Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 3476 to 3500 of 4935 results

3476. I Love a Parade

Isaiah 50:4-9a

Sermon

Schuyler Rhodes

I love Palm Sunday. It's that wonderful day when we march boldly into town waving our palm branches and loving the parade. Yes, yes, I admit. It's probably the parade I like as much as what we're shouting about as the donkey saunters by. But I do. I love Palm Sunday. And did I say, I love parades, too? I remember as a kid going with my mom every year to the Memorial Day parade in the small upstate New York town where we lived. It was exactly what you might imagine it to be. The high school band marched ...

3477. 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 ...

3478. When the Going Gets Tough ... the Tough Start Praying!

Luke 17:5-10

Sermon

Ever since the sign went up on our property that our church was coming I've gotten phone calls from people asking when we'll have a church. I can be a smart aleck as some of you will attest and so I'm often quick to respond that we already have a church, we just don't have a building. "Well," they usually say, "give me a call when you get the building done; I'm not going to worship in a high school cafeteria." Before I can give my canned speech about the difference between a church and the building I ...

3479. Advent 1

Psalm 25:1-10, Jeremiah 33;14-16, Luke 21:25-36, 1 Thessalonians 3:9-13

Bulletin Aid

Julia Ross Strope

Greeting It’s a new season in the life of the faith, and we are confronted again with truths about Divine Presence and the stories we have learned that pass along those truths. How does the truth of Jeremiah shape our lives in a new millennium on a different continent? What does the birth of Jesus of Nazareth have to do with us? Our minds ask these questions and our souls are moving through gestation with fresh ideas of the Eternal, of embodying truth, and seeking new understandings of abundance and ...

3480. Help From Habakkuk?

Habakkuk 1:1-4, 2:1-4

Sermon

R. Kevin Mohr

It can be really depressing to listen to the news anymore. It doesn't matter which network you watch, everywhere you turn it's the same old bad news: natural and manmade disasters, the continuing conflicts in the Middle East and in Iraq and Afghanistan, medical miscues, entertainers gone wild and self-destructive, sports heroes disappointing us. Then there's a federal government that often seems to be, at best, incompetent or, at worst, corrupt. What makes it even more depressing is that at least 51% of ...

3481. What Really Matters

Luke 10:38-42

Sermon

King Duncan

A joke appeared on the Internet recently that many of you women can relate to. A man was praying, “Oh Lord, please have mercy on me, I work so very hard, meanwhile my wife stays at home. I would give anything if you would grant me one wish. Please, switch me into my wife. She’s got it easy at home and I want to teach her a lesson about how tough a man’s life is!” As God was listening he felt sorry for this poor soul and granted his wish. So . . . the next morning this man wakes up at dawn . . . as a woman ...

3482. The Door Is Open

John 10:1-21

Sermon

James Merritt

I remember it like it happened yesterday and it was almost 37 years ago. I put my hand on a door handle that would lead into a worship center. In that worship center, a crowd had gathered to see me tie the knot with a young lady, named Teresa, which I had only known for 6 months. I knew if I walked through that door I was walking into a life-long commitment of who I was going to spend the rest of my life with - for better or for worse, in sickness or in health, for richer or poorer. Not long after that I ...

3483. Can One Become Two?

Matthew 19:1-12

Sermon

James Merritt

A couple in Sweetwater Texas had a lot of potted plants, and while watching TV the weatherman predicted a cold front coming through. The husband suggests that they bring in the potted plants. The wife goes outside to bring them indoors to protect them from freezing. It turned out that a little garden grass snake was hidden in one of the plants and after it got warm, it crawled out on the floor. The wife saw it just as it went under the couch and she begins screaming hysterically. Her husband who had gotten ...

3484. The Wrong Gift

Luke 2:1-14 (15-20)

Sermon

Wayne Brouwer

What did you get for Christmas? We shouldn't ask it, but we do, don't we? It is part and parcel of our experience of the season. While Christmas gift-giving may have originated in Christian communities seeking to celebrate the divine gift to us, it is now our culture that demands we spend and purchase and drive the economy into the black through our holiday purchases. We are obligated to give gifts. We are cajoled into giving. We must ?nd the "right" gift for each person on our list. Can you do it? Did you ...

