Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 701 to 725 of 1858 results

701. A Voice to be Heard

John 1:19-28

Sermon

Maurice A. Fetty

... shall name him John ... He will be great in the eyes of the Lord ... He will go before the Lord as a forerunner, possessed by the spirit and power of Elijah ... to prepare a people fit for the Lord" (Luke 1:13-17). This was no vague hope, no wild dream of an old man who should know better. What he saw actually came to pass, and those preliminary stirrings began to shake the foundations of history. And as the child, John, grew up, he became strong in spirit and began living in the wilderness. In a life of ...

702. The Star Thrower

Matthew 2:1-12

Sermon

Maurice A. Fetty

... progress. The twentieth century, said some, would be the "Christian Century," the century when many of the highest Christian ideals would come to fruition. Arrogance and optimism were high in those days. Perhaps the confident, arrogant mood is best represented in Oscar Wilde's somewhat prideful witticism when he said, "When I went to America, I had two secretaries; one for autographs, the other for locks of hair. Within six months the one had died of writer's cramp, the other was completely bald." Architect ...

703. The Inner Galaxy

Luke 2:1-7

Sermon

Maurice A. Fetty

... motion and a spirit, that impels All thinking things, all objects of all thought, And rolls through all things.... -- Lines Composed A Few Lines Above Tintern Abbey William Blake experienced it when he wrote, To see a world in a grain of sand And a heaven in a wild flower, Hold infinity in your hand And Eternity in a hour. Or it can be delightfully expressed as in the Children's Letters To God, this one by Eugene. He says: "Dear God: I didn't think orange went with purple until I saw the sunset you made on ...

704. The Second Naiveté: Babies, Angels, Shepherds, And God

Sermon

Maurice A. Fetty

... Yorkers inwardly thank themselves that they are shrewder, sharper, and far more worldly and cosmopolitan than these straightforward types from the West. But these so-called sappy Westerners are only too happy to get even when the New Yorkers venture beyond the Hudson to the wild unknown of a dude ranch or a big game hunting expedition in the mountains. "You don't like the bears and beans up here, buster?" asks the wiry-muscled, leather-skinned trail boss at 8,000 feet. "Well then, just catch yourself a taxi ...

705. Out of Chaos

Luke 3:1-20

Bulletin Aid

Dallas A. Brauninger

... : Come, O long-expected Jesus, call us into hope. Collect Sustaining God, who stands by us and guides us through the rough, we trust in you. Amen. Prayer Of Confession At first, it does not occur to us to call to you when we are caught in a jumble of wild times. Thank you, God, for calling out to us until we hear you and can answer your voice. Through Christ. Amen. Hymns “Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus” "When The Winds Rage All Around Us” “Hail To The Lord’s Anointed”

706. Today

Luke 4:14-30

Sermon

William G. Carter

... a prayer shawl. Instead of screaming angry threats, he reads Scripture. Rather than standing on the fringe of the community, Jesus sits in the middle of the synagogue, the traditional posture of a preacher. There isn’t the slightest hint that his eyes are wild or his hair is shaggy. He issues no burning cry for repentance, nor does he burden people with guilt. According to the writings of Luke, Jesus is rooted in the faith of Israel. Luke alone says Jesus was circumcised on the eighth day. He reports ...

707. Truce or Peace?

Sermon

Harold Warlick

... The fighting Greek city-states would hold a truce for the Olympic games held every four years in Olympia or Delphi. Preachers have for generations used to good effect in sermons historical illustrations of Confederate and Union soldiers good-naturedly tussling for a wild turkey during a Thanksgiving or Christmas truce. Even World Wars I and II held up their end of the bargain on occasions when Allied and German soldiers would sing “Silent Night” across the cold, quiet battlefronts of Europe. A truce is ...

708. The Scattering of Lesser Figures

Acts 8:9-25

Sermon

Harold Warlick

... . You and I are lesser figures. We will not be the world’s shakers and movers. We will not write the bestsellers, preach before the throngs in leading pulpits, discover the great cures, and become parents of the Academy Award winning actress. Most of us, wildly chasing our dream of bigger places and larger arenas, will, perhaps, wrestle most with the twin sins of our existence: wanting what we do not have and fearing that we will lose what we do have. Here, then, is the appropriate Scripture for us lesser ...

