Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 3501 to 3525 of 4972 results

3501. When Evil Wins

Mark 6:14-29

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... sees all the misery in the world and wonders: "Dear God, I have doubts about you sometimes. Sometimes I really believe. Like when I was four and I hurt my arm and you healed it up fast. But my question is, if you could do this why don't you stop all the bad in the world? Like war. Like diseases. Like famine. Like drugs. And there are problems in other people's neighborhoods too. I'll try to believe more. Ian (age 10)" Is there any of young Ian in you? If you are honest, probably. Undoubtedly, there was some ...

3502. Ephphatha...Be Opened

Mark 7:31-37

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... 's will for you and yours. • "Ephphatha! Be opened." Let your mouth be opened to share with your friends what God is doing in your life. • "Ephphatha! Be opened." Let your life be open to the movement of the Spirit, open to release from whatever is scaring you, stopping you, holding you back, from becoming the person you want to be, the person God wants you to be. "EPHPHATHA...Be opened!" No, as a sermon title, that might not get Mrs. O'Leary off the bus. But it is a word we need to hear...over and over ...

3503. Welcoming Jesus

Mark 9:33-37

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... life's game. Sometime back, there was a story that came out of the Special Olympics. It seems that a contestant tripped and fell while running a race. Instead of just charging down the track oblivious to another competitor's distress, the other contestants stopped, went back, picked up their fallen comrade, then all ran together to the finish. First. Last. Who cared? Everyone made it across. That was all that mattered. That is gospel, my friend. What matters is that we all make it across, even the least ...

3504. The View from Jesus' Pew

Mark 12:41-44

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... She very carefully counted out exactly 10% of it and handed it to me. I wanted to refuse her money. As much as the church struggled financially, she and her two young sons needed it more. I opened my mouth to tell her to keep her money, but something stopped me. I realized that the money (about $33) would not make the difference between her making it in the new town and not making it, but that her giving it, and thus putting God first and living out her trust in God, might very well make the difference. So ...

3505. Mary's Complaint

Luke 1:26-38, Luke 1:39-45, Luke 1:46-56

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... with good things and sent the rich away empty." Some complaint! Maybe Mary did not know how to complain...but I doubt it. She complained later on when Jesus began his ministry. She and her other children thought he had lost his mind, and they tried to get him to stop and come home. Of course, he did not...and the rest of the story we know. No, Mary knew how to complain. She was normal; she was a human being like anyone else with all the natural tendencies to gripe and moan like any of us. But something kept ...

3506. The News from Nazareth

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

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... at Dachau is a large and moving photograph of a mother and her little girl standing in line of a gas chamber. The child, who is walking in front of her mother, does not know where she is going. The mother, who walks behind, does know, but is helpless to stop the tragedy. In her helplessness she performs the only act of love left to her. She places her hands over the child's eyes so she will at least not see the horror to come. When people come into the museum they do not whisk by this photo hurriedly. They ...

3507. Ready or Not, Here He Comes!

Luke 3:1-20

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... . Now what? To the preacher's credit, he does not hesitate: "The man with two tunics should share with him who has none, and the one who has food should do the same." In other words, in the jargon of the trade, John has now "stopped preachin' and gone to meddlin'." It is one thing to stand in the pulpit and rail against sin, injustice, oppression - everyone shouts AMEN...HALLELUJAH...PREACH, BROTHER! - but it is quite another to tell folks to start giving their stuff away. That is "meddlin'." Perhaps you ...

3508. Temptation

Luke 4:1-13

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... . How incredibly simple, Jesus: you can ORDER folks to listen. You can ORDER justice and an end to all oppression. What a wonderful opportunity! All it will take is a tiny compromise, an ever-so-slight division in your loyalties. You do not have to stop worshiping the God of heaven, just spread that worship around a bit. Jesus, this is the offer you cannot refuse. Who could have blamed him for accepting? The three temptations of Christ. No doubt there were more. It is hard to imagine that ten years have ...

