Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 4801 to 4825 of 4938 results

4801. Wimps or Water Walkers

Matthew 14:22-33

Sermon

King Duncan

Somewhere I read about a family that decided to vacation in Colorado. They flew to Denver and rented a car. While there, they visited the Royal Gorge Bridge. This bridge is a little scary to drive across. It stands more than 1,000 feet above the Arkansas River. Walking out onto the bridge, the dad noticed it swaying in the wind. Then a car went past them, and the wood-plank roadway moved beneath their feet. “I don’t think I want to drive the car across this bridge,” said the father nervously. “What are you ...

4802. When You're Rejected

Matthew 21:33-46

Sermon

King Duncan

Have you ever been rejected? It hurts, doesn’t it? There is no pain more familiar to many of us than the pain of rejection. We remember those terrible younger years when we were searching for our identity, and acceptance by our peers was so important. One comedian was talking about his attempts to land a date during his teen years. He says, “I never was very good at this romance thing. It’s true. I remember my teenage years. We used to play spin the bottle. The way we played it was that a girl would spin ...

4803. Have You Ever Screwed Up?

John 20:1-18

Sermon

John Jamison

Have you ever screwed up? I mean, really, really screwed up? It may have been fully well-intentioned or not, but the simple fact is that you knew you screwed up and so did everyone else. If you have, then you may have a slight idea of what the mood was in that little group of people who walked down the road that morning. Only a few of them had actually been there to see what had happened on Friday; the rest had already run away or gone into hiding. As many times as those few told the story of what they had ...

4804. The Future Present

Luke 1:46-56

Sermon

Susan R. Andrews

We Protestants don’t know what to do with Mary. Because the doctrines of the Catholic church have turned Mary into a sweet passive icon of virginal purity, we Protestants have been content to leave her out of our gallery of biblical saints — except of course, for her obligatory appearance in our Christmas pageants. Today in both scripture and song, we meet Mary again. The woman we meet this time is no quiescent vessel. Lifting up the radical reversals of God’s vision, this Mary predicts a revolution — the ...

4805. Grace Upon Grace

John 1:1-18

Sermon

Dean Feldmeyer

Grace upon grace. What a lovely turn of phrase that is. The gospel writer, John, really knew his stuff, didn’t he? Now, if only we knew what it meant. What exactly is this grace of God that we hear so much about in the Christian community? Christian theologians have spent much of the last two thousand years trying to define it. Saint Augustine said that grace is the unmerited love and favor which God makes available to all human beings.1 Martin Luther believed that God’s grace was God’s mercy and ...

4806. The Garden of Betrayal and the Garden of His Burial

John 18:1-11

Sermon

King Duncan

Recently I read something interesting about the deaths of royalty. It seems that when the current queen of England, Queen Elizabeth II dies, the people of Britain are banned from being funny on public television. This is true. According to this report the BBC isn’t allowed to air anything humorous for the 12 days between Queen Elizabeth’s death and funeral. In the event of the queen’s passing, the BBC will immediately stop what they’re doing, make the announcement of her death, and start airing ...

4807. The Invisible Robe of Righteousness

Matthew 22:1-14

Sermon

Lori Wagner

“You are what you wear.” Job coaches taut this phrase continually to prospective job applicants, letting them know that “dressing for success” can make or break and interview. You need to show people not only who you are but what you’re capable of. What you wear expresses something about your character and your initiative. In fact, in 1997, Nancy Lublin founded the nonprofit “Dress for Success” for this very reason. “Dress for Success is a global nonprofit organization that provides professional attire for ...

4808. Homecoming

Exodus 17:1-7

Sermon

Will Willimon

Our scripture is about a people on a journey, far from home. And if you know anything all about the Bible, this is the way it always begins-somebody being told to leave wherever they happen to be at the moment and to journey somewhere else. Adam and Eve were told to get out of the Garden, Abraham told to take his bride and baggage to he knows not where, Jacob on the lam, and Israel taking forty years to go about three hundred miles, to say nothing of Jesus, always on a journey, never at home, nowhere to ...

