Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 3026 to 3050 of 4935 results

3026. The Samaritan

Luke 10:25-37

Sermon

Lori Wagner

This morning, I want you to imagine with me for a moment. Close your eyes if you will. Sit back. I’m going to take you to another place. But first a warning: during a big chunk of this sermon, you will have your eyes closed. You can tell your friends that you went to church this Sunday and the preacher told you to shut your eyes and keep them shut for a long time. Where else can you go to church and be encouraged to shut your eyes? Are you ready? Let’s take a trip in time. [pause] You’re driving home from ...

3027. New Creations

2 Corinthians 5:6-10; 14-17

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

This Sunday marks the beginning of a new Conference appointment. Even though I'm being reappointed as pastor of St. John the Apostle, each year is a new appointment. Preachers are only appointed one year at a time. That's part of our system for insuring that every church has a pastor and every pastor has a church. The final piece of business at every Annual Conference is the reading of appointments. It's exciting to hear all the names of all the churches and the pastors who will be serving them read aloud ...

3028. The King Of Hearts

Ezekiel 34:1-31

Sermon

Robert S. Crilley

In a recent article, Thomas Long shares the story of a rather unusual occurrence which happened one Sunday morning, some years ago, in a large, suburban church. Just prior to the sermon, as the congregation began to settle back in their pews, a neatly dressed man suddenly stood up in the balcony and announced in a clear, loud voice, "I have a word from the Lord!" Needless to say, several startled heads, including that of the pastor, turned in his direction. No one seemed to know the man, nor were they ...

3029. As Good As God

Leviticus 19:1-37

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

The Lord said to Moses, "Say to all the congregation of the people of Israel, You shall be holy; for I the Lord your God am holy. You shall do no injustice in judgment; you shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great, but in righteousness shall you judge your neighbor. You shall not go up and down as a slanderer among your people, and you shall not stand forth against the life of your neighbor: I am the Lord. You shall not hate your brother in your heart, but you shall reason with your neighbor ...

3030. Grace Greater Than Our Sin

Matthew 20:1-16

Sermon

King Duncan

Earlier this year on the news there was a story about an African-American man whose house had been newly painted. Within days someone had spray-painted graffiti all over it. Who would have done something like this in his neighborhood, he wondered? He was angry and rightly so. At first he thought it was racially motivated. Someone did not like him living in their neighborhood. He asked around hoping to find out who had spoiled his house. He found that the graffiti was painted by an eleven-year-old boy. It ...

3031. It's A Question Of Priorities

Mark 9:33-37

Sermon

King Duncan

A group of friends went deer hunting. They separated into pairs. That night, one hunter returned alone, staggering under an eight-point buck. The other hunters asked, "Where's Harry?" The lone hunter replied, "Harry fainted a couple miles up the trail." The others couldn't believe it. "You mean you left him lying there and carried the deer back instead?" The man answered, "It was a tough call, but I figured no one was going to steal Harry." To this deer hunter it was simply a matter of priorities. And one ...

3032. The Highest Bidder

Ephesians 3:14-21

Sermon

Harold Warlick

According to those whose job it is to know such things, it only takes three weeks to become blind to the presence of stationary objects in our everyday worlds. Hang a new picture on the wall, and one is likely to notice it for about 21 days. After that it has become part of the scenery. It simply doesn't leap into the foreground any more. That's why it can be so hard to accomplish the simplest chores of housework before the arrival of guests. We've stopped noticing the screwdriver that's been sitting on ...

3033. Epiphany 6

Mt 5:21-37 · 1 Cor 3:1-9 · Ps 119 · Dt 30:15-20

Sermon Aid

Marion L. Soards, Thomas B. Dozeman, Kendall McCabe

OLD TESTAMENT TEXTS The Old Testament lessons for this Sunday articulate the completion of God's salvation and encourage the reader to enter God's new world. Deuteronomy 30:15-20 is a call for Israel to choose life in the land over death in the wilderness, while Psalm 119:1-8 provides encouragement for the worshiper, who has left the wilderness and entered the land, to persevere in walking on God's roads in God's world. Deuteronomy 30:15-20 - "Bond Yourself to God and Choose Life" Setting. The book of ...

