Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 3526 to 3550 of 4935 results

3526. House of Prayer

Matthew 6:5-15, Matthew 6:16-18

Sermon

Lori Wagner

“My house will be called a house of prayer for all the peoples.” (Isaiah 56:7) “Has this house, which bears my Name, become a den of robbers to you? But I have been watching! declares the Lord.” (Jeremiah 7:11) "It is written," he said to them [Temple priests, leaders, and businessmen], "'My house will be called a house of prayer,' but you are making it 'a den of robbers.'" (Matthew 21:13) When Toby, a little 3-year old boy, was chastised by his Mama for taking 7 cookies from the cookie jar without ...

3527. Divine Divestment

Mark 10:17-27

Sermon

Will Willimon

The Danish philosopher, Soren Kierkegaard, came home after church one Sunday and wrote of his disgust at what happened there. ''In the magnificent cathedral the Honourable and Right Reverend Gehei111e-General Ober-Hof Pradikant, the elect favourite of the fashionable world, appears before an elect company and preaches with emotion upon the text he himself elected: 'God hath elected the base things of the world, and the things that are despised' and nobody laughs."(1) Today I am to preach on Mark 10:17-27. ...

3528. They Should Have Fired That Shepherd

Luke 15:1-3 (8-32)

Sermon

Schuyler Rhodes

Not too long ago I had the privilege of being invited to preach at a conference in a different part of the country. I had a great conversation with the organizer of the conference, bought my plane ticket, and headed to my destination. After landing safely, I retrieved my luggage and went to meet my host. I had seen her photo before, and she gave me a description of her and what she would be wearing. No sweat,right? Then, after a few minutes I saw her. I stuck up my arm and waved, calling her name. Her face ...

3529. Fear and Blessing

Psalm 128:1-6

Sermon

Will Willimon

It is Parents' Weekend in the University. But it is the Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost here in the chapel. In the interest of continuity, we ask our preachers to follow the ecumenical lectionary which assigns certain scripture for each Sunday. I immediately expected a conflict. To my surprise, the assigned Psal1n for today is Psalm 128: Blessed is every one who fears the LORD, who walks in his ways! you shall be happy, and it shall be well with you. Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your ...

3530. Being Different

Matthew 1:18-25

Sermon

John Jamison

Picture it this way. The teenage daughter walks in the house. “Hey mom, dad, guess what? I was down at the gas station filling up the car when something happened. An angel walked up and told me that I was going to have a baby. Wow! Can you believe it?” I’m not trying to make light of the scripture today, but if you think about it, that’s about how this story began. According to tradition, Mary had gone down to the village well to get water. It was one of the routine chores the young girls in the family ...

3531. The Debt of Love

Romans 13:8-14

Sermon

King Duncan & Angela Akers

Let me ask you what for some of us might be a painful question. How genuine is your commitment to Christ? Is it primarily a Sunday morning exercise or does it encompass your whole life? I’m not asking this to make you feel guilty. My goal is to help each of us discover the full joy of our commitment to Christ. Our lesson today from St. Paul’s letter to the church at Rome gets right at the heart of our Christian faith. Listen closely to his words: “Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt ...

3532. Division of the House

Matthew 10:24-39

Sermon

William G. Carter

The more we read the Bible, the more we see things we might wish Jesus never said. This passage is one of them: “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.” Did any of us come to church today to hear him say that? This is the season for family reunions. Most of us have been in gatherings that include fathers, mothers, grandparents, and children. It it is somewhat disturbing to come to church today and hear Jesus say, “I have come to set a man ...

3533. His Own Knew Him Not

Luke 4:14-30

Sermon

Will Willimon

“And he began to say to them, 'Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”' Luke 4:21 I would wager that this text, Luke 4:14-30, has been preached more than any other here in Duke Chapel. If you're a regular worshipper here, you have heard it used as a text for sermons at least three times in the past two years. Its proper place is here, on the third Sunday after Epiphany. But it's always in season in the Chapel--with young and fearless prophet Jesus in the pulpit, giving the establishment ...

