Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 3851 to 3875 of 4934 results

3851. Landing Instructions

Isaiah 40:25-31

Sermon

Mark Trotter

We were all attracted to the story of Lance Armstrong winning the Tour de France last weekend, that grueling bicycle race. It is one of the great endurance races in the world today. Lance Armstrong won it in record time, two years after undergoing surgery and then chemotherapy for cancer that spread throughout his body, including to his brain. It is a testimony first of all to the wonderful advances that medicine has made in curing cancers, but everyone recognizes as well that it is a terrific testimony to ...

3852. Seeing the End from the Beginning

Numbers 13:1-2, 17-33

Sermon

James Merritt

Disney World. It is the most popular tourist attraction on the planet. The four theme parks, The Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Disney MGM, and Animal Kingdom individually rank among the top ten theme parks in all of the world. In 1998, forty-two million people went through the turnstiles at Disney World alone. It sits on forty-three square miles of some of the most prime property in the entire state of Florida. It is twice the size of Manhattan Island. Originally, it took seven years to plan, and four and one-half ...

3853. Guilt: How to Keep Your Conscience Clear

Psalm 32:1-11

Sermon

James Merritt

Ogden Nash once wrote this little couplet: There’s only one way to achieve happiness on this terrestrial ball, And that is to have either a clear conscience or none at all.1 Perhaps the most powerful and poisonous of all human emotions is the emotion of guilt. Guilt can make a person afraid of their own shadow. There is a story told of the time when Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the English writer, who created the character Sherlock Holmes, decided to play a practical joke on twelve of his best friends. He sent ...

3854. The Empire Strikes Back

Jude 1:14-15

Sermon

James Merritt

My sermon is not going to be anything like the movie with the same title. It is different in two very distinct ways. I am not going to be talking about Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Princess Leia, Darth Vader, Chewbacca, Yoda, nor R2D2. Rather, I am going to be speaking about a real empire, the Kingdom of God, and the real Emperor, whose name is Jesus. Furthermore, in the movie “The Empire Strikes Back” the hero, Han Solo, is left carbon-frozen in need of being rescued. But when this empire strikes back, the ...

3855. From the Tomb

John 20:1-18

Sermon

John E. Harnish

None other than my good friend David Crumm reported on the front page of Friday's Free Press: "Christians Reach Beyond Easter Uproar to Find Hope." He writes: "Easter, Christianity's cornerstone, is at hand and nearly 200 million Americans say they plan to go to church. But the central meaning of the holiday is more hotly debated than at any other time in American history." David refers to The Da Vinci Code (and by the way, he will be with us the night of our Da Vinci Code theater party), the buzz about ...

3856. Cross Eyed: Promise

John 3:14-21

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

The regulations of a certain hospital required that a wheelchair be provided for patients being discharged. A particular student nurse found an elderly gentleman, already dressed and sitting on the bed with a suitcase at his feet. The gentleman insisted, over and over again, that he didn't need her help in leaving the hospital. After a chat about rules being rules, he reluctantly got into the wheelchair and let the nurse wheel him to the elevator. On the way down she asked him if his wife was meeting him. ...

3857. The Real Thirst Quencher

Revelation 22:1-6

Sermon

King Duncan

Have you ever been thirsty? I mean really thirsty? Some of you may remember a cowboy song by a group called the Sons of the Pioneers that went like this: “All day I faced/ The barren waste/ Without the taste of water/ Cool water/ Poor Dan and I/ With throats burned dry/ And so I cry for water/ Cool, clear water/” (1) Now that’s thirst. O.K., let’s see how old you really are. The Sons of the Pioneers sang in motion pictures with which famous cowboy star and his equally famous wife? Somebody tell me. That’s ...

3858. A Change of Mind

Exodus 32:1-14

Sermon

Timothy J. Smith

While it has been suggested that idle hands are the playthings of the devil — the same may be true of our minds. Without a clear sense of who we are and whose we are, we have the tendency to wander into some barren wilderness. Sometimes our slip is gradual, we do one small thing that is questionable and before we realize it we are in deep trouble. There are other times when it is obvious that we have strayed in a big way, and whether we like it or not, there are consequences to our actions. Without a clear ...

