Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 2901 to 2925 of 2962 results

Luke 1:39-45

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... last will be first” kind of loving and giving. Whenever I hear someone say, they can have faith all on their own, I wonder what religion they could be talking about, because that is not the definition of Christianity. It just doesn’t work that way. Christians were designed to be traveling a journey of faith with Jesus, and with others. This is not just a definition of what it means to be a Christian, but it’s one of our greatest blessings. It may not feel like it sometimes when we get annoyed at our ...

2902. Don't Miss Jesus

Luke 2:41-51

Sermon

Derl G. Keefer

... which will build in you the life of holiness and make you Christlike.” (Jan Karon, Patches of Light). Conclusion Hang on to the principles we were taught by Jesus and his family today. Remember that the essence of Christian living (holiness) as John Wesley said is simplicity and purity: one design, one desire: entire devotion to God. Amen.

2903. I Shall Rise Again!

I Corinthians 15:19-26 · Luke 24:1-12

Sermon

King Duncan

... more than 1,400 years, a Cathedral dedicated to St Paul has stood at the highest point in the City of London. The cathedral is one of the most famous and most recognizable sights of this great city with so many historic sites. St. Paul’s was designed by the famous architect Sir Christopher Wren after the Great Fire of London destroyed an earlier cathedral that stood on the same site. Before work could begin on the new cathedral, the remains of the old cathedral had to be cleared away. Once the site had ...

2904. You Will Always Have The Poor With You…

John 12:1-8

Sermon

Schuyler Rhodes

... her alone.” The question of focus and clarity arises in all this. Let us ask ourselves. Do we have our eyes on the ball? Are we truly focused on living out the gospel of Jesus? Or are we distracted by culturally moderated interpretations of scripture designed to support secular culture rather than lead us to faithful living? Let us think together about our lives as Christian community. Are we focused on ministry? Or do we use our faith to support our particular ideology or world-view? In many places, our ...

2905. Hanging Around Jesus Changes You

Philippians 3:17 — 4:1

Sermon

Mark Ellingsen

... the wedding day? And has not a lot of your lover rubbed off on you? Hasn’t your mate taken on a lot of your ways of doing things? Living together in love changes you, makes you more like your lover. And that does not happen by imitation or design. It just seems to happen without your thinking about it. It just somehow mysteriously happens. It is the same with a parent-child relationship. Those of us who are parents, from the first time you laid eyes on that child of yours it changed you, did it not? And ...

2906. Why The Resurrection Makes Sense

1 Corinthians 15:19-26

Sermon

Mark Ellingsen

... will not be able to go along with everything else that Christian faith says about Jesus. The Bible makes this point elsewhere in a way, in John (11:25). Jesus calls himself there the resurrection and the life. In Romans (1:4) Paul says that Jesus has been designated Son of God by the resurrection! Get the point? You do not know the Jesus portrayed by the New Testament if he is someone who has not risen! The logic of Christian faith entails that if you accept the authority of the Bible, if that is where you ...

2907. I Saw the Light

Luke 9:28-43

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... .htm. See also Traci Pederson, “The Healing Powers of Light Therapy, Spirituality and Health, https://www.spiritualityhealth.com/blogs/spirituality-health/2015/01/26/traci-pedersen-healing-powers-light-therapy. For more in the history of light therapy from ancient times, see “The Healing Use of Light and Color,” Healthcare Design Magazine, February 1, 2008, https://healthcaredesignmagazine.com/architecture/healing-use-light-and-color/.

2908. God's Bouncer or God's Ambassador?

Acts 11:1-18

Sermon

King Duncan

... spiritual family?” The second question we need to ask ourselves is, “How great is God’s grace?” Remember in our Bible passage when Peter first had the vision of the sheet filled with animals, reptiles, and birds, and he backed away because some of them were designated as unclean for God’s people. Then the voice spoke from heaven and said, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.” Think about that for a moment. We don’t have the power to make anything clean. We can’t even clean ...

