Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 3476 to 3500 of 4935 results

3476. Focusing On The Possibilities

Matthew 14:13-21

Sermon

King Duncan

Dr. Robert Schuller, who is known for his emphasis on positive thinking or possibility thinking as he calls it, tells about a man he once met on a flight to Los Angeles. The man was a mathematician named George Dantzig. Schuller made the observation to Dantzig that this was the first time it had occurred to him that there was a field of endeavor to which positive thinking didn't apply. Mathematical problems have only one right answer, so they can't be affected in any way by how a person thinks. Dantzig ...

3477. The Look Of Eagles

Philippians 3:1-11

Sermon

King Duncan

Peter Goodwin was a lover of horses. Uncle Peter, as he was called by his friends, was once given the opportunity to select a colt from a herd of twoyearolds. Uncle Peter chose a somewhat ordinary looking colt named Bluegrass. No one else saw the potential in this young horse that Uncle Peter saw. "He will never run in the Kentucky Derby," his friends laughingly told Uncle Peter. But they were wrong. "Bluegrass" not only ran in the Kentucky Derby, but won! When Uncle Peter was asked why he chose that ...

3478. Nobody Wants To Make Cold Calls

Luke 10:1-24

Sermon

King Duncan

There is a terrible story about two young Mormon missionaries who were going door to door. They knocked on the door of one woman who was not at all happy to see them. The woman told them in no uncertain terms that she did not want to hear their message and slammed the door in their faces. To her surprise, however, the door did not close and, in fact, almost magically bounced back open. She tried again, really putting her back into it and slammed the door again with the same amazing result--the door bounced ...

3479. Balancing Act

Mark 6:30-44

Sermon

King Duncan

A lady opened her refrigerator and saw a rabbit sitting on one of the shelves. "What are you doing in there?" she asked. The rabbit replied: "This refrigerator is a Westinghouse, isn't it?" To which the lady replied "Yes." "Well," the rabbit said, "I'm westing." I guess everybody needs a westinghouse. Everyone needs a quiet spot--a place that they can get away to recharge the batteries, to re-nourish the spirit. In the 1970s, Michael Caine and Sidney Poitier co-starred in the movie Zulu, which was shot in ...

3480. The Problem With Keeping All The Rules

Luke 18:9-14

Sermon

King Duncan

Photographer Wendy Ewald travels around the world teaching children to use photography to express their thoughts and feelings. Take a child who is relatively powerless and give him a camera, and suddenly that child is empowered by the chance to express himself. Ewald recalls a little Indian boy named Pratap. When Ewald handed him a camera, Pratap began to shake all over. He explained that he was a Harijan, a member of the lowest, untouchable caste in India. Harijans aren't allowed to hold cameras. Pratap ...

3481. Who Are You?

Psalm 16:1-11

Sermon

King Duncan

I'd like to ask you one of the most profound questions I can think of. Who are you? One practical joker produced a book that looked like any other. The title on the outside read, Wild Animals I have Known, and on the inside was a mirror. When his friends opened this book, they found themselves staring at their own reflections. Is that who you are? Are you just some kind of animal? A higher primate? A "naked ape," as Colin Morris called us a few years ago? Or is there a reality beyond the world of the flesh ...

3482. Palm Sunday (Prologue)

Matthew 21:1-11

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

Once upon a time, before television, there was radio. You know what radio is—television without pictures. Well, before television, one of the most popular daytime radio programs was called “Queen for a Day.” If I remember it correct-ly (and it was a long time ago!), each day four or five women from the studio audience would tell the host what they would like to have and do if they could be “Queen for a Day.” And then, on the basis of applause, one woman was chosen, and insofar as they were able, the ...

3483. What Is Your Response toe the Resurrection?

Mark 16:1-20

Sermon

Eric Ritz

Were you as surprised as I was to see that Mark concludes his marvelous Gospel with these words, "and they said nothing to anyone--for they were afraid?" We know from personal experience that fear is not always a negative response, but to end a Gospel in this way almost seems out of place. However, it is not God''s response to the Resurrection that Mark is being honest about; it is the human response. The Resurrection was God''s response to human folly, but the human response to God was that of fear. As we ...

