Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 401 to 425 of 3852 results

Deuteronomy 15:12-18

Understanding Series

Christopher J. H. Wright

... i.e., release from slavery), is also based on the first law in the Book of the Covenant (Exod. 21:2–11). As with the above š e miṭṭâ law, which comes straight after the account of the exodus, it preserves the basic intention of the original law (Hebrew slaves should be granted freedom after six years of service) but adds some typically Deuteronomic extras. If a fellow Hebrew, a man or a woman . . . It is very probable that the word “Hebrew” here has a socioeconomic meaning rather than a merely ...

402. A Prophecy Against Moab

Isaiah 15:1--16:14

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

... 9; 48:1; 59:14, 15) that meet with and need to mirror that of God (38:18, 19; 42:3; 61:8). On justice and righteousness, see on 1:21. The link between these traits and the establishment of the Davidic throne appears in 9:7, though God’s original promise to David recurs elsewhere (2 Sam. 7:16). The link between God’s love, God’s faithfulness, and the establishing of David’s throne appears in Psalm 89:33–37 in the context of a lengthy exposition of God’s promise to David. It is a further wonderful ...

403. John Mellencamp and the Danger of Procrastination

Mark 1:14-20

Sermon

King Duncan

... ” (Luke 9:59-62). Jesus’ call is one of urgency. This is the way life is. The really important things require us to respond without delay. Consider, for example, how urgent it is that we demonstrate our affection for those we love. Years ago when the original “Dear Abby” was asked what letter was requested the most for reprinting, she put into her syndicated column this one: “Dear Abby: I am the most heartbroken person on the earth. I always found time to go everywhere else but to see my old gray ...

404. A Child of the Resurrection

Luke 20:27-38

Sermon

King Duncan

... dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive.” And you know it’s true because of the great love God has for His children. This has been God’s plan from the beginning of time. The Bible tells us that death was not part of God’s original plan for creation. God created Adam and Eve in God’s image. He created them to live eternally with Him, to share in the work of tending to the Garden of Eden, to enjoy the beauty of creation and the perfectly ordered rhythms of life together. Adam and Eve’s ...

405. The Surrogate

Matthew 1:1-17

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... He doesn’t name every wife. He names 5 women (Bathsheba not even by name) with very special stories in the history of the faith, and in Jesus’ lineage, all of them “gentiles” or married to one (ethne in Greek) or the original Jewish “goyim” (people or cultures other than Jewish)**, or one could use in the case of four of them the fairly interchangeable word “nokhri” (foreigners). All of them (save Mary) have intermarried. Technically Mary has “intermarried” also with the Holy Spirit. All ...

406. What Kind of Sheep Are You?

Luke 2:1-7, Luke 2:8-20, Ezekiel 34:1-31

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... make things right in the pasture of our lives. God called a new Lamb to exemplify the others, to be the One Perfect Sacrifice; God called a new Shepherd to take over God’s flocks, in the ancestral place called Bethlehem, the origin of shepherds, the origin of the first Shepherd King, David. And it’s all about the metaphors! Cause who did God’s angels first choose to announce Jesus’ birth to? [Allow people to answer.] Shepherds! Shepherds! Why Shepherds? Of all of the “important” people one might ...

407. Mending Fences

Luke 16:1-15, Luke 16:16-18

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... of the company’s loyal customers. You meet with them personally to hand over the checks and present them with a personal gift from the company, and the CEO. People are happy. The CEO commends you for your quick thinking. And for repairing the damage you had originally done with the trust of clients. You still are going to lose your job. That trust is broken. But you have at least earned the respect of the CEO, and have proven that you can put your values in the right place, that you value relationships ...

408. The Infiltrator

John 10:1-21, John 10:22-42

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... his confrontations with the Pharisees over his identity and his mission. It’s no mistake that John tells us about this location. Jesus in these confrontations calls himself the Gate for the Sheepfold, and the Good Shepherd –all the while standing where the original “gateway” and “threshing floor” stood. For Jesus IS the gateway, the judge, the new Temple. Jesus IS the gateway to God’s kingdom. Jesus IS the king AND the Good Shepherd. In the lineage of King David, and with the wisdom of Solomon ...

409. The Funeral Crasher

John 14:1-4, John 14:5-14, John 14:15-31

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... a cycle but an eternal “spring,” an advancing rotation, because what begins in life doesn’t end in death, but goes on to a new kind of birth and a new kind of life even more brilliant than the original. We don’t return merely to origins, but we advance to a new place that recalls our origins but steps boldly too into new and fertile ground …with Jesus by our side. From garden to feast. From new birth to maturity of faith, from cradle of civilization to a mansion of many rooms in the palace of the ...

410. Deep Faith

Genesis 6:1-8:22, Genesis 5:1-32

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... of the deep and floodgates of heaven: these are the sources of the primal watery abyss that incubates creation. In the Noah story there are rains that fell and the earth was covered in the watery “deep” –all of this sounds much like God’s original creation plan, now Creation 2.0. In fact, we are given a kind of “review” of Genesis 2 in Genesis 5:2: “He named them “adamah.” Later, in Genesis 8, like adam and eve before him, Ham mocks his father’s “nakedness” and future generations ...

Even in literature and art, no man who bothers about originality will ever be original: whereas if you simply try to tell the truth (without caring twopence how often it has been told before) you will, nine times out of ten, become original without ever having noticed it.