3485. Jesus Taken Up into Heaven

Acts 1:1-11

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

Acts and the Third Gospel clearly come from the same hand. Not only their common dedication, but their common interests and their unity of language and style leave this beyond doubt. Moreover, the way in which they are introduced—the Gospel with its relatively detailed preface, Acts with its shorter introduction echoing the other’s language—points us to the fact that these are not simply two books by the same author, but two volumes of one book. This arrangement of a work into a number of “books” having a ...

3486. Moses and the Burning Bush

Exodus 3:1-22

Understanding Series

James K. Bruckner

The third chapter of Exodus is filled with revelation and interaction. It includes a theophany (the appearing of God) and the story of Moses’ call. Moses meets God for the first time in the burning bush, where God calls him to go back to Egypt. We are reminded of the oppression there and hear the first two of Moses’ five objections to God’s call. Exodus 3 gives the name of the Lord, repeats the promise of land to Abraham’s family, and predicts Pharaoh’s resistance. Finally, God promises to do “wonders” ...

3487. Crossing the Jordan

Joshua 3:1-4:24

Understanding Series

J. Gordon Harris

Crossing Over the Jordan: The action of the story slows down in the crossing narrative (Josh. 3–4). Commands are repeated and events are described in laborious detail to indicate the importance of crossing the Jordan for the faith of Israel. The narrator also describes a liturgical drama that would be used for instruction of the young. The fords of the Jordan River and then Gilgal, the camp after Israel crossed the river, become the central locations for the narrative and the events to follow. The ...

3488. Staying Close to Christ

John 13:31-38

Sermon

King Duncan

Churches are funny places. You know that by now. I always love a good story about funny things that happen in church. Some of them you couldn’t make up. I read recently about a “Women’s League” in a certain church that wanted to announce a new project for the church. The president announced the project on a Sunday morning to the congregation. After a brief description, she asked all of the ladies of the league to “march up to the front of the sanctuary”--a group of women mostly 55 years of age and older. ...

3489. Jesus Claims God-Given Authority to Condemn the Leaders

Mark 12:1-12, Mark 11:27-33

Teach the Text

Grant R. Osborne

Big Idea: In 11:27–12:34 Jesus responds to a series of questions and challenges from the religious leaders. Jesus answers their first two challenges, concerning the source of his authority (11:27–33), and then he goes on the offensive, using an allegorical parable to accuse them of plotting to kill him (12:1–12). Understanding the Text The central event on Tuesday of passion week is a series of five controversies that take place in the temple court. This event has two foci: (1) the leaders are trying ...

3490. Priorities

Luke 12:35-48, Luke 12:22-34

Teach the Text

R.T. France

Big Idea: Honoring God as king, and being ready for the return of the Lord, must take priority over the ordinary concerns of life. Understanding the Text Several themes from our last section are developed here: God’s fatherly care, the absolute priority of serving God over all other concerns, and especially the tension between material concern and true discipleship—12:22–31 is a sort of commentary on 12:15 and the parable that illustrates it. This last theme of “God and mammon” will be picked up again ...

3491. Are You a Pillar or a Pillow?

2 Thessalonians 2:13-17

Sermon

King Duncan

There is a corny story about a little girl in a mountain family who laid her head over on her father’s ample midriff in a worship service and went to sleep. Her mother, seeing her daughter cushion her head in this fashion, whispered to her husband in the mountain vernacular, “There, Clyde, now you know what it means to be a pillar of the church.” Her husband was probably more of a pillow of the church rather than a pillar. But that is the question for the day: are you a pillow or a pillar? I would like to ...

3492. Paul’s Life as an Example of the Truth of the Gospel

Philippians 3:1-11

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

The word “finally” or “further,” which begins this chapter (see “Literary Unity” in introduction), might lead Paul’s readers to expect some concluding remarks, especially since the exhortation to “rejoice in the Lord” appears to be such an apt summary of what Paul has previously written. But the whole tone of the letter changes abruptly in 3:2, and a new subject is introduced rather unexpectedly. This change of tone and subject has led several scholars to suggest that Philippians 3 is actually a fragment ...

