Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 651 to 675 of 4934 results

651. Victim or Visionary

John 19:28-37

Sermon

Robert Bachelder

And again another scripture says, "They shall look upon him whom they have pierced." - John 19:37 On the cross, our Lord must have looked at the faces of his executioners and experienced the sharp frustration which comes from being subject to principalities and powers beyond one’s capacity to shape or control. For a time, he must have felt like a helpless victim of cruel, cosmic circumstance. You and I, then, should not have too much trouble empathizing with the crucified Jesus. We, too, are beset by ...

652. Good Taste Or Good Religion?

Mark 7:1-23

Sermon

King Duncan

You may remember reading several years ago about a pair of polite gunmen with British or Australian accents who were robbing homeowners in moneyed neighborhoods of suburban Montgomery County, Md. The masked duo struck several times, usually entering the homes through the garage or unlocked doors. The intruders were unfailingly polite and as far as we know, no one was hurt. One homeowner in Potomac, Md., was robbed after letting his dogs outside at about 5:30 a.m. and leaving a sliding glass door unlocked. ...

653. Humility

John 13:1-17

Sermon

King Duncan

“When I try to tell people what Ronald Reagan was like,” says Peggy Noonan, former White House speechwriter, “I tell them the bathroom story.” A few days after President Reagan had been shot, when he was well enough to get out of bed, he wasn’t feeling well, so he went into the bathroom that connected to his room. He slapped some water on his face and some of the water slopped out of the sink. He got some paper towels and got down on the floor to clean it up. An aide went in to check on him, and found the ...

654. The Big Temptation

Matthew 4:1-11

Sermon

Mark Trotter

Lent is a journey of six weeks, from Ash Wednesday to Good Friday and Easter. It is a pilgrimage for those who want to renew their lives. I have been on tours where the tour leader, at the beginning of the journey, gives an outline of what you can expect to see and how to prepare for it. That is what I want to do as we begin the Lenten journey this morning. The story of Jesus' temptations is to be read on this Sunday, because it provides for us the pattern for Lent. Jesus went to the desert for forty days ...

655. God's Christmas Gift

Luke 2:10-14

Sermon

James Merritt

There is a word that you have heard more in the last twenty-four hours and you will hear more in the next twenty-four hours than you will probably hear in all the rest of the year combined. The most used word in this time of year we call the Christmas Season is the word "gift." Some of you spent today, frantically searching for gifts, trying to find the right gift for the right person at the right price. So often, I hear the question "What do you get for the person who has everything?" I did some research ...

656. Batman: Driven By Guilt or Grace?

Romans 5:1-11; 8:1-2; Luke 18:9-16

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

Romans 5:1-11 (NRSV) [1] Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, [2] through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. [3] And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, [4] and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, [5] and hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts ...

657. War and the Prince of Peace

Isaiah 9:2-7

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

The year was 1862. The Civil War was raging. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was grieving the death of his second wife when news came that his son had been gravely wounded in the war. That was when Longfellow sat down and wrote this poem: I heard the bells on Christmas Day, their old familiar carols play And wild and sweet the words repeat, of peace on earth good will to all And in despair I bowed my head, there is no peace on earth I said For hate is strong and mocks the song of peace on earth good will to all ...

658. The Door of Celebration

Luke 19:36-44

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

In the early 1800's, Henry Milman wrote a Palm Sunday hymn containing some lyrics that go like this: Ride on, ride on in majesty, In lowly pomp ride on to die. Bow thy meek head to mortal pain, Then take, O God, thy power and reign. Palm Sunday is a paradox. This opening event of Holy Week is bittersweet. We break the gloom of Lent with loud hosannas only to see a cross rising on the horizon. On the one hand, Jesus prepares for it. On the other hand, He weeps over it. Palm Sunday is a day for both cheers ...

659. Sonny Moneybags

Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32

Sermon

David E. Leininger

This text has been described as the greatest short story ever written. Junior comes to Dad and demands his portion of the inheritance, takes the loot, and heads off only to blow it all in high living, eventually having to take a job feeding pigs. Finally he decides that life back home was infinitely more appealing; so he heads back to what turns out to be a joyous reunion. Most sermons on the passage correctly point out the eternal analogy: that in spite of our rebelliousness and sin, our heavenly Father ...

