Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 826 to 850 of 1858 results

826. Who Should I Invite To My Party?

Luke 14:1-14

Sermon

King Duncan

... , or school prayer. The critical issue today, says Yaconelli, is dullness. We have lost our astonishment. The Good News is no longer good news, it is okay news. Christianity is no longer life changing, it is life enhancing. Jesus doesn't change people into wild-eyed radicals anymore, he changes them into "nice people." (1) If it's true that we have become dull, it's not because of our Master. Jesus was anything but dull. In fact, Jesus said some outrageous things. Even outrageous by our standards. And ...

827. Who Are You?

Psalm 16:1-11

Sermon

King Duncan

I'd like to ask you one of the most profound questions I can think of. Who are you? One practical joker produced a book that looked like any other. The title on the outside read, Wild Animals I have Known, and on the inside was a mirror. When his friends opened this book, they found themselves staring at their own reflections. Is that who you are? Are you just some kind of animal? A higher primate? A "naked ape," as Colin Morris called us a few ...

828. He Calms The Storms

Mark 4:35-41

Sermon

King Duncan

... had drowned at sea. He was away from human society, but he was still alive. The little island could support his basic needs. He had no clothes, but he was in a hot climate and did not need them. He was without any means of defense, but he saw no wild beasts such as he had seen on the coast of Africa. He had no one to talk to, but God had sent the ship so near to the shore that he could get everything out of it that would help him survive. So, he concluded, there was no condition in ...

829. Gathered Around The Throne

Revelation 7:1-8

Sermon

King Duncan

... . AT FIRST, ALL SAINTS' DAY WAS A CELEBRATION OF THOSE WHO WERE MARTYRED FOR THEIR FAITH. It's important to remember that early Christians often paid a terrible price for this faith we celebrate today. They were tortured, they were flayed, they were torn apart by wild animals, and like their Lord, many of them died on a cruel cross--all because they would not renounce the name of Jesus. As early as perhaps 300 years after our Lord's death and resurrection there was a growing consciousness that these men and ...

830. A Church Fueled By Prayer

1 Thessalonians 1:1-10

Sermon

King Duncan

... to the Island of Patmos, were martyred. And persecution continued long after the apostolic age ended. When nearly half of Rome burned, Emperor Nero blamed the fire on innocent Christians and vented his fury on them. Some were sewn up in the skins of wild animals and then attacked by savage dogs. Others, wrapped in tow and smeared with tar, were fastened to tall poles in the palace gardens and set on fire while Nero, attended by his slaves and courtiers, reclined on a balcony and watched his "torches ...

831. Shepherding And Parenting

Psalm 23:1-6, 1 Peter 2:13-25

Sermon

King Duncan

... of Death in Palestine. It is a valley through which the sheep are moved once a year to reach their grazing pastures. It is a treacherous ravine four and a half miles long and over 1500 feet high in places and only 10 to 12 feet wide at the bottom. Wild dogs lurk in the valley seeking for easy prey. The sheep would be lost in the valley if they could not be confident that the shepherd was always near. My friends, there are many valleys growing up. Many of them are as treacherous as the Valley of the Shadow ...

832. God Has Gone Up

Acts 1:1-11

Sermon

King Duncan

In his book, ON A WILD AND WINDY MOUNTAIN, William H. Willimon tells of being in New Haven, Connecticut as a student at Yale in l970 during the famous Black Panther Trial. Those of you who remember that turbulent era recall the strife, discord and agony that tormented our society. During the week that the crisis ...

833. A Lightning Rod Instead of a Cross

Acts 2:1-21

Sermon

King Duncan

... people who were once visionaries can grow weary in well-doing and forget how exhilarating a vision can be. There is a story about a primitive people who lived in a beautiful valley. As time passed, however, the soil played out. The number of wild animals thinned. Food was scarce. Life was hard. Some of the young braves had heard that beyond the distant high mountains there lay another beautiful valley that had not been despoiled by human habitation--where the soil was still rich and the game plentiful ...

