Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 3501 to 3525 of 3852 results

Mark 4:35-41

Sermon

Ron Lavin

... Hebrew thinking. In Hebrew thinking, the one who asks the question, not the one who answers the question, is in charge. When Jesus was asked a question about paying taxes, he answered by asking, "Whose image is on this coin?" When Jesus was asked about his origins, he replied, "I will answer your question if you answer this one: 'Was John the Baptist sent by God or not?' " When a lawyer asked Jesus, "Who is my neighbor?" Jesus never answered his question. Instead Jesus left a question hanging in the air for ...

3502. So, You Want to Get Well?

Mark 5:21-43

Sermon

Ron Lavin

... Hebrew dialect called Aramaic, a common language of the time. Peter, one of the three apostles who heard the words spoken, must have felt it was important to retain the calm serenity of the Aramaic words. When he retold the story to Mark, he retained the original Aramaic. We are offered a choice in this dramatic story; a choice between the hysterical, out-of-control reaction of hopelessness in the face of death, or the serenity of Jesus who knows that for believers death is just a brief stopover on the way ...

3503. No Reason to Worry

Matthew 6:25-33

Sermon

April Yamasaki

... War II, the British government distributed a poster with a picture of a crown and the slogan "Keep Calm & Carry On." It was not widely used at the time, but more recently has become popularized on posters, T-shirts, mugs, and other memorabilia. The original slogan is still used, but there are also many variations from the more serious to the trivial: "Keep Calm & Drive On," "Keep Calm & Drink Coffee," "Keep Calm & Walk the Dog," "Keep Calm & Go Shopping." More seriously, I saw someone wearing a T-shirt with ...

3504. When Your Life Is Put On Hold

Mark 5:21-43

Sermon

King Duncan

... . She telephoned the V. A. office in her district and was directed to send the check there. She did--one week later she received the check back, in the same envelope. Next she mailed it to the Treasury Department office in Kansas City where the check was originally issued along with a certified letter advising that it did not belong to her and that she did not know the person to whom it had been issued. The check was returned to her in a different envelope. Somewhat befuddled she took it next to the local ...

3505. The Year of the Woman

Genesis 2:18-24

Sermon

King Duncan

... are still not equal, but they’re moving in that direction. Popular writer Kathleen Parker in an online article adds her voice to those who think that 2018 might finally be the Year of the Woman. She notes that many of the original goals of the women’s movement have already been reached. Women now outnumber men in college, graduate schools and medical and law schools; three of the nine Supreme Court justices are female; and, incrementally, women are reaching what Parker calls the dubious objective ...

3506. A Word to the Wealthy

Mark 10:17-30

Sermon

King Duncan

... centuries-old hand-carved ceilings, and some of the greatest works of art of all time, most of which came from Sweden. He built a house of 72,000 square feet to put his stuff in. He acquired property for his house: 265,000 acres; he originally owned fifty miles of California coastline. He collected stuff for eighty-eight years. Then you know what he did?” asks John Ortberg. “He died.” (5) He died. You know how much William Randolph Hearst left behind? That’s right . . . all of it. “The ground of a ...

3507. Playing Golf at Midnight

Mark 10:46-52

Sermon

King Duncan

... in New York City. It is an engineering marvel. Completed in 1883 and known for its granite towers and steel cables, the bridge took 14 years to construct. At least two dozen people died in the process of building the bridge, including its original designer. (2) That designer was an engineer named John Roebling. When Roebling came up with the idea of building this massive suspension bridge over New York City’s East River to connect the boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn, everyone thought he was crazy ...

3508. The Peace of Christmas

Philippians 4:4-7

Sermon

King Duncan

... (Nashville: Abingdon Press). 3. Edward F. Markquart, http://www.sermonsfromseattle.com/christmas_peace_of_christ.htm. 4. http://www.dabar.org/Homiletics/Celebrating/Illustrations.html. 5. “The ghosts of Rwanda” by Leroy Sievers, August 12, 2005, pp. 40-41. Originally published in the Los Angeles Times Magazine, copyright 2005. 6. Pastor Tim Zingale, http://www.dodgenet.com/~tzingale/sermonb/2adventsermon.html. 7. Matthew Rogers, http://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/how-to-handle-holiday-stress-matthew ...

