Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 4426 to 4450 of 4972 results

4426. Weaving the Spirit’s Trail

Matthew 20:1-16

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... . But then the “T’aa dine” or “The People” as they called themselves, discovered that they did not need to pass the “weft” (horizontal threads) through all of the “warps” (vertical threads) each and every time. By stopping the horizontal (weft) thread, some Navajo weavers discovered they could create other patterns, not just horizontal bands of color. These “pauses” or “lazy lines” enabled Navajo weavers to create terraced lines, diagonal lines, and their own unique patterns ...

4427. When Life Isn't Fair

Matthew 20:1-16

Sermon

King Duncan

... sections on airplanes. Craddock was seated in the no smoking section. He was seated on the aisle. Across from him sat a man who pulled a long black cigar out of his pocket and lit it up. Soon the area was filled with foul-smelling smoke. Craddock stopped the flight attendant, a very attractive young woman, and said, “Am I in the wrong section? I asked for no smoking.” Realizing what he was saying, she said to the man with the big cigar, “Uh, sir, this is no smoking.” He ignored her and kept puffing ...

4428. Rebellion in the Vineyard - Sermon Starter

Mt 21:33-46

Illustration

King Duncan

... a few awkward moments before the driver understood. Finally his face lit up. Quickly they sped away. Half an hour later, the taxi came to a screeching halt. The driver turned and beamed at his passenger, pointing out the window. There was only one problem. They had stopped, not in front of a hotel, but a match factory! Have you ever had an experience like that? Someone will say something and for whatever reason you do not understand. It's as if they were speaking a foreign language. You want to go back to ...

4429. Squeezing God In

Matthew 22:1-14

Illustration

Scott Hoezee

... attended church each Sunday. Yet this is how the novel's narrator sums up this religious practice: "We came to church to pay our respects, not to give thanks." When faith becomes a compartment of life instead of life's vibrant center, when you're just stopping off to put in your time or pay your respects, squeezing God in between everything else that you clearly value much more highly, then you reveal yourself as an ill-clad impostor. You haven't put on a festive wedding garment, you're still refusing to ...

4430. The Blessing Complex

Philippians 3:1-11

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... with as little as a glance or a smile or a tender touch; you can bless people on the street, in the sanctuary, down the hallway, or up the theater stairs. You bless people by how you see and hear and treat them. You can take a “blessing break:” stop and start thanking God for all your blessings; for your Fed Ex driver and his/her loyal service; for your computer and its not having crashed this week; for your pets; for your spouse. You don’t need to be holy to bless others. In fact, you need to bless ...

4431. Rescued and Transferred

Colossians 1:11-14

Sermon

Shirley Gupton Lynn

... was ready to do a duet with the leading alto. I had never sung a solo, and disaster struck early that Sunday morning. The guest organist began playing the wrong song. I was so anxious, I started singing anyway. Soon realizing the mistake, I calmly motioned for the music to stop and we started over. By the middle of the first verse, my stage fright overtook me and I couldn't sing a note. "Lord, I prayed, if you want me to sing this song, you'll have to help me." The Lord did nothing. No rescue came. The alto ...

4432. Floating on Your Back

1 Thessalonians 1:1-10

Sermon

King Duncan

... to remain perfectly still for about 5 minutes. That’s hard for anyone, especially a 5‑year‑old. Dr. Brown says, “About two minutes into the first sequence, we noticed that Mary’s mouth was moving. We even heard her muted voice on the intercom. We stopped the exam and gently reminded her not to talk. She smiled and promised. “We reset the machine and started over. Once again, we saw her facial movement and faintly heard her voice. What she was saying wasn’t clear. The staff was getting a little ...

4433. Oh, You'd Better Watch Out!

Mark 13:32-37

Sermon

King Duncan

... change. Another’s car wouldn’t start. And one person couldn’t get a taxi. Perhaps the most amazing was the man who put on a new pair of shoes that morning and headed in to work, only to develop a blister on his foot on the way. Because he stopped at a drugstore to buy a Band‑Aid for his foot, he is alive today. (5) We don’t know what the next moment may bring. Imagine the person who couldn’t get a taxi cursing his luck that he was going to be late, only to discover his seemingly ...

