Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 3226 to 3250 of 4963 results

3226. Inside-out Living

Mark 7:1-23

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... the Pink Pony Strip Club in Cross Plains. It appears the owner of the strip club and one of his stripper girlfriends drugged Jack's drinks to enable the robbery to take place. The money was quickly recovered, tossed in a nearby garbage bin. The question remains whether Whittaker's reputation can be pulled out of the trash quite as easily. In today's gospel lesson Jesus offers us one of his hard sayings identifying who is clean and who is unclean. If you think this language of clean and unclean is a little ...

3227. Dirty Laundry or Angels?

John 20:1-9

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... off first, then laid down by itself where the head had reclined. The linen wrappings, unwound, pulled and kicked off by living arms and legs, would end up in a heap somewhere down where the feet had rested. The living body is gone only the telltale laundry remains to show its actions. Perhaps the Beloved Disciple had done more picking up after others in his life than Peter. He seems to be able to read correctly the laundry signs left in the tomb and come to the astonishing conclusion that these are signs of ...

3228. The Most Important Top Ten List

Exodus 20:1-21

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... oatmeal. The easiest stuff that we can get down with our baby-teeth character and infantile spirit. The Ten Commandments aren't representative of the best we can be. They are representative of the least we can expect from each other and still remain human. We aren't anywhere near ready to see the whole breakfast cereal long aisle of possibilities that God has stocked up in heaven. McManus declares that "Anything below these standards is choosing to live like an animal, a barbarian. The Ten Commandments ...

3229. Catch the Fever

Mark 1:29-34

Sermon

James Caldwell III

... or power on something as routine as a fever? Then there's the fact that the patient is a woman, and the culture of that day didn't put women on the same social level as men. Women of honorable families were expected to protect their modesty by remaining in a private area of the home. For a male outsider to touch her violated conventional behavior. And didn't Jesus know that he might catch the fever, which would slow down his ministry? Remember, this healing takes place in private, and is only witnessed by a ...

3230. If We Had Known It Was You

Matthew 25:31-46

Sermon

James McCormick

... . She looked as if she had not had much to eat in awhile, so he gave her the food he had prepared for Christ. The woman found new strength and encouragement in Conrad’s shop and she thanked him before continuing her journey. He waited throughout the remaining afternoon, but no one else came. Just as night was falling, a lost child came wandering into his shop. Conrad struggled with what to do. If he left, he might miss the visitation. But the child was frightened, and he knew how worried the parents would ...

3231. It Is Also Blessed to Receive

John 13:1-17

Sermon

James McCormick

... than mine and that we could get along quite nicely without their contribution. But that would have been my pride speaking. If I had done that, it would have said to them that they were no longer needed, and it would have deprived them of one of their primary remaining joys – the joy of giving. My willingness to receive from them was one of my best gifts to them. It is blessed to give, that’s true; but it’s also blessed to receive. That’s true too. Let me say it one more time, and I will close ...

3232. Lifelong Disciples

Matthew 28:16-20

Sermon

James McCormick

... in God,” but who don’t worship regularly, don’t take prayer seriously, don’t participate in learning and growing opportunities. They say, “I believe in God” but act as if so many other parts of life are more important. They are somehow content to remain spiritual infants. How in the world can you believe in God and not understand that nothing is more important than learning about Him, getting to know Him, learning how more faithfully to serve Him. How can you really believe in God and be casual ...

3233. Are You Getting Hymns Out of Your Lions?

1 Corinthians 7:1-40

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... like he is addressing some concerns about whether Christ and a spouse can co-exist in one's life. Apparently some of the Corinthians felt they had now attained some high spiritual plateau that gave them superiority over those who continued to marry or remained married. But in today's text Paul redirects the discussion. He focuses on the eschatological tension that all must learn to live with if they would call themselves Christians. We must read closely and carefully if we are to follow Paul's argument ...

3234. In Life Nothing Works but the Impossible

Matthew 1:18-25

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... and establishes Joseph’s lineage as a descendant of the royal house of David. Yet this information also problematizes the narrative, for Matthew also reveals that Jesus’ conception was a miraculous work of the Holy Spirit. Mary, a betrothed young woman, remained a virgin until Jesus’ birth. In today’s text Matthew sets about explaining how this “problematique,” how these two realities, were possible. He begins (v. 18) by declaring the historical nature of Jesus’ identity: this is the birth of ...

