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Showing 4451 to 4475 of 4939 results

4451. Breath of God · COVID-19 and the Resurrection

John 20:10-18, John 20:1-9

Sermon

Lori Wagner

This year, Easter Sunday falls during the COVID-19 pandemic. A time when we are secluded in our homes and told to wrap our faces in cloth if we dare to go out for groceries or supplies. Walk into the grocery store, and you’ll see people wandering quietly through the aisles with gloved hands and masked faces. Get too close, and you’ll register a wide-eyed look of alarm on the face of that passerby. We are in hiding from an invisible beast. “The Beast” is what people are naming the virus. It attacks ...

4452. A Costly Cross

Isaiah 52:13--53:12

Sermon

King Duncan

Colorful preacher Clarence Jordan was once taken on a tour of one of the greatest churches in America. As the tour guide brought him to the very front of the church where he could look up at the altar, the guide said: “Do you see that cross? It’s a gold cross. It was donated by one of our wealthiest members in memory of his wife. That cross, Mr. Jordan,” he continued, “which is covered with gold leaf, cost over $750,000.” Jordan responded, “Shucks! Time was you could get one for free!” (1) And that’s true ...

4453. How to Beat a Stress Test

Ephesians 6:10-20

Sermon

King Duncan

If you have ever spent any time in an airport then you know how busy, crazy and complicated they can be. And think about all the things you don’t see—for example, the inner details of doing intensive security checks . . . or matching up thousands of pieces of baggage with the right traveler and the right airplane . . . or monitoring weather conditions all over the world. It’s pretty incredible that millions of people fly all over the world every year with few disruptions. How do airports do it? Well, did ...

4454. Not Your Lips, but Your Life

Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23

Sermon

King Duncan

I’ve got a pop quiz this morning for all you history buffs. What is something that was declared illegal 100 years ago, but is perfectly legal today? I’ll give you a hint: it inspired the 18th Amendment to the Constitution. In what was termed the Noble Experiment, the United States government made it a crime to manufacture, transport or sell alcoholic beverages. From 1920 to 1933—a period referred to today as the Prohibition Era—all the bars and saloons and liquor stores in the nation shut down. Or did they ...

4455. God's Bouncer or God's Ambassador?

Acts 11:1-18

Sermon

King Duncan

If I were to start a sentence with the words, “There are two types of people in the world . . .,” how would you finish that sentence? “There are two types of people in the world . . .,” Somebody once said, “There are two types of people in the world—those who divide the world into two types of people and those who do not.” What say you? I think if I were to divide people into two types, I would say, there are rule keepers and rule breakers. Some people just have an internal compulsion to follow the rules, ...

4456. Get Your Third-Class Tickets Here!

Acts 1:6-14

Sermon

King Duncan

Pastor and writer James W. Moore gives us a wonderful story from the days of the old West when the major means of transportation across the country was the stagecoach. We’ve seen persons riding in stagecoaches in western movies. What we might not know, says James Moore, is that the stagecoach had three different kinds of tickets—first class, second class, and third class. If you had a first-class ticket, that meant you could remain seated during the entire trip no matter what happened. If the stagecoach ...

4457. Time to Listen

Matthew 17:1-9

Sermon

King Duncan & Angela Akers

Have you ever had someone tell you the ending to a story or movie when you really wanted to experience it for yourself? How did that make you feel? It’s frustrating, isn’t it, when someone ruins the end of the story for you. And there’s nothing you can do about it. No wonder it’s called a “spoiler alert.” Then again, I read a story about a funny way to take revenge on a friend who ruins the ending to a movie. This person, who posted their story under the screen name Runawaybucket in an online forum, said ...

4458. The Big Move!

Matthew 4:12-23

Sermon

John Jamison

Just so you know, we are going to use our imaginations today. We’re not going to just kind of play around and make things up, but we are going to use our imaginations to see if we find some new meaning in a passage we have probably read or heard many times before. We’re going to try and remember what was going on back in the first century when this story actually took place and see if that might give us any new thoughts about why John wrote this down. John was writing about what happened when John the ...