2909. Outrageous Parties

Luke 15:1-10

Sermon

Will Willimon

One spring break, I took a group of students on a retreat called, "Exploring the Christian Faith.'' The retreat was designed for people "who know something about Jesus, but are not yet ready to put their money down yet. I told them, ''I am going to use any means at my disposal—films, arguments, worship, music, Bible study—to arm wrestle you into following Jesus. But don’t get anxious, I ...

2910. The Sweet Scent of Death

John 12:1-8

Sermon

Lori Wagner

What does death smell like? I’m guessing that many of you might say flowers. But not just any flowers. Heavily fragrant flowers. Dozens and dozens of them. Huge floral arrangements freshly plucked and designed to impress ooze that honeysuckle smell that masks the decomposition of the body. These aren’t light, wisps of perfume but a pungent, aromatic, overwhelmingly oppressive scent that chokes our senses, even as it chokes us up emotionally. Why? Because for us, this is the scent of funerals and ...

2911. Feed My Sheep

John 21:1-19

Sermon

Schuyler Rhodes

... give life? Why? Why? Why? Ah. I am seeing a glimmer of recognition on faces around the room. You do know it, don’t you? It’s that cyclic sliding thing, where real issues are avoided, where talk is shifted and subjects changed. It’s a hazy twilight of untruth designed to befuddle and disempower, and we are up to our hips in it, in our personal lives, in our social lives and in our church. But wait, because there is a note of hope in all this. When I pick up my Bible and read the gospel of John and ...

2912. Secret Sauce

John 13:31-35

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... . This is the essence of individualism. Community, though we desire it from the core of our hearts, is challenging for us. Relationships are challenging for us. Anyone want to dispute that one? And yet we continue to seek them, because we were ultimately designed to live in unity, in harmony, “with” one another. The paradox of humanity. We are both sympathetic and diabolical. Both tendencies live within us. How we live them out will determine the kind of communities we build. Why does Jesus put so much ...

2913. Preachers, All!

Acts 2:1-13, Acts 2:14-41, Acts 2:42-47

Sermon

Will Willimon

... are expected to speak the Gospel to their neighbors, to testify to the mighty works of God, to tell people about Jesus. The thing is, on Sunday morning, we can't all possibly speak at the same time and be understood, so some of the baptized are designated to be preachers. They are the ones who speak on Sunday morning so that the rest of us may speak about Jesus Monday through Saturday morning. The preacher preaches, so that the congregation may preach. Like it or not, if you are a Christian, you are called ...

2914. First Things First

Genesis 1:1-2:3

Sermon

Will Willimon

... thought, a reminder of how fragile is the toehold of civilization, anywhere, when you think about it. The Genesis affirmation that God is on the side of order, that God is the great, cosmic artist who combats chaos and nothingness, fights disorder in favor of design and somethingness, is a great act of faith. Here was the first article of the creed upon which Israel was built—God creates, begats, pushes back the nothingness, makes form out of void, order out of chaos. People of 500 B.C., knew that chaos ...

2915. The Most Important Thing

Luke 10:38-42

Sermon

King Duncan

... : In this life, our time is limited, but our demands are endless. Most of us live in a permanent state of distraction and anxiety because we have a limited amount of time and energy to deal with an unlimited number of options. And this was not God’s design for human beings. In Genesis chapter 2, verse 2, God rested from His work of creating the universe. God, who has infinite power and lives outside of time, rested from his work. Because there was no more work to be done? No. Because rest is essential for ...

2916. Brush It Off

Luke 10:1-11, 16-20

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... our ability to open up and be vulnerable with others. The more experiences of betrayal we encounter, the harder it becomes for us to reveal our tenderest and most injurable parts to others. Instead, we put up walls, blocks, and defenses that are designed to protect our vulnerable self from outside people and things that we believe could harm us. In our scripture for today, Jesus is challenging his disciples on their ability to be vulnerable in the face of rejection, betrayal, even danger. He deliberately ...

2917. The Lawyer

Luke 10:25-37

Sermon

Dave Zuchelli

... a part of the holy proceedings of temple worship. Some of them took part as singers in the temple choir. Others were musicians who played instruments as part of the worship music. Many of the Levites whose talents were not in the field of music were designated to be temple guards. In any case, this particular Levite may well have been headed to Jerusalem to participate in holy worship as well. He, too, would have found it necessary to remain in a state of cleanliness. Thus, he passed the dying man by moving ...

