Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 2951 to 2975 of 4943 results

2951. Marriage

1 Corinthians 7:1-40

Understanding Series

Marion L. Soards

The seventh chapter of Paul’s letter to Corinth is a complex and challenging series of related observations and directions that have often lost or puzzled later readers of the epistle. Paul’s statements in these verses are more often misunderstood than grasped and appreciated for what they say. The commentary that follows will focus on smaller segments of the writing in an effort to elucidate and explicate Paul’s thinking and teachings. Verse 1 states the Corinthians’ position. Verse 2 states Paul’s ...

2952. Introducing Job

Job 1:1-5

Understanding Series

Gerald H. Wilson

1:1 The first chapter serves as a prose prologue to the dialogue sections that form the core of the book. The focus from the very first word is on the main character. Hebrew word order (lit., “a man there was in the land of Uz”) intentionally emphasizes the man, Job. This word order signals that the reader should pay particularly close attention here to the introduction of this man and his circumstances, for he will play an important role in what follows. Because the OT elsewhere associates Uz with Edom, ...

2953. Laban Pursues Jacob

Genesis 31:22-55

Understanding Series

John E. Hartley

31:22–24 Three days later, after Jacob left home in a secretive manner (31:17–21), Laban is informed that Jacob has fled. Immediately he gathered his relatives and pursued Jacob. After seven days, possibly a symbolic number for several days, Laban caught up with Jacob in the hill country of Gilead, close to four hundred miles away—a journey of more than seven days for one driving small herds. The night before Laban overtook Jacob, God warned Laban in a dream, restricting any hostile action he might be ...

2954. A Song of Praise

Isaiah 26:1-21

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

Devastation and Renewal for the Whole Land: The word massa’ no longer introduces the prophecies, but not until chapter 28 do we return to the direct, confrontational challenges to the people of God that dominate chapters 1–12. Chapters 24–27 thus stand out from the material on either side. The canvas broadens yet further than it had in chapters 13–23, but the tone of these chapters continues. The prophecy depicts further disaster and devastation, but makes fewer references to specific peoples. The effect ...

2955. The Baby or the Window?

Matthew 13:44-46

Sermon

King Duncan

It was one of those terrible summertime scenarios you read about from time to time. It was early September in San Antonio, Texas. The thermometer stood at 99 degrees. A woman accidentally locked her 10-month-old niece inside a parked car. Quite frantically she and her sister, the baby’s mother, ran around the auto in near hysteria. A by-stander tried to help. He attempted to unlock the car with a clothes hanger. Soon the infant was turning purple and had foam on her mouth. It was becoming a life-or-death ...

2956. Deathbed Confessions

Matthew 20:1-16

Sermon

King Duncan

Did you know that Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis and one of the most important figures of the early 20th century was a teller of jokes? He was. In fact, way back in 1915 he told a joke about a minister who was summoned by a group of anxious relatives. They wanted him to extract a deathbed conversion from an atheistic and unrepentant insurance salesman. The meeting between the minister and the insurance salesman took place, and the longer the meeting continued behind the hospital's closed ...

2957. Have You Been Pruned?

John 15:1-8

Sermon

King Duncan

Writer Henry Mitchell visited a region in California that is home to some of the world’s finest vineyards. His eye was caught by rows of vines that had just been pruned. It was depressing. All that was left of the once beautiful grapevines were rows of ugly-looking stumps and a few “runners” stretching from each of those stumps. “It looks disastrous,” Mitchell remarked to his guide. “Don’t worry, the guide replied. “We do that for three years to every vine [we cut it back] before it’s allowed to [yield] ...

2958. In the Wilderness with the Devil

Luke 4:1-13

Sermon

King Duncan

Paul Grobman in his book Vital Statistics tells about incident that occurred on January 21, 1996. This incident--which might be every child’s fantasy and every parent’s nightmare--involved two brothers, Antony and Jerome who live in Quebec, Canada. It seems that the two boys wandered off from their backyard and went to a nearby Toys R Us, the now defunct toy store chain. While amusing themselves in the gigantic toy store Antony and Jerome slipped into a playhouse where they promptly fell asleep. When they ...

