Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 676 to 700 of 2962 results

Isaiah 65:17-25

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

... there was present in God’s good creation a creature who encouraged humanity to do other than God said. In parallel, it seems odd that this creature should also be present in the renewed Jerusalem. Perhaps the implication is that such life is no more designed to be challenge-free than life in Eden was. But here, more clearly than in Genesis 3:14–15, the description concludes with a promise that the serpent’s action will not spoil things (v. 25b). When we set the passage in a broader biblical context ...

677. Playing Golf at Midnight

Mark 10:46-52

Sermon

King Duncan

... York City. It is an engineering marvel. Completed in 1883 and known for its granite towers and steel cables, the bridge took 14 years to construct. At least two dozen people died in the process of building the bridge, including its original designer. (2) That designer was an engineer named John Roebling. When Roebling came up with the idea of building this massive suspension bridge over New York City’s East River to connect the boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn, everyone thought he was crazy. But John ...

678. Recycling Tragedy

Illustration

Thomas Lane Butts

... a drop of indelible ink. The artist asked her to let him have the handkerchief, which he returned to her by mail several days later. When she opened the package she could hardly believe her eyes. The artist, using the inkblot as a base, had drawn on the handkerchief a design of great beauty with India ink. Now it was more beautiful and more valuable than ever. Sometimes the tragedies that break our hearts can become the basis for a more beautiful ...

679. A Vision of Beauty and Hope

Isaiah 2:1-5

Sermon

King Duncan

... and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore.” In the Garden of Eden, God set forth the original design for humanity. God created Adam and Eve to live in a relationship of trust with God and with each other. When we rejected God’s ways, we also rejected the unity that was meant to strengthen and protect the human race. And what took the place ...

680. Get the Garbage Out!

Matthew 3:1-12

Sermon

King Duncan

... know each other intimately and spend much time with each other invariably start to reflect each other’s character and attitudes and priorities. John is saying, “The kingdom of heaven is near to you. God’s got a plan for restoring this world to His original design of justice and mercy and peace. And you’re going to miss it if you don’t align your thoughts with God’s thoughts. If your mind is fixed on outward shows of religion rather than filled with the spirit and thoughts and priorities of God ...

681. The Order of the Magi

Matthew 2:1-12

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... ’t happen until the Renaissance, when the “sciences” would officially become separate and specialized areas of study, and “objectified” as opposed to the “subjectivity” of philosophy and religion. A joined course of study meant that mathematics could point to the design of God’s creation, such as in the music of the spheres, or that philosophy and religion could mix to form many “sects” of diversification, or that astrology (influenced in the 4th century BCE by Zoroaster) could assist in ...

682. Living a Jesus Powered Life

Genesis 9:1-17, Genesis 6:1-8:22, Matthew 28:16-20

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... . In the story, God’s people have not been faithful. Again. Except for Noah. Noah is the good seed, so to speak. So, God literally transports Noah to another place, a new and fertile place in which they can try again, get a fresh start. God designs a rather cool saving vessel, packs Noah and his family in along with animals and supplies, and it is thrown upon the “deep.” When it emerges slowly like a birthing, the vessel along with its inhabitants, find themselves on the top of Mt. Ararat. Looking out ...

683. Hiding in Plain Sight

Matthew 2:13-18, Matthew 2:19-23, Exodus 2:1-10, Exodus 2:11-25

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... stories of hiddenness. When Moses’ mother seeks to save her son from harm, she sends him among the reeds in a basket down river. There, hidden in plain sight, he is discovered by Pharaoh’s daughter, who saves him and nurtures him, so that God’s desires and designs might be fulfilled. Moses is chosen by God from the time of his birth. And yet the time is not yet ripe for him to fulfill God’s mission for him. Moses grows up in the courts of Egypt. Moses sees first-hand the perils of the Israelites ...

