Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 1051 to 1075 of 1795 results

Luke 15:1-3,11b-32

Sermon

Mark Trotter

... it. Not enough to produce joy in your life. So there is what you could call the righteous person's suspicion of conversion. You notice that in a lot of mainline church people. It is manifested as a kind of elitism. We don't do that. It's not our style. But along with it, I suspect there is a kind of longing. And often a resentment that what they lay claim to, I have never experienced. I wonder if you've noticed than John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist Church, was like that. He was raised in the Church ...

1052. How to Be a Blessing

I Peter 3:8-12

Sermon

Mark Trotter

... and the others, were executed. It was an emotional visit for us. For my life as a young man had been shaped by reading the life of Bonhoeffer, and his writings. Some of his writings are obscure. He writes in the traditional German ponderous theological style. But he produced some of the most helpful tools in Christian ethics. And here is one of them. He made the distinction between the "ultimate" and the "penultimate." The ultimate is the last, the final stage of history, the Kingdom of God. The penultimate ...

1053. The Cathedral Within

II Corinthians 9:6-15

Sermon

Mark Trotter

... of David my father to build a house in the name of the Lord, the God of Israel. But the Lord said to David my father, "Whereas it was in thy heart to build a house unto my name, thou didst well that it was in thine heart." King's style of preaching, as you know, was to take a sentence and add one story upon another, in a crescendo that concludes with a challenge. He did that with this line. "Thou didst well that it was in thine heart." He listed the great men and woman, beginning in biblical times ...

1054. The Extended Family

John 13:31-35

Sermon

Mark Trotter

... of the girls orchestra at the Della Pieta. In 1743 Rousseau visited Venice and went to hear the music. He was so taken by it he asked if he could meet the girls. The concerts were held in the church. The church was shaped in medieval cruciform style. The audience sat in the nave. The girls in the orchestra and chorus were in the chancel. Only in those churches in Europe, there was a screen that separates the chancel from the nave. So you could hear the music, but you could not see the girls. Rousseau ...

1055. When to Be Extravagant

John 12:1-8

Sermon

Mark Trotter

... the table with him." "You're looking a whole lot better now, Lazarus. You've got your color back." In the middle of the meal Mary gets up, leaves the room, comes back in, kneels at the feet of Jesus. In those days they reclined at meals, in the style of the Greeks. Also when they came in the house, they removed their sandals and the servants washed their feet. So Jesus is lying down, his feet uncovered and bare. Mary enters the room, moves over to Jesus, kneels, and pours this pound of perfume on his feet ...

1056. Epiphany 2

Isaiah 49:1-7, 1 Corinthians 1:1-9, John 1:29-34

Sermon Aid

John R. Brokhoff

... the will of God - Lesson 2. Gospel: John 1:29-42 1. He Who Has It Can't Keep It! (1:29-34). Need: After the loss of millions of members, the mainline American churches are once again promoting the cause of evangelism. The nineteenth-century style of evangelism, primarily the holding of revivals and the delivering of evangelistic sermons followed by an altar call, does not produce the results in our day. The church is turning to an evangelism that involves all of the laity in a year-round program of personal ...

1057. Lent 3

Exodus 17:1-7, Romans 5:1-11, John 4:1-26, John 4:27-38, John 4:39-42

Sermon Aid

John R. Brokhoff

... : Water is life now and forever – a. Water is necessary for physical life on earth - Lesson 1. b. Water is necessary for spiritual life in heaven - Gospel. c. Christ is the water for life with God - Lesson 2. Gospel: John 4:5-42 1. Liberation - Jesus Style (4:5-26). Need: Liberation theology is presently at the forefront of our thinking, particularly the third world. We would be free from the evils of the day which oppress, deprive, and enslave. We would be free to be our true selves, to love and to ...

1058. The Great I Am

John 14:5-14

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... this freakish tragedy: "How could a bunch of students trying to idolize high school basketball star Joe Kay paralyze him instead?" (Sports Illustrated 05 September, 2005, 174; with thanks to Landrum Leavell III for this reference). Idol worship has never gone out of style. It's as attractive, it's as seductive, it's as popular in the twenty-first century USAmerica as it was in ancient near eastern cultures. And just as it was in the Sinai wilderness experience, idol worship can lead to disappointment and ...

