Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 3451 to 3475 of 4914 results

3451. Home at Last

Nehemiah 8:1-3, 5-6, 8-10

Sermon

Mary S. Lautensleger

One of the more colorful eras of our country's past is the old Wild West. We can visualize cowboys chasing stagecoaches over rough, barren terrain, and sheriffs swaggering down dusty main streets. Towns sprang up virtually overnight around regions rich in natural resources such as lumber, borax, silver, and especially gold, the glitter that inflamed a continent. These thriving little communities "out west" revolved around a general store, blacksmith shop, livery stable, prospectors' office, saloon, jail, ...

3452. God's Eminent Domain

Jeremiah 18:1-11

Sermon

Lee Ann Dunlap

What would you do if you opened your mailbox one day to find a letter from the city or county announcing that you have to move? That land your grandparents worked so hard to till, or for which you struggled so long to purchase is deemed the best land available for a new shopping mall. The appraisers will soon be checking out your home to determine its fair market value and you are expected to vacate. For a group of homeowners in New London, Connecticut, this nightmare became reality when the city attempted ...

3453. Tales of the Spiritually Stupid

Jeremiah 4:11-12, 18-22

Sermon

Lee Ann Dunlap

"Stupid is as stupid does." So says the now-famous quote from the movie, Forrest Gump. Nowadays, it would seem stupidity is an epidemic. Just type the words "stupid people dot com" into your internet search engine and you can find loads of websites where people share their tales, like the man who wrote: "My ex-wife once called me at a bar and asked, 'Where are you?' " Another favorite story is told about a high school teacher who assigned her class a paper on World War Two. On the date it was due, one boy ...

3454. Simeon and Anna: The Quiet of the Country

Luke 2:21-40

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

In the movie, “A Patch of Blue”, the blind girl asks her grandfather, “Old Paw, what’s green like?” The irritated man answers: “Green is green, stupid. Now stop asking questions.” There follows a poignant scene in which the young girl claws the grass with her hands and gently rubs a leaf against her cheek, trying to experience the reality of “greenness”. That is a parable of the human situation. We want to experience reality. We try to dissect it, claw at it, analyze it, explain it. God helps us here. When ...

3455. John 11:32-44

John 11:17-37

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

It is always risky to step into the middle of another family’s crisis. Every family is different, and within every family different family members play different roles. There is also a history of learned behaviors and subtle signals that an outsider can never fully comprehend. So it is with fear and trepidation that we enter the family crises of today’s text. In fact, there are two families in crisis in today’s readings. There is the obvious one: the Bethany family unit of the siblings Lazarus, Martha, and ...

3456. The Wedding Was Saved, but the Marriage?

John 2:1-11

Sermon

King Duncan

Larry Davies in his book, Sowing Seeds of Faith in a World Gone Bonkers, tells about a wedding he performed once on a wooden boat dock over a beautiful pond in Amelia county, Virginia. To his surprise, on the night before the wedding the bride (we’ll call her Pamela) called to ask him to read a special set of marriage vows to her new husband after the formal ceremony was through. She would give him a copy of the vows just before the service started. The next morning, the groom (we’ll call him Paul) also ...

3457. The Church: The Dwelling Place of Wonder

Ephesians 1:15-23

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

Somewhere along the way, I think I got it from one of my heroes, Bishop Gerald Kennedy, I connected a drama critic’s definition of the theater with an understanding of the church. “The theater,” said the critic, “is the dwelling place of wonder.” Isn’t that marvelous? “The theater is the dwelling place of wonder.” But it’s really a better definition of the church than it is the theater. Think about it: THE CHURCH IS THE DWELLING PLACE OF WONDER. How well that resonates with Paul’s word. Listen to it in our ...

3458. What Is Man?

Psalm 8:1-9

Sermon

King Duncan

I don’t know what you think about human nature. Someone once said, “Little monkeys grow up to be big monkeys; little pigs grow up to be big pigs; but people, wonderful people, can grow up to be monkeys or pigs.” Winston Churchill once said, “I like pigs. Dogs look UP to us. Cats look DOWN on us. Pigs treat us as EQUALS.” Well, maybe he’s right. The legendary broadcaster Walter Cronkite was once reading the news about luxury car maker Rolls-Royce having a recall campaign. Here is what he said, “Rolls-Royce ...

