Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 1151 to 1175 of 1185 results

1151. Giving Our Best

Mark 7:24-37

Sermon

King Duncan

... do you get to be the best? It may take 10,000 hours. Pastor and prolific author Warren Wiersbe tells of attending a concert by the noted composer/conductor John Rutter—a concert in which Rutter did something that surprised Wiersbe. After the applause had ceased following a choral number, Rutter turned to the audience and said, “Do you mind if we do that one again? I think we can do better.” Wiersbe said he was stunned. The first performance had seemed excellent to him, but obviously, the ear of the ...

1152. When God Is Quiet

Mark 4:35-41

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... the storm within them –that fight and flight, terror in the moment, panic button kind of insecurity that obliterates our inner calm and makes of us a turbulent, irrational mess.That’s what Jesus calms. Our inner spirit. Jesus commands “Peace! Be still!” “The wind ceased, and there was a dead calm.” Wow. Imagine how amazing that must have felt. Eerie, but amazing. And they are amazed! We all have these kinds of turbulent moments in life when we are certain that we are in peril and God is not ...

1153. The Invitation

Matthew 20:1-15

Sermon

Will Willimon

... of a banquet who won't be happy until everyone moves to the music. If all we want is justice from God, that's all we'll get. Take your denarius and go, says the master. Big deal. But, through the master's resourceful, intrusive, never-ceasing mercy, we may hope for more than justice, more than just what's right. We may get the Master, constantly, persistently, relentlessly pursuing us and everyone else until the midnight hour, unhappy until everyone is there. I say to you this is an Easter parable. That ...

1154. Jesus' Vacation

Matthew 11:25-30

Sermon

Will Willimon

... persons who had moved to the beach to retire, to play golf. Do you know what a great burden it can be to play golf, to have nothing else to do all day but have a good time? Golf is not as much fun when you must play. Time off ceases to be relaxing when the only time you have is time off. Who told our society that the goal of life, the chief end of our lives is retirement in Florida? Irresponsibility is ugly whether it occurs in a seventeen-year old or a seventy-year-old. The vast personal ...

1155. The Gospel Ship

John 6:1-21

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... to let Jesus near the boat, or in the boat, because he believes he is a foe. Only when they recognize who Jesus is do they hurriedly invite him into the boat. As soon as they bring him aboard with them, the winds calm, the storm ceases, and the boat reaches the other side, the land toward which they were going. Let’s hear that story again. Disciples alone in the boat? Stormy, fearful, guarded, isolated. Jesus in the boat? Adventurous, calm, assured, given direction. The disciple ship is not simply a joy ...

1156. Never on Sunday

Mark 2:23-3:6

Sermon

Dean Feldmeyer

... to serve the law. If David could violate a silly law with impunity in order to serve a greater good, then certainly Jesus should be able to do so as well. The law was given to draw us closer to each other in community and closer to God. When it ceases to do that it has failed in its purpose and a new law needs to be written. A Withered Hand The second story is more serious and more important than the first because it showed the law being perverted in such a way as to dismiss and even condone callousness ...

1157. For the Love Of God is Forgiving

Luke 7:36-50

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... . Who'll be the next victim of gang violence or a drunk driver. While the Peace Talks are going on in the Middle East between Israel and Jordan and the Palestinians, the fighting, bombings and killings continue. Even though the IRA has called a cease fire causing Irish Protestant and Catholic relations to take a giant step forward, another explosion injured people on a passenger train. A homeless man was beaten to death by five members of a gang in what the police are calling a "thrill kill". Infidelity ...

1158. Yes, You Can Work Yourself to Death

Luke 5:1-11

Sermon

King Duncan

... Department of Social Services planned to relocate the 20 residents who were still living there to other, safer facilities. Sadly, the owners of Valley Springs Manor didn’t wait for the Social Services workers to complete their relocation efforts. They ceased operations immediately and announced that they weren’t paying their employees any more. So most of the employees walked out, leaving behind 16 elderly, vulnerable residents and just two employees to care for them. The two employees who refused to ...