3034. What Church Is All About

Psalm 100:1-5

Sermon

James Merritt

A U.S.A. Today poll asked people why they went to church. 45% said they went "because it was good for them." "Worship" didn't even rate in the survey.[1] There are all kinds of reasons to go to church, and I would say good reasons. Some people go to church for the fellowship; some go for service; some go for Bible study; some go for the music; some go for the atmosphere; some go for the preaching. But if you come to church for any other primary reason than to worship God, you are coming for the wrong ...

3035. Our God Is an Awesome God

Psalm 139:1-18

Sermon

James Merritt

Robert Wells wrote a book entitled: Is A Blue Whale The Biggest Thing There Is? It is a children's book to help little ones see just how big the universe really is. The largest animal on earth is the blue whale. Just the flippers on its tail are bigger than most animals on earth. But a blue whale isn't anywhere near as big as a mountain. If you could put one hundred blue whales inside of a huge jar, you could put millions of those whale jars inside a Hallowed-Out Mount Everest. But Mount Everest isn't ...

3036. Whose Side Are You On?

Matthew 16:21-28

Sermon

King Duncan

“Shoot Me First.” That’s what a courageous 13-year-old Amish girl said to the crazed man who broke into her school on Monday, October 2, 2006. “Shoot Me First.” He did shoot her, killing her along with five of her schoolmates, aged seven to thirteen. Then he killed himself. The shooter, Charles Carl Roberts, a 32-year-old milkman entered the humble one-room schoolhouse with the intent of killing as many students as possible. But one student, Marian Fisher, the oldest of the five Amish girls shot dead that ...

3037. A Stone’s Throw Away

1 Samuel 17

Sermon

James Merritt

Anyone who knows anything about the Bible knows that beyond question, the central character and the hero of the entire Bible is the Lord Jesus Christ. With the exception of Jesus Christ, one individual has more scripture devoted to Him than any other individual. Would you know who that is? Hint: It is neither Paul nor Moses. This character is mentioned in I and II Samuel, I Kings, I Chronicles, and seventy-five psalms. He is the first person named in the New Testament after Jesus Christ and he is the last ...

3038. Being Prepared

Matthew 25:1-13

Sermon

King Duncan

Hurricane Bob was bearing down on the Atlantic coast. Safe in his home on that same coast, a man named J. R. thought he was well prepared. The power failed, but that didn’t faze him. As night fell, he simply fired up some oil lamps and placed his Coleman camping stove on top of the electric range in his kitchen to cook his dinner. So what if he had no electricity? He was able to enjoy a delicious meal thanks to his Coleman stove. He commended himself on his foresight. He went to bed secure in the knowledge ...

3039. Follow the Directions

Psalm 119:9, 18, 89

Sermon

James Merritt

There is one thing in common with every single person on this planet who has ever been born and who ever will be. It has never been more illustrated than it has in the 21st century. We have an unquenchable thirst and an insatiable appetite for information and communication. We want to know who is doing what and we want to know what people are doing. We’ve never been more saturated with information and more soaked with communication than we are today. From cell phones, to television, to email, to radios, to ...

3040. Concluding Exhortations

Hebrews 13:1-25

Understanding Series

Donald A. Hagner

A Call to Ethical Living The author has concluded the main part of his epistle, having argued his points with convincing forcefulness, and now turns to various matters he desires to mention before concluding. chapter 13, therefore, is like an appendix. This is not to say, however, that the material in this chapter is unrelated to the main part of the epistle. Indeed, some of the author’s main concerns are again touched upon here, but in a somewhat different way, fleetingly, in order to bring out the ...

3041. Ruth Meets Boaz

Ruth 2:1-23

Understanding Series

Michael S. Moore

Naomi’s Reality: 2:1 Now Naomi had a relative on her husband’s side, from the clan of Elimelech, a man of standing, whose name was Boaz. Jewish tradition is full of fables about Boaz. The Talmud identifies him as the minor judge Ibzan (Judg. 12:8) and reveres him as a patriarchal figure on the level of a Kirta or a Danil in Canaanite myth (b. B. Bat. 91a). According to the Talmud, he becomes a widower on the very day Ruth arrives in Israel and is rich enough to throw lavish wedding parties for every one of ...

