Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 4676 to 4700 of 4915 results

4676. Advent 1: Let Us Go Over To Bethlehem And Find The Faith of Christmas

Luke 2:15-20

Sermon

James W. Moore

This sermon is based on Luke 2:15-20: You may not remember Tom Southerland but you know his story. Several years ago Shiite Muslims in the Middle East held Tom Sutherland captive for four years… much of his time was spent solitary confinement. In his speech after his captivity he asked an unforgettable question. He asked, “Do you know what it’s like to be in prison? To be held hostage? To be a captive? It’s very lonely and you worry that people will forget you. I felt abandoned. I didn’t think anybody even ...

4677. Man, Where Are You?

Genesis 3:1-24

Sermon

Alton F. Wedel

The story of the fall of Adam and Eve disturbs a lot of people, raises many questions, and poses many problems. How can anyone who lives in this advanced society with our advanced technology and our unlimited horizons believe in talking serpents? • Or with our advanced theology how are we to understand a God who hangs our fate in trees? • Or when we have passed the finals and the orals and have gained all wisdom and all knowledge, how can anybody be this stupid? • Or how could God be so harsh as to impose ...

4678. Would You Take The Crown Without The Cross?

Luke 4:1-13

Sermon

Brett Blair

The local sheriff was looking for a deputy, and one of the applicants - who was not known to be the brightest academically, was called in for an interview. "Okay," began the sheriff, "What is 1 and 1?" "Eleven," came the reply. The sheriff thought to himself, "That's not what I meant, but he's right." Then the sheriff asked, "What two days of the week start with the letter 'T'?" "Today & tomorrow." Replied the applicant. The sheriff was again surprised over the answer, one that he had never thought of ...

4679. Would You Take The Crown Without The Cross?

Matthew 4:1-11

Sermon

Brett Blair

4680. Following Orders

Matthew 28:16-20

Sermon

David E. Leininger

These are special days around St. Paul Presbyterian. Our 40th Birthday celebration continues. We had that delightful HOMELAND concert last night; we look forward to the BBQ/Talent Show on the 21st, then Jerry McCann's return to this pulpit on the 22nd. Good times. Times such as these provide an opportunity for celebration but they offer a good incentive for reflection, for creative dreaming as well, days that the church needs every so often if we understand ourselves as people with a mission. To my mind, ...

4681. I Am Sombody!!!

Mark 1:9-13, Mark 1:1-8

Sermon

David E. Leininger

I suspect that, having made it to mid-January, you would say that you have successfully survived the holidays. True? The celebration of our Savior's birth - Christmas; then the New Year; finally the Feast of the Three Kings on January 6th - Epiphany (which for many has become the Feast of Taking Down the Decorations!). This morning I want to suggest that there is one more holiday we should be observing - THIS day, the one the liturgical calendar designates to remember the Baptism of the Lord. If the ...

4682. The Wondrous Possibility Of Change

Galatians 1:11-24

Sermon

King Duncan

The prophet Jeremiah asked 2700 years ago, "Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? Then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil." (13:23) In other words, can a person change his or her basic nature? Can the cruel become kind, the vulgar become refined, the coward become courageous? It is an important question. Few of us are all we want to be. Is there any hope for us? Albert Einstein once said that it is easier to denature plutonium than it is to denature the evil spirit ...

4683. The Adventure of Discipleship

Mark 1:14-20

Sermon

Paul E. Flesner

Today's Gospel is about Jesus' calling of his first four disciples. It is about the first people who were called to hold the job which we hold today. Mark's story is not very elaborate. It is short and to the point. There is a certain note of adventure as the four men leave their fishing business to go with Jesus, but there is not much in the story that seems terribly upsetting. What the story doesn't tell about is what those men were getting in for by becoming followers of Jesus. To find out what was ...

4684. No Other Name

Acts 4:1-22

Sermon

King Duncan

What is it that constitutes an emergency when it comes to your health? I ask that question because researchers at Children's Hospital in Boston found that emergency room visits at hospitals in Boston slowed significantly when the Red Sox were in the World Series in 2004. During especially crucial match ups, such as Game 7 of the league championship series and the final game of the World Series, emergency-room traffic fell by up to 20 percent, as fans stayed glued to their TV sets. "It's as if when they ...

