Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 4751 to 4775 of 4937 results

4751. Justice

Matthew 18:21-35

Sermon

Will Willimon

The story begins with mathematics. Peter asks Jesus, "Lord, how often should I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me?" Seven times? That sounds reasonable, even mathematically merciful. Jesus responds with a geometrically progressive figure. Forgiveness is limitless. It cannot be tallied. Throw away calculator and slide rule. Stop counting. There are no mathematicians or accountants in the kingdom. In my kingdom there is no forgiving seven times but forgiving seventy times seven times. Seven ...

4752. Holding On

Job 1:1; Job 2:1-10

Sermon

King Duncan

High above a small village in the French Alps towers a famous mountain named Mont Blanc. Mont Blanc serves as a permanent challenge to mountain climbers. Nearby is an even more difficult and dangerous crag, called in English, “Fool's Needle.” That mountain sounds appropriately named to me. “Fool's Needle.” Why do mountain climbers tie themselves to one another? asks the old joke—to keep the sensible ones from going home. That’s Fool’s Needle. Standing 11,487 ft. high—only the more experienced mountaineers ...

4753. Exposed and Expunged

Mark 10:17-21 · Hebrews 4:12-16 · Job 23:1-9; 16-17

Sermon

Lori Wagner

To aspire to perfection is to curse oneself to eternal frustration. Have you ever felt that feeling that no matter how much you do, it’s never enough? Did you ever try to please an unpleasable person? No matter what you do or how you do it, you can never reach their standards. Or how about those people, who are so insecure that no matter how much you show you love them, they will never believe you. Or are you simply that person who sets for yourself unattainable standards, sets the bar higher than humanly ...

4754. Down by the Riverside

Mark 1:4-11 · Genesis 1:1-5

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

In one of my favorite commentaries, the comic strip "Peanuts", Linus says to Charlie Brown: "I guess it's wrong always to be worrying about tomorrow. Maybe we should think only about today." To that, Charlie Brown responded: "No, that's giving up. I'm still hoping that yesterday will get better." Haven't you ever fellt like that? The Good News is that Jesus says "YES" even to our yesterdays. He accepts us as we are, forgives us and renews us, and as one preacher put it, "Washes behind the years." Because ...

4755. People of the Rolled Stone

John 20:1-18

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

A three-year-old little girl was just as anxious for Easter to come as she had been for Christmas to come. Mom and Dad took her shopping. They picked out a new dress and a new white bonnet and then stopped to buy her a new pair of shoes to go with her outfit. When they got home and laid out all the new things, the little girl said, "I can't wait for Easter, Daddy!" Dad asked her, "Well, do you know what Easter means, honey?" The little girl replied, "Yes." "Well, what does Easter mean?" In her own sweet ...

4756. To Us a Child is Born

Isaiah 9:1-7

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

Isaiah’s Significance, and the Fall of Darkness: We come to the close of the material that focuses on the crisis presented by the pressure of the northern allies (6:1–9:7). Isaiah speaks further about his ministry and its significance for Judah (8:11–22) and Yahweh offers a vision of light dawning the other side of the coming darkness (9:1–7). 9:1–7 To close 6:1–9:7, light replaces darkness (v. 2), joy replaces death (v. 3), and deliverance replaces oppression (v. 4). An earlier vision pictured weapons ...

4757. All Stirred Up

Luke 10:38-42

Sermon

Richard Patt

All stirred up -- that's the way you sometimes feel. Agitated, nervous, worked up, wound up -- for whatever reason. One feature in the story before us is that Jesus appeared to be responsible for bringing one of his dearest friends to such a point of agitation. If you read the Bible carefully, you shouldn't be completely surprised about this. Jesus often left people stirred up. The religious leaders were frequently angered by his words and actions. His miracles left onlookers stirred to the point of awe ...

4758. Accepting The Call

1 Peter 3:8-22

Sermon

Sandra Hefter Herrma

Last week, we talked about the call of God to be involved in the ministry of the Word to the world. Peter informed us that we are each called to be priests, offering up spiritual sacrifices. This week, as we continue to listen to Peter, we hear some advice or guidance on how to do that job. He says, "Always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and reverence." We've all met people who want to give us advice, who ...