4809. I Shall Rise Again!

I Corinthians 15:19-26 · Luke 24:1-12

Sermon

King Duncan

For more than 1,400 years, a Cathedral dedicated to St Paul has stood at the highest point in the City of London. The cathedral is one of the most famous and most recognizable sights of this great city with so many historic sites. St. Paul’s was designed by the famous architect Sir Christopher Wren after the Great Fire of London destroyed an earlier cathedral that stood on the same site. Before work could begin on the new cathedral, the remains of the old cathedral had to be cleared away. Once the site had ...

4810. Treasures from the Past

1 Corinthians 15:1-11

Sermon

Mary Austin

We continue in the season of Epiphany, listening to the words Paul writes to the church in Corinth. Listen for God speaking. Now I should remind you, brothers and sisters, of the good news that I proclaimed to you, which you in turn received, in which also you stand, through which also you are being saved, if you hold firmly to the message that I proclaimed to you—unless you have come to believe in vain. For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our ...

4811. How to Pray

Luke 11:1-13

Sermon

King Duncan

Most of us choose to attend a church or a Bible study or a small group because we feel good there. We feel the presence of the Lord. We feel cared for. And yet, in almost every Christian gathering, there is a moment that strikes fear in every person’s heart. No, it’s not when we pass the offering plate. It’s when someone says, “Is there anyone who would like to pray? I’m just going to open us up with prayer, and then each one of you offer up a prayer as you feel led.” For some of us, it is terrifying! You ...

4812. The Potter's Secret

Luke 14:25-33

Sermon

Lori Wagner

How many of you have had a time in your life when you made a terrible mistake that you grew to regret? How many of you have undergone some kind of trauma or upheaval that caused you excruciating pain? How many of you wished at one time or another that you could go back in time and erase that one pesky “thing” that haunts you, make it right, so that your mind can be at peace? I have good news for you! Your life is not set in stone. Your past does not have to dictate your life, your success, or your ...

4813. Transformed

John 4:5-42

Sermon

April Yamasaki

In the Orthodox Christian Church, the woman at the well in John’s gospel is remembered as Saint Photini, which means “the enlightened one.” Apparently her passion for sharing Jesus as the Messiah sent from God did not end with the people of her own town. Instead, church tradition recounts her travels as an evangelist to the city of Carthage in northern Africa and then to the city of Rome where she sought an audience with the emperor Nero. While the emperor agreed to see her, he rebuffed her attempts to ...

4814. Count the Cost

Luke 14:25-33

Sermon

Will Willimon

''Whoever of you does not renounce all that he or she has cannot be my disciple." How many of you were here last Sunday? Don't raise your hands. Well, even if you were not here, I can give you a quick summary of the sermon. We were at a party at a Pharisee's house with Jesus. Jesus, we noted, just loves to party. The gospel he brings is good news that God wants to invite everyone to a great party. And, because many of you are party animals yourselves, this all sounded great. Forget your petty, moralistic ...

4815. We Have All Become Nicodemus

Romans 16:25-27

Sermon

Ronald Love

John Wycliffe is best known to us as a Bible translator. He is remembered as a historical figure for translating the Vulgate, the Bible written in Latin that only the priests could read, into English, a Bible which the common man could read for himself. We also recognize him from the organization that was established in his name, the Wycliffe Bible Translators. It is the mission of this organization to translate the Bible into the common vernacular of every country that presently does not have a Bible that ...

4816. A Little Foolishness

1 Corinthians 1:18-25

Sermon

John B. Jamison

Hap enjoyed reading his Bible. It wasn’t really reading the Bible that he enjoyed, but it was the list of little bits of information he could find that he could use later to trip-up some poor preacher who didn’t know those little bits. That’s what he enjoyed. And he wasn’t really reading his Bible, but excavating, it looking for those little treasures he could use to pose his questions. When he wasn’t sitting in his chair reading his King James version, he was out running around town looking for preachers ...

4817. Heroines of the Faith

Mark 1:29.39

Sermon

David E. Leininger

I am certain that you Bible scholars have experienced the same phenomenon as I have, namely, that you can read the same passage over and over and over again and find something that strikes you anew each time. Scripture does not change, of course, but we change. It is that old saying about not being able to step into the same river twice. That is my experience with this pericope. In years past, I would have noted the Lord’s healing ministry, the way the word spread through the people about this wonder- ...

