Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 951 to 975 of 2157 results

951. Would You Take The Crown Without The Cross?

Matthew 4:1-11

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 ...

952. The Nightmare before Christmas

Matthew 1:18-25

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... of this Nightmare before Christmas. I know it with every fiber of my being. God takes awful situations and turns them around all the time. God can do it with this one too. A few weeks ago, the North Carolina Council of Churches adopted an edited version of a paper authored by your pastor entitled, "With All Due Respect." It is a call to our political leaders to stop the partisan "mud wrestling," to raise the level of political discourse, and begin treating one another with civility. We know there can and ...

953. The Original "Average Joe"

Matthew 1:18-25

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... brought on herself. Now what? Jewish law allowed stoning as the penalty for adultery, but that was a sentence not often carried out in practice. Joseph could have made a public spectacle of Mary to prove his own innocence in the affair, gone on some first century version of Jerry Springer to show the world her true colors. But no. Finally, the decision was made to handle the situation quietly, to give her a Bill of Divorcement in the presence of two witnesses as the Law required, and then let her go her way ...

954. God and Hurricanes

Matthew 5:43-48

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... in ways that create them. This is so in good times and bad and without respect to the moral climate or condition of the people who happen to be living in a storm's path. Jesus made it plain. We remember it in the venerable phrasing of the King James Version: "[God] maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust." It is interesting that that statement occurs in the context of Jesus' teaching on love: "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your ...

955. The Lord's Prayer: "Lead Us Not Into Temptation"

Matthew 6:5-15

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... this petition in the Lord's Prayer: "Lead us not into temptation...Do not bring us to the test." See how it works out with just one example. Do you remember the story of God asking Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac on Mt. Moriah? In the King James Version the story starts out, "And it came to pass...that God did TEMPT Abraham."(2) Obviously, the word "tempt" did NOT simply mean "to entice into sin." Abraham was being called upon to submit to a test of his loyalty. God does not encourage people to sin. Our ...

956. What Is Truly Important

Matthew 6:25-34, Matthew 6:19-24

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... if you are going to be concerned about anything, it should be to see that the things that are important to God are equally important to you. Then you can be absolutely confident that everything else that you need will be taken care of." Or as the King James Version of the Bible in which we were all nurtured has it, "Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you." I knew a man whose whole life was firmly grounded upon that promise. He was a minister. He ...

957. Are You the One?

Matthew 11:1-19

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... you? Are you going out to hear him because he is good entertainment? Or are you going out to hear God's Word to you? Penetrating questions. Now, back to that unusual beatitude: "Blessed is the man who does not fall away because of me." Other versions say, "Blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me" (NRSV), or "has no doubts about me" (TEV), or "who does not find me an obstacle to faith" (REB). The Greek word behind those various renderings is skandalon, which makes the literal translation something more ...

958. Good News for Tenant Farmers

Matthew 13:1-23

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... results. We can give it our best effort, but cannot completely control the outcome. Only God can do that. And God is convinced that in the end, when it comes to [that] harvest the results will be abundant."(4) Hmm. The Parable of the Sower. In the original version, I suspect we would identify Jesus as the farmer, the seed as the gospel, and the field as the world. I would cast you and me, not as those types of soil with which we may have been identified in years past, but rather as tenant farmers. We ...

959. A World in Turmoil

Matthew 21:1-11

Sermon

David E. Leininger

"When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred..." Or as the New Revised Standard Version has it, "When he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was in turmoil..." TURMOIL. Great word. It has a feeling about it. Something is bubbling up and about to boil over. There is tension. There is danger. The Greek word is seio and means to rock to and fro or to ...

960. What Do You Believe About Eternal Life

John 14:5-14

Eulogy

James W. Moore

... 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 now… so into Thy hands I commit my spirit.” “I’m going to sleep now, Father. I know You are here to watch ...

961. He Rose Again

Matthew 28:1-10

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... . 70 2. Matthew 27:63-64 3. John 20:7 4. Newsweek, March 28, 2005, p. 43 5. Killinger, p. 67 6. William Willimon, "Getting to Easter," 3/30/97, via Internet, http://www.chapel.duke.edu/sermons/MAR30SER.htm 7. John 14:19 8. Clarence Jordan, The Cotton Patch Version of Matthew and John, (Chicago : Follett Publishing Co., 1970), p. 96 9. James W. Moore, "The Healing Power of the Resurrection," www.esermons.com

962. The Forgiveness Factor

Mark 2:1-12

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... her boy and saying, "He was calm as could be." Then there was this from Branden to Mom: "Did you feel someone bounce on you?" Mom says she didn't feel anything. "It was me," answers Branden. How many times? "Ten or fifteen times." Ah, yes, the kindergarten version of CPR - bounce...over and over and over again. What a hoot! As we say, the good news is that everything is now all right. Our gospel lesson is another medical story that turns out all right. The account is probably one of the best known in all ...

963. When Evil Wins

Mark 6:14-29

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... Philip, Antipas' half-brother. Another half-brother was Aristobulus. Aristobulus had a daughter named Herodias. She married Herod Philip. They, in turn, had a daughter whose name was Salome. Clear so far? Now things get sticky and we find a near-eastern version of some steamy soap opera. On a visit to Rome, Herod Antipas met brother Philip's wife, Herodias - Aristobulus' daughter, remember, which meant that Philip had married his own niece. Herodias was a deceitful and ambitious woman who saw in Antipas a ...