4759. Behold The Man Who Trained Disciples

Luke 10:1-20

Sermon

Thomas A. Pilgrim

In March of 1860 an ad appeared in many newspapers of the West. It read, "Wanted. Men, sturdy, young, not under 18, good riders, willing to face death. $25 per week. Orphans preferred." Many young men answered the call, and the Pony Express was born. A new chapter opened up in the history of this country. A new chapter is always written in the life of the church whenever Christian people dare to reach out into some new frontier and carry the good news forward. It was for this reason that Jesus chose ...

4760. The One Thing That Would Make The Biggest Difference

Matthew 18:15-20

Sermon

Roger G. Talbott

What one thing could you do that would make the biggest difference in your life and in the world? Some say praying and reading the Bible every day would make the biggest difference. Some say working for world peace would make the biggest difference. Some say doing a kind deed every day would make the biggest difference. All of these things are important, but I am increasingly convinced that the one thing each of us could do that would make the biggest difference to us and to the world is to rebuild a ...

4761. Apocalyptic Moments

Galatians 5:1-15

Sermon

Robert R. Kopp

The following sermon comes from a series of devotionals centered around the game of Golf. This is not a full sermon for the pulpit. It's been said wisdom comes from experience and experience comes from messing up. So I guess that means the older the wiser is another way of saying it's always easier to tell others the right way to do things after you've done them the wrong way for a long time. Maybe that's why so many awful players become such good coaches. Lee Trevino, however, isn't convinced. He has said ...

4762. Mission Ready!

Mark 6:7-13

Sermon

Charles R. Leary

Picture yourself starting a brand new project. You might want to call it mission. In a parish where most of the communicants were government workers, civilian and military, I was always hearing the word, mission. I had understood mission in a religious context. I learned that mission could have a broader meaning. Life is mission. Business is mission. Career is mission. Mission is a good word. It suggests vision that is supported by good planning. Define your mission clearly. State its purpose briefly. ...

4763. The TV Audience

Sermon

Michael Rogness

Our sermon consumers are used to VCRs and Super Nintendo Ÿ strong visual images Ÿ they watch and then rewind. For our preaching, that certainly means it is a different generation of people out there listening. It has definite implications for what we say and how we say it.11 -- Jerry L. Schmalenberger I talk with many laypeople about sermons, and the comment I hear most often is: "Sermons are bo-o-o-oring!" This comment is of course not new in church history. Perhaps Eutychus thought the same thing about ...

4764. The Set Face And The Turned Head

Luke 9:51-56, Luke 9:57-62

Sermon

Larry Powell

"I know you've been sworn in and I've read your complaint." So begins Judge Wapner as another case unfolds on the popular television series, "People's Court." Repeating the phrase before each case, the implication is that the litigants have already placed their hands on the Bible and sworn to tell nothing "but the truth." However, courtroom cases do not progress far until it becomes apparent that either the plaintiff or the defendent is lying. Immediately, the whole matter of swearing-in comes into ...

4765. Two Doors; One Choice

Luke 13:22-30

Sermon

W. Robert McClelland

In The Lady And The Tiger, Frank Stoc_esermonskton sets before the reader the dilemma of a gladiator who faces his fate in the arena standing before two doors. He must choose which of them to open. Behind one door waits a hungry tiger. Behind the other, a lovely maiden. Jesus presents us with a similar dilemma in this parable. Behind one door to the kingdom waits the tiger of divine wrath. Behind the other door stands the fair maiden of grace. The parable is offered in response to the worried question, ...

4766. Use It or Lose It

Matthew 25:14-30

Sermon

Johnny Dean

In the window of a restaurant in a small West Texas town there was a sign that read: "Wanted: man to wash dishes and two waitresses." Now, the longer the men of that town thought about that sign, the more they thought, "That just might be an interesting job! The advancement opportunities might be limited, and the pay is probably not much, but..." Then there was an ad in a local newspaper that read: "Bargain Basement Sale on shirts for men with flaws." The department store that ran the ad couldn’t ...