3509. Crisis Management

Luke 21:25-36

Sermon

Susan R. Andrews

... falling from the sky, about a dark and frightening time when God will come in muscular form to wrestle with the forces of evil — a time so terrifying that people will faint from fear and foreboding. For the listeners of Luke’s original words, these predictions spoke to the very heart of their existence — a time when Jerusalem had been destroyed, when the cruelty of Roman rule was suffocating the fledgling Christian community, and when staying faithful to God demanded courage amidst the seeming absence ...

3510. The Way Up Is Down!

Mark 9:30-37

Sermon

Robert Leslie Holmes

... bad as some other person, but we are! The person who says, "I do not have a problem with pride," does. We cannot whip pride! But, it can, and will, whip us. Pride's Throne Room "Before his downfall a man's heart is proud" (Proverbs 18:12). Pride originates in the human heart. Legend says that Benjamin Franklin learned this lesson well on a visit to Cotton Mather's house. Franklin later recalled, "Mather was showing me out of the house, and there was a very low beam near the doorway. I was still talking when ...

3511. What To Say When You Roll Out Of Bed

Mark 12:28-34

Sermon

William G. Carter

... all your mind." We have heads to think, ideas to develop, and thoughts to express. When we wake each day we are called upon to love the Lord with our minds. Anybody who was listening closely to the scripture lesson did not hear these words from the original commandment in Deuteronomy. The Gospel of Mark implies that Jesus added them. This gospel was written for a world that spoke Greek, in a culture with a deep respect for the human intellect and its capacity to think. If we are called upon to love God with ...

3512. A Justice Jesus

Luke 4:14-21

Sermon

Susan R. Andrews

... news will be preached to the poor, when those in prison will be released, when the blind will be able to see, and when those who are oppressed will be set free. Yes, a time when rightness with God would be established for all — a time when the original justice of creation would be restored. Now, a couple of things need to be said about this passage. There are innuendos which tell us why Jesus chose these words for Isaiah to form the very first sermon of his career. The word here for “poor” means poor ...

3513. The Natural Look

Luke 9:28-36 (37-43)

Sermon

Susan R. Andrews

... face toward Jerusalem, toward Calvary, toward the crush of the cross and the terror of the tomb. Seeking his unique place in the creative work of God, Jesus receives stunning confirmation of who he really is. Out of the cosmos a voice echoes the original blessing of baptism: “This is my Son, my Beloved. Listen to him.” And in the mystery of that holy/human moment, God becomes permanently, and irrevocably, grounded in our humanity. My friends, as we now travel with Jesus off the mountaintop, back into ...

3514. Three Men Changed by God

1 Corinthians 15:1-11, Isaiah 6:1-13, Luke 5:1-11

Sermon

King Duncan

... be a trained killer. That’s right--I said a trained killer. His name is Kim Shin Jo. We have been reading much the past couple of years about North Korea. This is a state that has caused the world many headaches over the years. Kim Shin Jo was originally a North Korean assassin. In January of 1968, Jo and a team of other assassins slipped into South Korea from the North in a daring attempt to kill the president of South Korea. The team of 31 commandos made it to within a few hundred yards of the president ...

3515. Blessed Among Women

Luke 1:39-56

Sermon

Charles H. Bayer

... of this three-month-long conversation, the result, heard from Mary's lips, is anything but the song of a frightened, sweet, ignorant, submissive girl. She sings: "My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior." It is not an original song. Much of it comes from a thousand years earlier. Another strong woman, named Hannah, realizes she is pregnant. Her child too will change the direction of Israel. She will call him Samuel, and he will finally anoint David King. Hannah sings: My heart ...

