Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 2851 to 2875 of 4997 results

2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:10

Sermon

Bonnie Bates

... me. When Paul wrote of reconciliation, I am not sure this is what he was speaking about. He wanted us to remove the barriers and not be stumbling blocks to people of faith. And yet, Paul commended us to “in every way… in purity, understanding, patience and kindness; in the Holy Spirit and in sincere love; in truthful speech and in the power of God; with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left” to open our hearts to our siblings in Christ. How powerful! How amazing the world might be ...

2852. Time to Light the Fire

Luke 3:15-17, 21-22

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... our churches to grow. We want our churches to flourish. We want to be a major center of our communities. We want to be a powerful force of good for the people around us. But we don’t want to go through what it takes to experience that vast kind of change, the kind of change that doesn’t just change our church, but it changes us. Because let’s face it. We are the church! We learned that when we were 2 or 3 years old! Right? “I am the church, you are the church, we are the church together……” Or ...

2853. Famine of the Heart

Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... part of the young son.] “When he had spent everything, a severe famine took place throughout that region, and he began to be in need.” He began to be in need. His spiritual and emotional tank was empty. Now we don’t need to be an addict to understand this kind of emptiness and the desire to fill it. We’ve all experienced this at some point in our lives. Whether we’ve gone through a tough adolescence, a divorce, a death, loss of a job or purpose, or simply some big changes in our lives, we can find ...

2854. Do You Think That I Have Come To Bring Peace?

Luke 12:49-56

Sermon

Will Willimon

... think that I have come to bring peace? No. I have come to turn father against son, son against father, mother against daughter. I have come to provoke petty dictators to send their troops against your priests, to have them deport you, jail you, beat you, mock you." What kind of God have we got in Jesus? And the crowds, the multitudes, became smaller as he turned down the narrow way toward Calvary. God, this demanding God we have in Jesus, is a God of truth. We live in a world of lies. Do you think that he ...

2855. Messiah’s Community

John 20:19-31

Sermon

Wayne Brouwer

... the moment, in a different time and context, that we read about today. Jesus had risen from the dead, but that kind of strange thing cannot easily be believed. The disciples still lived in darkness. They still doubted, wondered, and could not wrap ... an angel! His face glowed, and all heaven shone around him! Could it be Brother John? Yes, he was gruff. But he was also kind. Would give you the shirt off his back. He helped everyone anytime. And what about Brother Joseph…? The musing and the mulling continued ...

2856. The Grey Zone

John 21:1-19

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... Treading water in a murky “sea of grey,” the disciples, even after encountering Jesus in a “locked room,” remained uncertain about what to do next. Like Jesus’ own grey zone in which he appeared resurrected yet not yet ascended, the disciples too existed in a kind of muddled state, unsure how to proceed yet unsuccessful going back to the life they once led. In our scripture for today, we see them floundering about in their boat trying to catch a load of fish. Seven of them (4 are missing from this ...

2857. The Call to Encounter

Luke 8:26-39

Sermon

Dean Feldmeyer

... was healed by Jesus. And, in response, all the people from the city and countryside congratulated the formerly afflicted man and celebrated with him about his newly realized sanity and… Oh, no, wait… That wasn’t what happened, was it? No, what happened was they realized that some kind of very big power was at work there and it scared them, so they told Jesus and his disciples to take a hike. Get out. Please leave and don’t let the door hit you on the way out. I like the way Eugene Peterson put it in ...

2858. The Art Of Transition

Luke 9:51-62

Sermon

Dean Feldmeyer

... and say goodbye, which he did by killing the oxen he was using to plow with and roasting them over a fire made from the wooden plow. He gave the meat to his family and their hired hands, kissed his parents and left. Jesus said that this was exactly the kind of break that was needed to become a Disciple (capital D). We cannot move forward if we keep one foot always in the past. We cannot look forward and backward at the same time. Our gaze must be focused only upon that which lies ahead, upon the vision God ...

2859. Why Pass By?

Luke 10:25-37

Sermon

Dean Feldmeyer

... man who is called, “the Governor.” He was the leader of another band of desperate survivors who planned to attack the good guys, kill them all, and take over their camp and their resources. Herschel was the old man among the good guys and he was as kind, good, and decent as any character ever written for fiction. His daughters were back at the camp that the Governor intended to attack and he said to the Governor, “You are a father of a daughter. I know you love her. So how can you contemplate killing ...

