Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 4901 to 4925 of 4938 results

4901. Vive La Difference

Romans 12:1-8

Sermon

King Duncan

Yankee magazine ran a fascinating article recently entitled "Sensitive Specialists." It described men who make their living making extraordinary use of their natural senses. They cited the practiced eye of a diamond inspector, the sense of feel of a wool inspector, the developed ear of a cymbal tester, the sense of smell of a fresh fish inspector, and the sense of taste of a milktaster. All the men acknowledged that they had no special gift in the area of their senses. They had simply trained themselves to ...

4902. How Do We Choose?

Acts 1:12-26

Sermon

King Duncan

Since this is Mother's Day, I want to ask the men in the congregation a provocative question. How do you get along with your motherinlaw? Think about that one for a moment. How do you get along with your motherinlaw? If we lived in Goradze, Yugoslavia, the question would not be frivolous. In Goradze, when a marriage announcement is made, they have a strange custom. The bridetobe's neighbors grab the groomtobe and drag him outside. There they tie him to a stake near a bonfire and fan the flames toward him. ...

4903. Coming For The Right Reasons

John 6:25-59

Sermon

King Duncan

Billy had always been quite a character. He had been the class clown, and he always had a joke to tell. One time years ago when stores still gave out Green Stamps, Billy was talking to one of his friends, who was an active member of his church. "Can you tell me what I should do with my green stamps?" Billy asked. "Green stamps?" his friend said. "Yeah," said Billy, "the preacher said the church passed out redemption. I figured that since it was a redemption center I would redeem my green stamps." But it ...

4904. Do You Have A Forgiving Spirit?

Matthew 18:21-35

Sermon

Eric Ritz

I want to ask you a very important and penetrating question this morning to set the stage for our sermon today. Please answer it in the quietness of your own heart but with utter honesty. Do you have a forgiving spirit? Do you have a forgiving spirit? You could probably answer this question with both a yes and no. When it comes to the difficult subject of forgiveness, there are always limitations, conditions, circumstances, and varying qualifications to the answer we give. However, as we gather this ...

4905. Entitlements

Luke 16:19-31

Sermon

King Duncan

Did you read about that Arab sheik out in California who has a limousine that is 66 Â½ feet long? True story. It's a white Lincoln Town Car that can carry 36 passengers. It's in two pieces with a hitch in the middle like a tractortrailer so it can bend around corners. It has five axles. A normal Town Car is 18 feet long; most city buses are only 40 feet but this baby is 66 Â½ feet long. It has two fax machines, cellular telephones, TV sets, love seats and a microwave. It's going to get a satellite ...

4906. Letters Straight From The Heart

2 Corinthians 2:12--3:6

Sermon

King Duncan

There was an item in the newspapers sometime back about a star-struck teenager in 1943 named Lorraine Wagner who sent a fan letter to an actor named Ronald Reagan. Reagan took the time to sit down and write a short note of thanks in return. For the next fifty years, Lorraine and Ronald were pen pals. He wrote to tell her about his career, his marriages and all the mundane things that friends share with one another. She wrote the same things to him. Even after Reagan was elected President, he and Lorraine ...

4907. Hey, You Can Only Be Young Twice!

Genesis 12:1-8

Sermon

King Duncan

Nicodemus was probably an old man when he came to Jesus. He was confronted with the reality of a body that was no longer as vigorous as it once was. He was also conscious of dreams that would never be fulfilled. It's not easy to age, is it? Even middle-age is disconcerting to some of us. Someone has made a list of the Top Ten Ways You Can Tell if You're Middle-Aged. 10. You rank the invention of remote control TV right up there with the discovery of fire, the invention of the light bulb, and elastic ...

4908. A Penny For God

Mark 12:41-44

Sermon

King Duncan

A huge sofa filled the sidewalk in front of a home. Evidently the sofa had been taken out to the curb by the owner for trash collection. Since the sofa was in pretty good shape, a lot of people driving by slowed down for a closer look. But when they saw how big it was, they'd pass on by without stopping. Eventually a compact car pulled up, and two men got out. They removed all the cushions, turned the sofa upside down, and shook it hard. Then they picked up all the coins that tumbled out of the sofa, ...

