Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 751 to 775 of 4999 results

John 1:1-18

Sermon

Mark Trotter

... : Robert Mitchum, then four days later, Jimmy Stewart. Mitchum was a big name in the movies, a superstar, and extraordinarily productive. He must have made over 200 movies. In one year, I think it was 1944, he made eighteen movies. But Jimmy Stewart was a different kind of actor. Jimmy Stewart was in the pantheon that is reserved for those we lift up to be icons, mythical figures who represent what we believe in, and who act out on the screen the way we would like to be. I heard Janet Maislan interviewed ...

752. Two Christmas Dinners

Luke 21:3-4

Drama

Matthew Powell

... I say no to him? Storyteller 2: Snuffy Pete made a noise that sounded like peas bubbling in a pot. Speech was intended, and the old gentleman construed it as Snuffy's acceptance. Snuffy: (Weakly and not meaning a word of what he's saying) Thank you kindly, sir. I'll go with you and much obliged ... I'm ... very hungry. Storyteller 1: His near-coma had not prevented it from entering into Snuffy Pete's head that he was now a tradition. Snuffy: My Christmas appetite is not my own. Storyteller 2: It belonged ...

753. Proper 26

Matthew 23:1-39, Joshua 3:1-4:24, 1 Thessalonians 2:1-16, Malachi 2:1-9

Sermon Aid

John R. Brokhoff

... charged his people to lead lives worthy of God. This presupposes we have faith in God and respond to God. We belong to God. What kind of lives shall we live that would be worthy of God? Paul describes his life in terms of "holy, righteous, and blameless." Why can't ... a worthy life for a married person. Paul in this passage talks of our living lives worthy of God. Here is our highest challenge. What kind of a life is worthy of God? Must one be an ascetic or a martyr to be worthy of God? Outline: A life worthy ...

754. Road Rage

Matthew 3:1-12

Sermon

Susan R. Andrews

... reborn. Maybe they will remember - remember who God is and remember who they are. Maybe, just maybe, John's blunt blast will become a bold blessing. Repent! This ancient, angular word echoes awkwardly in our feel-good world. And yet, my friends, Repent! is the only kind of preparation called for in scripture during these days and weeks before Christmas. Repent! for the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent! for the moment of travail and birth is at hand. And as with any birth - the birth of Jesus, the birth of ...

755. Catch the Fever

Mark 1:29-34

Sermon

James Caldwell III

... , which appears on T shirts, bumper stickers, drink cups, and the like. Catch the Fever! But there are risks to catching this kind of fever. You wind up spending lots of time and money on basketball. You suffer a near heart attack from getting worked ... , or a foul with 8 seconds to go. And of course, there's the bitter agony of defeat. Our Scripture this morning shows there's another kind of fever, and that no matter what the season is, we need to catch it! It's a spiritual fever, the one Jesus had, that's ...

756. What to Do with Yesterday - A Sermon for a New Year

Psalm 103:1-22

Sermon

James McCormick

... gotten on with his life. He was not suffering because of her lack of forgiveness. She was. Every day she was being consumed by her bitterness and anger. And, her children and everyone around her were affected by the stink of it. When God cuts the cable, he takes that kind of garbage away, too. Listen to the good news: there is no sin God is not willing to forgive. There is nothing you can do to make God stop loving you. There is nothing you can do to make God love you more than He already does. Right now ...

757. Promises to Keep

Hebrews 8:1-13

Sermon

James McCormick

... told in scripture not to swear. We are told, “Don’t swear by heaven or by earth or by any other oath. Just let your ‘yes’ be yes and your ‘no’ be no.” (James 5:12) Do you understand what he was saying? He was saying don’t be the kind of person who has to prop up your words, feeling that no one will believe you unless you flail your arms around and say, “I swear by all that’s holy…” No, we are told, “Just say ‘Yes’ or ‘No’.” That’s enough. In other words, be a person of ...

758. A Word of Hope for a Hard World

Matthew 2:13-18

Sermon

King Duncan

... people to be rounded up in Jerusalem and executed on that day as well. He knew that there would not be any mourners for him, so he arranged numerous executions in Jerusalem at the time of his death so there would be mourners all around. That’s the kind of man Herod was. So it is perfectly plausible that after he discovered that the wise men were not returning to give him directions to the newborn king’s birthplace, Herod would give orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two ...

