Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 351 to 375 of 972 results

Deuteronomy 31:30--32:47

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... the years went by, the new station experienced the same changes that had occurred in the old. It evolved into a club, and yet another lifesaving station was founded. History continued to repeat itself, and if you visit that seacoast today, you will find a number of exclusive clubs along that shore. Shipwrecks are still frequent in those waters, but now most of the people drown.(2) What can we say about THIS station? If we have forgotten who we are, where we have come from, why we do what we do, and what we ...

352. Integrity

Song of Songs 2:1-17

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... might have missed if those letters had remained undiscovered and my picture of my grandparents had remained incomplete.(5) Good point. Were it not for the Song of Songs, we too might miss the fact that healthy desire and healthy discipleship are not mutually exclusive. Sex is a wonderful gift. GOD'S gift, even. Enjoy! OK. Now combine that with the passage we heard from Mark's gospel, this seemingly nit-picky confrontation between Jesus and the disciples on one side and the Scribes and Pharisees on the other ...

353. The Nightmare before Christmas

Matthew 1:18-25

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... - most of the speeches were delivered to empty seats in the House chamber and were given only for their value as film clips during local newscasts around the country. No minds were going to be changed. Yesterday's vote was a foregone conclusion cast almost exclusively on a partisan basis. The political drivel was only a repeat of what has been said over and over and over again in ten-second sound bites. The only statement that was genuinely new was Henry Hyde's incredible assertion that to fail to proceed ...

354. "If I But Touch..."

Mark 5:21-43

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... everybody that she had just made this rabbi as unclean as she was by her audacious and selfish touch? And what was the penalty for deliberately making someone else unclean? Did someone say death? Aw, so what! Why not just admit it? This life of isolation and exclusion, no family, no friends, no love, no care is not much better than living death anyway. It only took a moment for her to make up her mind. "Who touched my clothes?" With fear and trembling she came forward, the veil slowly falling from her face ...

355. Ephphatha...Be Opened

Mark 7:31-37

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... , which opposes gay ordination. Amazing! Instead of talking ABOUT each other, they were actually talking WITH each other! Wonderful. Good start. Keep it up! The word of Jesus to the church is loud and clear: "EPHPHATHA!" BE OPENED! The gospel is not the exclusive province of one group or another, one denomination or another. If we would ever hope to heal the divisions that separate us, we will remember and obey the command, "EPHPHATHA!" But the word is not just for the healing of the church. Remember ...

356. Would a Loving God Really Let Anyone Go to Hell?

Luke 16:19-31

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... with fire and brimstone, which is the second death."(7) How much of that description or the descriptions Jesus gave are meant to be taken literally is an open question. After all, the pictures are self-contradictory - complete darkness and burning flame are mutually exclusive. The language is symbolic, symbolic of a fate which no one would want. Obviously, there are people who are living in situations in the here and now which no one would want. Did you happen to see this week's Time magazine about the ...

357. Created For Freedom

Galatians 5:1-15

Sermon

King Duncan

... , scrapped it ” and were forced to leave hundreds of homeless men sleeping in the street. (2) One person~s freedom was another person's indignity. Religious groups continually are confronted with this dilemma. Most of us like the sound of chimes. But imagine an exclusive suburban neighborhood where most of the residents sleep in on Sunday morning. Then the local church decides to erect a bell tower. Do you sense that a legal battle might be in the works? A number of recent zoning cases have even affected ...

358. Was The President's Advisor's Sin Really That Bad?

1 Corinthians 6:12-20

Sermon

King Duncan

... Grandad, your generation didn't have all these social diseases. What did you wear to have safe sex?" The wise old gentleman replied, "A wedding ring." It grieves me to know that some of our young people will never know the joy of a special and exclusive sexual relationship with a member of the opposite sex. There is a special joy that comes to two people who have reserved for one another ” and only for one another ” this very exciting part of their lives. No amount of playing the field can substitute ...

359. Love

Isaiah 7:1-25

Sermon

King Duncan

... may not be the best way. And certainly gifts are given with many motivations. But for most of us there is more joy in giving than receiving. We need this opportunity to express our feelings in a concrete way. Hopefully, though, our love is not a narrow and exclusive thing. Christmas usually causes us to be more thoughtful about the needs of people we don't even know. It causes us to be more mindful of the needs of those less fortunate. A baby was left on the doorstep many years ago of a home in Georgetown ...