4685. The Wholeness Question: Do You Want To Be Made Well?

John 5:1-15

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

One day a cowboy out in Arizona was riding down a trail. All of a sudden as he rounded a bend, he saw an Indian lying down in the middle of the trail. He had his ear pressed close to the ground. As he got closer the Indian began to speak "Wagon," he said, "drawn by two horses. Horses both dapple gray. Passengers in wagon. Two passengers. One man, one woman. Man driving." The cowboy was amazed. He just couldn't believe it. "That's incredible, I can't believe it! You can tell all of that just by listening ...

4686. Your Dreams Are Too Small

Mark 10:35-45

Sermon

King Duncan

A very short boy wanted desperately to play basketball. He even told his Dad that he wanted to become a pro when he was older. Knowing that his son would never be able to play the game, the Dad asked the local coach if there was anything that he could recommend to make the boy taller. “You might take him down to the museum and put him on that old torture stretch rack,” the coach said. Several weeks later the coach asked the father if putting the boy on the stretch rack had helped. “Well, it didn’t make him ...

4687. We Must Obey God

Acts 5:17-42

Sermon

Elizabeth Achtemeier

"We must obey God rather than men" (Acts 5:29). That is the theme of our passage and, indeed, of this whole section of Acts, chapters 3-8. After the resurrection of Jesus, the Holy Spirit is sweeping through Jerusalem with power to enable Peter and John and the other followers of Jesus to heal, to convert multitudes, and to speak boldly. The result is that Jerusalem is in an uproar, and the disciples are repeatedly hauled before the Sanhedrin, the Jewish religious and political council, to account for what ...

4688. Say What?

1 John 3:5-6

Sermon

Rick Brand

Say what? Saint Paul never thought he got to the place where the power of sin was completely gone in his life. Saint Augustine never preached that once you received the power of Christ into your life all sin was gone. Martin Luther, from whom we get all these Reformation slogans, preached "always sinner; always justified." So what does this mean? "Everyone who commits sin is guilty of lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. You know that he was revealed to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. No one who ...

4689. Thanks Be to God

2 Corinthians 9:6-15

Sermon

Rick Brand

It is at this point that so many of us feel the temptation to tune out. "Now concerning the offering for the saints at Jerusalem" is another request for money. That is supposed to be one of the problems with the church. It is always asking for money. If it is not the saints in Jerusalem, it is the hungry in Africa, the earthquake victims in Turkey, or the refugees in Bosnia. Paul is writing asking for money. Jesus talked more about money in his stories than he did about the kingdom of God. The church is ...

4690. Easter 7

John 17:1-11, Acts 1:6-14, 1 Peter 4:12-19; 5:6-11, Psalm 68

Sermon Aid

John R. Brokhoff

COMMENTARY Epistle: Acts 1:(1-7) 8-14 At his ascension, Jesus promised to send the Spirit to the disciples. The risen Lord meets with his eleven disciples a short distance from Jerusalem where before ascending to his Father, he promises them the Spirit who will give them power to witness throughout the world. Then they returned to an upper room in Jerusalem to pray. With the disciples are Jesus' brothers and mother. This is her last appearance in the New Testament - she is seen among the first Christians ...

4691. The Curse of the Cross

1 Corinthians 1:10-17

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

It's one of our more questionable rites of passage as we grow into adolescence and early adulthood. Suddenly it's cool to curse. I know I'm the only one who went through this rite of passage as a teenager. I admit it. I didn't just sow wild oats. I planted a prairie. And that prairie was planted partly by words that my Appalachian gramma would wash my mouth out with soap for saying. Those same swear words that as a child caused me to gasp - and when my brothers would use them, I'd get the culprit into big ...

