Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 2951 to 2975 of 3926 results

2951. Is the Lord Among Us or Not?

Exodus 17:1-7

Sermon

Tony Everett

... family filled with good feelings. No murmuring. No quarreling. Just happiness. Most students and their accompanying families have left behind real jobs that paid real money. They have left homes, friends, and relatives. They have left caring, supporting, compassionate congregations. Something old and familiar has ended. Now they are expecting something new and fabulous to begin. The last thing they expected was to find themselves wandering in an uncomfortable and confusing wilderness filled with more ...

2952. Remember the Rooster

John 18:25-27

Sermon

King Duncan

... die for perfect people. He didn’t die for respectable people. He died for people with a skeleton in the closet. He died for people who have made mistakes along the way. He died for the girl who got pregnant out of wedlock, for the guy who stole to support his drug habit, for the business person who cheated on his accounts, for the lonely housewife who found comfort in the arms of someone who was not her husband. He died for sinners like you and like me. And, of course, he died for Simon Peter. Someone has ...

2953. Soiled Faith and Watered-Down Churches

1 Corinthians 3:1-23

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... combative Corinthian Christian community, he did not offer them a microwave, quick-result option, as a way to “fix” their communal-spiritual problems. Instead Paul offered the One who was the final fix, the only and ultimate way in which disciples of Christ could find support for all their issues and problems. Paul insisted that it was not himself, not Apollos, not any one of those who had been called to help in the ministry of the Word, who were to be called upon in times of community trouble and need ...

2954. Breaking News: God and Government

Romans 13:1-7

Sermon

James Merritt

... !” Indignantly the affluent man responded, “You can’t do this. I am a United States Congressman!” “In that case”, the mugger replied, “Give me my money!” Nobody likes to pay taxes, but at the same time we need to remember that we are not only obligated to support our government through our taxes and we are to pay the taxes that we owe, but in reality you are not giving your money just to the government, but you are giving your money as an act of obedience to God who is an authority over the ...

2955. All In: Calling Your Bluff

Romans 12:1-8

Sermon

James Merritt

... be “all in.” "I want to give you an easy way you can serve others. Everyone in this room can do it. [Pastor’s Note: Dr. Merritt provided a signup card for serving in the Sunday bulletin when he preached this sermon. A copy is included in your supporting materials for this message. You can use this resource or create a different opportunity more in tune with your church’s specific needs.] You say I don't know how to do it—our current leaders will show you how. It's simple and fun. You say I can ...

2956. All In: Skin In the Game

Malachi 3:6-18

Sermon

James Merritt

... have “Skin In The Game.” If you are a college football fan, whatever your team might be, you probably at one time or another have or have considered season tickets. Most large colleges actually have “booster dues”, which are fees you pay to be a supporter of the football team, when then allows you to buy season tickets. Most people who attend football games regularly can be said to have “skin in the game”. They’ve put their dollars behind the passion they have for their team. When it comes to ...

2957. Up Close & Personal: Seeing Clearly

Isaiah 6:1-13

Sermon

James Merritt

... Grader.” Remember – you have to put your answer in the form of a question. The answer is “By consensus the most brilliant person of the Twentieth Century.” Good luck. [Pastor’s Note: A “Jeopardy-style” PowerPoint slide is included in your sermon support materials for this illustration. You may also want to use the “Jeopardy-thinking” music, which is available for download from iTunes.] So your answer – Who is Albert Einstein? That is correct. I don’t know how much money you put down on ...

2958. Up Close & Personal: Coming Into Focus

1 John 1:5--2:14

Sermon

James Merritt

... this chart, then you have 20/20 vision. Now, if all you can read is one of the larger letters, then this tells the eye doctor that your vision is out of focus. [Pastor’s Note: A PowerPoint slide of a Snellen Eye Chart is included in your support materials, along with a PDF version that you can print out if you do not have a video projector. These charts are also easily obtainable from your local eye doctor—consider if there is an eye doctor in your congregation who can help with this illustration.] Do ...

