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Showing 4176 to 4200 of 4934 results

4176. Proper 23

Exodus 32:1-14, Psalm 106:1-48, Matthew 22:1-14, Philippians 4:2-9

Bulletin Aid

B. David Hostetter

READINGS Psalter - Psalms 106:1-6, 19-23 First Lesson - Aaron and the people succumb to idolatry in the absence of Moses, who is communing with God on the mountain. Exodus 32:1-14 Second Lesson - Paul urges the Philippians not to get bogged down in petty quarrels but to find joy in the appreciation of good qualities in people and in themselves. Philippians 4:1-9 Gospel - Jesus continues speaking in parables to stimulate human readiness for divine judgment. Matthew 22:1-14 CALL TO WORSHIP Leader: The grace ...

4177. Easter 6

Psalm 66:1-20, John 14:15-21, Acts 17:16-34, 1 Peter 3:8-22

Bulletin Aid

B. David Hostetter

READINGS Psalter - Psalms 66:8-20 First Lesson - Paul's preaching identifies God with the gospel of Christ's resurrection, sparking both curiosity and ridicule. Acts 17:22-31 Second Lesson - Baptism saves us from sins in the present life for the life of the Spirit in heaven with the resurrected and ascended Christ. 1 Peter 3:13-22 Gospel - The Spirit of truth will counsel disciples after the resurrection of Jesus so that they are not alone but inspired to loving obedience of the continuing commands of the ...

4178. LOST? Looking For Love

John 3:16-17, 1 Corinthians 13:4-8a, 1 John 4:7-19

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

A young man went to get a picture of his girl friend picture duplicated. It had to be removed from the frame. In doing so, he noticed an inscription on the back of the photo written by his girlfriend: "My dearest Tommy: I love you with all my heart. I love you more and more each day. I will love you forever and ever. I am yours for all eternity." It was signed "Dianne" That describes the kind of relationships that Shannon on Lost, always seemed to have. And then there was a P.S.: "If we should ever break ...

4179. Your Face Gives You Away

Luke 9:28-36

Sermon

King Duncan

Welcome to worship on this Valentine’s Day, 2010. That’s a reminder to the husbands in the congregation, just in case you forgot. According to one source, it is easy TO TELL YOU FORGOT VALENTINE’S DAY. Here are some dead giveaways: The kids tell you that Mom “went to bed early” and “locked the door” . . . while you were taking out the trash. Hallmark calls, offering discounts on apology cards. You wake up with a florist’s ad stapled to your forehead. (1) Just a friendly warning. And I also need to say ...

4180. What Matters In the Light of Eternity: “Prayer Matters”

Acts 2:42-47

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

Big Ed went to church and listened to the preacher. When people were invited to come forward for prayer, Big Ed got in line. “What do you want me to pray about?” asked the preacher. “About my hearing,” answered Big Ed. So the preacher promptly put one finger in Big Ed’s ear, lays his hand on his head and prays fervently for Big Ed’s hearing to improve. After several minutes the preacher said, “Amen,” and asked Big Ed, “How’s your hearing?” “I don’t know,” replied Big Ed, “the hearing won’t be until next ...

4181. If, Because, Regardless

2 Thessalonians 3:6-13

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

There's a silly story going around about two factory workers, Joe and Lester, who were talking. "I know how to get some time off from work," said Joe. "How do you think you'll do that?" asked Lester. Joe proceeded to climb up to the rafters of the factory and hang upside down by his knees. The boss walked in, saw Joe hanging from the ceiling, and asked him what on earth he was doing. "I'm a light bulb," Joe answered. "I think you need to take some time off," said the boss. So, Joe jumped down and walked ...

4182. Come, Holy Spirit, Come

Psalm 104:24-34

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

Lord, listen to your children praying, Lord, send your spirit in this place, Lord, listen to your children praying, Send us love, send us power, send us grace. Come, Holy Spirit, come. Fill the hearts of your faithful. Send forth your spirit and we shall be created and you shall renew the face of the earth. It's Pentecost! Pentecost is more than red paraments, strange language and smoke in the sanctuary. Pentecost is about the Spirit of God, bringing creation out of chaos, breathing into us the breath of ...

4183. Leaping Where You Cannot Look

Hebrews 11:1-40

Sermon

King Duncan

Somewhere I read some amazing information about an antelope known as the African impala. These residents of southern and eastern Africa are amazing leapers. They can jump to a height of over 10 feet. One leap can cover a distance greater than 30 feet. Yet these magnificent animals can be kept in an enclosure in any zoo with a 3‑foot high wall. You see, impalas will not jump if they cannot see where their feet will fall. That is a wise, conservative approach to life. Do not jump if you cannot see where your ...