3484. Making Compassion a Verb

Mark 6:30-44

Sermon

David G. Rogne

The Superintendent of Schools was having a bad year. Some contentious issues were being dealt with by the school board. One Sunday, during the coffee hour after church, I heard the Superintendent say in a particularly loud voice, "For crying out loud, it's my day of rest, too!" Someone had approached him about a concern in the school district, and he felt that there was no place he could go to get away from it. I learned right then not to approach people about business matters when they are not on duty. ...

3485. Living Lightly

Genesis 45:1-28

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

Our scripture lesson for the message today comes from the 45th chapter of the Book of Genesis. I’m beginning with the 4th and ready through the 20th verses. Joseph said to his brothers, come near to me I pray you, and they came near. And he said, I am your brother Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. And now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life, for the famine has been in the land these two years and there are yet five years in ...

3486. A Love For All Seasons (ii) (communion Meditation)

1 Corinthians 13:1-13

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

Picture this scene. "It is dusk, and a couple is sitting on an ocean beach. The sand is warm to the touch. The sun is just about to set, kissing the surface of the ocean. A spirit of romance comes over the young woman. Without taking her eyes off of the ocean and sun she says, "Isn't that sunset gorgeous?" The fellow replies, "Well, strictly speaking, the sun is not setting. Nor for that matter, does it ever do so. The sun, you see, is in a relatively fixed position in relation to the earth. So, to speak ...

3487. Prepare The Way Of The Lord

Isaiah 40:1-31

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

No shout in Scripture is more familiar than the shout of the prophet Isaiah. "Get ready!", he is saying, "The Messiah is coming. Prepare the Way of the Lord." Isaiah 40 is one of the most familiar passages in the Old Testament, made so in large part by Handel's MESSIAH. It's the call of Advent: "Prepare the way of the Lord." Now I know that the coming of Christ is always gift, always grace. So we need to think a little about how the spontaneous working of God's grace, unearned, unexpected, undeserved how ...

3488. On the Road Again

Luke 24:13-35

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

Blue eyes crying in the rain! Who knows where that sentence comes from? It’s from Psalm 14 verse…no, you know better. It’s from a haunting country ballad and no one sings it better than Willie Nelson. I’m not a country music buff but I like some of it – especially Willie. Recently I had to spend about three hours driving, and I tuned in to a good country music station. I recommend that experience, even though you may not like country music. It will contribute to your theological education. Now some of the ...

3489. 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 ...

3490. Experiencing the Reality of God

Acts 2:1-21

Sermon

James L. Killen

The story of the Day of Pentecost tells of a pivotal event in the history of God's work in the world. It tells of the emerging of a very important aspect of the Christian faith and of the birth of the church. It is a story that is exciting to some people. But, quite frankly, it is a story that scares some other people and makes them want to back away. All of this talk about wind and fire and speaking in foreign tongues excites some people but it turns some off. It may be that we have focused our attention ...

3491. Out of Conflict

Genesis 25:19-34

Sermon

James L. Killen

Today, we are going to talk about conflict. How do you feel about conflict? I suspect that most of us don't like it. Yet, conflict is a nearly constant part of life as most of us experience it. It surrounds us in many ways in every aspect of our living. People who believe in God know that they must live through every interaction with life as an interaction with God. One of the big questions that people of faith must answer is: "How can we live through the conflict situations of our lives as interactions ...

3492. Body Language

Mark 7:1-23

Sermon

Mark Trotter

This is my first Sunday back from our vacation, during which I spent some days in Canada fishing for salmon with some members of this church. In previous trips no one from the church had been with me, so I was not inhibited in reporting my success when I got back. This year the truth squad is sitting out there, the Richeys are over here, the Coutts are back there, so I have to be honest with you and tell you that the fishing just wasn't very good this year, except for one exception. Your humble pastor ...