4909. Good Neighbors

Luke 10:25-37

Sermon

King Duncan

During his sermon, a pastor quoted Jesus, "Love your neighbor as yourself." To emphasize the point, he asked three times, with increasing intensity: "Who is my neighbor? Who is my neighbor? Who is my neighbor?!" Each time he asked this, a young boy in the congregation answered quietly: "Mister Rogers! Mister Rogers! Mister Rogers!" (1) Fred Rogers of children's television fame was a good neighbor. But the lawyer's question to Jesus is just as relevant today as it was 2,000 years ago. Who is our neighbor? ...

4910. Discerning The Will Of God

Acts 1:1-11

Sermon

King Duncan

In the popular cartoon, Marvin, Marvin's mother looks down at little Marvin who has just taken his hammer and broken his toys into thousands of pieces. "Why must you always break your toys, Marvin?" Marvin thinks to himself and then replies, "I'm just practicing for when I grow up. I'm going to be a broker." I don't think many of us want to spend our lives being "brokers;" we would rather builders and fixers. We want our lives to count for something good, constructive, and lasting. We want to make our mark ...

4911. The Sower and the Seed

Matthew 13:1-23

Sermon

Brett Blair

The Kingdom of God was the main emphasis of Jesus’ ministry and this is accepted by most. But defining precisely what the Kingdom was is a bit more difficult. Indeed, even Jesus himself was often elusive about it. He did not speak in absolutes; rather, he spoke in parables. Such is our scripture text for this morning. Jesus compared the Kingdom to a sower going out and spreading seed. Some of it falls upon hard ground and is unable to take root. Some of it falls on shallow ground, and although it initially ...

4912. The Total Steward

1 Chronicles 29:1-9

Sermon

Edward Inabinet

Years ago multitudes read the book, "The Total Woman." That was the book that suggested that wives meet their husband at the door when he comes home from work, dressed only in saran wrap. That book was followed by one called, "The Total Man." I don''t know if the author had a comparable suggestion for husbands or not. Our concern for the day is not about the total man or the total woman, but about "the total steward." So often Christians reflect the values of society. If materialism is in--driving the ...

4913. Because He Lives

John 14:5-14

Sermon

Edward Inabinet

The death of our loved ones who know and love the Lord is a bitter-sweet experience. It is bitter because we lose for a time the close and warm experience of sharing life and love with them, but it is sweet because beyond the sorrow of our loss there is a knowledge that life is far better for them in the house of our Heavenly Father, and because His comfort and love become more meaningful to us. _______________ was mother, sister, friend and fellow servant of Jesus Christ. She lived a long and useful life ...

4914. The Ultimate Thirst Quencher (Alternate Addition to the "I Am" series: Living water)

John 7:25-44

Sermon

Eric Ritz

Have you ever been extremely hot and extremely thirsty? Go with me in your imagination to South America, to the country of Chile. There is a desert there, the Atacama Desert. In the Atacama Desert it does not rain for centuries at a time. This forsaken, narrow strip of land lies along the western coast of South America. It is protected from clouds by the Andes Mountains, the world''s second highest mountain range. Some parts of the Atacama Desert have not seen rain in 400 years. Although the desert is ...

4915. Half-Time is Now Over

Luke 24:13-35

Sermon

Eric Ritz

The story of "Wrong Way Riegels" is a familiar one, but it bears repeating. On New Year’s Day, 1929, Georgia Tech played UCLA in the Rose Bowl. In that game a young man named Roy Riegels recovered a fumble for UCLA. Picking up the loose ball, he lost his direction and ran sixty-five yards toward the wrong goal line. One of his teammates, Benny Lom, ran him down and tackled him just before he reached the end zone. The Bruins were forced to punt. Tech blocked the kick and scored a safety, demoralizing the ...

4916. An Eye-Opening Experience

Luke 24:13-35

Sermon

Eric Ritz

One of the most significant books I read in seminary was titled THE MEANING OF REVELATION by Dr. H. Richard Niebuhr. Dr. Niebuhr probes the difference between history as lived and experienced, and history as observed by an external spectator. History is constantly being made each and every day of our lives. The Christian Church exists in a real world, but how do we discern between the external reality of the world and the inner revelation that the faithful community needs to follow as God’s covenant people ...