4184. Restoration Frustration

Isaiah 63:7-9

Sermon

Tony Everett

Here we are gathered together a few days after Christmas. How did you celebrate the birthday of Jesus? How did everything go for you? For most folks, some empty spaces remain. Just like our pews this morning, where there are empty spaces that were filled on Christmas Eve, there may be post-Christmas empty spaces in our hearts. For most of us, Christmas preparations and celebrations rarely meet expectations. Not everything goes smoothly. Not every gathering is joyful. Not every program and worship service ...

4185. Lighting up Lent

Ephesians 5:8-14

Sermon

David O. Bales

Can you recall a significant event that changed many things about you: maybe a natural disaster like a flood that swept away your house, maybe you had a car accident that left you with a limp, or a happier change when you got married? Either way, on the next day you are different and now you must start living life differently. That's how Paul begins our text. "Once you were darkness, but now in the Lord you are light. Live as children of light." He starts off with our profoundly changed situation now that ...

4186. The Case of the Dancing Men

Psalm 51:1-19

Sermon

King Duncan

Some of you may be fans of the PBS show, “Mystery.” Pastor Richard Slater tells about a scene in one of those PBS presentations, a Sherlock Holmes mystery, “The Case of the Dancing Men.” As the story opens, a young woman is gathering flowers in her garden. Suddenly, her face is transformed into terror by something she sees. She drops her basket of flowers and runs panic stricken toward her home. Once inside, she bolts the windows and doors, draws the drapes tight, and falls sobbing and trembling into a ...

4187. Loving Deeply (Mother's Day)

1 Peter 1:13-2:3

Sermon

King Duncan

Since today is Mother’s Day, I thought I would begin with a list someone has made which they have called “Murphy’s Laws of Parenting.” See if you can identify with any of these: The later you stay up, the earlier your child will wake up the next morning. The gooier the food, the more likely it is to end up on the carpet. The longer it takes you to make a meal, the less your child will like it. A sure way to get something done is to tell a child not to do it. For a child to become clean, something else must ...

4188. Beating Babel

Acts 2:1-21

Sermon

David E. Leininger

Once upon a time, in the dim and distant past, a little Jewish child asked, "Mommy, Daddy, why do people from different countries talk funny?" And the response came from an even dimmer and more distant past — the story of the Tower of Babel that we find in chapter 11 of Genesis. Human pride had decided it would make a name for itself and would build a city and a tower that would be a gateway to heaven; God would not allow such presumption so the speech of the workers was confused, they fell to bickering ...

4189. God’s Great High Priest

Hebrews 5:5-10

Sermon

Nancy Kraft

Redeemer, Word made flesh, Messiah, Savior, Son of God, Prince of Peace, Christ, Good Shepherd. There are many different terms that are used in the New Testament to describe who Jesus was. When you start to look at all these terms a couple of things become clear. First of all, Jesus was not a one-dimensional person and secondly, there are many ways of interpreting who he was and what he was all about. The writer of Hebrews has a unique way of describing who Jesus was. Hebrews is the only book in the New ...

4190. A Four Word Memoir

Philippians 1:12-30

Sermon

King Duncan

Human beings are a terrific source of creativity. Even at the time of death. For example, consider this epitaph on a grave from the 1880s in Nantucket, Massachusetts: Under the sod and under the trees . . . Lies the body of Jonathan Pease. He is not here, there’s only the pod . . . Pease shelled out and went to God. Or this one from a more recent burial: Here lies my wife . . . Here let her lie. Now she’s at rest . . . And so am I. Or this one from the grave of a dentist named John Brown: Stranger! ...

4191. Seeking Christ

Mark 1:29-34

Sermon

King Duncan

Sometime back Dr. Phil Berry took a picture outside a roadside convenience store. The store was on the Texas border on the highway leading to Colorado. It was one of those portable advertising signs with flashing lights along the top meant to lure in passersby. At the top of the sign it read, “Last chance Lotto Texas, clean restrooms, snacks.” Then, at the bottom of the sign, almost like an afterthought, it read, “Jesus is Lord.” “It’s like, on the way out of Texas, whatever you need, they have it,” says ...

4192. The Simplex Faith of 3:16

John 3:1-21

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

If I were to say three numbers, “3:16,” what would you say? Wow! Some of you didn’t even say “John 3:16,” you just started quoting the verse: “For God so loved the world . . . “ If there is one Bible verse both locked down and totally lapsed Christians might know, it is John 3:16. Thank you, Tim Tebow. John 3:16 is held up at half –time in sports arenas. It is flashed on cardboard placards on freeway off-ramps. Tim Tebow found a creative new place to assert John 3:16 when he scraped out the three numbers ...

