Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 701 to 725 of 4977 results

701. God's Day Off

Mark 2:23-3:6

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... Jack a dull boy — and Jill a rich widow." Even the Bible affirms the premise — one of the Ten Commandments: "Observe the sabbath day to keep it holy ... Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; ... has been fenced in with iron railings and it's locked at night. There are notices which say "Do not pick the flowers" and "Please keep off the grass." Some might say "Why the fence and the signs? Why not leave people free to do what they like?" But I'm ...

702. We Wish to See Jesus

John 12:20-33

Sermon

John Smylie

... issues in our life. Perhaps we have a difficult or handicapped child, a friend's cancer may cause us to reject the presence of grace, it may be the death of a parent or spouse; and some may have taken on a way of thinking about God that keeps God as one who is remote and ourselves as victims. Today we hear the request of Greek visitors in Jerusalem and perhaps it stirs something in us as well. Perhaps their very simple request can become our request. Perhaps we see life and glory and wonder and faithfulness ...

703. For the Life of Betsy D. I. Smylie

John 12:20-36

Sermon

John Smylie

704. Jingle Bells at a Funeral

1 Thessalonians 5:12-28

Sermon

King Duncan

... especially my mouth and share it with others. And I tell you, sometimes I feel very rich. Don’t have nothin’, not much money in my pocket, but inside I feel like I have done my best and God has given me the wisdom and the strength to keep going.” (4) Cabby Percival Bryan is with God now, but those autograph collections in the Smithsonian speak of a man who knew how to rejoice always and to pray continually. God rode with him in his cab. God was the major influence in how he conducted his life. His ...

705. Being Prepared

Matthew 25:1-13

Sermon

King Duncan

... . The mother giraffe is not being cruel to her baby. Quite the contrary! She knows that lions and hyenas and leopards would love to make a meal of a baby giraffe. So, she needs her baby calf to get to its feet as quickly as possible so that it can keep up with the herd. Kicking him is her way of protecting her young one from predators. Sometimes we may also feel as though life has no sooner gotten us to our feet when it turns around and suddenly knocks us back down. The next time that happens to you, think ...

706. The Reluctant Celebrity

Mark 1:40-45

Sermon

King Duncan

... was sent to do. Perhaps that is the reason that nine times in the Gospels particularly in the Gospel of Mark Jesus tells people to keep quiet about who he is or what he’s done for them. For example, Jesus raised Jairus’ daughter from the dead one of the most ... . Jesus simply cared too much for his own good and people who encountered him were so touched by him they simply could not keep it to themselves even when he told them to be quiet. We can understand, can’t we? If Christ has touched your life, how ...

707. When You Are Wrongly Criticized

Mark 3:20-30

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... he had filled the well with dirt almost to the top. But in the morning light there appeared the old stomping mule at the top of the well ‑‑ on well‑tamped and solid ground. I do like to duck at times from all the dirt…but if we keep moving, and stomping, and kicking down the dirt, we’ll end up on top. Our Google world, our Facebook walls, may seem to be hurling more dirt than ever before. But really — not so much. Already in the late second century the pagan Celsus observed that though Jews and ...

708. When Others Serve Your Head on a Platter

Mark 6:14-29

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... murders. Every famous story of betrayal — from Brutus and the Borgias to the Corlions and the Sopranos were still trying to keep up with the Herodians. Being brutal and blood-thirsty appears to be a trait that surfaced early and often among Herod ... through Jesus Christ. What we do hear about in this unit is the twisted and nefarious nature of family life within the Herodians. Keeping track of the gnarled and nasty family tree that sprung forth from Herod the Great is about as confusing as a family reunion ...

709. How Much of an Honor?

John 10:1-21

Sermon

Frank Ramirez

... reminded people that these shepherds should still be seen in a royal light. Jesus, in talking about the good shepherd, tells us he is both shepherd and gate. He is the way. He loves the sheep and has compassion for them. He wants to gather them together and keep them safe from those who would take advantage of them. One of the things that makes Jesus the ideal shepherd is that he is portrayed as one of the sheep, the Lamb of God in the gospel of John, the Lamb bearing the marks of slaughter in Revelation ...

