Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 551 to 575 of 4490 results

551. The Good Yoke

Matthew 11:25-30, 1 Kings 19:1-8, 1 Kings 19:9-18, 1 Kings 19:19-21

Sermon

Lori Wagner

What kind of yoke are you wearing today? Not this kind you say! Are you sure? Indeed, we may not get up in the morning and fit ourselves into a wooden harness like the one you see here –although sometimes our clothing may feel like that if we’ve gained a few pounds, no? But we all do bear a yoke. We yoke ourselves to ideas, concepts, issues, material things, relationships, belief systems. Our yokes in a sense bear the markings of those identities that we are willing to take on as our own identity, the ...

552. Daniel’s Dream of Four Beasts

Daniel 7:1-14

Understanding Series

William Nelson

The Four Beastly Kingdoms and God’s Kingdom: Daniel 7 is centrally located in the book; it is also of central importance. It functions as a transitional unit, providing a hinge that connects the two halves of the work. Chapter 7 is tied to what precedes by its language: it is part of the Aramaic section, which runs from Daniel 2:4b through 7:28. It is also part of the chiastic structure of chapters 2–7 (see “Stage Three” under “Language Problem and Literary Development” in the Introduction), which have ...

553. When You Least Expect It...

Luke 24:13-35

Sermon

Johnny Dean

Before I went to seminary, I was an avid reader. I especially enjoyed reading novels by authors like Stephen King. Often I would literally devour a novel in one or two days. Then, a few weeks later, I would go back and read the same novel again at a slower pace to make sure I hadn’t missed anything the first time through. Seminary requires a tremendous amount of reading, much of it dry as dust and about that interesting, too. Very few of the books we had to read during seminary were less than 400 pages in ...

554. Who's In Charge Here

Judges 21:24-25

Sermon

James Merritt

I want to juxtapose two quotes to you: one you will not be familiar with; one you will be very familiar with. Here is the first quote, given by historian Christopher Dawson, over thirty years ago: We have entered a new phase of culture we may call it the Age of the Cinema in which the most amazing perfection of scientific technique is being devoted to purely ephemeral objects, without any consideration of their ultimate justification. It seems as though a new society [is] arising, which will acknowledge no ...

555. The Curriculum of God’s Kingdom

Matthew 4:12-17

Sermon

Phil Thrailkill

“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” We can do startling new things because God has drawn near enough to enable them." Matthew 4:17b It was an awful time in London. In December of 1952 a toxic mix of dense fog and thick black smoke killed four thousand in four days. Coffins ran out, as did funeral flowers. It was one of the deadliest environmental disasters in English history. Here is what happened: “As smoke pouring out of London's chimneys mixed with fog, the air turned colder. In response, ...

556. Regis and Jesus

Matthew 6:19-24

Sermon

David E. Leininger

Have you been caught up in the "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" frenzy? For one-million dollars, what insect got into the works of the world's first computer causing it to short out and in the process started use of the phrase "computer bug?" A) Moth, B) Roach, C) Fly, D) Japanese Beetle. Dee-doo-dee-doo, dee-doo-dee-doo. A 25-year-old California man sat in the "hot seat" on Thursday night and agonized over the answer as millions of Americans looked on, and those who knew the answer in their living rooms ...

557. The Spirit of Cross Pointe

1 Corinthians 9:19-23

Sermon

James Merritt

At a riding stable where horses could be rented, the following sign was posted: "We have fast horses for folks who like to ride fast. We have slow horses for folks who like to ride slow. We have big horses for big folks and little horses for little folks and for those who have never ridden horses before we have horses that have never been ridden." That sign reminded me of something that I did many years ago that I am going to confess to today. There is a side of me that many of you do not know about and ...

558. Who Wants To Be a Millionaire

Matthew 6:19-24

Sermon

James Merritt

When it comes to millionaires, America has a monopoly. We have more millionaires than anyone else in the world; we have more people who want to be millionaires than anyone else in the world; and we have more people who can become millionaires than anyone else in the world. Recently USA Today ran a cover story entitled, "Everyone Wants a Shot at Being a Millionaire." The story begins this way: We live in a society gone millionaire mad. Our national fable used to be: Any kid can grow up to be President. Now ...