4459. The Seventy “Sevens”

Daniel 9:20-27

Understanding Series

William Nelson

Daniel’s Prayer and the Seventy Weeks: Chapter 9 is unique for three reasons. First, it starts with Daniel reading a prophetic text rather than receiving a vision as in the surrounding chapters (chs. 7, 8, and 10). Second, the particular name of Israel’s God, Yahweh, is only found in this chapter (vv. 2, 4, 8, 10, 13, 14, 20). Third, most of the chapter is taken up with a prayer. Elsewhere, the author makes clear that Daniel believed in talking to God (2:18; 6:10), but only here does he record the lengthy ...

4460. I Am The Bread Of Life

John 6:24-35

Sermon

Brett Blair

There is a bit of Jewish humor that goes like this: An old man goes to a diner every day for lunch. He always orders the soup du jour. One day the manager asks him how he liked his meal. The old man replies, "It was good, but you could give a little more bread. Two slices of bread is not enough." So the next day the manager tells the waitress to give him four slices of bread. "How was your meal, sir?" the manager asks. "It was good, but you could give a little more bread," comes the reply. So the next day ...

4461. The Might of the Mite

Mark 12:41-44

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

A few months ago I received a letter that touched my heart. Let me share a portion of it with you, using fictitious names so that anonymity will be preserved: "Dear Dr. Bouknight: My name is John Brown. I have been a member of Christ Church for four years. At that time a very dear friend, Jean Smith, invited me to attend the 9:45 service. Christ Church has been the only tangible thing in my life to remain a 'sure thing' during these last four years. I have experienced the highest highs, and the lowest lows ...

4462. Let God Do the Rest

Ephesians 3:14-21

Sermon

Richard Gribble

Once there was a boy who loved to look at the birds of the air, the flowers of the field, and the clear blue sky. These delighted him and he spent the majority of his time outside wandering about the countryside. One day he saw a crowd of people gathered and as he drew closer he saw that they were listening to a man. He was not sure what it was, but there was something magnetic about this man that drew the boy closer. He sat down on the grass and listened to what the man said. Never in his life had he ...

4463. Prepare The Way

Malachi 2:17--3:5

Sermon

Robert A. Hausman

Traditionally, the second Sunday in Advent brings us face to face with the forerunner, John the Baptist. But John does not stand alone. He stands knee deep in history, and history is a part of the world Christ came to redeem. Let us look at the gospel lesson (Luke 3:1-6) before we turn to the Old Testament. It begins in the 15th year of the reign of Tiberius. So who was Tiberius? He was born of noble parents, who then were divorced so that his mother could marry the emperor, Caesar Augustus. Tiberius had a ...

4464. Miracle Six: Stilling A Storm

Mark 4:35-41

Sermon Aid

Harold H. Lentz

BACKGROUND MATERIAL Jesus sometimes got into a boat and headed for the farther shore in order to be free of the demands of the crowd who now followed him in great numbers. On this day he was weary from his work and from arguing with the scribes who constantly took issue with his pronouncements. He was on the Sea of Galilee, also known as Lake Gennesaret. The lake was about eight miles wide and twelve miles long, so it would take at least an hour to make the crossing. Because of his weariness Jesus lay down ...

4465. In The Beginning God

Genesis 1:1-2:3

Sermon

William L. Self

I like the story of the Middle Eastern prince who fell in love with a beautiful peasant girl. Eventually he proposed marriage and she accepted. Such an event should be marked by a gift of rare beauty, so he searched the empire for the most beautiful diamond to give to her. Obviously, the most beautiful diamond demanded a specific box of rare beauty for the presentation of the precious gem. For this he commissioned the royal cabinetmakers to make the most beautiful box in the kingdom for the diamond. On the ...

4466. A New Name

Genesis 17:1-27

Sermon

Paul W. Kummer

What names did people call you as you were growing up? What nicknames did your parents or grandparents saddle you with? I hope most of the names were endearing. But were others nasty or hurtful? Were you given a nickname because of how you looked or how you talked? Because of where you lived or what you wore? Did anyone ever give you a name because they felt they knew what your future would hold? If so, did that spur you on in your destiny or did it hold you back and discourage you? Did they nickname you ...

4467. Decisions, Decisions

Acts 1:12-26

Sermon

Paul W. Kummer

Think of how many decisions you make in a day: What do I wear today? Should I take a different route to work due to construction? Should I have a bagel or an English muffin for breakfast? Should I talk with that person about yesterday or just blow it off? Which child is it that had flute lessons today? Should I get a quick twenty out at the ATM machine at lunch or after work? Do I need to pay bills today or can they wait until tomorrow? Do I have enough energy to run today or not? Should I drive to the ...

