Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 3701 to 3725 of 4963 results

3701. Getting Even

Mark 10:1-12

Illustration

After 17 years of marriage, a man dumped his wife for a younger woman. The downtown luxury apartment was in his name and he wanted to remain there with his new love so he asked the wife to move out and then he would buy her another place. The wife agreed to this, but asked that she be given 3 days on her own there, to pack up her things. While he was gone, the first day ...

3702. The Gospel According to the Hebrews

Mark 10:17-31

Illustration

William Barclay

There is an apocryphal gospel called "The Gospel According to the Hebrews" most of which is lost; in one of the fragments which remain there is an account of this incident which sheds a little light on its meaning. Here is how that ancient text records this story: The rich man said to Jesus, "Master, what good thing must I do really to live?" Jesus said to him, "Man, obey the law and the ...

3703. Saying Nothing at All

Mark 10:17-31

Illustration

William G. Carter

... church when it comes to money. We dance around the issue with large, general steps. The church talks in generalities about the electric bill, the rising cost of church school curricula, and mission projects worthy of our support. Those are worthy topics of conversation. That's usually where the conversation remains with the list of the good services the church provides. Any actual mention of money seems distasteful.

3704. Mark 10: 35-45

Mark 10:35-45

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... who” and “where” is declared part of the Father’s divine plan. As the text continues the other ten disciples quickly prove themselves to be as self-centered and uncomprehending as James and John. The clear inference of verse 41 is that the remaining disciples are angry with James and John because they preemptively asked Jesus to secure for them the highest places of honor. This malcontent muttering of the ten prompts Jesus once again to define the unique form of discipleship he is offering and the ...

3705. Service

Mark 10:35-45

Illustration

James W. Moore

... Simon Peter bought the boat, and on one warm afternoon when the crowds pressed in, Jesus himself climbed aboard that small fishing boats that he might preach good news to the multitudes. The third tree also was deprived of its dream. It wanted to remain standing tall and pointing toward God. Instead, it was cut down and shaped into a horrible instrument of torture, a cross. But it was on that very cross that Jesus was crucified, transforming a symbol of cruelty into a powerful reminder of God's eternal ...

3706. The Light of Christ

Isaiah 9:2-7

Sermon

Mary S. Lautensleger

... know when someone was missing in that quiet gathering. And do you know why? It was because of the light. It seems that as the candles shed their soft glow across the church, the darkness was dispelled, but if someone was absent and their spot remained unlighted, the little room was darkened. Over the years, the folks grew to understand that they were really needed because their presence brought light into the darkened fellowship. We are living in a world that often seems dark. Long shadows extend across our ...

3707. Home at Last

Nehemiah 8:1-3, 5-6, 8-10

Sermon

Mary S. Lautensleger

... held captive in Babylon. More than 500 years before the birth of Christ, Babylonians had conquered Jerusalem and carried the more prosperous, better-educated residents of the region back to Babylon with them. Only a small number of peasants had remained in the Holy City to hold down the fort. Ancient cities surrounded by their protective walls, usually several feet thick, were very much like forts. The walls, complete with massive gates and watchtowers, inspired feelings of security. After enduring more ...

3708. Sowing Eternal Seeds

Isaiah 55:10-13

Sermon

Mary S. Lautensleger

... a month when the youth choir provided special music. She also accompanied Allison to youth group on Sunday evenings, and before long, Pastor Cindy had signed her up for Allison's confirmation class. She joined the church along with Allison's class and remained a faithful, active youth member of the congregation. Years later, Tom, who had been director of music at Allison's church, was teaching a seminary class in church music. Tom's class sang the hymns as they studied and learned hymnology. One afternoon ...

3709. Shine, Moses, Shine

Exodus 34:29-35

Sermon

Mary S. Lautensleger

... had hoped to stay at the Sinai Sheraton with its expansive menu, but found instead that they were enrolled in a forty-year outward bound school. They had to sleep on the ground, making their necks stiff, and eat ambrosia off the ground every single day. The people remaining in the valley are not happy campers, and turn their eyes from God's glory to idol worship. The back-to-Egypt committee convinces Aaron to make a golden calf, and that makes God and Moses mad. In fact, Moses is so mad that he breaks every ...

