Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 551 to 575 of 4943 results

551. I Am The Alpha And The Omega

Sermon

Ronald Lavin

... . Lang. "Why, I thought it would be light," he said. "I thought the cross was hollow. Why do you carry a cross that is so terribly heavy?" Mr. Lang replied softly, "Sir, if I did not feel the weight of his cross, I could not play his part." As we take up the cross of Christ and follow him, we rediscover Jesus, the Alpha and Omega of life -- the one from whom we came; the one to whom we go, our Lord and our God. Revelation 1:8 points us to the Alpha and the Omega. Revelation 1:8 also speaks of ...

552. Proper 21 & Pentecost 19

Ezekiel 18:1-32, Psalm 25:1-22, Psalm 99:1-9, Exodus 32:1-33:6, Philippians 2:1-11, Philippians 2:12-18, Matthew 21:28-32

Sermon Aid

... accepted him. He probably could never have resolved the question of his authority to teach and preach the good news to the satisfaction of the religious establishment, so he called upon them to repent, echoing through the parable the first message which he preached, taking up where John the Baptizer left off: "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." And, in the process, he justifies John: For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and harlots ...

553. The Lightest Touch

Jeremiah 1:1-19

Sermon

Harry N. Huxhold

... Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you.” The prophetic office was God’s work. God would choose the mission, God would provide the words, and God would be present to make the work effective. The young boy Jeremiah could take up this calling with supreme confidence. God’s Touch As an affirmation and confirmation of the calling which God laid upon Jeremiah, Jeremiah relates, “Then the Lord put out his hand and touched my mouth.” We do not know in what manner or way that this took ...

554. Servants Without Portfolio

Matthew 20:20-28

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... that real and total freedom can be found only by downward mobility. The word of God came to us and lived among us as a servant. The divine way is indeed the downward way. “If any person would come after me,” said Jesus, “let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow daily.” So this is the final sermon in our series of the shaping power of the indwelling Christ. I want to build upon Nowan’s metaphor by suggesting the primary characteristics of the styles of those who are alive in Christ, and ...

555. In Solidarity with Jesus

Hebrews 1:1-4; 2:5-18

Sermon

Richard Gribble

... it to me." We must be willing to spend our lives in the service of others, to grow rich, not in the eyes of the world, but the eyes of God (Luke 12:21). Jesus told his disciples, "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for may sake, and for the gospel, will save it. For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life?" (Mark 8:34b ...

556. Thanks for Their Gifts

Philippians 4:10-20

Understanding Series

F. F. Bruce

... was welcome to Paul. But Paul was engaged in the service of God; the gift was therefore a gift to God as well as to Paul, and it was at least as welcome to God as it was to Paul. Paul now abandons the vocabulary of accounting and takes up the language of worship. Their gift to Paul was a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God. The phrase a fragrant offering is found repeatedly in the OT, from the description of Noah’s sacrifice in Genesis 8:21 onward; it is specially common in the ...

557. The Ark Does Some Damage

1 Samuel 5:1-12

Teach the Text

Robert B. Chisholm Jr.

... ancient Near East “the deity’s presence was marked by the image of the deity.” He explains that the “image functioned in the cult as a mediator of the divine presence. As such it represented the mystical union of transcendence and immanence.” The god takes up residence in the image and in this way reveals himself to his worshipers and gives them a tangible object to worship.4 Dagon appears to be the chief deity of the Philistines. Though an older interpretation understood him to be a fish-god, it ...

558. Deliverance of Israel

Isaiah 27:1-13

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

... s prayers here (cf. Ps. 44). “That talk about being the vinedresser and about fruitfulness is all very well, but you have bludgeoned us in the way the first vineyard song threatened (see 1:5–6). You have slaughtered us (the verb harag in v. 7b nicely takes up the occurrence at the end of 26:21, which Israel is proving true; its blood is crying out from the ground). You have contended against us, not for us, as you said you would (the verb rib recurs from 3:13a—NIV paraphrases there). You have expelled ...

559. You're Never Too Old

Genesis 17:1-27

Sermon

King Duncan

... him. It is said that Jewish history began with a command to Abraham which he received from God to leave the country in which he was born and to go “to the land I will show you.” That happened in Genesis 12. Abraham believed God. God said, “Take up your family and go.” Abraham went. That was the kind of faith Abraham had. And it was that faith that gave birth to the nation of Israel. In today’s lesson, God challenges Abraham’s faith with even more of a fantastic promise. God tells Abraham that ...

