Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 4676 to 4700 of 5000 results

4676. Write to the Heart

Jeremiah 31:31-34

Sermon

Mary S. Lautensleger

A four-year-old girl was at the pediatrician's office for a checkup. As the doctor looked into her ears, he asked, "Do you think I'll find Big Bird in here?" The little girl didn't answer. Next, the doctor took a tongue depressor and looked down her throat. He asked, "Do you think I'll find the Cookie Monster down there?" Again, the little girl was silent. Then the doctor put a stethoscope to her chest. As he listened to her heartbeat, he asked, "Do you think I'll hear Barney in there?" "Oh, no!" the ...

4677. Matthew 22:34-46

Matthew 22:34-40

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

Today’s reading portrays Jesus’ third confrontation in a row. Matthew consistently provides his readers with both a new focus within the Law and a new focus on the identity of the Messiah. In both cases, Jesus redefines the familiar and emphasizes the personal over principle. When the Pharisees’ theological rivals, the Sadducees, fail to trip up Jesus with a second question, the Pharisees re-group and send out yet another emissary to engage Jesus. Granted, this third question — “Which commandment in the ...

4678. The First Duty of Love Is to Listen

1 Cor 13

Illustration

Edmund L. Hoener

This week, I came across something that Paul Tillich said - and it just pulled everything together for me. He said, "The first duty of love is to listen." When we think about it, listening is the first requirement for making any real changes in life. I believe that we all struggle from time to time with the difference between knowing something and living it. If we put all our efforts into studying things like relationships or some other area of life, then we are prone to putting most of our energy into ...

4679. Making Your Mark

Mt 23:1-12

Illustration

King Duncan

A legend during the classic time of Greece tells of a terrible thing happened in one of the temples. One night the statue of Zeus was mysteriously smashed and desecrated. A tremendous uproar arose among the inhabitants. They feared the vengeance of the gods. The town crier walked the city streets commanding the criminal to appear without delay before the Elders to receive his just punishment. The perpetrator naturally had no desire to give himself up. In fact, a week later another statue of a god was ...

4680. The Weight of Titles

Matthew 23:1-12

Illustration

Kenneth W. Collins

A well-known and respected priest has a doctorate degree, yet he dislikes being called ‘Reverend’ or ‘Father‘ or ‘Doctor.‘ He prefers being called just ‘Bill.‘ This man is a noted Hebrew scholar, he is a guest lecturer in German universities, he works on assignment for the Archbishop of Canterbury in matters of ecumenism, he translates the scripture readings in church from the Greek on the fly; yet you have to find these things out indirectly. To you he’s just Bill, the guy who likes to ride a bike to work ...

4681. Parable of the Talents Retold

Matthew 25:14-30

Illustration

Unknown

A retelling of the talents parable: Once there was a king who had three sons, each with a special talent. The first had a talent for growing fruit. The second for raising sheep. And the third for playing the violin. Once, the king had to go overseas on important business. Before departing he called his three sons together and told them he was depending on them to keep the people contented in his absence. Now for a while things went well. But then came the winter, a bitter and cruel winter it was. There was ...

4682. 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 ...

4683. An Exquisite Attitude of Gratitude

Ephesians 1:15-23

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

On a grey Friday in January 2007, during the peak of the early morning commuter rush, an unassuming young man entered the L’Enfant Plaza train station in Washington D.C. As the crowds rushed by, the man found a place to stand out of the way of the foot traffic. He opened the violin case he carried. He threw into the case a few coins and dollar bills to “prime the pump.” And then he proceeded to begin playing. But this was no ordinary street musician. The anonymous violinist in the train station was Joshua ...

4684. A Small Act of Kindness

Matthew 25:31-46

Illustration

King Duncan

Let me suggest that you try something that never gets old or stale or unsatisfying. Do something for somebody truly in need. Let me tell you about a man named Floyd. According to the standards of the world Floyd was nobody. Floyd traveled around the country looking for work at harvest time. Floyd had no home and no place to go. A couple invited him into their home and gave him a home-cooked dinner. Floyd said very little as they ate. The wife, Nancy, offered to wash his clothes for him but Floyd declined ...