3459. Characteristics of the Church, Part 2

Acts 2:42-47

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

Somewhere I read of a Seminary professor whose last years were spent in and out of hospitals, suffering from a debilitating, incurable disease. As he reflected on his ministry, he said that when he began, he thought of himself as the expert, standing upon the bank of the stream of life, shouting instructions to the swimmers down below. In the second stage of his ministry, if he saw someone going down for the third time, he would plunge into the water, get the person started in the right direction again, ...

3460. On Being Faithful and Focused

Hebrews 11:1, 32 – 12:2

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

It was Henry David Thoreau who wrote: “If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost. That is where they should be. Now put foundations under them." For the past few weeks, we have articulated a new vision for this congregation focused on “touching hearts and transforming lives." We have organized our church and deployed our staff to embrace a mission of inviting, worshiping, discipling, serving, and healing. We have built castles in the air. Now it is time to put foundations under them ...

3461. My Country, Is It of Thee?

Psalm 9:9-20

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

We called her Miss Anna. She was my first grade teacher in a tiny, four-room Kentucky school. Miss Anna taught us to stand at attention, to speak with reverence, and placing our hands over our hearts to pledge our allegiance to “one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all." Life seemed much simpler back then. I guess it was. I didn't know anybody who didn't believe in God. Unlike Michael Newdow out in California who last year tried to get the “God-word" out of the pledge, parents ...

3462. Can the Rich Be Saved?

Mark 10:17-27

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

It’s been said of Jesus that whenever he met a person, it was as if that person were an island around which Jesus sailed until he found where the real problem was, and there he landed. He did that with the woman at the well and landed on the questions of marriage. He said to her, “Go call your husband.” In a luncheon conversation He landed on the question of integrity with Zaccheus and before lunch was over Zaccheus said, “If I have stolen anything from anybody, I will repay it four-fold.” Here in the ...

3463. From Greed to Generosity

Mark 10:17-27

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

Author and spiritual director Richard Foster says, “The great moral question of our time is how to move from greed to generosity." That's what we would like to talk about today. A. GREED: the Bible calls it avarice, or covetousness. Greed is the gratification of my desires often at the expense of the common good. We all have a need for greed. We are born to be greedy. It would be easy today to talk about the greediness of Enron executives who are on trial for pocketing millions of dollars. It would be ...

3464. Set Free for Life

John 11:17-37

Sermon

Lee Griess

When the famous agnostic, Robert Ingersoll, died, the printed funeral program left this solemn instruction. It read: "There will be no singing." For without faith, few feel like singing in the face of death. Running, perhaps. Crying, certainly. But not singing. Not in the face of death. For without faith, death steals our reason to sing. Death takes the song off our lips and leaves in its place stilled tongues and tear-stained cheeks. We know that is true, not only because we have experienced it, but also ...

3465. So, Explain It to Me

Sermon

Steven E. Albertin

Trinity Sunday begins the second half of the church year. The first half of the church year beginning with Advent and ending with Pentecost focused on the life of Christ. We call this second half ordinary time but there is nothing ordinary about it. It is an extraordinary time of the year when we focus on the church's life and mission. Some have called Trinity Sunday the "great hinge" of the church year. Others have called it the "great pain"! Why? Because as the only Sunday of the church year that focuses ...

3466. Boast in Our Suffering

Romans 5:1-8

Sermon

Steven E. Albertin

The phone rings in the middle of the night. There is only one reason why someone would call you at this time of the night, and it can't be good. The deadpan voice of the police officer tells you the horrible news rather matter-of-factly. Your imagination runs wild. You were not there, but you can hear the tires screeching, the metal smashing, the glass breaking, and the sirens whining. It was not supposed to end this way. She had so much of life yet to live. Your boss calls you into his office. Other ...

3467. Fido’s Dilemma

Romans 6:1-11

Sermon

Steven E. Albertin

Fido is in the dirt gnawing on a bone. It is dry, brittle, depleted of marrow and moisture. It is dead and useless except for stimulating the gums of Fido and giving his jaws some exercise. You approach Fido with your hands behind your back. Fido eyes you and is suspicious. You speak kindly to your canine friend. He wags his tail. He smiles his doggy smile keeping his paw firmly planted on the bone. Fido continues to sniff and chew on his bone. You slowly bring a hand out from behind your back revealing a ...

