Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 4026 to 4050 of 5000 results

1 Samuel 3:1--4:1

Sermon

King Duncan

... is to be a messenger of God's love, and that the form of his giving is to sweep the streets and to become friends with the students at Mission High School." (1) Have you heard God's voice lately? I realize that we must be careful at this point. Mark David Chapman killed former Beatle John Lennon. He said a voice inside his head kept saying, "Do it! Do it! Do it!" So heeding the mysterious voice, he pulled a .38 caliber pistol from his pocket and pumped five bullets into John Lennon's back. Be careful if you ...

4027. The Ultimate Success Formula

Mark 8:31--9:1

Sermon

King Duncan

Jesus would turn over in his grave, if he were in his grave -- which, of course, he is not. However, I want to suggest to you this morning that the ultimate formula for worldly success is found in a portion of his words in Mark 8:34, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me." In a secular sense that text alone would guarantee any person's success in the wonderful world of business or art or education or sports or whatever career you may ...

4028. Rise Above It

Hebrews 4:14-5:10

Sermon

King Duncan

... paralyzed for a year and a half. A sympathetic nurse gave Iglesias a guitar to help pass the time in the hospital. Though he had no prior musical aspirations, Iglesias went on to become a huge success in the pop-music field. Iglesias's accident marked a watershed in his life, a turning point after which everything changed. (4) A less serious event changed forever the fortune of an old-time vaudeville performer named Al Jolson. Jolson was starring in a musical, Honeymoon Express, early in his career, when he ...

4029. Connections In High Place

John 15:1-17

Sermon

King Duncan

... who will seek what they need in their neighborhood bar. Some will seek it sitting in front of a television set hour after hour after hour. Others will look for it in art, in philosophy, some in bizarre personal indulgences. All other streets except that marked Christ, however, are dead end. All of us are alarmed at the rising rate of crime, particularly crimes of violence. It shocks us to read that in a certain year, eighteen thousand persons were murdered in this country. It might shock us more, however ...

4030. The Awesome Power Of Love

John 15:1-17

Sermon

King Duncan

... loser Charlie Brown stands by the phone with a grin on his face. One little friend asks, "Who was that?" He answers, "I think it was a right number." Jesus was speaking to the church: "This I command you, to love one another." Love was the mark of Christianity in the first two centuries. Tertullian summed it up like this, "Look...how they love one another." Would the casual observer say the same thing about our church today? "Look how they love one another." Would it be possible for a hungry soul to ...

4031. Do Not Lose Heart

2 Corinthians 4:1-18

Sermon

King Duncan

... whereupon worry walks out. " How true it is. It's like a construction crew that was building a new road through a rural area, knocking down trees as it progressed. A superintendent noticed that one tree had a nest of birds who couldn't yet fly. He marked the tree so it wouldn't be knocked down. Several weeks later the superintendent came back to the tree. He got into a bucket truck and was lifted so he could peer into the nest. The fledglings were gone. They had obviously learned to fly. The superintendent ...

4032. God's Plan For His World

Ephesians 1:1-14

Sermon

King Duncan

... times at the Equator. This bridge, used by nearly 24 million vehicles annually, cost $62 million to build. The imposing George Washington Bridge was first a dream in the minds of those who had vision. Then it was put on paper and every detail marked down before actual work was begun. (4) Every great accomplishment begins with a vision, a dream, then a plan. Some of you may remember one of the more absurd shows that ever graced our television screens, the infamous "A Team." The black van careening around ...

4033. What Makes You Blush?

Mark 8:31--9:1

Sermon

King Duncan

... makes you blush? Part of the problem is that we no longer have models of morality to inspire us. The philosopher Frederick Nietzsche once summed up morals and ethics in the question "Who are your heros?" There aren't very many heros of morality around anymore. As Mark Twain said, "It is curious that physical courage should be so common in the world and moral courage so rare." "That's the media's fault," you say. "They take our heros apart. They show them, warts and all. We no longer have fantasies about the ...

4034. Looking For Mr. Right

James 4:13-17

Sermon

King Duncan

... , too. So, men get busy! We want each of you around a long time. OF COURSE, THERE IS ONE ASSUMPTION IN MARRIAGE MORE IMPORTANT THAN ANY OTHER. THAT IS THE ASSUMPTION OF PERMANENCE. Either marriage is a lifelong commitment or it is not. Jesus says in our lesson from Mark's Gospel that it is a lifelong commitment. We began this message telling about two brides who married the wrong men. We said that it was more important to be the right man or woman than to find the right man or woman. That truth is borne out ...

