Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 3501 to 3525 of 4943 results

3501. The Balm of Gilead

Mark 8:1-13, Mark 8:14-21

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... come from the pirate territories of Tyre and Sidon. There he had healed the daughter of a Canaanite (Syro-Phoenician) woman after a discussion with his disciples and some Pharisees about the meaning of “defilement” (or rather what/who is NOT defiling). He then continues his way through the northeastern mostly pagan region of the Decapolis settling to teach in the hills of the former Gilead and Bashan. There he heals many. We find out they are with him three days before he instructs his disciples to feed ...

3502. Are You a Lemming or a Lassie?

Luke 12:13-21, Luke 12:22-34, Luke 12:35-48, Luke 12:49-53, Luke 12:54-59

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... “hidden” motives, and Jesus felt they were selfish and self-serving. On the other hand, the “yeast” of God’s kingdom also had hidden motives –but what has been hidden will soon be revealed, said Jesus. God’s kingdom will burst forth and continue to spread. This is not a set of legalistic rules made by authorities. The kingdom yeast is the very stuff of the Bread of Life –Jesus Himself. The Emanuel. The yeast of the Pharisees is based in “materialism” and “legalisms.” These are not ...

3503. Three Wise Women

Luke 1:39-45, Luke 1:46-56

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... God cut a covenant with Abram, and from there, granted his barren wife children.* Babies for Jewish people are “signs” of life, birth, and new hope. They carry on the covenant from generation to generation, and are the hope of the continuation of a people of God. A second continuing theme of the older serving the younger plays out again with the birth of John as prophet for the coming Messiah, born of the young girl. Out of struggle (barrenness) of desert comes fruitfulness –a land of milk and honey ...

3504. She Waits

Acts 1:1-11, Luke 24:50-53, Luke 24:36-49

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... When he had led them out to the vicinity of Bethany, he lifted up his hands and blessed them. While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven. Then they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. And they stayed continually at the temple, praising God. The Apostles Tell of Jesus’ Ascension In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the ...

3505. The Tragedy of Caiaphas

John 18:1-27 · John 11:45-47 · Matthew 26:36-75

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... , Joseph Caiaphas held it for 18 years, from about 18 CE to 36 CE. Annas’ influential family in fact ruled for about 30 years until the fall of Jerusalem. Compared to most others who held the position for only 1 to 2 years, Caiaphas in fact continued to hold the office even after Valerius Gratus was replaced by Pontius Pilate, so amenable was he with the Roman authorities.** The families of high priests were powerful and wealthy. As head of the Sanhedrin, the high priest had the final say in all judgments ...

3506. The Stone is My Witness

Matthew 28:1-10, Mark 16:1-20

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... the Messiah Stone, Jesus, and Jesus’ Resurrection Victory. The story of that victory, God’s resurrection Story, will serve as the foundation of the Church of Jesus the Christ. For the Church is a witness. Its witnesses are all living stones, you and I, who continue to tell and celebrate the story of Jesus’ resurrection, and God’s eternal victory! We hold a faith within us that can move mountains of rock, a faith in the resurrection power of God. For when God moved a sealed bounder from the mouth of ...

3507. Identity Crisis

Genesis 32:1-21, Genesis 32:22-32, Genesis 33:1-20

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... with a limp. Our walk with God is a broken gait. Or at least an uneven one. God is always in the lead. Always sure. Always strong. We (on the other hand) walk with God weakly and imperfectly. Sometimes even disastrously. But as long as we continue to walk, we remain in relationship. And that’s what’s most important. In life, our limps and our scars tell our stories. Stories of the struggles we’ve survived. Stories of the wounds we’ve suffered. They leave a visible trace upon our person, a reminder ...

3508. The Apothecary

Isaiah 40:1-31, Isaiah 61:1-11

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... of Peter’s Mother in Law (Matthew 8:14-17) Jesus Begins His Ministry in Capernaum Teaching in Synagogues and Rebuking Unclean Spirits. He Heals Peter’s Mother in Law and then Continues His Ministry Throughout Galilee (Mark 1:29-39) Jesus Begins His Ministry in Capernaum, heals Peter’s Mother in Law, and then Continues His Ministry Throughout the Synagogues in Judea (Luke 4:31-44) Jesus Begins His Ministry in Capernaum (John 2:12) Peter Heals and Proclaims Restoration (Acts 3) Isaiah’ Prophecy of God ...

