Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 651 to 675 of 1533 results

Romans 8:1-17

Sermon

Glenn McDonald

Spiritual storytelling (a.k.a. "my testimony") is often an inspiring experience for a gathered group of Christians. It is also inherently risky. The risk is that the story will sound wonderful. Whenever the overwhelming number of details of someone's garden-variety life are squeezed down to a significant few, it can seem that that four-minute abridged version of existence is fabulously more exciting or meaningful than anything the rest of us have experienced in the previous forty years. We may say to each ...

652. Excited!

Acts 2:1-13

Sermon

King Duncan

It happened back in 1983. Only eight minutes and thirty-four seconds remained in a game between the University of Nevada-Reno Wolf Pack and the Fresno State Bulldogs. Suddenly Wolf Pack running back, Otto Kelly, broke loose on an eighty-nine yard scamper and a touchdown, giving his team a 22-21 lead. During Kelly's run his coach, Chris Ault of the Wolf Pack, got so caught up in the excitement that he began racing down the sideline alongside Kelly. When Ault reached the FresnoState twenty-yard line, he ...

653. The Primacy Of Love

1 Corinthians 13:1-13

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

There was a time when Indians communicated by drums and smoke signals. Maybe there are places where they still do this. I know the drum is still used as a communication instrument in many areas of Africa. Years ago, when the atomic bomb was being tested, out on the flats of Nevada, a cartoon pictured some Indians. They were looking across the barren wastes -- the spacious flats, when on the horizon the mushroom smoke cloud of an atomic explosion rose dramatically. As they looked at that wonder -- never ...

654. Getting Ourselves Off Our Hands

Philippians 3:12-4:1

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

"Bishop Fitzgerald in his book How to be A Successful Failure tells a fascinating story about a young man (barely twenty years old) who was caught one day "stealing sheep." He was charged and convicted. As a penalty, the villagers decided to make an example out of him. They took a branding iron and branded his forehead with the letters "ST"...meaning of course, "Sheep Thief." The brand was permanent and a constant source of shame to the young man. Penitent, he turned to God. He asked God for forgiveness. ...

655. Promises, Promises

Jeremiah 33:1-26

Sermon

Elizabeth Achtemeier

Promises are so important! We know, for example, that when we make a child a promise, we must keep it at all costs, or the child will lose all trust in us and our word. We also know that if we do not keep a promise to a friend, we may lose that friendship. Certainly we make promises through all our life. One of the most important ones is made when we stand before a minister to be married. There we promise to love and comfort, to honor and keep our spouse, in sickness and in health. And we promise that we ...

656. Staying Alive All Your Ministry Life: Will You Finish Well?

Exodus 32:1-33:6

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

There are some experiences or encounters that are so solidly lodged in our memory they continue to invade our consciousness – to haunt us – to help us or to hinder our Christian walk, to call and challenge us to be more than we are. John Birkbeck is a person around whom for me a whole cluster of memories is gathered – memories that invade my immediate awareness now and then. John was a Scot Presbyterian preacher. During a part of my tenure as the World Editor of The Upper Room, he was the editor of the ...

657. Getting Your Politics Right

Matthew 6:5-15

Sermon

Phil Thrailkill

I grew up with the myth, universally absorbed but rarely argued for except by extremists with bad manners, that whites were superior. Exceptions were acknowledged, but only as exceptions that did not change the rule. Racism was one of the unspoken beliefs of my childhood culture before the Civil Rights movement rose up to challenge the great lie with the potent rhetoric of our founding documents, as in The Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self evident: that all men are created equal ...

658. A Cloud of Witness

Hebrews 12:1-13

Sermon

King Duncan

It was baseball season in a small Pennsylvania town. If you know anything about Little League baseball, you know it is also a time when little boys’ hearts and egos are on the line. A certain ten-year-old had ridden the bench most of the season. But in the championship game, his coach finally called him up to bat. The little boy’s whole extended family had turned out for this very special game. His parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, second cousins--they were all there, cheering and ...

659. Improving Our Memory

1 Corinthians 11:23-26

Bulletin Aid

Frank Ramirez

Call To Worship One: What shall I return to the Lord for all his bounty to me? All: I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord, I will pay my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people. (Psalm 116:12-14) Collect We thank you Lord that you allow us to approach this closely to the burning bush, to sit again with the Master as he served his disciples. We praise you for the privilege of knowing Jesus Christ as risen Lord and loving servant. Help us to remember that the way to ...

