Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 3476 to 3500 of 4986 results

3476. God, Or the World?

Matthew 4:1-11

Sermon

Richard Gribble

... fathered a child. In those days, the Mexican government said that is was illegal to practice the priesthood, but that did not stop the Whiskey Priest. Everything he did; the Masses, baptisms, funerals, and weddings had to be conducted in secret, staying one step ahead of the authorities. The Federales and their commanding lieutenant represented the government. This band of soldiers possessed the power. It was their job to find the Whiskey Priest, to stop his activity, and ultimately to eliminate him. The ...

3477. Transformed in Christ

John 3:1-17

Sermon

Richard Gribble

... absolutely necessary for her to eventually be able to say, "Hoke, you are my best friend." Daisy's experience is one illustration of a reality for all - transformation takes time and shortcuts to its end product only lead to problems and disappointments. The need to stay the course in our transformation can be illustrated in the world of science. One day, a student found a cocoon in the wild and brought it to the biology lab at school. The teacher placed the cocoon in an unused aquarium with a lamp shining ...

3478. The Price of God's Glory

John 18:1-19:42

Sermon

Richard Gribble

... without counting the cost, and he did what God asked of him without qualification, reservation, or question. He did not look over his shoulder and wonder why, but rather, he lived what he wrote, for his call to discipleship cost him his life. Staying one step ahead of the Nazis, Bonhoeffer courageously maintained an underground seminary and wrote in opposition to Hitler's regime and his ideology of anti-Semitism. In the end, he was incarcerated and executed on April 9, 1945, only days before the allied ...

3479. Jesus Transforms the Darkness into Light

John 20:1-18

Sermon

Richard Gribble

... reached out in a special way to those who were despised by society at large. Jesus did many wonderful things, cured many of diseases, forgave sins, and demonstrated love in every word and action of his life. After three years of active work, Jesus, who mostly stayed in the northern section of his nation ventured south to the capital city of Jerusalem. Although he had done many wonderful things and taught people about the love of God, he was, nonetheless, hated by many of the very people whom he came to save ...

3480. Completing The Master's Work

Luke 24:44-53

Sermon

Richard Gribble

... to go forward but he did not send them out without the requisite tools for the job. Today's gospel, which ends Saint Luke's narrative of Jesus' life, describes the Lord's promise to the apostles: "I am sending upon you what my Father promised; so stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high" (Luke 24:49). Jesus will provide the Holy Spirit, whose arrival we will celebrate next week at Pentecost. The Spirit not only guides and directs our ways, but will provide inspiration and ...

3481. Deep Water!

Matthew 14:22-33

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

... water!" And Jesus said, "Come!" The rest of the apostles have a white-knuckled vise grip on the gunnels of the boat. The storm, the waves, the dark, the wind, the uncertainty - they're not about to move. And, as with the most of us, they are quite happy to stay in their comfort zone and watch as Peter makes his move. Thank God for the Peter's among us. When life grows stormy, when we cannot see, when all is tired and wet and fearful and nobody knows what to do, usually God sends us a Peter. These are those ...

3482. Church Discipline: A Cure for What Ails the Body

Matthew 18:15-20

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

When a sixteen-year-old stays out all night drinking, then drives home, a father disciplines him with grounding. When a student cuts class, is late with papers, and turns in inferior work, a college professor disciplines him with failing marks. When an employee is lazy and is caught pilfering company goods, his boss disciplines him ...

3483. A Guide to Christmas

Matthew 21:23-32

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

... metanoia. It means, "to change one's mind." Actually, repentance is a mental event, a change of mind, that leads to a change of behavior, a turning in one's life. You know how it is to tell someone you're going shopping on Tuesday, but you decide later to stay home and clean up. Your friend sees you and says, "What are you doing here? I thought you said you were going shopping!" You reply, "Yes, but I changed my mind." So it is that your change of mind has led to your change of behavior! This is what John ...

