Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 1176 to 1200 of 4933 results

1176. Forever Hopeful

Romans 8:18-27

Sermon

King Duncan

Sometimes life hands us some tricky situations. Former President Ronald Reagan likes to tell a story which he says is true about a newspaper photographer out in Los Angeles who was called in by his editor and told of a fire that was raging out in Palos Verdes. That's a hilly area south of Los Angeles. His assignment was to rush down to a small airport, board a waiting plane, get some pictures of the fire, and be back in time for the afternoon edition. Breathlessly, he raced to the airport and drove his car ...

1177. Something To Die For

Mark 10:35-45

Sermon

King Duncan

It is one of the most dramatic stories to come out of the Civil War. Colonel Joshua Chamberlain of the Union Army's 20th main regiment received orders from General George Meade to shoot 120 deserters, or take them with him into battle at Gettysburg. No one would be allowed to return home. At this point in time, the Union army was demoralized and in disarray, and Chamberlain's decision would be a monumental one. He walked slowly to where the deserters waited, knowing that he had to make a decision about the ...

1178. Grace in the Midst of Unanswered Prayer

2 Corinthians 12:1-10

Sermon

Glenn McDonald

No one ever really prepares you for your first theological bull session. Usually it arrives without fanfare or advance warning. Usually it happens long before you enter the relative clear-headedness of your adult years, or before you take that philosophy course in college. Usually it happens when you're a junior high school student, up late with friends at a sleepover, or camping out in somebody's backyard. There's just something about a smoky fire and charred food and stars out overhead that turns twelve- ...

1179. We Must Obey God

Acts 5:17-42

Sermon

Elizabeth Achtemeier

"We must obey God rather than men" (Acts 5:29). That is the theme of our passage and, indeed, of this whole section of Acts, chapters 3-8. After the resurrection of Jesus, the Holy Spirit is sweeping through Jerusalem with power to enable Peter and John and the other followers of Jesus to heal, to convert multitudes, and to speak boldly. The result is that Jerusalem is in an uproar, and the disciples are repeatedly hauled before the Sanhedrin, the Jewish religious and political council, to account for what ...

1180. You Can't Win them All

Matthew 10:2-14

Sermon

Mark Trotter

The title of this sermon, "You Can't Win Them All," sounds like what Bruce Bochy might say in the locker room after each game the Padres play. At least the Padres aren't as bad as the 1962 Mets, who managed to lose 120 games that season. The last game of the season in 1962, Joe Pignatano hit a triple play to end the game. It was a wonderful ending for an infamous season of the Mets. Casey Stengel was the manager of the Mets that year. After that last game, he called the team together in the locker room, ...

1181. The Easter Era

Acts 10:34-43

Sermon

Frank Ramirez

Most of us probably enjoy taking part in Easter rituals both here at church and at home. There are things we have done since we were children, and we're glad to pass them on to the next generation. Some of these practices are deeply religious. We may have taken part in solemn Maundy Thursday and Good Friday services, or greeted the Easter Sunrise with song and celebration! Some of the practices may be a little secular, but we practice them religiously as well — breaking our Lenten fasts with a special ...

1182. Getting It Right

Romans 5:1-8

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

Have you ever noticed that, no matter what, that some people just always get it wrong? Paul Harvey, in his book FOR WHAT IT'S WORTH, tells about a county jail in south Florida where jail officials found a plastic trash bag hanging to the bars of a cell. Inside was Jimmy Jones, a prisoner who hoped he'd get taken out with the trash. And he might have, except for one thing, during roll call his reflexes took over. When the name Jimmy Jones was called... From inside the bag came a muffled response: "Here." It ...

1183. Three Wise Women

Luke 1:26-38

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

Almost every Christmas pageant has the procession of the three wise men bearing their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. I’m going to preach about those three wise men next Sunday. But today, I’m talking about three wise women. There were many significant women in Jesus’ life. In fact, someday I’m going to do a series by that title - “The Women in Jesus’ Life.” Today I want to focus upon three of those women – Three wise women, and simply highlight what they have to teach us and the inspiration they ...

1184. Finding Answers to Family Feuds

Genesis 25: 21-34

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

To live above with those we love, Well, that will be glory. To live below with those we know, Well, that’s another story. Family feuds. I would like to chat with you a few moments about that today. According to a survey done by Randy Carlson about eight years ago, 91% of American adults long to improve their relationships with their adult siblings. The pains of family life continue to haunt us, often for an entire lifetime. One of the most compelling stories of the Bible is the struggle between two ...

