Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 4301 to 4325 of 4963 results

4301. Prison Theology: Bait and Bail

Philippians 1:12-30

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... and political authorities with all his talk about grace and forgiveness. No wonder Paul was looking towards a heavenly life with Jesus with more enthusiasm than a life of constant persecution and prosecution. Ultimately, however, Paul acknowledged to the Philippians that to remain with them "in the flesh" was more of a service than to die in prison. Paul was not afraid of death. But Paul was not afraid of life either, especially life as a follower of Jesus. The "writing disciple," Paul produced many ...

4302. An Invitation to a Wedding

Matthew 22:1-14

Sermon

King Duncan

... wants them to change. He hates what they’re doing and the effects it has on everyone else and on themselves too. Ultimately, if he’s a good God, he cannot allow that sort of behavior, and that sort of person, if they don’t change, to remain forever in the party he’s throwing for his son . . . “The point of the story is,” continues Bishop Wright, “that . . . God’s kingdom is a kingdom in which love and justice and truth and mercy and holiness reign unhindered. They are the clothes you need to ...

4303. Leave Your Calculator Home

Matthew 22:15-22

Sermon

King Duncan

... money. Many strong people tried other weightlifters, construction workers, etc., but nobody could do it. One day a short, skinny guy came in and decided to give it a try. The crowd laughed. The owner grabbed a lemon and squeezed away, then he handed the wrinkled remains to the little man. The crowd’s laughter turned to silence as the man clenched his fist around the lemon and squeezed six drops of lemon juice into the glass. As the crowd cheered, the manager paid out the winning prize. Then he asked the ...

4304. An Announcement to a Virgin

Luke 1:26-38

Sermon

King Duncan

... . The scourge of slavery was common in New Testament times. Some slaves were captives taken in war. Many people were forced into slavery as a way to work off debts. But in some instances, a slave came to love his or her master and willingly choose to remain in slavery rather than go free. In those cases, the slave was declared a bondslave one who chose to serve out of love rather than obligation. This was how Mary saw her relationship to God. She would willingly give up her own agenda and submit herself to ...

4305. An Announcement from a Stable

Luke 2:1-7

Sermon

King Duncan

... a Merry Christmas, and stood there for a moment under a street light. Fiddler saw for the first time that on the back of his guests’ jackets there was lettering. It said, “Hell’s Angels ‑ New York.” He says his mother‑in‑law said nothing during the remaining two‑block ride to their house. Probably she was unable to speak. When they went inside she said, “I’ve never been so terrified in my entire life, so please open that bottle that I brought you. I need a very large drink!” (2) As I ...

4306. Last Impressions

Matthew 22:34-40

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... opening. In this week’s gospel text his words reveal that we are to be about the eternally opening power of love, both the love for God and the love for our “neighbor.” Throughout the ordeal of his arrest, torture, trial, and crucifixion, Jesus remained “open” to the power and presence of God’s love. It sustained him, empowered him, enabled him to forgive those who abandoned and attacked him, gave him the strength to sing Psalm 22 from the cross about the victory he was attaining. Here is the ...

4307. Waiting in Life's Waiting Rooms

1 Thessalonians 5:16-24

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... unseen, trusting what you know by faith, not by sight. For birds this is the warm thermal streams of air that can keep them aloft and headed in any direction they wish to go for hours at a time. For those of us who remain faithful and “on watch” during this season of Advent and beyond, our “thermals” are our “rejoicings,” our “prayers” and our “thankfulness” that uplift us to “soar” through the most difficult periods of our lives. Instead of “a.m.” and “p.m” it used to ...

4308. Why He Did It

Mark 8:31--9:1

Sermon

King Duncan

... ] had a venereal disease. Yet Jesus shunned shame as he [went to the cross]. And the moral gulf that separated him from us was far greater than that separating me from the men at the clinic … But he crossed the gulf, joining our ranks, embraced us and still remained pure. He identified with those he came to save. He became like us.” (5) This was Christ’s mission to live and die among men and women to suffer as we suffer and to celebrate as we celebrate. He came to show us we have nothing to fear ...