1159. I Shall Rise Again!

I Corinthians 15:19-26 · Luke 24:1-12

Sermon

King Duncan

... enough proof of His existence. Many people believe in God who do not believe in Easter. God’s power and His omnipotence are not at stake. What is at stake is whether your life or mine has any ultimate significance. Do we live only for a season, then cease to exist forever? Or are we so significant in God’s eyes that even death cannot separate us from His love? Do not say that Christianity can exist independently from Easter. Christianity is not simply a set of values, a moral code, a style of living, a ...

1160. Long View — Long Haul

Luke 13:31-35

Sermon

Schuyler Rhodes

... stubborn commitment. In this time of winter blahs and burn-out; in these days of frenzy and over-work; in this season of broken promises and unmet commitments, each one of us is beckoned — called — begged by the Holy Spirit to slow down and stop. And having ceased our perpetual motion, we are urged to put our hands together and listen in prayerful silence for the wonder of God’s claim upon our lives. We are literally touched by God’s desire in this moment; by God’s deep love and longing for each ...

1161. Take Heart

Matthew 14:22-33

Sermon

Will Willimon

... and worshiped, saying, ''Truly you are the Son of God.'' In Mark's gospel, when he tells this story, all they can say at the end is, ''Who is this?'' Jesus is the ''right hand of God'' reaching out to us. When he gets in the boat, and the wind ceases, then they say, ''Truly you are the Son of God!'' In Mark, they don't get it. Their hearts are hardened. All they can say at the end is, ''Who is this?'' Here it's different. He is identified by his disciples, in this shining moment, as the Son of ...

1162. Hold the Candy

1 Corinthians 13:1-13

Sermon

Mary Austin

... own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I ...

1163. The Unlocked Brain

John 20:19-31

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... into “lockdown.” In a sense, this is what happened to Jesus’ disciples after his death. They went into lockdown mode. They were traumatized by the death of their leader, rabbi, and teacher. To them, the movement and the mission had failed, ended, cease to exist. All their hopes, dreams, expectations, faith in Jesus’ projections for the future seemed suddenly like pipe dreams, and they began to wonder what they could have been thinking, taking the risks they did. Fear took over. And their fears were ...

1164. Greater Works Than These?

John 14:8-17

Sermon

Schuyler Rhodes

... reality of living out our Spirit-filled call is that our faith could actually heal the world! Imagine if the membership of this congregation made the commitment to come together in living out our faith in acts of self-giving love? What if we ceased worshiping an allegedly perfect Jesus and instead decided to walk with him as we practice the Christian way? What if we stopped defining our commitment and engagement in Christian community by how well we are satisfied, and instead poured ourselves out for the ...

1165. Greater Works Than These?

John 14:8-17

Sermon

Schuyler Rhodes

1166. Fear and Blessing

Psalm 128:1-6

Sermon

Will Willimon

... a bed, barely breathing, doesn't approve of something that is going on in the other room. We do want to please them, but can we with our little lives and puny achievements, we wonder? We're still their little boy or girl when we reach twenty-one. They never cease trying to Mother/Daddy us and we never stop wanting/not wanting them to do so. A counselor here on campus told me that she has seen students walk out into the woods and end it all at nineteen rather than go home with a B in Chemistry. No, the ...

1167. Inside Out

James 5:7-10

Sermon

Charley Reeb

... with your family, what will they say about you? What will really matter to them? Have you ever thought about that? What will matter to them will be how well you loved. Our lives will be measured by how well we loved. Love never fails! Everything else will cease. Everything else will pass away. These three remain: faith, hope, and love -- and the greatest of these is love. What is on the inside of you can be seen on the outside. Is your life revealing the fruit of the Spirit? Some of you may feel discouraged ...