3509. Fish Bait

Luke 5:1-11

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... they drive home, they are both really depressed. One turns to the other and says, "Do you realize that this one lousy fish we caught cost us fifteen hundred dollars?" "Wow!" says the other, "It's a good thing we didn't catch any more!" Another one. A man was stopped by a game-warden in a State Park with two buckets of fish leaving a lake well known for its fishing. The game warden asked, "Do you have a license to catch those fish?" The man replied to the game warden, "No, sir. These are my pet fish." "Pet ...

3510. A Tale of Two Sisters

Luke 10:38-42

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... would also require more than a little effort. Where is Martha Stewart when we need her? At any rate, the big moment arrives, Jesus comes in, and begins a conversation with Martha's sister Mary who, up till here had been helping with the preparations, but now had stopped assisting big sister and turned all her attention to their visitor. A minute or two of this sort of thing was all it took for the steam to start coming out of Martha's ears. We do not know exactly how long it took, but finally, with teeth ...

3511. Sonny Moneybags

Luke 15:11-32

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... like Sonny. You see, those sins of the spirit do not amount to all that much in our eyes. If someone pushes dope, engages in prostitution, is a thief or a murderer, we and everyone else recognize the sin. Even the government recognizes it and takes steps to stop it. That is why we have courts and penitentiaries. But no one was ever arrested for stealing the laughter from a child's eyes with their angry words. No one ever went to jail for killing a marriage with constant bickering and ill temper. It is not a ...

3512. Pentecostal Power

Acts 2:1-21

Sermon

King Duncan

... and to know that she is understood. Both of these forms of listening will make a woman feel loved and respected. (4) Can you see how powerful this concept of connection is? If you want to be more powerful in your communication, first of all, you need to stop talking. You need to listen to the other person. You need to walk in his or her shoes. That way when you speak you are not simply mouthing words. You are connecting at a profound level with another human being. As writer Stephen Covey puts it: “We ...

3513. Head's Up!

Luke 21:5-38

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... , whole buildings gone from their foundations. She said, One of our purposes was to walk to the church site. Even those who knew the lay of the town well had to get their bearings when all the trees and buildings and landmarks are gone. We made our way, stopping often to greet and comfort parishioners of St. Matthew's who were so heartened to see their pastor, hear his voice, receive his gentle care. When we were near the site of the church, looking for signs of where it had been, maybe a half block away ...

3514. The Christ of the Commonplace

Luke 24:13-35

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... If only he had not done this. If only he had done that instead. If only... If only... Suddenly, Cleopas and Christie are not alone. Someone is walking along with them. "Wha's sup, y'all?" Or whatever the Aramaic equivalent of that would be. Cleopas and Brian stop dead in their tracks. "Wha's sup? Wha's SUP???" Are you kidding me? As the text has it, "Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?" "What things?" the stranger asks. Cleopas and Karen ...

3515. The Gift of Fire

Acts 2:14-41, Acts 2:1-13

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... church was taking; he was concerned that the church had its priorities skewed. The fire took him, comforted him in the face of the hostility of his superiors, encouraged him to share what he felt with his people, challenged him to press on with the task of stopping the abuses. The fire took him...Martin Luther...and led him to begin a reformation that has continued to this day. Two hundred years later, another young man was taken by the fire. He saw problems in his own church, the Church of England. And, as ...

3516. Different From A Camel's Hair Sport Coat

Luke 3:1-20

Sermon

Frank Lyman

... when you get a chance, visit a zoo that has a camel. Believe me, he's not wearing a sport coat. The coat he sports is tangled, matted and rugged. Can we imagine the impact that John made by wearing that coat and eating locusts? Would you want John to stop by your house for a cup of coffee? Would you want him to move in next door and open a clothing store or a restaurant? To our ears he sounds weird, but the scriptures tell us that all of Judea and Jerusalem came out to hear him. He didn't ...

3517. Surprised By Christmas

Isaiah 9:1-7

Sermon

King Duncan

... those people who make you proud to be a member of the human race. Rick is a shift leader at the Front Desk at one of their hotels. One blustery November day, Rick was enjoying a day off, browsing through garage sales and thrift stores. At one stop, he caught bits of conversation between a lady and her little girl. The child was begging her mother to buy an old, dilapidated doll house for $15. The mother, struggling to maintain some dignity, reminded the little girl that they only had money for a coat. But ...