3509. Rain of Grace

Hosea 6:1--7:16

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... prophet Hosea describes a situation much like a marriage, in which God has kept God’s end of the bargain. God has loved us, sought us, forgiven us again and again, yearns …yes, YEARNS to redeem us! And yet, we are entirely fickle partners! We continually have wandering eyes, and wandering legs! We often ignore God or forget God exists altogether, let alone come into intimate relationship with God. It’s like walking into a room and seeing your spouse sitting there, and they just keep on watching tv or ...

3510. Sealed and Sanctified

Matthew 2:1-12, Genesis 14:1-24

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... in relationship with God, honestly and unabashedly, to allow the Holy Spirit to seal us in a Spirit baptism that will sear Christ’s image upon our hearts and visage. Once “sealed” we must continue to live in sanctified relationship with God as closely as possible, so as to remain sealed for the day of redemption. We identify as God’s children, all of us, Jews and Gentiles, all who follow Jesus. Today, I invite you to the altar to receive a “seal” of anointing. ...

3511. Scroll Bread and Honey

Mark 1:1-8

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... -earth soul food. And body food. And mind food. And heart food. Consume this, and Jesus will set you free from all those cravings in life that don’t fulfill you, from relationships that don’t sustain you, from shame and guilt that wear you down, from a past that continues to haunt you in ways that can destroy you. Jesus is here to set you free from all of that, and to remake you into a new person, inside and out, and real person God made you to be. This is what Jesus was telling us when he stood up ...

3512. The Golden Hour

Exodus 19:1-25, Genesis 15:1-18, Ezekiel 24:1-14

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... , the “eye is the lamp of the body.” What the eye beholds reaches the depths of one’s soul. When our eyes are fixed on Jesus, when our lives are guided by God’s golden presence and the great glowing cloud of witnesses who have followed Him then and continue to follow Jesus now, when we allow God’s grace to illuminate our hearts, minds, and spirits, we too will glow with the light of God, so that all those around us can see Jesus through us. That’s what we are called to do. That’s who we are ...

3513. Big Spender

1 Kings 10:14-29, 1 Kings 11:1-13, Luke 15:11-32

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... , and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. So Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and did not wholly follow the Lord, as David his father had done. Jesus’ Parable of the “Big Spender” (the third of the “lost” parables) Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them. “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a ...

3514. What is Your Golden Calf?

Exodus 32:1-33:6, Luke 19:1-10

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... was something real and tangible. Here was something they could give to people who needed somehow to get in touch with something, feel in relationship with something. They needed to touch their God who led them out of Egypt and into this desolate place, who would indeed still continue to lead them out of it and into a place of promise. They couldn’t face thinking all was lost, and they with it. They needed to believe in something. And they needed to see it in front of them. Each one of us can identify. We ...

3515. Dangerous

John 12:12-19, Zechariah 9:9-13, Zechariah 9:14-17

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... all this. Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize that these things had been written about him and that these things had been done to him. Now the crowd that was with him when he called Lazarus from the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to spread the word. Many people, because they had heard that he had performed this sign, went out to meet him. So the Pharisees said to one another, “See, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after him!” Zechariah’s Prophecy ...

3516. Living a Jesus Powered Life

Genesis 9:1-17, Genesis 6:1-8:22, Matthew 28:16-20

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... the rain had stopped falling from the sky. The water receded steadily from the earth. At the end of the hundred and fifty days the water had gone down, and on the seventeenth day of the seventh month the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. The waters continued to recede until the tenth month, and on the first day of the tenth month the tops of the mountains became visible. After forty days Noah opened a window he had made in the ark and sent out a raven, and it kept flying back and forth until the ...

3517. Rooted and Rebooted

Psalm 126:1-6, Luke 13:31-35, 2 Samuel 15:13-37

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... ’s son Jonathan. You and Abiathar return with your two sons. 28 I will wait at the fords in the wilderness until word comes from you to inform me.” 29 So Zadok and Abiathar took the ark of God back to Jerusalem and stayed there. 30 But David continued up the Mount of Olives, weeping as he went; his head was covered, and he was barefoot. All the people with him covered their heads too and were weeping as they went up. 31 Now David had been told, “Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom.” So ...