4468. To Be Continued

Acts 1:1-11

Sermon

Paul W. Kummer

Here is a remarkable story from World War II. From the island of Guam one of our mighty bombers took off for Kokura, Japan, with a deadly cargo. The sleek B-29 turned and circled above the cloud that covered the target for half an hour, then three-quarters of an hour, then 55 minutes, until the gas supply reached the danger point. It seemed a shame to be right over the primary target and then have to pass it up, but there was no choice. With one more look back, the crew headed for the secondary target. ...

4469. Stop Being Afraid

Matthew 10:1-42

Sermon

Marc Kolden

Jesus' instructions to his disciples prior to their first mission continue in today's gospel reading. He has been telling them about all the dangers and hardships they may have to put up with and ends by saying (in effect), "What do you expect? A disciple is not greater than his teacher. If the world gives me a bad time, it will give you one too" (Matthew 10:24-25). So what does Jesus do? Sell them life insurance? Give them bullet-proof vests? Teach them how to diffuse conflict? Hardly. Instead he says, " ...

4470. The Man Born Blind

John 9:1-12

Drama

Dallas A. Brauninger

WHAT'S HAPPENING? First Point Of Action As Jesus walks along, he sees a congenitally blind man. Second Point Of Action Jesus' conversation with the disciples: The disciples question him about whose sin, the parents' or the man's, caused the man's blindness. Rejecting the notion that sin causes blindness, Jesus notes God's purpose in the blindness. Jesus uses the light of the world metaphor. Third Point Of Action Jesus heals the blind man: Jesus spits on the ground, makes mud with the saliva, and spreads it ...

4471. Loving Jesus, Hating The Church

John 9:35-41

Sermon

Thomas Long

Those who analyze cultural trends have known for a long time that Americans seem to like religion a lot more than they like church. Whenever pollsters, pencils sharpened and questionnaires ready, knock on the doors of private citizens to inquire about their religious attitudes, it is difficult to find anybody out there who does not claim to be a fervent believer. If people are to be taken at their word, virtually everyone in the general population has a passionate and abiding faith in God. Ironically, ...

4472. No Particular Place To Go

2 Samuel 11:1-27

Sermon

Timothy J. Smith

It was the last week of summer when some boys who had spent the summer playing together became restless and bored. School would start the next week and they found themselves not knowing what to do, wearied from all the other summer activities that they had enjoyed. On a hot August afternoon the boys decided to play a round of pitch and putt at a local golf course. At least this would give them something different to do and keep them from complaining to their parents about how bored they were -- which was ...

4473. God's Math:Lose Life = Save It

Mark 8:31--9:1

Sermon

Robert Salzgeber

When self-preservation is our central aim, we are never safe. However, when we are committed to surrender to the disturbances that Godly compassion produces we are never in danger.So Jesus said, "For whoever wants to save his own life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it." We can be dumped into the most precarious situations but if God is with us we are not in danger. The worst that can happen to us is dislocation from Christ. Hence, as long as we are with the ...

4474. Easter 6

John 15:18--16:4, Acts 10:23b-48, 1 John 5:1-12

Sermon Aid

Russell F. Anderson

Theme: God calls his own and chooses those who are to live as his dear friends, regardless of our human categories and distinctions. COMMENTARY Lesson 1: Acts 10:44-48 (C); Acts 10:25-26, 34-35, 44-48 (RC) The pericope for the Revised Common Lectionary features the outcome of Peter's encounter with Cornelius, the Roman Centurion. As Peter was explaining the gospel, the Holy Spirit came down on all the believers, including, for the first time, Gentiles. Since God had favored the Gentiles with the Holy ...

4475. Easter 7

John 17:6-19, Acts 1:12-26, 1 John 5:1-12

Sermon Aid

Russell F. Anderson

Theme: The church organizes for mission and Christ prays that the ways of the world will not subvert that mission but that the Father would keep them in his grace. COMMENTARY Epistle: Acts 1:15-26 The post-resurrection church begins very small, some 120 souls. Once again, Peter takes the lead in filling the slot left by the bloody death of Judas. They selected two men who met the criteria: (1) They had witnessed the resurrected Jesus and they were in the company of Jesus' disciples since the baptism of ...

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