1185. What Is the Future of United Methodism?

John 2:12-22

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

United Methodists gather this week across the United States in Jurisdictional Conferences to elect 20 new bishops. Since my name is no longer on the list of nominees, I have the freedom to talk candidly about this Church into which I was born and to which I have given my heart, my soul, and my deepest devotion. I am honored and deeply grateful to be a United Methodist pastor. Every week I get to do what I most enjoy doing—connect to people, preach the gospel, observe hearts being touched and lives being ...

1186. From Envy to Gratitude

Matthew 20:1-16

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

The sun is shining and the sky is clear. As landowner Joe consumes his breakfast he knows he must, likewise, seize the day. My daddy called it “Making hay while the sun shines." Joe might refer to it as “Making wine before the grapes rot." Whatever the phrase, the focus is the same. Harvest won't wait. Joes finishes breakfast, climbs into his pickup truck and drives down Nolensville Road where day laborers assemble looking for work. Well, the time and place may be different, but the story is the same. And ...

1187. The True Shepherd

John 10:1-10

Sermon

Lee Griess

It's no wonder that the image of the shepherd was so frequently on the lips of our Savior. It's no surprise he used that illustration so often. For the image of a shepherd and the sheep was very much a part of Jesus' heritage and culture. Abraham, the father of the Jewish people, was the keeper of great flocks of sheep. Moses was called by God to be God's deliverer of the ancient Jewish people while living as a shepherd and tending the flocks of his father-in-law. And David, the greatest king of the Jewish ...

1188. In the Potter's Hands

Jeremiah 18:1-11

Sermon

Chrysanne Timm

I am not a potter, and I do not play one on television! However, as a student of the scriptures and the life and times of the people in the biblical narrative, I can say with some certainty that crafting pottery is one of the world's oldest professions. Alongside bone and bricks, fragments of earthenware or pottery have long been gathered and studied by archeologists to understand something of the ancient inhabitants of the Middle East and nearly every other ancient culture throughout the world. Few of ...

1189. A King Like No Other

Luke 23:26-43

Sermon

King Duncan

WWJD remember when those letters were the rage? There for a while, they were everywhere: bracelets, key rings, and just about anything that can be marked with the logo, WWJD: “What Would Jesus Do?” Later, when the WWJD bracelet rage really started to catch on, people came up with some alternative bracelets: WWPMD for quarterbacks: “What Would Peyton Manning do?” Or WWMSD for homemakers, What would Martha Stewart do? Or DYWFWT for Liberal Arts graduates: “Do You Want Fries with That?” For teens, there was a ...

1190. Exclusion From the Assembly

Deuteronomy 23:1-8

Understanding Series

Christopher J. H. Wright

Community Laws: Defining and Protecting the Community · These last chapters of the central law code have a “flavor” of concern for a compassionate and caring community that takes seriously the claims of kinship and the needs of the weak and vulnerable. That community itself, however, needs clear definition and measures to protect its religious distinctiveness and purity. This need explains the presence, alongside laws that immediately appeal to us by their charitable nature, of other laws that appear much ...

1191. The Authority of Jesus over Nature and the Cosmic Powers

Mark 5:1-20, Mark 4:35-41

Teach the Text

Grant R. Osborne

Big Idea: Jesus shows himself to be Lord of the storms, completely sovereign over the powers of nature and of the cosmic world of darkness. In contrast, the disciples are unable to think of anything but their own vulnerability. Understanding the Text Mark moves from a collection of Jesus’s parables to a collection of Jesus’s miracles. The emphasis is on his authority, and the order moves through every type of miracle that Jesus did, demonstrating first his power over nature (4:35–41), then his power over ...

1192. Two Parables about Prayer

Luke 18:9-14, Luke 18:1-8

Teach the Text

R.T. France

Big Idea: We should pray with confidence that God will respond, but our confidence should be in God’s mercy, not in our own merits. Understanding the Text Parables have been a prominent feature in Luke’s narrative of the journey to Jerusalem, especially in chapters 14–16. The two parables in the present section, together with one further one in 19:11–27, will round out the collection before Jesus reaches Jerusalem. The first of these two parables is linked to the preceding section in that it finishes with ...

