Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 1001 to 1025 of 3852 results

John 12:20-36

Sermon

King Duncan

... the time, like a burden you can’t put down. And there’s a Russian word that refers to “. . . a sensation of great spiritual anguish, often without any specific cause.” (5) It may take us a lifetime to pronounce any of these words in the original language, but we can instantly relate to their meaning. Something is missing in our lives. And there is nothing we can do, nothing we can buy, no earthly substitute that can fill that sense of longing. “. . . We would like to see Jesus.” We would like ...

1002. Holy Matryoshka!

Luke 1:26-38

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... known as Russian nesting dolls or Russian tea dolls, matryoshka are a set of wooden, beautifully hand-painted dolls in forms of cups that nest inside of each other. Originally made in 1890 by a wood carver named Vasily Zvyozdochkin of Russia from a design by Sergey Malyutin, a folk crafts painter, the outer layer originally depicted a traditional Russian peasant woman. Inside, each hand-painted doll cup figure varied in gender, decreasing from adult to child. The smallest, innermost doll was a baby turned ...

1003. Enduring the Trials of Faith

Romans 4:13-25

Sermon

Richard Gribble

... in faith is an absolute necessity to be a true follower of Jesus Christ. The Judeo-Christian tradition of which we are all members rests upon the faith of Abram, the first patriarch. We recall the basic story as articulated in the book of Genesis. Abram (the original name of Abraham) was a wandering Aramean from the land of Ur. God came to him with an unbelievable story — that he would be the father of a great nation. He was told to leave his ancestral heritage and go to a new land that would become ...

1004. R.S.V.P.

Matthew 22:1-14

Sermon

Will Willimon

... and gets booted out because of it. What's it mean? OK. Let's follow Robert Capen's suggestion that the King not only invited these people off the streets, but also sent them proper wedding clothes. None of them had ever been near a tuxedo or an original Dior. So the King says, "What the heck? I said I wanted to party. It's only another twenty thousand bucks; party clothes for everybody!" At last, when all have entered, the King surveys the scene. He can't believe how great everyone looks - a bag lady who ...

1005. Untamed

Mark 1:9-15

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent and believe in the good news!” At this initial moment in Jesus’ ministry, this inaugural experience, the kingdom of God touched down in a wilderness place. And there infusion of our original human nature, God’s creative Spirit made real in the world, God’s plan enacted would begin to spread like a weed throughout the cultivated world, creating holy chaos, and reminding people who they were, reminding them of what it means to be created ...

1006. Hungering for Some Time Off

Mark 6:30-34, 53-56

Sermon

King Duncan

... a compassionate God is ready to meet your needs. 1. Faith Popcorn and Adam Hanft, Dictionary of the Future (New York: Hyperion, 2001), pp. 365-366. 2. Submitted by Julie Lynch, Ithaca, New York in “The Funniest Family Vacations Stories That You Will Sadly Relate To” Originally Published: July 02, 2019 in Reader's Digest, https://www.rd.com/list/vacation-stories/. 3. Cristina Beitz, El Cajon, California from Budget Travel. Cited in “The Funniest Family Vacations Stories That You Will Sadly Relate To ...

1007. Hope Rises

Mark 9:30-37, 42

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... human being is born and blessed by God with an innocent spirit. From there, our life experiences form us with attitudes, joys, sorrows, fears, and goals. For human beings, the older we get, the more our original sense of sense becomes colored by the world we live in. As we age, we unlearn what it means to be the original kind of human being God created us to be. Oddly, adults most often think of themselves as the wiser and the greater. The older we get, the more we believe somehow that we know best. But ...

1008. Big Boys Do Cry

Joel 2:1-2,12-17

Sermon

King Duncan

... over your sins. Some of you may remember that the ending to a newly made movie version of The Scarlet Letter a few years back had a different ending than the original story. Evidently Hollywood felt that modern audiences could not relate to a man slowly destroying himself with guilt as did the adulterous minister in Hawthorne’s original story. So, they gave the movie a happier ending. After all, who could weep over breaking one of God’s commandments? Not in our modern world. There are times we need ...

