Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 951 to 975 of 1858 results

951. The Real Winning Attitude

1 Timothy 6:3-10

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... competition is fierce and the odds are long. Ever since humanity found itself with a little spare time on its hands, sporting events have served to teach virtues to youngsters as they sought to become the next generation of winners. Whether it was playing a wild form of polo using a goat's body as the ball (a popular sport among Beduins) or bungee jumping off rickety towers with decidedly un-springy vines and hitting the ground is the intended outcome (a rite into manhood among some South Sea island tribes ...

952. Are You a GOT TO or a GET TO Christian?

Genesis 15:1-18

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... "dirty," he certainly wouldn't have been accused of behaving like a gentleman. He was out to win. Every time he drove onto the track, he expected to win. His tough-guy-in-a-tough-sport image came through off track as well. Though a wildly successful and savvy businessman, Earnhardt could still come across like the "hick from-the-sticks" that was his heritage. But Earnhardt had won the admiration, the respect, and even the hearts of his fellow drivers by being honest, hardworking, hard driving, as well as ...

953. DodgeGod

Amos 8:1-14

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... the West, privileged and tired of being privileged; RISE UP, O PEOPLE OF GOD. Congregation: God's peace is for you. Leader: May the God of all peoples and the Lord Jesus Christ give us grace and peace this day and every day. All: Amen. The Iona Community Worship Book (Wild Goose Publications, 1991.)

954. By Heart

2 Timothy 3:10--4:8, Deuteronomy 30:11-20

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... Time Around" 4. "I Feel Pretty" 5. "I've Got a Right to Sing the Blues" 6. "The Wanderer" 7. "The Lady is a Tramp" 8. "Hair" 9. "I Could Have Danced All Night" 10. "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" 11. "Good Vibrations" 12. "I'm Sorry" 13. "Born to be Wild" 14. "Take This Job and Shove It" 15. "Great Balls of Fire" 16. "When You Wish Upon a Star" 17. "Got a Whale of a Tale" 18. "Up, Up and Away" 19. "Stayin' Alive" 20. "Crazy" Answers: 1) Noah; 2) Adam and Eve; 3) Lazarus; 4) Esther; 5) Job; 6 ...

955. Living Outside the Box

Luke 16:1-15

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... of their most fascinating features, however, is that crocs continue to grow in length, girth, weight, throughout the course of their lives. There's no maximum size for crocodiles to reach. They simply increase at an optimum rate of about one foot per year. In the wild the toll of available prey, predators, old-age, and disease makes it unusual for any individual to make it past 15-20 feet (15-20 years!). But given perfect conditions and health it's possible a crocodile could grow as large as 30 or 40 feet ...

956. Are You Living the Three Advents?

Romans 13:11-14

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... Fortress Press, 2005), 91-92. Tid bits: On a high bluff overlooking the Rio Grande river area in Texas, ancient peoples lived in caves to escape the cold evenings and the heavy rains. At night they found shelter in these high caves, protection from wild animals and other nomadic warriors. They spent their evenings telling stories of their hunting days, dancing in the light of night fires, and painting pictures on the cave walls. A few years ago an artist legally collected the charcoal from these cave walls ...

957. Blue Highway Blessings

Ephesians 1:1-14

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... mountain peaks Rainier, hood, Baker, or surveying the depths of Crater Lake or the width of the Pacific Ocean, Spring never rushed the journey to get to the final scenic viewpoint. For Spring, the joy of hiking was not arriving at some secret, wild, uncluttered destination. The joy of hiking was in every single rough, unpaved step along the way. Ever since the major freeway/expressway systems started spreading their tentacles across the North, South, East, and West of the US, we seem to have lost the ...

958. The Church on Main Street

Matthew 28:16-20

Sermon

James McCormick

... not surprised to find clergymen looking at their merchandise. Motorcycle salesmen are. Why? Does this tell you something about the popular image of clergymen and of the Church? Lawn mowers are slow, safe, sane, practical, middle class. Motorcycles are fast, dangerous, wild, thrilling.” Then Wes asked a question: “Is the Christian life more like mowing the lawn or like riding a motorcycle? Is the Christian life safe and sane, or dangerous and exciting? The common image of the Church is pure lawn mower ...