560. Do you need a Pharisectomy?

Matthew 9:27-34, Matthew 9:35-38, Matthew 12:15-21, Matthew 12:22-37, Matthew 12:38-45, Matthew 12:46-50

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... ? Is it tidy and untouched, draped in plastic protection? Or is it “messy” with the love and change of the Holy Spirit’s movement? Jesus tells us in the scripture today that too “tidy” a house is an invitation for evil to move in and take up residence. When your focus is on the “neatness” of your house, and not on the people within it, bad things can happen! The church is about people. The church is about relationships. The church is about spending time with people who need Jesus’ love and ...

561. DodgeGod

Amos 8:1-14

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... ' name is derived from Hebrew, and means either "burden" or "bearer of burden" for both the message and the messenger were heavily laden. But Amos was given a message to deliver and he gave up his everyday tasks, responsibilities, and pleasures in order to take up the burden God set before him. The late Dr. Clarence Edward Macartney, of First Presbyterian Church of Pittsburgh, Pa, used to make the distinction between God functioning THROUGH you and IN you. God's will wants to be done through you. But God's ...

562. Kingdom Etiquette

Luke 14:1-14

Sermon

W. Robert McClelland

... history of the church, a personal piety of self-denial came into vogue. Indeed, by the time Paul wrote his letter to the church at Rome he was already imploring his readers not to think of themselves more highly than they ought to think (Romans 12:3). Taking up our cross daily and following Jesus came to mean emptying ourselves of all personal pride, ambition and self-worth in order to do God's will which was loving and serving others. Love of neighbor was understood as antithetic to love of self and was to ...

563. Proper 8

2 Corinthians 8:1-15, 2 Samuel 1:17-27, Mark 5:21-43

Sermon Aid

Russell F. Anderson

... he continued to engage in battle and the sword continued to pierce his heart with sorrow, as his own sons took up arms against him or their brothers. The deaths of Saul and Jonathan point to the truth later spoken by Jesus: "Those who take up the sword will perish by the sword." Epistle: 2 Corinthians 8:7-15 1. Sermon Title: How To Be A Truly Excellent Church. Sermon Angle: Different churches pride themselves on various things. Some take pride in their beautiful building; others point to their excellent ...

564. Know What Time It Is!

Luke 16:1-15

Sermon

W. Robert McClelland

... in the garage or the finance company has repossessed it? What if some of our teeth are missing, we sweat a lot, or have bad breath? What does it mean for us, who are sinners, to live with the kingdom at hand? The reply of the King is, "Take up your cross and follow me." The cross, let us never forget, symbolizes our sinfulness. The significance of Jesus' reply rests not only on his assumption that each of us has a cross of sinfulness, but more remarkably, that we can bear it. Rather than have us believe we ...

565. Forgive and Heal

Mark 2:1-12

Drama

Robert F. Crowley

... They didn't say a word. But Jesus knew their hearts. MOTHER: Who doesn't know their hearts? HARETH: And Jesus said to them: Why are you turning these things over in your hearts? Which is easier to say to this paralyzed man -- your sins are forgiven or rise up, take up your bed and walk? THOMAS: And the scribes didn't say a word, did they, Father? HARETH: No, they didn't. But Jesus did. Jesus said to the scribes that to prove that he had the authority to forgive sins he would heal me. He told me to rise and ...

566. Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time

Luke 24:13-35

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... been to the grave as well, but he did not see Jesus, only a shroud laid in the corner of the tomb, and what would you make of that? So, discouraged, Cleopas and friend headed back out to the suburbs of Emmaus where nothing much ever happened, to take up their lives again and try to put out of their minds the terrible memory of what HAD happened. They barely noticed when a stranger began to walk with them and joined in the conversation. Of course, we know who this stranger is, the risen Christ. But Cleopus ...

567. This Is Not What You Expected

John 12:20-36

Sermon

King Duncan

... me must follow me . . ." We look at Jesus' promises of eternal life and unimaginable glory and say, "Sure, Lord, I'll follow you there." But when we face Jesus' command to serve the poor and needy, to go into all the world to spread his message, to take up our cross and die to our own self--suddenly we aren't so sure. In one installment of the comic strip "Hagar the Horrible," Hagar confronts his not-so-bright sidekick, Lucky Eddie. "I need a second-in-command," Hagar bellows. "Can you say yes or no with ...

