Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 4226 to 4250 of 4489 results

4226. Grace to You, and Peace

Revelation 1:4b-8

Sermon

Lee Ann Dunlap

The weeklong pastor's training event was about halfway through its course and the pastor coordinating the event was enjoying her break with a leisurely stroll across the grounds. But what began as a beautiful leisurely spring day soon turned somewhat anxious when she returned to her room and found a message taped to her door, "Call the bishop's assistant as soon as possible." She spent part of the afternoon playing phone tag between class sessions. "Whatever could it be?" she pondered. The week was flowing ...

4227. Been There. Done That.

1 Corinthians 11:23-26

Bulletin Aid

Frank Ramirez

Call To Worship One: What shall I return to the Lord for all his bounty to me? All: I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord. (based on Psalm 116:12-13) Collect Lift high the cross. Lift high the cup. Like the apostles at that final supper, we stand on the brink together, not knowing what may happen, but we know we must let go, and fall or fly with Jesus. Grant us the courage, King of salvation, to step into the darkness with you, that we may forever walk in the light. Amen. ...

4228. Blazing a Path to Christ

Mark 1:1-8

Sermon

Richard Gribble

"In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue." When we were children we were taught this little rhyme as a way to remember one of the most momentous events in modern history. Columbus was a trailblazer who dared to believe that it was possible to reach the East Indies by sailing west across a vast uncharted ocean. By its very nature the voyage was dangerous and the sailors who braved the challenge were filled with fear. People are instinctively afraid of what they do not know. Yet, even with the odds stacked ...

4229. The Author Who Wipes Away Sins

Acts 3:12-19

Sermon

Ron Lavin

The pastor was very frustrated. It was almost time for the worship service to begin and he couldn't get the microphone to work. He paced back and forth by the baptismal font and stewed and brewed. He tried everything he could think of. Finally, he said, "This blankety, blank microphone doesn't work." At that precise moment, the head usher, who had gone to the master control box for the sound system, turned the switch to "on." The pastor's words were broadcast to the people. The shocked congregation ...

4230. What Do You Want?

Illustration

Scott Hoezee

What do you want? What do you want? That question is such a common place. The waitress comes up to your table and asks, "Do you know what you want?" and you reply, "The chicken salad on rye, please." The telemarketer whose phone call has interrupted your dinner drones on and on until finally you break in to ask, "Can you please just tell me what you want!" Your child barges into the den while you are trying to read a book and with a slight hint of irritation in your voice you ask, "Honey, what do you want ...

4231. A Priceless Gift

Matthew 25:14-30

Illustration

King Duncan

Lois Cheney in her book, God is No Fool, tells a revealing parable about a man who was touched by God. God gave this man a priceless gift the capacity for love. The man was grateful and humble, and he knew what an extraordinary thing had happened to him. He carried this capacity for love like a jewel and he walked tall and with purpose. From time to time he would show this gift to others, and they would smile and stroke his jewel. But it seemed that they'd also dirty it up a little. Now, this was no way to ...

4232. Back to School

Luke 2:41-52

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

In November 1987, Time carried a cover story entitled "Who's in Charge?" The magazine answered its own question with these words: "The nation calls for leadership, and there is no one home." How can the church assert leadership in the world today? In many churches the Sunday after Christmas is also "Student Recognition Sunday" - the reason being that on this Sunday there is probably a pretty good chance that those kids who grew up in the congregation and have gone off to college are in town for the weekend ...

4233. Let's Give Jesus a Hand

Galatians 6:1-10

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

"What is that in your hand?" God asked of Moses as God called Moses to lead Israel out of Egypt (Exodus 4:2). God asks us the same question today. And God will ask us the same question at Judgment Day: "What is that in your hand?" In some churches today there has developed the terribly annoying custom of someone interrupting worship or a concert and hollering, "Let's give Jesus a hand," causing everyone to erupt into applause. While this type of enthusiasm is certainly a welcome sign of life (especially in ...

4234. Dare Care

Acts 2:1-21

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

If we want transformation, we must risk chaos of the chrysalis. Risk is another word for faith. Remember your first science project? Or more precisely, what is the first science project you remember? Often, one of the first science projects children undertake is to watch a plain little caterpillar spin a cocoon about itself until it is completely shrouded within a chrysalis. The wonder of transformation is made real to the children when, days later, an entirely different creature a beautiful butterfly ...

4235. A 24-7-365 God

Hebrews 7:23-28

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

God can be a 24-7-365 God because Jesus was a 1-time Savior. In football, the quarterback calls out a series of numbers before the ball is hiked. Sometimes these numbers are random. Other times they themselves are signals, letting the other players know what play the quarterback wants to run. Christians can also designate a series of numbers that represent how God's presence will be played out in their lives: 24-7-365. It's not a very complex code to crack. The God revealed through Christ's sacrifice is a ...

4236. Holy Spirit Holes

Acts 2:1-21

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

Where are your Holy Spirit holes that open you to the Divine? The Bible has been a book for 500 years ever since Gutenberg invented the printing press. How did people come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ before the Bible was a book? Your ancestors who were living in the medieval period how did they come to be Christians? We mistakenly nickname the "Middle Ages" the "Dark Ages" those centuries after the old Roman Empire fell but before Europe established itself as the new center for intellectual ...

4237. A Bill of Rights

Matthew 15:(10-20) 21-28

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

A church that believes in anything and everything is standing on the brink of believing in nothing. What is your basis for deciding between right and wrong? Do you even think in terms of right and wrong anymore? Do you have categories of rightness and wrongness in your life? Or are you paralyzed by an overdose of tolerance, drowning in what is "politically correct"? Jesus was more loving and accepting than any person who has ever walked this earth. He dined with sinners and tax collectors, he welcomed the ...

