Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 301 to 325 of 4935 results

301. On Claiming One’s Inheritance

Mark 10:17-31

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

As the salesman came to the front door, he turned to the little boy sitting on the steps and asked, “Is your mother home?” The boy said “Yes,” and the salesman began to ring the doorbell. After several rings and no response, he turned to the boy and said, “I thought you said that your mother was home.” To which the boy replied, “She is, but this isn’t my house.” Sometimes we get the wrong answers because we don’t ask the right questions. In Mark 10, we read: “And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ...

302. Family Reunion

Genesis 29:15-28

Sermon

Will Willimon

"I wish I had no history to report. I've pretended for so long, that my childhood did not happen. I had to keep it tight, up near the chest. I could not let it out. I followed the redoubtable example or my mother. It's an act or will to have a memory or not, I chose not to have one. Because I needed to love my mother and father in all their flawed, outrageous humanity, I could not afford to address them directly about the felonies committed against all of us. I could not hold them accountable or indict ...

303. It’s Hard to Eat While Lying

John 13:18-30

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

Judas Iscariot has always been an enigma to us. One preacher, writing many years ago said, “No minister, at the time of his ordination, ever entertained more pleasing prospects for a brilliant career than had Judas Iscariot.” For one thing, Judas was given a good name. The names Judas means “praise of God.” One of the eleven sons of Jacob bore that name. So did one of the brothers of Jesus; the one who, by tradition, wrote the book of Jude in the New Testament. He was probably named after one of the most ...

304. The Golden Gift

Drama

A Christmas play based on a scene from Les Misérables by Victor Hugo Program Notes Our play is based on an incident which comes early in one of Victor Hugo's greatest novels, Les Misérables - ("The Wretched Ones"). This book was published while Hugo was in exile in England in 1862. It was written as a social novel in which he made society itself the heavy in the piece. The novel was received with mixed reactions. One reviewer called it "his pernicious book." Another more charitably wrote: "It is ... the ...

305. Whatever Became of Sin?

Romans 5:12-21

Sermon

Robert G. Tuttle

Death pervaded the whole human race, inasmuch as all men have sinned. But, its effect is vastly exceeded by the grace of God and the gift that came to so many by the grace of one man, Jesus Christ (Romans 5:12, 15 NEB). Paul puts it more succinctly in 1 Corinthians 15:21: "As by man came death, by man comes also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be made alive." William Barclay explains: "Sin had man in its power. There was no hope. Into this situation there came ...

306. Surviving the Big One

Matthew 18:10-14

Sermon

James Merritt

Men, when it comes to women, there is one thing that is absolutely true. Women, when it comes to men, there is one thing that is absolutely true. You’ve heard it before, “You can’t live with them and you can’t live without them.” There is some truth in that old saying and here is why. Relationships are messy. Relationships are just like newborn babies. Every once in a while they mess on themselves and you have to clean them up. You would think that families would have it together. The people who are ...

307. The Imperatives of the Resurrection

Matthew 28:1-10

Sermon

David E. Leininger

Do you like to be told what to do? Some do. Some don't. But there are times when even the "don't's" want all the help they can get. After all, there are times when we would have no idea how to proceed WITHOUT some instruction. I suspect that would have been the case if we had been in the garden with the women on that first Easter morning so long ago. Had we all been there, we would have been glad to get any direction at all, because without it, we would have been wandering around like chickens with our ...

308. The Imperatives of the Resurrection

Matthew 28:1-10

Sermon

David E. Leininger

309. Dynamic Preaching January 2024 Sermons

Sermon

King Duncan

[Note: While King Duncan is enjoying a well deserved retirement we are going back to his earliest sermons and renewing them. The newly modernized sermon is shown first and below, for reference sake, is the old sermon. We will continue this updating throughout the year bringing fresh takes on King's best sermons.] Original Title: Preparing for a Royal Visit New Title: Getting Ready Mark 1:1-8 January 7, 2024 (Baptism of the Lord) A little boy attended his first symphony concert. He was excited by the ...