660. A Christian's Resumé

2 Corinthians 6:3-13

Sermon

Richard W. Ferris

It's time to update your resume! If you're a part of the workforce of the early twenty-first century, that's a common-sounding statement. Job security is almost nonexistent. Competitive wages might mean a couple dollars above minimum wage. Advancement could very well propose that for your good efforts you would be awarded more work for the same salary. Benefits rarely include 100 percent paid insurance and retirement fund, but rather offer you both at cost to be deducted from your paycheck. With those ...

661. Fathers in Their Generation

Psalm 103:13

Sermon

Mark Trotter

Father's Day sermon This is the third Sunday in June. I am usually not here on this Sunday, because it is during this week that the sessions of the Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church in this region are held. They are continuing today at the University of Redlands. But I have been away for several weeks on vacation prior to this week, so I thought it would be prudent for me to show up here. Besides that, as you have heard, this is Choir Recognition Sunday, and I wanted to be here also for that ...

662. Demonstrating the Divine

John 1:10-18

Sermon

Susan R. Andrews

For almost fifty years I have lived comfortably within the church. And for almost fifty years I have loved the church. I still remember sitting in the pew, a small child of three or four - dwarfed by big shoulders embracing me on every side. I loved the music - the grand soaring chords of the organ. I loved the windows and the colors, the flowers and soft cushions. I loved the warm, full voice of the preacher and I loved the hushed silence - a silence that made me feel like I was part of something special ...

663. What God Requires of Us

Micah 6:1-8

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

In Garrison Keillor's Lake Woebegone the little town proudly proclaims that it's the place, "where the women are strong, the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average." Admit it. You too have the Lake Woebegone Syndrome. The truth is this Lake Woebegone Syndrome probably describes how most of us feel about ourselves. "The Average American thinks he isn't" is how the saying goes. And it's true. The majority of men think they're handsome. The majority of women think they're beautiful. ...

664. Undercooked Turkey and Unwrapped Presents

Hebrews 2:5-18

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

For the major holidays, my great-aunt Edith's home was the usual site of our family gatherings. Unfortunately, two of those family celebration days, Thanksgiving and Christmas, involved preparing a large turkey with all the trimmings. Aunt Edith was an extremely proper, formal and capable hostess. While a fairly good cook, she missed the class that taught how long it took to get a twenty pound bird completely done, and how you could tell when it was done. On several festive occasions, I distinctly remember ...

665. The Uncloudy Cloud?

Hebrews 11:1-40

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

One of my favorite books is a children's story called The Trip to Panama (1981) by Janosch, the pseudonym of Horst Eckert, the German illustrator. It's a story about two animal friends, (Little Bear and Little Tiger) who live in a house by a river. They're reasonably happy but share a belief that somewhere else, life might be so much better. One day they find an old banana crate floating past their garden. On the side it says "Panama." Without knowing anything about the place, they decided that Panama is ...

666. The Spiritually Incorrect Spirit

Romans 8:1-17

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

Our eight-year-old daughter recently attended a wedding with her best friend, accompanied by her parents and two-year-old brother. As soon as the ceremony began, with typical eight-year-old audacity, the girls immediately slunk sideways away from their seats to get a better aisle view. They had heard that you had to french kiss when you got married and whatever that meant, they didn't want to miss a moment of it! But the ceremony ran long. The bride and groom kept talking instead of kissing, and the girls ...

667. Making Holiness

Luke 1:67-80

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

Some people are born with natural gifts talents or tendencies that are woven directly into their genetic code. Mozart was born with music already playing in his soul. And no matter how many swings or jumpers we buy that play Mozart as our infants swing and jump, the number of budding Mozarts out there is very small. Michelangelo was graced with a third-eye one that could detect the presence of a winged angel or a weeping mother hidden inside an amorphous chunk of cold marble. But even the most gifted and ...

668. The Oneness of Twoness

Romans 14:1--15:13

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

Most commentaries break into two separate sections the epistle text for this second week of Advent. Traditionally 15:1-6 is recognized as a self-contained unit wherein Paul argues for tolerance between those who are “strong” and those who are “weak” in faith. Paul even appeals to the person of Christ as the ultimate example of one who did not “please himself” but “pleased” God by identifying with the weakness of all humanity, even to his death on the cross. The lectionary reading beginning at verse 4 ...

