Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 3651 to 3675 of 4884 results

Numbers 21:4-9

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... were ground and baked into cakes or boiled. The name may have come from the question the Israelites asked when they first saw them: "What is it (mah nah)?" But now those cakes were getting old. "How about some meat, Moses? Yeah, Egypt may not have been perfect, but at least we had some fish every so often ... not to mention cucumbers and melons and leeks and onions, even garlic. Give us some meat. Meat! Meat! Meat! Meat!" These were not happy campers. Poor Moses. God says that some help would be forthcoming ...

3652. The Day God Voted

1 Samuel 15:34-35, 16:1-13

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... are endless: the charges and the countercharges, one side "pointing with pride," the other "viewing with alarm." Someone once said, "Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it wrongly, and applying unsuitable remedies." Sounds like a perfect description of what we get with all these thirty-second paid political announcements. As wearying as all that may be, elections are important in a free society. Jesus told us to "Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's," and ...

3653. A New Year’s Resolution

Ephesians 4:25 -5:2

Sermon

David E. Leininger

Good instructions. I know we are in the middle of summer according to our lectionary cycle, but this text sounds like a perfect list of New Year's resolutions for Christians. In the For Better Or Worse comic strip, the family is sitting around the breakfast table as Dad says, "Here we are in a brand new year. I think we should all make some resolutions, don't you?" Mother responds, "Okay. I ...

3654. Sermons In Stones

Psalm 19:1-14

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... of the Lord. Awe is what helps us to see God's glory in the sea and the land and the moon and the sun.[4] To be sure, the natural world is not the only place we encounter God. As the psalmist insists, "The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul. The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes" (vv. 7-8). Yes, God is revealed in a general way in ...

3655. Matthew 16:13-20

Matthew 16:13-20

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... the role of the steward Eliakim over David’s kingdom (Isaiah 22:15-25). It is up to the chief steward to determine what is to be permitted and what is not. Yet the acts of binding and loosing are described here with future perfect passive verbs (“will have been bound,” “will have been loosed”). This suggests that whatever decisions Peter makes will be affirmations of decisions God had already decreed. The “keys” Peter will wield open and close only the doors that God will provide. Peter is to ...

3656. When Did This Start? — Part 2

John 1:6-8, 19-28

Sermon

Robert J. Elder

... in relation to our Savior is to recognize first that he is the Savior and we are not. He is the one to whom all scripture testifies and we are not. He is the one deserving of the worship of all people everywhere and we are not. He is the perfect, self-giving servant and we are not. He is the healer and we are merely the ones who receive his healing or who may be privileged perhaps to carry his instruments of healing. He is the teacher and we are privileged to communicate the truth about him as accurately as ...

3657. Worth the Wait

Luke 2:1-14 (15-20)

Sermon

Robert J. Elder

... guy Jesus, baby, in a manger to bring folks home, not as strangers but as fam'ly, all, God's dear ones short and tall ones, big and small ones young and old ones, scared and bold ones dark or tan ones, white as sand ones all, that is the perfect number God is thinking, when we slumber dreaming sweet dreams of Christmas day God loves each one in just this way which is the point, of Christmas time a lot of trouble, all to find it's no mirage, from things we ate but miracle, well worth the wait so ...

3658. A Whole City at The Door

Mark 1:29-39

Sermon

Robert J. Elder

... good things done. What kind of church worthy of the name wouldn't do that? It's a pretty nice arrangement, if that is the purpose of the church. We need to do good things, hosts of people need good things done, the world must be perfectly organized. But today's lesson does not confirm that as a primary definition of ministry, at least not the ministry of Jesus. From time to time, politicians and others will make broad statements about the churches in our country as organizations whose purpose is to minister ...

3659. Looking for Jesus?

John 20:1-18

Sermon

John Smylie

... room for Jesus to come in. Because our hearts are tight and closed, perhaps we won't even see Jesus just as Mary Magdalene didn't see the Lord who was standing in front of her and speaking to her. Yet, let us not worry that our hearts are not perfect or ready or worthy. The fact is that none of us are ready or worthy to receive our Lord. None of us is ever really ready for Jesus. Mary Magdalene wasn't ready. Jesus called her by name and came to her anyway. On this Easter Day these many years ...

