Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 1176 to 1200 of 1858 results

1176. Remember: Live Worthy of the Calling

Ephesians 4:1-16

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... piggy-bank. We work to "bring home the bacon" so we can "live high on the hog." We don't ever "buy a pig in a poke" because we don't know what we're getting. When we spend a lot of money on frivolous things we've gone "hog wild." When someone puts us down for having too much money they call us a "Capitalist pig." Even in the life of the church, pork meets penny. The term STEWARD traces back to the medieval English title "STY-WARDEN" Or "STY-WARD." Yep, a pig-keeper. Jesus talked a lot about ...

1177. The Dawn of Forever

John 20:1-18

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... the resurrection, and the surprise of Easter morning. So, she asked: "And what do you think Jesus' first words were when He came bursting out of that tomb alive?" A hand shot up in the back of the classroom. The arm of a little girl was swinging wildly back and forth. She could hardly contain herself as she shouted excitedly "I know, I know!" "Good" said the teacher, "Tell us." And at that the little girl crouched down and then jumped up into the air extending her arms high and shouting: "TA-DA!" Although ...

1178. WWF: Smack Down In The Wilderness

Mark 1:9-15

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... him. [11] And a voice came from heaven, "You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased." [12] And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. [13] He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him. [14] Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, [15] and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news." Jesus wrestled ...

1179. There Will Be Light

Isaiah 2:1-5

Sermon

King Duncan

... is one theme that is appropriate for this season of the year it is light. Some of you have already gotten out the lights for your Christmas tree. Some of you will perhaps light up the entire inside and outside of your house. A few people go hog-wild as they say in the South when it comes to Christmas lights. They will strain every utility plant for miles around with their addiction to brightening up their homes. That’s all right, as long as we understand what Isaiah meant when he said, “Let us walk in ...

1180. Advent 2

Psalm 72:1-7, 18-19, Isaiah 11:1-10, Matthew 3:1-12, Romans 15:4-13

Bulletin Aid

Amy C. Schifrin

Litany of Confession Leader: Wild animals flourish around us, All: and prowl within us. Leader: Injustice and inequity surround us, All: and hide within us. Leader: Vanity and pride divide us, All: and fester within us. A time for silent reflection Leader: O God, may your love free us, All: and may your Spirit live ...

1181. Redeemed, Redeemed, Redeemed!

Matthew 24:36-51

Illustration

Brett Blair

... you going to do with them?" "I'm going to play with them, and then I guess I'll just feed them to an old cat we have at home." When Gordon offered to buy them, the lad exclaimed, "Mister, you don't want them, they're just little old wild birds and can't sing very well." Gordon replied, "I'll give you $2 for the cage and the birds." "Okay, it's a deal, but you're making a bad bargain." The exchange was made and the boy went away whistling, happy with his shiny coins. Gordon walked around ...

1182. The Irrational Season

Romans 14:1--15:13

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... ” so that we may experience the season that can “fill you with all joy and peace in believing” (Romans 15:13). Madeline L’Engle (A Wrinkle In Time author) wrote that when it comes to Christmas This is the irrational season When love blooms bright and wild For if Mary had been filled with reason There’d have been no room for the child. Advent is the irrational season, when we don’t let our reasons for differences dissuade us from the “reason” for the season. And there are a lot of “reasons ...

1183. Repent Your Way to a Merry Christmas - Sermon Starter

Matthew 3:1-12

Illustration

Brett Blair

... to splash about in the shallows. Soon the sword of Herod's guard would flash and his tongue would lie silent in the grave. Superficial people came out from Jerusalem to see him. They were intrigued by this strange phenomenon of a wild man preaching repentance. They were fascinated by frivolous things such as his dress, his diet, and his fierce declamatory oratory. They wanted to interview him and then tell all their friends about their remarkable experience. "Who are you?" they asked. His answer was ...

1184. The Great Physician

Matthew 4:23-25

Sermon

King Duncan

... who years ago went to a service conducted by a well-known faith healer. In this meeting a doctor was carried in on a stretcher. This doctor had been diagnosed with incurable cancer. There in the meeting this doctor got up and walked around and everyone cheered wildly. He was told he had six months to live, but tonight he believed that God had healed him. The young man told Yancey, “I had never known such certainty of faith before. My search was over; I had seen proof of a living God in those people ...