2959. Lost Baggage: Losing Your Baggage

Ephesians 4:17--5:21

Sermon

James Merritt

... tears. Can you imagine yourself seated next to such a person? What would you say to someone who had endured such tragedy? What hope could you share with them? But the story is not over. At 18, he gets a girl pregnant and has a daughter. Now, he has child support payments to make and no job. Finally, he joins the Army and while he is in the Army he meets another girl in New York, gets her pregnant and has a little boy who is now 2 years old. A month before this airplane flight, his girlfriend calls him to ...

2960. The Knot: Tied

1 Corinthians 13:1-13

Sermon

James Merritt

... were required to make this commitment to each other and I believe it is the secret to their growth. You will never knowingly suffer at my hands. I will never say anything or do anything knowingly to hurt you. I will always come in every circumstance, seek to help and support you. If you are down and I can lift you up - I’ll do that. If you need something and I have it - I’ll share it with you. If I need to, I’ll give it to you. No matter what I find out about you, no matter what ...

2961. Sometimes You Have to Do Something

Matthew 14:22-36

Sermon

King Duncan

... It’s too radical. It’ll bankrupt the church. I understand old Mr. So-and-So is against it and if he leaves, he will take his money with him.” And on it goes. So, because we prefer peace in the church more than we prize progress, support begins to falter and soon disappears altogether. Bishop John Spong said it well: “Most churches will die of boredom long before they die of controversy.” How can a dream dissipate that once seemed to be God’s will for a church? People take their eyes for just ...

2962. Five Mission Killers

Matthew 16:21-28

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... January 1 through April 17 all the income you earn goes to pay your taxes. Not a fun fact. But as of April 17, or 18, or 19, depending upon your tax bracket, you are free. For the rest of the year you are working, and earning a living, to support your own family, to pay down your own mortgage, to keep your own bills from taking over your life. But for 107 days of the year, everyone is working to pay off their taxes. And we’re not the only ones. Someone described London as filled with "the exhausted, the ...

2963. The Ice Bucket Challenge

Romans 13:8-14

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... own doctrine of moral depravity and sin. To undergo the ritual and not give, or not evangelize (tag), is called "slactivism." In contrast to "activism," where you participate in doing good by exerting effort and investing time, "slactivists" give only token support by "liking" something on Facebook, sharing a video, or getting wet, thereby feeling good about doing something but without doing anything to actually improve the problem. There are a lot of slactivists out there. Fourth, the "P" in EPIC, personal ...

2964. Seventy-Seven

Matthew 18:21-35

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... his own mother’s advice, “look for the helpers.” Instead of focusing on the horrific, look to the helpers. In every crisis and critical situation, as bad as they might get, look towards those who are offering helping hands and support. The ability to offer forgiveness cannot start without standing on some common ground. Helping others, the “first responders” in every place on this world, are the most forgiving “common ground” we might have today. Forgiveness is never easy, never simple. It ...

2965. The Landlord's Dilemma - World Communion Sunday

Matthew 21:33-46

Sermon

King Duncan

... diagnosed with breast cancer. Too young! Is forty old enough . . . or fifty? Still very young when the average life expectancy is approaching 80. That’s life, we say. It could have been an automobile accident. Jesus could have been lying in a coma, on life support at age 33. Of course, it would have been just as troubling if he had been 60 and near retirement. It’s not easy to realize your life is nearly over, shortened by something over which you have no control. But Jesus did have control. All ...

2966. Leave Your Calculator Home

Matthew 22:15-22

Sermon

King Duncan

... those who came to trap him heard this, says Matthew, they were amazed. So they left him and went away. And this has become one of Jesus’ most famous statements: “So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.” Supporting our government is part of our responsibility as citizens. We may or may not agree with the way our government spends our money. That is our right, one of our most precious rights. Actually, it is a long standing American tradition to make fun of our government ...

2967. An Announcement from a Stable

Luke 2:1-7

Sermon

King Duncan

... of a story I read recently, a really sad story about Christmas. It’s a true story about a woman named Carolyn Jones. Carolyn was born in rural Georgia in 1946. She was eleven when her mother died and her father abandoned her. She supported herself by working at local farms, cleaning houses, and babysitting the neighbors’ children. Carolyn recalls one Christmas that forever after shaped her life. She was but a child when her mother died, and her father abandoned her. Little Carolyn felt so alone, and she ...

