Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 1101 to 1125 of 2157 results

Luke 6:17-26

Sermon

David J. Kalas

... Jesus -- Heaven and Earth intersect by contact with one another, though always at Heaven's initiative. And, at another level still, we find the teachings of Jesus -- Heaven and Earth intersect in ethics and lifestyle. We have before us Luke's version of the teachings we call the Beatitudes (so named because of Jesus' recurring use of the word "blessed"). The underlying Greek word, makarios, can mean "blessed," "fortunate," and "happy." The Amplified Bible also includes "to be envied" in the connotation of ...

1102. Saints in Shorts

Luke 6:27-36

Sermon

David J. Kalas

... listening carefully to it. New translations of old, familiar texts can help to break the logjam in our understandings. Eugene Peterson, a retired Presbyterian pastor and professor of theology, offers us such a fresh translation of these teachings of Jesus. Peterson's version, called The Message, includes this insightful and startling translation: "To you who are ready for the truth, I say this: Love your enemies. Let them bring out the best in you, not the worst. When someone gives you a hard time, respond ...

1103. A Church Shaped By The Great Commission

Matthew 28:16-20

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... Home, Nashville: The Upper Room, 1982, p. 15). Isn’t that an appropriate and challenging image for us as we consider the Great Commission? There are religious sideshows being offered with enticing attraction all over the world today. All around us the religious versions of dancing bears, stripteases, and peepshows would divert our attention. They come and they go; and then there is the main show. And what is the main show? At the beginning of His ministry, Jesus announced His mission: “The Spirit of the ...

1104. Imitators of God

Ephesians 4:17--5:21

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... of God.” Does that throw your mind into contortions? Is Paul demanding something that is beyond the realm of possibility? Some translations have it, “Be followers of God.” That takes some of the edge off it – but that’s too timid. The Revised Standard Version is strong and clear as Paul intended it to be: “Be imitators of God.” But how can it be? How can we imitate God – the one who is omnipotent, all-powerful; the one who is omniscient, all-knowing; the one who is omnipresent – present ...

1105. If I Have Not Love

1 Corinthians 13:1-13

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... use if love is missing. I want us to see this haunting phrase from a perspective that may not be obvious – in fact may not really be what Paul is saying – but certainly it is suggested in the text. This may be an MEV translation – Maxie’s Expanded Version. But it is suggested in the text – and certainly confirmed by life. I want to look not from the perspective of my loving, but from the perspective of my being bereft of love – no one loving me. I First, if I have not love, I become less than ...

1106. In the Wrong Place At the Right Time

Mark 15:21-32

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... where there was a fire in the fireplace and an easy chair pulled up to the fire. He sat down. Then he noticed at his elbow a little table on which was a Bible open the 59th Psalm. One in that psalm verse reads, in the King James version, “The God of my mercy shall prevent me…” Hugh Redwood said that somebody had written in the margin after that verse this paraphrase: “My God in His loving kindness shall meet me at every corner.” Redwood said that was like light shining in the darkness of his life ...

1107. The Nature of the Church and Christian Discipleship

1 Peter 2:4-12

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... First, who are we? Peter is rather clear about it – we are a chosen race, a royal priesthood a holy nation – God’s own people. The phrase translated “God’s people” literally means “a people of God’s possession.” The King James Version translates it, “a peculiar people.” (JOKE – Am I too late for the garbage) That is not the kind of peculiarity I am talking about. The word “peculiar” comes from the Latin meaning “a slave is private property” so, as Christians our relationship ...

1108. Awake to Glory

Luke 9:28-36

Sermon

J. Ellsworth Kalas

... when it happened. Peter, James, and John were thus given an insight into the glory of their Lord which prepared them for the climactic event of Easter. The key phrase in this story is in verse 32. I particularly like the language of the New International Version: "Peter and his companions were very sleepy, but when they became fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men standing with him." Their realization of the glory of our Lord came to them, not when they were in a state of dullness or of ...

1109. Partners In the Gospel

Philippians 1:1-11

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... probe the depths of what it means to be partners in the gospel: partakers. Verse 7 says, “For all of you share in God’s grace with me, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and in the confirmation of the gospel.” The New King James version says, “You are all partakers with me of grace.” I asked a moment ago what it would mean if the privilege of belonging to Jesus Christ broke through as a powerful reality in the corporate consciousness of this congregation? That question has to do with your ...