669. Jesus' Forty Days, and Ours

Matthew 4:1-11

Sermon

James McCormick

Matthew, Mark, and Luke all begin their stories of the adult Jesus at the Jordan River, where he is baptized by his cousin John. In baptism, Jesus identifies with us, and with all people everywhere. And, there, at the baptism, God said, “This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased.” At the beginning of the story, the gospel writer wants to make it clear who this is he is telling about: this is Jesus, the son of God! What a powerful beginning to the story! Jesus knew, as he must have known for some ...

670. A New Vision

Matthew 2:1-12

Sermon

King Duncan

A family was driving through Kansas on vacation. Five-year-old Tyler was looking out the car window. “Boy,” he said, “it’s so flat out there, you can look farther than you can see.” That’s a great phrase--“you can look farther than you can see.” Let’s talk for a few moments today about “looking farther than you can see.” In the early 1930s an engineer named Joseph Strauss looked out over San Francisco Bay. In his mind he formed a picture of a beautiful bridge connecting the two sides of the bay. In 1936 ...

671. Lent 2

Psalm 121:1-8, Genesis 12:1-8, Romans 4:1-25, John 3:1-21

Sermon Aid

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

OLD TESTAMENT TEXTS The themes of sin and death, which have been central to the Lenten Old Testament lessons up to this point, give way to divine promise of life and blessing in Genesis 12:1-4a . Psalm 122 takes the divine promise of life and blessing into the setting of worship, where it functions both as a song of praise to God for the gift of peace and salvation, and as encouragement to the worshiper to seek the security of God's grace. Genesis 12:1-4a - "The Working Out of God's Blessing" Setting. ...

672. Proper 12

Genesis 29:15-30, Matthew 13:31-35, Matthew 13:44-46, Matthew 13:47-52, Romans 8:28-39, Psalm 105:1-45

Sermon Aid

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

OLD TESTAMENT Genesis 29:15-30 is a story of reversals, of how the trickster Jacob is tricked by Laban, while Psalm 105 is a song of praise that celebrates God's deeds as evidence of the fulfilled promises that are made in the covenant with Jacob's children. Genesis 29:15-30 - "Whom Is God Watching?" Setting. The third reading from the Jacob cycle locates Jacob in Haran with Rebekah's kinsman Laban. God, however, is absent in this story. There are neither divine speeches as in the first story in Genesis 25 ...

673. Proper 19

Exodus 13:17--14:31, Matthew 18:21-35, Romans 14:1--15:13, Exodus 15:1-21

Sermon Aid

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

OLD TESTAMENT TEXTS Exodus 14:19-31 is the account of how God rescued Israel from the Egyptians at the Red Sea. Exodus 15:1b-11, 20-21 is a hymn that celebrates this event, and it is sometimes said to be the oldest text in the Bible. Exodus 14:19-31 - "Rescue at the Sea" Setting. Few would disagree with the statement that the Exodus event is the central story of salvation in the Old Testament. Problems of interpretation arise, however, when we ask just what happened in the Exodus event, encompasses a sea ...

674. The Supreme Worth of the Second Birth

John 3:1-9

Sermon

James Merritt

Two of the strangest bedfellows in human history, I call them the first American "odd couple," was George Whitfield and Benjamin Franklin. One was a preacher, the other a philosopher; one was a Christian, the other a deist; one loved the church, the other laughed at the church; one was a loving father and a faithful husband, the other was an adulterer who fathered a child out of wedlock. Yet, they were fast and close friends who corresponded frequently. On one occasion George Whitfield wrote this letter to ...

675. Winners Never Quit and Quitters Never Win (Fruit of the Spirit: Patience)

Galatians 5:22

Sermon

James Merritt

This first grade teacher, and her class of thirty-two first graders, had watched it rain all day long. The last bell had rung, it was time to go home, and this teacher began putting galoshes on all thirty-two of those first graders. She came to the last little girl and she was so excited that she was about finished with this dirty chore, and she began to put the galoshes on this little girl, and they were unusually tight. She struggled, she strained, she pulled, she tugged, she grunted, she groaned, and ...

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