2959. Where's the Magic?

Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-12

Sermon

King Duncan

Billy Joe, a good old boy from the Deep South, stopped at a convenience store. There he ran into Ricardo, an old buddy from New York City. Billy Joe was a mischievous sort. When no one was looking he stole 3 candy bars from a store shelf. Walking out of the store he turned to Ricardo and bragged, “Ha! Did you see what this old Southern boy did? I stole three candy bars and got away with it. Man, I’m slick.” Ricardo wasn’t impressed. “That’s nothing. Let’s go back to that store and I’ll show you what slick ...

2960. Moving On

Luke 6:12-16, Luke 9:1-9, Luke 10:1-24

Sermon

Lori Wagner

Prop: dusty bowl This bowl hasn’t been used in a long time. You can tell, because it’s covered in dust. It hasn’t been touched, cleaned, moved, because it’s been here in this church on this shelf a very long time. [You could also refer to something in a glass case or anything that has sat around for a while.] It’s not being used in ministry or worship. It isn’t something that is used in healing people or baptizing them. It’s here on the shelf, gathering dust. This is perhaps one of the best metaphors we ...

2961. Fleeced

Judges 6:1-40, John 20:24-31

Sermon

Lori Wagner

Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him. (Psalm 34:8) Prop: Fleece / lamb’s wool Shalom! Peace of the Lord be with you! I have here some genuine lamb’s wool. The wool of a lamb is called “fleece.” And it’s very soft, and very thick. Would anyone like to touch it. [Some can come up…..or you can walk it around and allow people to touch it.] We see something soft, or interesting. We want to touch it. It’s ingrained in us as humans to want to see, to touch, to feel, to ...

2962. Lord of the Harvest

Matthew 9:35-38, Luke 10:1-24

Sermon

Lori Wagner

Prop: Shofar I grew up on nursery rhymes. How many of you did too? Today, I want to talk about this one. Say it with me: “Little Boy Blue, Come blow your horn, The sheep's in the meadow, The cow's in the corn; But where is the boy Who looks after the sheep? He's under a haystack, He's fast asleep.” It’s said that in early times, shepherds often carried either horns or wooden flutes that they used to call in their sheep. The “voice” of the shepherd could be his actual physical voice, or it could be the ...

2963. The Curse of the Tongue

James 3:1-12, James 3:13-18, 2 Timothy 2:14-26, Psalm 34:1-22

Sermon

Lori Wagner

“Nothing outside a person can defile them by going into them. Rather, it is what comes out of a person that defiles them." (Jesus --Mark 7:15) “The soothing tongue is a tree of life, but a perverse tongue crushes the spirit.” (Proverbs 15:4) “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen… Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” ...

2964. Lady of the House / The Practice of Joy

Luke 10:38-42

Sermon

Lori Wagner

“There, in the presence of the Lord your God, you and your families shall eat and shall rejoice in everything you have put your hand to, because the Lord your God has blessed you.” (Deuteronomy 12:7) “Celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles for seven days after you have gathered the produce of your threshing floor and your winepress. Be joyful at your festival—you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, and the Levites, the foreigners, the fatherless and the widows who live in your towns. ...

2965. Dorcas, Dinah, or Delilah (Who are You?)

Genesis 34:1-31, Judges 16:1-22, Acts 9:32-43

Sermon

Lori Wagner

Names are fun. We all like to play with names. We get excited about naming our babies. We give each other nicknames. We call each other names –sometimes for fun, sometimes not in the best spirit! We give our children ancestral names, biblical names, and sometimes, off-the-wall names! We name our animals according to what they look like, or what they mean to us. Names are identity markers. They reveal something about how we see the world around us and the people in it. They reveal something about our ...

2966. Crossing Over

Luke 10:25-37, Genesis 48:1-22

Sermon

Lori Wagner

Why did the chicken cross the road? Well, I spent some time this week investigating the whole chicken and road dilemma and here are some of the best explanations I’ve found: Machiavelli: The point is that the chicken crossed the road. Who cares why? The ends of crossing the road justify whatever motive there was. Thomas de Torquemada: Give me ten minutes with the chicken and I'll find out. Timothy Leary: Because that's the only kind of trip the Establishment would let it take. John Locke: Because he was ...

2967. Wild Thing

Luke 4:31-37

Sermon

Lori Wagner

Prop: Dream catcher I have here this morning what’s called a “Dream Catcher.” Have you seen one of these before? These are made by Native Americans for the purpose of keeping away evil spirits. They form a kind of protective amulet. Anyone have something from your own culture similar to this? [Allow people to share.] Some cultures have amulets. Some have rites or folk traditions, like throwing salt over your shoulder, or posting “hex signs” to ward off evil from farms. They are meant to be symbols of “ ...

