Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 2876 to 2900 of 4972 results

2876. Count the Cost

Luke 14:25-33

Sermon

Will Willimon

... , cut loose and party. He is a high roller and won't quit the game until he's taken everything you've got. I don't know how long you'll be able to hide amid the "multitudes" before he calls your hand and makes you either ante up or leave the table. Awhile back I got a call from a parent, an upset, very upset parent. "I hold you personally responsible for this," he said. "Me?" I asked. The father was hot, upset because his graduate school bound daughter had just informed him that she was going to chuck it ...

2877. Ready!

Mark 13:24-37

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... that summer is almost here. This fig tree is not withered but is blossoming, a harbinger of hope. If the first parable is about signs that should alert us, the second is a reminder to stay alert. A householder goes off on a journey and leaves his servants (you and me) in charge with instructions to keep watch. That was an admonition that would have resonated in that culture because they knew about instructions to Roman legionnaires who pulled guard duty — if they fell asleep on the job, they could be ...

2878. Template for Reconciliation

Matthew 18:15-20

Sermon

Steve Molin

... across the room at our congregational president, accusing her of hiding the facts, and lying to the membership. A couple of vulgar words slipped out as well, and that’s when I made my way to be directly in front of Tom. “Enough!” I said. “Tom, you need to leave right now. Get out of here.” It was certainly the most dramatic entrance I have ever made to a new call! On Tuesday, I called Tom and he agreed to meet at a local coffee shop. “Tom, I don’t know you well, and I mean no disrespect, but ...

2879. John the Baptist and Mrs. Nolan

Mark 1:1-8

Sermon

King Duncan & Angela Akers

... hymn, and they sang and sang and sang. People started going through the congregation,” she said. “And the minister came down and took hold of my hand. ‘Little girl,’ he said, ‘do you want to go to hell?’ She said, “He scared me to death, and so I leave before all that starts.” (2) I believe I would get out of there in a hurry myself if I knew I was going to be confronted with such a distorted presentation of the Gospel. Some people have turned the Good News into bad news. That’s the truth ...

2880. More Than Just Image

Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24

Sermon

King Duncan & Angela Akers

... becoming proud, greedy, heartless and self-serving. And God sees our failings. God sees how our sin hurts the people put under our care. Through Ezekiel, God is telling the people of Israel, “Don’t lose heart. I have a plan for My people. I will not leave you without hope.” God’s promise to His people is “I am coming to rescue and restore you.” This is the vision God speaks through the prophet Ezekiel: “For this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I myself will search for my sheep and look after ...

2881. Going and Doing

Matthew 25:31-46

Sermon

Steve Molin

... no room. He yelled over his shoulder to two women sitting across the aisle, “Will you drive me to Target?” “We’re not planning to leave McDonalds for an hour or more” they said. And then I began to pray for the man. But here was my prayer; “Lord, please don ... cup of coffee. “Yeah, that’s a good idea” I said, and I left him and walked out to my car. But I couldn’t leave. So I went back in and helped him into my car and we drove toward Target. “You a doctor or a lawyer or something?” he ...

2882. Wrapped in a Cloud

Luke 1:26-38

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... describe God’s cloud-like, enveloping presence is the Greek word “episkiasei.” In most versions of scripture, scholars have translated the word as “overshadow.” “The power of the Most High will overshadow you,” announces the angel to Mary. But that definition leaves us curious. What does it mean? The actual Greek definition helps. It means to envelope with a brilliant cloud or haze, to obscure in brightness and glory, to inspect and examine, to completely surround or swaddle in a cloud of God ...

2883. Ambassadors For Christ

2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:10

Sermon

John B. Jamison

... were not the signs of someone who was a disciple of Jesus Christ. Paul wrote that the true disciple, fancy or not, is the one who lives their life as Christ’s ambassador — the one who represents Jesus — who does what Jesus would do. He didn’t just leave it open for them to argue about what it meant to do that. He gave them a list of things that described the work of a true ambassador of Jesus Christ. It said nothing about fancy clothes or fancy talk, and it said nothing about miracles. Paul wrote ...