710. God’s Armor

Ephesians 6:10-20

Illustration

Leonard Sweet

... big difference between striving just not to die, and doing all you can to live a life of purpose and meaning. There are freeways, and factories, and families full of people who are just trying not to die. These people keep going to work, keep going on. But they don’t know why. Weekends and vacations become blurry, frantic “festivals” — parties devoted to trying to celebrate something other than the mere survival of another week, another season, another year. For Christians who feel the (enlightening ...

711. Be a Night Light

James 1:1-18

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... Celebrating their half-century of success they are still assuring travelers, “Fifty years and the light is still on.” Christians have a far more comforting and far more active invitation. After 2000 years the light is still on. Each one of us is still charged with keeping it that way. In today’s epistle text James refers to God as “the Father of lights.” This is the only use of that title in the New Testament. It is obviously a reference back to God the Creator, who fashioned the heavens and all ...

712. Proper 22

Lamentations 1:1-6, Lamentations 3:19-26, Luke 17:1-10, 2 Timothy 1:1-14

Bulletin Aid

Julia Ross Strope

... for the people. In our time, the Gaza strip has been vacated by Israel, but Arabs and Jews maintain the ancestral rivalry for land and holy places. Like Habakkuk, we sit in our pews and world leaders in their towers keep watching what will happen. We keep hoping the people who work for fairness and tolerance will win. One direction the sermon might take is to acknowledge the inclination of humans to minimize others and aggrandize themselves. Then explore Paul’s tactics with Timothy — that of affirmation ...

713. The Messiah’s Mark

Mark 12:28-34

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... to wear a coat?” There are relational questions — “Why are you crying?” “Why did Grandpa die?” Why do I have to be nice to that funny smelling person?” Even when a long litany of “Why?” questions get tedious, good parents know they need to keep answering. Children learn from asking question. But it isn’t so much the answer to their inquiry that they are learning. What our children are really learning with these first “Why?” questions is to turn to the ones who love them the most, who ...

714. Rally or Rail?

John 18:28-40

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... actively “rally” to Jesus and his mission. He had far too much political capital at stake to risk taking an unpopular stand that would raise the ire of the locals and thus the anger of his superiors. We all know what it is like sometimes to keep the peace so that we can keep our job. Pilate decided to go along in order to get along. It is the same choice all of us face everyday. Whether you are four, or fourteen, or twenty-four, or sixty-four, or eighty-four, or one hundred and four. The same decision ...

715. Belonging to Christ's Flock

John 10:22-42

Sermon

King Duncan

... celebrated for eight days in December. Jesus is in the temple courts walking in Solomon’s Colonnade. Solomon’s Colonnade was a long covered walkway on the east side of the temple. As he walked, some inquiring Jews came up to him and asked, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.” Jesus answered, “I did tell you, but you do not believe. The works I do in my Father’s name testify about me, but you do not believe because you are not my sheep. My sheep listen ...

716. A New Name for a New Year

Ephesians 1:1-14

Sermon

King Duncan

... , took another approach. Coaches at St. Louis University decided to switch to an offense that used the forward pass. That first season they outscored their opponents 402 to 11! (1) Sometime change is for the better. God loves change, especially changed lives. Resolutions are hard to keep, wouldn’t you agree? How many of you have ever been determined to drop an old habit and begin a new one? How many of you have seen a resolution shattered the same day you made it? Turning over a new leaf is hard. What we ...

717. Hill Climbing

Psalm 121:1-8

Sermon

King Duncan

... that dares love attempt.” What a beautiful picture of a loving God coming to comfort God’s people in the night. “What love can do, that dares love attempt.” We are most likely to feel our helplessness at night. In the darkness, when we no longer have to keep up appearances and we have nothing else to distract us from the truth, we let our struggles and questions gnaw at us. But when we lie awake at night and ruminate on our situation, we can be assured that God is right there with us. In the book of ...