4685. A Deep Love for God, A Deep Love for Neighbors

Matthew 25:31-46

Illustration

Billy D. Strayhorn

There is an Irish legend about a king, who had no children to succeed him on the throne. So, he had his messengers post signs in every town and village of his kingdom inviting qualified young men to apply for an interview with the king. This way the king hoped to be able to choose a successor before he died. Two qualifications, especially, were stressed. The person must have a deep love for God and a deep love for his neighbor. A young man saw one of the signs. He indeed had a deep love for God and ...

4686. Disappointment at the Chaos

Mark 13:24-37

Illustration

Russell F. Metcalfe

When I was a junior in Akron North High we had a substitute English teacher for a while, and she was almost always late for our class, which met on the third floor. She usually arrived with her arms full of books and papers, out of breath, scolding us, good-naturedly for the most part, into silence. One awful day she was later than usual, and the class was noisier than usual. Erasers were flying, books were sailing. It probably doesn't do any good to tell you that, truthfully, I usually did not take part ...

4687. Music to Remember

Mark 1:1-8

Illustration

Donald B. Strobe

In Alex Haley's book, ROOTS, there is that memorable scene of the night the slave, Kunta Kinte, drove his master to a ball at a big plantation house. Kunta Kinte heard the music from inside the house, music from the white folk's dance. He parked the buggy and settled down to wait out the long night of his master's revelry. While he sat in the buggy, he heard other music coming from the slaves' quarters...the little cabins behind the big house. It was different music, music with a different rhythm. He felt ...

4688. Beware the Crest of the Wave

Mark 1:4-11

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

The moment of our greatest success and achievement, when we are riding the crest of the wave, is also the moment we are most likely to be subjected to the severest temptations, gnawed by our most debilitating insecurities, and seduced into believing the most grandiose visions of our own abilities. In today's text Jesus celebrates perhaps the most exhilarating and confirming episode of his entire ministry. Everything is going right. John baptizes Jesus, carrying out his appointed role in the drama of ...

4689. Returning God's Call

1 Samuel 3:1-10

Illustration

Leonard Sweet

This week's text challenges individuals and your church community to examine how they respond to the persistent voice of God in their lives. From Presbyterian author and editor John C. Purdy comes the title and story that inspired this week's sermon ideas. Purdy recalls that in The Blue Mountains of China (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1970), Canadian Mennonite/English Professor/author Rudy Wiebe tells the story of a Mennonite farmer named Sam Reimer. One night Sam hears a voice saying to him, "Samuel, Samuel ...

4690. Used Tombstones

John 20:1-18

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

Christ's resurrection changed the world, broke all the old rules. The Church's response to the good news of resurrection should be equally unprecedented - a celebration of new life using the old images of death. Dr. Paul Stuckey, the wonderful new senior minister at GraceUnitedMethodistChurch in Dayton, Ohio, tells the story of an eye-catching ad in a Milwaukee, Wisconsin, newspaper's classified section. Big, bold letters advertised "Used Tombstone. " The ad's text read as follows: "Used tombstone for sale ...

4691. The Three Stages to Truth: A Biblical Philosophy of Education

Luke 24:13-35

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

Ours is an educated era. Yet we seem to be filled with facts while remaining ignorant of true understanding. In these texts the greatest teacher we have ever known, Jesus, demonstrates an educative scheme designed to fill our hearts as well as our heads, and destined to get our feet moving along with our minds. The texts examined this week demonstrate the biblical understanding of Truth (aletheia in Greek) as "nonconcealment," the disclosure of the "full or real state of affairs." Two days after the ...

4692. Faith Is the Victory

Acts 10:44-48

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

Through the grace of God we have been promised the incredible possibility of a real, live relationship with the divine. Our appropriate response to this relationship is one of faith. This week's texts help us to acknowledge that our faith is a response which is utterly dependent upon God's faithfulness for its birth and growth. The word "faith" is one of the most widely used words in the NT. It is found in the First Testament through the verbal root aman, or as we would translate the word, "Amen." This ...