4917. King of the Road

Luke 24:13-35

Sermon

Eric Ritz

For me, no appearance on the first Sunday after Easter is more vivid or beautiful than the scripture lesson shared by the Gospel writer Luke of the episode that takes place on the Road to Emmaus. S. MacLean Gilmore describes it "as a story of singular grace and charm." As our Gospel lesson begins we see that Cleopas and an unnamed disciple are leaving behind the bitter memories of Jerusalem and are walking to the Village of Emmaus. As they walk they begin to review the series of events that had taken place ...

4918. A Guiding Presence

Romans 8:1-17

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

Our scripture lesson this morning, the second scripture lesson which the sermon is based, comes from Paul’s letter to the church at Rome, the 8th chapter. I’m beginning with the first verse and reading through the 11th verses, and I’m reading from the Revised Standard Version. This is the word of the Lord, “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, ...

4919. The House Of Our Dreams

Luke 2:21-40

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

There is an old Rabbinic story about a poor man who left the village of his birth, and set out to find the city of his dreams, where all was bright and perfect. After a day's walk he lay down to rest the night in a forest. Before going to sleep he removed his shoes and placed them carefully in the path, pointing them in the direction of his journey toward the magical city. While he slept, a practical joker came along and turned his shoes around so that they pointed in the direction of the village he had ...

4920. Return to the Father

Joel 2:12-17

Sermon

Elizabeth Achtemeier

Karl Barth once remarked that the greatest tragedy in human life would be to come to the end of our days and to realize that we have been totally worthless in the purpose of God. Or in the thought of our Epistle lesson, at the end to realize that God has poured out his grace on us through all our years, and yet we have done nothing with it (2 Corinthians 6:1). It is that "end" that the prophet Joel is preaching about in our Old Testament lesson, the end of our lives, and in fact, the end of human history. ...

4921. The Gospel

Colossians 1:3-6

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

When I first began to think of preaching for you these days, my intention was to look through the entire letter of Paul to the Colossians and hit the high points of that letter. As I began to work more specifically in preparation for this event, I decided that was altogether too expansive. What I needed to do was to be more focused. So, during this time I am with you, I am going to focus on just the first chapter of Paul’s letter to the church at Colossi. In the services this morning I am going to be ...

4922. Now Here Is the Plan

John 12:20-36

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

Our text opens this morning with Philip, a disciple of Jesus, being recognized by someone from his home town. He hadn't counted on that. He thought that he could move around Jerusalem incognito at the time of the Passover, for the city was filled literally with tens of thousands of pilgrims from all over the world who had come to the Holy City on this most holy of seasons. Andrew is with him. Andrew is also from Bethsaida. They expected to pass anonymously in this crowded city, because Bethsaida is a long ...

4923. Jesus' Most Perplexing Parable

Luke 16:1-15

Sermon

R. Robert Cueni

In the scripture lesson for today Jesus tells a perplexing parable about a thoroughly dishonest employee who was praised for his dishonesty. In this story Jesus not only seems comfortable suggesting that it is acceptable to compromise with moral failings, but our Lord appears to commend his disciples to "go and do likewise." For centuries, preachers, commentators, and scholars have struggled to make sense of this outrageous tale. Let me give some context. The fifteenth chapter of Luke opens by telling us ...

4924. Living in Denial

Luke 16:19-31

Sermon

King Duncan

Imagine you are a race car driver in the Indianapolis 500 automobile race. How would you deal with the inherent risks associated with this sport? How would you deal with the possibility of crashing, even dying, on that track? According to one driver, you don’t. “[If a fatal accident occurs,] you don’t go look at where it happened. You don’t watch the films of it on television. You don’t deal with it. You pretend it never happened.” The Indianapolis International Speedway operation itself encourages this ...

4925. The Burglar's Christmas

Luke 15:22-24

Drama

Matthew Powell

Cast Narrator 1 Narrator 2 Young Man Will Mother Father (Narrators are seated on stools or chairs at stage right and stage left. Mother and Father are sitting on a bench or chairs up stage facing away from the audience. There is an unoccupied chair or stool in center stage. Will and Young Man are standing at center stage slightly down from the unoccupied chair) Narrator 1: Two very shabby-looking young men stood at the corner, looking despondently at the carriages that whirled by. Narrator 2: It was ...

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