4434. Don’t Fear the Wait

Mark 13:1-8

Sermon

Richard Gribble

... of a lift, and who needed it too, On him he would call and see what he could do — Tomorrow Each morning he stacked up the letters he'd write — Tomorrow And the thought of the folks he would fill with delight — Tomorrow But hadn't one minute to stop on his way, "More time I will give to others," he'd say — Tomorrow The greatest of disciples this man would have been — Tomorrow The world would have hailed him if he had seen — Tomorrow But, in fact, he passed on, and he faded from view, And all that ...

4435. Baptism: The Common Call To Holiness

Mark 1:4-11

Sermon

Richard Gribble

... nothing will disturb me." He prayed day and night in the cave, but God sent him many temptations. He imagined all the good things in life and wanted them desperately, but he was determined to give up everything and be with God alone. After many months, the temptations stopped and the young man was alone with God. Then one day God called to him, "Leave your cave and go to a distant town. Look for the local shoemaker. Knock on his door and stay with his family for a few days." The holy hermit was puzzled by ...

4436. Accepting the Unconventional in Life

Mark 2:13-22

Sermon

Richard Gribble

... disease. When the woman with the hemorrhage touched Jesus' clothes she was instantly made well. In the famous parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 15:11-32), one reason given by scholars for the failure of the priest and the Levite to stop and aid the injured traveler is that such action would render them ritually unclean and, thus, necessitate a purification process. The Samaritan, however, ignored such conventions and reached out with compassion. Tradition took a back seat to meeting the immediate need ...

4437. Letting Go and New Beginnings

Mark 9:2-9

Sermon

Richard Gribble

... The blue sky and the shimmering hot sun were beautiful, but they had made the climb more difficult as sweat trickled down his back and into his eyes. The baggage he carried on the climb was becoming a great hardship; in fact its weight forced him to stop. He could climb no further. Overwhelmed with the task, the weary traveler placed the baggage aside and rested. After easing the baggage to the ground he rested against the side of a tree, allowing the cool and refreshing breeze to blow over him. He heard a ...

4438. A Clock or a Compass?

Mark 1:9-15

Sermon

David T. Ball

... the land and seed he needs in order to cultivate a sustainable harvest (Mark 4:1-9).1 To the extent we lock in on our modern, linear, precise sense of time and view Jesus’ words from this perspective, we create such problems for ourselves that when we stop and think about it make it nearly impossible to get excited about the idea that a new heaven and a new earth are taking the place of the old ones. Since the new ones didn’t replace the old ones during Jesus’ lifetime, which it appears he sincerely ...

4439. No Substitute

John 2:13-22

Sermon

David T. Ball

... abolish the whole practice of animal sacrifice, as excessively cruel to these living beings that after all are creatures of God like we are? The passage itself doesn’t really deal with these questions. “Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!” Jesus says, without really explaining what’s so bad about the combination of religion and commerce, especially when some kind of commerce in sacrificial animals was necessary to facilitate the established temple practice ...

4440. Momentous Moment

Mark 14:12-26

Sermon

David T. Ball

... feel awfully alone in such times? Our family and friends are there for us at the high points — graduations, births and birthdays, weddings, other celebrations of our achievements. But who is there when we are facing something we fear is so powerful that we cannot stop it? There is so little in our lives that provides a place and a space for us when we’re facing difficult situations. Of course, we can talk with friends and loved ones and pastors. We must. But beyond that, in terms of the occasions that ...

4441. The Quiet Day of Pentecost

John 16:5-16, John 15:18--16:4

Sermon

George Reed

... the Spirit and teach us what we need to learn. It is in our stillness that we are able to hear what God has to say to us and to find the will and the courage to do what is asked of us. This does not mean that we should stop talking to God. Our God loves us and cares about us and invites us to share our joys, our cares, and our entire lives in intimate caring. God wants us to be in conversation. But conversation involves both speaking and listening. We are much more adept at the former than ...

4442. Where Is Your Trust?

Mark 4:35-41

Sermon

George Reed

... . We get to choose which way it will be. We may not have an opportunity to meet the police officer patrolling our area and have a long conversation. Our physician may be too busy to spend as much time with us as we would like. But there is nothing stopping us from getting to know our God and building a solid relationship with our Creator and Redeemer. If we are going to have a real relationship with God to base our trust and faith on, then we need to make that relationship a priority in our lives. It means ...