3493. Signs of the End of the Age

Mark 13:1-31

Understanding Series

Larry W. Hurtado

Destruction and Persecutions to Come (13:1-23) 13:1–2 Chapter 13 of Mark is one of the two large sections of teaching material uninterrupted by other things, the other block of material being the parables discourse in chapter 4. The present discourse begins with a prediction by Jesus that the temple of Jerusalem will be destroyed (13:1–2). This leads to a typical Markan scene in which the disciples ask Jesus privately for the meaning of his statement (13:3–4) and Jesus gives an extensive answer to their ...

3494. The Resurrection

Mark 16:1-20

Understanding Series

Larry W. Hurtado

16:1–8 The resurrection of Jesus was the single most important event in the formation of faith in Jesus in the early church. The resurrection not only overturned the effects of the crucifixion, giving life where there was death, but more importantly, signified that Jesus had been vindicated by God and made the prince and pioneer of salvation for anyone believing in him. In 1 Corinthians 15:12–28, Paul gives a concise description of the meaning of Jesus’ resurrection, portraying the risen Jesus as the basis ...

3495. The Fall of Man

Genesis 3:1-24

Understanding Series

John E. Hartley

The Fall: The interchange among the man, the woman, and the serpent provides dramatic movement, and captures how motivation to disobey God rises from an inversion of the order of responsibility that God had established. 3:1–5 Act 2 of the drama begins with the introduction of a new actor, the serpent, one of the wild animals the LORD God had made (2:19). The serpent is described as more crafty (’arum) than the other animals. ’Arum makes a wordplay on “naked” (’arummim), which occurs in 2:25, and thus ...

3496. An Invitation That Went Astray

Matthew 3:13-17

Sermon

King Duncan

Series: Seeing God More Clearly in 2020 Anyone here ever been involved in planning a wedding? Have you ever noticed that there are so many details involved in planning a wedding that brides and grooms tend to get really stressed out in the weeks leading up to the big event? Bride-to-be Cassandra Warren was so hurried to get things done that she accidentally sent an invitation to her wedding to a wrong address. The wedding was to have a Star Wars theme and she was excited about it, but this one invitation ...

3497. The Time Is Near

Luke 21:5-19

Sermon

Molly F. James

And he said, ‘Beware that you are not led astray; for many will come in my name and say, “I am he!” and, “The time is near!” Do not go after them.’ ” This is the heart of our gospel reading today. For those of us who live a comfortable middle class existence, it can be easy to dismiss our whole reading with its predictions of persecutions, earthquakes, and famines. How could those apply to our lives? For those of us who live comfortable lives in Christian majority countries, we do not know what it is to be ...

3498. Bittersweet

Matthew 2:1-12

Sermon

Lori Wagner

Animation: Gold, Frankincense, Myrrh / Anointing Oil – Frankincense and Myrrh Animation: youtube of the Seinfeld clip on re-gifting The term “re-gifting” was coined by Jerry Seinfeld in an episode of the comedy show Seinfeld in 1995 called “The Label Maker.” Elaine is horrified to discover that Jerry has received a gift (a label maker) from someone. But it’s the same “label maker” that she originally gave to the guy who gifted Jerry. They uncovered a “re-gifter!” Anyone remember Seinfeld? [Pause to see how ...

3499. The Magic Ingredient

Romans 8:18-27

Sermon

King Duncan

I don’t know if any of you ever read the obituaries. My guess is that the older you are the more likely you are to let your eyes drift over to that section of the newspaper. As the comedian would say, “just to make certain your name’s not printed there.” Of course, some of our younger members are asking, “What’s a newspaper?” An interesting obituary appeared in the Chattanooga Times-Free Press recently (12/18/2019) that, in my estimation, was good for a chuckle or two. It was for a Katie McDonald, 80 years ...

3500. Advice

Romans 12:2, 9-20; 13:8-9

Sermon

Will Willimon

In Shakespeare's Hamlet, there is the scene where old Polonius, an aging, sentimental blowhard, gives advice to his son, Laertes. Laertes is preparing to leave for France and old Polonius, knowing what sometimes happens to eighteen year olds in Paris, does what fathers do -- he offers advice. Most of his advice is rather innocuous. In those days, before dreaded social diseases, there wasn't really any important parental advice like, "Always remember what Surgeon General Koop says…" Despite its stupidity, ...

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