Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 4851 to 4875 of 4944 results

4851. Even in Our Hiding

Matthew 2:19-23, Matthew 2:13-18

Sermon

Lori Wagner

In Haarlem, Holland, 1837, a man named Willem ten Boom opened a watch shop. His family lived in the rooms above the shop. Later, the home and business was passed on to his son, Caspar ten Boom, and then later to Caspar’s daughter, Cornelia, who went by the name of Corrie ten Boom. The ten Boom family were devoted Christians, and their home was always open to anyone in need. The family served their community in Haarlem for many years; however, they would become well-known for their kindness and humanity ...

4852. Prisoners of Hope

Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30

Sermon

R. Kevin Mohr

We humans are really good at excuses. We’ve had lots of practice since Adam and Eve started the ball rolling by first blaming each other, then the serpent, and finally even blaming God for their rebellion against their Creator. Give us enough time and we can justify or rationalize away just about anything we do, especially when it comes to our relationship with God. Let me give you a true-life example. A number of years ago, our family went white water rafting down the New River in West Virginia. At one ...

4853. Stay Awake!

Mark 13:24-37

Sermon

Michael L. Sherer

A young professional woman from Ohio decided to seek her fortune, discern her vocation, and potentially change her life for the better by moving to England. She relocated to London where she began to pursue an advanced degree, seeking new opportunities in the work world. One of the things she took with her from the Midwest was an insatiable love for the Chicago Cubs professional baseball team. She followed the games on the internet, listening to the live feed. The problem with this arrangement was that, ...

4854. Don't Get Stuck!

Mark 1:1-8

Sermon

Michael L. Sherer

We begin with a modern parable, “a story that never actually happened” but that’s still true in some profound way. Here’s the story. A businessman from a metropolitan area received a registered letter informing him that an entrepreneurial group in another city had decided to honor him with their prestigious “Innovator of the Year” award. He was delighted. On the day of the presentation he allowed himself plenty of time to drive the Interstate, from one community to the other. But at the last minute, his ...

4855. Gratitude

Ephesians 5:15-20

Sermon

Will Willimon

"…be filled with the Spirit,...always and for everything giving thanks in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God the Father." I didn't care for him when we first met. He's not the sort of person that you warm up to at first. It takes time, and life, before he becomes part of you. Don't ever think that he comes naturally. You have to work at getting along with him. When we first met, I was young, very young, maybe two or three. My mother never tired, during those early years, of trying to get us together ...

4856. Freedom

Acts 16:16-40

Sermon

Will Willimon

"One thing which I like about living in New York," he said, “as opposed to where you live, is the freedom. Here there is freedom to live the lifestyle I choose -- to eat where I want and to dress as I like. Freedom." Then he closed his door behind us. He locked the latch, turned the deadbolt, inserted the chain, and switched on the electronic alarm, telling me, "Don't dare open that door without switching off the alarm or all hell will break loose and the cops may shoot you dead." If there is one virtue on ...

4857. Happiness Full Stop

John 15:9-17

Sermon

King Duncan

Good morning, and Happy Mother’s Day to all our mothers and mother-figures in our fellowship of faith. On this special day, we would like to thank all of you who shape our lives and build our families and serve as our safe place as we go out into the world. Mothers have a unique power to influence their children no matter how old those children get. Phil Keith, the former police chief of Knoxville, Tennessee, tells of receiving a call from his mother while he was in the middle of a televised press ...

4858. The Dean's Dilemma

Ephesians 5:15-20

Sermon

King Duncan

When you were a kid did you ever fantasize about finding a magical being who would grant wishes for you? Kids see endless possibilities in the world, yet their power is fairly limited, so they get a lot of satisfaction from imagining a magical being, like a genie or a fairy or an angel, who can instantly give them whatever they desire. But the movies and stories along these lines almost always come with a moral: Be very careful what you wish for—you just might get it. It reminds me of the story I like to ...