3534. Maybe Today....

Luke 21:25-36

Sermon

John B. Jamison

“Maybe today.” He stood at the window and watched the morning sun climb over the mountain. He lowered his eyes to shield them from the glare of the sunlight shining against the streets and buildings. It was a bright and beautiful morning, but all he felt was darkness. It was the same darkness he had felt last night as he tried to sleep. It was the same darkness he felt every day now, the same one that they all felt every day now. He raised his eyes to the window again. “Maybe today,” he said. He stepped ...

3535. Courage to Break

Luke 4:1-13

Sermon

Lori Wagner

From 2009-2013 television viewers couldn’t wait each week to watch an innovative, if disturbing, show called “Breaking Bad.” The storyline followed an ordinary chemistry teacher turned villainous meth kingpin. The idiom “breaking bad” which comes from a southern expression for “raising hell” seemed to suggest within the series the contagion of “hellishness” that Walt brought to everyone around him, including his family. All this resulted and escalated from one initial choice. Choices –they fill our lives. ...

3536. The Call to Encounter

Luke 8:26-39

Sermon

Dean Feldmeyer

As he stepped out on land, a man of the city who had demons met him. For a long time, he had worn no clothes, and he did not live in a house but in the tombs. When he saw Jesus, he fell down before him and shouted at the top of his voice, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me…” Jesus then asked him, “What is your name?” He said, “Legion”; for many demons had entered him. They begged him not to order them to go back into the abyss. (Luke 8: 27-31) To ...

3537. Living A Triumphant Life

Joshua 5:1-12

Sermon

Douglas J. Deuel

Most people today are driven to succeed. That may not be a problem unto itself. The problem comes in how we define success. If we pursue success as defined by secular culture, the focus will be on money and prestige. Those objectives as the key focus of life will leave us spiritually poor, though. G.K. Chesterton's words are insightful here. He said, "To be clever enough to get all that money one must be stupid enough to want it."1 The truly triumphant life can only be discovered in the pursuit of God's ...

3538. Living By The Calendar Instead Of The Clock (New Year's)

Luke 2:41-52

Sermon

Richard A. Wing

This is the time of year that we look toward 2016 with new resolve, or observe how far we have wandered from last year's resolutions. Have you ever noticed that New Year's resolutions look strangely familiar? As a matter of fact, don't they most often look exactly like last year's resolutions? Too often in this season we look at the resolutions we made for our lives that we never got started. I was in a spiritual life retreat once with a group of clergy who were talking about the joys and pains of parish ...

3539. Easter Joy

John 15:1-17

Sermon

Harry N. Huxhold

A remarkable feature of Dwight D. Eisenhower's memoirs is the composure with which he greeted crises. He titled his autobiography At Ease, an appropriate description for not only his retirement, but the manner in which he appeared to be on top of life. Colleagues, of course, could recall how excited he could get in revealing his impatience with mediocrity and the failures of the people in his command. However, what was impressive was the way he took control in the European theater in World War II with no ...

3540. Good News, Bad News, Good News

John 13:1-17

Sermon

Thomas Long

I forget now whether it was a famous football coach, a former president, or a positive-thinking teacher who put on his wall the motto, "When the going gets tough, the tough get going" -- probably all three of them. In any case, I am aware of the fact that there are some people who pride themselves on being able to get motivated in tough situationns, to face head-on the tough issues. "Give it to me straight, Doc," they say to the surgeon, "I can handle it." They sign up for courses from the roughest ...

3541. Proper 13

Romans 8:28-39, Isaiah 55:1-13, Genesis 32:22-32, Matthew 14:13-21

Sermon Aid

Russell F. Anderson

COMMENTARY Old Testament: Genesis 32:22-31 Jacob returns home with his wives, children and flocks but, fearing the wrath of his brother Esau, he sends them on before him, remaining by himself. He wrestles with an angel of God until daybreak. The angel cannot overcome Jacob and asks to be let go. Jacob refuses until he receives a blessing. The heavenly visitor notes that Jacob has striven with God and man but has prevailed. Old Testament: Isaiah 55:1-5 Like a hawker on the street, God bids his people to ...

3542. Resist Temptation

Mark 1:9-13

Sermon

Harry N. Huxhold

The Holy Gospel for this First Sunday in Lent is the evangelist Mark's very brief account of the temptation of Christ. The temptation account may bring to your mind the movie, The Last Temptation of Christ. That movie gained much attention, because many people protested the substance of what was purported to be a possible last temptation of our Lord. The suggested temptation was that on the cross Jesus thought about what life would have been or might have been like had he loved a woman and married. Many ...