3235. 1 Corinthians 9:24-27

1 Corinthians 9:1-27

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... (agonizomenos), exercise self-discipline (egkrateuomai), crown (stephanos), box (pykteuo) and flail at the air (dero aera): all are part of that distinct "agon" lexicon; all stand out as atypical biblical terms. Despite this unusual terminology, Paul remains focused on his original argument against those Corinthians whose "freedom" included activities (such as eating suspect foods and attending pagan events) that misled others less "free" in their faith. Paul begins this section confident that his ...

3236. 1 Corinthians 7:29-31

1 Corinthians 7:1-40

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... summit, they reasoned, their previous connections to the world, including their personal and/or physical relationships, should be abandoned in favor of a purely spiritual lifestyle. Paul rejects this understanding of a Christian life. Instead he writes, "let each of you remain in the condition in which you were called" (7:20). For Paul, whatever status a new Christian inhabits at the time they accept Chris's redemptive gift is basically irrelevant to their future life in Christ. God's work through Christ ...

3237. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24

1 Thessalonians 5:12-28

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... in their midst: "Do not quench the Spirit." The greater danger isn't overly embracing spiritual activity, but squelching all spiritual experiences within the congregation. Paul's first concern is that the door admitting the activity of the Spirit remain open. The language Paul uses is especially spirit-related: spegnymi (quenches) is extraordinarily oppositional to the Christian experience of the Spirit as fire. But the apostle adds to this general image by identifying one specific experience of the Spirit ...

3238. Seeking a Shepherd King

1 Samuel 16:1-13

Sermon

Elizabeth Achtemeier

... rejection are found in 1 Samuel 13:1-15 and 15:1-31. Now God seeks a shepherd-king for his people who is a man after his heart. Now God himself accepts the kingship as necessary to his people’s existence. The kingship of the Lord remains prominent in the story, however, for only he can decide who should rule Israel. Indeed, Samuel must explicitly follow the Lord’s instructions in order to identify that ruler. Samuel must go to Bethlehem (later known as the “city of David,” Luke 2:4), taking with him ...

3239. A New Beginning

Matthew 3:13-17

Sermon

King Duncan

... : Change? My grandmother gave that light bulb!!! (1) Well, Presbyterians are not the only ones who resist change. In fact, this is the condition that vexes many of us, if not most of us. Physicists speak of inertia--the tendency of a body at rest to remain at rest unless acted upon by an outside force. Most churches suffer from inertia, as do most of their congregants. What is it that counselors say? Most people change only when the pain of staying the same is greater than the pain of change. Those of ...

3240. Under New Leadership

John 1:29-34

Sermon

King Duncan

... driveway about the same time as this businessman and Fulghum. The businessman cranks the engine of his Range Rover like he has the pole position at the Indy five hundred. Uh-oh--he has put his coffee cup and briefcase on the roof of the Range Rover, and there they remain as he drives away. The lady neighbor is right behind him in her eight year old Just-Get-Me-There-and-Back-Please-God Ford sedan. Fulghum is behind her in his 1952 GMC two-ton Go-Ahead-and-Hit-Me panel truck. The lady begins to honk her horn ...

3241. The Lonesome George Church

Matthew 4:23-25, Matthew 4:18-22, Matthew 4:12-17

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... (vv.18-22) details the call of the first four disciples, a scene that very closely mirrors that told by Mark (1:16-20). From this point on Jesus’ mission and message will be carried out in the midst of a community. Although Jesus will remain constantly on the move, his disciples will create a continuous, witnessing community, an ongoing audience for all he says and does. The first four disciples, the brothers Simon Peter and Andrew and the brothers James and John, will continue to be the most singled out ...

3242. A New Calling

Matthew 4:18-22

Sermon

King Duncan

... to a man named John Newton for guidance. Newton, of course, was the author of the much-loved tune, “Amazing Grace.” Newton was a former slave trader who had renounced the trade after his conversion. Newton convinced Wilberforce that God had called him to remain in politics and exert a Christian influence there. It was John Newton that gave William Wilberforce the wake-up call that kept him championing the cause of freedom for Britain’s slaves. (2) Four men, fishermen by trade, were toiling at the nets ...

3243. Advent 2

Matthew 3:1-12, Romans 14:1--15:13, Isaiah 11:1-16, Psalm 72:1-20

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