1110. The One Gospel

Galatians 1:1-10

Bulletin Aid

H. Burnham Kirkland

... our resolve to bring your message of peace, justice, and fairness to all peoples, that together our voices may be heard by those who govern. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Prayer Of Confession Lord, many voices call out for our attention as they proclaim their own version of the gospel. Send your Holy Spirit upon us that we may resist all claims that are divisive, that are self-righteous, and that do not proclaim your love and your mercy. Make us messengers of the one gospel taught by word and deed by our ...

1111. What Making a Difference Looks Like

Matthew 5:1-12

Sermon

Phil Thrailkill

... can desire. It is safe to tell the pure in heart that they shall see God, for only the pure in heart want to.”11 Verse 9, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.” In Romans Paul gives us his version of the seventh blessing and clarifies that peacemaking is communal; it reduces social friction and builds up social capital, "So then,” he wrote, “let us pursue the things which make for peace and the building up of one another.”12 There are some things that peacemaking ...

1112. What Is Required of Us?

Matthew 5:17-20

Sermon

Phil Thrailkill

... and so, often as a last resort, they call for an appointment or else just walk in the door looking pitiful and bewildered and a little ashamed at being needy in a world that values independence and self-sufficiency. They are the walking wounded. Many are looking for some version of quick fix. I can see it in their eyes, “Pastor Phil, could you wave a spiritual wand, quote a verse, give me some faith formula, pray a magic prayer and make it all better, and could you please do it in a hurry because my anti ...

1113. Comfortable Christianity Is a Big, Fat Lie

Matthew 7:15-23

Sermon

Phil Thrailkill

... which removes anxiety and assures all of their secure status as they ride to heaven on a first class ticket. Sound familiar? Sounds very Methodist, doesn’t it, or at least the Methodism many of us have known, the easy, undisciplined, non-demanding civic club version our spiritual ancestors would not recognize. We have become like the Church of England they sought to renew. That I could cave in and become a false prophet scares me, as it ought to every pastor, particularly those of us past the mid-point in ...

1114. The “Sad-You-See” Syndrome

Mark 12:18-27

Sermon

Michael Milton

... one wife who goes through seven husbands—may be found in the Old Testament-era apocryphal book called Tobit. In chapter three of that fairy tale, there is a similar story of a woman named Sarah who had seven husbands, all of whom died. In this Sadducee version, they weave that story together in a ridiculous way with the kinsman-redeemer law from Deuteronomy 25:5-10.[2] In theocratic Israel, God requires that if a man dies with no heirs, his brother is obliged to marry the widow in order to preserve the ...

1115. Now Here Is the Plan

John 12:20-36

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... is a Garden of Gethsemane, but it is a brief little scene where he is arrested. The purpose of the Garden of Gethsemane in John is to provide the opportunity for Jesus to be arrested. It is almost as if here, when he is in Ephraim, he is refuting the versions of his prayer in the Garden that said, "Let this cup pass from me." Here he says, "Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour'?" It is a rhetorical question. He answers, "No, for this I have come to this hour." He ...

1116. Night Moves

Genesis 32:22-32

Sermon

Mark Trotter

... have always sung their faith with hymns, Wesley's hymns. Originally this hymn had seventeen verses. Methodists nowadays, if they sing it at all, will only sing four verses and stop, they won't go any farther than that. We sang the four-verse version this morning. Isaac Watts, perhaps the greatest hymn writer ever, was a contemporary of Charles Wesley. He said that this was Wesley's finest hymn. It was also John Wesley's favorite. There is a wonderful story associated with this hymn. Two weeks after ...

1117. A Friend in Low Places

Mark 1:9-13

Sermon

Mark Trotter

... innocence. Natural means "unspoiled." It is the way things are supposed to be. Roy Hobbs is like that. He is like Adam in the Garden. He is like all of us before temptation. He has a life of great promise. In fact, he is born into America's version of the Garden of Eden. He is born on a midwestern farm in Nebraska, the heartland of America, the wellspring of all that we think about as virtue in our civilization. It is apparent that as a child, Roy Hobbs has enormous baseball talent. His father tries to ...

