Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 1176 to 1200 of 1679 results

1176. Love without Limits

Acts 11:1-18

Sermon

Charley Reeb

The eloquent preacher Tom Long tells the story of a small church-related college that held an annual event called Christian Emphasis Week. It was the task of the Christian club on campus to invite a speaker who would come and lead a college revival. This particular year they invited a preacher who had come highly recommended. They were told of his dynamism and his unique way of communicating the gospel. The first night of the revival the chapel was filled with the faithful. There were no “animal house” ...

1177. Death Through Adam, Life Through Christ

Romans 5:12-21

Understanding Series

James R. Edwards

Paul now embarks on a bold typological contrast between Adam and Christ. He continues the train of thought already begun in chapter 5, however, for verse 12 begins, “on account of this,” or therefore, which links 5:12–21 to 5:1–11. Paul’s purpose is to illustrate that the work of redemption has universal significance. The focus shifts from our redemption in the first person plural in 5:1–11 to the two seminal figures of humanity, Adam and Christ, in the third person singular. Heretofore the gospel has been ...

1178. The Seals

Revelation 6:1-17

Understanding Series

Robert W. Wall

The judgment of God against a fallen world is one yield of the death and exaltation of Christ. The breaking of the seals, which opens the scroll and declares God’s decree of salvation, occurs as an essential part of Christ’s entrance into the heavenly throneroom. The seal judgments, and the trumpet judgments that follow, do not depict a sequence of future historical events; rather, they symbolize together God’s response to—and are in that sense co-terminus with—chapter five’s exaltation of the risen Lamb. ...

1179. Praise to the God of Zion as Creator and God of Agricultural Fertility

Psalm 65:1-13

Understanding Series

Craig C. Broyles

This corporate hymn has three sections, each focusing on a different locale and each placing Yahweh in a distinct role. He is the atoner at the temple (vv. 1–4), the warrior who establishes order in all creation (vv. 5–8), and the dispenser of water and fertility in the land (vv. 9–13). Several key phrases confirm this structuring of the psalm’s contents. The respective locations form an inclusion for each strophe: Zion and temple (vv. 1, 4), “all the ends of the earth” and “where morning dawns and evening ...

1180. Jesus: The Original Superhero?

John 18:33-37

Sermon

April Yamasaki

When Warner Brothers released the latest Superman movie, part of its promotion included a special online Pastor Resource Site on the Man of Steel. Critics complained it was one more blatant Hollywood attempt to use pastors and churches to market a movie, complete with free screenings for pastors, sermon notes, and movie clips. Promotion aside, is it even appropriate to compare Jesus to Superman? Even if we think of him as "the original superhero," doesn't the term itself reduce Jesus from Christ the King ...

1181. In Awe of Christ

Luke 9:28-36

Sermon

King Duncan

In a YouTube video attorney and educator Randall Niles addresses the wonders of creation. He notes that on a clear night, with a full sky in view, you can count about 1,030 bodies of light with the naked eye. Think about that for a moment . . . 1,030 bodies. “It was that way 4,000 years ago,” says Niles, “and it’s the same today.” Then about 400 years ago, Galileo invented the first telescope. At that point, about 3,310 bodies of light were visible--more than tripling the number of stars which could be ...

1182. Understanding Outrageous Grace

Luke 18:9-14

Sermon

King Duncan

Let me ask you a tough question this morning: how many of you have been accused of being a poor listener? Or should I call it “selective listener”? We hear what we want to hear. Most of us have been guilty of this at one time or another. Maybe we’re easily distracted. Publisher Thom Rainer has collected stories over the years from his pastor friends of some of the strangest distractions they’ve dealt with while preaching. For example, one pastor had a bat fly into the sanctuary during his sermon. In ...

1183. Lost in the Wonder of God

Matthew 28:16-20

Sermon

Lori Wagner

Visuals: Mountain scenes “Jesus wept” . . . over Jerusalem, not just over the Temple. Place matters. We've made non-places of our neighborhoods and "places" of our temples. I am a product of a “place,” a “place” called mountain culture. More specifically, my “place” is the Appalachian mountains of West Virginia, and the Adirondack mountains of upstate New York. That means I grew up with grits and gravy, pinto beans and stewed tomatoes, biscuits and apple butter. We ate supper, not dinner. And we said ...