4238. Celebrate Your Critical Mass

Matthew 18:15-20

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

Where two or three are gathered together, there is no need for a standing committee. Before AIDS, one of the most terrifying diseases people lived in fear of was polio. It was the cruelest of diseases. Overwhelmingly targeting children, it would break out primarily in the warm, golden summer months, killing or permanently crippling its victims within days, or even hours. When, at last, Dr. Jonas Salk announced the possibility that a vaccine had been developed, the hoped-for cure went from experimental ...

4239. God Will Be God

Matthew 20:1-16

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

The first lesson of Spirituality 101 is that God is God ... and we are not. The CitiBank credit card commercial features a decent-looking guy sincerely "telling it like it is." His voice narrates the story of the family vacation, while scenes from that outing flick by on the screen. The family goes on a trip, stops at a souvenir tourist trap and the kids want a zillion pieces of plastic junk. The guy narrating sighs and states, "So I pay. I'm the Dad. It's my job." More vacation scenes. The family stops at ...

4240. Drawing Lines

Luke 16:19-31

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

The chasm between heaven and hell is a line that has been crossed by the cross of Christ, a line that has been turned into a circle by our risen and regnant Lord. Each of the various disciplines within the social sciences likes to believe that it has its finger on what makes human beings "tick." For Freudian psychologists, sex is the driving force behind all we do. Disciples of Eugene Skinner see a simple desire to experience pleasure rather than pain as that which shapes our behavior. Economists find ...

4241. Philippians 4:49

Philippians 4:49

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

This week's Epistle reading begins with one of Paul's most jubilant phrases: "Rejoice in the Lord always, again I will say rejoice." Having finished a brief reprimand (philippic) to some of the believers at Philippi, Paul now feels free to return to the theme of joy and thanksgiving that permeates this letter. The tenor of verses 4-7 differs so substantially from both the preceding and following thoughts that this section has often been used as evidence of the fragmentary nature of the Philippians ...

4242. 1 Corinthians 13:1-13

1 Corinthians 13:1-13

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

Here we have probably the best known words Paul ever wrote. Paul has just spent the last chapter convincing the Corinthians that spiritual gifts come in many forms, and that each form is as valuable and worthy as any of the others. Using his famous "body" analogy, Paul has made a strong case for the interdependence of all manifestations of the Spirit. Suddenly, as though afraid the Corinthians might miss something obvious, Paul abruptly re-directs his focus. Having validated the equality and equanimity of ...

4243. 1 Corinthians 10:1-13

1 Corinthians 10:1-13

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

Paul spends considerable time in 1 Corinthians on the topic of food. Chapters 8-11 all look at the use and abuse of such a humble human necessity when it provides a symbolic means of dining with the divine. This week's epistle text lies midway through his discussion. In chapter 10 Paul begins by reaching back into Hebrew history to show how the fickle tendencies of the human spirit can undo the exquisite acts of love and deliverance God may perform. Paul spends the first four verses citing some of the most ...

4244. Luke 10:25-37

Luke 10:25-37

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

All of this quarter's Gospel readings are from Luke - a fact that makes focusing on any of the other weekly texts quite difficult, for Luke is one of history's most masterful storytellers. Thoroughly steeped in Jewish Scripture, Luke's descriptions are so vital, his characters so pungent, his scenes so artfully set, that our whole being is drawn into the flair and fascination of these stories. It is no surprise that Luke's Gospel is most commonly read at Christmas, or that our most beloved parables are ...

4245. Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30

Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

This week's gospel reading stretches over two separate pericopes. Each has a distinct message, and each shares some common concerns. Both are within Matthew 11 a chapter devoted to answering a single question. In 11:2, the imprisoned John the Baptist sends his disciples to Jesus to ask, "Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?" Although Jesus' first response uses positive images, he soon begins to discuss the attitudes and outlooks for those who fail to see him as "the one who is to ...

4246. Galatians 2:15-21

Galatians 2:15-21

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

Paul's letter to the Galatians, while highly personal and emotional, yet also offers some of the clearest and most powerful expressions of theology the apostle ever wrote. The text read for today's epistle lesson starts a new section in the letter. It is concerned with the theological fallout created by the actions of Peter and the others in Antioch. Paul has already told the Galatians how he confronted Peter and openly voiced his displeasure with what he called their "cowardly" or "insincere" behavior. ...

4247. Galatians 3:23-29

Galatians 3:23-29

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

In the Galatian Christian community, there was evidently a faction that kept insisting that the primarily Gentile Galatians must follow the Jewish law if they wished to be truly Christian. What is more, as is apparent from Paul's response, these law-advocates focused on both the Abrahamic covenant and the later Mosaic law. If there was anyone well-acquainted with the promises extended to Israel through both these paths, it was the elite-educated, erstwhile-zealous Pharisee, Paul. Heightened by his obvious ...

4248. Matthew 24:36-44

Matthew 24:36-44

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

This Sunday marks the beginning of Advent, a season in the church calendar that, in similar fashion to Lent, is a time for spiritual preparations and reparations. It is in this spirit of preparation/reparation that Jesus admonishes his listeners to watch and be ready for the unexpected and unpredictable return of the Messiah. Jesus' immediate concern here, in what stands as one of his final discourses with his disciples, is to prepare them for the tumultuous events about to unfold in Jerusalem. The texts ...

4249. Philippians 4:49

Philippians 4:49

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

4250. 1 Corinthians 13:1-13

1 Corinthians 13:1-13

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

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