Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 4276 to 4300 of 4957 results

4276. When the Caterers Weren’t Available

Matthew 14:13-21

Sermon

King Duncan

... man born blind. This apparent act of kindness would lead to all sorts of problems with Medicare or Medicaid. All disability benefits would immediately be stopped, and the man in question would probably face an investigation into whether his previous claims had been genuine. Raising the dead. Environmental health officers wouldn’t be happy about this one, either, as there are stringent rules governing the proper disposal of bodies. There would also be major difficulties when the recently deceased tried to ...

4277. Matthew 14:22-36

Matthew 14:22-36

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... elaborate on the motive behind Jesus’ emphatic dismissal of his dining companions, the disciples, as soon as that miraculous meal was concluded. John’s gospel offers a bigger picture of the event. According to John the well-fed crowd called for Jesus to claim his political leadership, a kingly identity, on the heels of his obvious powers to heal the sick, teach the unlearned, and feed the hungry. According to John’s gospel it is in response to that politically charged atmosphere that Jesus sends his ...

4278. Resolutions for a New Year

1 Corinthians 1:3-9

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... move into this special season when we think of "peace on earth," it would be most blessed if we could enjoy real peace, certainly in our violent world, but most especially within the fellowship of the church. Of all places on earth, the one that claims to serve the Prince of Peace should be expected to be the most peaceful. Unfortunately, peace in the church is more of a dream than a reality. Over the course of ecclesiastical history, there have been some incredible church fights. Should infants be baptized ...

4279. Power!

Mark 1:4-11

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased" (Mark 1:11). What an image! It is as if God the Father is confined to heaven at this fantastic moment and in euphoric frustration rips and tears the very fabric of the universe to lay claim upon Jesus, the Son. It is a cosmic "Yes," arms raised high and feet dancing. It is love spilling out, the cup overflowing. Not celebrating the conclusion of a work-well-done, but before anything was done, and now about to embark on his ministry. This changed everything ...

4280. Laugh, Thomas, Laugh!

John 20:19-31

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... lesson for the Sunday after Easter each year is the same, the story of the risen Christ's appearance to the disciples in the upper room on Easter evening, the note that Thomas happened to be absent that night, his abrupt response to the claim of resurrection, then the gathering one week later with Thomas now in attendance, the reappearance of the risen Christ, and the doubter's wonderful "about face" (or perhaps better, "about faith"). "My Lord and my God" (v. 28). Thomas ... doubting Thomas. I have always ...

4281. Handling Freedom

Exodus 20:1-17

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... man's wife. The problem comes from subsequent children this woman might have: Who's your daddy? That becomes a major concern when passing on property from one generation to the next: It is harder to keep the property in the family when there are conflicting claims about who fathered the heir. The word is "Do not adulterate this family unit" by introducing some "foreign" element into it, and creating a mess in determining who is family and who is not. Commandment #8: "You shall not steal" (v. 15). Another no ...

4282. Beating Babel

Acts 2:1-21

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... been done which shows that some of what we hear and do not hear is quite deliberate. One experiment had two groups of subjects, smokers and non-smokers, listen to messages, some of which implied that smoking causes cancer and others which claimed the opposite. The messages were obscured by static, which could be eliminated if the listener pressed a button. Smokers more frequently removed static from the "smoking does not cause cancer" messages while non-smokers more frequently cleared up the "smoking causes ...

4283. Preaching Back Home

Mark 6:1-13

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... him" (v. 3), says the text. The word "offense" can also be translated "scandal" and some commentators would prefer that. Celsus, a pagan philosopher, wrote True Doctrine sometime between 177 and 180 CE as an attack on Christianity. The great offense of this faith was not the claim that a human could be born of a virgin or that a human could be divine; but the fact that it could happen to a member of the lower classes![1] Hmm. Neither Matthew nor Mark indicate that the offense came at anything Jesus said or ...