1184. Sweet Vine

John 15:1-17

Sermon

Lori Wagner

The season is nearing for planting. Those of you who plant gardens or farms know that it’s vitally important to plant well, tend well, and prune well for the best yield and the best crops. Grapes can be especially finicky to manage. There are many vineyards. But only a selection of grapes yield the best wines. Why? For those of you who aren’t growers…. let’s come at this another way. In today’s world, our young people are killing their peers at an alarming rate. While many are quick to blame parents, ...

1185. Who Are You Following?

Matthew 16:21-28

Sermon

Roy Howard

“If any want to be my followers, let them deny themselves, take their cross and follow me.” The first thing that needs to be said is that this is a difficult teaching of Jesus. We should not fool ourselves. It’s better to confess this at the beginning than to pretend otherwise and lose our way in the end. The honesty with which we hold our lives before God is the measure of our desire to be followers of Jesus and not merely religious spectators. The second thing that needs to be said is that it’s the end ...

1186. The Oath

Mark 6:14-29

Sermon

Lori Wagner

Edgar Allen Poe, one of our great American authors, wrote a famous, rather chilling tale called the “Tell-Tale Heart.” In the story, we see the inner workings of an unknown narrator’s mind, as he wrestles with guilt, self-loathing, fear, and growing paranoia. From the beginning of the tale, the narrator feels mentally and emotionally tortured by encounters with an elderly gentleman, who he believes is watching him, and judging him. He is literally spooked by the old man, and as his paranoia grows, so does ...

1187. Clean and Unclean

Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23

Sermon

Frank Ramirez

Some think that the purpose of science fiction is to predict the future, but those tend to be people who don’t read science fiction. In fact, science fiction is sometimes written to prevent the future by holding a mirror to our society to show us truth. Once we get over being startled we realize that we’re looking at ourselves. In 1957, the science fiction writer Isaac Asimov published a short story called Strikebreaker. In the story a human society of around thirty thousand individuals lives inside of a ...

1188. Pulling Our Punches

Mark 10:17-31

Sermon

Frank Ramirez

Nobel Prize Laureate for Literature Robert Allan Zimmerman — more popularly known as Bob Dylan — has written many memorable lyrics. He has a good ear for the rhythms of speech, poetry, and the Bible. In his song “The Times They Are A-Changin’” Dylan listed a number of factors that should prove to those who stand in the way of truth that “Your order is rapidly fadin’.” He concluded with words that echo Jesus — “For the first one now will later be last, for the times, they are a-changin’.” In the gospels it ...

1189. Faith and Freedom

Mark 5:21-43

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

During World War II, a General and one of his Lieutenants were traveling from their base to a base in another state. They were forced to travel with civilians aboard a passenger train. They found their compartment, where two other folks were already seated. There they found an attractive young lady and her grandmother. The four of them had a friendly visit for most of the trip, at least until the train entered a long and rather dark tunnel. Once inside the tunnel, the passengers in this particular car ...

1190. Imagine This

Matthew 3:13-17

Sermon

John Jamison

We’re going to start the story today some 400 miles away from the Jordan River. The city of Tarsus was a major business center in what is now Turkey and a place where many Jewish families had settled who had fled the harsh Roman rule around Jerusalem. We’re going to start by looking at one particular Jewish family in Tarsus. It was a devout Jewish family. A son in that family would later refer to himself as “of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a ...

1191. Professional Angel

1 Peter 2:19-25

Sermon

Ronald Love

Marie Curie was devoted to science, determined to discover the medical possibilities for radiation. Working with radium slowly affected her health. Curie would often become ill, a result of radiation sickness. Painful burning lesions would appear on her hands and face, caused by handling radioactive material. Eventually, her vision was impaired; the only way she continued to work was by wearing thick lensed glasses and taping large color coded signs on her laboratory instruments. Yet, through this ...

1192. The Paradox of the Yoke

Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30

Sermon

Lori Wagner

Most people would not prefer to be fastened into a yoke. Yokes are rigid. They are entrapping. They are hard, and they are inhibiting. Yet, you wouldn’t want to plow a field without one –if you lived in the first century that is. Think of it perhaps this way. You’re going on a hike through the wilderness. In order to survive well, you carry a fairly heavy, bulky backpack on your back. It may feel uncomfortable, hot, and annoying, but without it, you’re left to fend for yourself in the mountains and the ...