4309. The Condemning Heart

John 3:1-21

Sermon

King Duncan

... of us are too hard on ourselves. And it stands as a barrier between ourselves and others. More than 30 years ago a Jesuit priest, John Powell wrote a book titled, Why Am I Afraid To Tell You Who I Am? The book has sold millions of copies and remains in print to this day. Powell’s simple thesis is that people hide who they really are from others because of one basic fear. He describes this basic fear in an actual conversation he had with someone. Powell said to this other person “I am writing a booklet ...

4310. Starting Over

John 12:20-36

Sermon

Wayne Brouwer

... nations around, and also on the wickedness that clings like leeches to the people of the covenant themselves. The judgment on the nations will fall because of their great wickedness and violence; condemnation will rain on God’s people for their failure to remain true to the Sinai covenant. But all talk of the “Day of the Lord” by the prophets also included two other dimensions. That day would see God’s mighty hand preserving and protecting a remnant of God’s people as well. God had declared ...

4311. Getting to a Teachable Moment

Mark 15:1-15

Sermon

Craig MacCreary

... the suspense not by keeping “who done it” a secret but by following how Columbo would figure out who done it. By the time the reader of Mark gets to Holy Week, we know that Jesus is God’s Son and that it will remain a secret. Much to the frustration of the religiously learned pondering the parables does not solve the mystery of Jesus’ full identity. If anything, the mystery only deepens as one considers Jesus’ actions and teachings. “They were astounded at his teaching, for he taught ...

4312. Have You Checked Your Love Levels Recently?

Mark 9:2-13

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... it was less divine glory itself than the glory of divine love that was beamed out and bored into those who witnessed this mountaintop moment. The recent, and deadly, measles outbreak this winter has reminded us of how truly, and biologically, fragile we all remain. To willingly ingest an “inoculation” always involves a modicum of risk. We risk the presence of a “germ” within our body, because we are assured that it will protect ourselves, and our children, in the future. In this week’s text we are ...

4313. Show Me Your Baptismal Certificate

Mark 1:9-13

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... those “beasts” were just four legged creatures the worst “beasts” come with two legs all too often). Happy Baptism Day, Jesus! Jesus’ baptismally revealed identity did not win him any immediate fanfare or loud applause. But Jesus’ baptismal identity remained with him throughout his lifelong mission and ministry. Jesus’ identity was never “safeguarded.” Jesus’ identity was always a target. If you’re looking for a safety-first, risk-free life, then don’t follow Jesus. As the pews in ...

4314. Everything Must Go: “Abandon Ship!”

1 Chronicles 29:1-9

Sermon

James Merritt

... and it is not true. As a matter of fact, it brings out some of the most vile characteristics of other people’s personalities that you can imagine. [1] Sylvester Stallone is not the only person who has said that or experienced that. The question remains, “How can this thin piece of paper cause anybody any trouble?” Yet, this piece of paper has caused marriages to break up, friendships to dissolve, families to split apart and nations to go to war. Why? How can such a seemingly harmless thing that can ...

4315. The Door Is Open

John 10:1-21

Sermon

James Merritt

... enters by me, he will be saved and go in and out…” (John 10:9, ESV) A timid, frightened sheep would stay in the fold day and night and never go to eat in the pastures chosen by the shepherd, because he would be afraid. The careless, overconfident sheep would remain in the pasture all day and never come back to the fold ignoring the danger. The job of the shepherd was to make sure that the sheep knew it was safe to come in and safe to go out. That is why every person in this planet needs the door ...

4316. The Good Life

John 10:11-18

Sermon

James Merritt

I read a story the other day id never heard before about Abraham Lincoln. He was surprised one day when a rough looking man drew a revolver and put it right in his face. Trying to remain as calm as he could Lincoln simply asked the man, “What seems to be the matter?” The stranger replied, “Well some years ago I swore an oath that if I ever came across an uglier man than I am I’d shoot him right on the spot.” Lincoln smiled and ...