959. The Twelfth Man

Mark 1:21-28

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... the difference between success and failure. Do you remember as a child how we longed for all eyes to be on our stunts, or in more grownup words, our efforts and endeavors? "Watch me! Watch me!" we pleaded as we turned crooked cartwheels or swung wildly at softballs. "Listen to me! Listen to me!" six-year old karaoke singers croon and ten year old pudgy-fingered pianists implore. Even teenagers who usually like to pretend their parents don't exist sneak hopeful glances into any audience, wanting to know that ...

960. Are You Getting Hymns Out of Your Lions?

1 Corinthians 7:1-40

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... , as familiar with his keeper, and as docile and obedient as a spaniel; yet the man told me he had his surly fits, when they dare not touch him. No looking glass could express my face more justly than this lion did my heart. I could trace every feature. As wild and fierce by nature, yea, much more so, but grace has in some way tamed me. I know and love my Keeper, and sometimes watch His looks that I may learn His will. But, oh! I have my surly fits, too seasons when I relapse into the savage again, as ...

961. Our Sin Against God

Genesis 2:4-25

Sermon

Elizabeth Achtemeier

... in short, to run our own lives and to be our own deities. The serpent in these verses is not intended to be the figure of Satan. He has been created by the Lord, and his only distinguishing characteristic is that he is more subtle than any other wild creature that the Lord God has made (v. 1). He actually is just a character that the writer of this tenth century B.C. text uses to tell the story of all human beings. The serpent engages the woman in what Dietrich Bonhoeffer has called the first conversation ...

962. Under New Leadership

John 1:29-34

Sermon

King Duncan

... the Baptist, preaching out in the wilderness. It’s easy to make fun of John the Baptist. He didn’t carry a briefcase or drive an SUV. He wears clothing of camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist. He eats locusts and wild honey. And he puts any fundamentalist preacher to shame with his strident calls for repentance. We need to remember, though, that John is a stunning success in his ministry. People are flocking from Jerusalem to hear his dark and gloomy preaching. People are obviously hungry ...

963. The Counter Intelligence of the Cross

1 Corinthians 1:18--2:5, 1 Corinthians 1:10-17, 1 Corinthians 1:1-9

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... them to the integrative mind of Christ. Maybe the best way of approaching the “wisdom wars” of Paul’s day and ours, however, is to look at how you drive in winter. Winter driving is hazardous for lots of reasons. Not too long ago the wild fires fanned by the Santa Ana winds blew black smoke across bumper-to-bumper California freeways. Then last week clinging, cloying, impenetrable fog caused a massive 79-car pile-up on Interstate 4 in Florida. We saw those pictures of winter driving from California ...

964. Advent 3

Psalm 146:1-10, Isaiah 35:1-10, James 5:7-12, Matthew 11:1-19

Sermon Aid

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

... v. 10). Significance. When Isaiah 35:1-10 is read against the background of Isaiah 34, the radical reversal of salvation is underscored both for humanity and for creation itself. As the nations are destroyed and their culture turned into a wasteland for jackals and other wild beasts (Isaiah 34:8-12), Isaiah 35 describes how God can simultaneously re-create new life for the people of God. Wilderness can be turned into lush farmland (vv. 1-2, 6b -7) and a salvation road can be fashioned where one had not been ...

965. Proper 23

Psalm 106:1-48, Philippians 4:2-9, Matthew 22:1-14, Exodus 32:1-33:6

Sermon Aid

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

... ; for very often they who are partakers together of an evil conscience seem to love one another. They who commit robberies together, who love the hurtful arts of sorceries, and the stage together, who join together in the shout of the chariot race, or the wild-beast fight; these very often love one another; but in these there is no "charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned." The wedding garment is such charity as this. (Augustine, Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New ...

966. Changed Lives: Adam and Eve

Genesis 3:1-24

Sermon

King Duncan

... limp along with holes in our lives that we try to ignore when we need to face the problems and get them fixed. Let’s turn to the scriptures to get God’s word on temptation. Gen. 3:1-7: Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit ...

967. Changed Lives: The Man Born Blind from Birth

John 9:1-12

Sermon

King Duncan

... did I do to deserve this?” And, obviously, there are some heartaches in life that are derived from cause-and-effect. Drive too fast--have an accident, or at least a speeding ticket. Eat too much--perhaps diabetes or even a heart attack. Don’t try sowing wild oats and praying for a crop failure. Some things in life are cause-and-effect. But God is not a dispenser of justice. Not in this world, at least. And the idea that God would punish a child for the sins of his parents is repulsive indeed. “Neither ...