310. God's Gifts Are Free: Enjoy

Deuteronomy 26:1-15

Sermon

Mark Ellingsen

Thanksgiving: How do we say thanks authentically and not lapse into the platitudes so often associated with this holiday? There are several dangers associated with the holiday. Ever since it was instituted as a national holiday by Abraham Lincoln, and even before when various state governors instituted it in their states, Thanksgiving has not been a strictly Christian holiday. There has been a lot of nationalism and self-congratulations associated with this day. What is the distinctively Christian way to ...

311. One Commandment, Slightly Used

John 13:31-38

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

We might consider Jesus’ words to His students (disciples) in the Upper Room as sort of a “Last Will and Testament,” a final summing up of all that He had taught them during His brief ministry among them. He begins to speak of His coming death not as a probability but as a certainty, and He begins to talk with new urgency as though the passing moments are infinitely precious and as though he wants to etch every word indelibly on the minds of each of them. And what does He say to them? “I give you a new ...

312. The Spirit of Cross Pointe

1 Corinthians 9:19-23

Sermon

James Merritt

At a riding stable where horses could be rented, the following sign was posted: "We have fast horses for folks who like to ride fast. We have slow horses for folks who like to ride slow. We have big horses for big folks and little horses for little folks and for those who have never ridden horses before we have horses that have never been ridden." That sign reminded me of something that I did many years ago that I am going to confess to today. There is a side of me that many of you do not know about and ...

313. The Art of Living Until

Matthew 24:36-51

Sermon

Leonard Mann

There are many things about your life which I do not know. But one thing I do know: you are living in an interim. And so am I. We are in time-in-between; we are between what has happened and what will happen. We know a great deal about the former and very little about the latter. What has been is past, and we are moving away from it, going on to what is to be. How we make this journey is very important, the attitudes with which we travel, the guiding stars we follow. So I want to speak with you about The ...

314. Resurrection: From Burn-Out to New Vision

Sermon

Leonard H. Budd

Elijah’s feet pounded on the trail. His legs stretched out to cover the miles. He outran the king’s chariot. He outran the wind blowing up the storm-clouds overhead. Strength to run like this after the day he had been through was a gift from God. God had been giving him strength like that all along; strength that had always amazed him. There had been the strength to tell King Ahab that he was a fool and a blasphemer. There had been the strength to prophesy that there would be no more rain until Israel ...

315. The Glory Departs

Ezekiel 8:1-18, Ezekiel 9:1-11, Ezekiel 10:1-22, Ezekiel 11:1-15, Ezekiel 11:16-25

Understanding Series

Steven Tuell

These four chapters contain the second of the three great visions of the Lord’s Glory that punctuate Ezekiel’s prophecy. As with the first (chs. 1–3), Ezekiel dates this second vision to the precise day (8:1), refers to the hand of the Lord (8:1), and titles it “visions of God” (8:3). Further, he makes explicit reference to the earlier vision (8:4; 10:15, 20, 22), including summary descriptions of some portions (e.g., compare 8:2 with 1:26–27) and virtually repeating others (e.g., compare 10:9–12 with 1:15 ...

316. The Ultimate Mystery

John 18:28-40

Sermon

Lee Griess

An event is like a living organism. Its life depends on the inter-working of all of its parts. Take any one part and you steal the life from the whole thing. This is especially true of John's account of the death of Jesus. John, the theologian of the Gospel writers, more than any of the rest, views the crucifixion of Jesus as more than mere history. In the death of Jesus, John sees the person and purpose of Christ revealed. Let's take a step forward and, by means of John's description of Calvary, stand at ...

317. God is the Only One

Mark 2:7

Children's Sermon

Object: A Social Security card. Good morning, boys and girls. Did you know that only God can forgive sins? (Let them answer.) That's right, only God can forgive sins. No one else in the whole world can forgive a sin but God. The word "only" is a pretty big word if it means that there is one person who can do something. I brought along with me this morning a card that belongs only to me. It is called my Social Security card. Your parents and many other people have a Social Security card, but this one is the ...