2884. A Letter in Time

1 Peter 3:18-22

Sermon

John B. Jamison

... institutions of the community. The Christians were seen as dangerous, as members of a group that was out to destroy the community and what it stood for. Because of the pressures, some church members ended up leaving the church, some decided to stand up and fight, while others decided it was much easier to leave the community completely. Relationships were destroyed. If a husband or a wife converted and the other spouse did not, they either fought or one left. If a slave converted and the owner did not, the ...

2885. Into The Valley Of Despair

Mark 9:2-9

Sermon

Ronald Love

... high mountain?” Where do you go for spiritual renewal? One of the things I enjoyed about being a minister, until I had to leave the profession because of my health, was the joy of living a hundred different lives. I would visit all of my parishioners at ... anyone what they had seen until the Son of Man had risen from the dead.” It is like in my solitude of camping. I had to leave the woods. I had to once again enter the busyness of the world. I have a water color painting in the dining room of my home, ...

2886. Is This All There Is?

Revelation 21:1-6

Sermon

Will Willimon

... here. I decided to escape, to take the rest of the afternoon off. The warm April sun shone through the sun roof of my little Japanese bubble as I soared down 751, wind tousling my hair, sailing toward freedom, toward beauty, toward home, with fresh, new green leaves just adorning the trees, and all in bloom and lovely. “How good life is!” I heard myself exclaim, “How good to be alive!” And yet it was on that very same April day that a young child died from injuries sustained in last week's bombings ...

2887. I Love You — If You Know What I Mean

1 John 3:16-24

Sermon

John B. Jamison

... she did come to church with her husband, she did not feel the desire to convert to Christianity and become a full member of the church. Out of their love and concern for the husband, a committee from the church went to the husband and urged him to leave his wife because she was a threat to his own salvation. The couple was happily married and their religious differences had no impact at all upon that marriage. But he still divorced his wife and never spoke with her again. There was a family that had been a ...

2888. When It’s Good, It’s Really Good

John 15:9-17

Sermon

Mary Austin

... see that from space?” his father asked him. “Of course not,” he answered with all the wisdom of a now nine year old. “It’s too far. But she can see it from heaven.” For better or worse, we leave our imprint on each other. Some imprints are joyful, and endure forever. Others leave behind a footprint of pain. Most are both. Our connections with each other are mysterious, and love comes in many forms. Deeper still is our connection to the God who loves us always. We abide in God’s embrace from ...

2889. All In God's Time

Luke 24:44-53

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... them to wait: “Stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.” Then he ascends to the Father. Jesus leaves them alone for a while with only the promise that the Holy Spirit will come to them. They don’t know when. They don’t know ... lies ahead. We may not know how things will turn out or what life may ask of us. But we DO know that God never leaves us. That God’s promises for us and our lives are not fickle offers but a lifetime guarantee. So no matter how long we need ...

2890. Daniel Interprets the Dream of a Tree

Daniel 4:19-27

Understanding Series

William Nelson

... is that parts of it are missing from the LXX. On the other hand, there are many differences between the Greek and Aramaic texts, and it is not always possible to reconstruct the Aramaic text with confidence from the Greek. Since this is so, my inclination is to leave v. 23. Perhaps the author intended to begin with a longer quote and then continue with smaller, selective quotes or allusions. 4:25 The element you will eat grass like cattle is not in the dream (4:15). Some would add in a verb for eating or ...

2891. The Interpretation of the Dream

Daniel 7:15-28

Understanding Series

William Nelson

... the end of this same chapter (7:28). This is a recurrent motif in Daniel: Nebuchadnezzar (2:1; 4:5) and Daniel, later in the book (8:27; 10:16–17). Similarly, Pharaoh was troubled about his dream (Gen. 41:8). In the Bible, dreams typically leave their recipients troubled, for the dreams often portend imminent, disturbing events. In his anxiety, Daniel approaches one of those standing there and asks him the true meaning of all this (7:16). It is possible that Gabriel is the one Daniel approaches (8:16; 9 ...

2892. The Interpretation of the Vision

Daniel 8:15-27

Understanding Series

William Nelson

... theme throughout the book of Daniel (1:1–2; 2:21; 4:17, 25, 32, 35; 5:21; 7:6). Alternatively, it might mean that he becomes a powerful king, not through his power but through his intrigues (Driver, Daniel, p. 123). The RSV and NRSV leave out the phrase, which is preferable to the NIV. The king’s strength will be followed by astounding devastation, success in whatever he does, and destruction of mighty men and the holy people (8:24). Furthermore, he will excel in deceit and will magnify himself. When ...