568. An Extraterrestrial Celebration

John 13:1-17

Sermon

King Duncan

... the wall hangs a towel, and on the floor sits a pitcher and a basin. Any one of the disciples could volunteer for the job, but not one does. “After a few moments, Jesus stands and removes his outer garment. He wraps a servant’s girdle around his waist, takes up the basin, and kneels before one of the disciples. He unlaces a sandal and gently lifts the foot and places it in the basin, covers it with water, and begins to bathe it. One by one, one grimy foot after another, Jesus works his way down the row ...

569. Timing Is Everything

Matthew 11:2-11

Sermon

Mark Trotter

... is timing. I can give testimony to that, having written several books myself that not only escaped the attention of reviewers, but readers as well. One publisher wrote me and asked if I was interested in buying the surplus volumes of my books that were taking up space in his warehouse. I didn't answer him. So I was interested in the formula for success in publishing, especially for preachers. Robert Fulghum is an ex-preacher, who now writes best sellers. His first book was, All I Really Need to Know I ...

570. Where Can I Find the Church?

Acts 2:1-8; 4:32-37

Sermon

Mark Trotter

... that not everybody sold their house, because Acts says they met in one another's houses. You can't do both those things. And we know that there were people who were still poor and in need in Jerusalem, because Paul, in his letters, says he is taking up a collection for the poor in Jerusalem. And we know that they were not necessarily all "of one heart and soul," because also in Paul's letters he is telling them to stop this divisiveness and be united in Christ. So this is undoubtedly an idealized portrait ...

571. Will You Still Listen?

Jeremiah 1:1-19

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... . Brave astronauts piloted a tiny craft out to a distant place, and then returned again in triumph. The Mars projects are even more exciting because they involve a vastly longer journey. Like the explorations of Magellan and Columbus, a Mars journey will take up a significant chunk of any explorer's lifetime. Long-distance travel in the twenty-first century isn't quite the same isolating experience it was for the first European explorers to the new world. NASA engineers are in constant contact with their ...

572. Christmas 1

Mt 2:13-23 · Heb 2:10-18 · Isa 63:7-9 · Ps 148

Sermon Aid

Marion L. Soards, Thomas B. Dozeman, Kendall McCabe

... referring to his humanity, his suffering, and his vicarious death—are a preface to the lectionary reading. The prescribed verses (10-18) are a complex reflection upon the necessity of both Jesus' humanity and suffering for the salvation of humankind. Verses 10-11 take up the idea of Jesus' and humanity's common human condition—which is the basis of his suffering's attaining our salvation. The reasoning of this passage begins with God and moves from Jesus to humanity. Then, vv. 12-13 establish this line ...

573. The Parable of the Choices

Matthew 21:28-31

Sermon

Shirley Gupton Lynn

... to the hungry and homeless, the abused and oppressed. We can't do it all, but we dare not fail to do what we can do. Quaker theologian Thomas Kelly writes, "You don't have to die on every cross." We don't. But we have to take up our own cross, our own sacrificial work deliberately and willfully chosen. Here. Today. Where we are. So for ourselves, for our church, let's choose not despair, but determination. II. We must choose between despair and determination and we must choose between the past and the ...

574. Time for a New Wardrobe

Isaiah 61:1—62:12

Sermon

Schuyler Rhodes

... he was much younger, and a young person all decked out in black leather, chains, and spiky, purple hair walked by us on the sidewalk. My son's eyes got as big as a saucer. That was a comment walking by for sure! With this clothing thing taking up so much of our consciousness, is it any wonder then, that the biblical writers picked up on it? We shouldn't be surprised, of course, that clothing metaphors burst forth from the pages of Holy Scripture. Paul writes a lot about wearing the clothing of compassion ...

575. Do You Know Your Place?

Mark 8:31--9:1

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... : Jesus. The rest of us are called to be followers. How did the Apostle Paul put it: “Follow me as I follow Christ.” Even after twenty-one centuries of trying, it is hard for us to “get behind Jesus” and follow him. We may be willing to “take up our cross.” But we would still like to “take the lead” on that journey. Peter confessed Jesus as the Christ, as the Messiah. But his first response to this newly identified Messiah was to try and tell him what he can and cannot do! In other words ...

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