Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 926 to 950 of 2157 results

Deuteronomy 26:1-15

Sermon

Mark Ellingsen

... family, job, home, intelligence, and stature in the community by our hard work. Keep that in mind, and this will be a distinctively Christian celebration of Thanksgiving. You will not get caught up in nationalism and self-congratulations as is typical of America’s version of the holiday as long as you keep in mind that all you have is a gift from God. The sixteenth-century reformer, John Calvin, the spiritual father of Presbyterianism and the United Church of Christ, said it so well one time. Servants of ...

927. The Second Touch for the Out of Touch

1 Kings 19:1-18

Sermon

Robert Leslie Holmes

... for him to bear. Now, notice three key factors that brought Elijah to this point. In seeing them you may be saved from a similar disaster. II. Elijah’s Dire Consequences “It is enough,” he said (1 Kings 19:4). The New International Version captures his emotion more realistically, “I’ve had enough!” Elijah had all he could take. Death seemed more attractive than life for him. Many systems are involved in being human. The Bible focuses principally on three: body, mind, and spirit. The Apostle Paul ...

928. Light from the Word

Nehemiah 7:73b--8:18

Sermon

Harry N. Huxhold

... of a meal. A Call For Faith It is very important for us to catch the flavor of what Ezra was doing for the people on this important occasion. There are many interpreters who fault Ezra for the creation of Judaism as a provincial, exclusive, and legalistic version of the Hebrew faith. They point to his ruling that the Jews should not marry outside the faith as typical of this narrow view of the faith. That would be unfair to the larger task which Ezra performed, which was to get the people to return to ...

929. Keeping the Glow On

Exodus 34:29-35

Sermon

Harry N. Huxhold

... for Moses as an assurance for carrying on his prophetic office. It also must have been comforting for the people to know what Moses shared with them had divine authenticity. What began as a frightening experience for the people became a welcome ritual. Paul’s Version Sooner or later the ritual had to end. The Apostle Paul writes of that issue in what we now know as the Second Letter to the Corinthians. In that letter, Paul writes a considerable amount about the nature and authority of ministry. He had ...

930. When Our Children Teach Us

Luke 2:41-52

Sermon

James W. Moore

... bear was to the little boy, so he allowed the boy to keep the bear with him throughout all the many examinations prior to surgery. On the morning of the surgery, the hospital staff brought in two surgical gowns – one for the little boy and a smaller version for the teddy bear – and off to the operating room they went… a little blind boy on a stretcher holding on dearly to his beloved teddy bear. The surgery went well. The doctor felt good about what they were able to accomplish. “I think he will be ...

931. The Healing Power of the Cross

Luke 23:26-43, Mark 15:33-41, Luke 23:44-49

Sermon

James W. Moore

... was not the first time Jesus had prayed this prayer, “Father, into Thy hands I commit my spirit.” He had likely prayed it hundreds of times as a child… because, you see, this was the bedtime prayer taught to little children during Biblical times. It was the first century version of “Now I lay me down to sleep. I pray the Lord my soul to keep.” “Father, I’m about to go to sleep, so into Thy hands I commit my spirit. I’m going to sleep now, Father. I know you are here to watch over me.” It ...

932. The Healing Power of the Resurrection

Mark 16:1-20

Sermon

James W. Moore

... of you will remember the name of Clarence Jordan. He died in 1969 after a lifetime of sharing the gospel with others. He will probably be remembered most for his home-spun translation of the scriptures which he entitled… The Cotton Patch Version of the Bible. When Clarence Jordan died, a magazine editor of Christian Century wrote this tribute: “Dr. Jordan was a divine combination of gentleness and ferocity, fun and heroism, simplicity and eloquence… a man in whom the unlettered poor and sophisticated ...

933. His Triumphal Entry

Luke 19:28-44

Sermon

Brett Blair

... , it was that moment and that gesture of love and compassion." The turning point for us is Palm Sunday. It is our moment of triumph. It was a triumph because God Jesus decided to ignore our miserable state and act on our behalf. He chose to ignore the crowds version of Palm Sunday and go with His. No matter what we have done: compromised our principles, sold out to the expediency of the moment, given in to sin. God comes into our world and welcomes us home. We may not deserve to be there but he welcomes us ...