684. Against the Grain

Mark 3:13-19, Isaiah 28:1-29

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... early agricultural machines were hand or oxen driven depending on the size. In some cases when you had only a small bit of grain to thresh, you would use a hand flail. But for larger portions, you needed a wooden and metal “thresher.” A thresher was designed to remove the seeds or kernels of grain from the husks and stalks of the plants. When harvest would come, farmers would use a sickle to cut down the grain stalks and then gather all of the wheat or barley into sheaves. Those sheaves would be tied ...

Wherever there is a design that is highly successful in a broad range of similar environments, it is apt to emerge again and again, independently - the phenomenon known in biology as convergent evolution. I call these designs 'good tricks.'

Daniel Dennett

Design in art, is a recognition of the relation between various things, various elements in the creative flux. You can't invent a design. You recognize it, in the fourth dimension. That is, with your blood and your bones, as well as with your eyes.

D. H. Lawrence

687. Jesus Matters

Luke 1:26-38

Sermon

Michael L. Sherer

... his readers — or listeners — that Jesus truly does matter. The first argument is this: Luke tells us that Jesus is descended from David, the great king. It was an argument aimed directly at the Jewish church. It’s hard to tell whether this claim was designed more to convince Christians or Jews. It may have been Luke’s way of saying, “Our claim to King David is better than your claim to King David — and Jesus is his direct descendant.” It probably didn’t convince Jews, but it may have ...

688. Homecoming

Hosea 14:1-3a

Sermon

Will Willimon

... into a room deep in the subconscious, a room called "Remember" on the other side of a dream's door into a lost place called "Home." Homelessness is much on our mind these days. In a sermon after World War II, Helmut Thielicke said that the post war designation of someone as a "displaced person," was about the saddest name he knew. "Homeless person" sounds worse, I would say. Our hearts are rightly rent for those among us who, in a society with so much, have no home to go home to. When a homeless family ...

689. Metaphors Be with You

John 6:35, 41-51

Sermon

Dean Feldmeyer

... smart and very detail oriented. He loved machines and discovering how they worked. He invited me, one time, to accompany him to hydroplane races on the Ohio River and he spent the day down on the dock talking to the mechanics and the drivers about the boats, their design, the engines, and any other technical detail he could pull from them. We went to a tractor pull and he spent most of the time lecturing me on the different kinds of tractors and their engines and what had been done to them to give them more ...

690. Sword of the Spirit

John 6:56-69 · Ephesians 6:10-20

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... could “mystically” discern the heart of he who grasped its handle and knew who would be worthy.In Arthur’s day, and even today, persons deemed worthy are “knighted” by touching a sword to either side of their shoulders. This gesture signifies that the person designated has been discerned to be of true character and nature and will be loyal to the kingdom. It is an honor to be knighted. In his letter to the Ephesians (6:10-20), Paul describes the vision of a Christian “knight,” one who has put ...

691. Empowering the Powerless

Mark 10:2-16

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... . And this is where we find true growth, truth, revelation about who we truly are, and joy as a people and as a community. Every generation from Jesus’ time onward has in some way looked to scripture to back up personal, human-designed, power structures. Whether benign laws like the “Blue Laws” or deeply harmful laws allowing slavery, these systems and legal allowances have undergirded their “tests,” their power, and their control by quoting scripture. And we still are doing it today. But Jesus ...

692. Faith and Freedom

Mark 5:21-43

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... mail several days later. When she opened the package she could hardly believe her eyes. The artist using the ink blot as a base, had drawn on the handkerchief a design of great beauty with India ink. Now it was more beautiful and more valuable than ever. Sometimes the tragedies that break our hearts can become the basis for a more beautiful design in our lives. Sometimes all it takes is a different perspective as we come out of the darkness and into the light. Sometimes all it takes is looking through the ...

693. Through the Heart of Jesus

Luke 6:17-26

Sermon

King Duncan

... . 1. “American’s most popular Valentine’s candy isn’t on store shelves this year” by Mike Murphy February 14, 2019 MarketWatch, https://www.marketwatch.com/story/sorry-sweethearts-americas-most-popular-valentines-day-candy-wont-be-on-shelves-this-year-2019-01-23. 2. “AI Attempts To Design Candy Love Hearts And We’re Not Sure They’d Win Your Sweetheart” by Rachael Funnell, February 26, 2021, IFL Science, https://www.iflscience.com/technology/fart-booby-and-other-unusual-candy-love-hearts ...