2918. Peter Asks A Question

John 13:1-7 · 1 Corinthians 11:17-34

Sermon

Frank Ramirez

... towards the place where God is already waiting, so we strive a littler harder to be God's people, to become aware through our communion of God's presence which was there all along. Vernard Eller, in his book In Place Of Sacraments, writes: "... the service is designed simply to make us more aware of and open to that unmediated presence which is available any time and any place without the office of priest or element." It is not special because we have some magic power to turn God on and off as we please ...

2919. Lesson from a Prosthetic Toe

Luke 17:5-10

Sermon

King Duncan

... of robotics using YouTube and by Skyping experts around the world. At age 14, he built his first working robotic hand using LEGOs, fishing wire and electrical tubing.” For his 16th birthday, Easton’s parents bought him a 3D printer and he set to work designing a robotic arm. While exhibiting the arm at the Colorado State Science Fair, Easton met a 7-year-old girl who had a prosthetic arm. Easton was appalled when he learned from the girl’s parents that her prosthetic arm cost $80,000, and she would ...

2920. Out of the Darkness

Isaiah 9:2-7

Sermon

King Duncan

... s doctors wanted him to try a new therapy that was still in the testing phase. It carried many risks. As Ron Mehl drove to the hospital in the early morning hours, he heard God speak these reassuring words to his heart, “Son, remember this. My promises are designed for the darkness.” Mehl held on to those words throughout his treatment. Before his death, Ron Mehl wrote, “Our hope is in God. He is awake; He is at work—and I would rather have His promises in the dark than all the lights of Las Vegas ...

2921. The Sawdust Trail

Colossians 3:1-4

Sermon

Dr. Ronald Love

... - ton DC. Besides, the project held little promise for success. Groves, utterly frustrated, realized: an inadequate supply of uranium had been mined; scientists were still uncertain about the chemical properties of plutonium; production equipment had yet to be designed; acquisitions for plant sites were in abeyance; and the entire nuclear process was only a theory. Perturbed, Groves judged, “The whole endeavor was found- ed on possibilities rather than probabilities.” But it was in the midst of those ...

2922. The Just-In-Case God

Acts 17:22-31

Sermon

King Duncan & Angela Akers

... off the evil gods and appease the good gods. But there is only appeasement, not relationship. Contrast that situation with the message that Paul preached to the Athenians. He says that the God who “made the world and everything in it” also breathed life into humans and designed a purposeful and orderly world intended to reveal God’s glory and God’s existence. As he says in verses 27-28, “God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from ...

2923. Seeing is Believing…or Is It?

John 20:19-31

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... or others? Because our brains operate something like an organic architecture. Our sensory organs and our brains interact. While our eyes provide information, our brain stores that information according to our growing knowledge. Each of us has a different-looking “architectural design” in our heads. So when I see, I may not exactly see what you see. Or even if we see the “same” thing, we may interpret it differently according to our inner constructs. So, what does this say about seeing? About ...

2924. Sola Fide

1 Peter 1:3-9

Sermon

Dr. Ronald Love

... when Jesus was resurrected. Many believe in the authenticity of this being the burial cloth of Jesus, even though carbon dating places the cloth between 1260 and 1390. The Roman Catholic church has neither denied nor affirmed its authenticity, but the church has designated it as an icon.* If you have seen the movie Risen, Roman military tri-bune Clavius, a dedicated Army officer with 25 years of active service that exposed him to many battles, is ordered by Pontius Pilate to disprove the rumors that Jesus ...

2925. More Fully Understanding Christ

Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23

Sermon

King Duncan & Angela Akers

I don’t know if you have noticed all the news stories this year about new technologies designed to help us all communicate better. Many of these stories proclaim that artificial intelligence, or AI as it is popularly known, will revolutionize the way we communicate, whether through writing emails or articles or using social media or simply texting or talking on the phone. And all of that is ...

Showing results