934. Experience the Mountaintop But Don't Forget the Valley Below

Luke 9:28-36

Sermon

Brett Blair

... stay right here and let the rest of the world go by for a while," we say. But to freeze that one moment in time shuts off the possibility of the next moment. In the Gospel reading for today we hear the writer of Luke give his version of the event which we call "The Transfiguration of Jesus." Matthew and Mark also contain an account of this strange occurrence, with some minor variations in the telling. It’s one of those rare moments we were just talking about, one of those mountaintop experiences of life ...

935. His Trial

Luke 22:66--23:25

Sermon

Brett Blair

... in the war crimes trial, we have no reasonable doubt that the high priest Caiaphas stands guilty as charged. Guilty of what? What was his real sin? Some say that he was guilty of expediency. Quoting the words of Caiaphas from the King James Version: It is expedient that one man should die for the people, then that the whole nation should not parish. The dictionary defines expediency as the subordination of moral principles for the sake of attaining a desired goal, a definition that would fit Caiaphas like ...

936. Would You Take The Crown Without The Cross?

Luke 4:1-13

Sermon

Brett Blair

... in the Garden of Eden by viewing him as he is now. Imagine if you knew nothing of aircrafts and mankind’s ability of flight. Now imagine that you came upon the wreckage of an aircraft and you along with many others tried to reconstruct the original version of the aircraft. If we knew nothing of flying, we would hardly suspect that this pile of rubbish had once soared above the earth. The material would be the same; the capability of flight, however, would be lost. What we have lost is our understanding of ...

937. The Universality of the Golden Rule

John 17:20-26

Illustration

Carl Jech

... expression of their faith. It is provocative and inspiring to discover the remarkable universality of this ethical principle. In Hinduism it is stated like this: "Those gifted with intelligence should always treat others as they themselves wish to be treated." The Shinto version is: "The suffering of others is my suffering; the good of others is my good." In Buddhism it is: "A person can minister to friends and familiars by ... treating them as he treats himself." Taoists say: "Regard your neighbor's gain ...

938. The Apostles' Creed: Maker of Heaven and Earth

Genesis 1:1-2:3

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... that "If evolution wins, Christianity goes." Darrow argued that "Scopes isn't on trial; civilization is on trial." The prosecution case, began with the court being asked to take judicial notice of the Book of Genesis, as it appears in the King James version. It did. Seven students in Scope's class were then asked a series of questions about his teachings. They testified that Scopes told them that man and all other mammals had evolved from a one-celled organism. The prosecution rested. It was a simple ...

939. The Grief Grinch

John 11:17-37

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... trickles down Jesus' cheek, and then another and another. Jesus of Nazareth...this strong and ruddy man...is weeping. He has felt the grief and pain of His friends and quite literally has been moved to tears. John 11:35..."Jesus began to weep" Or as the King James Version has it in the verse we all learned as children as the shortest in the Bible, "Jesus wept." But in those two words, we have the picture of a Savior who genuinely cares what happens to us and what we go through. And by joining in with that ...

940. Struggling with God

Genesis 32:22-32

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... of the day ahead? Jacob had LOTS of reasons to agonize. In the morning he would be meeting one of them face-to-face. On and on the struggle continued through the night. Hour after hour they grappled and grabbed. Jacob is wounded in the fray. Depending on which version of scripture you have, you learn that the injury is to the hip socket or the hollow of the thigh or some location below the belt which are only Biblical euphemisms for a place no man ever wants to get hit. No wonder Jacob limped. But he hangs ...

941. God Cares About Justice!

Exodus 20:1-21

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... image would BECOME God. "NO idols." People become confused and are misled into trusting things that are not worthy of trust. Ultimately, that is unjust. Commandment #3: ""You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God." Or in the language of the King James Version, "You shall not take the name of the Lord your God IN VAIN." More misunderstanding here. No, despite what your grandmother told you, this is not a rule about not using God's name as an expletive. And no, that billboard we see occasionally that ...

