Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 101 to 125 of 4937 results

101. The Courage to Be Me

Sermon

Gregory J. Johanson

... someone who had the courage to fail moved beyond certainty. It takes courage to unveil feet of clay to those who admire us. But then what seems to be one failure may be the beginning of another triumph. We can rejoice when false expectations give way to reality! This was the case at Golgotha. Jesus set his face steadfastly to go to Jerusalem, not knowing whether they would follow him and bring in the Kingdom of God. And even his disciples scattered after the crucifixion, thinking all was lost. Success by ...

102. Light for Beauty

Isaiah 62:1-12

Sermon

Harry N. Huxhold

... God, the desolate people of God, or a people forsaken by God. That was all behind them now. That was in the past. Their future was assured as the people whom God had chosen and rescued once more. The old names of “Forsaken and Desolate” would give way to the new name given by God, “My Delight is in Her.” As you have undoubtedly heard many times before, the Hebrew noun not only describes or names something, but it is lively and active. When God calls Israel his delight, that suggests to us that God ...

103. Jesus’s Fallible Followers

Luke 9:51-56, Luke 9:46-50, Luke 9:37-45

Teach the Text

R.T. France

... no guarantee of spiritual maturity. 2. The revolutionary values of the kingdom of God. Conventional ideas of status and importance have no place in Jesus’s program. The “least important” are the ones who matter most. The natural cliquishness of human society gives way to a warm inclusiveness. The self-interest that wants to retaliate violently to a perceived insult is rebuked. And all of this is under the shadow of Jesus’s knowledge that it will be his own fate to be rejected and killed in Jerusalem ...

104. The Birth of John

Luke 1:67-80, Luke 1:57-66

Teach the Text

R.T. France

... at work in this child. A sermon or lesson on this material could touch on Zechariah’s obedient response and “recovery” after his initial skepticism and the ensuing discipline by God (1:18–20). We all have times of doubt and skepticism that can give way to faith and obedience. The greater theme, however, is the special role that John will play in God’s plan and the recognition by the townspeople that God is at work. The awe and praise that accompany the restoration of Zechariah’s speech is a ...

105. We Who Are Many Are One Body

Mark 5:1-20

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... , to clothe us in glory – to restore us, to enable us to keep alive who we are. As Paul said, once we’ve come here – to this table – that is, once we have received His saving grace, we’re brothers and sisters in the body of Christ. Here legion will give way to Jesus, and we will arise to speak only of God’s mercy and what great things have been done for us. If you would be healed – if you will be a source of healing for a broken world – if you will be a dynamic of healing as we move through ...

106. Judgment on Jerusalem and Judah

Isaiah 3:1--4:1

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

... . The beginning and end of 3:16–4:1 mark the two extremes of this journey. There are two facets to the women’s fall. Most of the comment centers on the loss of their fine looks, jewelry, fine clothes, make-up, and accessories. Haute couture gives way to the appearance of a victim or a prisoner of war. The other facet to their fall is the disappearance of the men upon whom patriarchy requires them to depend. The city itself will mourn their disappearance (vv. 25–26). Even if they can provide their own ...

107. Why Christmas?

Isaiah 8:11-22

Sermon

Theodore L. Yewey

... of mind that takes over. Every person and every part of life takes on new perspective and new meaning. Persons who for most of the year have lived by something less than their best impulses and have tended to repress their best sentiments suddenly give way to the highest and the best within them. Those who have lived very closed and selfish lives are often seen to undergo a very dramatic change in the light of Christmas. Generosity and giving become the watch words of the season. Or consider the prevailing ...

108. A Dance in the Desert

Philippians 4:4-7

Sermon

Wayne Brouwer

... words of Advent is joy. It is a constant theme of the prophets when characterizing the redeemed community that emerges from exile and awaits God's next and greatest act. It is the heartbeat of Elizabeth and Zachariah as they hear that their cursed infertility is giving way to the medical impossibility of God's special pregnancy. It is the incredulous lyric of Mary's song as she feels the miracle of God's love growing inside her. Joy is the primary category in the index of the hymns of the church. Joy is ...