559. Going Hard against the Grain

Matthew 5:33-37

Sermon

Phil Thrailkill

Perhaps you have heard the story of the star-thrower, first published by Loren Eiseley in his 1969 book The Unexpected Universe. He tells of walking along a beach "littered with the debris of life.... Along the strip of wet sand that marks the ebbing and flowing of the tide, death walks hugely and in many forms. In the end the sea rejects its offspring. They cannot fight their way home through the surf which casts them repeatedly back upon the shore. The tiny breathing spores of starfish are stuffed with ...

560. Love Without Limits

Matthew 15:21-28

Sermon

Roger G. Talbott

The epitaph on the grave of Albert Camus, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1957, reads: "Here I understand what they call glory: the right to love without limits." In our gospel lesson we see two people who love without limits. Neither of them seem very glorious. One is a tired itinerant preacher named Jesus. The other is a woman who has no name -- only a racial designation: a Canaanite woman. "Canaanite" was to the Jews of Jesus' time what "Native American" is to the majority of North Americans. ...

561. Paul Reinterprets the Story of Israel

Romans 2:17-29

Teach the Text

C. Marvin Pate

Big Idea: Paul reverses the role that the law played as the stipulation of the old covenant. He argues that the very attempt to obey the law is keeping Israel in bondage. This is because obsession with the Torah derailed Jews from accepting Jesus as the Messiah and from seeing that the law was fulfilled in him and finished at the cross. Understanding the Text Romans 2:17–24, together with 2:25–29, focuses on the twin themes of the law of Moses as the stipulation of the Old Testament covenant and ...

562. A Love For All Seasons (ii) (communion Meditation)

1 Corinthians 13:1-13

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

Picture this scene. "It is dusk, and a couple is sitting on an ocean beach. The sand is warm to the touch. The sun is just about to set, kissing the surface of the ocean. A spirit of romance comes over the young woman. Without taking her eyes off of the ocean and sun she says, "Isn't that sunset gorgeous?" The fellow replies, "Well, strictly speaking, the sun is not setting. Nor for that matter, does it ever do so. The sun, you see, is in a relatively fixed position in relation to the earth. So, to speak ...

563. WaterFire Disciples

Acts 1:1-11

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

Does your church have a mission statement? There are very few now that don't. Remind your congregation what it is. Can they recite it by heart? Does your church have an image statement? There are very few now that do. But in an image culture, it's more important to have an image statement than a mission statement. The city of Chicago came up with an image statement for itself in 1999 and it brought into the city hundreds of millions of dollars. The image that best captured their history and heritage was ...

564. All the Pretty Horses

Luke 12:13-21, Luke 12:1-12, 1 Kings 3:16-28

Sermon

Lori Wagner

Storing up! When we hear that parable that Jesus told, we immediately think of silos and cornfields and harvest and grain. And that’s exactly the metaphor Jesus uses to describe “storing up” to the man in the crowd who approached him about help to get his deserved portion of inheritance. But it’s too easy merely to say, don’t put your security into money but into God. “Be on guard against all kinds of greed!” warned Jesus. “This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you ...

565. Hostage Crisis

1 Kings 19:1-8

Sermon

Carlyle Fielding Stewart

Sweat swarmed and beaded the palms of his hands as his heart thumped and pulse escalated. Bulging eyes blinked rapidly as his face twitched. His brown, swollen hands rumbled nervously through the inside pocket of his urine-stained tweed overcoat. "I got to find a match," he said to himself. "I got to find a match." Again he jerked through every pocket of his pants, jacket, and shirt. Still no match. Wildly flailing his arms more frantically now, he began overturning chairs and tables in the room. Yellow ...

566. Earthquakes, Tsunamis, and Disaster: Why do the Innocent Suffer?

Psalm 69:1-36

Sermon

James W. Moore

On a Christmas card we received this year, we discovered these powerful words: When the song of the angels is stilled, When the star in the sky is gone, When the Kings and Princes are back home, When the Shepherds have returned to new flocks, The work of Christmas begins: - To find the lost, - To heal the broken - To feed the hungry, - To release the prisoners, - To rebuild the nations, - To bring peace among people, - To make music in the heart. Or, in other words, to do the work of Christ. These words ...

567. Surprise! Surprise! Surprise!

Matthew 24:36-44

Sermon

Dean Feldmeyer

“Surprise! Surprise! Surprise!” Many of us can still remember television’s Jim Nabors as Private Gomer Pyle, USMC, his eyes closed, a broad smile creasing his face, weaving his head and shoulders back and forth as he said that phrase. Surprises always pleased Gomer. He accepted them as gifts. Maybe that’s because Gomer was easy to surprise. He was naïve and rather simple. His heart was pure and he always assumed the best in, and expected the best from, people. Even when people, or the world, for that ...