1168. What Power Fears Most

Matthew 2:13-23

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... and revulsion at school shootings, wars, and abuse that take the lives of our babies and children. This event was no different. It was widespread, horrific, bloody, and brutal. It left parents distraught and Israel stunned. Talk of the messiah for now had ceased. Fear of Herod reigned fresh in the hearts of every family. Their hopes lay momentarily dashed on the rocks of their doorsteps, as grief filled every home and street. We can only imagine the brokenness of that time, the brokenness of the world ...

1169. Professional Angel

1 Peter 2:19-25

Sermon

Ronald Love

... for cancer were discovered. Marie Curie, the winner of two Nobel prizes for discovering radium and radioactivity, died of radiation poisoning in the summer of 1934 at the age of 66. In the closing months of her life, realizing she was ill, Marie Curie refused to cease from her labors. She summarized her attitude in a letter addressed to her sister: “Sometimes my courage fails me and I think I ought to stop working, live in the country and devote myself to gardening. But I am held by a thousand bonds, and ...

1170. Converts Or Disciples?

Matthew 28:16-20

Sermon

William G. Carter

... . I think of the work of Douglas John Hall who taught theology in Toronto. “It used to be,” said Hall, “that somebody could pick up Christian odors in the air, and that would be enough to shape their lives. These days, according to the research, white Westerners cease to be Christian at a rate of 7,600 per day.”8 For us to be Christian, in this day and age, will take something more merely than having our names on a list on a church office computer. Being a disciple is more than being a church ...

1171. House of God

1 Kings 8:22-30

Sermon

Will Willimon

... one, contains God. We know that. But we must build us a place of worship. We must paint our pictures and tell our stories and find a name, a place, some Bethel. Can it be that so many modern people say they feel that God is absent because they have ceased to put themselves at the disposal of God? They have neglected the times and places when the presence of God is most often experienced. It is not God who is absent from this house. For we know how we are. If some fifty years ago, the decision had been made ...

1172. Rest

Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30

Sermon

William G. Carter

... hard working ant, O lazybones, and learn your lesson. Work hard. Don’t ever sit still. The Calvinists didn’t invent a hard work ethic. They found it in their Bibles. But there is also the invitation to rest. According to the Greek dictionary, to rest is “to cease from movement or labor in order to recover and collect (one’s) strength.” Now, we don’t need a dictionary to tell us that. We already know what rest is. But we don’t do it very well. As Jesus suggested, this is a matter of the soul ...

1173. A Woman Dancing

Exodus 15:20, 21

Sermon

Will Willimon

... Standing out here on the very edge of freedom, almost there but not quite, slaughtered by a power greater than our own. If you wanted to weep, weep now, Israel. God, as it turned out, had other things in mind. When the roaring of the Red Sea had ceased, and the devouring and liberating waters were again calm, and the slaves stood for the first time on dry, free ground, then you could bear music. Music? It is odd, old, primitive music, possibly the oldest fragment in the whole Bible this song of Miriam. It's ...

1174. The Contestant

Matthew 14:22-33

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... why did you doubt yourself and mistrust me when I told you that you could do it? Or why did you challenge me to begin with? Perhaps a number all wrapped up in one. All we know is that the moment Jesus steps into the boat, the winds cease, the waves still, and all is calm. Now, those who know how scripture is written (and acknowledge the way that it was originally told as an oral story) know that often “weather” is used as a metaphor to represent the inner turmoil or emotional feelings of the characters ...

1175. We're On the Move Now!

Sermon

Ronald Love

... toward Jerusalem” (9:53). Even though he was ignored and shunned, the Messiah would not relinquish his commission. As futile as it may seem, we must never surrender to debauchery. Persecuted — we continue to chastise demagogues. Ridiculed — we never cease questioning the intemperate. Scorned — we still fervently announce the coming kingdom. Martin Luther King Jr. stepped down off the trailer. The demonstration was over. It was time for everyone to return to Selma. The black participants, most unable ...

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