3859. Jesus Would Do What?

Philippians 2:1-11

Sermon

King Duncan

A woman named Naomi Magdanz in Lodi, California tells about her 6-year-old grandson, Joshua. Joshua attended a Vacation Bible School with the theme, “What Would Jesus Do?” To remind the children of the theme, they made little armbands with WWJD on the band. One evening Joshua’s mother asked him to change his clothes. Joshua looked at his armband and said, “WWJD - What would Jesus do?” His mother replied that she thought Jesus would do what his mother asked him to do and change his clothes. Joshua thought ...

3860. The Question that Will Change Your Life

Matthew 16:13-20

Sermon

King Duncan

Have you noticed there are all kinds of questions? There are silly questions and there are great questions. There was a comedian who was riding a subway into work. He had finished reading the morning paper and was saving it to bring to his friends at work. “How do you save a newspaper on the subway?” he asks. You sit on it. A new commuter came on the subway, saw the newspaper that the comedian was sitting on and asked, “Are you reading that paper?” The comedian stood up, turned the page, sat down on the ...

3861. God's Adopted Children

Ephesians 1:1-14

Sermon

King Duncan

Welcome on this first Sunday of a New Year. Some of you have probably been working on your New Year’s resolutions. On the other hand, it’s been three days. Some of you have probably already given up on your New Year’s resolutions. One poor guy I heard about tried praying about his resolutions. He got down beside his bed one night, closed his eyes and offered this earnest prayer: “Lord, in 2016, my prayer for the New Year is a fat bank account and a thin body. Please don’t mix these up like you did last ...

3862. Personal Remarks

2 Timothy 4:9-18

Understanding Series

Gordon D. Fee

This section exhibits all the earmarks of a piece of private correspondence from antiquity. The author urges its recipient to come posthaste (v. 9); indicates why he wants him to come (he is alone, vv. 10–11a), who and what to bring (vv. 11b–13), and whom to watch out for along the way (vv. 14–15); and concludes with information as to how things have been going with him (vv. 16–18). On its own all of this is so ordinary as to elicit no surprise from anyone. It would be one more among thousands of letters ...

3863. The Celebration of the Great Multitude in Heaven

Revelation 7:9-17

Teach the Text

J. Scott Duvall

Big Idea: God and the Lamb receive praise for saving the people of God through the great tribulation and for comforting and protecting them afterward. Understanding the Text The Revelation 7 interlude features a single vision showing the situation of the people of God, but from two different perspectives. First, in 7:1–8 we see God’s people sealed or protected and prepared for spiritual battle. Second, in 7:9–17 we see God’s people celebrating in heaven following their victorious endurance through the ...

3864. Pay Attention!

Luke 10:38-42

Sermon

Robert C. Cochran

Many people are troubled by today’s gospel. Good Christian folk are disturbed that hard-working Martha got criticized for trying to serve Jesus and wanting Mary to do her fair share. What a blow this passage is to the “Protestant” work ethic! Those who favor gender-specific roles for men and women are disturbed because the one who didn’t seem to know that her place was in the kitchen was commended while the “good housewife” was condemned. Oddly enough, some feminists are also disturbed: Martha seemed to be ...

3865. Don’t Just Do Something, Stand There!

Matthew 17:1-13

Sermon

Dean Feldmeyer

The Cadillac ELR commercial that was made for and launched during the 2014 Winter Olympics, was called “Poolside.” It featured actor, Neil McDonough, blond, handsome, and cocksure, touting not so much the car as the people who made it and, more importantly, the people who can afford to buy it. In fact, if you don’t watch carefully you don’t even know it’s about a car. It was about hard driving, innovative, creative Americans and it poked a playful stick in the eye of those laconic, lazy Europeans. It ...

3866. Clean Hands

Psalm 26:1-12

Sermon

Will Willimon

Here is someone whom you would not want for a roommate. Here is someone whom your mother might pick for your roommate, but even your mother wouldn't want to live next door to the person who wrote Psalm 26. Hell would be an entire Saturday night in the presence of this person. Would you listen to him pray? "I have walked in my integrity, I have trusted in the LORD without wavering… I walk in faithfulness to thee. I do not sit with false men, nor do I consort with dissemblers; I hate the company of evildoers ...

