Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 76 to 100 of 1858 results

76. How Did It Come to This?

Jeremiah 2:1-3:5

Sermon

... Holy to the Lord.” (1:2) But something went wrong. Israel turned to other gods and placed their faith in the GNP and foreign alliances. Speaking on behalf of God, the prophet said to the people, “I planted you a choice vine... How then have you become a wild vine?” It’s a poetic way of saying, how have things come to this? That is the question that we want to deal with this morning. By way of answer I would suggest three things: I It happened over time. No one becomes evil overnight. We cannot take ...

77. No Withdrawal

Sermon

James Bjorge

... the valley the terrain is a bit different, but the vision and the spirit of those days never leave us. There is no withdrawal from the impact of it all. In that great adventure story, "The Call of the Wild," by Jack London, Buck the wolf dog was a creature of the wild. The urge of his wild heritage frequently pulled against his loyalty to John Thornton. The pull was so strong it could hardly be resisted; but there was also the powerful pull of love to his master. Buck had shared Thornton’s fires and food ...

78. Dying to Become

2 Corinthians 5:17

Sermon

Gregory J. Johanson

... farmer who already had some domestic geese. They learned to depend upon the farmer’s feeding them, and they were so comfortable that they continued to feed in this yard. They stayed until one time when they wanted to once again take up their life in the wild. The only trouble was that they had become so dependent upon the security of being fed without the usual exercise of their wings to secure food that they discovered they could no longer fly. "Dying to become" is possible to a person who chooses to die ...

79. Jesus' Object Lesson

Mark 9:33-37

Sermon

King Duncan

... seen yesterday at Brighton talking, as usual, about themselves." When Whistler saw that little tidbit of gossip in the newspaper, he clipped it out and sent it to Oscar Wilde with a note that said, "I wish these reporters would be more accurate. If you remember, Oscar, we were talking about me." Oscar Wilde replied in a telegram that said, "It is true, Jimmy, we were talking about you but I was thinking of myself." Neither of these colorful men showed any embarrassment over their egocentric conversation ...

80. Choices

Mark 1:9-13

Sermon

King Duncan

... gathered in a secret meeting, hungrily reading over Mark's letter to them, searching for some words of encouragement. And here they are, in these four verses. Their Savior knew what it was to be alone, hungry, weak, needy, isolated, in danger, surrounded by wild beasts, and tempted to give in--just as they were. And yet he endured. (6) And because he endured, he sealed our reconciliation with God. Jesus' example gives us the courage, the hope, the promise that we can endure temptation and testing also. At ...

81. Men Like Trees Walking

Mark 8:22-26

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... were seen yesterday at Brighton, talking, as usual, about themselves.” When Whistler saw that little tid-bit of gossip in the newspaper, he clipped it out and sent it to Oscar Wilde with a note that said, “I wish these reporters would be more accurate. If you remember Oscar, we were talking about me.” Oscar Wilde replied in a telegram that said, “It is true, Jimmy, we were talking about you but I was thinking about myself.” Most of us do, most of the time. It is only when Christ comes and touches ...

82. Facing Difficult Decisions in Life! Part VI

Philippians 1:1-11

Sermon

Eric Ritz

... to come in and say, `I''m sure sorry to hear about your bad luck, about your losing your horse.'' "The old farmer shrugged and said, `Bad luck, good luck, who is to say?'' "Two days later, the horse came back from the mountains, and with him were six wild horses that he had met on the steppes. The old farmer was able to corral all seven of these creatures, which was quite an economic bonanza. "The word got around the village. The villagers came at night and said to him, `So glad to hear about your good luck ...

83. Led by the Spirit of God

Romans 8:1-17

Sermon

King Duncan

... police to their apartment to question him. In the presence of the police, Karl and Zdenka swallowed their cyanide capsules. The young couple died needlessly because their fear had overtaken their lives. (2) Fear can do that to us. It can cause our imagination to run wild to see threats where no threat exists. I'm not going to ask if anyone is this room is afraid to fly. Many years ago, Time magazine reported on famous people who have a phobia about planes. Among them was former President Ronald Reagan. In ...