1193. A Good Name

Proverbs 22:1-2, 8-9

Sermon

Will Willimon

“A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, and favor is better than silver or gold." Proverbs 22:1-2, 8-9 Do you believe that? It's from the book of Proverbs. You get this sort of moral platitude there. "A good name is better than silver or gold." Sounds a little quaint, this talk of "a good name." But this is typical of Proverbs. Here is ethics done the old-fashioned (600 B.C.) way -- an older person telling a younger person how to live in order to have a good life. The book of Proverbs is, ...

1194. The Case of the Stolen Inheritance

Matthew 21:33-46

Sermon

Lori Wagner

Jesus’ love for stories is well known. He knew that human beings learn better through stories that demonstrate, resonate, and reverberate with their experiences and lives than simply telling them what they ought to do. The goal for Jesus was not just to infuse learning but to provoke “turning” one’s behavior around in a different direction. This required not just a cognitive register in the brain, but a genuine movement of the heart. What moves your heart? Think about the books you’ve read or the movies ...

1195. I Am Somebody!

Mark 1:4-11

Sermon

David E. Leininger

I suspect that, having made it to mid-January, you would say that you have successfully survived the holidays. True? The celebration of our Savior’s birth — Christmas; then the New Year; finally the Feast of the Three Kings on January 6th — Epiphany (which for many has become the Feast of Taking Down the Decorations!). Today I want to suggest that there is one more holiday we should be observing — this day, the one the liturgical calendar designates to remember the Baptism of the Lord. If the witness of ...

1196. Seeing With The Eyes Of Faith

Mark 10:46-52

Sermon

Thomas C. Willadsen

We’ve been walking with Jesus on the way to Jerusalem for over a month. The stories from Mark’s gospel have showed us many sides of Jesus’ personality. Perhaps more importantly, they have shown us many sides of the disciples’ personalities. The disciples in many ways took our place in that drama. They reacted as we would, most of the time, I think. They were slow to understand that Jesus was going to suffer and die. They were more concerned about their own status and power than anything else. They ...

1197. Don't Hold Back

Luke 18:9-14

Sermon

Jill J. Duffield

It was supposed to be a routine pastoral visit, you know: a pre-surgery prayer, a brief discussion about what was expected on the other side of the procedure. A: “When do they say you get to go home?” or “Will you have to do rehab?” It was questionable as to whether or not a visit was even warranted. This wasn’t a church member who expected a lot of attention, a phone call that afternoon would have been sufficient, but this was a ruling elder I’d grown close to over the years so I decided to go and let her ...

1198. A Hostage Repents

Luke 3:1-20

Illustration

Richard A. Jensen

Terry Anderson is probably the best known of the American hostages kept in Lebanon. Anderson, an Associated Press journalist, was held hostage for 2,454 days! His ordeal began innocently enough on March 16, 1985. As he dropped off his tennis partner after a morning match he noticed a green Mercedes pulled up just ahead of where he was stopped. Suddenly three young men came charging out of the car. Each had a 9-mm pistol hanging loosely on their hip. In a flash they were at Anderson's car window. "Get out ...

1199. Children, Just Forever

Mark 9:42-50

Sermon

George W. Hoyer

You are now, each one of you, and you have always been since you were baptized, one of these "little ones" who believe. Since the name of Christ was laid on you, and you were marked with his cross, he has claimed you as one of his "little ones" of which the text speaks, "these little ones who believe in me." At the time Jesus said these words there were only "little ones" for Jesus had not been around long enough to have big ones, people who had been believers in him for a lifetime, or for half a lifetime ...

1200. Tiny Town: Promised Power

Micah 5:1-4

Sermon

Tony Everett

Country and western music tells stories of broken dreams and sad times. The mournful lyrics are often cries of hopelessness, helplessness, and insignificance in the overall scheme of things. Perhaps you are familiar with titles like these: "Every Time I Make My Mark, Somebody Paints The Wall"; "Here's A Quarter, Call Someone Who Cares"; "I'm Standing In The Middle Of The River And Dying Of Thirst"; "Why Don't Your Dog Bite Nobody But Me?"; "There's A Light At The End Of The Tunnel; Lord, I Hope It Ain't No ...

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