3660. The Five Senses

Luke 24:36-48

Sermon

John Smylie

... humorous and human mistakes that seem to happen at almost every wedding. We take hold of the concrete events and use them to shape the story in which we seek to communicate the wonder of a deeper truth. Recently, at the end of a perfect wedding ceremony, the minister introduced the couple mistakenly using the bride's last name. The congregation roared in laughter and the father of the groom and the father of the bride walked across the aisle and shook each other's hands. The minister embarrassingly tried ...

3661. It’s Anybody’s Guess

Mark 4:30-34

Sermon

Kristin Borsgard Wee

Several years ago, it was the week before Father's Day and the children and I were looking for a gift for their dad. As we strolled through the men's section of a department store our eyes spotted the perfect gift at the same moment. It was a bright, splashy Hawaiian style shirt with matching shorts. We giggled as we purchased it because Dan is a pretty conservative dresser. As I was handing the money to the woman at the cash register, I asked our oldest daughter, "But, do you ...

3662. A Strange Authority

Mark 6:1-13

Sermon

Kristin Borsgard Wee

... a period of time when I wanted to be someone else. I didn't like the way I looked. I was self-conscious about the spaces in my teeth. I hated that the veins in my hands stuck out. I wanted to be just like my friend, Marilyn. She was perfect — in everything — and, the boys liked her. I used to stand in front of the mirror and practice smiling like Marilyn. For a while, I dressed like she dressed, walked like she walked, and laughed like she laughed. But, I couldn't pull it off. I couldn't be Marilyn ...

3663. The Thing about Laws

Mark 12:28-34

Sermon

Steven Molin

... two ounces of shampoo, toothpaste, or shaving cream onto a commercial aircraft because they might be concocting a bomb. Fifty years from now, that might seem as silly as all the other laws listed above. That's the thing about laws; at one time, they made perfect sense to someone. So, when one considers the laws of first-century Israel, we must cut some slack. For example, when we read that we should "remember the sabbath day and keep it holy," we wonder why the Jews could not even bandage an injured arm ...

3664. Celebrate This!

Mark 12:38-44

Sermon

Steven Molin

... , besides silver and gold, that is? Celebrate this: If we trust Jesus Christ as Savior, then the most significant thing we celebrate is our salvation. We don't have to wonder where we will spend eternity. We don't have to strive to please God with our perfect lives because our sins will not be held against us. God has promised to forgive all the mistakes, all the disobedience, and all the hurtful things we have done or said in this life, and he has marked us as daughters and sons. Celebrate this: We enjoy ...

3665. Oh, The Things We Worry About!

Matthew 6:25-33

Sermon

... Thanksgiving meals. They will worry that the turkey will not be moist, or that the potatoes will be lumpy, or the piecrust will be flat, or the table decorations will be shabby. Because they take their hostess responsibilities very seriously, they want the day to be perfect. So they worry. Now, each of us can recall at least one Thanksgiving dinner disaster. I remember hearing about the woman who made pumpkin pie and then set it on a shelf in the garage to cool. When she went to serve it, she noticed that ...

3666. Spiritual Gifts: God’s Gift of Fulfillment

1 Corinthians 1:3-9

Sermon

Scott Suskovic

... in the Spirit. Beginning with this first chapter, this life is tied into spiritual gifts. The most difficult challenge is to discover your spiritual gift. After that, it needs a lot of work to develop. It comes to us raw. It's up to us to draw it out and perfect it. However, to stop there would miss the point of spiritual gifts. They are to be used, not for your own glory and admiration, but for God's. In 1 Corinthians 12:6-7 Paul writes, "There are different ways God works in our lives, but it is the same ...

3667. They Call It Grace

2 Peter 3:8-15

Sermon

Scott Suskovic

... that the delay of Jesus' return meant that there was hope and grace for his daughter. Make no mistake. Grace doesn't condone sin and sweep it under the rug with inane excuses such as, "Boys will be boys," "To err is human," "Nobody's perfect," or "Don't be so hard on yourself." Grace is not a free pass to live however you please. Grace, true grace, radical grace is transforming. Luther spent three hours a day in the confessional booth, fasted until near death, slept outside without blankets, and whipped ...