2893. Bread for the Journey

Mark 12:28-34

Sermon

Thomas C. Willadsen

... are made of. Once a father wished me a trouble-free trip and I replied, “There would be nothing to remember! Give me a trip with troubles that we can work through, with difficulties that we overcome together, by working as a team.” That moment when we leave the church parking lot’s gravitation field always gives me a frisson of excitement. The other moment comes either on the last night or the last lunch stop on our way back home. We gather around the Lord’s table, which may be a picnic table just ...

2894. The Tale of the Widow and the Wolves

Mark 12:38-44

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... in the midst thereof are like wolves ravening the prey, to shed blood, and to destroy souls, to get dishonest gain” (Ezekiel 22:27) "But he who is a hireling, and not the shepherd, whose sheep are not his own, sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep, and flees: and the wolf catches them, and scatters the sheep” (John 10:12) "Blessed be the LORD, who hath not given us as a prey ("tereph") to their teeth" (Psalm 124:6) The wolf symbolizes everything distasteful, predatory, and cowardly about those ...

2895. Finding the Sermon

Luke 2:41-52

Sermon

John B. Jamison

... when Jesus was older and had just gotten the message that Herod had killed John the Baptist. He knew it was time. It was time to leave Nazareth. It was time to give up the safety of being Joseph and Mary’s boy and tend and feed God’s sheep in his role ... to make a bit of a difference. But he knew that was not who he was supposed to be. He made the choice. Jesus chose to leave Nazareth and move to Capernaum on the north shore of the Sea of Galilee, where he would be seen and heard, and he could begin doing ...

2896. 2025 Lent Sermon Series

Sermon

Various Authors

... . Jesus and Mary Magdalene – John 20:10-18 7. When The Risen Christ Comes Looking For Us – John 21:15-25 The Tragedy and the Triumph by King Duncan 1. The Case of the Dancing Man – Psalm 51:1-19 2. The Garden of Temptation – Genesis 3:1-24 3. Leaving Home – Genesis 12:1-8 4. The Evangelist Has a Shady Past – John 4:1-26 5. Playing the Blame Game – John 9:1-12 6. Daring Thomas – John 11:1-16 7. The Triumph and the Tragedy – Matthew 21:1-11 8. Why Are You Here? – 1 Corinthians 11 ...

2897. Going Home ― Part Two: Then And Now

Luke 4:21-30

Sermon

John B. Jamison

... time when God caused a terrible drought to cover the entire land. King Ahab and his wife Jezebel had built altars to other gods, like Baal, and had been hunting down and killing the prophets of God. The prophet Elijah was hiding in the wilderness when God told him to leave Israel and go to the town of Zarephath, near Sidon, an enemy of Israel. One day while he was there, Elijah saw a widow picking up sticks. He called to her and asked her to bring him a cup of water, and she did. Then he asked her to go ...

2898. Memento Vivere

John 12:1-8

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... important message and his eternal presence. He may die for a while, but he will rise again. They may not have understood with their minds, but their senses would not deceive them. Just as the scent of roses never leaves a rosary, the fragrance of Christ’s promise would never again leave his disciples, not them, not us, ever. Mary may have prepared for Jesus’ death, but now instead she celebrates his messianic identity and promise of life. And so do we still today. Each time we celebrate his last supper ...

2899. The Grey Zone

John 21:1-19

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... vows begin: “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” More than these? Such a small phrase, and yet, so important to Peter’s relationship with Jesus. Do you love me and commitment to me, putting me first in your life and priorities? Can you leave behind your past and commit to future with me? Will you love me with a strength that you reserve for no other and nothing else? Will you trust to be my disciple no matter what the future holds? Sound familiar? If some of you are married, you’ve ...

2900. The Turning Point

John 13:31-35

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... handed Judas a piece of bread dipped in wine and told him to go and “do what he had to do and quickly.” Once Judas left the room, Jesus proceeded to explain to the remaining disciples once again the events that were to come –that he would soon “leave” them, that he would be glorified and become one again with God, and that they could yet come with him. He left them with a last commandment: to love one another. And then, he sought to comfort them. He would later tell them that he was explaining all ...

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