Sermon and Worship Resources

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John 20:19-23

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... hear the Jesus in you, and glorify your Father which is in heaven (Mt.5:16). In other words, to ventriloquize Jesus by letting our life be his life, and our heart be his art. The 4th century Archbishop of Constantinople, Gregory of Nazianzus, was known for being an artist with words. But his art was all directed to lifting up Christ. In his words of great beauty and passion: The scope of our art is to provide the soul with wings, to rescue it from the world and give it to God, and to watch over that which ...

802. Apron Up (Mother's Day)

John 10:1-21

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... . This sermon also encourages people to tell their own “apron” stories, or to invite someone who has a particularly meaningful apron to come forward and tell the story of their apron on behalf of all the other aprons present. Release your artists to create an “apron” aesthetics for your sanctuary.] Do you remember playing “Follow The Leader” when you were a kid? The “leader” called the shots. Whatever way the leader went, whatever the leader did, the “followers” were supposed to imitate ...

803. The Key to Getting Enough Rest

Matthew 11:25-30

Sermon

King Duncan

Business writer Dan Miller in his book Wisdom Meets Passion reveals some fascinating information about the brilliant artist, sculptor and inventor Leonardo da Vinci. Da Vinci, the ultimate “Renaissance Man,” was interested in about anything of consequence. He had an intense curiosity about birds and how they flew. He studied their wings and modeled helicopters, parachutes, and flying machines based on their anatomy. The freedom and movement of ...

804. Up Close & Personal: Open the Doors

Psalm 100:1-5

Sermon

James Merritt

... like Delta Force put him on the map. Others of you know him from Walker, Texas Ranger, one of the longest running television shows in TV history. But what you may not know is that before Chuck Norris was a Hollywood star, he was a famous martial artist. He was a six-time undefeated World Professional Middle Weight Karate Champion and the first human being in the Western Hemisphere to earn an eighth degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do. Even at more than 70 years of age, Chuck Norris can still kick your butt ...

805. Do You Believe In Miracles?

Matthew 15:29-39

Sermon

James Merritt

... said, “Look, if you don’t want to believe what I say fine, but at least believe what I do. If you don’t want to believe My words at least believe My works.” I was reading the other day a true story about a brilliant 19th Century French artist by the name of Paul Dorè. He lost his passport while he was in a foreign country. When he got to the border, he explained his problem to the immigration official and told him who he was, the brilliant French painter. The official handed him a piece of paper ...

806. For Those Who Are Auditing the Class

Matthew 16:21-28

Sermon

King Duncan

... to give in to an unjust request, she did just that and she changed the world! Some people with far more opportunities than Rosa Parks let those opportunities slip through their fingers. The Spanish poet, Oretaga, was talking one day about a very famous French impressionist artist by the name of Gauguin. Gauguin achieved success early in life. He was famous even in his younger days. But then he did what many people do who achieve great success in their early life. Gauguin decided to lean back and rest on his ...

807. Waiting in Life's Waiting Rooms

1 Thessalonians 5:16-24

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... amazing focal points for humans. Here are creatures we dismissively label “bird-brains” yet they can fly. Can you? Is there anyone here this morning who has not dreamed of flying at some time in their life? The earliest caveman artists, the earliest scientists and philosophers, all dreamed up possibilities for humans to become airborne. How could these simple creatures, these “bird brains,” do something so astounding as fly and we could not? Eventually the science of physics deduced that “flying ...

808. Don't Give Up Now!

2 Corinthians 4:16 - 5:2

Sermon

... a high price for this painting on many occasions, Sargent refused to sell it. He considered it his best work and was very proud of it. Why did he hold on to it? It was so that whenever he was deeply discouraged and doubtful of his abilities as an artist, he would look at it and remind himself, “I painted that.” (7) Then his confidence and ability would come back to him. Some of you have been through difficult times more difficult than some of us will ever know. Rather than making you bitter, by God’s ...