942. The Ten Commandments: One God, Only One

Exodus 20:1-21

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... because they are too old. When Moses went up on the mountain, there were no nuclear weapons, there was no poverty. Today, the Ten Commandments wouldn't go over. Nobody around likes to be commanded. Commandments are out.(2) Ted then modestly offered his own version which he called the Ten Voluntary Initiatives. I will not bore you with all of his suggestions, but listen to his first two: #1, "I promise to love and respect planet Earth and all living things on the earth, especially my fellow species." Not bad ...

943. The Ten Commandments #2: No Idols!

Exodus 20:1-21

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... is what it sounds like, right? And such a command might be appropriate. After all, think of the danger those things had been posing to proper worship for all these years. "You shall not make for yourself an idol," or in the language of the King James Version in which many of us were nurtured, "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image." What does it mean? Before that, we should consider what it does NOT mean. It does not mean that we should not have any paintings or sculpture or photographs (although ...

944. The Ten Commandments #3: God's Name

Exodus 20:1-21

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... she does not respond appropriately, we say his gifts were IN VAIN. A failure. But using the name of the Lord IN VAIN??? Failure? That makes no sense. What else could it mean? We can go back to the Elizabethan English of the King James Version. We recall "Vanity of vanities, saith the preacher..." from Ecclesiastes. VANITY there means "nothingness" or "emptiness" or "meaningless." Aha. Perhaps a clue there. "You shall not use the name of the Lord your God in a MEANINGLESS way...casual cursing, and so on. OK ...

945. A Theology of Work - Labor Day

Deuteronomy 5:1-33

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... being that if the Temple sacrifice is OK (and all agreed that it was), how much MORE OK is a merciful provision of food for hungry travelers. In a parallel passage we hear Jesus say those familiar words that we learned in the language of the King James Version: "The sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath."(10) So, where does that leave us in our search for a biblical understanding of work? AMBIVALENT. Some good, some not so good. We have no record that Jesus ever worked or urged anyone else to do ...

946. Blessed Be The Title That Binds

Deuteronomy 14:22-29

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... but it is this: those who love and trust God enough to honor God with at least a tithe will never lack the resources they need. That was true in ancient Israel; it is equally true right here today. Tithing need not be looked upon as an ecclesiastical version of extortion, not if we get back to the way it was originally celebrated in Deuteronomy. It can be a beautiful routine, a systematic way for people to come together, give thanks for all they have earned through the grace of God in a given year, support ...

947. Our Magnificent, Mysterious, Mischievous God

2 Kings 5:1-27

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... of his leprosy." It is a measure of Naaman's desperation that he would bother to listen, much less act on this slave's suggestion. But he does. He risks, not only his favored position with the king by requesting permission to go on this ancient version of a pilgrimage to Lourdes for healing, but he would risk his fortune loading up the caravan with an outrageous sum of money (health care was obviously overpriced back then too). He would risk his very life with this journey into the hostile territory of a ...

948. The Best Birthday Ever

Psalm 90:1-17

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... a dream, like grass that is renewed in the morning; in the morning it flourishes and is renewed; in the evening it fades and withers...our days pass away...our years come to an end like a sigh." Then those famous words in the sweeping poetry of the King James Version in which so many of us were nurtured, "The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away." A bit depressing ...

949. Religion and Politics

Isaiah 1:1-31

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... "political" speech - it is similar to a preacher's publicly expressed concern about cashing his tax rebate check while knowing how many millions of American children have no health insurance. The tone shifts with verse 18. In the wonderful language of the old King James Version in which so many of us were nourished, "Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." If anyone wonders ...

950. Hope for Hurting Hearts

Isaiah 35:1-10

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... , 12/11/98 5. Lamentations 1 & 2, passim 6. Lowell Hennigs 7. “The Chain of Love,” a story whose author is unknown to me but which is widely available on the web (e.g.: http://www.getfed.com/texts/topics/love/chainlove.shtml). Country music artist Clay Walker recorded a version of the story written by Rory Lee & Jonnie Barnett.

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