Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 1101 to 1125 of 4943 results

1101. Christ’s Twin

Philippians 2:1-11

Sermon

King Duncan

... is focusing on others and desiring for them the same benefits as you enjoy. Humility is a win/win attitude. To be like-minded with Christ is to have a spirit of humility. BEING LIKE-MINDED WITH CHRIST IS ALSO TO HAVE A SPIRIT OF SERVICE. Paul continues, “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in the very nature of God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And ...

1102. Philippians 2:1-11

Philippians 2:1-11

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... was made and his divine status left behind, the terms “likeness” (“homoioma”) and “appearance” (“schema”) are more potentially changeable than the “essence”(“morphe”). This potential will be achieved when God finally “exalts” the crucified Jesus. As the hymn continues, Christ’s total acceptance of this slave identity is spelled out: “he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death — even death on a cross” (v.8). The absolute horror of a death by crucifixion ...

1103. Perceiving the Presence of God

Luke 1:26-38

Sermon

Richard Gribble

... horizon she also spoke to her friend saying, "Good night, thanks for the day. See you in the morning." Bean Plant and Marigold thought their sister was odd. "You can't speak with the sun," they insisted. But Lily would only answer, "Maybe yes, maybe no, but I will continue to talk with my friend the sun." One day, Lily came to her two older sisters; she was in tears. "The sun is dying," she said, "the sun is dying." Now her sisters truly knew that Lily was crazy. How can the sun be dying? It comes up every ...

1104. The Quiet Day of Pentecost

John 16:5-16, John 15:18--16:4

Sermon

George Reed

... our joys and concerns, our trips to the mountaintops and to the depths, we discover more and more what God is saying to us. Let us celebrate this Pentecost. Let this be a festival day that is filled with joy and enthusiasm for what God has done and what God continues to do in and through the church. Let us celebrate the awesome work that God is doing in redeeming the world, and let us commit ourselves to being good disciples of Jesus who are willing not only to work for him but to listen to him. Let us take ...

1105. Anywhere But Home

Mark 6:1-13

Sermon

George Reed

... ? It may have first happened when we went away to church camp for a week. We found ourselves in a new environment where doing our daily devotions was not only acceptable but it was expected and was part of the daily schedule. Then we come home and try to continue that practice and find that the daily schedule is not quite so conducive to taking the time for Bible reading and prayer. "Don't just sit there reading. It's your turn in the bathroom. The bus will be here any minute now." The kind support of camp ...

1106. Ephesians 1:15-23

Ephesians 1:15-23

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... the source of all power and glory. The resurrection of “the Lord Jesus Christ” which makes possible salvation for all who follow comes about because of this glory and power possessed by God. Paul’s prayer now is that the Ephesians will continue to experience new dimensions of understanding these gifts through “a spirit of wisdom and revelation.” Although the NRSV renders “spirit” with the lower case, the NIV translates “spirit” with an upper case, indicating that this is a reference to the ...

1107. 1 Corinthians 1:3-9

1 Corinthians 1:1-9

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... power of this crucified Christ will be fully revealed. The “Lordship” of Jesus Christ will not be completed until that end-time, when Christ takes upon himself the role of “Lord,” namely, judging all who stand before him on that day. As Paul continues his thanksgiving for the Corinthian Christians there is a hint of the metallic taste of irony in his words. He celebrates that these Christians “have been enriched in him, in speech and knowledge of every kind” (v.5). This community of faith has ...

1108. Back to School

Luke 2:41-52

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... the reason being that on this Sunday there is probably a pretty good chance that those kids who grew up in the congregation and have gone off to college are in town for the weekend. One of the church's big problems these days is that it continues to see "students" as a unique subgroup within the congregation - they go away to learn at school and return (possibly) to the church for worship. But to be really accurate, Student Recognition Sunday should be on Pentecost. For on the day it was born, the church ...