809. Dealing with Cantankerous People

Ephesians 4:30-5:2

Sermon

King Duncan

... s shiny high heels. She’s leaning into the mirror, just like mom, while she smears lipstick on her little lips. The ‘imitation gene’ doesn’t go away with age. Teenage boys wear a Kevin Durant jersey while they shimmy at the free throw line. A young artist will sit for hours and trace over the works of the Masters hoping one day to rise to the standard of the greats. Aspiring dancers practice for hours on end the dance moves of their favorite dancer.” Paul tells us, in Ephesians 5:1-2, that there ...

810. Blessed Are the Abnormal

James 2:1-13

Sermon

King Duncan

... of it this way: it’s not normal for the Son of God to give his life for our sins. Thank God, Jesus was abnormal. If he was, we wouldn’t have a chance. 1. Jan Greenberg and Sandra Jordan, Vincent van Gogh: Portrait of an Artist, p. 22. Cited in David Bruce, 250 Anecdotes About Religion: Volume 2 (Kindle edition). 2. (New York: Broadway Books 2008). 3. Steven Mosley, Secrets of the Mustard Seed (Colorado Springs, CO.: NavPress, 2002), pp. 27-28. 4. Craddock Stories (St. Louis: Chalice Press, 2001). 5 ...

811. The Word Became Flesh

John 1:1-18

Sermon

King Duncan

... -tuh). According to Claypool, Goethe was the last of the so-called universal human beings. That is, he was one of the last of our western civilization to have gained the mastery of every academic discipline. In his long life, Goethe became renowned as a poet, as an artist, as a musician, as a playwright and as a historian. There was hardly a single facet of human knowledge of which he did not have a tremendous grasp. As he lay dying in 1832, the story is that he suddenly sat up, bolted upright in bed, and ...

812. Pride Is a Noxious Weed in the Garden of Life

Luke 18:9-14

Sermon

R. Robert Cueni

... outside the city's cathedral.[2] When he realized she came every day, Savonarola said to a colleague, “Look how devout she is. She so reveres the Blessed Mother.” “Don't be deceived by what you see,” the other priest replied. “Many years ago the artist commissioned for the statue chose that woman as his model. She was a lovely young woman with a look of innocence on her face. The statue was completed decades ago and every day that woman has come to worship her own image.” Pride has an insidious ...

813. Saints Are Awake to Life's Deepest Joy

Luke 6:20-31

Sermon

R. Robert Cueni

... other side of the city. Dan usually feels anxious about driving through inner-city neighborhoods. Now he feels compelled to face this fear. People have openly wondered, "What has gotten into Dan?" That is hard to know for sure. Perhaps Dan has encountered what artist and storyteller, Brian Andreas, identifies as the "Angels of Mercy." Andreas writes, Most people don't know there are angels whose only job is to make sure you don't get too comfortable and fall asleep and miss your life.[2] Dan certainly had ...

814. Uncovering Cover-Ups

John 16:5-16

Sermon

Maurice A. Fetty

... J. Edgar Hoover, head of the F.B.I. But many books and articles on Hoover have uncovered a variety of behavior and improprieties that would have greatly offended my dad. President John F. Kennedy lauded Thomas Jefferson when, at an assemblage of artists, actors, authors, and musicians in the East Room of the White House, he remarked that there probably had never been such a gathering of talent in the East Room, except possibly when Thomas Jefferson dined alone. Yet recent books have suggested improprieties ...

815. Demons, Pigs, and the Economy

Luke 8:26-39

Sermon

Maurice A. Fetty

... ; in such an effort, is it any wonder we react in violence and distorted sexuality in a desperate effort to feel, be connected, count somehow, and make a difference? Our schizoid world may not be far from that of the demoniac's. If artists and neurotics are predictive and prophetic as Dr. May suggests, Picasso's painting Guernica, with its fragmented bulls and torn villages of modern war, is predictive. The atrocities of our wars, the wasted lives, the utter, barbaric brutality, the waste, the disorder, the ...

