. He speaks from a level place, a humble place. His invitation includes all: “all you,” or as they say in the South, “y’all.” There’s not a single person excluded. Everybody come, come and rest. What intrigues me is why so many people turn him down. Have you ever noticed ...

2816. Glimpses of Eternity

Luke 9:28-36

Sermon

Will Willimon

''Peter said to Jesus, 'Master, it is well that we are here; let us make three booths, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah'...and they were afraid. And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, "This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!" At the beginning of Remembrance of Things Past, Marcel Proust remembers his childhood, not through conscious effort, but through revelation. As an adult, one day he casually bites into a madeleine, the little French cookie. And out of nowhere, the taste, the ...

2817. Master Teacher

Matthew 15:10-28

Sermon

Lori Wagner

The Christian Testament scriptures are the most fascinating set of inspired and brilliant stories we can possibly read and learn from. The scriptures are amazing. But too often, we miss the best parts. This can happen when we read either from habit and read over clues that we’ve never noticed before or when we don’t see the entire picture and have a hard time imagining what’s happening in real-time. I like to employ two “clues” or “helps” therefore when reading scripture. These can deepen our understanding ...

2818. Revising The Agenda

Matthew 16:21-28

Sermon

William G. Carter

Whenever I hear this Bible passage, I smell potato soup. One day when I was about fourteen years old, my mother announced we were going to church for something called a “sacrificial” supper. She said it had something to do with the season of Lent. That was curious, too. We were a low-church Presbyterian family. Liturgical seasons didn’t mean much to us. Any talk of Lent didn’t make much sense. At least, not until that night. There we were, one Sunday night in late winter. The fellowship hall was half-empty ...

2819. John the Baptist and Mrs. Nolan

Mark 1:1-8

Sermon

King Duncan & Angela Akers

Kelly LeDoux, Duluth, Minnesota tells about a time when she and her four-year-old son were putting out cookies for Santa on Christmas Eve and she accidentally dropped one of the cookies. “No problem,” she said, picking it up and dusting it off before placing it back on the plate. “You can’t do that,” argued her four-year-old son. “Don’t worry,” Mom said, “Santa will never know.” Her son shot her a look. “So he knows if I’ve been bad or good,” her son said, “but he doesn’t know the cookie fell on the floor ...

2820. Burning the Midnight Oil

Matthew 25:1-13

Sermon

Steve Molin

It has been several decades since Pastor John Lloyd Ogilvie wrote his book about the parables of Jesus titled, The Autobiography of God. As Ogilvie pointed out, this “autobiography” – this self-writing – is exactly what the parables of Jesus are.[1] They are the description of the kingdom of God by God’s own self.” Jesus did not write them down as an author would; he told them to small groups, to angry crowds, to the masses, to individuals, and most often, to his disciples. He painted word-pictures about ...

2821. Fearless

Matthew 25:14-30

Sermon

Lori Wagner

Commitment has become a fearful word in our current culture. Whether in careers, marriages, churches, or even faith, the very word “commitment” seems to strike fear into the spines of people of all ages. Significant cultural paradigm changes may have contributed to this rise in our current “zero commitment, instant gratification” social milieu. Whereas 50 years ago, a solid resume meant that you loyally stayed with one employer for most of your working life, gaining wisdom and experience that proved ...

2822. Ready for Change

Mark 13:24-37

Sermon

Lori Wagner

Renewal, change, the dream of a fresh start. Perhaps the dream of a more stress-free, burden-free life. A happier life. A healthier life. A less lonely or less impediment-filled life? How many out there wish for that in the coming year? [You can ask for a show of hands.] December tends to be the most stressful, difficult, financially burdensome, grief-ridden month of the entire year. Never mind that Advent is supposed to be a time of peace, of prayer, of patient waiting. Ever try to shop on Black Friday? ...

2823. Obstructions of the Heart

Mark 1:1-8

Sermon

Lori Wagner

Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the LORD of hosts. And it shall be said, “Build up, build up, prepare the way, remove every obstruction from my people’s way.” --Isaiah 57:14 (ESV) Obstructions of the Heart. Sounds like something from a medical manual, doesn’t it? Yet, removing obstructions of the heart was an important part of ...

2824. Fever!

Mark 1:29-39

Sermon

Lori Wagner

In our culture today, we find ourselves on the “other side” of the most serious pandemic most of us will ever experience. Many who have weathered the illness have said they’ve never felt so ill and depleted before. From high fevers of 104 and above to debilitating fatigue lasting sometimes months afterward, COVID-19 brought us face to face with our own mortality in ways that made us think more deeply about who we are, our time on earth, and how we spend that time. It also created within us, as a people, an ...

2825. Praying the Lectionary: Good Friday

John 18:1-19:42 · Hebrews 10:16-25 or Hebrews 4:14-16; 5:7-9 · Isaiah 52:13-53:12 · Psalm 22

Bulletin Aid

Garth Wehrfritz-Hanson

P: Loving God: On this holiest of days we, together with all creation, bow in awe and wonder to worship you. We are completely humbled and filled with gratitude when you, on this day, offer us and all humankind the precious gift of life in the person of Jesus Christ crucified. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our diseases. God of mercy: C: Hear our prayer. P: Ancient of days: An eternity is far too short to worship and serve you. We will never, ever be able to repay you, Jesus, Savior of the ...

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