4859. Out of the Saltshaker

Mark 9:38-50

Sermon

King Duncan

A few years ago, there was a Mensa convention in San Francisco. Mensa, of course, is an organization whose members have an IQ of 140 or higher. Several of the Mensa members were lunching at a local cafe. While dining, they discovered that their saltshaker contained pepper and their pepper shaker was full of salt. The Mensa members, being naturally inquisitive, began to question how they could they swap the contents of the two bottles without spilling any of the contents, using only the implements at hand. ...

4860. Missional Discontinuity

Mark 6:30-44, Mark 6:45-56

Sermon

Dean Feldmeyer

What is it with Americans and work? We work, on average, 1,836 hours a year, more than just about anyone else in the industrialized world, and we take less vacation. 42% of working Americans don’t take any vacation at all and, of those who do, 61% report that they were working when they should have been playing!1 Paid time off makes up, on average, 7% of an American workers’ compensation package but most workers don’t collect all that they are entitled to. In fact, according to Fortune magazine, the ...

4861. More Than Enough

John 6:1-21

Sermon

Dean Feldmeyer

Forty percent of all the food that is produced in the United States is thrown away. That’s about twenty pounds per person per month, a total of about 33 million tons or $165 billion worth of edible, nutritious food per year. Discarded food is the second highest component of landfills in this country that as it decays, becomes a significant contributor to methane emissions.1 Worldwide, western, industrialized countries waste about 30% of all produced food, an annual total of about 220 million tons, an ...

4862. Preparing for the King

Luke 3:1-6

Sermon

King Duncan

Even if we dread deadlines, most of us will admit that we work better when we have a deadline staring us in the face. But few of us have to face the kind of deadline the White House staff does when they welcome a new President to D.C. Kate Anderson Brower has written a New York Times best-selling book titled The Residence: Inside the Private World of the White House which shares a behind-the-scenes look at all the work that goes into the Presidential transition. There are only about 90-100 residential ...

4863. Empowering the Powerless

Mark 10:2-16

Sermon

Lori Wagner

Tests. You’ve all taken them, in school, at university, or maybe even on the internet! While most of us grew up dreading the school or workplace kind, we’ve grown to love the kinds that showcase our unique personalities: the MBTI/16 Personalities, the Myers-Briggs, the SAPA, or the new, hugely popular Enneagram test. Each kind of test is designed to reveal or highlight certain characteristics about our character, our personalities, or our emotional wellbeing. Looking at the various ways we have scored, we ...

4864. For Us

Luke 22:7-38

Sermon

Will Willimon

Tonight, this night, we are preparing to partake of the Lord's Supper, a sacrament. We will give you a piece of bread, a sip of wine and promise you that God is here. What's going on here? Because we could not, knew not how, had not the means to come to God, God came to us. This is not how we climb up to God—through our good works, our projects, our noble ideals, our beautiful services of worship—tomorrow, between noon and three, we're going to see where all that leads. All of our ladders up to God always ...

4865. More Than a Popularity Contest

Luke 12:49-53, Luke 12:54-59

Sermon

King Duncan

How do you measure popularity? These days most people measure popularity by social media followers and likes. But that’s not always an authentic measure. There are companies that will sell large blocks of fake followers to those who want to look more popular than they really are. And this isn’t a new thing. Back in 300 B.C., a performer named Philemon hired audience members to laugh loudly at his jokes. The paid laughers were so effective that Philemon routinely beat out his competitors in local comedy ...

4866. A Law Against Dying?

Luke 20:27-38

Sermon

King Duncan

In a civilized society, there are laws that cover almost every facet of human life. And sometimes those laws can be overreaching or burdensome. It’s the price we pay for living as part of a community instead of as a bunch of unorganized loners. But at least most of our laws make sense. Maybe we’d complain less about the laws of our state or town if we lived in a town where there are laws that don’t make any sense. For example, how about a law against dying? That sounds ridiculous, doesn’t it, to create a ...

4867. 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 ...

