Sermon and Worship Resources

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951. First World Problems

Luke 12:13-21

Sermon

King Duncan

... who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?’ Then he said to them, ‘Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.’ “And he told them this parable: ‘The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’ “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. And I ...

952. Fear and Blessing

Psalm 128:1-6

Sermon

Will Willimon

... you shall be happy, and it shall be well with you.” Says another Psalmist, “I have never seen a righteous person's children beg for bread.”(Ps.37:25) And yet, even in the Bible, there is a continuing debate with this cheery notion that good living always yields good results. Consider the case of my friend Job. By all accounts, even in the opinion of Almighty God, Job was righteous. A blameless one who, in the words of God himself, “fears God and turns away from evil.” (Job 1:8) Yet all of Job's ...

953. The Sawdust Trail

Colossians 3:1-4

Sermon

Dr. Ronald Love

... at all,” Edison encouragingly replied, “for I have learned 50,000 ways it cannot be done and therefore I am fifty thousand times nearer the final successful experiment.” Eventually the battery was developed. Edison was a genius, and a large part of his genius was knowing that he would never yield to disappointment. Let us take up the challenge of 50,000 attempts to clothe ourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, and love.

954. When Darkness Covered the Land

Matthew 27:11-54

Sermon

King Duncan & Angela Akers

... to be forsaken, he allowed himself to be tortured and humiliated, he offered up his life on our behalf to declare victory over the power of death. His death, covered in suffering and shame, looks like the ultimate defeat. Yet at the moment that he yielded up his spirit, the tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. Jesus’ death destroyed the power of death for all time. His death opened the door to eternal life. His forsakenness bought our forgiveness. Pastor ...

955. Leaving an Empty Chair

Acts 2:42-47

Sermon

King Duncan & Angela Akers

... , “I devoted myself to eating that plate of nachos” or “It’s amazing how he devotes himself to binge-watching Hallmark Christmas movies.” Those things are pleasurable and easy. They don’t require discipline or sacrifice, and they don’t yield any great rewards. We devote ourselves to things that are challenging and carry high value in our lives. We devote ourselves to our relationships. We devote ourselves to some achievement, like completing a project, or to a personal development goal, like ...

956. Good News/Bad News

Matthew 16:21-28

Sermon

King Duncan & Angela Akers

... So the man bent down. And from this lower position he observed new beauties in the picture not previously shown. “Lower,” said the guard. “Lower still.” The man knelt down on one knee and looked up into the face of Christ. The new vantage point yielded new beauties to behold and appreciate. But motioning with his torch toward the ground, the guard said, “Lower. You’ve got to go lower.” The man now dropped down on both knees and looked up. Only then as he looked up at the painting from such ...

957. Seeds

Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23

Sermon

William G. Carter

... , and one of the deacons sees them in the grocery store on a Tuesday night. “It’s been forever since we’ve been in church,” they confess. “Our weekends are just so busy.” The Bible says, “Cares of the world, the lure of wealth, it yields nothing.” It’s easy to evaluate by the results. That may have been how John Calvin developed his views on predestination. Calvin was preaching the gospel twice a day, every day. He noticed that some people got it and others fell asleep. Some people grew in ...

958. God's Little Acre

Matthew 13:24-30

Sermon

Will Willimon

... lower part of the state. I've been told by farmers that there are two ways to go at this…you can put powerful herbicides on the soybean fields and this will kill most of the weeds,…but such herbicides also harm the soybeans and lessen the yield. A better way is simply to let the weeds grow alongside the soybean plants, wait until harvest when they have dried, reap them all, then put the plants through the harvester and the beans will easily separate out. Let them grow together until the harvest. What ...

959. The Grip

Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... hearts to Jesus and allow him to come in and take root in their souls. They grasp onto God and secure their faith in him, drawing on his love and care to see them through every calamity, storm, wind, or rain. They will prevail, they will grow, they will yield love and exude peace in their lives and in their churches. For these kinds of disciples, faith is like gripping onto a sturdy rope and securing it around the waist, so that go high or go deep, they never become detached. They may not be able to prepare ...

960. Failure

Exodus 3:1-22

Sermon

Will Willimon

... is refused. Each time, God comes up with some new attempt to soften Pharaoh’s heart to let the people go. "Go back to Pharaoh, try this," God tells Moses. When everything else has failed, God comes up with the Passover. Pharaoh will not yield. Something drastic, terrible, new is demanded. The God of Israel is resourceful, persistent, creative, determined, even in the face of failure. The people passover from slavery to freedom, saved by the resourcefulness of a God who won't be stumped by defeat. In the ...

961. You've Got to Go Lower

Matthew 16:21-28

Illustration

Angela Akers

962. Faith In Death

Illustration

Maxie Dunnam

... different about her. Subtle, but distinctly different. "How are you?" I asked. Immediately she responded, "I'm praying, and I want you to pray that Jesus will come soon and deliver me." We did that together. It wasn't a surrender to despair; it was a yielding to certain hope. It was her ultimate commitment. For more than a year she had fought a courageous battle and lived in the strength of her faith. Now she had moved to another level of commitment. She prayed confidently and in hope. I think often of ...

963.