3042. Jesus Talks with a Samaritan Woman

John 4:1-26, John 4:27-38, John 4:39-42

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

The transition begun in 3:22 is continued in 4:1–4. Jesus moves from Jerusalem to the Judean countryside and from there to Galilee by way of Samaria. The intervening material (3:23–36) enables the reader to make sense of this cumbersome introduction to chapter 4. That Jesus was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John (v. 1) has already been intimated in 3:26. That the Pharisees noticed this is suggested by the fact that John’s disciples seem to have been reminded of it by a Jew (3:25). What has not ...

3043. The Reversal of the Deuteronomic Curses and Blessings: Replacing Law with Faith

Romans 9:30--10:21

Teach the Text

C. Marvin Pate

Big Idea: The key issue in this controversial text is the role of the law in light of the work of Christ. Paul reverses the Deuteronomic curses and blessings: non-Christian Jews experience the Deuteronomic curses because they attempt to be justified by the law, while believing Gentiles are justified because their faith is in Christ, so to them belong the Deuteronomic blessings. Understanding the Text Romans 9:30–10:21 forms the second unit in Romans 9–11 (9:1–29 is the first, and 11:1–32 is the third). The ...

3044. This Spirit Is Not Spooky

John 14:15-21

Sermon

Robert Leslie Holmes

These words were spoken just hours before the greatest act of love in world history, the death on a cross of God's incarnate Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. He died in our place so that everyone who believes on him (Mark you, not in, but on him -- and there is a difference. To believe in something can be seen as nothing more than an exercise of intellectual assent for we remember that we are told, "Even the demons believe -- and shudder" [James 2:19]. To believe "on" him means to lay our whole lives on him and ...

3045. Israel's Unbelief

Romans 9:30--10:21

Understanding Series

James R. Edwards

Righteousness: Gift or Reward? So far Paul has considered the case of Israel from God’s side. God made choices from among Abraham’s descendants to create a peculiar people for himself. The election of Jacob over Esau was independent of human merit or responsibility, since the choice was made when both were still in Rebekah’s womb. If in subsequent generations God hardened Pharaoh and blessed Israel, it was “in order that [his] purpose in election might stand” (9:11), a purpose rooted in mercy and directed ...

3046. The Disciples Rejoin Jesus

John 4:27-38, John 4:1-26, John 4:39-42

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

3047. The Catch

John 21:1-14, John 21:15-25, Acts 10:1-8, Acts 10:9-23a, Acts 10:23b-48

Sermon

Lori Wagner

Props and visuals: fishing boat / fishing net / tablecloth and stick / backpack / diaper bag / purse or satchel You know how some dreams won’t let go of you? Sometimes God has a message for you, and speaks in this “forgotten language” of dreams. Sometimes God needs to prepare you for something that’s hard for you to hear. In our scripture story today as told in the Acts of the Apostles, God was preparing Peter for his visit with Cornelius. And for something even greater! But as everything goes with Peter, ...

3048. A Sign Of Divine Protection

Exodus 12:1-30

Sermon

Walter Kimbrough

There is an American insurance company whose advertisements seek to convince consumers that they are in good hands when insured by them. All companies, including insurance companies, are in business to make a profit, not to do the consumer a favor. They may receive a benefit as a result of your doing business, but if the company is not profitable, it ceases to exist. Capitalism is at the heart of the American society. The cost of protecting houses and contents, automobiles and boats as well as life itself ...

3049. The Quality of Mercy

Matthew 18:21-35

Sermon

"... Forgive your brother from your heart ..." - Matthew 18:35 A very long time ago a ruler of many people, a king, decided to settle accounts with all who were in his realm. As they came one by one before him, one of those who came was found to owe the astronomical sum of 10,000 talents. Now that was a lot of money, literally an imponderable amount - something like the "national debt," I suppose. Of course, the man was unable to pay. In those days a citizen who owed more then he was able to pay could be ...

3050. Not For Sale at Any Price

Matthew 13:44-46

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

"Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it." [Matthew 13:45-46] Before you answer this question, think deeply for a minute. What is your most valuable possession? What is so valuable to you that if someone would want to buy it, you would say, "It’s not for sale at any price"? The person who answers like that is saying to the prospective buyer that the article is considered so valuable that ...

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