3484. Do Politics and Religion Mix?

Matthew 22:15-22

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

... , do politics and religion mix? The first amendment of the United States Constitution reads, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion nor prohibit the free exercise thereof." What the first amendment is saying is that government should stay out of religion, but religious people can exercise their faith in the influence of public policy. Over the past fifty years, lawmakers have misinterpreted the Constitution. We've majored in the first part of the amendment while abandoning the ...

3485. True Reformation

John 8:31-36

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

... they stand under the watchful eye of the Roman occupation authorities. Let's cut to the chase. What the Gospel of John, as part of Holy Scripture, presents as the truth is Jesus Christ. If we remain in his word - if we hear him, listen to him, know him, and stay with him - if we continue in his word - we will be knowing him who is the truth. In another place in this gospel, Jesus says, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life." The point isn't so much that he is three separate things - way and truth ...

3486. A Life Well Lived

2 Timothy 3:10--4:8

Sermon

King Duncan

... no regrets. That would be a wonderful way to end your life, wouldn’t it? No regrets? For one thing, Paul didn’t regret the service he had given Christ. He could have. He could have whined as many of us might, “Gee, I should have stayed where I was, in Tarsus. I could have been a magnificent success as a tentmaker. With what I know about organization and sales, I could have distributorships all over Europe and the Mideast. Instead I’ve been planting churches made up of ungrateful people who grumble ...

3487. The Process of Love

Luke 19:1-10

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

... , of respect, the relationship can go no farther. That's why Jesus parading through Jericho looks up and sees this lonely, quizzical face peering at him through the tree branches, and blurts out for all to hear, "Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today." Can you imagine being lonely, going to a basketball game alone, and come half-time, Michael Jordan leaves the court, walks up to the nosebleed section where you are seated, shakes your hand, calls you by name, and asks if he ...

3488. Three Ways to Know a Saint

Sermon

King Duncan

... we agree on such fundamental issues as how to baptize, but most of the major denominations recognize this special day. It’s like the five‑year‑old girl who was visiting her grandfather one Saturday afternoon. Grandfather said, “Amy, I wish you could stay the night so you could go to church with me tomorrow.” Amy asked, “Why are you going to church tomorrow, Grandpa?” “Because it’s All Saints’ Sunday!” answered the grandfather. “But Grandpa,” Amy said, “we’re not saints, we’re ...

3489. The Man in the Tree

Luke 19:1-10

Sermon

King Duncan

... and Zacchaeus, people who are seeking. People who need somebody to show them the Master. Jesus was impressed with Zacchaeus’ determination. When Jesus reached the spot where Zacchaeus was perched in his tree, Jesus looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” Now it was Zacchaeus’ turn to be impressed. The Master knew his name. He wasn’t just a face in the crowd. When Jesus looked on the crowd of people who thronged to see him, he didn’t see a ...

3490. The Spirit of...Winter?

Luke 1:26-38

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... up. The bad news . . . some cards were left, and didn't move. In fact, the cards that were left nobody seemed to want to pick up. When I asked why the cards had been so picked over, I was told to go and see for myself why "those cards will stay there." When I walked over and looked at the cards, I saw requests like these: a cd player or a DVD player or a Gameboy. "Now do you see why those cards aren't moving? Look what these kids are asking for?" Isn't it interesting that these kids are ...

3491. Los Posadas

1 Thessalonians 5:12-28

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... tradition in a striking way. They have made a traveling manger, with knitted figures of Mary, Joseph, baby Jesus and the donkey - a kind of traveling creche that's taken to a home on the first Sunday of Advent and then travels from one home to another, staying one night in any inn that will welcome them. But at each home where the traveling crib is housed, there's a short service presided over by the innkeepers in which candles are lit, a song is sung, prayers are offered, and gratitude to God expressed ...

3492. The True Definition of a Sanctuary

Matthew 25:14-30

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... bring an abrupt, ugly end to the voyage. The accepted maps faded off into hazy nothingness, or populated the murky unknown edges with scary illustrations and warnings that "There Be Dragons" in these unknown regions. No wonder all but the most adventurous were content to stay within the safe confines of known lands and waters. The world that lay beyond was too risky to enter. Now with GPS trackers that can locate a purse or wallet precisely at any point on the planet, and with the galaxies long vision of ...