3493. Landing Instructions

Isaiah 40:25-31

Sermon

Mark Trotter

We were all attracted to the story of Lance Armstrong winning the Tour de France last weekend, that grueling bicycle race. It is one of the great endurance races in the world today. Lance Armstrong won it in record time, two years after undergoing surgery and then chemotherapy for cancer that spread throughout his body, including to his brain. It is a testimony first of all to the wonderful advances that medicine has made in curing cancers, but everyone recognizes as well that it is a terrific testimony to ...

3494. In the Darkness of Suspicion, There Is the Light of Devotion

Matthew 2:1-12

Sermon

Thomas A. Pilgrim

It was a few days after Christmas. A mother was busy cleaning up the den, putting everything away, taking the Christmas tree down. Her son came in and saw her and said, “Mama, what are you doing?” She said, “I’m putting all our Christmas stuff away.” He asked in reply, “Why are you doing that?” She answered, “So everything will be back to normal again.” His response to that was, “Mama, I don’t want things to get back to normal again.” On this second Sunday after Christmas, we have the thought in our minds ...

3495. The Embassy at 6601

Matthew 5:21-26

Sermon

Susan R. Andrews

The year was 1967. Vietnam was exploding. The Nuclear Arms Race was escalating. The Women's Movement and the Civil Rights Movement were agitating the soul of our nation. And the Presbyterian church was trying to figure out how to witness to Jesus Christ in the midst of all this cultural chaos. 1967 was also the year I turned eighteen and graduated from high school. Though vaguely aware of all the political and global tumult swirling around me, I was much more concerned about my prom dress, my SAT scores, ...

3496. Night Vision

2 Peter 1:12-21

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

Ever eat breakfast by moonlight? One of my favorite resurrection phrases in John 20 is this one: early and dark. That's when some of the disciples discovered the greatest event in the history of Planet Earth: Jesus' resurrection from the dead. Think of how many things we miss in life because we aren't accessible to the world of early and dark. We aren't awake to the early and dark moments of life. It was only those two disciples (Peter and John) and the apostle to the apostles (Mary) who lived the ...

3497. The CatWalk Church and the CrossLove Church

John 15:1-17

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

Say "Green Bay Packers fan" and what do you think of? Anyone? That's right. Cheese hats. Say "Peabody Hotel" and what do you think of? Anyone? That's right. Ducks. At the classy Peabody Hotel in Memphis, TN, hundreds come to lunch every day for one specific reason. It's not that the chef is glamorous or that the deserts are gigantic or that the menu is gastronomic. That all may be true. But that's not why they come. No, the diners come for the ducks. Not to eat duck. But to watch ducks. The Peabody Hotel ...

3498. Who Put It There? (Mother's Day)

1 Peter 5:1-11

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

I found this job description circulating on the Internet this past week. Anyone interested? [You may want/need to shorten this.] WANTED: Mom JOB DESCRIPTION: Long term team players needed for challenging permanent work in an often chaotic environment. Candidates must possess excellent communication and organizational skills and be willing to work variable hours, which will include evenings and weekends and frequent 24 hour shifts on call. Some overnight travel required, including trips to primitive camping ...

3499. Sending Good Messages

Ephesians 4:1-16

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

The scenes I am about to describe happen thousands of times per day across America, with many variations. The setting may be the office of a pastor or counselor. Or these words could be spoken to a best friend over coffee or out jogging. First, the voice of a wife: “You’ve heard of the great stone face? Well, I married it. All I ever see of Bob at breakfast is a hand groping for his coffee from behind the morning paper.” Then we hear from a husband: “My wife is a really attractive person, until she opens ...

3500. Quenching St. Anthony's Fire

Mark 8:27-38

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

The world invites us to climb ladders; the gospel invites us to lift crosses. What will it be? The Ladder or the Cross? There are two contemporary works of art that have rare symbolic power: the Vietnam Memorial and the AIDS Quilt. Both address the mystery of suffering that has no rhyme or reason; both restructure reality to enable us to deal creatively with the mystery of suffering. In the last half-millennium, a work of art which has exerted great symbolic power on a vast number of people is the " ...

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