1185. The Case of the Dancing Men

Psalm 51:1-19

Sermon

King Duncan

... grace and became Israel’s greatest king. This did not mean that David escaped the consequences of his misdoing. David’s family life is one tragedy after another following his sin with Bathsheba. He paid for his sin for the rest of his life. We cannot sow wild oats, to use the old expression, and pray for a crop failure. There are consequences every time we break God’s laws. But there is also forgiveness and the opportunity to make a new beginning. God’s grace does not depend on our actions, but God ...

1186. Was There No Other Way?

Isaiah 52:13--53:12

Sermon

King Duncan

... HIS DISCIPLES TO PAY A GREATER PRICE THAN HE WAS WILLING TO PAY. Think of Stephen as the stones rip his flesh, and Peter as he dies crucified upside down. Many of the followers of Jesus were burned as torches in Nero’s gardens or torn apart by wild animals in the gladiator’s arena. Only a soft, sentimental unrealistic faith would conjure the supposition that there was any other way for Jesus but the way of the cross. This is a hard world. The affluence and security of our land shelter us from that truth ...

1187. Matthew 21:1-1

Matthew 21:1-11

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... looks different, and when you are walking you can only get one bag of groceries at a time. There are short-cut trails through the brush behind the strip mall, connecting shops in ways you never knew. Even the scruffiest vacant lot will have wild flowers (a.k.a. “weeds”) poking up among the litter of old plastic bags and empty cans. Jesus’ public ministry was carried out on foot. Except when a water crossing required a boat, Jesus and his disciples wandered the Galilean countryside and wove their ...

1188. Suddenly, Their Eyes Were Opened

Luke 24:13-35

Illustration

Scott Hoezee

... long her master has been missing and she noted, too, that by then Odysseus would be about the same age and of about the same build as the man whose feet she was washing. Now when Odysseus had been a young boy, he was once gored by a wild boar, leaving a nasty scar on his leg. As Euryclea went about her servile task, suddenly her hand brushed against that old scar and instantly her eyes were opened and she recognized, with great joy, her beloved friend and master! The men on the road to Emmaus have traveled ...

1189. Wrong!

Acts 2:1-13

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... Bible, I throw this one into the wrong hopper: The learned Hebrew scholar Hugh Broughton, who wasn’t chosen to be on the KJV translation committee, wrote to the King when the “Authorized Version” was published that he would “rather be rent in pieces with wild horses” than see the new Bible used in churches, “it is so ill done.” WRONG! Soren Kierkegaard wrote this: “It is an edifying thought, to know that before God I am always in the wrong.” Nobody, ever, has gotten it all right. There are ...

1190. The Receptive Heart

Matthew 13:1-23

Sermon

King Duncan

... in any one seed. French author Jean Giono tells the story of a young man who was undertaking a lone hiking trip through Provence, France, and into the Alps in the year 1913. The young man runs out of water in a treeless, desolate valley where only wild lavender grows and there is no trace of civilization except old, empty crumbling buildings. Lacking water he encounters a shepherd who shows him a spring where he can drink. Curious about this man and why he has chosen such a lonely life, the young man stays ...

1191. The Mustard Weed

Matthew 13:31-35

Illustration

William L. Dols

The Roman naturalist, Pliny the Elder, who died in 79 AD while investigating the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, writes: "Mustard grows entirely wild, though it is improved by being transplanted: But on the other hand when it has once been sown it is scarcely possible to get the place free of it, as the seed when it falls germinates at once." Pliny describes in great detail the medicinal uses of the mustard plant, ...

1192. Matthew 14:22-36

Matthew 14:22-36

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... me.” Peter’s request, however, is rather self-aggrandizing. He wants to be commanded by Jesus to share in the power of God to control the chaos of the watery depths. Peter wants to walk with Jesus, as long as it is on “the wild side.” Jesus’ invitation is simple and immediate. So too is Peter’s response. He gamely clamors out of the boat and steps onto the water. The tense of the verbs here makes possible various understandings of Peter’s actions. If an “inceptive aorist” is understood ...