3668. A Grandmother’s Touch

Acts 19:1-7

Sermon

Scott Suskovic

... downright disagreements about baptism for all ages. There was a story about a mom who glanced out through her kitchen window at her children playing across the yard. It was one of those games children play that looks complicated to the outside eye but for them it makes perfect sense. They had brought out a shovel and dug a hole in the soft dirt of the garden, dragged over the garden hose, and had an array of dolls lying on the ground. Then the process began. The daughter picked up the dolls one at a time ...

3669. Integrity: Words with Meaning

2 Corinthians 1:18-22

Sermon

Scott Suskovic

... God trust you when you are alone with the door closed and shades pulled? Integrity means that you are the same person in or outside the spotlight, with or without the cameras running, standing alone or in front of the audience. Integrity doesn't mean perfection. Integrity means authenticity, consistency, and an undivided life. Do your words and your actions have meaning? Are you a person of your word? George Burns once said, "The most important thing in acting is honesty. If you can fake that, you've got it ...

3670. It’s about Grace

Ephesians 2:1-10

Sermon

Nancy Kraft

... bit on our part to meet God halfway. It's about grace — grace alone — period! When Paul wrote to the Ephesians, he wanted to silence anyone who claimed that their own good deeds in any way contributed to their salvation. After he makes that point perfectly clear, he concludes his argument by making a statement that almost seems to contradict everything he just said: "For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life" (Ephesians 2 ...

3671. On The Night When He Was Betrayed

1 Corinthians 11:23-26

Sermon

Nancy Kraft

... who you are or what you've done, Jesus offers you his body and blood. And the more unworthy you may feel about receiving it, the more it has been given for you because it is given for the forgiveness of sins. The forgiveness of sins isn't for perfect people. It's for people like Judas, who betrayed him for thirty pieces of silver. It's for people like Peter who promised he would never leave Jesus and then turned around and flatly denied even knowing him. It's for people like the disciples who cowered in ...

3672. Becoming Like Jesus

1 John 3:1-7

Sermon

Nancy Kraft

... God. In our rebellion we've distorted that image so that it may be hard to see, but that doesn't change the way we were created. As children of God, our lives are a journey back to God's intention for us. We know that none of us are perfect. None of us are complete, but one day we will be. Until then, we're on a journey, growing more and more into the spiritual likeness of Christ. People outside the church will often look at the church and pass judgment on us, saying that the Christian church is full ...

3673. Loving God

1 John 5:1-6

Sermon

Nancy Kraft

... in a loving relationship with someone, you want what they want, too. If Christ wants us to love one another as he has loved us, it's what we want, too. It's not a huge struggle for us; it's something that we willingly do. We may not be perfect at loving the way Christ does, but there is no question that we're not resisting it. What Christ wants for us is the same thing we want for ourselves. It's tempting to become like Wakefield and say, "You know, maybe someday I'll go home. Maybe someday I ...

3674. Eyes on the Prize

2 Corinthians 4:13-5:1

Sermon

Gibson “Nibs” Stroupe

... wants. As Paul indicated earlier in chapter 1 of this letter, what God wants from us is gratitude, our "Yes" in response to God's "Yes" to us in Jesus Christ. Jesus emphasized again and again that what God wants from us is not our perfection but rather our passion. The goal is not goodness - that's not possible for us, anyway. The goal is rather thanksgiving and praise, an "attitude of gratitude," so to speak. Gratitude cannot be commanded - it only comes in response to our perceiving that we have received ...

3675. Welcome to the Center of Life

Ephesians 1:3-14

Sermon

Gibson “Nibs” Stroupe

... , not powerful enough to overcome our shortcomings. This language is also dangerous because one of the ways that we cope with our awareness of our frailty and failures is to move to the other end of the spectrum. We begin to believe that although we can't be perfect, we can get close. The church has a difficult and sad history that is rooted in this need to believe in our own righteousness. In this case, we discount the depth of the grace of God because we convince ourselves that we really don't need that ...

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