3468. You Bring Me Great Pleasure

Matthew 3:13-17

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

How many of your New Year’s Resolutions have made it intact through the first full week of 2011? Have you missed a day of exercise yet? Have you stuck to your diet? Are you texting less, talking more, always telling the truth? Most “resolutions” we make are self-directed: get thinner, work smarter, be stronger, take control of your life. We want to make changes that will help us, improve us, and bring us good feelings about ourselves. Jesus said to be “in” the world but not to be “of” the world. So let’s ...

3469. Hear Him

Matthew 17:1-13

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

The last couple of weeks have brought us a full plate of pictures from Tunisia, Egypt, Libya. Can any of us ever forget the images from Cairo’s Tahrir Square? Or the monstrous Muammar al‑Gaddafi, also known as Colonel Gaddafi, speaking to his people from the back seat of an automobile holding a white umbrella? But the one that may stick the longest is the human ring of ordinary men and women standing guard around the Cairo Museum, making a barrier of bodies all the way around the perimeter of the building ...

3470. Luke 24:44-53

Luke 24:50-53

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

Final words, last words, are always imbued with great importance. Jesus’ “final words” come in two different settings. According to Luke’s gospel the final words Jesus utters before the world are “Father into your hands I commend my spirit” (Luke 23:46). This was a prayerful, pious declaration of a Torah obedient Jew, as far as the world was concerned, nothing more. But that cry from the cross was not Jesus’ final word. The post-resurrection Jesus had another “final” message for his disciples. For those ...

3471. He Ascended Into Heaven

Acts 1:1-11

Sermon

David E. Leininger

Familiar words. Churches have been repeating them for centuries in the Apostles' Creed: I believe in God the Father almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, his only Son our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried. He descended into Hell. The third day he rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty. "He ascended...." Up, up, and away. It ...

3472. Just Say the Word

John 1:1-9, 10-18

Sermon

Robert J. Elder

Up until the modern era, with the advent of two-way radios, when generals needed to communicate with their commanders in the field, the most reliable method was to dispatch a runner. This was true in peacetime as well as wartime. Kings who wanted to communicate with important people in their far-flung empires made use of runners. It worked in reverse as well. Those in the field, those who were overseeing some project at a distance from their king or general, would reply by sending runners back with ...

3473. Thanks for the Memories!

Exodus 12:1-4 (5-10) 11-14

Sermon

Ken Lentz

The dark of the night began to turn to the gray of morning. In the clouded distance could be heard the cries of mothers and fathers discovering the lifeless forms of their firstborn sons. The elders rushed from one adobe structure to another. "Quick!" they whispered, "pack the unleavened dough! Finish the lamb! Grab what you can! Now is the moment! Follow Moses to the sea while the Egyptians are preoccupied with their tragedy." Hurriedly and silently, the dark shapes of men, women, and children passed ...

3474. Who Am I?

Acts 8:26-40

Sermon

Ken Lentz

Back in the '60s, a real "hip" kid attended the morning service of worship at an upper-class church. The pastor greeted him at the door. The groovy kid grabbed the minister's hand and said, "Dad, I really dug that sermon!" The staid pastor was taken by surprise and said, "Young man, I don't understand." The beatnik answered, "Dad, I really ‘went' for that sermon; it really came down the middle, man, loud and cool; it was like, gone, man." The minister's dignity was rattled and he decided to confront the ...

3475. Enough Spirit to Go Around!

Acts 10:44-48

Sermon

Ken Lentz

A minister once received a bottle of apricot brandy from one of his parishioners under the condition that the minister thank the donor for his gift in the Sunday bulletin. On the following Sunday, the notice read: "The pastor thanks Mr. Jones for the apricots and the spirit in which they were given." Some Bible readers look at the words from Acts 10, "While Peter was still speaking, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who heard the word" (v. 44), and conclude, "Aha! A Pentecost story!" Then the words of verse 45 ...

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