3516. What to Give Up for Lent

Luke 4:1-13

Sermon

R. Robert Cueni

... be an end unto itself. Obstacles and temptations were not only to be identified, they were to be corrected. Joyce, often the one to offer insightful observations, ventured a comment. “That must be where the idea of giving up something for Lent originated. We are to identify obstacles and temptation in our lives that have become stumbling blocks in our Christian walk. Then we are to eliminate them or, at the very least, refrain from them during Lent.” Bill, always ready to demonstrate his technological ...

3517. The Value of Doubt

John 20:19-31

Sermon

R. Robert Cueni

... Wesley, sometimes we must live by faith until we have faith. Thanks be to God who gives us the grace and the strength to do just that. Amen and amen. 1. Frederick Buechner, Beyond Words: The ABC of Faith, www.goodreads.com/Buechner quotes. 2. Oft quoted in various forms. Original source probably either Dostoyevsky’s personal notebook or his letters.

3518. The Ascension Day Experience

Luke 24:50-53

Sermon

R. Robert Cueni

... the last stop on the trip — the 700-year-old city of Laufen, Switzerland, population 5,000. I had chosen this destination because my family had emigrated from this area nearly 150 years ago. This was to be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to learn about the origin of my rare and odd family name. Early on a Wednesday evening we entered through a city gate in what remained of a medieval wall. We parked on the town square. Directly across from our car was a flower shop with my family name. I was thrilled ...

3519. Aspects of Aging

Illustration

Editor James S. Hewett

... have to decide whether to go back downstairs and try to remember what you needed, or continue on up and look for something that needs bringing down. Unable to decide, you resort to sitting on the landing and sulking, only to discover that you have completely forgotten whether you were originally upstairs going down or downstairs going up!

3520. The Miracle of the Virgin Birth

Matthew 1:18-25

Illustration

C. S. Lewis

The grounds for belief and disbelief are the same today as they were two thousand or ten thousand years ago. If Joseph had lacked faith to trust God or humility to perceive the holiness of his spouse, he could have disbelieved in the miraculous origin of her Son as easily as any modern man; and any modern man who believes in God can accept the miracle as easily as Joseph did.

3521. How It All Began

Humor Illustration

Editor James S. Hewett

... do in their administration, they would try to receive a direct word from God in their dreams. If they weren't getting any messages in their dreams while lying in their own beds, then they would sleep in the Temple, where they believed it would work better. This is the origin of the time-honored tradition of sleeping in church. I wanted to point that out even though those who would appreciate it most won't hear it.

3522. Four Lessons from Geese

Illustration

Editor James S. Hewett

... falls out, two geese fall out of formation and follow him down to help and protect him. They stay with him until he is either able to fly, or until he is dead, and then they launch out on their own or with another formation to catch up with their original group. (If people knew we would stand by them like that in church, they would push down these walls to get in.) You see, all we have to do in order to attract those who are missing back to church is to demonstrate to the world that we have as ...

3523. Scam of the Month Club

Illustration

Editor James S. Hewett

... us when you're coming back and under what name. Upon your return, we regress you, at age twenty-one through hypnosis to this lifetime and ask you for your seven-digit account number. Once you give us the number, we give you a check, on the spot, for your original investment plus interest! The longer you're gone, the more you will receive! You may come back to find yourself a billionaire! Show your future self how much you care—leave a generous "welcome back" present. We'll take care of the rest.

3524. God's Marvelous Easter Chemistry

Illustration

Editor James S. Hewett

... by the acid. The workman was terribly disturbed by the accident. The chemist came in and put a chemical into the jar, and shortly all the silver was precipitated to the bottom. The shapeless mass was lifted out and sent to the silversmith, and the cup was restored to its original shape. If a human genius can do a thing like this, why should we doubt that God can raise the dead?

3525. Faithful Preaching

Illustration

J. Daniel Bauman

... hunger for the things of God in our day. Only a clear proclamation of biblical truth can assuage that need. Many a preacher has discovered that when he taught the Word with exegetical accuracy and expository excellence he was applauded for his creativity and originality. The reason is obvious—most moderns do not know the Scriptures. What a privilege to be "Servants of the Word" and "Heralds of God." Good preaching must not only be biblical, but also must be present tense. In 1928 Fosdick said that people ...

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