816. Eyes Fixed Upon the Goal

Philippians 3:8-14

Sermon

King Duncan

Paul W. Powell in his book, The Complete Disciple, describes a picture painted by a famous artist. It is a picture of a wagon train in the old West. Nighttime has fallen. The wagons have been circled for protection. In the center of the circle of wagons is a campfire and a group of rugged men are gathered around it. The wagon master, a muscular man with ...

817. For The Picture of A Bird

Illustration

Michael P. Green

John Audubon, the well-known naturalist and artist, practiced great self-mastery in order to learn more about birds. Counting his physical comforts as nothing, he would rise at midnight night after night and go into the swamps to study certain nighthawks. He would crouch motionless in the dark and fog, hoping to discover just one more additional ...

818. Easy or Impossible

Illustration

Michael P. Green

“Is it hard to paint a picture?” a woman asked Salvador Dali. “No,” replied the artist. “It’s either easy or impossible.” The same answer holds for the creation of the universe. For God, it was “easy.” For any other person, it is “impossible!”

819. Our King's Righteous Attire

Col 3:12-17

Illustration

Michael P. Green

In the fable “The Emperor’s New Clothes, an unscrupulous con artist, seeking royal favor, promises to provide the emperor with an outfit of clothing that would be very special. So delicate and rare would be the fabric that the clothes would be undetectable to the touch. More importantly, they would be invisible to anyone of poor character or inferior ability. When ...

820. Word Meaning

Illustration

Michael P. Green

... that on hearing these words, he heaved a sigh of relief and bowed gratefully before his sovereign. How could this be? The explanation is simple: In 1710, the word awful meant “awe-inspiring,” the word amusing meant “amazing,” and the word artificial meant “artistic.” What to our ears might sound like a devastating criticism were in that time words of measured praise. There is no doubt a lesson in that story for those who would quibble over the relative merits of the various Bible versions and ...

821. Lydia’s Conversion in Philippi

Acts 16:11-15

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

... , Lectures 2.6.26). Haenchen complains that Luke has told the story “with the full array of Hellenistic narrative art, so that the glory of Paul beams brightly” (p. 504). And there may be something in this as far as its telling is concerned—Luke was an artist. But again we must insist that the form of the story is no guide to its essential historicity (see disc. on 5:19f.). A charge has also been brought against Luke that the rest of the town seems not to have been affected by the earthquake that ...

822. Melchizedek the Priest

Hebrews 7:1-10, Hebrews 7:11-28

Understanding Series

Donald A. Hagner

... in verse 20 (“to the degree that” there was a divine oath) that concludes in verse 22 (“by so much” is Jesus the guarantee of a better covenant). In this long sentence the name Jesus is the very last word and, because of this artistic placement, becomes emphatic. Verses 20b–21 thus amount to an insertion. The appeal to God’s vow (lit., it was not without an oath) is reminiscent of the argument concerning the covenant made with Abraham in 6:13ff. The point again is that something already ...

823. The Legitimacy and Superiority of Christ’s Priesthood

Hebrews 7:11-28, Hebrews 7:1-10

Understanding Series

Donald A. Hagner

824. Offerings for the Tabernacle

Exodus 25:1-9

Understanding Series

James K. Bruckner

... , olive oil, semiprecious gems, spices for fragrant oil, and incense imported from around the ancient Near East. Other materials are present as images: almonds, trees, flowers, and pomegranates. The construction of the tabernacle required the gifts created by artists and artisans: spinning, weaving, sewing, dyeing, metallurgy, woodworking, lapidary, making perfume, and tanning. Even the specific dimensions of objects may be tied to the creation: those given for the ark of the covenant and its cover (at the ...

825. Samson and Delilah

Judges 16:1-22

Understanding Series

Cheryl A. Brown

Samson’s Downfall and Death: Few stories in the Hebrew Bible have more recognition factor than the story of Samson and Delilah. It is a gripping, poignant drama brought to life by a gifted artist who has skillfully combined plot and characterization to present a classic story whose elements, if not the whole, have been told and retold in many cultures through all varieties of media, whether story, song, art, or film. But as we turn to this famous story, we must remember that it ...

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