Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 3526 to 3550 of 4944 results

3526. You Shall Call His Name Jesus

Matthew 1:18-25

Sermon

King Duncan

You may remember that story of the man hearing a choir sing "O Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world," and he thought to himself, "If only he COULD take away the sins of the world. What a tremendous and joyful thing that would be “no more wars, no more broken homes, no more abused children, no more hatred, envy, bitterness and strife. If only he COULD take away the sins of the world." Christmas has become more of a secular holiday than a sacred one. It has become an occasion for blatant ...

3527. Lesson From Five Maidens

Matthew 25:1-13

Sermon

King Duncan

Ten young ladies were on their way to a wedding. Five of the girls were wise and had prepared for the trip, making certain that they had enough oil to fuel their lamps. Five maidens were foolish. Their minds were preoccupied with other things. It was still light when they left home, but now darkness was coming. The bridegroom was delayed. Their lamps were running out of oil and they had none in reserve. They asked the five wiser maidens if they could borrow some oil from them, but they were refused. "Go ...

3528. What We Are About

Acts 13:13-52

Sermon

King Duncan

The new music teacher at the Junior High school had just organized a band. The principal decided that the band should give its first concert, but the music teacher was not certain that the band was ready. Just before the concert, the music teacher whispered to her nervous musicians, "If you’re not sure of your part, just pretend to play." When the big moment arrived, she brought her baton down with a sweeping flourish and lo, nothing happened. The band gave forth with a resounding silence. Sometimes the ...

3529. Determined Discipleship

1 Timothy 6:11-21

Sermon

King Duncan

Fact is often stranger than fiction. When authorities in Baldwin, Wisconsin finally caught some local cattle rustlers recently, it turned out that the men had been carrying off calves and yearling heifers in the back of a Chevrolet Chevette. That meant loading a cow of up to 600 pounds through the rear hatch of a tiny, tiny car. You have to admire their determination. Those rustlers were willing to work hard for what they stole! While a number of people might be tempted to load stray cattle into a pickup ...

3530. United We Stand, Divided We Fall

1 Corinthians 1:10-17

Sermon

King Duncan

"It all started long before I came," said the Reverend Jason Kirk. Kirk is the fictional pastor of the Clyde's Corner Church in a parable by Thomas H. Troeger. The founder of Clyde's Corner, Cedric Clyde was a successful farmer at the turn of the century. To show his thanks to God, he paid for the building of the local church. Just before Cedric died, he donated to the church a lot of furniture for the parlor and one item for the raised chancel behind the pulpit: "a giant red horsehair couch whose rich ...

3531. How Do You Get To Heaven?

Jeremiah 30:1--31:40

Sermon

King Duncan

The school bus was filled with children discussing various topics as children often do. Suddenly waxing serious, A.J. asked the group, "Where is heaven? I don't know." The group gave it some serious thought, but none of them seemed willing to answer. However, as it always works with kids of any age, one young man rose to his feet, turned to A.J. and began to address the group in response to the question of the hour. "That's easy," said Matthew. "The way you get to heaven is to go to the North Pole, put it ...

3532. Jesus And The Lake Wobegon Effect

Luke 4:14-30

Sermon

King Duncan

A scandal is brewing in the hallowed halls of Academe. It has to do with test scores given to our young people. A West Virginia doctor noticed sometime back that all 50 states claim that their students score above average on standardized test scores. That, of course, is impossible ” for everyone to be above average. Someone has even given this scandal a thoughtful name ” the Lake Wobegon effect. Lake Wobegon is author Garrison Keillor's mythical town where "All the women are strong, all the men are good ...

3533. How Do You Act In The Presence Of The Queen?

Isaiah 6:1-13

Sermon

King Duncan

Associated Press, Dateline, Washington, D.C.: A woman in our nation's capitol welcomed Queen Elizabeth II into her home in a warm and beautiful way. She gave her a hug. This simple act made headlines around the world because British protocol forbids commoners from touching a monarch. The queen, accompanied by first lady Barbara Bush and Washington Mayor Sharon Pratt Dixon, visited 67-year-old retiree Alice Frazier's home in an area formerly plagued by drugs and crime but now rehabilitated. It was on this ...