4868. When Payday Comes

Matthew 20:1-16

Sermon

Steven Molin

Dear friends in Christ, grace to you, and peace, from God our Father, and his Son, our Lord Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. He walked into my office with all the confidence of corporate CEO, this fifteen-year old confirmation student. Without much fanfare, he announced, “I don’t think Mike Stevens should be confirmed.” I didn’t know Randy well; I had only been the pastor of that church for about four months, but it was clear that he and Mike had a little competition going between them. Randy grew up in that ...

4869. Knowing, and Known

Romans 4:13-25

Sermon

John B. Jamison

He leaned back against the tree and watched the crowds move past. They all looked so young. He smiled a bit as he thought about how young he had been that first time he brought his flocks here to sell. That had been, what, seventy years ago? Maybe eighty? The journey from home to the market hadn’t changed any, but it sure felt like it had. He couldn’t remember ever feeling this tired. He looked down at his campfire and wondered if this would be his last trip; the last time he would make the long journey to ...

4870. Who’s Afraid of the Big, Bad Wolf?

John 10:11-18

Sermon

Lori Wagner

“I am sending you out among wolves.” Matthew 10:16 “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.” Matthew 7:15 We all know and fear wolves. But some can be clever. How do you recognize a “wolf” when you see one? I think we can all probably answer that question. We need to pay attention to their behavior and not their facade. We don’t need a manual on wolf behavior to recognize when wolves are in our presence. Wolves have a certain identifiable ...

4871. The Possibility Mindset

Mark 10:17-31

Sermon

Lori Wagner

Are you a glass half full person or a glass half empty person? Are you a pessimist or an optimist? Do you look at your life and the world with resignation and see hopeless problems everywhere you look? Or do you look at your life and the world with rose colored glasses, refusing to acknowledge any problems at all, so that you can maintain your feelings of contentment and happiness? Whether we resign ourselves to the situations we find ourselves in or spend the bulk of our time “managing” life –both still ...

4872. The Raising

John 11:32-44

Sermon

Lori Wagner

Stones have fascinated us since the beginning of time. They make up the bulk of the earth’s crust. The earth’s mass comprised primarily of igneous rocks, such as granite and basalt, consists of minerals, such as silicon, oxygen, iron, aluminum, magnesium, and others. Most land rock is granite. Most oceanic rock is thicker basalt. These rocks comprise 95% of the earth’s substance. The surface yields sedimentary rock, primarily such as shale and limestone, which make up the remaining percent.[1] From the ...

4873. The Heart Of The Matter

Jeremiah 30:1--31:40

Sermon

Robert P. Hines

A number of years ago a man owned a red Ford Pinto station wagon. He bought it when he was going to college, and kept it for quite some time. In its last few years of service, the car had several thousand dollars put into it. The owner had to replace the engine; he had to put in a new transmission; and he had the whole body repainted. It looked good on the outside, but it had some serious problems on the inside. The heart of the matter was that it was really on its last legs. When he finally bought a new ...

4874. The Power Of God For Us

Colossians 3:1-17

Sermon

Sandra Hefter Herrma

Years ago, in a cartoon strip named Tumbleweeds, the captain of the fort sent his trusted scout to find out what was up with the Indians in their area. The scout returned, announcing, "Captain, I have lived with the Indians, eaten their food, taken part in their ceremonies and listened to what they say." The captain replied, "What have you to say?" And the scout responded, "Get off our land." When we truly learn how others live and feel, when we have eaten with them, slept with them and heard their stories ...

4875. Trouble

Psalm 34:14

Children's Sermon

Teresa L. Major

Concept: Trouble is no game. Preparation: A game board from the game "Trouble." Can you read this word? (Children read from the game.) Trouble. Have any of you ever played the game "Trouble" before? You pop the dice to find out how many spaces to move around the board. (Demonstrate.) The object of the game is to go all the way around the board and get your game pieces into the home slot before others get to their home slot. It's fun. But if someone else pops a number and ends up in the same space as you, ...

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