84. Sowing Good Seed - Father's Day

Mark 4:26-29

Sermon

King Duncan

... , restaurants and long distance phone companies. Father's Day is the day on which the most collect phone calls are made. "It was Strindberg who said, ‘That is the thankless position of the father in the family the provider for all and the enemy of all.' Oscar Wilde said, ‘Fathers should neither be seen nor heard. That is the only proper basis for family life.'" (1) In our lesson from Mark, Jesus is describing the kingdom of God: "This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground ...

85. All This And Heaven Too

Revelation 21:1-27

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... made him knowing and gentle. The birds come to him and the varmints move free about him, and like his __, he’d a taken to wild she cats in his poor twisted hand. Now you’ve done seed fit to take him where bein’ crooked in mind and limb don’t matter ... him company, like he had here. All of us is somehow lonesome, and we know he’ll not be lonesome do you give him them little wild things around him. If ain’t askin’ too much to put a few varmints in heaven. Your will be done. Amen. It may be putting ...

86. All This And Heaven Too

Revelation 21:1-27

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

87. True Disciples

Isaiah 1:1-31

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... band, the Grateful Dead? No band came to stand for a whole generation's growing pains like the Grateful Dead. Boosters – the parents of the Boomers – are most likely, and with good reason, to cringe. They remember heated arguments with teenagers over the wild music and wilder lifestyle the Dead promoted. More than a few of the white hairs on Booster moms and dads can probably be attributed to worrying about the influence the Dead, and bands like it, were having on their children. Busters and Millennium ...

88. Getting a Handle on Our Faith

John 11:1-16

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... of Lazarus is another evidence that Jesus spent his entire ministry unlocking one prison after another. And he never used the same key. Each of us is locked in artificial cages forged with one-of-a-kind hammers and heat. Life’s “first duty” as Wilde put it sarcastically sometimes starts at birth. Too many parents approach their children as clay to be molded rather than as seeds to be watered, gardened and pruned. Our children are not marble to be chiseled, as if we were some Michelangelo and they were ...

89. Don't Worry! Be Happy!

Matthew 6:25-34

Sermon

King Duncan

... flowers or weeds. Jesus is referring to any plant that is both lovely and will grow on its own without cultivation. Since wood was scarce in Palestine, these wild flowers were sometimes used for fire. Jesus is saying, “Look, God’s care extends even to these wild flowers, which eventually end up in a furnace. How much more, then, will he care for you, ‘O you of little faith?’” And that is the heart of the problem, isn’t it, our lack of faith? We really don’t know how much God loves us. That ...

90. The World Needs Less Mother Goose More Mother Teresa

Isaiah 58:1-14

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... the world. If you offer you food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted, then you light shall rise in darkness and your gloom be like the noonday (v.10). Arguably America’s greatest living poet, Kentucky farmer Wendell Berry, has a short story called “The Wild Birds.” The character Burly Coulter says: The way we are, we are members of each other. All of us. Everything. The difference ain’t in who is a member and who is not, but in who knows and who don’t. (Wendell Berry, “The ...

91. I Am the Keeper of the Zoo

Isaiah 11:1-9

Sermon

... all. Not that I would know. But Eric Sharp would. Eric knows all about the wilderness and writes about everything he knows. I've been reading him for years in the Detroit Free Press. I figure that a city boy ought to have some "smarts" about things in the wild. Just the other day, Eric was writing about wolves. The title of his column caught my eye. "When More Wolves Draw Near, How Will We React?" Truth be told, I don't have the faintest idea how I'll react. One little red fox running across my deck….no ...

92. Matthew 3:1-12

Matthew 3:1-12

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... the river could satisfy John as a setting for his exuberant ministry. John himself embodied the out-of-doors, out-of-the-ordinary, out-of-this-world prophecy he proclaimed. Our text gleefully celebrates John's oddness. It is easy to envision this wild-eyed wild man when we are told he dressed in scruffy, scratchy "camel's hair" held together by nothing more elaborate than an old "leather belt around his waist" (v.4). First-century Jewish readers would easily recognize that John looks like the prophet Elijah ...