3534. An Unlikely Witness

John 20:1-9

Sermon

King Duncan

A young pastor was telling his congregation how bad women are. He stated that a lot of the trouble in the world was due to women. He went on and on about women and the problems they cause. After the message the pastor was greeting the people as they left church. An older husky woman came up to the pastor and, as she was shaking his hand, she squeezed it quite unmercifully. He cried out, "That hurts." She asked him, "What was the telephone number of the Garden of Eden?" He said, "I don't know." She ...

3535. A Birthday Celebration

Luke 2:1-7

Sermon

King Duncan

A mother took her three-year-old daughter to church for the first time. The church was having a special candlelight service. The church lights were lowered; then the choir came down the aisle, carrying lighted candles. All was quiet until this three-year-old started to sing in a loud voice, "Happy birthday to you, Happy birthday to you . . ." (1) It was only a candlelight service, but it seemed like a birthday party to her. And today [tonight], she would be right! This is a celebration of Jesus' birthday. ...

3536. Secrets Of Successful Parenting

Luke 2:41-52

Sermon

King Duncan

The pastor of the Baptist Church had been trying for months to get little Johnny to come to church to be with his third grade Sunday school class. Finally, after talking to Little Johnny and his mother for what seemed to be the hundredth time, Johnny finally agreed to go this next Sunday. The pastor came by the house and picked him up and Johnny did seem to enjoy all of the proceedings except as the baptismal service began he ran out the back door and all the way home. His mother asked him why did he run ...

3537. Is It Time To Tear Down Our Church?

Mark 13:1-31

Sermon

King Duncan

Pastor Daniel Bohlman had a problem. The front of his new church was very small only enough room for a pulpit. When a prominent member died, Bohlman had to figure out where to place the coffin for viewing. The most reasonable place seemed to be in the back of the church, where there was more room. All they needed to do was move out one of the back pews for the funeral service, then replace it afterwards. Problem solved or so Pastor Bohlman thought. But certain members of the church were outraged that ...

3538. Counterfeit Christianity

Matthew 5:13-16

Children's Sermon

King Duncan

Object: A candle Good morning, boys and girls. A couple of weeks ago we talked about lanterns and that Jesus is the light of the world. I have this candle with me today to remind me of an old story about a little candle back in the old days when ships depended on lighthouses and they didn't have electric lights. All they had were candles and gas lights. One day the keeper of the lighthouse took a little candle and lit it and went up to the top of the lighthouse. On the way up the little candle asked, " ...

3539. Expectant Living

2 Peter 3:1-18

Sermon

King Duncan

At this time of year, many children have already written, or are just sitting down to write, their letters to Santa. It's exciting trying to fit all your wishes into one well-worded little note. Maybe it would sound something like these letters: Dear Santa, Please give me a doll this year. I would like her to eat, walk, do my homework, and help me clean my room. Thank you, Jenny. Dear Santa, Thanks for the race car last year. Can I have another one, only this time one that is faster than my best friend's ...

3540. Take Time To Say Thanks

Deuteronomy 8:1-20

Sermon

King Duncan

It always makes us feel good when people take their time to express appreciation. The late, great cowboy film star and all-round good guy Roy Rogers never forgot the people who made him what he was. According to Zig Ziglar in his book, Something to Smile About, after Roy starred in his first movie, he began receiving huge stacks of fan mail that he wanted to answer. However, his salary of $150 a week did not even cover the required postage. He talked to the head of Republic Pictures in the hope that the ...

3541. Finding Something Amazing To Live For

Mark 1:14-20

Sermon

King Duncan

On January 1, 2002, John Guth, 32, and Jeff Teiten, 24, set up camp outside the Cinerama theater in Seattle. They announced they intended to await the public sale of tickets for Star Wars Episode I; Attack of the Clones, scheduled for release May 16, 2002. Teiten said he was actually involved in an art project which involved "waiting for something." He was keeping a log of his experience and originally wanted to await the film for two years. "I'm becoming very aware just how long an hour is," he said, and ...

3542. Made For The Light

Isaiah 9:1-7

Sermon

King Duncan

One of the many Christmas traditions that we all treasure is the singing of Christmas carols. If you grew up in church, you've probably memorized the words to half a dozen carols without even thinking about it. Because many of our carols come from merry old England, some of the ancient words and ideas they use can seem unfamiliar to small children. From The American Legion Magazine comes these misunderstood verses from famous Christmas carols. See if you recognize the songs: "Oh, what fun it is to ride ...