4693. Stand Together or Fall Apart

Acts 2:42-47

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

The time is long overdue for Christians to think in terms of "We" rather than "I." The biblical focus is on the community. God's answer to the human predicament was to create a new community, to start a family. Individuals gain their identity by belonging to the community, and the community finds fulfillment in the individual. Among all the miracles contained in the books of the Second Testament, perhaps the most astounding is the emergence out of a scattered, disheartened, confused, and weak collection of ...

4694. Speaking the S-word

1 Samuel 16:14-23

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

This week's texts give you the opportunity to address aloud the S-word - Satan, the Devil, Lucifer, Evil. The church's reluctance to even admit the existence of genuine evil has usually played right into the hands of this demonic side of existence, leaving people frightened and confused when confronted by these forces in themselves and others. "Equipping the saints" for good and evil encounters, the stuff of daily life, is the focus of this week's material. "Saint Anthony wrestled with him, Luther taunted ...

4695. The Christian's Walking-Stick

Mark 6:7-13

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

If "words are the bugles of social change" it is time for the church to trumpet a different tune than "planning" and "programming." Today's church is called to rediscover the spirited discipline (i.e., "walking stick") of preparedness. In 1989 President Bush challenged the community of public educators to join with him in rescuing our failing system of teaching our children. By 1991 neither the national governing bodies, nor the local educators had yet agreed on what kinds of measurements (tests, programs ...

4696. Be Happy!

Mark 10:46-52

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

"To be happy in Jesus" means to trust and obey. Simple words, but hard to live out in our world of headline catastrophes. Economists, environmentalists, educators, all give us good reason to be filled with pessimism, doubt, despair - or to become fatalistically apathetic. Sometimes we just have to get a grip and re-center our attitude on something as straightforward and basic as that old hymn, "Trust and Obey." There is an old Jewish joke about a child who hates kreplach dumplings. His mother tries to ...

4697. The Crime of Christmas

Luke 2:8-20, Luke 2:1-7

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

Christmas is the Nativity of Consciousness. It is a time for us all, we who have lost touch with the tale, to rediscover the wondrous, the miraculous, the unspeakable; the wild, the odd, the strange; the impossible world of the child, the improbable faith of the believer. The story of Christmas is the story of the unspeakable in hot pursuit of the unimaginable, and some would say unattainable. It is the impossible made possible - and of a momentary recognition and celebration of this amazing event by both ...

4698. The First Christmas Card

Philippians 4:4-9

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

What is the Christmas message? With excessive commercialization and sentimentalization obscuring its essence, not even the church is always clear about the content of God's first Christmas card. What should the Church put on its own Christmas greeting? The first Christmas card, as we know it, was designed in1843 by the artist J.C. Horsley. It measured about the size of a postcard. From this design, one thousand cards were lithographed and hand-colored three years later for Sir Henry Cole, first director of ...

4699. A Lovehope Faith

1 Corinthians 13:1-13

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

A nuclear explosion is the result of a high-speed collision between atomic particles. The resulting blast can erase the landscape. But these technologically orchestrated smash-ups are a pale imitation of what happens when God brings together the most powerful entities that exist and allows them to explode within our lives. This sermon arranges and argues for a collision between your people and the greatest forces in the universe: faith, hope and love. At his retirement, a college professor was asked what ...

4700. Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda

Luke 4:1-13

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

Jesus was unrelenting in his forward thinking. Consider how much time he spent teaching about the kingdom of God, which was both now and not-yet. What pleasures from God are being poisoned in our lives because we cannot escape a life of constant regret - the "if onlys," "wrong turns," "yes-buts," and "sour notes" of woulda/coulda/shoulda thinking? We've all done it: enraged or insulted, frightened or confused at someone or some situation, we have stood there sputtering and fuming or have fled in tears and ...

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