3518. Jerry's Christmas

John 1:1-18

Sermon

Clark D. Cowden

... home. Again, he said, "But, I am your father. I wrote you all those letters. For five years, I have written to every one of you. Didn't you get them?" One son said, "We never got any letters from our father. But, every year, imposters have stopped by claiming to be our father, trying to get some of our money. I think you're just another imposter; You should leave." Just then the five- and seven- and nine-year-old great-grandchildren rushed into the entryway yelling, "It's great-grandpa, it's great-grandpa ...

3519. Good News For Parents And For Kids, Too!

Luke 2:41-52

Sermon

King Duncan

... doctor suggested he try running in place. The man asked, "In place of what?" I don't know where your focus is this New Year's Day. It may be on your weight, or some habit you would like to get rid of. Maybe you're going to try to stop smoking, for the 113th time. I was disturbed to read that lung cancer has now surpassed breast cancer as a primary killer of women. According to professor John R. Benfield the cause is the increased numbers of women who smoke. Maybe your focus is on smoking or some other vice ...

3520. God's Plan For Empowerment

John 1:1-18

Sermon

King Duncan

... not believed. Belief is a powerful force in our lives. What you believe affects your life more than any other single factor. A change in belief will change your actions and feelings. A group of young campers were backpacking in a West Virginia woods. Stopping at a spring, they filled their water canteens and drank. Three strangers came upon the group and, intending to have a little fun, explained that the water was known to be contaminated; they said it had made other campers deathly ill. The strangers soon ...

3521. "Weird People" Everywhere

1 Corinthians 12:1-11

Sermon

King Duncan

... MADE US ALL THIS WAY, A CERTAIN AMOUNT OF DIVERSITY HAS TO BE GOOD. What a dreary and dull world this would be if we all looked the same, talked the same, had the same perspective on life. If God had not wanted us to be diverse, God would have stopped with Adam. Adam could have been God's friend and God could have made Adam eternal. But it's evident that God wanted richness in His world. God wanted a multitude of persons and God wanted every person who came into the world to have his or her own unique ...

3522. The Cross: A Gift Of Life

Isaiah 52:13--53:12

Sermon

King Duncan

... in the past 20 years to clear blockages. Tests were done that showed the father-daughter transplant was feasible. The decision was made. A team of surgeons flew to Tennessee to remove Patti Szuber's heart. Five hours and 51 minutes after it had stopped in Tennessee, it was beating in Chester Szuber's chest. Bob Szuber, Patti's brother, said the fact that his sister's heart gave their father new life is helping the family cope with the tragedy. Her liver and kidneys were donated to other recipients ...

3523. God Is Greater

John 10:22-42

Sermon

King Duncan

... t he get up an old-fashioned dislike for someone? He glanced down at Kevin to see big tears welling up in his eyes. "Son, what is the matter with you, now?" Kenneth asked. "Daddy, you don't understand," Kevin said. "Drake is my very best friend!" Startled, Kenneth stopped to analyze Kevin's words. What he was hearing his son say was, "Daddy, I love Drake. He can do nothing to destroy that love." Kenneth thought to himself, isn't that the way God loves us? We can do nothing to destroy God's love for us. Even ...

3524. Hope Wins!

Revelation 21:1-27

Sermon

King Duncan

... . The next day they return to camp to find everyone gone. Everyone. Gone. There are no campers or counselors anywhere. Empty kayaks float out on the camp lake. An electric typewriter is left on. In it is a sheet of paper. It looks like someone has stopped typing in mid-sentence. But the strangest thing is the clothes. Everywhere they look there are small piles of clothes. It looks as if the wearers of the clothes have evaporated into thin air, leaving their apparel behind them. Jim and Frank don't know what ...

3525. How To Stay Young Forever

Revelation 22:1-6

Sermon

King Duncan

... only fifty-five." "Goodness, Grandma," the child piped up, "you've reached the SPEED LIMIT!" Another woman wrote that a neighbor of hers in her 40s refused to wear her bifocals because she thought they made her look older. One day, however, when her neighbor stopped by, she had her glasses on. "How long have you been wearing those?" the woman asked. "Since yesterday," was the reply. "As I was baking some tollhouse cookies I picked up the fly swatter and killed four chocolate chips." But my favorite is about ...

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