4035. The Deal Of A Lifetime

Mark 10:17-31

Sermon

King Duncan

... you raise $10,000, you will get back 1 million. If you raise $100,000, you will get back 10 million. Is there anybody in this room who would turn his or her back on that kind of opportunity? Listen carefully to the words of Jesus in our lesson from Mark's Gospel: "Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time..." That's quite a promise. Whatever you ...

4036. The Secret Of Winning

Isaiah 52:13--53:12

Sermon

King Duncan

... . Dr. Broadway resigned the next morning because he didn't want to play God. (2) We can appreciate his agony. How would you like to make a decision like that? Sometimes we have to make difficult decisions, though. Indeed, the persons who make their mark in this world are decision makers. Luciano Pavarotti was unsure when he graduated from college whether he should be a teacher or a professional singer. His father said, "Luciano, if you try to sit on two chairs, you will fall between them. For life, you ...

4037. Opening Up Heaven

Luke 3:21-22

Sermon

King Duncan

... we so rarely experience the opening of heaven and the descent of the Holy Spirit. "A student work director at a large university was giving his guest speaker a tour of the campus ministry building. As they walked down a hallway, the guest saw a sign marked `prayer room' over a doorway. As they moved past, it became obvious that the director didn't intend to show him that room. Curious, the speaker reached for the knob. His nostrils were assaulted by a musty smell. The room was stuffed with boxes, boots ...

4038. Idle Tale Or Eternal Truth?

Luke 24:1-12

Sermon

King Duncan

... Canyon, "Something happened here!" And it did! He is alive! For over thirty years the principal speaker on the International radio program The Lutheran Hour has been Dr. Oswald Hoffmann. He is an outstanding speaker with a dynamic personality, but the real mark of his brilliance is the simplicity of his message. When asked, "What is the difference between Christianity and all the other religions of the world, Dr. Hoffman replied, "Jesus Lives!" That is the good news. Jesus lives! A Norwegian pastor on a ...

4039. Blessed Are The Believers

John 20:24-31

Sermon

King Duncan

... found himself confronted by God. Russell replied, "I shall say to Him, `Why did you make the evidence of your existence so insufficient?'" There is a part of us that says with Thomas, "Unless I see in his hands the print of the nails, and place my finger in the mark of the nails, and place my hand in his side, I will not believe." We all long for certainty. But that is one gift that God has not granted us. UNDOUBTEDLY, HE HAS HIS REASONS. If His aim is to produce mature spirits fit to spend eternity in His ...

4040. Forgiven!

Galatians 2:11-21

Sermon

King Duncan

... puts it in Galatians 2: 21, "I am not one of those who treats Christ’s death as meaningless. For if we could be saved by keeping Jewish laws, then there was no need for Christ to die." (Living Bible) Forgiven! Can you grasp the full meaning of that word? Mark Twain once said that everyone is a moon and has a dark side which he never shows to anybody. Twain may be right, but here is the Good News. God sees that dark side that nobody else can see. Yet because of what Christ has done upon the cross, he ...

4041. Living Smart

Luke 10:38-42

Sermon

King Duncan

... . Begin with your commitment to Jesus Christ and let the rest of your life flow from there. That's the difference between simply living and living smart. 1. Judson Edwards, REGAINING CONTROL OF YOUR LIFE, (Minneapolis:Bethany House Publishers, 1989). 2. "Brain Fuel," DISCOVER (July, 1988), p. 23. 3. Mark H. McCormack, WHAT THEY DON ™T TEACH YOU AT HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL, (Toronto: Bantam Books, 1984). 4. Nido R. Qubein, COMMUNICATE LIKE A PRO, (Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1983). 5. Eric Ritz

4042. Narrow Doors-limitless Horizons

Luke 13:22-30

Sermon

King Duncan

... born in the 16th century. J. Edgar Hoover was a 19th-century president...The Great Gatsby was a magician in the 1930's. Franz Joseph Haydn was a songwriter who lived during the same decade. Sid Caesar was an early Roman emperor. Mark Twain invented the cotton gin...Jefferson Davis played guitar for the Jefferson Airplane. Benito Mussolini was a Russian leader of the 18th century; Dwight D. Eisenhower came earlier, serving as a president during the 17th century...Socrates (was an) American Indian chieftain ...