3867. No Turning Back

John 6:56-69

Sermon

Frank Ramirez

At the dawn of the Space Age it looked like the United States was losing the Space Race — and soundly. The Soviet Union had launched the first artificial satellite in 1957. In response the Vanguard rocket blew up on the pad. Both nations then began to work on putting a human into space. The American Project Mercury was projected to put a man in orbit by late 1960, but delay after delay — sometimes out of caution and sometimes out of concerns for safety because the rockets continued to blow up, allowed the ...

3868. Easter Fear

Mark 16:1-8

Sermon

Will Willimon

At the end of this service last Easter, after the glorious music, the majesty of it all, throngs of people were surging forth after having sung their ''Alleluias'' and their ''Hosannas," shaking my hand, telling me how beautiful everything was, how well I did, how great it was to be here. And then there was this young man, surely a student, who filed through the door, shaking my hand, saying only, ''I don't know. I just don't know." As we all danced forth into the warm glow of Easter, the certainty of our ...

3869. In the Wilderness of Temptation

Mark 1:9-15

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

I had the strangest dream the other night. I found myself standing at the gates of heaven talking to St. Peter. I thought, "Oh, man, there's still a bunch of stuff I haven't done yet." St. Peter grinned and said, "Don't worry, you're just here for a guided tour." And sure enough that's all it was. St. Peter took me around showing me all the sights. The streets really are paved with gold. Everything was more beautiful than I could ever describe. But there was one really strange aspect about heaven. ...

3870. A New Identity for a New Year

John 1:(1-9), 10-18

Sermon

King Duncan

We all know what it’s like to have a memory lapse when we are tired or stressed. Few things make you feel more idiotic or frustrated than wracking your brain to remember the simplest bit of information. Does the phrase “senior moment” strike a familiar chord with anyone? A woman wrote into a blog called Cafemom.com with a funny story about her father’s memory lapse while on vacation. The father had just driven his five kids to Canada, and he was dead tired. The border agents, as part of their routine ...

3871. Sharing God's Vision

Acts 2:1-21

Sermon

King Duncan & Angela Akers

When was the last time you had trouble communicating with someone? It happens to all of us at some time. Maybe it’s because you didn’t understand the other person’s language or culture. Maybe it’s because a word can mean different things to different people. There’s an old joke that used to be popular around the Pentagon that the different branches of the Armed Forces have trouble operating jointly because they don’t speak the same language. For example, if you told Navy personnel to “secure a building,” ...

3872. Is This All There Is?

Revelation 21:1-6

Sermon

Will Willimon

“Behold, the dwelling of God is with men. He will dwell with them, and they shall be his people.” Last week I came to the office early, disposed of some correspondence, returned a few telephone calls, and had time on my hands by ten thirty. The students were in exams so it was unusually quiet around here. I decided to escape, to take the rest of the afternoon off. The warm April sun shone through the sun roof of my little Japanese bubble as I soared down 751, wind tousling my hair, sailing toward freedom, ...

3873. Daniel Interprets the Dream of a Tree

Daniel 4:19-27

Understanding Series

William Nelson

The King Becomes a Beast-Man and Then Recovers: In terms of form, chapter 4 starts out as a letter from King Nebuchadnezzar addressed to all people everywhere. It begins in the first person with praise to God (4:1–3). Next, the king relates in his own voice the story of his dream (4:4–18). Then the account shifts to the third person for Daniel’s interpretation (4:19–27) and for the narrative of how the dream was fulfilled (4:28–33). Finally, the text reverts back to the first person as Nebuchadnezzar ...

3874. Keep Things Flowing

Luke 16:19-31

Sermon

Richard Patt

There was a beautiful lake that lost its zesty freshness. The water formerly had been clear. It was alluring to animals and people alike. But it became covered with a green scum. The farm animals became ill from drinking the water. Finally someone came by the lake who understood the problem. Debris collecting from the hard spring rains had stopped up the dam and prevented the free flow of water, not into the lake, but out of the lake. The spillway was cleared, and soon the lake was fresh and clean again. ...

3875. Getting Down To The Local Issues

Sermon

Thomas Long

"The landscape of politics is changing," explained the political pundit on the television talk show. His hands were outstretched in front of him, palms up, as if to say, "We may as well face it." "It's the impact of the instant, electronic media," he continued. "Two generations ago, a presidential candidate could write one speech addressing the big issues facing the nation and whistle stop around the country giving it everywhere. But not today. The issues are hotter and more immediate. People don't care ...

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