4818. Living Bread

John 6:51-58

Sermon

Lori Wagner

The advances of medicine and proactive health in today’s world are astounding. One of the major shifts in our understanding of disease and prevention has come with a new conception of the role of the gut! It turns out, our gut health determines just about everything about our overall health and affects whether or not we may be susceptible to certain diseases, especially those caused by autoimmune. Because of this knowledge, not only functional medicine but conventional medicine has gotten on board with ...

4819. Redefining “Blessed”

Luke 1:39-45 (46-55)

Sermon

John B. Jamison

It is one of those great moments that ends up being a song, or a painting. Over the years it becomes a symbol of peace and hope, and everything good. Mary is a young girl whose life has been turned upside down. It might have been for a very good cause, but it still meant that everything in her world had changed, and she was trying to figure out what it all meant. We aren’t told why she made the trip, but at some point, Mary went to the town of Hebron to visit with her aunt Elizabeth, the wife of a priest ...

4820. Bread for the Journey

Mark 12:28-34

Sermon

Thomas C. Willadsen

I spent a lot of my adolescence on church mission trips. We called them work camps back then. Every time the church van was about to leave the parking lot, just after the driver had turned the ignition key someone would ask, “How long ‘til we get there?” Now, when I’m behind the wheel I give the same answer, that was given to me’ “Over a few hills, around a few bends, we’re practically there.” I can repeat this answer more times than the asker repeats the question. I can be very patient. Back in the day, ...

4821. When the Small is Great, and the Great is Small

Mark 12:38-44

Sermon

Will Willimon

I am at that age when it's tough to see. A decade ago, I was forced to obtain reading glasses. Then, a few years later, came bifocals. Next trifocals. Now, it's contacts. For someone whose vision for more than thirty years was 20/20, it's tough to be reduced to stumbling about in the early morning until my eyes are in. (You parents will know of what I speak.) I have this fear of being caught out on the road, alone in a Days Inn, abandoned, with no contact lenses, no glasses. I'd be lost forever! It's tough ...

4822. The Art and Agony of Patience

James 5:7-10

Sermon

Heather Sugden

My first child’s due date was the week before Thanksgiving. In the early months of pregnancy, I imagined this date the doctor assigned to her to be a great blessing: a Thanksgiving baby! I actually envisioned having family around our home the entire holiday week — all there to welcome my baby. I could picture perfectly in my mind’s eye this vision of everyone together, everyone happy, with food and the joy of saying our blessings out loud, creating the best possible environment for a new baby. Of course, a ...

4823. God Is Like...a Parent

Hosea 11:1-4 · Luke 15:1-32

Sermon

Kenneth L. Gibble

What is God like? We’ve been exploring that question, each time with a different image for an answer. So far, we’ve thought about how God is like the words “I Am,” how God is like a potter and how God is like bread. Today we turn to an image that is probably more familiar than any other for most Christians ― God as parent. The religion of the Hebrews was not the first to regard God as father. Do you remember your Greek mythology, where Zeus was the father of the gods? And though we have no written records ...

4824. The Dangers of Going to Church

1 Samuel 3:1-10 (11-20)

Sermon

Will Willimon

In one of her books Annie Dillard notes the curious way in which we come to church on Sundays. Here we are, with padded pews and carpeted sanctuaries. Everything orderly, neat, tied down, and respectable. Yet, says Dillard, if you know much about the Bible and what it says about what it's like to meet God, then the ushers ought to be handing out crash helmets rather than hymnals! Now if you look at the weekly bulletin of one of our full program, successful churches, I think you might conclude that church ...

4825. How to Rise above Discouragement

Luke 7:11-17

Sermon

Maurice A. Fetty

It's a dramatic scene when you think about it -- I mean -- a funeral procession halted and the trip to the cemetery interrupted. Of course it was not anything like our scene -- a black Cadillac hearse, followed by one or more black Cadillac limousines, followed perhaps by several cars, lights on, concerned not to lose their place in the line in the traffic. No, this scene was at once more primitive and personal. No city traffic to contend with in this procession. No indifferent motorists disturbed that ...

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