4317. What Are You Waiting On?

John 11:1-16

Sermon

James Merritt

... had already been in the tomb four days. Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off, and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother. So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, but Mary remained seated in the house. Martha said to Jesus, ‘Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.’” (John 11:17-21, ESV) How many times have we said that to God, “Lord if you had done this, this would not have happened. If you had ...

4318. The Failure

Luke 23:26-43

Sermon

James Merritt

... played city-league ball, but I felt like a failure. You’ve been there. You intended to finish college, but you quit. You feel like a failure. You intended to be married until, death due you part, but you divorced and you feel like a failure. You intended to remain a virgin, but you lost your virginity. You feel like a failure. You invested in a business, convinced you would strike it rich, but you lost it all and you feel like a failure. If you have ever failed in anything and feel like you are a failure ...

4319. Reliable Witness

Luke 24:36-49

Sermon

King Duncan

... nothing less than a resurrected Christ could have caused those men to maintain to their dying whispers that Jesus is alive and is Lord. Two thousand years later, nothing less than the power of the risen Christ could inspire Christians around the world to remain faithful despite prison, torture, and death.” (8) It’s a matter of faith. But that doesn’t mean we have turned our minds off and accepted as truth something that is appealing but without substance. Just as we accept the teachings of science, no ...

4320. Lost

Luke 15:1-7

Sermon

James Merritt

... one coin? What about one sheep? To lose 1-out-of-100 is not bad. Any businessman I know would be thrilled if he had a 99% profit margin in his business. Did you know that major grocery stores work off of about a 2% profit margin total? The question remains why would a shepherd leave ninety-nine sheep to go after one? Why would a woman worry about one coin when she had nine left? It wasn’t because one sheep was valuable, because one sheep by itself is of very little value. It is not because one drachma is ...

4321. To the Rescue

Genesis 3:1-24

Sermon

James Merritt

... on papyrus, a paper like material that was made from a plant in some cases and other cases the hide of an animal. The ink that was used to write on that paper had no acid in it and it could not soak into the writing material. Since the ink remained on the surface you could just take a wet cloth and wipe it off. When Jesus Christ died on the cross God wiped our debt clean. Paul goes on to say, “This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.” (Colossians 2:14, ESV) Two things were nailed to the ...

4322. Start at the Epicenter

1 John 1:5--2:14

Sermon

James Merritt

... not necessarily the last person you talk to is God. When you talk to God you do confess. You talk openly, transparently, and honestly. As painful as it may be, first of all, you’ve got to fess up to your mess up. You don’t have the right to remain silent before God. You can’t plead the 5th Amendment against God. Let me put it this way. If you want to come clean you must confess completely. That means you’ve got to begin by calling sin what it is and that is “sin.” One of the problems we ...

4323. Digging Deeper

Luke 1:1-4

Sermon

James Merritt

... .[2] All of that is to say the text of the New Testament including the Gospel of Luke that we have today is almost exactly the same as the text as it was originally written. Of the approximately 138,000 words in the New Testament, only about 1,400 remain in doubt. In other words, the text of the New Testament is about 99% established. This only proves half the point. It is one thing to say that Luke’s gospel is historically reliable. It is another thing to say it is historically accurate. I could have the ...

4324. It's Not Rocket Science

John 8:31-41

Sermon

James Merritt

... as the energy is becoming less available. Scientists know this. Do you know what? Thousands of years ago the psalmist knew about it. “Of old you laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you will remain; they will all wear out like a garment. You will change them like a robe, and they will pass away.” (Psalm 102:25-26, ESV) The Bible is not a geography book, but it does talk about geography. One of the reasons Christopher Columbus was convinced ...

4325. The World's Largest Covered Dish Lunch

John 6:1-15

Sermon

... until Revelation. Each time a verse spoke to the topic of poverty, wealth, justice, or oppression, they cut it out. They wanted to see what a compassionless Bible looked like. By the time they finished, nearly two thousand verses lay on the floor, and a book of tattered pages remained. They discovered that if you cut concern for the poor out of the Bible, you cut the heart out of it. (2) I wish more of us had a heart for the down and out like Jesus did. So many people have needs that are so great. There is ...

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