3518. Written on the Palms of His Hands

John 20:19-23

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... “hand tattoos”! Listen to the words of Isaiah: “Can a woman forget her nursing child, or lack compassion for the son of her womb? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! Behold! I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands. Your walls are continually before me!” (Isaiah 49:6) God inscribes us –not just our names but our very being and identity, who we are, hand-made by God, right on the palms of God’s hands –the same hands that created the entire universe, and formed the skies and seas ...

3519. The Pit of the Soul

Luke 9:1-9

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... sins by divorcing his own wife and taking instead Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip, for his own. John counsels Herod and informs him that he has done wrong. Plagued by guilt, Herod avoids John and finally has him imprisoned, so that he does not have to continue to hear his scoldings. Yet, he also fears John, because he knows he is a man of God. Like the narrator’s fear of the all-seeing eye in the Tell-Tale Heart, Herod too fears this man who represents God’s holy judgment upon him. By locking ...

3520. A Supernatural Leap

Matthew 1:18-25, Luke 1:46-56, Luke 1:39-45, Luke 1:26-38

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... by early pioneers who claim also to have seen the mysterious animal leaping through the night. At one point, it’s said that a team of hunters followed the creature but despite their efforts to shoot it, (and some swear they did!) still the stag continued to leap to and fro among the craggy cliffs. It eluded even the best of hunters. Nothing could contain him. The mystery remains today. The limber stag is also a prominent symbol in the scriptures, especially in the Song of Songs. Written by Solomon, the ...

3521. The Physician

Isaiah 38:1-22, Matthew 8:14-17

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... Teaches and Heals Throughout Galilee (Matthew 4:23-7:28; through 8:23). Jesus Begins His MInistry in Capernaum Teaching in Synagogues and Rebuking Unclean Spirits. He Heals Peter’s Mother in Law and then Continues His Ministry Throughout Galilee (Mark 1:29-39) Jesus Begins His Ministry in Capernaum, Heals Peter’s Mother in Law, and then Continues His ministry Though the Synagogues in Judea (Luke 4:31-44) Jesus Begins His Ministry in Capernaum (John 2:12) Peter Heals and Proclaim Restoration (Acts 3)

3522. Dream Weaver

Luke 2:1-7

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... would come to fruition. Supernal dreams are followed by substantial street action. Joseph was a man of both trust in what he could not understand and willingness to follow God’s directives anywhere he was advised to go. Can we say the same today? Advent is a time when we continue to look for signs, when we re-boot our own faith and trust in what we cannot understand and cannot know. It’s a time when we search for God’s presence and voice in our own lives and in our own dreams. It is a time when we ...

3523. Don’t Just Do Something, Stand There!

Matthew 17:1-13

Sermon

Dean Feldmeyer

... , made changes to “minimize disturbance of land, water resources and special areas.” The thing has bounced around Washington and, in February 2015, President Obama vetoed a bill that would have allowed further construction to continue. Congress failed to override the veto. State department investigations continue. Blah. Blah. Blah. Lots of talk, no action. Americans become impatient while late night talk show hosts have a field day. Along the same lines, no one seems to know what to do about “Fracking ...

3524. By Invitation Only

Luke 14:1-14, Luke 14:15-24, Proverbs 25:1-28

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... watches person after person vie for the best seats in the house, the front and center seats of honor near to the host. As Jesus has already been teaching his colleagues about healing on the sabbath, he continues by addressing those at the front tables, quoting proverbs 25. But then Jesus, in familiar form, continues and adds to this by saying to the host, “When you give a luncheon or dinner, don’t just invite your friends, relatives, wealthy neighbors, so that you know you’ll be repaid in kind.” For ...

3525. Trapped!

Romans 6:15-23

Sermon

King Duncan

... crack addicts is growing too swiftly for us to tally, and we are now consuming more booze per capita than at any other time in our history. “More than 300,000 individuals tried to take their lives in this beautiful country of ours last year,” he continues. “That’s an entire city! “Each month, more than 5,000,000 prescriptions are being written for Valium, and we are now treating more than 4,000 new cases of mental illnesses every 24 hours. “There MUST be a better way to live,” claimed Simon ...

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