1059. Why Not a Christian Live 8 for the Environment?

Romans 8:18-27

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... global vantage point, the musicians that appeared in support of Live 8 were even more varied than its predecessor of 20 years ago, Live-AID. Rap, jazz, rock, hip-hop, country, heavy metal, Christian contemporary, ambient, New Age - all kinds of musical styles and talents were performed in support of this battle against poverty. In Rome, there was red-haired rocker Roman Fiorella Mannoia one moment, and blond-blue-eyed country western signer Faith Hill the next. It was this unconventional coming together of ...

1060. Tell You the Truth

John 14:5-14

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... tendency towards unique mannerisms and literary tics. For example, the annual Hemingway write-alike contest (sponsored by a bar Hemingway always hung out in - I can't remember its name) pokes fun at Hemingway's run-on, multi-claused, described-to-death style by challenging contestants to limit their entry to one single sentence. Entries regularly run over half a page or more in length. But they are just one sentence. Biblical scholars also look for vogue, vocabulary, or voice to determine the authenticity ...

1061. How to Beat the Devil

Matthew 4:1-11

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... still have a chance. That's why the most nail-biting, hair-raising, ulcer-ating, blood-pressuring moments in sports are in the last 10 seconds of neck-and-neck basketball games. In the last few seconds of a one-point game the test becomes not of skill, or style, or strength. No: at that crunch point everything comes down to timing. How long to hold onto the ball before the buzzer; how many times to pass the ball; how to work for what shot; how to keep the ball away from the other team. Ideally the team down ...

1062. Low Carb Christianity

Luke 14:25-35

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... from our tables and tongues, our lips and hips. It's estimated that nearly 25 million Americans are on a low carb diet during any given period. Dr. Atkins' prophecy was right. He created a revolution. I'm going to venture a prediction: I doubt that the Atkins-style diets, or its vegetable friendly version called the South Beach diet, will succeed in slimming us down any more than previous diets have. It's the number of calories we take in that makes us look the way we do. But this one man has changed the ...

1063. Thanks Be to God

Deuteronomy 26:1-15

Sermon

Richard Gribble

... hear it." Three students were discussing various versions of the Bible. One said, "I like the New American Bible. It is easier to read than the older versions." A second student commented, "I like the Jerusalem Bible. It too is easier to read and it is poetic in its style. I can use it in my daily prayer." The third student stood and said, "I like my mother's version the best. She translated the Bible into action so I can use it in my daily life." An international gathering of youth met for a full week to ...

1064. Don't Be a Turkey (Thanksgiving)

Luke 17:11-19

Sermon

Alex Gondola

... money (you) can find snow somewhere. For the "have nots," Thanksgiving marks a new beginning as well. In the "have not" culture, Thanksgiving is the first disappointment of the ... holiday season. For the lucky ones, it’s a ... meal served cafeteria-style at a church or mission. The food is nourishing, the spirit welcoming. But it is surely not the Thanksgiving of anyone’s dreams. One of the most disappointing things about the "have not" Thanksgiving is there are no leftovers ... no leftover goodies ...

1065. Generations

John 4:1-26

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... past has been stolen. They're tired of being told by boomer parents "You're the first generation in American history who can't expect to live better than your parents." Busters elevate the ordinary – the ordinary man, the common-man, the ordinary life-style, the OK soda. The new Coke drink pitched to busters is even called OK. Not great, terrific, or wonderful. Just "OK." No great ambitions or dreams. No struggle after the best. Be satisfied with OK. For busters work is uncertain and unpredictable. They ...

1066. Jedi Christians

Matthew 14:22-36

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... way-cool light-sabers, and wrapped in swirling cloaks. Who wouldn't find such characters attractive? Everything they do seems so galactically important, so star-shatteringly significant. And they seem to do all they do with such utter confidence and ease, a style the Renaissance called, in a wonderful Italian word, "sprezzatura." The truth is, these Jedi can be a bit annoying. The young Jedi Anakin is something of a child prodigy and all this Force wielding, and light-saber swashbuckling seems to come to ...