Psalm 122:1-9

Understanding Series

Craig C. Broyles

... (84:9; 132:1–18, esp. vv. 11–12, which also mention the Davidic dynasty’s “throne” and their need to keep legal statutes). According to Psalm 72, the Davidic king was to be the supreme human judge in the land. His exercise of judgment was to yield “peace” (Hb. šālôm, “prosperity” in the NIV of vv. 3, 7). This connection helps us to understand in Psalm 122 the transition from judgment to peace in verses 6–8. 122:6–9 As the psalm makes this move, we can see there is no peace without ...

964. Coming Home

Luke 2:41-52

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... your cattle—and thus you shall eat your fill. Take care not to be lured away to serve other gods and bow to them. For the Eternal’s anger will flare up against you, shutting up the skies so that there will be no rain and the ground will not yield its produce; and you will soon perish from the good land that the Eternal is assigning to you. Therefore impress these My words upon your very heart: bind them as a sign on your hand and let them serve as a symbol on your forehead, and teach them to your ...

965. Into the Wilderness

Luke 4:1-13

Sermon

Wayne Brouwer

... shakers into his briefcase and nobody would be the wiser. Still, being the man and the pastor he was, Reverend Stedman resisted temptation. Instead, he used the story as an illustration in his sermon the next Sunday morning, back in his California church. Yield not to temptation! Everyone smiled and nodded. Four days later, however, a package was on Pastor Stedman’s desk. Someone in his congregation decided to contact the restaurant, find out about the pewter tableware, ordered a set, and gave it to him ...

966. The Gracious Guest

John 2:1-11

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... familiar with bottles of wine, equals 1/5 of a gallon. So, in other words, a gallon of wine would equal 5 bottles. Now each of the stone water jars held 20-30 gallons. Let’s even go with 20 for a conservative figure. One of those would yield about 100 bottles of wine. They filled six! So, Jesus created 600 bottles of wine. Now, if those water jars held 30 gallons, then we are talking about 900 bottles of wine. That’s some wedding bash! The entire town must have been attending! But never mind that. That ...

967. The Gracious Gift

John 2:1-11

Sermon

Lori Wagner

968. The Gracious Guest

John 2:1-11

Sermon

Lori Wagner

969. Courage to Break

Luke 4:1-13

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... Or is he embarking on a foolish path? This time of discernment must end in a time of “brokenness” for Jesus, in which he declines the “easy way out,” digs in the heels of his faith in God as his fortress and foundation, and is ready to yield to hunger, famine, and even death on a cross –if it means God’s will. Jesus’ greatest strength in this passage in which we see him resisting the powers of temptation and avarice come from his sense of brokenness. Broken will. Broken self-assurance. Broken ...

970. God Encounter

Luke 24:1-12

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... in. Yet each spring, the world awakens with new buds, flowers, bees, and color. Dead seeds burst into growing plants. Hibernating animals come back into the light. Yet, we find it so hard to believe in resurrection! So hard to understand how the darkness of death can yield to new life. It’s all around us! Not just in nature but in every time that we call upon God, and God lifts us into a new and promising place. Every time that we feel afraid and feel God’s peace warming and calming our veins. Every ...

971. Stay Close

John 10:22-30

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... bit happier. Just a little bit calmer. Just a little bit safer. In fact, a lot safer. As Jesus has taught us in the past, discipleship is a “risky business.” The mission the disciples were to undertake and the mission we too are called to follow will never yield an easy path. But it will always be a glorious one! And one we never do alone. On this holy communion Sunday, stay close to him. And may the strength and power of God flow over you. May the Holy Spirit fill you. May Christ’s redemptive hand ...

972. For Someone Who Will Be Terribly Missed

Isaiah 43:1-5 · Job 19:23-27

Eulogy

Richard E. Zajac

... like no one else could. Someone whom you couldn’t help but love. Talking with Coz and Betty Ann at the wake yesterday afternoon, they spoke about Tessie’s ability to get someone to come in to cover a shift. All the calls the night supervisor had made yielded no takers. No one wished to do it. Tessie struck gold on the first call and it had to do with this simple truth: “How could you say “no” to Tessie.” There aren’t many that loved and that respected that a no answer becomes an impossibility ...

973. The Rhythm of Your Heart

Luke 12:13-21

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... , we can imagine that Jesus somehow only has a heart for those without means. But this is not true. It isn’t wealth itself that causes someone to falter, but how the heart defines its “treasure.” Jesus tells a parable about a wealthy man whose land yields abundant crops. As he surveys his wealth, he says to himself, “What will I do?” This is always the heart’s question, isn’t it? When faced with a decision, what we do depends on where our priorities lie, what “song” our hearts sings –the ...

974. Calculated Christianity

Luke 14:25-35

Sermon

Jill J. Duffield

... -righteousness, the illusion that I am smart, that my privileges are somehow earned, that I am entitled to what I have, that I can somehow accurately calculate and measure and evaluate my Christianity, my faithfulness, my discipleship or anyone else’s. When I let go of these things, I yield to be shaped in ways pleasing to God and useful to others. The truth is, I could give away all I own and still not make a dent in the debt I owe the One who went to the cross in my stead. We can never calculate what ...

975. Against All Odds

Luke 14:25-33

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... vision of Jesus of a world filled with love, even in the face of a world filled with division. We are called to an adventure that is hard but that is Spirit inspired, that will require much of us but will infuse our lives with God’s purpose and yield our life’s reward. I once saw an ad posted outside on a billboard outside of a fire company. It said: WANTED: Loyal Firefighters Dangerous Work, Long Hours, No Pay, Free Cool Hat The description doesn’t seem that it would attract anyone. But it’s honest ...

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