3710. Gateway to Grace

Joshua 5:9-12

Sermon

Frank Ramirez

... but if your luck holds, you get to walk away. Sometimes. There's an old poem by Hillaire Belloc that goes like this: B stands for Bear. When bears are seen approaching in the distance Make up your mind at once between retreat and armed resistance. One gentleman remained to fight, with what result for him? The bear, with ill-concealed delight, devoured him limb from limb. Another fellow turned and ran. He ran extremely hard. The bear was faster than the man and beat him by a yard. Or maybe it's like that old ...

3711. Past, Present, Future

Isaiah 43:16-21

Sermon

Frank Ramirez

... Revolution, and how this one person held the country together, both in war and in peace. David McCullough's 1776 reminds us how precariously the whole Revolution hung in that fateful year, and how the victories at Christmastime insured that the Revolution would remain viable even after terrible defeats, allowing the French to recognize the new nation and get involved in the war for independence. As important as these books are, teaching us about the past, we can become so focused on the past that we lose ...

3712. The Easter Era

Acts 10:34-43

Sermon

Frank Ramirez

... midst. You had better start visiting nursing homes and hospitals, and calling on people in our midst without looking down your nose at them because they don't meet your standards, standards that God knows nothing about. In our nation, the church hour remains the most segregated hour in American society — racially, economically, philosophically. We put up all sorts of barriers to keep others out, unseen gates and doors to separate ourselves from the world, and all the time God is hollering at us to get out ...

3713. Fruit with Feet

Acts 9:1-20

Sermon

Frank Ramirez

... hymn, "I once was lost, but now am found, was blind, but now I see." Paul went on to become the prime interpreter of Christianity to the Roman Empire and by extension to all of Christendom even to the present day. Although we know him as Paul, he remained Saul to the end of his days as well. There is a misconception that when Saul was converted, his name was changed to Paul, but he lived in both worlds, had a Jewish and a Greek name, and was comfortable in cosmopolitan settings. After his conversion, he ...

3714. Choosing to Believe

1 Kings 18:20-39

Sermon

Stan Purdum

... , to everyone's surprise, did recover, completely. The doctors were left scratching their heads. Did that convince Strobel that God was real? It did not. He thought, "What a coincidence! She must have had some bacteria or virus that spontaneously disappeared." He remained in his atheism.1 You see, you can always take any seemingly miraculous thing and debunk it if you are so inclined. You can explain it as an elaborate hoax, a coincidence, the ravings of a confused person, superstition, group hysteria, a ...

3715. The Kindness of Strangers

1 Kings 17:8-24

Sermon

Stan Purdum

... Elijah instructs her to cook it up for him anyway, telling her that the provisions will not run out. She does as Elijah asks, and, as a straightforward reading of the story tells us, no matter how much meal and oil she uses from the container over the remaining time of the drought, miraculously, it never runs out. When we take that story at face value, it seems to be a tale about the providence of God, who not only takes care of faithful Elijah, but also blesses anyone who helps the prophet. And, of course ...

3716. As Seen from the Solitary Broom Tree

1 Kings 19:1-18

Sermon

Stan Purdum

... God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away." (Actually, that was quite an exaggeration. There were thousands in Israel who remained faithful to God, but when we are exhausted, we often fail to see the hopeful reality of a situation.) God tells Elijah to go outside the cave and witness what God is about to show him, but Elijah won't go. So God sends first a great ...

3717. When Nothing More Can Be Done

Amos 8:1-12

Sermon

Stan Purdum

... faithful to his Father's will. Nothing more could be done, and so Jesus adds, "Yet not what I want but what you want." At that moment, it might have still been possible for Jesus to get up and run for his life, but he chose to remain. We, too, have faced awful circumstances where nothing more could be done. We've gotten that unwanted diagnosis. We've seen cherished relationships come abruptly to an end. We've seen great opportunities forever lost. We've seen irrevocable choices we've made end in horrendous ...

