Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 476 to 500 of 2962 results

Matthew 3:13-17

Sermon

King Duncan

... of the extremely warm day, he had perspired so much that his good suit was soaked. But he realized something that afternoon. He realized there had to be a better way. The young man’s name, by the way, was Clarence Evinrude. Later that very evening he designed the world’s first outboard motor. An industry was born because a young man had fallen head over heels for a young woman who kept making requests of him. I will add that she later became his wife. (1) We call the “Aha!” moment Clarence Evinrude ...

477. You Bring Me Great Pleasure

Matthew 3:13-17

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... should walk towards Christ, not away from him. If 2011 is like every other year, there will likely be some really bad roads that end in big fat failures. Sink-holes and wash-outs, the deadest of dead ends. These are not endings. These places are the turn-around zones designed by God to give us the opportunity to make an about face and go back and find the road we missed. The road back to Jesus is never out of range no matter how many wrong turns we’ve taken. Resolve #3: Bear the cross. In a world where ...

478. God's Work of Art

John 9: 1-41

Illustration

Mickey Anders

... than another, but simply because the pattern requires it. Looked at from underneath, from our vantage point in life, God's pattern of reward and punishment seems arbitrary and without design, like the underside of a tapestry. But looked at from outside this life, from God's vantage point, every twist and knot is seen to have its place in a great design that adds up to a work of art." Telling someone that the tragedy that has just befallen them is "God's will" is the worst possible thing you could say ...

479. The Meals-on-Wheels Temple

1 Peter 2:4-12

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... they had abdicated a huge part of their spiritual identity to a governmental agency. The faithful in Memphis decided it was time they took it back. So after Katrina the various faith communities got together, regardless of denomination, and organized coordinated programs designed to kick into action during a natural disaster. The flooding in Memphis has been the first big test of this program. To the surprise of most and dismay of some, it is passing with flying colors. One example: Hope Presbyterian housed ...

480. Matthew 14:22-36

Matthew 14:22-36

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... appearance is down-played by the calming, comforting greeting he offers his wet, weary followers. After encouraging the disciples to “take heart” or even “be cheerful” (9:2,22), he announces his identity with the theologically loaded designation, “It is I.” In the Old Testament this designation “It is I” serves as the defacto “name” of God (Exodus 3:14; Deuteronomy 32:39; Isaiah 41:4; 43:10). It is no less than the water-walking “It is I” who stands before the drenched disciples ...

481. Don't Be Afraid

Matthew 14:22-36

Sermon

King Duncan

... desire for security and control on the road. In this day and age, people want to put as much steel and iron around them as they can. They equate weight with safety. It’s a factor, but in no way compares to solid structural design and the use of multiple air bags . . . With thousands of other SUVs speeding past them, not to mention eighteen wheelers and cement mixers, drivers just feel more secure. It’s a perception and Detroit promoted it. One SUV brand advertised itself with the headline, “Look ...

482. Clearing Out the Pipes

Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21

Sermon

John Smylie

... and follow the pipe until I noticed a particular place in the garden where the soil was wet and muddy. I found the break in the pipe. I was able to flush out the blockage using a garden house and I learned that this particular pipe was not designed for anything but water or other noncongealing liquids. The season of Lent provides us with an opportunity to experience a kind of personal roto-rooter. It's foolish to take on spiritual disciplines if we have no expectation or hope for growth, for change, or for ...

483. On Your Mark, Get Set, Go!

Mark 1:9-15

Sermon

John Smylie

... to the wilderness, nor did he choose to be tempted. The leading by the Spirit and the tempting by the devil were imposed upon him from the outside. There had to be room for free will, for personal response once he found himself there, but he did not design or create this wilderness. What might this speak to us as we begin our journey into this Lenten season? First of all, we don't create our own wilderness; we don't start a mad scramble to impose all kinds of hardships upon ourselves to prove our spiritual ...

484. Weed and Feed

Sermon

John Smylie

... to me that Jesus is suggesting that the word of God is like a giant string trimmer for the people of God. Our Lord scatters the word with grace in his teaching and in his example. The word of God comes into us and as it takes hold it is designed to remove areas in our life that keep us from God while making room for God to dwell within us. The word of God not only provides us with an opportunity for growth, it provides us with the possibility of greater health. Just like the good plant underneath the tree ...

485. The Heart of the Matter Is the Heart!

Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23

Sermon

Robert Leslie Holmes

... 7:5 No one knows better than Jesus that the Pharisees took the Ten Commandments that were given to Moses at Mount Sinai and so intertwined them with their own cultural rituals that the ten laws of God had become some 4,000 religious ordinances, many designed to trap the people. Hence, they robbed the people of a right relationship with God. The Pharisees passed these edicts from one generation of their sect to the next for a thousand years and nobody could know for sure where each law came from. Among them ...

486. Everyone Is Invited

Matthew 22:1-14

Illustration

Bill Bouknight

... a big decorated box had been placed at the front of the room by the teacher. It had a slit in the top. Each student had been invited to bring valentines addressed to friends and to drop them into the box. Then on Valentine's Day, one student was designated by the teacher as the postman to distribute the cards. Earlier that week Drew's mother had bought a package of 35 valentine cards. Drew asked her, "Why did you buy so many?" She replied, "So you can give one to each person in your class." "No ma'am ...

487. The Science of Happiness

1 Thessalonians 1:1-10

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... why we are eager to embrace a “scientific” equation that might get us to that hard-to-attain state of happiness. That’s why we have gyms, yoga classes, and fitness coaches. That’s why we swim, run, bicycle, weight lift — all designed to tune and tone our bodies. The molding mantra behind all these happiness “therapies” is “healthy body/healthy heart.” The number of professional athletes who succumb to drugs, despair, and personal destruction each year tends to temper that mantra. Still we ...