568. Brace Yourself!

Matthew 5:21-37

Sermon

John Jamison

Before we look at today’s scripture, let’s take a moment to remember where we were and what was going on. After John the Baptist was arrested, Jesus moved from Nazareth to Galilee where he could do what he needed to do to prepare for his ministry. Galilee was more Roman than Jewish, so the Pharisees and Sadducees in Jerusalem would have less ability to stop him before he was ready. He traveled the area preaching, teaching, and finding those who would become his disciples. One day as they were walking along ...

569. Overcoming The Blues

1 Kings 19:1-8

Sermon

Robert Allen

For those of you who are football fans, you know that Lou Holtz is a football coach who likes to win. Every place that he has coached, he has taken the football program and turned it around. He built Arkansas into one of the major football powers in the nation. He was turning the program around at Minnesota when he was offered the position at Notre Dame. Notre Dame’s football program had been struggling for several years and Lou Holtz was hired to restore the “Fighting Irish” to their winning tradition. ...

570. What a Difference a Day Makes

Exodus 20:8-11

Sermon

James Merritt

I want you to think about something I just recently read. It will make you tired just listening to it, but think about it. There are 365 days in the year, but you take weekends off, so you have to subtract 104 days. That leaves you with 261 working days, but you only work 8 hours a day; the other 16 you are either sleeping or tending to your own business, so you have to subtract 174 days. That leaves 87, but wait, we are not through subtracting yet. You eat lunch every day and although lunch hours vary, it ...

571. For The Love of God is Creative

1 Corinthians 2:6-12 · Psalm 8

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

In Bil Keane's FAMILY CIRCUS, little Billy is watching television. The speaker boldly says, "Remember this, my friends, great things never happen until some person in this world makes them happen." Billy's mind gets to thinking about the snow, the reflection of the moon on the lake at night, the waves crashing at the beach, a butterfly breaking out of its cocoon, a gorgeous sunset and a beautiful waterfall and then he says, "Oh, yeah?" (1) Billy had the youthful wisdom to give credit where credit is due, ...

572. God's Ridiculous Commitment

Acts 2:14a, 36-41

Sermon

King Duncan & Angela Akers

Let me ask you a question: how many of you would like to trade places with me on a Sunday morning? How many of you wish you could preach a few sermons instead of sitting and listening to them? I read about one pastor who was shaking hands with his parishioners after worship. At the end of the line was a church member who always had something to say about his messages. The woman shook the pastor’s hand warmly and said, “Pastor, today your sermon reminded me of the peace and love of God!” The pastor beamed ...

573. What Making a Difference Looks Like

Matthew 5:1-12

Sermon

Phil Thrailkill

I am told there are at least eight million cats and eleven million dogs in the Big Apple. Since New York is mainly concrete and steel, when you have a pet that dies, you can't just go out in the back yard and bury it. In response, city officials decided that for fifty dollars they would dispose of your pet for you. Now in that grand city was a certain enterprising lady. She thought to herself, “I can render a service.” So she placed an ad in the paper: "When your pet dies, I will take care of the carcass ...

574. Dynamic Preaching January 2024 Sermons

Sermon

King Duncan

[Note: While King Duncan is enjoying a well deserved retirement we are going back to his earliest sermons and renewing them. The newly modernized sermon is shown first and below, for reference sake, is the old sermon. We will continue this updating throughout the year bringing fresh takes on King's best sermons.] Original Title: Preparing for a Royal Visit New Title: Getting Ready Mark 1:1-8 January 7, 2024 (Baptism of the Lord) A little boy attended his first symphony concert. He was excited by the ...

575. One Commandment is Enough!

Exodus 20:1-21

Sermon

Rules, commandments, and laws are nothing new. For instance, everyone knows Murphy's Law: "If there is a possibility that something will go wrong, it will." Or how about the Law of Gardening: "You get the most of what you need the least." Jones' Rule of the Road is: "The easiest way to fold a map is differently." I like Erma Bombeck's Rule of Medicine: "Never go to a doctor whose office plants have died." One of my favorites is Agnes Allen's Law: "Almost anything is easier to get into than out of." But no ...

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