694. The Unlocked Brain

John 20:19-31

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... world, love them, and see them as beautiful (connection and relationship, covenant, and kingdom). The two halves of our brain work together. They are connected by a series of neuron fibers that transmit and share information and images. The human body is amazing! And it’s designed to help us both live well in our world, to know what we experience and see) and be in relationship with God, to have faith and know that what we see and experience is not all that there is. But sometimes, our brains can get into ...

695. Why Doesn’t God Prove Himself To Doubters?

2 Peter 1:16-21

Sermon

Charley Reeb

... at the stars, I ask, “What more proof of God do we need than that?” All we have to do is look at the glory of creation to see that there is a God. Theologians call this the design argument. When we look at wonders around us, we conclude that all of it did not occur by chance. There has to be a Designer. However, there are some who are not so sure. I had a friend in college who had a very strong faith. He grew up in a good Christian home and was very active in his church. He began ...

696. The Law of Unintended Consequences

Illustration

Simon Ateba

... . The breeders, resentful of the rulers and angered by their actions, decided to release their cobras back on the streets, thereby tripling the population from before the government program. Other notorious examples would include the 18th Amendment establishing prohibitions in the United States in 1920, which was designed to stop the spread of alcoholism but only ended up increasing alcohol consumption by a substantial amount. Another example is the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese in 1941 ...

697. Marketplace Christianity

John 2:13-22

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... has to do with “economy” but not the kind we might think. Let me show you something. Let’s take a look for a moment at the Jerusalem Temple. [2] The Jerusalem Temple was made up of various halls, courtyards, and rooms. Each of these were designated for use for certain populations. Only priests for example could enter the Holy of Holies. The Court of Israel was a popular hangout for the Pharisees and Scribes. The Women’s Court, in which the treasury was housed, was a busy place, as was Solomon’s ...

698.

Psalm 73:1-28

Understanding Series

Craig C. Broyles

... attention to their “wealth” (73:12 // 52:7); the image of their instability and imminent “fall” (Hb. npl, 73:18 // 5:5, 10; 36:12; cf. 52:5; 24:3); Yahweh’s hatred toward them and promise to “destroy” them (73:20, 27 // 5:4–6); the designation of Yahweh’s group of worshipers as a “generation” (73:15 // 24:6); Yahweh’s “guiding” his pilgrims (Hb. nḥh, 73:24 // 5:8); his “glory” (73:24 // 24:7–10; 26:8); the symbolism of Yahweh as “refuge” (73:28 // 5:11; 36:7); and ...

699.

Psalm 145:1-21

Understanding Series

Craig C. Broyles

... appears no less than seventeen times). It does not give a favored position to Israel. Yahweh is portrayed as Creator and King, whose acts are toward all and whose kingdom is known by all. Even the famous confession of Exodus 34:6 (in v. 8) and the designation, “your saints” (lit. “your loved ones,” Hb. ḥasîdêkā, v. 10), both of which elsewhere apply to Israel, are applied to “all he has made” (in v. 9 his compassion and in v. 13b his loving [Hb. ḥāsîd] nature). The only stipulations for ...

700. “Lord, Our Lord, How Majestic Is Your Name in All the Earth!”

Psalm 8:1-9

Teach the Text

C. Hassell Bullock

... the Lord Most High” (7:17). Now the psalmist does that in majestic words that honor the majesty of the Name. As in the creation narrative of Genesis 1, the psalmist employs an economy of words that stylistically reveals the Creator’s orderly manner and design. In content, the majesty of the Name is manifested in the works of the Lord’s creative hands and the delegation of their care to humankind, whose regal crown is studded with the jewels of creation. Verbally this crown is woven from the poetic and ...

Showing results