93. The Two Prodigals

Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32

Sermon

Donald Charles Lacy

... world, often some of the most captivating accounts involve siblings. On the current scene the Bush and Kennedy families receive lots of attention. In a sense we only need to look inside our own to note our curiosity. The younger son went out and brazenly sowed his wild oats. Was he bored or just wanted to stretch his wings? Perhaps, neither one nor the other is the right answer but the two do point to causes that get people in trouble — regardless of age or station in life. Haven't we all been there and ...

94. Radical Love at Home (Series: Radical Love in a Risky World)

Luke 15:11-32

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... reckons with a truth: money won’t buy us love; travel won’t bring us happiness; getting what we want doesn’t mean having what we need. Too many selfish dreams leave us stranded in some pig pen. What draws us to the prodigal son? Are we drawn to his wild spirit? Is there not a rebellious nature in us all? Is that why he’s attractive? We, too, have felt the urge to take the cash and let the credit go. Or do we admire him because he comes to his senses, makes the long trip home, and winds up ...

95. Miracles in Contrast

John 1:1-18

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... the rest of the world. Nothing about her surroundings concerns her in the least. What Ruby has cupped in her hands today is a white wild daisy growing between the bricks. This daisy is a thing of color and beauty to Ruby - and to me. Ruby does not destroy or ... off the dangers of an environment which she has come to know as hostile and destructive. She moves closer to the wild daisy, inching forward on her bare stomach, putting her face next to the flower, smelling its fragrance, feeling the texture of the ...

96. Facing Our Fears with Faith

Matthew 10: 27-31

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... recognize as my father every time he went to a party. My mother, when he came home, would always go into a rage and say such wild and scathing things to him that it made the very earth shake beneath my feet when I heard them. The pain of unspoken secrets, even to ... ? I seem to read about a different kind of God in the Bible. A God who is both loving and absolutely wild. The Biblical God is a bone-chilling, earth-shattering, gut-wrenching, knee-knocking, heart-stopping, life-altering Lord, at whose coming ...

97. Ecological Politics

Matthew 14:22-33

Sermon

Wayne Brouwer

... at safety. But they will not be left alone. The shrieks and warning snarls edge closer. Then a paw appears, or a sniffing nose, only to be withdrawn before spears can poke or arrows be aimed. More fagots are thrown on the fire. Yet, the beasties and wild things will not be stopped. Growing more daring, a bear steps into their circle and a bold viper slithers in from the other direction. There is panic in the camp as all scatter and leap and search for weapons. In the commotion, the young husband and his ...

98. God's Laughter

Genesis 18:1-15, 21:1-7

Sermon

Stan Purdum

... 's website, National Humor Month "is designed to heighten public awareness on how the joy and therapeutic value of laughter can improve health, boost morale, increase communication skills and enrich the quality of one's life." Wilde says, "Since April is often bleak and grim and taxes are due on the fifteenth, it can be one of the most stressful times of the year. Besides it's the only month that begins with All Fool's Day — a day which has sanctioned frivolity and pranks ever since ...

99. On Your Mark, Get Set, Go!

Mark 1:9-15

Sermon

John Smylie

... he was not crazy about us, just as he is crazy about his own Son. I don't believe our Father in heaven would risk such a wild journey if he didn't have the deepest commitment for us all. How foolish we are at times in the church when we argue about the ... imagine what forty days in the wilderness would have been like. That evening we had a small but very real taste of the danger of wild beasts. Each of us was given a well-used and, apparently, unwashed sleeping bag, a straw mat and a one-inch thick foam pad to ...

100. Life's Little Fragments

Illustration

Max Lucado

... . he lived hand to mouth in the misery of poverty. Now he had proven that he was, indeed, a fool. After fifteen days, the horse returned. He hadn't been stolen; he had run away into the forest. Not only had he returned, he had brought a dozen wild horses with him. Once again the village people gathered around the woodcutter and spoke. "Old man, you were right, and we were wrong. What we thought was a curse was a blessing. Please forgive us." The man responded, "Once again, you go too far. Say only that the ...

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