4284. Jesus Christ, Superstar

Mark 14:12-26

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... said was the intention) and by omitting the resurrection, "Superstar" was sacrilegious. They also found the character of Judas too sympathetic and some of his criticisms of Jesus offensive. At the same time, some Jews said that it bolstered the anti-Semitic claim that the Jews are responsible for Jesus' death by showing most of the villains as Jewish and showing the crowd in Jerusalem calling for the crucifixion. There were pickets outside the theater when it opened on Broadway. To be sure, some of ...

4285. Sex, Sex, and More Sex

Song of Songs 2:8-13

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... in a modern translation - it will not take you long, only eight brief chapters - there is not a single mention of God. Not once. A wonderful collection love poems, okay ... but holy scripture? Some have rushed to its defense. One famous Jewish teacher, Rabbi Akiba, claimed that, "The whole world is not worth the day on which the Song of Solomon was given to Israel; for all the scriptures are holy, but the Song of Solomon is the holy of holies."[2] So some interpreters, stuck with this book that could melt ...

4286. Welcoming Jesus

Mark 9:33-37

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... greatest." Muhammad Ali. (And you thought I was going to say Jesus.) Ali is a fascinating character (despite his current battle with Parkinson's), and he has been since his brash days in Louisville when we knew him as Cassius Clay and heard his boastful claim, made over and again through the years, "I am the greatest." A sportswriter once asked him, "When you say, ‘I am the greatest,' do you mean the greatest fighter or the greatest human being?" Ali replied quickly, "I mean that I am the greatest boxer ...

4287. How to Know What to Know

Mark 13:24-37

Sermon

Robert J. Elder

... only the Father" (v. 32). I have to wonder about those Left Behind authors who are forever predicting some cataclysmic termination of the world with all the assurance of a meteorologist forecasting dry weather for the Sahara. How do they know? If they claim scripture as their authority, why have they overlooked this passage? Jesus says even he won't know the day or hour. While Jesus doubted those who answer questions about end times saying, "Here!" he seems to confirm those who say, "Near!" declaring flatly ...

4288. Just Say the Word

John 1:1-9, 10-18

Sermon

Robert J. Elder

... spoken and worlds were created, the word that moved over the face of the waters and the world began to take shape at his command. "In the beginning was the Word" (v. 1). John's gospel begins with the Word of God, a powerful, creating Word. God's desire to claim us existed in the beginning, before any of us knew our own existence — indeed, before we existed at all. That's the way it was in the beginning, and in the end, that is the good news of the season we are just now finishing. It is good news because ...

4289. I Went Down to the River to Pray

Mark 1:4-11

Sermon

Robert J. Elder

... ," a chronological threshold by which time we will somehow comprehend what God is up to in the whole business of baptism. Even after years of considering what we are doing in the sacrament of baptism, I don't pretend to understand its mystery fully, any more than I claim to know the whole of the mind of God. Why does baptism matter? What are the voices speaking at baptism trying to say? Is it just a little drip of water, a few mumbled words? Baptism matters because it is a reminder that we are who God says ...

4290. Can Teach, Can Do

Mark 1:21-28

Sermon

Robert J. Elder

... human beings a tremendous evil. He was a Quaker, and decided to set as his life's goal the ridding of slavery from every Quaker home. Now, lots of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century people became involved in this issue on one side or the other, each claiming authority for their position. But this was John Woolman's method: he did not launch a protest movement or organize a political party or seek to force others to his way of thinking through legislation. He simply got on his horse and set out to visit ...

4291. Jesus at Home

Mark 2:1-12

Sermon

Robert J. Elder

... faith they heard expounded in their synagogues which had things to say about the forgiveness of God. To hear a word about forgiveness they might have gone elsewhere. But Jesus' word was not just a word about forgiveness. He declared that forgiveness was granted, claimed for himself, as it appeared to the religious scholars nearby, the power to forgive sin. I once read that back in the fifteenth century, in a far-off place in Russia called Kerajestan, a church was built. Construction took place during a time ...

4292. Looking Up: Looking Out

Mark 9:2-9

Sermon

Robert J. Elder

... must "suffer many things, and be rejected ... and be killed" (Mark 8:31). I don't know if you ever talk to people who tell you they have visions. I suspect not many of you do. In our culture we have grown distrustful of people who make such claims. But pastors get to hear this from time to time, and while I retain a healthy skepticism, I no longer dismiss these reports out of hand. People see things, they recognize things, things come to them in ways they did not expect, and they sometimes call them visions ...