109. Easter 2

Jn 20:19-31 · 1 Pet 1:3-9 · Acts 2:14a, 22-32 · Ps 16 · Ps 111

Sermon Aid

Russell F. Anderson

... is precious and eternal. Gospel: John 20:19-31 Sermon Title: Believing Is Seeing. Sermon Angle: Believing in Christ is like stepping out into the shadows. There is no way to view the distant horizon. But when we launch out in faith, the shadows give way to a wonderful world of life and love, that we could not see before. Thomas came to believe through seeing. For us, the only options are to see through believing or to remain in the darkness. Outline: 1. Thomas missed seeing Christ because he was absent ...

110. How Does Your Garden Grow?

Matthew 13:31-35

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

By the end of July the bounty of a backyard summer garden finally starts to really produce. The earlier, “lighter” crops — peas, lettuces, baby carrots — give way to the rich ripe produce of high summer. Tomatoes, cucumbers, cherries, blueberries, raspberries, corn on the cob, string beans, radishes, spinach — all the stuff that makes for great “sides” at every summer barbecue. Backyard farmers revel in their “crops” because every vegetable is grown with TLC. Yet with the cost of ...

111. Proverbs of Solomon

Proverbs 16:1-33

Understanding Series

Roland E. Murphy

There is a noticeable change here. The antithetic style of previous sayings starts to give way to synonymous and synthetic or progressive parallelism. More important, there are indications of a deliberate arrangement. The Lord is the subject of verses 1–7, 9, 11, 20, 33, and the king is the topic in verses 10, 12–15. Moreover, the Lord and the king seem to be meshed together ( ...

112. Songs of Praise

Isaiah 12:1-6

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

... remnant to its land (11:10), when Yahweh in person reclaims that remnant (11:11). But above all and beneath all, it is the day when the anger of 5:25; 9:12, 17, 21; 10:4, 5 gives way in accordance with the promise of 10:25. It gives way to comfort, the first announcement of another theme to recur later (e.g., 40:1; 49:13; 61:2; 66:13). Here this comfort already reveals itself as a matter both of words and of actions, like anger. But actually the word translated “comfort” has occurred once before, in 1 ...

113. Confrontation in the Temple

John 2:12-25

Sermon

George Bass

... , but as God’s Special One who would be raised from the dead on the third day. The familiar remark, "Did you now know that I must be about my Father’s business?" made to frantic parents who had searched for him for three days, gives way to a mature scriptural stance: "Zeal for thy house will consume me." People sometimes make statements like that based on what they believe to be special revelations and even visions from God which they have had. In John Pielmeier’s rather involved play, Agnes of God ...

114. The False Prophet Hananiah

Jeremiah 28:1-17

Understanding Series

Tremper Longman III

... to symbolize God’s removal and destruction of the yoke of bondage that Nebuchadnezzar has on Judah. Again, Jeremiah reacts coolly. The text simply says that he went on his way. 28:12–17 It is not long (shortly) before Jeremiah’s caution gives way to certainty thanks to a divine oracle. Jeremiah is directed to confront Hananiah and reject his claim to divine authority. Indeed, his actions have made matters worse. Rather than a wooden yoke like the one he broke from around the neck of Jeremiah, God ...

115. Salt And Light

Matthew 5:13-16

Sermon

Mark Radecke

... Christ Lutheran Church on the corner of Grandin and Brandon." That answer always causes folks to squint and squinny their eyes and furrow their brows for a moment, as they access their mental map of the streets of Roanoke, and that expression usually gives way to the exclamation, "Oh, that green stone church across from Patrick Henry High School." "That's us," I said, as I finally extracted approximately two dozen napkins from the vanquished chrome box. I was about to invite the lady to join us for worship ...

116. The Accent Of Heaven

John 13:31-35

Sermon

Wayne Brouwer

... ! Rebel! A thing to flout! But Love and I had the wit to win: We drew a circle that took him in. (in the public domain) Circles of hatred are erased by circles of love. Circles of judgment are blurred by widening circles of mercy. Circles of death give way to circles of life. The Bible says that when we had drawn God out of our circles, divine love drew us in. Perhaps Edwin Markham’s poem could be translated into the conversation of heaven as the Father and the son reflect about us: He drew a circle that ...