709. The ABC Gospel

2 Kings 5:1-27

Sermon

Robert Leslie Holmes

... new!” (2 Corinthians 5:17). Almost unbelievable is the transformation that occurs when Christ is given full access to a person’s heart. In his Collected Essays, English author Augustine Birrell tells about traveling into what was, at the time, a wild, remote part of Lancashire where the people had a reputation for being pugnacious, heavy drinkers, and fighters. When Birrell visited that area, he found its people to be about as far removed from their reputation as he could have imagined. Finally, in ...

710. The Children of Promise

Jeremiah 30:1--31:40

Sermon

Harry N. Huxhold

... the personal lives of most of the prophets, but we do know enough about Jeremiah to realize just how unpopular he was. He was not understood by his colleagues, and the people in general did not appreciate him. Commonly, he was regarded as being a wild crusader who was not going to serve the welfare of his people. Because Jeremiah sensed that the people of Israel were under judgment for their indifference to the covenant God had made with them, he knew the signs were present which indicated Judah would be ...

711. It’s A God Thing (A Drama about Christian Adventure)

Drama

Dave Marsh

... gear on…) Teri: …and… (looking at Dave strangely)… hey Barb, I’ve got to go. Dave is about to do something stupid. Yeah. Again. Ok. Bye. (hangs up) Should I guess? Dave: I’m goin’ on an adventure. Teri: I can see that. Dave: Yep. Gotta go. The wild blue yonder is calling me. Gotta hit the trail. Gotta go walkabout. Teri: Is that an Australian accent? Dave: Well, you know, gonna have to sound like the natives, you know? Teri: No. I don’t know. I have no idea. Dave: Well, that’s ok. You see ...

712. The Diary of Horace Wimp (A Drama about Past Failures)

Drama

Dave Marsh

... : Wendy. Hi. Nice to meet you. Please sit down. Wendy: Thanks. (looks around) well, this was a good idea meeting here at McIntire Park. Horace: Yeah, I thought it would be good easier to find each other this way. Wendy: I think your right. (pauses) So, it’s kind of wild isn’t it. I’ve never done anything like this before. I mean, if you asked me a year ago if I’d try an internet dating service, I would have told you that you’re crazy. Horace: Yeah, I know what you mean but it’s kind of cool ...

713. His Triumphal Entry

Luke 19:28-44

Sermon

Brett Blair

... . There at the head rode a quiet figure of a man on a donkey. All about him the crowds gathered, curious at first, but soon they were shouting and singing and turning the place upside down for him. As he entered the ancient city the crowds went wild with cheering. There were shouts of, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord”. People grabbed anything they could get their hands on. They tore palm branches from trees. They tore the clothes off their back. They threw ...

714. Nicodemus

John 3:1-21

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... followed the orthodox tradition. I admit John was an impressive fellow. He may have been influenced by the Essenes in his early days because his lifestyle was that of an ascetic - wearing sackcloth, living in the desert, eating only things like locusts and wild honey. He was a thunderous preacher, calling on people to repent of their sins, having them undergo a baptism in the river like the baptism we Jews require of converts to OUR faith. And people responded...in droves. Even Roman soldiers were inspired ...

715. Under the Rainbow

Genesis 9:1-17

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... . Back to the story. Noah worships. God responds. "Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him: "I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you and with every living creature that was with you--the birds, the livestock and all the wild animals, all those that came out of the ark with you--every living creature on earth." No more wipe-outs like this one - no more will I engage this world in mortal combat. And in fact, as my own personal reminder, I am hanging my war bow up ...

716. God's Not Done With Us Yet!

Genesis 17:1-27

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... that we are reading the story, learning from it, being inspired and guided by it proves that. Abraham and Sarah may have thought they were done...others may have thought so too...but not God.(8) I for one am GLAD to know that. There are times when life spins wildly out of control. There are other times when life is so routine that even your rut is in a rut. And there are times when life is everything in between. Well, my friend, no matter what your life is like, the good news I have for you this morning is ...

717. God Hears

Genesis 21:8-21

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... has given heed to your affliction.'" Ishmael -- a Hebrew name meaning GOD HEARS. To be honest, what she hears next might make a woman expecting a child to change her mind. Hagar is told that the child will be a boy of whom God says, "He shall be a wild ass of a man, with his hand against everyone, and everyone's hand against him; and he shall live at odds with all his kin." Delightful. Then follows a scripture verse that became famous in it's King James Bible language - it was posted in cross-stitch on the ...