834. The Competitor

Genesis 25:19-34

Sermon

King Duncan

... base. He's too lackadaisical. I want you to help me. From now on, charge every ground ball. When you get it, fire it as quickly and as hard as you can to first base. Knock Gehrig off the bag if you can. I don't care if you throw wild or not, but throw it fast and make it tough for him." Crosetti demurred and said: "Maybe Lou won't like the idea." "Who cares what Gehrig likes!" McCarthy snapped. "Just do as I tell you." McCarthy then said to the coach: "Now that's the story. What conclusions do ...

835. Passing The Ultimate Test

Genesis 22:1-19

Sermon

King Duncan

... with him, graciously give us all things?" That kind of good and loving God can be trusted through any test. 1. Biblical Illustrator 2. Biblical Illustrator 3. "In Their Own Words." By Capt. Gordon Sparks, The Asbury Herald, Volume 112, No. 2 & 3, p. 11. 4. "On a Wild and Windy Mountain," by William H. Willimon, Pulpit Resource, April/May/June 1996, p. 54. 5. Quoted in Lord if I Ever Needed You, Creath Davis, Baker. Cited in Henry Gariepy, Portraits of Perseverance, (Wheaton, Illinois: Victor Books, 1989).

836. Clearing Back The Jungle

Genesis 9:1-17

Sermon

King Duncan

... In"? It is the story of a group of people who went into the jungle, made a clearing, brought their livestock, planted their crops, and built their homes. For awhile it was a veritable paradise, until the rain years came and the jungle crept back. Wild animals killed their stock. The prolific vegetation of the jungle moved in faster than they could cope with it. The jungle took back their paradise. Of course, Kipling wasn't writing about the jungle at all. He was writing the story of humanity. As Emerson ...

837. When The Economy Goes South

1 Kings 17:1-6

Sermon

King Duncan

... to give up! The second thing we do is trust God. As much as we talk about faith, trusting God is hard for some of us to do. The great philosopher Soren Kierkegaard once described a familiar boyhood experience. He was being taught to swim by his father. Splashing wildly with both arms and kicking with one leg, he called to his father, "Look at me, look at me. I'm swimming!" But, says Kierkegaard, all the time he was holding onto the bottom of the swimming pool with his big toe. Many of us are like that in ...

838. First Things First

Philippians 3:12-4:1

Sermon

King Duncan

... away all the clutter in your life and focused on that which will really bring abundant life? We know what mattered most to Paul. What is your ultimate concern? What is your number one priority? Do you have a purpose for life? Rick Warren wrote that wildly popular book, The Purpose-Driven Life. He must be on to something. Millions of people bought his book. Could it be that most people have no idea why they are on this earth? Motivational books claim that success and fulfillment belong to those who set and ...

839. Why Shepherds?

Luke 2:8-20

Sermon

King Duncan

... ago who found their way to the stable in Bethlehem on the night Christ was born would certainly explain their good fortune in that way. Talk about timing. On a hillside. Minding their own business, watching their sheep. Vigilant. Alert. Always prepared in case a wild animal attacked their sheep. When suddenly they were startled by the swish of an angel’s wing. The King James version tells the story like this: “Lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them ...

840. Rebellion in the Vineyard

Matthew 21:33-46

Sermon

King Duncan

... are to remember that it is His kingdom, yet we have a responsibility to be good stewards. There Is Rebellion in the Vineyard A landowner planted a vineyard. It was huge and completely fenced in. It even had a watch tower to guard against outside attacks or wild animals. After a while the landowner could no longer maintain this vast estate so he leased it to the tenants and left it in their care. All he asked in return was a share of the produce at harvest time. The tenants gladly agreed. When harvest time ...

841. A Way Made Ready

Mark 1:1-8

Sermon

Darrick Acre

... , for I imagine that collectively we have seen a tremendous amount of Christmas displays. So if you have found him somewhere, please let me know. But have you ever seen John the Baptist in any of the nativity scenes? He would be this hairy, unkempt, wild-looking guy wearing camel’s hair. There would be a piece of locust caught between his teeth and dried honey in his beard. Louder than any Santa says, “Ho, ho, ho,” you would hear the automated voice of John the Baptist screaming, “The kingdom of ...

