Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 1001 to 1025 of 4936 results

1001. For Losers And Cowards

Judges 6:1-40

Sermon

Barbara Brokhoff

You know what a "loser" is, don’t you? A loser is a woodpecker in a petrified forest. A loser is a guy who sticks his hand out to make a left turn and smacks a traffic cop in the face. A loser is a guy who plays hide-and-seek and nobody goes to look for him. That’s what Gideon was - a real "loser," before he teamed up with God. This story is a lesson for all losers, all little people, all those who feel they are too timid to ever be brave, all insignificant people, all fearful people, all defeated people ...

1002. Light of the World

John 1:1-18

Sermon

William G. Carter

One of the striking features of the Gospel of John is the way it depicts the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. The other gospels usually tell us stories about Jesus. Then, like the disciples, we are left to ask, “Who is this, that wind and sea obey him? Who is this who feeds the multitude on a couple of loaves and a few fish?” But in the Gospel of John, there’s never a doubt who Jesus is, because he tells us. Usually he does so with a statement that begins with the words, “I am.” Put him in a situation ...

1003. You Feed Them!

Matthew 14:13-21

Sermon

King Duncan

Four years ago young Matthew LeSage, a third-grader, wanted to do something to help the hungry in his city. So he started a program, Hams for the Hungry. This year, in its fourth year, Hams for the Hungry will raise $40,000 to brighten the holiday season for people with limited resources. Matthew's story reminds me of another young man, 13 years old at the time, who read about Dr. Albert Schweitzer's missionary work in Africa. He wanted to help. He had enough money to buy one bottle of aspirin. He wrote to ...

1004. Managing Your Anger

Romans 12:9-21

Sermon

King Duncan

Have you ever gotten so angry with your boss that you wanted to walk out the door? Not just walk out the door, but to exact a little revenge in the process? Advice columnist Jeffrey Zaslow once asked his readers that question. Here is what he got: Several waitresses and secretaries said their most satisfying career moves were out the door. Gina, a Woolworth's waitress, told how her boss once offered a ten-cent raise, "as a big favor." Gina saw it as a big insult, and her customers egged her on to quit. It ...

1005. The Forward Look

Luke 9:57-62

Sermon

King Duncan

One secret to being successful in the world is to learn how to motivate yourself as well as others. A tough old cowboy counseled his grandson that if he wanted to live a long life, the secret was to sprinkle a little gunpowder on his oatmeal every morning. The grandson did this and lived to be 93. When he died, he left 14 children, 28 grandchildren, 35 great-grandchildren, and a 15-foot hole in the ceiling of the funeral home. (1) So, I'm not going to suggest that you sprinkle a little gunpowder on your ...

1006. Proper 25

Deuteronomy 34:1-12, Matthew 22:34-40, Matthew 22:41-46, 1 Thessalonians 2:1-16, Psalm 90:1-17

Sermon Aid

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

OLD TESTAMENT TEXTS Deuteronomy 34:1-12 is the account of Moses' death on Mount Nebo, his burial by God, and the passing on of his leadership to Joshua. Psalm 90:1-6, 13-17 is a prayer ascribed to Moses. The lectionary does not include v. 13, but it is included here since it introduces the prayer ascribed to Moses. Deuteronomy 34:1-12 - "Standing Tiptoe on Mount Nebo" Setting. Deuteronomy 34 is the account of Moses' death. The chapter consists of careful to graps location in Moab and includes a reference ...

1007. The Marks Of A Spiritual Counterfeit

Jude 1:12-13

Sermon

James Merritt

Few people know that the Secret Service has not only far more to do than to protect the President. That is not even their primary job. Working under the Treasury Department, one of their major jobs is to try to catch counterfeiters. Therefore they have to learn how to recognize counterfeit money. The surprising thing is, the way they are trained to do this is not by studying counterfeit money, but by studying real currency. The better they get to know the real thing, the easier it is to spot the phony. ...

1008. When Life Isn't Fair

Matthew 20:1-16

Sermon

King Duncan

Beloved preacher and teacher Fred Craddock tells about being on a flight back when they still had smoking sections on airplanes. Craddock was seated in the no smoking section. He was seated on the aisle. Across from him sat a man who pulled a long black cigar out of his pocket and lit it up. Soon the area was filled with foul-smelling smoke. Craddock stopped the flight attendant, a very attractive young woman, and said, “Am I in the wrong section? I asked for no smoking.” Realizing what he was saying, she ...