318. Where Are You?

Genesis 3:1-24

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

The largest and most tragic industrial accident in history occurred in 1986 in Russia. It was the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. But it was not really an accident. Now that the Cold War has ended, more information is available about that tragedy. Two electrical engineers were on duty that night. Whether they were sober or not is unclear, but they were playing around with the machines. These engineers had to override manually six separate computer-driven alarm systems. One by one the computers said, "Stop! ...

319. Children of the Eighth Day

Romans 6:1-14

Sermon

Robert G. Tuttle

It’s a long way from the bottom to the top. But that is the call of the Christian life. "That like as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life" (Romans 6:4b). The title of this chapter belongs to Thornton Wilder. In his book, the scene opens on New Year’s Eve, 1899, just before the new century is born. A group of men are sitting around the stove in a country store. Dr. Gillis, the community seer, is facing the question, "What will the new ...

320. Dealing with Our Doubts

Mark 9:14-32

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

David Heller is a young Boston psychologist who, as part of a continuing research interest, collects letters children have written to God. “Dear God: Children’s Letters to God” (New York: Doubleday, 1987) is Heller’s second publication on this subject. In it he reports the following letter: “Dear God, I have doubts about you sometimes. Sometimes I really believe. Like when I was four and I hurt my arm and you healed it up fast. But my question is, if you could do this why don’t you stop all the bad in the ...

321. Jephthah

Jud 10:6–11:40

Understanding Series

Cheryl A. Brown

Jephthah: Ammonite Oppression · Jephthah is not mentioned by name, but this section sets the stage, both generally and specifically, for his entrance on the scene. The author describes Israel’s deteriorating spiritual condition and interaction with God about their circumstances (vv. 6–16); more specifically, he begins to focus attention upon the events that directly led to Jephthah’s rise to leadership (vv. 17–18). The obvious emphasis in this section is upon the general, spanning as it does eleven verses ...

322. Chapter VII

Exodus 20:1-21

Sermon

Frank H. Seilhamer

"You will not commit adultery" Exodus 20:14 If I had my "druthers" I would skip this Commandment and go on to the next one, because this "word" speaking about sex is a difficult one to deal with frankly and directly. What makes it so hard to do that without beating around the bush is the fact that most people are still skitterish about the subject. Oh, most of us are able to talk about sex with a few choice friends, or in some small groups, but a lot of us still start to get up tight when the subject comes ...

323. Refusing to Quit

2 Timothy 4:5-8

Sermon

James McCormick

Years ago, a Midwestern University unveiled a plaque honoring an undistinguished alumnus. During his college years, this alumnus had participated in a variety of campus activities, but he had never been president of any organization. For four years he had gone out for football, but he had never made the first team or played in an important game. His scholastic average was in the B’s. When World War I came, he served in a minor capacity in a medical unit, and one day met his death trying to help a wounded ...

324. A Cure for Complainers

Exodus 16:1-36

Sermon

King Duncan

A man goes to a diner every day and he orders lunch. Afterward the manager asks him how he liked his meal. The old man replies, “It was good, but you could give me a little more bread.” So, the next day the manager tells the waitress to give the man two slices of bread this time. Afterward he asks, “How was your meal today?” “It was good,” the man replies, “but you could give me a little more bread.” So the next day the manager tells the waitress to give the man four slices of bread. “How was your meal ...

325. Where's the Fire?

Exodus 3:1-22

Sermon

Mark Trotter

Jean and I have just gotten back from a three-week vacation trip up in Northern California. When I returned to the office I discovered that a lot of people thought that we were in Germany. That is because four weeks ago this weekend, there was a wonderful event here at this church celebrating my twenty years as one of the ministers on the staff. That evening it was announced that we would be given a trip to Germany. That was the first we had heard of it. It was a surprise. So we have yet to even start to ...

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