488. Historic: The Declaration of Independence

Illustration

Staff

... experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the ...

489. The Little V-8 Engine That Could

Illustration

Napolean Hill

... his dream was impossible. Ford said, "Produce it anyway." They replied, "But it's impossible." "Go ahead," Ford commanded, "and stay on the job until you succeed, no matter how much time is required." For six months they struggled with drawing after drawing, design after design. Nothing. Another six months. Nothing. At the end of the year Ford checked with his engineers and they once again told him that what he wanted was impossible. Ford told them to keep going. They did. And they discovered how to build a ...

490. Eye of the Needle

Illustration

... in the development of the first sewing machine was the location of the eye of the needle. Inventor Elias Howe was rapidly running out of money and ideas when one night he had a peculiar dream. He was being led to his execution for failing to design a sewing machine for the king of a strange country. He was surrounded by guards, all of whom carried spears that were pierced near the head. Realizing instantly that this was the solution to his problem, Howe woke up and rushed straight to his workshop. By ...

491. Matthew 23:1-12

Matthew 23:1-39

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... to be addressed even in the midst of the marketplace — a purely economic setting — as “rabbi.” In first century etymology “rabbi” meant “great one” or “my lord.” After the destruction of the Temple the title became more of a technical designation, identifying trained sages and Torah teachers. While Jesus is addressed as “rabbi” in the other gospels, in Matthew’s text the only one who calls Jesus “rabbi” is Judas (Matthew 26:25,49), hardly a good endorsement for the title. Jesus ...

492. Proclamation Appointing a National Fast Day

Illustration

William H. Seward

... of the United States of America. A Proclamation. Whereas, the Senate of the United States, devoutly recognizing the Supreme Authority and just Government of Almighty God, in all the affairs of men and of nations, has, by a resolution, requested the President to designate and set apart a day for National prayer and humiliation. And whereas it is the duty of nations as well as of men, to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God, to confess their sins and transgressions, in humble sorrow, yet ...

493. Little Ways to Show You Care

Illustration

Staff

... Get ideas for a verse by spending a few minutes browsing through a card shop. Write a poem. It doesn't have to rhyme. Send a love letter listing the reasons "Why I love you so much." Pledge your love for a lifetime. Write it on calligraphy or design it on a desktop computer and print it out on parchment paper and have it framed. Plan a surprise lunch, complete with picnic basket, sparkling grape juice and goblets. Bake a giant cookie and write "I love you" with heart shaped redhots or frosting. (Don't worry ...

494. Luke 1:26-38

Luke 1:26-38

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... to “his ancestor David” and “the house of Jacob,” Luke makes sure that this angel’s pronouncement promises the fulfillment of God’s commitment to David’s house (2 Samuel 7:11-16). However, the angel’s declaration includes a favorite Lukan designation: the “Son of the Most High” (see v. 35, 76; Acts 7:48; 16:17) – a title that becomes synonymous with “Son of God” (v. 35). The angel’s pronouncement proclaims both a new Davidic ruler for Israel and foretells an eschatological ...

495. The Unwanted Christmas Gift: The Gift That Keeps on Giving

Luke 1:26-38

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

496. The Simplex Faith of 3:16

John 3:1-21

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... mixing, cooking and creating in the kitchen. Finding the magical nature of numbers and equations. Being transported by the beauty of art or the sounds of music. All those “first loves” are special, yet simple. Later, when we’ve studied mechanical design or chemical engineering, mastered culinary skills, wrestled reality into numerical logic systems, or acquired technical skills in art or music, we may still have great passion for a chosen field. But it is a love complicated by complexity, nuanced by ...

497. Touched

John 20:24-31

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... as‑a‑loon. Those who were mentally unstable, developmentally disabled, differently connected to this world in any way — they could all be labeled “touched.” Today we have hundreds of different physical, emotional, and intellectual designations for people. What if we accepted all those designations, but also considered putting them under one greater canopy. The canopy of “touched.” The truth is: We are all “touched.” We are touched by circumstances. We are touched by our limitations. We are ...

498. Whistling Jesus

John 15:1-17

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... a huge steam shovel (who deftly dumps him safely back into his nest), earnestly asking each one, “Are you my mother?” We all crave a mother’s presence and pine for a mother’s love. This Sunday, the second Sunday in May, has been officially designated as “Mother’s Day” since May 9, 1914. But in England as far back as the 1600’s there has been a tradition of a “Mothering Sunday.” Originally born out of the Catholic celebrations of Mary, the Mother of Christ, the English “Mothering Sunday ...

499. God’s Two Hands

John 16:5-16

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... not described as a prophet or as a savior or as a seer. He is called “Moses our teacher.” In Hebrew Moses is a “moreh derekh” — a “teacher of the way.” “The way” Moses offered was marked by an obedience to the Torah that was designed to bring one into a righteous — relationship with God. Jesus was also a “moreh derekh,” a “Teacher of The Way.” But “the way” Jesus offered was not a series of principles or perceptions. The “Way” of Jesus was the way of a person who brought ...

500. The Awesome Power of a Mustard Seed (Father's Day)

Mark 4:30-34

Sermon

King Duncan

... much. I personally like comedian Phyllis Diller’s comment. She said, “I want my children to have all the things I couldn’t afford. Then I want to move in with them.” Just kidding, of course. Our text for the day isn’t designed specifically for fathers. It is designed, rather, for followers, followers of Jesus Christ. The Master is talking about the kingdom of God and he speaks hopeful words about the days ahead. He says, “What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use ...

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