1118. How Is Your Memory?

Exodus 20:1-21

Sermon

Mark Trotter

... history is something that you create from your own situation. Therefore, every group in the world, every race, every class, every age gender has their own perspective on history. There can be no official history that unites us all. The official history is merely a version that is given to us by those in power, so you can "re-invent" history. But I remind you, according to Dr. Sacks, that is a characteristic of brain disease. Which ought to give us some pause when we talk about "re-inventing" ourselves all ...

1119. The Bent-over Woman

Luke 13:10-17

Sermon

R. Robert Cueni

... hands on her and told her to stand up straight, the power of God flowed though our Lord's fingers, into her back, and healed a physical defect. While plausible, that is not what Luke says. The seventeenth century translation known as the King James Version (v. 10) says the woman was "bowed by a spirit of infirmity." That suggests a spiritual problem, not a physical one. The more modern New English Bible translates the Greek by saying, she was "possessed by a spirit that had crippled her." J. B. Phillips ...

1120. Death: A Way of Life

Isaiah 52:13—53:12

Sermon

Bill Mosley

... the face of persecution. Just one, willing to undergo punishment and death for the love of God, is enough. Christians know the servant songs are fulfilled in the coming of Jesus Christ. Movie producer Cecil B. DeMille told about filming the crucifixion scene in his version of King Of Kings. He was trying for realism in every detail. He picked his soldiers from among people who were defeated, who were derelicts of society, who had rejected what most of us call good. He got these thrown-away people not from ...

1121. Those Parentheses

Acts 10:34-43

Sermon

Bill Mosley

... . "You know the message he sent to the people of Israel." Fact. "Preaching peace by Jesus Christ." A parenthetical phrase explaining "message" and "He is Lord of all." A parenthetical phrase amplifying "Jesus Christ." In fact, in the old Revised Standard Version, this phrase is actually in parentheses. Peter unpacks the name and title of Jesus the Christ, in this parenthetical phrase: He is Lord of all. A fact can be amplified, qualified, or explained between parentheses. Peter's parentheses said, He is ...

1122. Bear Love

Acts 1:1-11

Sermon

Bill Mosley

... . A black bear climbs trees. Other bears don't. A polar bear lives in snow and ice. A kodiak can stand up tall. Last Thursday was the day of the Ascension of the Lord, being forty days after his resurrection. The First Reading is Luke's version of the Ascension. Notice the difference in character between the disciples of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, or even Easter Day. They are gathering strength and faith for the birth of the church, which will happen in ten days on Pentecost. Notice also that this is the ...

1123. Commencement Address

Acts 1:6-14

Sermon

Bill Mosley

... sky, just to see how many people you can influence to follow your gaze upwards. The temptation is almost irresistible. Last Thursday was the day of the Ascension of the Lord, being forty days after his resurrection. The First Reading is Luke's version of the Ascension. Notice the difference in character between the disciples of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, or even Easter Day and thereafter. They are gathering strength and faith for the birth of the church, which will happen in ten days on Pentecost. Notice ...

1124. Strong Medicine

Judges 4:1-7

Sermon

Charles L. Aaron

... the build-up to the battle. At Deborah's direction, Barak summons 10,000 troops to Mount Tabor. Sisera gets wind of what he considers an insurrection and prepares to subdue the upstart Israelites. Sisera calls out all 900 of his chariots, his version of weapons of mass destruction. The battle itself receives only scant attention from the narrator. Besides 10,000 troops, the Israelites have the Lord on their side. The Lord causes a panic among the Canaanite troops, who are all slaughtered. The once-feared ...

1125. Someone Is Trying to Get Through

Acts 10:34-43

Sermon

James L. Killen

... was a high officer in the Roman army of occupation sent to govern the troublesome people of Palestine. But Cornelius had actually adopted the religion of the people he was sent to govern and he practiced it quite devoutly. He had probably been raised in the Roman version of the Greek religion that had many gods, all of whom had some very human failings, and all of whom could be managed by people who knew how to do it. He was a participant in a power structure that he knew was oppressive to everyone - even ...

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