1193. Condemned to Wilderness Wandering

Numbers 14:1-45

Teach the Text

Joe M. Sprinkle

Big Idea: Disobedience can bring about forfeiture of God’s blessings. Understanding the Text Numbers 14 constitutes the tragic climax of the Israelites’ grumbling and rebelliousness. They send scouts into the land (Num. 13), but the majority have concluded that the enemy is too powerful to conquer. The people are again in revolt and ready to go back to Egypt (Num. 14:1–9). This rebellion will come to be listed as pivotal in Israel’s failure to live up to its calling and achieve its goal of entering the ...

1194. “Blessed Are Those Who Have Regard for the Weak; the Lord Delivers Them”

Psalm 41:1-13

Teach the Text

C. Hassell Bullock

Big Idea: Irrespective of the cause of our illnesses, the Lord cares for us in our vulnerability. Understanding the Text The literary type of Psalm 41 has been the topic of much discussion, since the poem does not seem to fall easily into any single type. Perhaps Kraus’s “prayer song of the sick”1 is appropriate for this psalm, although we might simply designate it as an individual lament. The psalm, in fact, begins with a benediction on those who “have regard for” the sick (see the comments on 41:1). ...

1195. Crossing Over

Luke 10:25-37, Genesis 48:1-22

Sermon

Lori Wagner

Why did the chicken cross the road? Well, I spent some time this week investigating the whole chicken and road dilemma and here are some of the best explanations I’ve found: Machiavelli: The point is that the chicken crossed the road. Who cares why? The ends of crossing the road justify whatever motive there was. Thomas de Torquemada: Give me ten minutes with the chicken and I'll find out. Timothy Leary: Because that's the only kind of trip the Establishment would let it take. John Locke: Because he was ...

1196. Holy Extravagance

Mark 14:3-9

Sermon

Will Willimon

The preacher steps from the pulpit, the ancient book is closed, the choir has finished, the benediction is given, the Threefold Amen is sung and the notes die away from the organ. Now, 1eft with your thoughts, it was good, you think to yourself, all well and good -- the preacher was adequate, the prayers, the choir quite good, the organ fine. But a nagging question keeps tugging at your brain. You try to put it aside, to keep alive the sounds and sights of the service, but the question will not leave you. ...

1197. Amazing Grace

Luke 18:9-14

Sermon

Will Willimon

''My son is a good kid. He's quite a remarkable, wonderful young man," the mother said to me on your first day here. ''I'll be the judge of that," I thought to myself. Yet she is probably right. After all, he got in Duke. And our Office of Admissions makes certain that no slouch gets in Southgate. 1300 on your SAT, 198 of you were number one in your high school class. God I thank thee that I don't have to teach at a school where the students are only average! And of course, one reason why your above ...

1198. Moving At The Speed Of Light: At The Jordan

Acts 10:23b-48

Sermon

Frank Luchsinger

Peter had long practiced a religion which required the separation of Jews and Gentiles, and following Christ's ascension Peter continued to be a practicing Jew. Through the example of Christ, Peter began to think differently about those who were considered ritually unclean and unacceptable to God. Earlier in Acts 10, Peter has been staying in Joppa in the home of one who practiced an "unclean" profession, Simon the Tanner. From there he receives the call from God to travel to Ceasarea to the home of ...

1199. The More I Understand, The Less I Know

John 3:1-21

Sermon

Johnny Dean

This may sound contradictory to you, but the longer I stay in ministry, the less I understand about preaching. In fact, I know less about preaching today than I knew ten years ago. Back then, while I was a seminary student, I could tell you what constituted a good sermon, what was needed to do it right. All I had to do was ask one of my homiletics professors. Today, I’m not so sure they knew all that much. Why does a sermon "work", why does it achieve positive results, when by all rights it ought to fall ...

1200. Time Taken, Life Restored

Mark 5:21-43

Sermon

William G. Carter

The woman had been sick for a very long time. So long, in fact, she didn't know what to do. She didn't know where to turn. Everybody suggested a different remedy, but none of them would work. She visited many physicians, but none of them could help. She stayed sick. As time passed, she grew worse. All those medical bills were bleeding her dry. So when she heard Jesus was coming to town, she pushed her way through the crowd. She'd heard about him, of course. The last time he worked on this side of the sea ...

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