4443. Coming Apart So We Don’t Come Apart

Mark 6:30-34, 53-56

Sermon

George Reed

... be refreshed in the presence of Jesus. We can never be so sure of what our ministry needs to be that we don't need to sit at the feet of our Master and be taught. Until the world has completely come under the reign of God we can never stop going out to do the work of God. Until every rock cries out the glory of God and every person is gathered under the wings of the eternal one, we have work to do. It is not a case of being a person of prayer or being a person of ...

4444. Denial Ain’t a River in Egypt

Isaiah 64:1-9

Sermon

Schuyler Rhodes

... the season of Advent; the time of God's emerging, the moment of God's fullness among us. Can we? Shall we? Will we join hands and hearts to remove the deadening layers of denial and live in the truth of God's ever-present love and wonder? Will we stop turning away from God's call? My prayer this day is that we will move as a community to a new level of awareness. My prayer this day is that we will accept God's great gift of sensitivity over the numbness and denial that permeates our lives. And my ...

4445. Time to Come Home

Jeremiah 31:7-14

Sermon

Schuyler Rhodes

... journey of returning. For this reason we are called into community in Christ. For this reason we have been given the gift of one another. For this reason God beckons us, today through Jeremiah, tomorrow, through ... who knows? But we can rest assured that the voice of God will not stop calling. Shall we start the reunion? Shall we listen for the voice? Shall we come home to the power of God's Holy Spirit? Shall we start today? Amen.

4446. Following a God Who Flip Flops ...

Jonah 3:1-5, 10

Sermon

Schuyler Rhodes

... true for you? A few years back, during a terrible international situation in Africa, the sitting president of the time set a policy of non-involvement in this crisis. There were some folks who felt that humanitarian aid and other engagement might help stop the slaughter, so they lobbied the White House with all kinds of information. The president reviewed the information, and saw that maybe our nation could make a difference. He changed his mind and got our relief agencies and diplomats involved. This man's ...

4447. Doing a New Thing

Isaiah 43:18-25

Sermon

Schuyler Rhodes

... done. It didn't matter if these activities were helpful, profitable, or time well spent. They just liked to do the things that they were used to doing. All of Robert's creativity, initiative taking, and energy wasn't going to budge them, especially when he asked them to stop doing what they had been doing. It was just the way things were. Have you known anyone like Robert in your life? It's rough to have someone around who is always challenging you. It's a pain in the neck to have to turn around every day ...

4448. The Passion of the Servant Leader

Isaiah 50:4-9a

Sermon

Ron Lavin

... the Palm Sunday crowd crying, "Hosanna to the Son of David." When a critic suggests that the crowd should be stilled, Jesus replies, "If they are stilled, the very stones will cry out." The praise of the crowd on Palm Sunday is a preview of Easter. Nothing can stop the paean, the joyous song of tribute and triumph to the king, who looks and acts much like a peon. A peon is "a person held in compulsory servitude to a master for the working out of indebtedness."3 Jesus, the servant king is the selfless leader ...

4449. Does Easter Make a Difference?

Acts 4:32-35

Sermon

Ron Lavin

... alive today. Believe it for peace, power, and purpose in your life." The apostles testified boldly to this truth and the difference it made in their lives. When Peter and John were arrested for healing a lame man in the temple area, they were threatened and told to stop preaching and teaching about Jesus. In reply, they said, "Whether it is right in God's sight to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge; for we cannot keep from speaking about what we have seen and heard" (Acts 4:19-20). That's what ...

4450. Yesterday, Today, and Forever

Acts 8:26-40

Sermon

Ron Lavin

... his mouth. In his humiliation justice was denied him...." "This scripture is all about Jesus," Philip told him. He shared the good news that Christ died for our sins and that by baptism and belief, we can enter the kingdom of God. Since they had stopped next to a stream, river, or lake, the Ethiopian asked, "What is to prevent me from being baptized?" (Acts 8:37). Belief in Jesus as Savior and baptism as the entrance sacrament into Christian community are the themes running through not only Acts 8, but the ...

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