660. The Golf Shot That Destroyed an Airforce

Mark 9:42-50

Sermon

King Duncan

A little girl had been naughty, so she was sent to her room for a quiet time. Afterward, all smiles, she returned to her family, saying, “I prayed to God.” “That’s good,” said her mother. “Did you pray that God would help you be a good girl?” “No,” she replied. “I prayed that God would help you put up with me.” Many of us are like that little girl. We do wrong, but rather than repenting of our sins, we pray that God will put up with us. And why not? It’s our nature to sin; it’s God’s nature to forgive. ...

661. Acts of God?

Luke 13:1-9

Sermon

Brett Blair

Once or twice in our sojourn upon this earth something happens which shapes the course of our lives. Many on the East Coast have experienced such an event. Consider for a moment what has been set in motion from Sandy: *13 foot surge of seawater. 3 feet above the 200 year old record. *90 mph winds *The battery tunnel connecting Manhattan and Brooklyn flooded. *74 foot crane in the middle of Manhattan tittering over the city *8.2 million in 7 states from the Carolina’s to Ohio without power *a close call at ...

662. Show Me Your Credentials

2 Corinthians 6:3-13

Sermon

Steven E. Albertin

When you apply for a job, offer service to a customer, or try to get a license ... you will need to show your credentials. You will need to prove that you are who you say are and that you have the skills and abilities to deserve the job or get the license. The word "credential" is based on the Latin word credo that means "believe." Your credentials make you believable — credible. My evangelism visits to prospective members are often very revealing. Lately, I have noticed that many of them are asking me a ...

663. Rend Your Heart

Joel 2:12-17

Understanding Series

Elizabeth Achtemeier

“But Even Now” (2:12-14): 2:12–14 This is one passage in Joel where it is absolutely necessary that we understand what the original Hebrew says, because the NIV translation has missed the force of the opening words. Verse 12 begins with “But even now,” the “but” being translated from what is known as a waw adversative, and it is that “but” that is all important. If God had not said “but” in human history, the human race would be lost. That lostness is pictured for us in the primeval hamartiology (doctrine ...

664. “Taste and See That the Lord Is Good”

Psalm 34:1-22

Teach the Text

C. Hassell Bullock

Big Idea: Having experienced God’s goodness, we invite others to “taste and see that the Lord is good” and thus experience the assuagement of their fears. Understanding the Text In addition to being an alphabetic acrostic,[1] Psalm 34 shares at least three other features with Psalm 25, another acrostic: (1) the waw (the sixth letter of the Hebrew alphabet) is missing from both poems; (2) each closes with a supernumerary verse beginning with the Hebrew letter pe; and (3) the same verb begins each of these ...

665. The Passover

Exodus 12:1-30

Bulletin Aid

H. Burnham Kirkland

Call To Worship On this night when we celebrate the Last Supper our Lord had with his disciples before his betrayal and crucifixion, we remember it was the religious festival of the Passover they were celebrating in remembrance of what the Lord had done. As we come to the Lord's Table in remembrance of Christ's death and resurrection, let us give thanks for what the Lord has done for us. Collect Almighty God, even as you led your children out of Egypt and freed them from the bonds of slavery, you have ...

666. An Exquisite Attitude of Gratitude

Ephesians 1:15-23

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

On a grey Friday in January 2007, during the peak of the early morning commuter rush, an unassuming young man entered the L’Enfant Plaza train station in Washington D.C. As the crowds rushed by, the man found a place to stand out of the way of the foot traffic. He opened the violin case he carried. He threw into the case a few coins and dollar bills to “prime the pump.” And then he proceeded to begin playing. But this was no ordinary street musician. The anonymous violinist in the train station was Joshua ...

667. Jesus' Good News of a New World · Part 2

Matthew 5:1-12

Sermon

Mike Ripski

A pop-quiz from last Sunday: What is the mission of the United Methodist Church? To make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. And so the church, Belle Meade United Methodist Church, exists for you and me to be made into disciples of Jesus. A disciple is a learner, a follower, of a teacher. We are students. Better, we are apprentices. We learn by doing what the Master Teacher does. So as I asked you last Sunday and will continue to ask you during this fall series on Jesus’ Sermon ...