1009. The Holy Spirit Brings Everyone To The Party

Acts 8:14-17

Sermon

Mary Austin

... only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus). Then Peter and John laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit. (Acts 8:14-17) One of the things I love in life is the advice column. It comes in a lot of forms, from the original — Dear Abby — to lots of modern, sassier forms. If you need advice on anything in the world, you can write to Dear Amy, who is Dear Abby’s successor, or Dear Prudence, or even get on the Dear Sugars podcast. I love to read the question, or listen to it ...

1010. Family Reunion

Genesis 29:15-28

Sermon

Will Willimon

... include a sordid story like this? By the time it was told, the practices of selling off daughters into marriage was, thankfully, passe'. Perhaps this story was told as a way of explaining the origins of the various tribes of Israel, Jacob's family. Some of the tribes traced their parentage to Leah; others traced their origins to Rachel. So maybe they said to themselves, in their contemporary feuds, that their feuds go all the way back to the beginning. Maybe. There's no mention of God in the story. Thank ...

1011. Have You Seen a Buck Flying Past?

Luke 16:1-13

Sermon

King Duncan

... announced, “It’s a buck flying past!” Have you ever seen a buck flying past? When we are called to account for our mistakes, it’s so tempting to “pass the buck,” isn’t it? To blame others for our misdoing. This phrase, pass the buck, has an interesting origin. It used to be the practice of card players to place a marker in front of the person whose turn it was to deal the cards. That marker was referred to as a buck. For each new game, the buck was passed to the next player, indicating his or ...

1012. Giving Away the Kingdom

Luke 12:32-40

Sermon

Dave Zuchelli

... in their menu items would earn enough money to pay us at the end of the month. They no longer had the produce, but they had the profit of their sales from which to pay their initial bill. Likewise, we can’t pay the Lord back by returning his original blessings. We can, however, use those blessings to produce fruit for the kingdom of God. When Jesus is the true love of our lives, we’re always ready to serve him. We’re waiting for the opportunities to do so. When he arrives on the scene, we’re there ...

1013. What We Learn from Love

Matthew 1:18-25

Sermon

King Duncan

... God became concrete. Love in human flesh. The oldest known Christmas hymn in the Western world is “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel,” which was written around the 8th or 9th century. Pastor Daniel Im states that this hymn was originally a Gregorian chant performed by Benedictine monks. The original hymn has seven verses. In the week leading up to Christmas, they would chant one verse each day to prepare themselves for receiving the truth and joy and transformative promise that is ours through the birth of Jesus ...

1014. Close! But No Cigar!

John 3:1-17

Sermon

King Duncan & Angela Akers

... MikeysFunnies.com). 3. “All Through the Night” Pastor Jim Mohr, United Church of Christ in Neillsville 4. “What Does the Saying 'Close, but No Cigar' Really Mean?” by Morgan Cutolo RD.com November 30, 2021. https://www.rd.com/article/close-but-no-cigar-origin/. 5. “A Salvation Story” https://www.twr.org/news/a-salvation-story-ndash-a-story-of-hope-3060/. 6. PBS https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/questionofgod/voices/collins.html. 7. From a sermon by Paul Decker on Matthew 6:5-15 THE LINES OF COMMUNICATION ...

1015. To Cross Over

Romans 4:1-5, 13-17

Sermon

Dr. Ronald Love

... s hymn. It is also the most notable hymn that missionaries use to teach children the message of Jesus. The hymn was originally written as a poem in 1860 by Anna Bartlett Warner. Her sister, Susan, was a novelist. Behind Harriet Beecher Stowe’s novel ... in only one supreme being. There are only three monotheistic religions — Judaism, Christianity, and Islam — and all three trace their origins to the faith of Abraham. According to the scriptures Abraham was 75 years old when he received his calling from ...

1016. What Heaven Will Be Like

Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43

Sermon

King Duncan & Angela Akers

... that life has to be better than this. And that’s what Jesus spent his life preaching and teaching: that God has planned a kingdom where all sin and evil are destroyed, all brokenness and dysfunction are healed, and all of creation is restored to God’s original plan and purposes. That’s where we’ll live someday. That’s God’s vision and promise to us. And finally, in the kingdom of heaven, God’s children will experience and reflect the full glory of God. Look at verse 43 in our passage today ...