4692. Pay It Forward!

Luke 19:28-44

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

There is no place like an island to bring home how vitally interconnected we are to each other. The other night, one lone deer on tiny Shaw Island managed to plunge all the San Juan County islands into complete darkness and powerlessness for about five hours. This deer, it seems, decided to cross the road at the same time some unsuspecting driver (and there are only about 50 cars on the entire island) came around the corner. Whether to save Bambi or the front grillwork, the driver swerved sharply. He ...

4693. If I Only Had One Wish

2 Chronicles 1:1-12

Sermon

James Merritt

We have all thrilled to the story of "Aladdin and the Magic Lamp" in The Arabian Knights. As you remember, Aladdin finds a magic lamp that, when rubbed, produces a genie who has the power to grant his every wish. We have all imagined finding such a lamp and making certain wishes. So let me ask you a fun question: If you found such a lamp, and you could have one wish, what would you wish for? A humorous story I read illustrates that this requires a great deal of thought. There were three men marooned on a ...

4694. Living By Faith In A Time of War

Judges 6:1-40

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

Our nation is at war. We have been at war since we were attacked almost five years ago, on September 11, 2001. This war against terrorism is hotter than the Cold War and will probably last for a generation. Many Americans are not directly affected by the war. Many go about their business as usual, fussing about crime and gasoline prices, anticipating summer vacations and who will win the NBA Championship. However, if you have a loved one in Afghanistan or Iraq, you think about the war all the time. Almost ...

4695. Stumbling in Darkness, Looking for Light

Isaiah 9:1-7, John 1:5

Sermon

John E. Harnish

If you are like me, you've probably seen them, but you didn't know what they were. You've seen them on cereal boxes and campaign buttons, store displays and CD covers. My earliest recollection is a button from the 1960 presidential campaign. Tilt it one way, you see Richard Nixon; tilt it the other way, you get Henry Cabot Lodge. This seems like an insignificant advertising gimmick, but it really involves a quite complicated and intricate technology. They are called "lenticular" images. Our five clergy ...

4696. Our Prayers Are Our Thanksgiving

1 Timothy 2:1-7

Sermon

Lee Ann Dunlap

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands — one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands — one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. How many of us memorized these words as part of our morning classroom ritual in elementary school? Probably most folks gathered here. Some of us still recite ...

4697. Give Us a Break

2 Thessalonians 2:1-17

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

When was the last time you took a "breather" from all those distractions that claim to be the most important concerns in life? Take a break from the din and listen instead to the voices of biblical and church tradition - our true "sponsor" whose words we should heed, despite the cacophony of advertising that tries to dissuade us from the tradition. Remember when television shows were regularly interrupted by a velvet-voice announcing, "And now a word from our sponsors"? From there the programming moved ...

4698. Heads Down, Thumbs Up

Philippians 2:5-11

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

The old adage, "Pray as if everything depended on God; work as if everything depended on you," can be translated into body language: Heads Down, Thumbs Up. On Palm Sunday, Jesus gave a thumbs up to the bowed down. Christians commemorate the strangest things. We make a big deal over the fact that Jesus was born in a cave or stable full of smelly animals, into a family of dirt-poor Jews. We tell all sorts of stories about Jesus' closest followers, his most devoted disciples focusing on their being ignorant ...

4699. Small Saves

John 6:1-15

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

A box came in the mail the other day. It was a surprise free gift from the local power company. Or I should say two free gifts. The power company sent every one of their customers a new “low flow” showerhead, designed to cut down on water usage, but still feel like a real shower. The second free gift was four of those new curly-q fluorescent light bulbs, the kind that last longer and use less electricity while putting out the same amount of light. This small act cost the power company a few thousand ...

4700. So, Are You The Messiah?

John 10:22-30

Sermon

Donald Charles Lacy

History shows that people are invariably looking for Messiahs or Christs. There is that special person who is to come among them and, in a sense, do for them what they cannot do for themselves. Even for years after our Lord arose from the dead and ascended — yes, and still at this moment — people are looking. Our Jewish friends, in particular, have this long historical record of watching and waiting. There were, and are, many disappointments in all of this yearning. Indeed, before and after Christ there ...

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