2860. The Mother of All Yard Sales

Luke 12:13-21

Sermon

Dean Feldmeyer

... consist in the abundance of possessions.” Luke 12:15 Three years ago, I retired from the active ministry and moved into a new phase of my career. I still preach, write, and teach, from time to time. I just am not required to do that. Besides moving into a new kind of ministry, my wife and I also moved into a new house. New for us, at any rate. Once we bought the house and set the closing and moving dates, it became clear that the house we were moving into was not nearly big enough to hold all the stuff ...

2861. Don’t Fall Asleep

Luke 12:32-40

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... that moth larvae can destroy your wardrobe in just under four days! Did you know that a spider can build a web in your home in under an hour! Even in under 30 minutes! Practically right before your eyes! It takes an alert homeowner to ward off these kinds of issues, or to fix them when they appear. It takes an alert Christian to beware of spiritual traps and to avert them before they set in and begin to destroy one’s life! It takes an aware Christian to stay awake to God’s gracious gifts of protection ...

2862. The Art of Reconciliation

Luke 12:49-59

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... for Rome, those who were arrested for uprisings, those who had been rejected by their families, those who were homeless, those who were struggling to get by, those working for the Temple, those barred from the Temple – division was rampant. In this kind of atmosphere, Jesus’ message of inclusion, acceptance, healing, and restoration was good news for some. Others, as was prophesied from the time of his presentation in the Temple as a child, would stumble against his message of peace! For division is ...

2863. In Those Days: The Voice Of The Time Keeper

Matthew 3:1-12

Sermon

Frank Ramirez

... we know it is the earth that is turning, but that’s the way it looks to us mere mortals who live on the planet) mark days, while the phases of the moon correspond to months. The solar year is 365 ¼, sort of, while the lunar year is 354 days, kind of, with an extra month added to make up for the spare change of the days missed in order to make that lunar year keep time with the seasons. While we think of time as something that can be measured precisely, sliced and diced to the tiniest fraction, for Jesus ...

2864. God Is Like...a Parent

Hosea 11:1-4 · Luke 15:1-32

Sermon

Kenneth L. Gibble

... your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous” (Matthew. 5:44-45). What kind of heavenly father is God? Perhaps the best answer Jesus gave to this question came in the parable we call the prodigal son. It is one of the most touching, beautiful stories in all of world literature. We’re so familiar with it that we can miss the surprising ...

2865. God Is Like...a Comforter

2 Corinthians 1:3-7

Sermon

Kenneth L. Gibble

... who mourn. During times of grief, of great personal loss, everyone needs comforting, needs reassurance that their friends care for them, hurt with them. Those of you who have experienced the death of a loved one or the loss of someone close to you through other kinds of separation know how comforting it is to have people reach out to you. A mother comforting a child ― that is the picture the prophet Isaiah painted of how God comforts. When do children need comfort? For a small child it’s when he takes a ...

2866. The Unknowing Evangelist

Luke 16:1-13

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... If a non-religious man who does things for selfish reasons can do so much good and represent God so well in the end, how much better could an actual follower of Jesus do who has good intentions and follows through with actions that reflect on the kind, true, and merciful nature of God! If only, says Jesus, our religious leadership would represent God so well in their own dealings with people! Jesus’ disciples, he hopes, will do better! For those who follow Jesus must not only trust in the promises made to ...

2867. A Faith That Overcomes

Acts 9:32-43

Sermon

Douglas J. Deuel

... brief description provided for Tabitha. Tabitha was a disciple who got sick and died. She was described as being "full of good works and acts of charity" (Acts 9:36). This was a person who was faithful to the cause of Christ. She was kind and gracious in her acts toward others. She was just the kind of person the early church needed. Why did she have to die? Of all people, why did the church have to lose this beloved saint to death? This story speaks to the heart of how each one of us feels when life brings ...