668. I Fear No More

Illustration

John Donne

Wilt Thou forgive that sin which I have won Others to sin? and made my sin their door? Wilt Thou forgive that sin which I did shun A year or two, but wallowed in a score? When Thou hast done, Thou hast not done, For I have more. I have a sin of fear, that when I have spun My last thread, I shall perish on the shore; Swear by Thy self, that at my death Thy Son Shall shine as he shines now and heretofore; And, having done that, Thou hast done, I fear no more.

669. The Advocate

John 15:1-17

Sermon

Ron Lavin

The Holy Spirit is called "your Advocate" in the New English Bible translation of John 15:26. Other translations may be helpful in understanding the meaning of the Holy Spirit. The King James Version uses the term "The Comforter." The Revised Standard Version and the New International Version use the term "The Counselor." The Phillips translation and the Barclay translation call the Holy Spirit "The Helper." I like the title "The Advocate" best of all. This term "The Adovcate" includes comforting, ...

670. The Witness Of A Member Of The Crowd Who Shouted, "Crucify"

Drama

Dann J. Ettner

Invocation Hymn Responsive Dialogue 1 Corinthians 2 P: When I came to you, brothers, I did not come witheloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimonyof God. C: We have not received the spirit of the world but thespirit who is from God, that we may understand what God hasfreely given us. P: For I resolved to know nothing while I was with youexcept Jesus Christ and Him crucified. C: This is what we speak, not in words taught us by humanwisdom but in words taught by the Holy Spirit, ...

671. A New Command

Sermon

Lee Griess

John 13:1-17, 31b-35 In his book Life Looks Up, Charles Templeton remarks how ironic it is that the course of human history has been affected so positively and negatively by events that have occurred in two small upper rooms. One of them is a drab flat in London's Westside, dirty, curtainless, with stacks of articles on the table and worn manuscripts, aborted attempts wadded up in the trash can. Seated at the table a man labors over a writing, a writing that would overthrow governments, enslave millions of ...

672. A New Command

John 13:31-38

Sermon

Lee Griess

In his book Life Looks Up, Charles Templeton remarks how ironic it is that the course of human history has been affected so positively and negatively by events that have occurred in two small upper rooms. One of them is a drab flat in London's Westside, dirty, curtainless, with stacks of articles on the table and worn manuscripts, aborted attempts wadded up in the trash can. Seated at the table a man labors over a writing, a writing that would overthrow governments, enslave millions of people, and ...

673. A Fireside Chat

Exodus 3:1-22

Sermon

Barbara Brokhoff

In the middle of the 20th century the fireside chat became a popular event: dignitaries who sit down before a fireplace, and there, in a more or less person-to-person manner, address the listeners. The intention, of course, is that each hearer will feel it is a personal message on an important mater. By radio Roosevelt had his fireside chats. Jimmy Carter did the same thing, only by television. Billy Graham used ot do them during his Christmas specials. But the fireside chat of our text is not an easy, ...

674. What Christmas Is About

Isaiah 9:1-7

Sermon

Robert Beringer

Charlie Brown isn't the only one who asks, "What's Christmas all about?" Real people also ask that same question. Several years ago there was an exchange student from Indonesia, spending his first December in America. The crowds of shoppers in the stores, the Santa Clauses, the bright lights, the trees, the manger scenes, the parties, and the growing sense of excitement and revelry - it was all more than a little confusing to him. Then one night as he satwatching television with his host family, the ...

675. Getting Back To Work

Luke 17:1-10

Sermon

Brett Blair

Rabbi Harold Kushner tells a wonderful story about a bright young man, who was a sophomore Stanford pre-med student To reward him for having done so well in school, his parents gave him a trip to the Far East for the summer vacation before the start of his junior year. While there he met a guru who said to him, "Don't you see how you are poisoning your soul with this success oriented way of life? Your idea of happiness is to stay up all night studying for an exam so you can get a better grade than your ...

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