759. Want to Be Happy?

Matthew 3:13-17

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... marriage. Think about this: when was the first time you felt happy? As a baby, it was when your mother fed you, when your father held you. In their arms you felt loved and safe and nurtured. But as infants grow to toddlers there is a new kind of happiness children experience: the joy of pleasing those parents. How many times have you watched a grubby, sticky hand hold out to Mom or Dad a bedraggled flower, a half-eaten cookie, a slightly smooshed bug? As the parents exclaim over the treasure they’ve been ...

760. The Lonesome George Church

Matthew 4:23-25, Matthew 4:18-22, Matthew 4:12-17

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... be eighty to ninety years old, so he’ll be around longer than you or I) there will be no more of his kind again. A scientist’s greatest dream is to produce some never-before realized results. A scientist’s greatest nightmare is never again to ... gave back peace of mind to parents and carefree summers for children, and a future of health for generations. It was just this kind of life-transforming discovery that is described in this week’s gospel text. As Simon Peter and his brother Andrew tended their ...

761. Christmas Eve\Christmas Day

Luke 2:1-7, Isaiah 9:1-7, Psalm 96:1-13, Titus 2:1-15, Luke 2:8-20

Sermon Aid

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

... the setting of holy war and is not about a romantic manger scene. God's breaking into our world through incarnation unleashes a new kind of power that will inevitably put us in conflict with all human notions of power and security. It is this new power freely ... people of God are being encouraged to sing in Psalm 96:1. Psalm 96 is a celebration of power, but it is not the kind of power that we are most familiar with and comfortable with. Indeed, the psalmist tells us in v. 5 that our status quo notions of ...

762. Proper 10

Psalm 119:1-176, Romans 8:1-17, Matthew 13:1-23, Genesis 25:19-34

Sermon Aid

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

... God's grace. Structure. Romans 8:1-17 forms a thought unit on "life in the Spirit." Verses 1-2 are a kind of thesis statement, which summarize earlier passages and point toward an overt statement about the Spirit. Verses 3-11 are a ... step explanation of the elements of the parable. The explanation treats the parable as an allegory, certainly one type of parable, but not the only kind Jesus spoke, even in Matthew 13. For preaching and worship, vv. 1-9 may be used with or without vv. 18-23. Significance. This ...

763. When Losing Your Baggage Is a Good Thing

Hebrews 12:1-2

Sermon

James W. Moore

... Really?” said the father, “Tell me about it.” “Well,” the little girl said, “Here’s how it works. If your car stalls on the road, they come and get it in six minutes, and then they take it to Mayor White and he destroys it!” Now, that kind of misinformed certainty is cute in a little girl… but it is not so pretty in grown-ups, and yet it is a negative, hurtful attitude that runs rampant in our world today. Nothing is more frustrating than trying to talk to a closed-minded person. Sometimes ...

764. Righteousness Exalts a Nation - The Fourth of July

Sermon

James McCormick

... righteousness. If there is anything history teaches us it is that when we cooperate with the will of God it is well with us. When we do not, it is ill with us. Again, because this is God’s world, and He demands righteousness. So, in light of that, what kind of people do we want to be? By what values do we want to live? Do we want a nation where profit trumps all other values? Do we want a society in which “getting mine” is all that counts? Do we want a country where security is more important than ...

765. Put Up and Shut Up

Proverbs 18:21

Sermon

James Merritt

... your children and never allow them to speak using profane or filthy language. But secondly, I implore you to set the example by the kind of language you yourself use. I've never done a scientific study, but I promise you 98% of the teenagers and young people who ... brook." Deep waters refers to the water at the bottom of the well that is the cleanest and the coldest. If you want to know what kind of water a well really has, go down to the bottom to get it. If you want to know what is in a person's heart, ...

766. Do You See the Light?

Romans 1:16-20

Sermon

James Merritt

... Light is an amazing phenomenon. It is the fastest entity in the universe traveling 186 thousand miles a second. It comes in a variety of sizes, frequencies and energies, on a continuum known as the electromagnetic spectrum. In that spectrum there are all kinds of light waves and light rays. The visible light that we can see represents only one one thousandths of a percent of that spectrum. Because there are radial waves, microwaves, infrared waves, ultraviolet waves, x-ray waves, and gamoray waves of light ...