C. S. Lewis

Your manuscript is both good and original, but the part that is good is not original and the part that is original is not good.

Samuel Johnson

Your manuscript is both good and original; but the parts that are good are not original, and the parts that are original are not good.

Samuel Johnson

Very few people are original. There's very little original anything out there. Because to be original means you have to stand alone.

Susan Powter

Your manuscript is both original and good. But the parts that are original are not good, and the parts that are good are not original.

Samuel Johnson

416. Dealing with T-A-R-E-ists

Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43

Sermon

R. Kevin Mohr

... T-A-R-E-ists patiently with forgiveness. Some biblical scholars have pointed out the perhaps intentional linguistic hint at the connection to forgiveness in verse 30. When the landowner tells his servants to allow the wheat and the tares to grow up together, the original Greek for “allow” is the same word used for “forgive” in Matthew’s version of the Lord’s Prayer, to forgive as we have been forgiven. To not practice forgiveness is to run the risk of becoming just like the evil we are trying to ...

417. Words Are Not Enough

Matthew 21:23-32

Sermon

Roy Howard

... , needing only to be plugged in, lit up, or turned on to go down the path. It’s just not that easy. Biblical texts, particularly the parables, require something more from us. They summon us to listen carefully and then make interpretive bridges from the land of their origin with its vineyards and fig trees, sheep and goats, to the land we live in that is vastly different, at least on the surface of things. People who listen for God’s voice in the text and then risk living by what we believe to be truth ...

418. Abba! Father!

Galatians 4:4-7

Sermon

Ron Love

... . It is the Young arrangement that is commonly accepted throughout the world today, having been translated into 300 languages. Sadly, Young omitted Mohr’s fourth verse, the one written especially to offer hope for the depressed people of Austria. As it was originally sung in Mohr’s Saint Nicholas Church in Austria, the meaning of compassion flowed forth from the candle lit sanctuary as the fourth verse was solemnly sung: “Where on this day, all power of fatherly love poured forth, and Jesus like a ...

419. We Need Some Good News

Mark 1:14-20

Sermon

Michael L. Sherer

... repentance is heading on a path away from God, not toward a full life of love, grace, and mercy. That’s why repentance so important. Good news comes without price, without condition; but a person can miss it by turning away from it. Jesus may have been the original “evangelical.” He came proclaiming the best news possible. God is for us. God is not hiding somewhere. God is not far away. God is not a cruel taskmaster. God is as near to us as the ground we walk on, as the blood that flows through our ...

420. The Thing About Evil

Luke 8:26-39

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... against us. Lead us away from all temptation and deliver us from all evil. For YOURS is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory….forever. [1]Michael Hefferon, “Vampire Myths Originated With a Real Blood Disorder,” The Conversation, June 23, 2020, https://theconversation.com/vampire-myths-originated-with-a-real-blood-disorder-140830. [2]“Witchcraft, Women, and the Healing Arts in the Early Modern Period: Wise-Women and Cunning Folk Healers,” UAB Libraries,University of Alabama Birmingham, last ...

421. The Mud Room

John 9:1-41

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... worked on farms in the early part of the 20th century, today, most people work either in immaculately ordered, technologically savvy offices, or from their own wired homes. As a result, we have lost touch with the land that feeds and nourishes us, and with our own origin story, our roots if you will. We’ve lost our acceptance of “mud and mess” as a vital and expected part of our lives.We devalue mess. We disdain mess. We no longer create “space and place to be messy.” For many of us, this may seem ...

422. Daniel Interprets the Dream of a Tree

Daniel 4:19-27

Understanding Series

William Nelson

... was recognized by the king as being endowed with a divine spirit (4:8), one wonders why Nebuchadnezzar even asked his counselors. Why did he not go straight to Daniel? On this puzzle the text is silent, but it may be because chapters 2 and 4 were originally independent stories that have only loosely been tied together in the larger work. Parts of chapter 4 are in poetry, but there is debate about which verses. The NIV sets out only verses 3 and 34b–35 as poetry, while the NRSV includes also verses 10–12 ...

423. The Dream is Fulfilled

Daniel 4:28-37

Understanding Series

William Nelson

424. Strength for The Journey

John 16:12-15

Sermon

Dean Feldmeyer

... fife. In the foreground, a wounded soldier lies propped up on a broken caisson wheel, waving his cap while, in the background, other soldiers rally behind the musicians with bayonets fixed. Commissioned for the American Centennial Exposition of 1875, it was originally titled “Yankee Doodle” but quickly became known as “The Spirit of ‘76” because people believed that it embodied a specific kind of spirit that was unique to the American people.[2] Thomas Jewett wrote that at the time of the American ...

425. God Is Like...a Comforter

2 Corinthians 1:3-7

Sermon

Kenneth L. Gibble

... s gospel, when Jesus announced he would be leaving the disciples, he said, “If I go not away, the comforter will not come unto you” (John 16:7). More recent translations substitute “counselor” or “helper” for “comforter.” But if we remember the original definition of “comfort” as “giving strength to,” it makes perfect sense for Jesus to refer to the Holy Spirit as “comforter.” The comforter, the Holy Spirit, will give the disciples the strength they need to carry on when Jesus is ...

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