360. The Love of a Father (Father's Day)

Matthew 10:1-42

Sermon

King Duncan

... those sins are buried at the bottom of the deepest sea never to surface again. They are gone forever. If you believe that Christ has atoned for your sins, you cannot believe that God is using some adverse circumstance to punish you. The two are mutually exclusive. There is a story about actor Henry Fonda that can help us here. Fonda's father disagreed with his son's decision to become an actor. Only grudgingly did he attend his son's debut performance with the rest of the family. After the performance Fonda ...

361. Living In Spite House

Matthew 18:21-35

Sermon

King Duncan

Ron Lee Davis in his book, Mistreated, tells about a millionaire who owned a lot in an exclusive residential area of a large city. This lot presented an unusual problem. It was only a couple yards wide by nearly a hundred feet long. There was nothing he could do with such an oddly proportioned piece of real estate but sell it to one of the neighbors on either ...

362. Jesus And The Ayatollah

Matthew 22:34-40

Sermon

King Duncan

... of country clubs in our enlightened land who still do not allow Jews as members. They may not say so publicly, but the unwritten law remains. There is an old joke about a black man who had tried for years, in vain, to become a member of an exclusive club. He died and went to heaven. He had no difficulty gaining entrance there. One day he and St. Peter were talking when for some reason that club was mentioned. "Did you know," said the black man, "that club refuses to accept Blacks or Jews as members?" "We ...

363. When The Recession Reaches Your House

1 Kings 17:7-24

Sermon

King Duncan

... her eyes, but not in the eyes of the stranger. For the stranger was the prophet Elijah. He knew that God is a bountiful, giving God. Elijah would have appreciated a story about George Mueller--that saint of a man who supported his orphanage exclusively on prayer. Mueller never directly asked anyone for a contribution. He simply prayed to God about his circumstances. Someone observed, "It looks like a handto-mouth proposition." "Yes, it is," Mueller responded, "But it is God's hand and my mouth." Elijah said ...

364. Winning When It Really Counts

Philippians 3:12-4:1

Sermon

King Duncan

... such a winner. He was often described by his admirers as "the new Caruso." In a newspaper interview, the 6-foot, 300-pound tenor asked: "Do you want to know the hardest thing about being a singer? It is to sacrifice yourself every moment of your life, with not one exclusion. For example, if it is raining, don’t go out; eat this, do this, sleep ten hours a day. It is not a very free life. You cannot jump on a horse. You cannot go to swim." There are many things you cannot do if you would be the best ...

365. Narrow Doors-limitless Horizons

Luke 13:22-30

Sermon

King Duncan

... not be able." Jesus was talking about a very specific door, of courgette door of the Kingdom. There are two things we need to see this morning about that important door. FIRST OF ALL, IT IS WIDE ENOUGH FOR ALL WHO WOULD TO ENTER. There is nothing exclusive about the Kingdom. Who we are, what we’ve done, where we come from none of that matters. There is a story about a little girl who had a large collection of dolls, of every description. It was obvious that her dolls brought her much pleasure. A visitor ...

366. A Life Above All Others

John 12:20-36

Sermon

King Duncan

... ” a man named Philip. Since Philip is a Greek name, they thought he might help them meet his celebrity teacher. They spoke plainly to Philip, "Sir, we wish to see Jesus!" This presented quite a problem for Philip. Until this moment Jesus' ministry had been exclusively directed to the Jews. Philip was unsure what to do, so he found Andrew and together they went to find Jesus. When they found him they told him that some Greeks wanted to meet him. They knew from experience Jesus considered no one a nuisance ...

367. Sleeping Through A Tornado

Acts 2:1-13

Sermon

King Duncan

... in his thumb and pulled out a plumb and said, `What a good boy am I.'" The Holy Spirit did not come on the believers so they could sit around and congratulate themselves on their piety. The Holy Spirit did not come on them so they could form an exclusive club ” where only those who had the same experience would be welcome. The Holy Spirit came to them so that they could continue the work that Jesus had begun. And we are to do the same. We are not called here to share in some special privilege through the ...