1193. Don't Be Afraid

Matthew 14:22-36

Sermon

King Duncan

... Even as a child, “when calamity would present itself: when she would wake, sweating, from a nightmare; when a bicycle fall would result in skinned elbows and knees; when the preacher’s kid next door would beat her up; when she would draw the ‘wild man of Borneo card’ from the Old Maids’ deck and freak out; when she would watch the Wizard of Oz; when her behavior would press her mother to threaten, ‘you are cruisin’ for a bruisin’; she would counter internally with her watchword: ‘a bruised ...

1194. Who Could Have Commanded?

Matthew 14:22-36

Illustration

Will Willimon

"Jesus calls us o'er the tumult of our life's wild, restless sea, in our joys and in our sorrows, 'Christian come and follow me.'" Isn't that how another old gospel hymn puts it? But in today's Gospel, Jesus doesn't simply call us over the tumult. Jesus doesn't call us out of the tumult. No, in today' ...

1195. Handling Freedom

Exodus 20:1-17

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... will arise. If you go into court, God says tell the truth. A decent and just society is dependent upon a trustworthy legal system to resolve conflicts. And finally, Commandment #10: "You shall not covet" (v. 17).This is another one that is wildly misunderstood, and the reason it is is because folks do not read the whole thing. Read the rest... and note the specifics ... house, wife, slaves, ox, donkey, property in general (and, yes, back in those days, wives were considered property). The prohibition is ...

1196. Never, Never, Never, NEVER GIVE UP!

2 Corinthians 4:5-12

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... passed in silence. Finally, Churchill said to the students, "Never ... give ... up!" And then to everyone's amazement, he walked off the stage. The crowd was stunned. Then, as they recognized the significance of his words, a tremendous ovation erupted. The crowd went wild! Never give up! Good advice. Advice that we need to hear again and again these days. The world seems topsy-turvy and spinning along out of control. Long-held values are called into question and even ridiculed. The job we had worked at ...

1197. How Can This Be?

Luke 1:26-38

Sermon

Robert J. Elder

... the task. We aren't fully up to it of course, no one is more aware of our shortcomings than we are. But, as the angel reminded Mary, we, too, are reminded: "With God all things are possible" (v. 37). This is the irrational season When love blooms bright and wild. Had Mary been filled with reason There'd have been no room for the child.1 Amen. 1. Madeline L'Engle, The Weather of the Heart, (Colorado Springs: H. Shaw, 1978), p. 45.

1198. The Elephant in The Living Room

Mark 8:31-38

Sermon

John Smylie

... the rest of the truth, the truth of deepest consequence and good news, they first had to face the challenge of Jesus' death. Luke was seventeen years old at the time of his death. He had a reputation at his school as one who was capable of some wildness. He appeared to be a normal child. He was involved in athletics; he even received a varsity letter his freshman year as a runner. He had the normal struggles of figuring out how to have a relationship with a girl. Yet, at times, he acted very foolishly and ...

1199. Planning Your Way Out

John 6:35, 41-51

Sermon

Robert Leslie Holmes

... necessary for his extended trip but he forgot the most important thing: a plan on how he would leave! A magnificent adventure ended in deep emptiness! With his cameras, he recorded beautiful pictures. The pages of his notebooks provided striking descriptions of the wild northern frontier. All these lay covered in ice beside his emaciated, frozen body when a search team finally found it. Have you planned your way out? We declare as a basic tenet of our Apostles' Creed, "I believe ... in the life everlasting ...

1200. But Is It True?

Luke 2:8-20, Romans 16:25-27

Sermon

Scott Suskovic

... mystery of old unfolds this night. And somewhere between the presents, the out-of-town visitors, the candlelight, and the music you have to be asking, is it true? Or is it really, as some would suggest, just the imagination of a maverick, renegade scribe gone wild in the sixth century making the Christmas story as believable as the story of Jack and the beanstalk? You see, there comes a point in which that question is no longer reserved for academia or the subject of a book trying to ride on the successful ...

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