4293. The Logical Conclusion

Luke 24:44-53

Sermon

John Smylie

... ours has been made holy and has been raised to the glory of heaven by the ascension of our Lord. This flesh that constitutes our bodies was and still today is in a mysterious way, the very flesh that our Lord Jesus Christ, himself, wore. No other creature can claim this privilege. This is why the angels bow down before us and serve us. The ascension of human flesh into heaven brought the greatest wound of all to Satan's pride. Of all the creatures and of all creation it is only this flesh that we bear that ...

4294. It’s Anybody’s Guess

Mark 4:30-34

Sermon

Kristin Borsgard Wee

... -ins. "I haven't done much," we say. "Whether it has any effect on the kingdom is anybody's guess." But Jesus disagrees. Part of the reason we get discouraged is that we are victims of bigness. Cities vie with each other to claim the greatest growth and the fanciest entertainments. Corporations are proud when their company occupies the tallest building in the city. Every day we read in our newspapers about famous people doing famous things. We have megamalls, megachurches, and megastorms. In contrast, Jesus ...

4295. When the Impossible Becomes Imminently Possible!

John 6:1-21

Sermon

Robert Leslie Holmes

... with undersized faith measure life by the horizons of their own limited capacity to think. In looking at their own thoughts, they miss the possibility of what Jesus "has in mind." How often has revival tarried because Christians wilt rather than stand for the faith we claim to hold so dear? John Milton's Satan in Paradise Lost learns that you can run but you cannot hide, for you will always take yourself with you: Infinite woe and infinite despair: Which way I fly is hell; myself am hell! In short, we are ...

4296. The Final Exam

Mark 10:17-31

Sermon

Steven Molin

... primo parking spot at the mall won't be so important, perhaps the treasure your neighbor's dog left in your yard won't upset you so and hopefully the disappointment of a job lost or a vacation cancelled will not rock your world. The Savior loves you, he's claimed you for eternity, and now you are free to live. Class is over! Thanks be to God. Amen.

4297. Integrity: Words with Meaning

2 Corinthians 1:18-22

Sermon

Scott Suskovic

... and read, "Send this guy the roach letter!" Meaningless words. Every day we need to sift through the muck and mire of empty words to find some real substance, integrity, and truth. Faced with this same uncertainty, Paul had to defend his decisions in 2 Corinthians 1 by claiming that he was a man of his word because of the integrity found in being a follower of Jesus. I have a friend named Susie who told me the story of growing up as a pastor's child. While there was always lots of love, there was not ...

4298. Who Will Vouch for Me?

2 Corinthians 3:1-6

Sermon

Scott Suskovic

... be done through the heart that has been renewed, restored, and forgiven. He has vouched for you. The Spirit has given you life. Now, vouch for him for the one who longs to know whether or not he is real. Amen. 1. Leo Strobel, "Maggie's Poem," God's Outrageous Claims: Discovering What They Mean for You (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2005).

4299. It’s about Grace

Ephesians 2:1-10

Sermon

Nancy Kraft

... It's about grace. It doesn't even mean that God does his part and we have to do a little bit on our part to meet God halfway. It's about grace — grace alone — period! When Paul wrote to the Ephesians, he wanted to silence anyone who claimed that their own good deeds in any way contributed to their salvation. After he makes that point perfectly clear, he concludes his argument by making a statement that almost seems to contradict everything he just said: "For we are what he has made us, created in Christ ...

4300. On The Night When He Was Betrayed

1 Corinthians 11:23-26

Sermon

Nancy Kraft

... of your closest friends? After opening yourself up and becoming vulnerable to another person, to have them abuse the trust you placed in them and stab you in the back can cause more pain than if that person had beaten you to a pulp. If a person who claims to love you turns around and hurts you deeply, you probably do what most of us do in that situation — you hurt them back. Certainly, you wouldn't choose to spend your last night alive with that person. Especially if you knew it was his betrayal that was ...

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