1009. Count the Stars

Genesis 15:5-12, 17-18

Sermon

King Duncan

Three-year-old Ian Hough of Auburn, Washington, loves the story in the Bible of the time God spoke to the boy Samuel. One night after his mother read Ian this story she asked him if God had ever spoken to him. To her surprise, he answered, “Yes.” “What did God say to you?” his mother asked. Ian thought and then said in his deepest voice, “Ian! Go to bed!” (1) Does God speak to people? What do you think? David Holwick tells a story that appeared in the Los Angeles Times. It was about a man named Bob Haifley ...

1010. Facing Our Fears with Faith

Matthew 10: 27-31

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

“Americans will never taste security and safety unless we feel security and safety in our land," said Osama bin Laden a few weeks ago in a video shown around the world. It is the purpose of terrorists to terrorize and it appears these criminals have succeeded in making Americans more fearful than ever before. Never again will we board a plane, open a letter, or enter a stadium with the kind of innocence we assumed before September 11th. How will we learn to live with this kind of fear? To fear or not to ...

1011. Getting in S.H.A.P.E. for Ministry

Ephesians 4:1-7, 11-16

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

Here’s the church, here’s the steeple, open it up and here’s all the people. Do you remember that childhood jingle? It’s the people part of that trilogy that I want to talk about today. For the past two years, we have worked diligently casting a vision, building a staff and raising the funds for the future of this great congregation. We believe God is calling us to touch hearts and transform lives for the glory of God and the good of the world. Now we must do one more thing to transform that dream into ...

1012. Return to the Lord, Your God

Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21

Sermon

Lee Griess

Every once in a while a whimsical story makes the news. A couple of years ago, the Associated Press carried a story about a woman in Olney, England, named Dawn Gallyot who defied snow and a biting wind to beat seven other women to the finish line in the annual Shrove Tuesday pancake race. In her first race, the 38-year-old schoolteacher made the 415-yard dash from a pub in the market square to the Church of St. Peter and St. Paul with a pancake and a frying pan in her hand in 73 seconds. That was 9.5 ...

1013. Look Up and Live

Numbers 21:4-9

Sermon

David E. Leininger

Do you like snakes? Not many do. No other creature on the face of the planet so universally brings forth a sense of revulsion and disgust. True or not, we think of snakes as icky, slimy, nasty, and as our text reminds, dangerous. It seems that the children of Israel, in the midst of their wilderness wandering after the escape from slavery in Egypt, had stumbled on to a location south of the Dead Sea that is infamous for its lethal snakes. "Big deal," they no doubt thought. "Why should we expect anything ...

1014. Fickle Folks

Mark 11:1-11

Sermon

David E. Leininger

Have you ever been called fickle? If you have, you probably did not like it. Fickle is not something any of us would ever want to be known as. The dictionary defines "fickle" as "Inconstant in feeling or in purpose; changeful; capricious." Roget's Thesaurus gives synonyms for the word "fickle" like "indecisive; unstable; unreliable; irresponsible; vacillating." And beyond that, there is almost a connotation of dishonesty about the word "fickle." No one would want to be called fickle. But every year about ...

1015. Speaking Peace

John 20:19-31

Sermon

John Smylie

On the evening of that day, that first Easter Day, the disciples were gathered together, but as yet none of them had seen their risen Lord. There they were behind locked doors. We can begin to imagine the thoughts they held within their minds, we can almost sense and feel the depth of their fears, and we can listen for their quiet conversation among themselves as they questioned everything. There in the middle of the room were the deepest feelings of guilt because they had scattered and abandoned their ...

1016. Crying at the Tomb

John 20:10-18

Sermon

King Duncan

Al Smith was once governor of New York. He was doing his first tour of New York’s Sing Sing Prison when the warden asked if he would address the inmates. The governor was taken by surprise, but he agreed. His awkwardness was revealed when he began like this, “My fellow citizens . . .” He stopped himself. He wasn’t sure if inmates actually had the full rights of citizenship. So, he changed courses. “My fellow convicts,” he began again. Everyone laughed. He tried once more. “Well anyhow, I’m glad to see so ...

1017. When You Are Wrongly Criticized

Mark 3:20-30

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

Anyone here like criticism? How do you respond to criticism? Does being criticized bring you down or fire you up? Do you want to hunker in your bunker or lob your own volley of vitriol back at your critics? Learning how to respond to criticism is a lifetime journey. That’s because critics will be accompanying you from cradle to grave! In every election year there is no shortage of negative, critical remarks flying around the airwaves. Of course all politicians virtuously claim they hate “negative” ads. And ...