3543. The TV Revolution

Sermon

Michael Rogness

As the dominant medium of social expression, television is pervasive in a profound way that we seldom recognize fully. Because most of us get most of our information about the society most of the time from television, it becomes the primary social fact of our lives.2 -- James Monaco Preaching Today While visiting many congregations I am constantly astonished to hear how much complaining there is about preaching. Faithful churchgoers find themselves wondering, "What's happened to good preaching?" "Where ...

3544. A Night of Farewell - Peter

Sermon

Ron Lavin

"Tonight we will forget all of this ungodly talk about death. Tonight is a happy time of remembering our heritage. Tonight we shall eat lamb, bitter herbs, wine and bread. It will be good to remember Moses and the journey tonight." "Tonight we are at John Mark's house. No one will find us here. No crowds. No Pharisees. No sick people." "Tonight we will celebrate the Passover." These were my thoughts as we began that Thursday evening meal. Jesus began with prayer: "Blessed art Thou, O Lord God of the ...

3545. Six Nails of the Cross IV: The Nail of Indecision

Matthew 27:11-26

Sermon

Wesley T. Runk

Pilate was caught: he wanted to make the best of two worlds. Should he sentence Jesus to death? That's hard to do to a man who has impressed you so favorably ... with his innocence, with his strength, with his wisdom. But what should he do with the overwhelming opposition to Jesus? Should he, Pilate, take a stand against the majority who opposed him? Releasing Jesus would mean an encounter with the Sanhedrin in the Jewish court, and Pilate did not want that. Sentencing Jesus would mean putting to death a ...

3546. The Real Jesus is Channeling Grace

John 17:20-26

Sermon

Carl Jech

I made known to them your name, and I will make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them. (John 17:26) Over the last couple decades we have heard critics decry what has been variously described as "civil religion," "religion in general," or "the religion of the American way of life." Recently, Dr. Robert Jenson, a professor at Lutheran Theological Seminary in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, restated the criticism this way: "The God proclaimed in American Protestantism is ...

3547. After A Lost Election, Field Of Dreams

Jeremiah 8:4--9:26

Sermon

James Angell

Iowa is an Indian word meaning "beautiful land." And that's where it all began for me. I started out on a legal career and passed the Iowa bar. Long before, though, I had harbored thoughts of one day becoming a preacher. Sunday school had not been a bore as it often is for many kids. Attending summer youth conferences, then Bible classes in college - taught by Dr. Howard Legg, who looked like he belonged in the Senate rather than in a college classroom - set the stage for an invitation one August to give ...

3548. God, The Enemy

Luke 12:1-12

Sermon

This week began with the execution of Timothy McVeigh, the man responsible for the worst act of domestic terrorism in U.S. history. A USA Today poll taken in April of this year showed that 81 percent of Americans wanted McVeigh to be executed -- and 28 percent of that support was from people who are normally against the death penalty. No matter where you stand on the issue of capital punishment, this particular execution has forced itself on our consciousness. One thing that particularly caught my ...

3549. A Sermon for Passion Sunday

Matthew 27:45-56

Sermon

Dean Lueking

On this Passion Sunday, we stand again at the threshold of the Great Seven Days, this week of time that takes us to the inmost heart of the work that God has done for us through Christ his Son. As we prepare to hear the passion story of Jesus’ suffering as proclaimed by St. Matthew, I invite you to hear one sentence in particular. It is that word of our Lord from the Cross that is at once the most anguished account and the Gospel which comes to us from it: "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" ( ...

3550. Jacob’s Dream - A Dream Come True W. Dexter Moser

Genesis 27:1-40

Sermon

Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place to sleep. And he dreamed ... Genesis 28:11-12 Jacob, with much patience, after many years finally married Rachel. In their nomadic life as shepherds, they, Jacob and Rachel, could have understood a song we sang around the campfire during a summer gathering at Lutheridge. I had a dream dear, you had one too mine was the best dream I ever knew; Come, sweetheart, tell me now is the time You tell me your dream and I will ...

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