4767. Monologue: A Slave, A Jailer, A Child Of God

Acts 16:16-40

Drama

Robert F. Scott

We have only a bare-bones mention of the Philippian jailer. He received Paul and Silas, beaten and bleeding; he fastened them in the painful stocks; after his conversion, he personally dressed their wounds and then fed them at his own table. What other changes grew from the jailer's new Christian faith? Let us attempt to stretch some living flesh over those bare bones. Call me Quintus, but my name doesn't matter. Most people just see me as a slave, a piece of the house furniture, nothing more. My master is ...

4768. Encounter with a Stranger

Luke 24:13-35

Sermon

Robert Allen

I had just sat down to eat with a group in the fellowship hall. There was a covered-dish dinner and everyone had brought their favorite recipes. The food looked delicious and the desserts looked even better. Just as I was about to take my first bite, someone told me there was a man in the hallway who would like to speak to the pastor. I slipped out of the fellowsihp hall to find this man who wanted to see me. When I rounded the corner, I saw him standing down at the end of the hall. One glance and I knew ...

4769. Real Security

Luke 12:13-21

Sermon

One of the multitude said to him, "Teacher, bid my brother divide the inheritance with me." But he said to him, "Man, who made me a judge or divider over you?" And he said to them, "Take heed, and beware of all covetousness; for a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions." And he told them a parable, saying, "The land of a rich man brought forth plentifully; and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ And he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down ...

4770. A Glory Revealed in Grace and Love

John 13:1-17

Sermon

Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. And during supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God, rose from supper, laid aside his garments, and girded himself with a towel. Then he ...

4771. Bad Good News Won’t Sell!

Jeremiah 28:1-17

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

Then the prophet Jeremiah spoke to Hananiah the prophet in the presence of the priests and all the people who were standing in the house of the Lord; and the prophet Jeremiah said, "Amen! May the Lord do so; may the Lord make the words which you have prophesied come true, and bring back to this place from Babylon the vessels of the house of the Lord, and all the exiles. Yet hear now this word which I speak in your hearing and in the hearing of all the people. The prophets who preceded you and me from ...

4772. The Necessity of Moral Commitment

Gen 3:1-24 · Is 28:15

Sermon

Robert G. Tuttle

The way things are going today we would almost think that we have been let loose in the universe in the midst of a strange experience called life, with no maps, no roads, no guideposts, nothing that is directive, no compass, not even a north and south or an east and west. How can we know the truth about life? What did the creator have in mind? What does he now have in mind for us? What is God’s structure of life - his pattern for human relationships? What does he mean by love, beauty, reality? Where does ...

4773. When Yes Means No and No Means Yes

Matthew 21:28-32

Sermon

Jerry L. Schmalemberger

What’s your opinion? If you have two sons, and you tell one of them to do a job, and his answer is no, then afterwards he does it, and you tell the second one to do the same job and his answer is, "Sure, I’ll go," and he doesn’t do it, which one is doing what you told him and following your will? That’s the story Jesus told the crowd, and that’s the question he posed to the religious leaders of his day. The crowd answered Jesus by saying the son who said, "No," and then changed his mind and did the work ...

4774. Solomon and the Outline for Renewal

2 Chronicles 7:11-22

Sermon

Don Yocom

This text in Scripture is the one on which the hand of President Dwight D. Eisenhower rested when he was inaugurated as President of the United States of America. It is such a striking passage of the Bible, it deserves our consideration for renewal needed in our day also. The background story involves the time of the dedication of Solomon’s temple. Solomon had prayed all night to God in an act of personal dedication; and as the highest representative of the nation, his prayer was also an act of national ...

4775. Chapter X

Exodus 20:1-21

Sermon

Frank H. Seilhamer

"You will not want for yourself your neighbor’s house; you will not want for yourself your neighbor’s wife, or his manservant, or his maidservant, or his ox, or his ass, or anything that is your neighbor’s." Exodus 20:17 With this Commandment we come to the end of the "Words" that God spoke to his people at Sinai. The warning that he gave that we should not long to have for ourselves that which belongs to our neighbors serves to cap off, and bring to a conclusion, this handful of directions for living. We ...

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