718. The Ten Commandments: One God, Only One

Exodus 20:1-21

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... , "Ten Commandments leads list of lists, Greensboro News & Record, 8/16/98, D1 2. Quoted by Greg Laurie, via Internet, "The Ten Commandments, Part I," http://www.harvest.org/tools/ffl/comand1.html 3. Robert Goldberg and Gerald Jay Goldberg, Citizen Turner: The Wild Rise of an American Tycoon, (New York: Harcourt Brace, 1995) 4. Albert Curry Winn, A Christian Primer: The Prayer, The Creed, The Commandments, (Louisville, KY: Westminster/John Knox Press, 1990), p. 189 5. Matt. 22:37-39; Mark 12:30-31; Luke 10 ...

719. The Ten Commandments #2: No Idols!

Exodus 20:1-21

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... theologian. But if there is any modern statement that explains why people would make idols - even dumb ones - Woody's is as good as any. In an uncertain world, a world where jobs always hang by a thread, a world where the stock market makes wild roller coasters seem tame, a world with political moorings coming loose amidst Washington sex scandals, we crave certainty. We need to feel CONFIDENCE in something...or else we go bonkers and start looking for rifles. To be sure, having a good idol around can fill ...

720. The Apostles' Creed: "God...Almighty"

Mark 15:33-41, Mark 15:21-32

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... both the "almightiness" of God and the love of God when we are confronted with so much that is awful in the world. There are lots of answers. Some want to say that what appears to be evil may not be evil at all; for example, an aborigine from the wilds of the Australian bush who is suddenly transported into a modern operating room may see a masked man with a knife about to slice into a helpless patient's flesh and presume this is TERRIBLE...but we know it is not. Perhaps you and I are in the same ...

721. A New Look at an Old Treasure

Psalm 23:1-6

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... desert noonday is long gone, and the bitter cold of desert night is coming fast. The road has disappeared into the twilight. Provisions of food and water ran out hours ago, and the traveler is parched and hungry. In the distance, a jackal howls. Fears of wild animals and bands of robbers invade his mind. He regrets having begun this journey, and wonders if it will be his last. But then the traveler sees a figure on a hillside, outlined against the darkening sky: a shepherd - a common, ordinary man, but one ...

722. Who's The Boss?

Psalm 50:1-23

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... for the coming year - time (our most precious commodity), talent (God's gift to you to be shared with all), and finally money (the least important of the three, but still very necessary). God does not NEED any of them from us. As the Psalmist affirmed, God owns "every wild animal of the forest...the cattle on a thousand hills...all the birds of the air, and all that moves in the field...the world and all that is in it..." (Psalm 50:10-12). All we have belongs to God already anyway, and God can take it all ...

723. There's No Such Thing as Too Much Sugar

Psalm 91:1-16

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... deep-seated cynicism long enough to fall in love with each other (which apparently, was his angel assignment all along). Tough job. We live in a pretty cynical age, and everyone is affected - not just movie characters, but you and me too. Everyone knows Oscar Wilde's definition of a cynic: someone who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing. I like H. L. Mencken's description: "A cynic is a man who, when he smells flowers, looks around for a coffin."(6) For Dorothy and Frank, their cynicism ...

724. Good Medicine

Proverbs 10:1-32

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... A cheerful heart is a good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones." Amen? Amen! Humor has been a part of our faith tradition since the beginning. There is some wonderful comedy in the Old Testament, if we would read it correctly. There is that wild and wacky story of Jonah that uses humor to skewer Israel's temptation to tell God who can be saved and who cannot. There is that beautiful little memoir of Ruth that attacks Israel's racism by subtly reminding them that the great-grandmother of their ...

725. Religion and Politics

Isaiah 1:1-31

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... Jew. He was wrong about that, but here we encounter the plain word that there are indeed some prayers to which God will turn a deaf ear. Why? "Your hands are full of blood." This is the ancient equivalent of a throughly modern concern - don't sow your wild oats for six days, then come in on the seventh and pray for a crop failure. Your walk should match your talk. Fortunately, those harsh words are not the last words. God continues, "Wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight! Stop ...

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