1017. God Bless Santa!

Luke 2:1-20

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... , not one. They are related — both are called Christmas — but they are very different; one is sacred, the other, as young Marvin would ruefully note, is secular. If it is any comfort, the confusion goes way, way back. If you look up the origins of Christmas in the encyclopedia, you will find material like this: The reason why Christmas came to be celebrated on December 25 remains uncertain, but most probably the reason is that early Christians wished the date to coincide with the pagan Roman festival ...

1018. We Have All Become Nicodemus

Romans 16:25-27

Sermon

Ronald Love

... are born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.” It is from this incident in the life of Jesus we have come to hear the common phrase that a Christian is “born again.” We were born into original sin. We have now been “born again” into the life of Jesus. The television actor Tom Selleck said he owes his success because of his faith in Jesus. Selleck confessed that Jesus has guided him over the years. After college, Selleck planned to have a career ...

1019. God's GPS

Exodus 20:1-4, 7-9, 12-20

Sermon

King Duncan & Angela Akers

... the leaf slowly withered and died. As it died, it cried to the other leaves, “Don’t do as I have done. It is death instead of freedom.” And the second purpose of the commandments is to shape the nation of Israel into God’s original purpose for them: “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” (Exodus 19: 6, NIV) Remember, generations of Israelites had lived in slavery, without the agency to create their own laws and manage their own lives. Now they were wandering through the desert, desperate for ...

1020. Will God Be With Us?

Exodus 33:12-23

Sermon

King Duncan & Angela Akers

... other people on the face of the earth?” Moses made his choice crystal clear: all the blessings of the Promised Land mean nothing if God is not with them. The greatest blessing in life is knowing God and living in God’s presence. That was God’s original plan for humanity, and it is still God’s plan that will be accomplished when God’s Kingdom is established on the earth. “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in You.” As Moses discovered, to truly ...

1021. When God Leads

Joshua 3:7-17

Sermon

King Duncan & Angela Akers

... cruiser sighted. What shall I do?” The reply came from an unseen ship: “Keep straight on. I’m standing by.” The captain of the ocean liner scanned the horizon. He couldn’t see any friendly vessels nearby. Was it still safe to follow the original directions? In spite of his fear, the captain kept the liner on course until it safely reached the port. A short time later, a British warship slipped into the same harbor. Although it had been out of sight, it had been nearby, monitoring and protecting ...

1022. More Than Just Image

Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24

Sermon

King Duncan & Angela Akers

... and cynical world, Jesus is our example and our hope. And this Sunday is set aside to remind us that one day Jesus will establish God’s Kingdom on the earth. So as we examine this passage from Ezekiel 34, I want us to see God’s original design for leadership. We can’t understand the value of godly leadership until we contrast it with ungodly leadership. We can’t understand or appreciate the blessing of knowing Jesus as our King until we compare him to every human leader in history. And then we see ...

1023. RSVP

Matthew 22:1-14

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... : a story filled with deep, rich scriptural metaphors: the parable of a wedding feast. In the story we see a King (God). The King is throwing a massive wedding and reception for his beloved Son (Jesus). He has issued formal invitations to all originally invited (those who already know and worship God –Israel’s priests, elders, Pharisees, Sadducees, and all those claiming to be true to the faith in positions of religious authority). When it comes time for the wedding and banquet, the King sends his ...

1024. A Child of God

1 Corinthians 8:1-13

Sermon

Ronald Love

... way, Perry was removed from his pastorate for alcoholism and abuse of his staff members and his spouse. After seventeen years of marriage they divorced. But not to be undone, he started an internet church that in Anderson, South Carolina, the site for the original New- Spring Church. The new church has been called Second Chance Church, and in January 2019 it moved into a building in Anderson. What they are doing is taking advantage of someone who admires charisma. What they are doing is taking advantage of ...

1025. Taking the Long Way Home

Mark 7:31-37

Sermon

Will Willimon

... who needs him. But she is the wrong sort of someone -- a woman, a Syrophonecian woman, an outsider, a Gentile dog. Jesus reaches out and heals her daughter, even though her presence required a detour. Jesus allowed himself to be sidetracked from his original intent, his original itinerary. A funny thing happened to Jesus on his way to heal Israel. Jesus led his disciples out to Galilee, into Gentile territory. Out in Galilee, places and people got mixed up, no one stayed put. Out here life isn't always by ...

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