1067. Let the River Flow

Colossians 1:15-23

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... the musical personality of Christ? The divine creator, who can manage to make something as simple as one snowflake completely unique and unrepeatable from all other snowflakes, creates within each and everyone one of us our own melody – your own style – which is never duplicated in any other individual. We each resonate with the sound God plays upon the universe with a slightly different frequency. But without Christ our individual melodies are incomplete. It is only when we accept Christ's redemptive ...

1068. The Best Places to Live

Jeremiah 29:1-23

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... toasters is really ugly. Look at it. It might make great crunchy bread but it would be an everyday eyesore perched on the kitchen counter. Good for toast + bad for the psyche does NOT equal the best. And what makes a car the best? Is it style, price, gas mileage, safety features, reliability? If you take the high scorer on average of all those qualities, is that really the best? Or is that simply the most above average. Almost anything or anywhere can be judged the best if the qualities considered are ...

1069. The CatWalk Church and the CrossLove Church

John 15:1-17

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... their next move. But if Jesus' relationship with his disciples was out-of-step with the culture it was perfectly in-sync with the true rhythm of God's creation. Love as God intends us to experience it and express it's not contained and controlled by style or circumstance. Love as God intends defies convention and safety – giving us the courage even to lay down our life for those we love. This sacrificial love is what we may call crosslove. Crosslove is love that bears a cross, love that takes up another's ...

1070. True Disciples

Isaiah 1:1-31

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... , the heart of a Dead Head's belief centered in attending live concerts. It was the community at the bandstand that was the beating heart of Dead Head devotion. Without that focus, commitment fizzles, identity dissolves, solidarity slips away. Rituals, songs, style, and sacrifice can create a committed, even crazed, band of believers. But belief limited to these outward expressions of devotion has no life of its own outside its secluded, like-believing community. You can't be a Shaker in midtown Manhattan ...

1071. Y'all, What's in Your All?

Colossians 3:1-17

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... middle of the Gator Bowl, that y'all sounds like it is addressed specifically at you (second person singular). Y'all makes you feel less like a crowd and more like a team. Y'all includes everyone and makes everyone feel included. This southern-style inclusiveness is what gives power and persuasion to today's epistle text. At first the Colossians text makes it clear that not all those traits people hold in common are characteristics to be proud of. The selfish sexuality sins listed in verse 5 (fornication ...

1072. You're Fired!

2 Corinthians 5:11--6:2

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... that they've failed in every way possible. We've failed to play the game; we've failed to communicate ourselves and our ideas to the big guy; we've failed to stand up to and withstand the strategies and standards of our fellow contestants. Our style, our substance, our self-identity all are fired in front of the whole world. And we, the TV-viewing public, can't get enough of it. Like rubbernecking, freeway drivers who slow down to gawk at some horrible traffic accident, millions are tuning in each week ...

1073. Inward, Upward, Outward

Romans 9:30--10:21

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... might just as well have told Jesus to manufacture himself a good, fast camel out of those stones saving his feet a long walk back to civilization. While he was at it, Jesus could have transformed the desert into an oasis, whipped up a Saddam Hussein-style residence and settled in for a decadent vacation. Do you get it? The devil's temptation is not about bread. The devil's temptation is to live a "me-first" life a life devoted to gathering as much stuff to yourself as possible. A life completely focused ...

1074. The Four Marks of Failure

1 Corinthians 12:12-31

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... ears. His message seemed unfavorable to those who were well-heeled, well-schooled, and well-accepted. As Jesus continued to declare his intention to release the captives and proclaim the year of the Lord's favor, his message continued to prick consciences and probe life-styles. Although at the end of his pronouncement Luke notes in verse 22 that "All spoke well of him," the next time Jesus opened his mouth this same crowd "drove him out of town" intending to "hurl him off the cliff" (verse 29). If everyone ...

1075. Innercizing Your Shopping List

1 Thessalonians 3:6-13

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... all we need. We already have all we lack. It's our inability to receive what is already there and what God has already provided for us that causes our lacks. There is an anonymous e-mail making the rounds. It's called "Christmas: 1st Corinthians 13 Style." If I decorate my house perfectly with plaid bows, strands of twinkling lights and shiny balls, but do not show love to my family, I'm just another decorator. If I slave away in the kitchen, baking dozens of Christmas cookies, preparing gourmet meals and ...

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