4043. No Price Too High

Luke 14:25-35

Sermon

King Duncan

... beneath his abilities. Bertoldo grabbed a hammer, stomped across the room and smashed the work into tiny pieces shouting as he did, "Michelangelo, talent is cheap; dedication is costly." (5) Dedication is costly. It cost Matthew his life by a sword in Ethiopia. It cost Mark his life at the hands of a mob in Alexandria. Luke was hanged on an olive tree in Greece. It cost the Apostle John banishment on the Isle of Patmos. The once doubting Thomas paid the price on a lance. James the Greater was decapitated ...

4044. Determined Discipleship

1 Timothy 6:11-21

Sermon

King Duncan

... competitor. Nike promptly sued Dawkins the cost of the useless posters and punitive damages for fraud. Actually, Nike was lucky. According to the company ™s general counsel, another athlete once wore shoes with one company ™s stripe on one side and another company ™s mark on the other and tried to collect from both! "When we caught him," they reported, "he said that if he ™d had any more room, he would have tried three." So it goes in the big money world of professional sports and advertising. To ...

4045. How Much Faith Is Enough?

Luke 17:1-10

Sermon

King Duncan

... . Some of you will perhaps occupy remarkable positions. Perhaps some of you will become famous by your pens, or as artists. But I know one thing: the only ones among you who will be really happy are those who have sought and found how to serve." Those words are true. Mark them down. The unhappiness in our lives does not come from our lack of faith, but from our lack of service. Do you see now a new dimension to Jesus' teaching about having the faith of a grain of mustard seed? It doesn't take a lot of faith ...

4046. Persistence In Prayer

Luke 18:1-8

Sermon

King Duncan

... . “Why, I’d sooner vote for the Devil!” “Fair enough!” called out the candidate, “But in the event that your friend doesn’t run, may I have your support?” Well, that’s one candidate who wasn’t put off by a little opposition. That’s good. The mark of a successful person is that he or she doesn’t give up just because things are not going his or her way. One man who never gave up was Thomas Edison. Edison’s wife died at a very young age. Two years later he remarried. During the time ...

4047. Marriage In Heaven? No. Heaven In Marriage? Yes.

Luke 20:27-40

Sermon

King Duncan

... , mutual sharing and respect and a firm commitment that this really is ˜til death us do part. 1. Nathan Ausubel, A TREASURY OF JEWISH HUMOR, (New York: M. Evansand Company, 1951). 2. Harold Hazelip and Ken Durham, JESUS OUR MENTOR AND MODEL,(Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1987). 3. Mark Hunter, THE PASSIONS OF MEN, (New York: G.P. Putnam ™s Sons, 1988).

4048. Thankful For The Right Things

Colossians 1:11-20

Sermon

King Duncan

... a gift that is dependent on someone else’s efforts. You may receive a large inheritance not because you are so smart or energetic, but because you had a grandfather who was. Or in some cases you had a grandfather who was never caught. Just kidding. Wasn’t it Mark Twain who said he spent a large sum of money to trace his family tree and then spent twice as much trying to keep his ancestry a secret? A little baby can come into a large inheritance simply by accident of birth. One of the consequences of the ...

4049. Lord, When You Came Down To The Jordan

Matthew 3:13-17

Sermon

King Duncan

... . She had simply loved all of her students. (3) When we are baptized, we align ourselves with Jesus, loving other people as Jesus loves us. Finally, when we identify with Jesus, we identify with a sick and dying world. Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan River marked the beginning of his earthly ministry. Our baptism is our starting point as well. Agatha Burgess lives in the small mill town of Buffalo, South Carolina. She gets up every morning to cook at five o’clock. Eighty-year-old Agatha has been doing this ...

4050. Finding Jesus

John 1:29-34

Sermon

King Duncan

Bill Bryson traveled to Hannibal, Missouri, to visit the boyhood home of author, Mark Twain. The house was a "trim, white-washed house with green shutters, set incongruously in the middle of downtown." It cost two dollars to walk around the site. Bryson found the house a disappointment. "It purported to be a faithful reproduction of the original interiors," he writes, "but there were ...

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