2968. The Magic Ingredient

Romans 8:18-27

Sermon

King Duncan

I don’t know if any of you ever read the obituaries. My guess is that the older you are the more likely you are to let your eyes drift over to that section of the newspaper. As the comedian would say, “just to make certain your name’s not printed there.” Of course, some of our younger members are asking, “What’s a newspaper?” An interesting obituary appeared in the Chattanooga Times-Free Press recently (12/18/2019) that, in my estimation, was good for a chuckle or two. It was for a Katie McDonald, 80 years ...

2969. Love

1 Corinthians 13:1-13

Sermon

Will Willimon

"If I speak in human tongues or even the speech of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal," Strong words to one who makes his living trying hard to speak in the tongues of angels, or at least of Billy Graham. I could pass peacefully if, after one of my sermons, I overheard someone on the third row say to her boyfriend, "Dr. Willimon sounded just like an angel today." I'm in the "tongues of men and of angels" business. And yet, says Paul in this thirteenth chapter of Corinthians, ...

2970. The Law of the Serpent

John 3:14-21

Sermon

Lori Wagner

That which bites you can also heal you. God’s ultimate promise is to heal an ailing creation. Yet there is no healing without hurting. To experience God’s salvation, we must first experience “sinsation.” The very word, “salvation” comes from the word “salve” meaning health. In Jesus’ salvation, God restores his sin-sick creation to perfect health. He does so by first embracing death. What the first “Adam” spoiled, Jesus, the “second Adam” will heal. The first Adam in his soiling of God’s perfect ...

2971. The Real "Lord's Prayer"

John 17:6-19

Sermon

King Duncan

Here’s a question for any of our women who have been mothers. Do you remember your favorite gift that you ever got at a baby shower? A woman named Louise Cramer tells the story of opening gifts at the shower for her first child. Among all the necessities and toys, Louise found one very special gift. It was a baby quilt hand-sewn by her grandmother, who had passed away years before. As Louise marveled over the beauty of the quilt, it hit her that her grandmother had planned this quilt, and spent weeks ...

2972. Jesus' Temptation

Luke 4:1-13

Sermon

Will Willimon

As a young man, Jesus was led into the wilderness. There, the devil met him and tempted him. It is a tradition in the church to begin the forty days of Lent with Jesus' forty days of testing in the wilderness. It is fitting that we recall this story in a university chapel because (don't you agree?) it is at the beginning of your life, when one is a young adult, that one is most preoccupied with, "Who am I?" The who-am-I identity question is behind this strange, shadowy meeting with the devil in the ...

2973. For Men Only?

Mark 10:2-16

Sermon

Frank Ramirez

In the year 311 BC a marriage contract in Egypt was drawn up for Heraclides and Demetria, both from the town of Koan. The contract specified that the bride was bringing into the marriage clothing and bling worth a thousand drachmas. Heraclides, meanwhile, agreed to support Demetria according to what was fitting for a freeborn woman. As to where the two of them would live, that would be whatever they both agreed to after consulting with each other. This marriage, like some that we read about, also had ...

2974. The Hiddenness Of Life’s Truths: Christian Life As Surprise

2 Corinthians 5:20b—6:10

Sermon

Mark Ellingsen

The ashes of Ash Wednesday are icons proclaiming the hiddenness of God’s ways. And God’s ways are hidden. Paul tells us that in our lesson: We are treated as imposters, and yet are true; as unknown, yet are well known; as dying, and see — we are alive; as punished, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing everything (6:8b-6:10). It does not make sense, does it? How can we be imposters and yet the real thing, sorrowful but ...

2975. Spirit Powered Anointing

Luke 4:14-21 · Nehemiah 8:1-3, 5-6, 8-10

Sermon

Lori Wagner

Anointing. This is a term that means that the Holy Spirit is with you, that the Holy Spirit has come upon you. When you are “anointed,” you are not only empowered but commissioned into action. The word comes from the Greek word echrisen, to anoint from the root chrio, also related to christos, anointed one, the word we call “messiah.” Jesus has been “contracted” by God with the power of the divine Holy Spirit to impart “good news” of God’s favor and grace. And what good news it was! This inauguration of ...

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