842. Believing Isn’t Easy

Hebrews 11:1-40

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... heads in the sand and ignore their doubts. I think we all ought to bring our doubts out into the open and deal with them honestly. I believe that doubt is a prerequisite to a genuine faith. Without doubt, we would be liable to fall for any wild scheme that comes down the pike; we would be gullible and easy prey for every religious con artist around...and there are plenty of them around these days. Faith without doubt is gullibility. God does not call us to be gullible. Harry Emerson Fosdick once preached a ...

843. Born Again? When?

John 3:1-21

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” (John 3:8) The work of the Holy Spirit is not a work of bland homogenization, but rather of wild, glorious differentiation! How tragic it is that sometimes we Christians have tried to tame the Holy Spirit and make all Spirit-filled Christians turn out exactly alike! This brings us back to the chap I mentioned in the beginning of this sermon who was afraid that his daughter ...

844. Doors Are for Entering

John 10:1-21

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... the shepherd builds a fire in the entrance, eats his evening meal, and watches his sheep by night. Then he wraps himself in his cloak and lies down across the entrance. The sheep therefore have no need to fear, for robbers cannot come over the walls, and wild animals will not enter because of their fear of the fire. And, in addition, any intruder would have to pass by not only the fire, but the body of the shepherd lying across the entrance. Thus, for the sheep, their shepherd is literally the “door” or ...

845. The Shy Member of the Trinity

John 14:15-31

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... was rehearsing Beethoven’s magnificent Ninth Symphony with the New York Philharmonic orchestra. He did such a brilliant job of direction that when the rehearsal ended, the musicians rose as a man and cheered him. Desperately, Toscanini tried to stop their ovation, wildly waving his arms, crying to them to desist. When there was a lull in the ovation, Toscanini’s broken voice could be heard: “It isn’t me. It’s Beethoven! Toscanini is nothing. Beethoven is everything!” And so, I think that the ...

846. The Huddle Is Not the Game

John 20:19-23

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... those who had supported him in is so-called “radical” causes. He was far ahead of his time on many issues, for he believed that women had the right to vote, that workers should have a voice in the circumstances of their toil, long before such wild notions were popular. He had many such “radical” ideas, most of which were eventually taken over lock, stock, and barrel by both the Democratic and the Republican parties. At any rate, they now gathered to tell him what a great guy he was. Thomas listened ...

847. That Would Be Some Miracle!

John 6:1-15

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... wine for a party, healing a sick boy, getting a lifetime panhandler off the relief rolls, feeding a lot of stupid people. Well, they were stupid. For the next story in this extraordinary tale is about 5000 men who went on an all-day retreat in the wilds, and forgot their lunch. Among 5000 people, just one lunch. Nobody knew how it happened; all they knew was that after Jesus started passing the bread and fish around, the whole crowd had enough and more than they could eat. Miracle? They took it for one; but ...

848. Slippery Rock

Matthew 16:21-28

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... . WE FIND IT IN JOHN 21. After Jesus’ crucifixion, Peter tells the others that he is going fishing. That doesn’t mean that he was taking a vacation, but rather that he was going back to the old occupation he had before he had run off on a wild-goose chase with Jesus. They are out fishing on the Sea of Galilee and they see a familiar figure standing on the shore. The figure asks whether they have caught anything. They answer that they have toiled all night for naught. A streak of bad luck! Then Jesus ...

849. One Bad Apple

Matthew 26:47-56

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... support, when we fail to live up to our high calling to be Christians—Christ’s men and women—then we “hurt the one we love,” and betray Christ all over again. Judas was not a monster. He was a person very much like us. As the Irish poet Oscar Wilde said in “The Ballad of Reading Gaol:” “...all men kill the thing they love,/By all let this be heard,/Some do it with a bitter look,/Some do it with a flattering word,/The coward does it with a kiss,/The brave man with a sword!” But Judas was ...

850. Jesus and the Baptists

Mark 1:1-8

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... : adopt an orphan boy and raise him as one of them. (WARS OF THE JEWS, 2.8.2) We do know that John, like the Essenes, had strange dietary habits, wore strange clothes and reduced life down to its simplest essentials. Mark’s Gospel says that he ate locusts and wild honey...a strange diet. But it may not be so strange when we realize that locust is also a name for the fruit of the carob tree...which tastes like chocolate. So his diet may not have been as odd as it seems. (Even today, a favorite Israeli food ...

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