718. On the Ropes: Round 3 - Defending God

Habakkuk 3:1-19

Sermon

James Merritt

... :10 “The lions may grow weak and hungry, but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing.” (Psalm 34:10, NIV) Keep in mind he wrote this knowing that starvation would be his death. Then, he penned these words: “I am overwhelmed by the sense ... Your way is to send the Babylonians then send them. Do whatever You want to do, the way You want to do it, and just keep renewing Your work every day in our life.” Then Habakkuk makes one, small, tiny request in verse 2. “In wrath remember mercy.” (Habakkuk 3 ...

719. Follow the Directions

Psalm 119:9, 18, 89

Sermon

James Merritt

... do not need to hear from God. There is not a day in your life that you don’t need to listen to God. Daily Bible reading keeps you tuned in to God’s voice. One of the instructions that God gave to His kings, if they wanted to be wise and effective rulers, was ... 17:18-19, NIV) If anybody needs to hear from God it is the ruler of a people. God said to His kings, “I want you to keep a copy of My Word right by your throne. I want you to read it every single day.” How many of us who claim to believe the ...

720. Ignite: Burning Love

Acts 5:17-42

Sermon

James Merritt

... away some of the people after him. He too perished, and all who followed him were scattered. So in the present case I tell you, keep away from these men and let them alone, for if this plan or this undertaking is of man, it will fail; but if it ... wind up opposing God. You certainly don’t want to do that.” What Gamaliel was saying was simple, “Only an act of God will keep this movement alive and get this movement off the ground.” Gamaliel was exactly right. It was an act of God that raised Jesus from ...

721. Supernatural: Taken By Storm

Mark 4:35-41

Sermon

James Merritt

... the other side there was no way they were not going to make it, because Jesus never tells us to do something He doesn’t give us the power to do. He never prophesizes anything that doesn’t come true and He never makes a promise that He can’t keep. The moment that Jesus said, “Let us go across to the other side” that boat became unsinkable. Neither the Roman Empire then or the US Navy today with all of its power could have sunk that boat. How do I know that? Because if the boat had not made it ...

722. For the Hearing Impaired

Matthew 13:1-23

Sermon

James Merritt

... each of these three represent, because Jesus tells us. The sower is the Christ follower – the disciple – you and me. The seed is the Word of God – the message of the kingdom and salvation. The soil is the heart of the missing person that we are trying to reach. Keep that in mind as we read this parable. “That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. And great crowds gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat down. And the whole crowd stood on the beach. And he told ...

723. Everything Must Go: If I Were a Rich Man

Luke 12:13-21

Sermon

James Merritt

... shades of selfishness over his eyes and had coated his heart in the concrete of covetousness. The more he made the more he spent. The more he spent the more me bought. The more he bought the more he had and the more he had the more he wanted to keep it. Sound familiar? His attitude was, “I’ve got more stuff, so I guess I need more storage.” Do you know why? He thought everything that came to him was for him. He was sinking in a sand of selfishness and wandering in a maze of materialism. His barns were ...

724. Peacemaker

Luke 2:8-20

Sermon

James Merritt

... be music to our ears and yet it is very difficult to believe. “And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and ... there is an eye of perfect peace and that eye is Jesus Christ. One of my favorite verses in the Bible is this one. “You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.” (Isaiah 26:3, ESV) What the world calls peace ...

725. Turn On the Light

John 8:12-30

Sermon

James Merritt

... not bright enough to follow. But, when light shines off of a mirror or glass or something white it is reflected so that others can see it. Too many of us leave this building every Sunday and either absorb the light (we just don’t share it with anybody and keep it to ourselves) or we transmit the light in such a way that it is distorted (we don’t live what we say we believe or don’t walk consistently with the Christ that we say we know) so nobody pays attention to our light. God is going to hold ...

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