767. I Believe That Jesus Suffered Under Pontius Pilate

John 1:29-34

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... the night before. In the vision he was climbing up the hill to the church. Suddenly he heard steps behind him. He turned and saw a man carrying a very heavy load on his back, climbing that hill. He was full of sympathy for this man and spoke kindly to him. Then he noticed that the man’s hands were scarred. Suddenly he realized that this was Jesus. He said to him, “Lord, are you carrying the world’s sins up the hill?” “No,” said the Lord Jesus, “not the world’s sins, just yours!” (3) Jesus ...

768. A Defiant Response to a Dangerous Theology: Does God Desire to Wipe Us Out?

Gn 6:1-8. 9:6-17

Sermon

... so that "the smoke of the land went up like the smoke of a furnace." And it was clearly claimed to have been God's doing. Which sounds, if you read between the lines, like some form of volcanic eruption. Leading to all kinds of questions: Was the volcano a one-of-a-kind experience in that region, or were volcanoes commonplace in that region? Was God's name associated with the volcano because, at that time and in that region, there was no better way to explain a volcano? And if the volcano was of God (meant ...

769. Why Not Now?

Acts 8:26-40

Sermon

John E. Harnish

... until finally the man asks the question. And at that point, it says "Philip opened his mouth," which is to suggest he had been keeping his mouth shut until then! And when the man asked, then he said, "Let me tell you about Jesus." That's the kind of evangelism the world needs today. The world has had its fill of hard-nosed, hard-edged, hard-driving preachers. What it needs are winsome witnesses, caring listeners who sit long enough to hear the doubts and struggles of others, and in loving humility share the ...

770. What a Serve!

Acts 6:1-7

Sermon

John E. Harnish

... , what does it profit? So faith, by itself, if it has not works, is dead. (James 1:22 and 2:14) But the good news is, Stephen "Found the Way." He found the way to a balanced life of service in the name of Christ. Two final comments: 1. This kind of church life, this way of servanthood, isn't cheap. In fact, next week we will see that it costs Stephen his very life. The way of balanced ministry, which brings together the word and the work of the Gospel, isn't cheap. In fact, it is very costly. In ...

771. Jesus and the Ferris Wheels

Matthew 21:33-46

Sermon

King Duncan

... just as he asked it of the Pharisees and other religious people long ago. [Today is World Wide Communion. As we partake of his body and blood this day, may this be a time of receiving his love, his joy, his peace, that we might fully bear the kind of fruit that he calls us to bear.] 1. Kelly Oldham, Today’s Christian Woman, May/June 1996, p. 25. 2. Tony Campolo, “Knowing God,” http://www.csec.org/csec/sermon/campolo_4104.htm. 3. Illusaurus. 4. Reverend Dan De Leon, http://www.friends ucc.org/Media ...

772. Where Are You From?

John 18:1-19:42

Sermon

David T. Ball

... from a rural town had come to think of himself as a king. Maybe he was hoping beyond hope that he could make up some kind of claim about Jesus' case belonging to another jurisdiction. In any case, Jesus didn't answer. Outraged, Pilate burst out, "Will you not speak ... 's stature as a function of family and place of origin. These days, stature comes in two forms. One will get you a table. That kind is fame, and who you know. Maybe I'm wrong, because I can't get a good table anywhere, but I think that the main ...

773. Settle for an F

Hebrews 13:1-8

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... Without the lumps and bumps, woes and warts of marriages, stand-up comics would starve. In some ways our culture has much in common with the attitude that prevailed in the first century - remaining faithfully committed to one's partner is seen as kind of quaintly foolish, at times even marginally masochistic. We are a society where Wilt Chamberlain's non-basketball statistics (20,000-plus women) are considered as impressive and laudatory as his on-court performances (100-plus points in a game, etc.). Only ...

774. Fingerprints of the Soul

Romans 5:1-5

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... itself. In my experience, whether people are good or not has nothing to do with whether they are Christians. Some people just are good. Some churchgoers just are horrible. If someone offers to carry my suitcase, I would rather they did it out of innate kindness than out of a commandment-obeying habit. In my Church of England year, I have come across a great deal of goodness and a great deal of niceness. They need to be distinguished. Sometimes the good- ness is hidden behind off-putting elements such as ...

775. A-wake or A-live

Galatians 2:15-21

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... along reducing the air friction on it and thus increasing your own gas mileage. Following in the wake of the truck took some of the effort to move forward off of your own car. For many Christians, following "in Jesus' steps" has become its own kind of spiritual coasting, riding in the wake of Jesus' own first-century actions and reactions in order to relieve some of the responsibility for making our own 21st- century responses. We are not called to follow "in his wake." The risen Christ who lives today ...

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