2968. Faith’s First Impressions

1 Thessalonians 1:1-10

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... the Christ. It was a community who welcomed and embraced the message of the messiah that Paul and Silvanus and Timothy proclaimed to them. To this community he founded and favored Paul writes a “love letter,” a missive offering all the encouragement and support he can muster. The first “words,” the first impression, that Paul makes in the first messages we have from him are not even about “words” but about the momentum of faith in action. Paul’s witness to the people of Thessalonica, both Jews ...

2969. Dust Off The Throne

2 Samuel 7:1-11, 16, Luke 1:26-38, Romans 16:25-27

Sermon

David J. Kalas

... prior to that, they were the ping-pong ball between competing foreign interests that followed in the wake of Alexander the Great. And, for the centuries before Alexander, Jerusalem had been assaulted by the Assyrians, demolished by the Babylonians, and supported by the largesse of the Persians. Just one generation after David sat on his throne, his grandson alienated and lost ten of Israel’s twelve tribes. Subsequent heirs to his throne included an assortment of weak and wicked men. Some stripped ...

2970. Night of Light

Luke 2:1-7

Sermon

Timothy Cargal

... the Davidic house during the reign of four such kings (Uzziah [6:1], Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah), it is difficult to know which king is being celebrated. Clearly the Book of Isaiah and the relevant portions of 2 Kings indicate Isaiah was most supportive of Hezekiah, and so he would be the most likely candidate. But given the general nature of the references to the Davidic house within the oracle (see especially v. 9) certainty is impossible. But if Isaiah was most likely writing about Hezekiah in this ...

2971. An Announcement for a New Year

Galatians 3:26--4:7

Sermon

King Duncan

... to help. She started a nonprofit foundation to assist the Bumpe people. Sarah says her West Virginia family, who could have resented her search for her birth parents, has stuck by her through her discovery. “They’re like angels.” Sarah says. They said they would support her in whatever she wanted to do. For other adoptees who try to find their biological parents, she cautions them that they should not go into a search expecting anything. “I had no expectations. I didn’t even know if I’d get a ...

2972. A Call for Repentance - Ash Wednesday

Joel 2:12-17

Sermon

King Duncan

... that matter, he could have with all kinds of good intentions lost it playing the stock market, or starting a business without the necessary experience, financing or research. More likely, his mental condition kept him from getting the kind of work that would have supported him adequately. And certainly that was not his fault. Still, there is a sense in which we do suffer for wrongdoing. One of the most insightful passages in modern literature appears in a novel written more than a half-century ago by noted ...

2973. Dust in the Wind

Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21

Sermon

Timothy Cargal

... mourning” for their sins (vv. 12-13). Judgment may have already begun, “yet even now” it may be averted by calling forth God’s gracious nature through genuine repentance. Judgment may yet be transformed into blessing (v. 14). Joel is one of the most supportive of the rituals of the temple and priesthood among ancient Israel’s prophets. So it is that he draws on yet another use of sounding the trumpet in Zion, namely the blowing of the shophar to call the people to religious assembly (v. 15). The ...

2974. A Watery Grave

Mark 1:9-13

Sermon

David J. Kalas

... today are largely comprised of folks who have not been indoctrinated — that is, folks whose church involvement is informed only by duty, or by style of music, or by the activities offered for the kids, or by the portal of such-and-such a support group — this passage may require some deciphering. We recognize, first of all, that Peter’s language in verse 18 is the language of substitutionary atonement. This is not the only model in scripture for trying to describe the mystery of Christ’s death on ...

2975. Getting to a Teachable Moment

Mark 15:1-15

Sermon

Craig MacCreary

... seeming inability of the teacher to make themselves understood that chills the soul. As in our day, we might ask why anyone would undertake such a mission. What is at stake in enduring such exposure to endless demands, chronic self-doubt, and limited support? For Isaiah there is much more at stake than whether the next generation will be employable, or be able to make change without a calculator. Though Isaiah’s people are living in Babylonian exile, tempted to pass into the surrounding culture, this ...

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