2868. Unusual, To Say The Least!

Amos 7:1-9, Amos 7:10-17

Sermon

Barbara Brokhoff

... it is just a single giant step from this 8th century prophet of the Old Testament to the modern 20th century. The lessons are the same. God still governs nations and individuals and ultimately no national sin and no personal sin goes unnoticed or unpunished. This kind of preaching got Amos in trouble, and it got Jesus in trouble, too. Jesus was not crucified for saying, "In my Father's house are many mansions," or "Consider the lilies of the field," or "Lo, I am with you alway," or "Love one another." They ...

2869. A Man Who Would Be God

Luke 4:14-30, Luke 9:28-36, Luke 3:21-38

Illustration

Richard A. Jensen

... thing that he had not expected to find. He thought the great Chairman Mao Tse-tung was dead and gone. Not so. It seemed like he ran into the image of the Chairman at every turn. Tom knew that Chairman Mao had written The Little Red Book as a kind of "bible" of his thoughts. Tom assumed that The Little Red Book was a thing of the past, tucked away with memories of the Chairman. But it was not so. The Little Red Book was for sale everywhere. The Chairman's "bible" functioned like the "bible" for many Chinese ...

2870. A Modern Day Job

Luke 13:1-9

Illustration

Richard A. Jensen

... , athletic man. He is very proud of his body. He boasts of his feats of strength. So when the local YMCA advertised a "Refrigerator Race" J. B. signed up immediately. In this kind of race a refrigerator is strapped to your back. The one who can move ten yards the most quickly with a refrigerator on his back wins the race. This was just the kind of stuff that J. B. loved. He strapped on the refrigerator and away he went. And then the strap broke. Down came J. B., refrigerator, and all. His back was hurt to ...

2871. A New Thing

Isaiah 43:14-28

Sermon

Richard A. Jensen

... what he did at Joab's house?" he demanded of Amos one day. "A prostitute got into the house somehow and washed his feet with her tears and anointed them with ointment. As Joab said, 'If Jesus was really the Messiah he would have known what kind of woman this was and cast her out of the house.' Whoever heard of a Messiah who lets himself be cleansed by sinners? The very idea violates everything we hold dear." Amos kept quiet. He knew Eliezer's words were true. Jesus certainly was upsetting their religious ...

2872. Bearing The Cross

Luke 14:25-35

Illustration

Richard A. Jensen

... McDermott just had to talk to somebody about it. At her church she had met and made friends with another woman about her age, Doris Pagel, who worked for the local chamber of commerce. Laura thought that Doris might have some insights for her about the kind of people that made up their town. Maybe she had the situation figured out all wrong. She hoped Doris could help. Dr. McDermott took Doris Pagel out for dinner one night and told her sad tale. Doris' first reaction caught Laura by surprise. "Nobody ever ...

2873. Gospel Grandmothers

2 Timothy 1:1-2:13

Illustration

Richard A. Jensen

... spoke on their behalf. Many adults spoke as well. There was a representative of the women's organization, the men's club, the church board and just about every other group at United. In their speeches people took care not to paint Pastor Snyder as some kind of perfect saint. It wasn't that Pastor Snyder's ministry with them was without fault. In fact, they knew his faults pretty well. There were some well-timed jokes concerning the fact that Pastor Snyder often neglected his own family in order to get all ...

2874. The Mystery

Luke 7:1-10

Drama

Robert F. Crowley

... have faith in God? DIANE: A friend or family member could have faith in God. STAN: Is it possible for no one around to have faith in God? DIANE: And still that person would be healed? I suppose so. We just said God is healing people in hospitals by all kinds of means. Probably most of the people in the hospital don't believe in a healing God. STAN: And God heals them anyway. DIANE: Right. He must. STAN: That's it. It's in God's hands. DIANE: The healing, medicine, the surgery is all in God's hands. STAN ...

2875. Reward Time

Drama

Robert F. Crowley

... to you. He was a stranger in a strange \nland, and you helped him. \nGEORGE: I did? \nRIDGE: On a crowded freeway, where traffic was backed up because \nof construction, you let this man in line ahead of you. \nGEORGE: I did? \nRIDGE: Yes, and because of that kind deed this man was receptive \nto the gospel that he was listening to on his car radio and came \ninto God's kingdom. \nGEORGE: I don't remember that. \nRIDGE: Your heart attitude was right when you did that. So, you \nwere right. You do get a ...

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