368. The Three-fold Journey

Ephesians 4:17--5:21

Sermon

King Duncan

... is the first part of our three-fold journey, but it is only the beginning. Many good people are on this first leg, many good people use their head, and the world is a better place because they do. But the second leg of the journey is a little more exclusive. THE SECOND LEG OF THE THREE-FOLD JOURNEY IS TO SEEK GOD'S WILL. "So do not be foolish," Paul warns, "but understand what the will of the Lord is." On the first leg of the journey we used our brains. On the second we must use our hearts. On ...

369. Temptation

Genesis 2:4-25

Sermon

King Duncan

... have listened to me, you would never have fallen into that pit." A NEW AGER said: "Maybe you should network with some other pit dwellers." A SELF-PITYING PERSON said: "You haven't seen anything until you've seen my pit." A NEWS REPORTER said: "Could I have the exclusive story on your pit?" AN I.R.S. MAN said: "Have you paid your taxes on that pit?" A COUNTY INSPECTOR said: "Do you have a permit for that pit?" A REALIST said: "That's a pit." An IDEALIST said: "The world shouldn't have pits." An OPTIMIST said ...

370. A Most Unlikely Evangelist

John 4:1-26

Sermon

King Duncan

... Someone then asks a Mercedes engineer why their company does not enforce their patent on their car's energy-absorbing car body. The Mercedes' design has been copied by almost every other car maker in the world in spite of the fact that they have an exclusive patent. The engineer replies in a clipped German accent, "Because in life, some things are just too important not to share." (1) Wow! What a great statement. Some things are just too important not to share. As Christians we believe that the good news of ...

371. Have You Seen God's Heart?

Revelation 1:4-8

Sermon

King Duncan

... whether they are of a different religious persuasion, whether they are liberal or fundamentalist, Protestant or Catholic. Christ came into the world to save people. That is why any picture of Christ's final victory over the world can never smack of meanness or exclusiveness. The people who surround Christ's throne will not be wearing armor. They will be those who have exchanged the filthy rags of their own righteousness for robes that have been washed in the blood of the lamb. They will not be exulting that ...

372. Who? Me Worry?

Matthew 6:25-34

Sermon

King Duncan

... I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you shall eat or what you shall drink, nor about your body, what you shall put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?" True Thanksgiving and worry are incompatible mutually exclusive unable to occupy the same space. That is why this is the perfect text for this day. Some of you came into this room today with more anxiety than gratitude and you do not even see the contradiction. Rick Majerus, the much respected but somewhat portly ...

373. Do You Have The Glory?

John 17:20-26

Sermon

King Duncan

... window, thinking that the two wanted his autograph. Without warning, they spit in his face!(4) Is that the kind of glory you're seeking? What the world calls glory is not what Jesus called glory. BIBLICALLY, GLORY IS A QUALITY ASCRIBED ALMOST EXCLUSIVELY TO GOD. Who can forget those magnificent passages in the Old Testament particularly the Psalms? Psalm 19: "The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display ...

374. On Eating Peas With A Knife

Luke 7:36-50

Sermon

King Duncan

... some people have is for acceptance. Jesus also knew that acceptance changes lives. HERE IS THE LAST THING WE NEED TO SEE: THE CHURCH IS CALLED TO BE AN ACCEPTING COMMUNITY. This is who we are and what we are called to be. We are not an exclusive club. We are not a representative sample of the best people in town who gather each week to congratulate one another on our virtues. We are those who know we have been accepted and, having been accepted, pass on that acceptance to others. Writer Philip Yancey tells ...

375. Finishing In The Top 10%

Luke 17:11-19

Sermon

Frank Lyman

... of this life? Now comes a surprise. When Jesus nears a Samaritan village, ten men with leprosy approach him, but they don't cry out, "Unclean, unclean!" Instead, they call out, "Jesus, Master!" In Luke's gospel, the Greek word for "master," epistates, is used exclusively by Jesus' twelve disciples with this one exception! These men with leprosy are the only other ones who see our Lord for who he is, "Jesus, Master." Jesus sees them, which means he had compassion on them, and heals them. They're happy, they ...

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