4193. The Judas Gene

John 18:1-11

Sermon

David E. Leininger

Why did Judas do it? Was it the money, the thirty pieces of silver? He did have a reputation for dipping into the poor box from time to time (John 12:6), so the cash may have been part of it. But thirty pieces of silver was not that much, and he returned it after the deed was done anyway. If, like the other disciples, he was perennially worried about where he stood in the pecking order, he may also have been reacting to some imagined slight. After all, he was the only one of the twelve who was not a ...

4194. Simon the Sorcerer

Acts 8:9-25

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

8:9–11 Among the crowds that “paid close attention to what Philip said” (v. 6) was one Simon, a Magus (see notes). He practiced the charms and incantations of the East and by these means had held the Samaritans in his thrall for a long time (v. 11). They called him the Great Power (v. 10), apparently at his own suggestion (v. 9). From the New Testament, as indeed from later sources relating to the Samaritans in particular, we learn that “power” was a name given to any angelic or divine being (cf., e.g., ...

4195. Abimelech

Judges 9:1-57

Understanding Series

Cheryl A. Brown

The Rise of Abimelech: The story of Abimelech reveals the depths of degeneracy to which Israel had fallen in their rebellion against the Lord. Abimelech, evil as he was, was able to accomplish what he did because he exploited Israel’s tribal chauvinism and perverse desire for an earthly king, which gave expression to their inner rebellion against the One who already was king in Israel (8:23). Israel got what it deserved in Abimelech. Here, for the first time in Judges, the oppressing power came from within ...

4196. The Lord's Anger Against Israel

Hosea 13:1-16

Understanding Series

Elizabeth Achtemeier

No Other God and Savior (13:1-8): Chapter 13 is clearly made up of four originally separate oracles—verses 1–3, 4–8, 9–11, and 12–16. All four oracles probably date from the last years of Hosea’s ministry and from the last years of Hoshea ben Imla’s reign, around 724 BC. Thus, they have probably been set in their present place by a disciple/redactor of the prophet’s work. Shalmaneser V is on the throne of Assyria, soon to be replaced by Sargon II, who will conquer the last remains of the northern kingdom. ...

4197. Jesus Demonstrates Status Inversion in the Kingdom

Matthew 19:1-12, Matthew 19:13-15, Matthew 19:16-30

Teach the Text

Jeannine K. Brown

Big Idea: Matthew illustrates the inversion of status in God’s kingdom by narrating Jesus’ protection of women in his teaching on divorce, his valuing of children, and his stringent call to a rich man who would follow him. Understanding the Text Following Jesus’ fourth major teaching block (chap. 18), Matthew provides his usual formula to transition to a narrative section (19:1; also 7:28–29; 11:1; 13:53; 26:1). Themes accentuated in the previous discourse are illustrated narratively in 19:1–26. The ...

4198. Jesus Is Tried before Pilate and Sentenced to Death

Matthew 27:1-10, Matthew 27:11-26

Teach the Text

Jeannine K. Brown

Big Idea: Although Jesus is innocent of all charges and is truly the king of the Jews, he is delivered to be crucified by Pilate, the Roman governor, at the instigation of the Jewish leadership in Jerusalem, aided by Judas. Understanding the Text Following Jesus’ trial before the Sanhedrin, the chief priests and elders bring him to Pilate, the governor (27:1–2). Matthew narrates the self-inflicted death of Judas, emphasizing Judas’s belief in the innocence of Jesus, a theme that continues through this ...

4199. Spiritual Hypocrisy—Living by the Rules, Not by the Heart

Mark 7:1-23

Teach the Text

Grant R. Osborne

Big Idea: In this passage about spiritual hypocrisy Jesus teaches that God’s people must live their lives not by how they appear externally to others but how they really are within. It is not external codes of conduct but the inner life of the heart that really matters. Understanding the Text The theme of failure continues from 6:45–53, as the disciples’ hardened hearts (6:52) link them to the Pharisees (3:5; 10:5) in their inability to comprehend the reality of Jesus and the kingdom (see “The Text in ...

4200. An Encounter across the Lake

Luke 8:26-39, Luke 8:22-25

Teach the Text

R.T. France

Big Idea: Jesus displays his unique power over both the natural elements and supernatural oppression. Understanding the Text Thus far, Jesus’s mission has been confined to the Jewish areas of Galilee, though we have heard of crowds from a wider area coming to hear him (6:17–18). The decision now to cross the lake takes him into Gentile territory on the eastern shore. It is only a brief visit, but it symbolizes the wider extension of the Jewish Messiah’s ministry to non-Jewish people, already signaled in 2: ...

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