3543. Free At Last!

Matthew 11:25-30

Sermon

King Duncan

The plot of a recent Tom Hanks' movie, The Terminal, sounds so outrageous that it is hard to believe that it is based on a true story. In 1986, an Iranian man named Merhan Karimi Nasseri flew to Paris, France, without his immigration card or other proper paperwork. He never should have been allowed to board the plane without the paperwork, but somehow it was overlooked. Without his papers, the French authorities could not let him into the country, but they could not deport him either. So they forced him to ...

3544. Why Shepherds?

Luke 2:8-20

Sermon

King Duncan

Welcome to this celebration of Christmas Day. I want to begin with a story. It’s not a Christmas story. But it involves an incident that occurred on the day after Christmas 2004. One day last December, seventeen-year-old Max Loeb was home from school. He had been suspended that day for some reason, nothing serious. His family, though, is grateful that this one time Max got in trouble. Why? Because that particular day his father also happened to be home, and his father, Hamilton Loeb, suffered a massive ...

3545. Salty Saints

Mark 9:42-50

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

“He’s the salt of the earth!” That’s a common expression. We all know what it means. It means that the person is “grand guy, one in a million.” It is a badge of honor, an accolade reserved for someone we admire tremendously. And it all got started in Jesus’ words to His disciples. I. ACTUALLY, AS IT APPEARS IN MARK’S GOSPEL, THE SAYING IS A BIT CONFUSING. Commentators have been tearing their hair out for centuries trying to understand what the verse at the tag end of Jesus’ harsh saying about radical ...

3546. On Doing Beautiful Things

Mark 14:1-11

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

That was a beautiful thing which was done in 1989 by the Boy Scouts from Troop 4, sponsored by First United Methodist Church of Ann Arbor, and from Troop 61, sponsored by Domino’s Pizza. They gave money to help the owner of the taxicab which was damaged by rioters celebrating Michigan’s NCAA Basketball championship. (Ann Arbor News, April 19, 1989, p. 1) That was a beautiful thing to do...and I hope that somebody else sees fit to reimburse the poor fellow for the rest of the repair bill for the incident, ...

3547. Living Large for God (Part 3)

1 Chronicles 4:1-23

Sermon

Eric Ritz

We are examining the prayer of Jabez. Some of you may have it memorized by now: "Now Jabez was more honorable than his brothers, and his mother called his name Jabez, saying, ''Because I bore him in pain.'' And Jabez called on the God of Israel saying, ‘Oh, that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, that Your hand would be with me, and that You would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain!'' So God granted him what he requested." (1 Chronicles 4:9-10) (NKJV) Last week we examined the ...

3548. The Lord's Prayer: Hallowed be Thy Name

Matthew 6:5-15

Sermon

Eric Ritz

As we continue our study of The Lord''s Prayer, we now look at the words "Who Art in Heaven, hallowed be thy Name." We observe that though Jesus taught us about the privilege of having intimacy with God, there is a qualifying statement. I hope you noticed a paradox and great tension in these words of Jesus. While we have intimacy with God, Jesus reminds us that God is incomprehensible. The Kerygma Bible Study on this petition, "hallowed be Thy name," shared this insight: "True prayer is that approach to ...

3549. The Lord's Prayer: Forgive Us Our Trespasses

Matthew 6:5-15

Sermon

Eric Ritz

Have you ever noticed that the great documents like this perfect pattern prayer, the Apostles'' Creed, the Nicene Creed, doctrinal statements of various church traditions, all affirm our need for forgiveness and God providing the means and methods by which we are forgiven? As we continue in our series on The Lord''s Prayer, I want to share with you why I believe this is the hardest petition for any of us to fulfill. To put it simply, it is difficult. To demonstrate how difficult it is to forgive, as soon ...

3550. The Power of Remembrance (Part III)

Philippians 1:1-11

Sermon

Eric Ritz

All Saints'' Day Message A few years ago, Dr. Fred Craddock went back to the little town in Tennessee where he grew up. His brother was ill, so he wanted to visit him. Late one Sunday afternoon, Craddock decided to drop by the small Disciples Church where he had worshipped as a child. He went in, saw a friend, and they walked around together. Dr. Craddock noticed the church had installed some new stained glass windows in the Sanctuary. He examined them carefully; they were beautiful. But he did not ...

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