968. Roll out the Green Carpet

Matthew 21:1-11

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... of popcorn, drank ten bottles of soda, and then topped it all off with an apple. After a few innings of play, he got such a severe stomach ache that he started complaining about his pain during the game, and had to be taken out. The press went wild: “Babe’s Big Belly Ache,” screamed the newspapers. One reporter wrote that when Babe was carried off to the hospital, he was heard to say, “I knew I shouldn’t have eaten that apple.” Isn’t that so like us? We come clean about the apple . . . but the ...

969. Never Read Any of His Books

John 20:1-18; Luke 24:36-49

Illustration

James W. Moore

... immediately and painfully into the shocked numbness of deep grief. Strangely, one of his very first feelings were those of guilt. He had remembered how some months before at a family picnic he was showing off with a baseball. At one point he got careless and threw wildly; it hit his dad in the hand and broke his thumb. The young boy felt horrible. He said to himself, "What a terrible son I am! I have caused my dad great pain." It seemed that was all he could remember after his fathers death—the pain ...

970. Changed Lives - Mary Magdalene

John 20:10-18

Sermon

King Duncan

... was told by a volunteer, who was wheeling patients into the room, that since it was late afternoon, everyone’s medication seemed to be wearing off. Some would sleep through the service as usual, but for the most part, her little congregation would be on the wild side today. Sure enough, all through the beginning of the service, a woman sang, “Row, row, row your boat,” bouncing up and down in her wheel chair. It got so chaotic that the pastor clapped her hands to get their attention, and said, “What ...

971. A Mother's Love

Mark 7:24-30

Sermon

James W. Moore

... the world does that mean? Well, the word "children" refers to the Jews… and the word "Dogs" refers to the Gentiles. The Jews regarded the Gentiles as "unclean"… and their most notorious term of contempt was to refer to the Gentiles as the "Dogs"… the wild, filthy, flea-bitten dogs of the street. But, interestingly, (don't miss this now) Jesus does not use that word. In the original Greek text, He does not use that word "dogs." Rather, He uses the diminutive word which described not the filthy dogs of ...

972. Choose Life

Deuteronomy 30:15-20

Sermon

James W. Moore

... Avenue, N.Y. 10016, 1996) In this wonderful book, Rachel Remen tells the story of a man named Max. Max was a reckless man who often did dangerous, reckless life-threatening things. Max lived on the edge, smoking, drinking, carousing, fighting, driving his car wildly… constantly flirting with danger. At 63 years of age, Max had been married four times, had made two fortunes and lost them, and now bouncing back had become a highly successful rancher and cattle breeder. He had grown up on a ranch in the ...

973. The Gift of Newness

2 Corinthians 5:17-20

Sermon

James McCormick

... surprised to find clergy looking at their products. Motorcycle salesmen are. Why? Does this tell you something about the popular image of clergy, and of the church? Lawn mowers are slow, safe, sane, practical, and middle class. Motorcycles are fast, dangerous, wild, thrilling.” Then Wes asked a question: “If being a Christian more like mowing the lawn or like riding a motorcycle? Is the Christian life safe and sane, or dangerous and exciting?” Wes concluded: “The common image of the church is pure ...

974. Christianity's Initial Growth

Acts 2:1-21

Illustration

R. Robert Cueni

... the Holy Spirit, they came to know that peace that passes all understanding. The followers of Christ were known to demonstrate enormous courage under duress. Roman authorities tried to stamp out the Church by persecuting those who claimed Christ as Savior. The plan backfired. Those who were torn apart by wild animals in Roman arenas for the entertainment of the emperor and his entourage faced their deaths so courageously that others were attracted to the faith rather than repulsed by it.

975. The Cape of Good Hope

John 20:1-18; Acts 20

Illustration

Pastor Buchs

... to round that point had ever returned to tell the tale. Among the ancients it was known as the "Cape of Storms," and for good reason. But then a Portuguese explorer in the sixteenth century, Vasco De Gama, successfully sailed around that very point and found beyond the wild raging storms, a great calm sea, and beyond that, the shores of India. The name of that cape was changed from the Cape of Storms to the Cape of Good Hope. Until Jesus Christ rose from the dead, death had been the cape of storms on which ...

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