964. God Bless the Child

Mark 10:13-16

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... upon children. He would be angry that his own people...we who call ourselves Christians... are content to let it happen. "Let the little children come to me; and do not hinder them." Many of us grew up learning that verse in the King James Version and its wonderful Elizabethan English - "Suffer the little children to come unto Me and forbid them not." We can easily escape condemning ourselves in that word "forbid." Who would forbid a child's coming to Jesus? None of us. The word suggests active, conscious ...

965. When Your Church Provokes You

Matthew 13:1-23, Hebrews 10:19-39

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... the Congregation of the Inner Spring, here it is. We gather together from week to week to remind ourselves WHO we are and WHOSE we are and WHAT we are to be about. Yes, the ideal is to provoke one another IN THE RIGHT WAY -- or as the New International Version has it, "spur one another on" -- "to love and good deeds," and to ENCOURAGE one another. YES! We need all the help we can get. For what it is worth, if we are occasionally DIScouraged by the fact that some of those who should be here are not, the ...

966. Surprise!

Luke 1:26-38

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... religious conviction than most all of us put together, the one who decided that he was going to destroy this heresy called Christianity. So he set about to. He went around the countryside as scripture says in the marvelous phrasing of the King James Version, "breathing out threatenings and slaughter."(3) His name was Saul of Tarsus. If you remember the story from your Sunday School days, Saul got bounced on his babushka on the Damascus Road and he became the greatest missionary the Church has ever known ...

967. The News from Nazareth

Luke 1:46-56, Luke 1:39-45

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... globe is preparing for a visit from an emissary from another world. Because we ARE!!! If there are any big changes going on with you right now, if something is underway for which you cannot see the outcome today, and your stomach is rolling with your own version of morning sickness, then you might try following Mary's lead. Who knows? Maybe the Holy Spirit has come upon you. Maybe that thing that looks for all the world like a black cloud is the overshadowing of the Most High. While it certainly would be ...

968. A Fool and his Money

Luke 12:13-21

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... the will, the issue is not justice, it is greed, pure and simple. And the shame is that families are often permanently torn apart by it. Jesus says, "Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed;" Or as the venerable King James Version has it, "Beware of covetousness." Commandment #10: "Thou shalt not COVET." Someone has defined covetousness as "wanting more of what you already have enough of." Wanting more of what you already have enough of. Most of us would not call ourselves greedy, but wanting ...

969. East of Easter

Luke 24:13-35

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... see, they had begun to get a glimpse of life East of Easter, a life where evil does not win the world, a life where pain does not overwhelm existence, a life that even death cannot end. No wonder they wanted him to stay. In the King James Version of the Bible, the invitation of the two travelers reads, "Abide with us; for it is toward evening and the day is far spent," words which were the inspiration for that beloved hymn, "Abide with me/Fast falls the eventide." The hymn was written by Henry Francis Lyte ...

970. The Christ of the Commonplace

Luke 24:13-35

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... ate all of that soup. It was strange soup. I don't remember ever having it. As I left I remembered eating something that tasted like that before. That soup that day tasted like bread and wine." Hmm. On any Sunday morning in contemporary America, modern versions of Cleopas and Fred...or Anne or Greg or Susie or Barb or Tom or Ted...come walking down the road, finally turning in the church door. The powerful and powerless, the chiefs and indians, the highest and the lowest - each with their own problems, each ...

971. Role Models

Mark 14:12-26

Sermon

King Duncan

When the play Peter Pan first premiered in London in 1904, the author, Sir James Barrie began to hear from parents upset with the play. They asked him to make a change. In the original version, Peter Pan told the Darling children that if they believed strongly enough that they could fly, they would fly. Apparently, children who had seen the play had taken Peter's word literally and hurt themselves attempting to fly. Without hesitation, Barrie altered the script to include a cautionary statement that ...

972. Prayers That Work

Luke 11:1-13

Sermon

King Duncan

... model prayer. "When you pray, say, `Father, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread; and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us; and lead us not into temptation.'" This, of course, is an early version of what we know as the Lord's Prayer. Jesus is giving his disciples a pattern for prayer. It begins with an acknowledgment of who God is. It includes a request that our daily needs be met, that our sins be forgiven and that we be delivered ...

973. The Greatest Thing Since Sliced Bread

John 6:25-59

Sermon

King Duncan

... for DAILY bread he used a word that is unique in all Greek literature. The word is not found in classical Greek, and no where else in New Testament Greek does it appear. Some people thought St. Matthew made up the word when he wrote his version of the Gospel . . . that is, until 1947, when they unearthed the Dead Sea Scrolls. Among all the shards of pottery, and scraps of papyrus and parchment, was a shopping list . . . evidently a housewife's notes of what she needed from the market. Jesus' word for DAILY ...

974. A Time For Hope

Isaiah 2:1-5

Sermon

King Duncan

... from the neck down. Rising from deep depression, Joni found refuge in a strong Christian faith. She now leads an active life. In spite of her handicap, she has become "a successful commercial artist, a best-selling author, and the star of a two-million-dollar film version of her life." (TIME, Dec. 28, 1980). In one of her books, A STEP FURTHER, she writes, "If God’s mind was small enough for me to understand, He wouldn’t be God . . . Sometimes I can’t stand being in a wheelchair, but there God’s ...

975. The Greatness Of John The Baptist

John 1:19-28

Sermon

King Duncan

... who came to be baptized was a young carpenter, a cousin of John the Baptist, named Jesus of Nazareth. But we are getting ahead of our story. Today, we want to know about John's prominence in the story of the first Christmas. Luke begins his version of the Christmas story not with Mary and Joseph but with a couple named Zacharias and Elizabeth. Zacharias was a priest. He and Elizabeth were deeply religious people who did their best to keep all of God's commandments. They were also childless, much to their ...

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