3493. Still in One Peace

Matthew 11:25-30

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... and hold-your-breath budget squeakers. June can be just plain busy. June can leave you jaded and evacuated. But the start of July signals a kind of collective sigh of relief. By the Fourth of July we settle into a new set of routines that aren't routine. We stay up later because it's not even dark until well after 10 p.m.. Or we get up earlier because dawn arrives around 4 o'clock in the morning. And of course, July is the first month when we really start to go on our winter-planned, long-awaited vacations ...

3494. What God Requires of Us

Micah 6:1-8

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... relationship with God through the gift of Jesus the Christ. Through Jesus, the only one who could wholly fulfill the qualities of mishpat, hesed, and hasnea in a human life, the door to a right relationship with God has once again been opened to us. But to stay in that covenant bond the requirements remain the same. We're still called by God to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with our God. We're still called by God to live these three words while our whole beings: remind me of these three words ...

3495. But Wait! There's More!

Luke 20:27-40

Sermon

King Duncan

... and then the third married her, and in the same way the seven died, leaving no children. Finally, the woman died too. Now then, at the resurrection whose wife will she be, since the seven were married to her?” Quite a question. My first thought is, Men, stay away from that woman! She’s bad luck. It makes you wonder if perhaps she was poisoning all these husbands. Seven times a widow! But that’s beside the point. Theoretically, what the Sadducees want to know is, Whose wife will she be in heaven? Again ...

3496. A Sourdough Sprirituality

Matthew 13:31-35

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... starter, making it unique and original. 5) "To stand on the meeting of two eternities, the past and the future," is the goal of life, said 19th century author Henry David Thoreau. Sourdough starter is a good illustration of this, an AncientFuture faith. In order for things to stay the same, they have to change. In order for the church to move into this new world, it must "hold fast to our confession" (Hebrews 4:14). But unless we're willing to bake some fresh bread for the world in which we live, we can't ...

3497. Deep Faith

Acts 17:16-34

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... , most folks prefer to swim in a small, cordoned-off shallow swimming area. With sparkling, chlorinated water. And ladders. And floaties. And rescue poles and lifeguards. And why not? No one wants to get out over her head. You can drown out there. Better to stay where it's safe. Where you can see the bottom. Where you grab a railing. Where you can see land and get your footing." (Howard Hanger, "VIA CREATIVA: Going Deeper," Vision, 6 January 2001, 1.) Of course, this all presupposes that the reason why you ...

3498. The Ultimate Thanksgiving Feast

Luke 17:11-19

Sermon

King Duncan

... other brothers were impressed. After the holidays Mom sent out her Thank You notes. She wrote: “Milton, the house you built is so huge I live in only one room, but I have to clean the whole house. Thanks anyway.” “Marvin, I am too old to travel. I stay home; I have my groceries delivered, so I never use the Mercedes. The thought was good. Thanks.” “Michael, you gave me an expensive theater with Dolby sound; it could hold 50 people but all of my friends are dead, I’ve lost my hearing and I’m ...

3499. Thanks Be to God

Deuteronomy 26:1-15

Sermon

Richard Gribble

... order to free the woodcutter, repaying him for their rescue by his hand so many years earlier. The woodcutter quickly picked up the doves. Their bodies were bruised and broken, but they were alive. He ripped his shirt and wrapped the small creatures tenderly. He stayed with the doves, feeding and nursing them until they were once again healthy. Then one morning he opened the church door and again set the birds free. The woodcutter then returned to his wife and children and all lived happily ever after.1 The ...

3500. To Be a Pilgrim (Thanksgiving)

Hebrews 11:1-40

Sermon

Alex Gondola

... about fighting. Still, as one of their spokesmen put it, "It is not with us as with other men, whom small things discourage."1 The Pilgrims had the courage to go forward, no matter what it might cost. It took even greater courage to stay in Plymouth after they landed. During the first winter, conditions were worse than they imagined. There were great gray wolves, whose howls terrorized the colonists at night. There was "The Great Sickness." Over half the Pilgrims died. They buried their dead at night in ...

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