1018. Endurance

2 Corinthians 11:24-27, 2 Timothy 4:6-8

Sermon

Scott Suskovic

When my daughter, Hannah, was five years old we lived in Minnesota. Before she entered kindergarten, she had to take an entrance exam. Being the non-competitive but responsible parent that I am, I decided to help Hannah prepare for this test. I taught her how to count to ten — in four languages. I taught her the colors by buying a box of crayons — 64 count, including turquoise, magenta, and chartreuse. We worked on a puzzle of the United States with each individual state cut out so we could learn the names ...

1019. The Reject

Luke 19:1-10

Sermon

James Merritt

Her name was Vicky Harrison. By all appearances she was a beautiful 21-year-old perky blonde with a sweet personality, great ambition, and a seemingly bright future. Tragically she became another suicide victim. She killed herself after more than 200 unsuccessful job applications. She had dreamed of a career as a teacher or a television producer, but gave up hope for the future. A day after her 200th rejection, she wrote heartbreaking notes to her parents and boyfriend saying 'I don't want to be me any ...

1020. Jesus Prays for Us

John 17:6-19

Sermon

King Duncan

A visiting preacher in a small town in Kentucky was concerned when he began the first night of a revival meeting and noticed all of the men were wearing guns. Although rattled, he did the best he could with his sermon. When finished, his anxieties heightened as several of the men approached the pulpit with their guns drawn. In panic, he turned to the chairman of the deacons, sitting next to him. The deacon calmed his fears: “Don’t you worry,” he said. “They ain’t coming after you. They’re looking for the ...

1021. Day of Disaster

Jeremiah 16:1--17:18

Understanding Series

Tremper Longman III

Don’t Marry, Don’t Mourn, and Don’t Celebrate (16:1-13): This unit, which is related to the one that follows at the end of the chapter, presents three prohibitions in the light of the judgment that is coming and which itself is the result of the people’s sin. These prohibitions lead to behaviors on Jeremiah’s part that are resonant with prophetic significance and therefore should be considered a prophetic sign-act that incarnates the words he is speaking. These prohibitions seem to be directed to Jeremiah ...

1022. Prophetic Actions—The Temple Condemned and the Fig Tree Cursed

Mark 11:12-19

Teach the Text

Grant R. Osborne

Big Idea: The withered fig tree is the only negative miracle in Mark, signifying the coming destruction of the temple due to the apostasy of the people. Both the fig tree and the temple clearing depict God’s judgment against the people of Israel who have rejected his Messiah and defiled his temple. Understanding the Text Jesus begins passion week with three symbolic actions, each of which proves that he indeed is God’s Messiah and has come with divine authority. The two themes—christological power and ...

1023. I Wonder Why Bad Things Happen to Good People

Romans 8:28-29

Sermon

Charley Reeb

As we remember the terror of 9/11, we long for an answer to it. As we see lives blown apart by natural disasters, our hearts cry out with it. As the economy worsens and banks fail and businesses fold and more and more people lose their jobs, our souls seek satisfaction to this enigma. It is the age-old question that haunts us: “I wonder why bad things happen to good people?” This is a burning question for anyone who has experienced the horrors of life. Churches are flooded with people asking this question ...

1024. A Question of Trust

Romans 5:1-5

Sermon

King Duncan

Does it seem to you that it is getting more and more difficult to trust anybody? It seems to get more and more discouraging to simply answer the telephone, for fear of being bombarded with scam telephone calls. It’s just as discouraging to turn on a cable news program for fear of being bombarded with fake news. And when it seems humanity can’t get any lower, we’re even afraid to open our email. Why? According to the Worldstart Computer Tips & Techniques Newsletter another email scam has been making its ...

1025. The Remnant of Israel

Isaiah 10:20-34

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

The Felling of Assyria and the Growth of a Branch: As 7:1–8:10 comprised two parallel sequences, so does 10:5–11:16. The immediately preceding section has come to a worrying end, but there now follows an unexpectedly encouraging reversal. Yahweh has been using Assyria to punish Judah, but Assyria’s own woe, or moment of punishment, is coming—as is Judah’s moment of restoration, the restoring of a remnant. We have been told that Yahweh’s anger is still unsated, but then we discover that it is being ...

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