1109. The Seduction of the Palms

Luke 19:28-40

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... this celebratory entrance and the savagery of the crucifixion. He reminds us that in Jewish tradition, the name Jerusalem ironically means "foundation of peace." Jesus' walk through the city, beginning with the glorious procession from Mt. Olivet in today's text and continuing to Luke 19:48 with his arrival at the temple itself, acts as a kind of walking tour that points out how Jerusalem's "foundations of peace" are crumbling. Because it is the season of Passover, the holy holiday recounting Israel's ...

1110. Healing Aerobics

2 Kings 5:1-15ab

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... us tend to forget how hard getting well can be. When some noxious germ fells us, we may allow it a day or two of ascendancy over our lives, but we are soon out determinedly spreading the illness to friends and coworkers as we struggle to ignore its continued presence and get our busy lives back on track. In healing, as in the rest of our lives, we want to take control, settle our own accounts and set our own agenda and timetables. But healing is a process over which we have very little control. Physicians ...

1111. Will You Join the Jesus Team?

Exodus 24:12-18

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... The disciples worked as a team as they went out two-by-two to fulfill the mission of the 70. - Paul and Barnabas worked as a team ... Paul and Silas worked as a team ... Paul and Timothy worked as a team so that the message of salvation continued to be spread even while Paul sat in prison. Today's Old Testament text focuses on an important transition in the lives of the people - the beginnings of tabernacle worship. That a change in spiritual leadership was waiting in the wings is foreshadowed by Joshua's ...

1112. Life's Two Pockets

Luke 18:9-14

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... short of the goals of God. Human sinfulness has been so persistent, so pervasive, that God has had to send two testaments full of prophets to reprimand us and show us the way to righteousness - and even they are not enough. The human capacity for sin, our continual wafting toward wickedness, ultimately resulted in God's most radical act of grace: "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life" (John 3:16). The truth is, we ...

1113. Mark 8:31-38

Mark 8:31-38

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... our own lives, and that we can somehow neatly arrange our lives into a series of safe, controlled, self-affirming segments. The truth in Christ is that we are not our own, that we can never insulate ourselves completely, and that life is a continuous and sometimes hazardous journey. If we shirkingly shrink from moving forward with Christ as our guide, we either stagnate or find ourselves in a full retreat, being controlled by Satan's seductive shortcuts. Jesus the Christ is no more the "expected" one than ...

1114. Ephesians 4:25-5:2

Ephesians 4:25-5:2

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... By counseling that we not let the sun go down on our anger, Paul doesn't ask us to be emotionless, but neither does he give us the latitude to create an environment for nurturing grudges and rivalry, a "room for the devil." Paul's counsel continues to emphasize the traditional communal values of the commandments (he advises thieves to give up stealing and aid those in need). But it is not only actions but Etudes that Paul wants Christians to adjust. Verses 29-32 stipulate the criteria which must prevail as ...

1115. Genesis 2:18-24

Genesis 2:18-24

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... Old Testament lesson stands as a later commentary on the preceding story. The emphasis is, once again, on the "one flesh" concept - the basic sameness, the equality of these beings which were both divinely separated in order to be divinely joined. Relating the Texts The gospel lesson continues to discuss the nature of human relatedness and relationships, specifically marriage, divorce and children. This section of Mark is part of a long section on teachings in discipleship, begun in retreat back in 8:24 and ...

1116. Jeremiah 31:7-14

Jeremiah 31:7-14

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... the center for all worship, assuring that only Deuteronomically orthodox cultic practices would be observed. By verse 8 the direction of God's redeeming activity is both made explicit and poetically expanded to "the farthest parts of the earth." Verses 7-14 continue the message of deliverance begun in 31:2-6. With graphically poignant pictures Jeremiah spells out the meaning of the restoration of Israel in human terms. What the following verses reveal is that God is not intending simply to once again prop ...

1117. 2 Corinthians 5:16-21

2 Corinthians 5:16-21

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... authority as an apostle for Christ. The Lectionary reading for this week has, unfortunately, hacked off the accepted beginning and ending of this unit. Most scholars see Paul's thought beginning at 5:14 (though some back up even further to 5:11) and continuing through 6:2. Paul spends verses 14-17 elaborating on what Christ has done for us and how that gift has spurred Paul on in his own apostleship. One of the most miraculous changes that Paul has experienced since his "conviction" (v. 14) is presented ...