117. We Interrupt This Service

John 1:1-18

Sermon

Thomas Long

... mount up with eagle's wings, to leave the earth behind, and to ascend into the celestial heights to be with God and his logos, his Word. But John's poem does not end with the first line. The eagle suddenly dives toward the ground. The violins give way to the blunt thud of a bass drum. Heaven crashes to the earth. The closing notes of the hymn fade, and it is time for the first startlingly earthbound announcement in Christian history: "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us ...." It is here that John and ...

118. Famine in Besieged Samaria

2 Kings 6:24-7:2

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

... before the LORD (v. 30; cf. 1 Kgs. 21:27). Faced with the horror about which he has just been told, however, the king is unwilling to wait any longer—even to settle the dispute that has been presented to him by the woman. The humility of his father gives way to the bloodthirstiness of his mother, as he takes her kind of oath on his lips (v. 31; cf. 1 Kgs. 19:2) and sends a man “from his presence” (better than the NIV’s ahead, v. 32) to remove Elisha’s head from his shoulders. It is strange that ...

119. The Siege Lifted

2 Kings 7:3-20

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

120. The Cost of Following Jesus

Matthew 8:18-22

Understanding Series

Robert H. Mounce

... the physically dead is to be left to the spiritually dead (those not responding to the urgency of the kingdom message). It is probably better to take it in a more general way as indicating that the ordinary priorities of this life are to give way to the demands of Christian discipleship. (In Luke 14:25–33 one cannot be a disciple without placing Christ above family ties, carrying one’s own cross, and giving up everything one has.) Additional Notes 8:20 Son of Man: Albright-Mann translate hyios tou ...

121. About Whose Business Was He?

Luke 2:41-52

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... and Mary experienced. Panic! Is he all right? What if he were kidnapped? Maybe he was hurt and we didn't know. Panic turns to anger. Why did he do this to us? Wait till I get my hands on him; I'll teach him a thing or two. Anger gives way to guilt. Where did we go wrong? What are people going to think of us? All of you who have lost children, even for a little while, know the gamut of these feelings Mary and Joseph must have felt on this particular day. There is a lesson in the lostness for ...

122. When The Going Gets Tough

2 Timothy 3:10--4:8

Sermon

King Duncan

... to read. Seems he was finally bored of fishing. Now John Glennall 77 years of himheads back into space. (1) No, aging isn't what it used to be. Still aging has its challengesand its disappointments. If we are not careful, fantasy gives way to fatalism. Faith gives way to despair. It could have happened to Paul. "At my first defense," he writes, "no one came to my support, but everyone deserted me." Can you imagine that? Here was the greatest Christian teacher who ever lived, and he could not count on ...

123. Epiphany 8

Mark 2:18-22, Mark 2:13-17, Psalm 103:1-22

Bulletin Aid

B. David Hostetter

... read the writing of your hand. Our hearts have been warmed by the glow of the Spirit's fire. We have seen with wonder and joy the changes you have made in the lives of people, even our own lives. We are grateful that the condemning law gives way to the life-giving Spirit. Alleluia. Amen. PRAYER OF DEDICATION Receive our donations and our discipleship, eternal Christ, that our daily work and our daily witness may call others to your service. Amen. PSALM 103:1-13 Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is ...

124. The View from the Mountaintop

Mark 9:14-32, Mark 9:2-13

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... had been a beautiful moment, but now they were back in the world where people fight with each other, the world where little children get sick for no reason, the world where folks get frustrated with their problems, the world where the faith of the mountaintop gives way to the despair and doubt of the valley. The mountaintop experiences are wonderful when they come, but the world where most of us live (and where Abraham Lincoln lived) is the one that hears a loving Dad at the end of his rope say, "Lord, I do ...

125. The View From The Mountaintop

Mark 9:2-9

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... been a beautiful moment, but now they were back in the world where people fight with each other, the world where little children get sick for no reason, the world where folks get frustrated with their problems, the world where the faith of the mountaintop gives way to the despair and doubt of the valley. The mountaintop experiences are wonderful when they come, but the world where most of us live (and where Abraham Lincoln lived) is the one that hears the loving Dad of an epileptic child at the end of his ...

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