3718. Tales of the Spiritually Stupid

Jeremiah 4:11-12, 18-22

Sermon

Lee Ann Dunlap

... to meet their needs. Pagan worship thrived while the widows and orphans wasted away for lack of public compassion. Many fell into a false sense of security, believing that because God had spared Jerusalem and its people in the past, the city and its citizens remained inviolate forever. Not funny at all — but extremely foolish. God declares, "For my people are foolish, they do not know me; they are stupid children, they have no understanding. They are skilled in doing evil, but do not know how to do good ...

3719. Listening for the "Ching-ching"

Jeremiah 8:18-9:1

Sermon

Lee Ann Dunlap

... has satisfaction when the judgment came to pass and the Assyrian Army began its siege. Later, the city and its temple would be razed and the leaders executed or deported. While escape would have been the most sensible course of action, Jeremiah remained with his people and suffered with them through the whole catastrophe. And, while God had every right to nullify the covenant promise in response to the people's blatant rebellion and religious apostasy, God chose to suffer with them amidst the exile. This ...

3720. New Covenant, New Testament

Jeremiah 31:27-34

Sermon

John Wayne Clarke

... discern and do God's will, is a new thing in the Hebrew Scripture. But, it is not a new thing for those of us who name ourselves as Christians. Jeremiah lived and spoke in a time far removed from our Lord Jesus Christ, but the message remains much the same. Our salvation is personal, it is heartfelt, and has come to us in the carpenter from Nazareth. The foundation of this new covenant for the Christian community is Christ (Hebrews 8:6). It is revolutionary, involving not only Israel and Judah, but even the ...

3721. Living the Vision

Habakkuk 1:1-4, 2:1-4

Sermon

John Wayne Clarke

... date and the place of his writing has met with quite a bit of debate. What is not in question, however, is the significance of this book. As our text indicates, the question of why God allows bad things to happen to good people is a question that remains timeless. And, it is the answer to that question that has strengthened the hearts of people through the ages. The answer to the question in Habakkuk's words is, "Look at the proud! Their spirit is not right in them, but the righteous live by their faith" (2 ...

3722. Building the Temple of God

Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31

Sermon

John Wayne Clarke

... day, God's purpose was fulfilled in God's Son and our Savior, Jesus Christ. My brothers and sisters in Christ, the message from Haggai this morning is a powerful incentive to do the ministry that has been placed before us. As long as we are doing that ministry, we remain valued participants in God's great program of making God's salvation known to all who will listen. If we do whatever it is that God has called us to do in sincerity to the best of our ability, we carry with us God's blessing. We must never ...

3723. Preaching God's Reformation

Jeremiah 31:31-34

Sermon

John Wayne Clarke

... To him, as to no other figure of the Hebrew Scripture, we owe the fundamental concepts of personal religion. He is one of the great spiritual giants of all time, and to explore the majestic heights of his mind and spirit by reading and studying his book remains, to this day, one of the great experiences of any person's religious journey. Jeremiah was a thinker, who's preaching shaped a nation and still shapes us today. Jeremiah knew as should we all that God has plans for the future we cannot even begin to ...

3724. Saintly Visions!

Daniel 7:1-3, 15-18

Sermon

John Wayne Clarke

... in the lives of these people whether they acknowledge it or not. The last six chapters deal with the visions of Daniel and the beginning of their place in history. Yet, throughout this division between the dreams and visions, the overriding theme in the book remains the same and that is the absolute sovereignty of God. Daniel chapter 7 picks up a number of themes that have their antecedents in Genesis and their culmination in Revelation. And so, to place this chapter in proper context, we are in the first ...

3725. Thanks for Receiving Thanksgiving

Deuteronomy 26:1-11

Sermon

John Wayne Clarke

... God's grace in our lives. No matter how hard you have worked, no matter how deeply you are to committed to providing for yourself and those around you; no matter how dedicated you are to making a positive difference for people along the way, the fact still remains: There is nothing that you own. There is nothing that you have by your own efforts alone. It is like the seed that was planted and became a part of the harvest of firstfruits. The farmer works hard to prepare the soil and all the rest, but no ...

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