1118. John 20:19-31 [Genesis 2:5-24]

John 20:19-31 [Genesis 2:5-24]

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... and husbanding the animals - Adam is the bearer of God's image. We are not simply to "keep" or "tend" the garden but also to "till" it. God's creative work is not yet finished. Thus we sing "Finish then thy new creation" ("Love Divine, All Loves Excelling"). God continues to create the world with us partners in that ongoing creativity. vv.18-19: "It is not good for Adam to be alone. I will provide a partner for him."(18b) So what did God create next? Don't look at your Bibles. Look up and remember. What did ...

1119. Acts 9:1-20

Acts 9:1-20

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... was examined and their identity as faithful Jews established. Mann suggests that the Jerusalem priests were worried that sectarian believers, such as those professing to follow Jesus, would be willing to look the other way and perhaps even allow Gentile believers to continue undetected to join the throngs at the Jerusalem temple. Were a Gentile to enter the temple the whole structure would be defiled. Whether or not maintaining strict ritual purity adds to Saul's motivation, it is clear that he intends to ...

1120. John 17:20-26

John 17:20-26

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... the witness of the community. In verse 21 Jesus prays that the unity experienced by believers will be the same as that shared by the Father and the Son - in other words it will be a unity made possible by the common indwelling of the Spirit. This theme continues in verses 22-23 in even stronger language. The "glory" of Jesus was shown most fully in his death (In John 11:52 Jesus' ability to "gather the dispersed" is directly tied to his death.) If Jesus now gives his followers a share in that glory, he is ...

1121. Romans 5:1-5

Romans 5:1-5

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... Hope for Paul is an eschatological term - hoping for the time when the kingdom of God will be fully realized in our midst. Christ's first coming, his life, death and resurrection, started us on this path of hope with a startling gift - "access" to grace. We continue in hope once into our newly redeemed relationship with God. We now look for Christ's second coming which will fulfill all God's promises. Thus it is that Paul links this hope to the ongoing vitality of God's love, "poured into our hearts" by the ...

1122. 1 Peter 4:12-14; 5:6-11

1 Peter 4:12-14, 5:6-11

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... those in that divine dwelling place. No wonder 1 Peter declares that though they are "reviled" by the pagan culture they live in, these Gentile Christians are actually "blessed." The lectionary reading now skips to 5:6-11 where 1 Peter continues to combine eschatological images with words of encouragement. Whereas 5:1-5 focus on relationships and attitudes between humans, after the quotation of Proverbs 3:34, the focus changes in verse 6 to the appropriate posture believers must take before God. The ...

1123. Jeremiah 1:4-10

Jeremiah 1:4-10

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... don't like change. Nearly all people can look at their own age, their own times, and deplore the fact that they have been born into a period of tremendous upheaval and change. It always appears that past generations enjoyed a stability and continuity unknown in our own day. For all who keenly feel the movement of the earth under them, Jeremiah is a greatly comforting and companionable prophet. Without a doubt, Jeremiah's prophetic life span covered some of the most tumultuous years in Israel's history ...

1124. Acts 5:27-32

Acts 5:27-32

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... during his ministry and his trial (see Matthew 27:63, John 9:16, 24; 11:47) and toward Jesus' followers (see Acts 4:17). But here, this refusal even to name Jesus' name seems only foolish and perhaps even fearful. Refusing to utter Jesus' name also continues to keep the Sanhedrin members at arm's length from experiencing for themselves the power that names bestow. Refusing to name Jesus' name appears as one more sign of the Council's increasing powerlessness in the face of all that is now happening "in his ...

1125. John 13:31-35

John 13:31-35

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... lengthy and difficult text. Yet, even at its very outset, there is debate about the intended function of these first verses. Some view verses 31-38 as the concluding comments on the previous scene (13:1-30). This minority view reads these verses as a continuation of the specific table talk in which Jesus was engaged with his disciples. Others read verses 31-38 as purely transitional material a kind of self-contained unit not part of the farewell discourse, but neither part of the previous dialogue in 13:1 ...

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