Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 1301 to 1325 of 1858 results

1301. Pet Peeves and Pet Pleasures

Luke 3:21-38

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... or bad news of the day, why not share a moment of joy and transform someone’s day with God’s pleasure. Let’s check our “pet peeves” with “pet joys.” I’m not the only one thinking these thoughts. Popular women’s writer Ann Voskamp calls herself a “wild crusader for crazy joy.” She just launched a 30 days of Crazy Joy where each day you do something just for the sheer joy of it, and then tell others about it. You say: but there is so little to be joyful about. True, there is no shortage ...

1302. Are You Part of the Scandal?

Luke 15:11-32

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... from the “been there/done that” vantage point of the twenty-first century, it is hard for us to see just how grievous this young man’s actions had been, how much grief and shame he had caused his family. He had not just sown some “wild oats.” He planted a prairie where he broke every familial and social contract of his culture. He fractured the civil constructs that upheld the unity of a “faith community.” And still his father forgave him. That’s the scandal of this story: the scandal of a ...

1303. On God's Side Or In God's Way?

Acts 11:1-18

Sermon

King Duncan

... ,” he said, “and in a trance I saw a vision. I saw something like a large sheet being let down from heaven by its four corners, and it came down to where I was. I looked into [this sheet] and saw four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, reptiles and birds. Then I heard a voice telling me, ‘Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.’ “I replied, ‘Surely not, Lord! Nothing impure or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’ But the voice spoke from heaven a second time, ‘Do not call anything impure that God ...

1304. Hitting the Boss Key

Matthew 4:1-11

Sermon

King Duncan

... God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.” Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit ...

1305. Outpouring and Indwelling

Romans 8:1-17

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... , the mustard seed was the kudzu of the first century. In the words of John Dominic Crossan, Jesus: A Revolutionary Biography (New York: Harper Collins, 1995), 65. The mustard plant is dangerous even when domesticated in the garden, and is deadly when growing wild in the grain fields. And those nesting birds, which may strike us as charming, represented to ancient farmers a permanent danger to the seed and the grain. The point, in other words, is not just that the mustard plant starts as a proverbially ...

1306. Apron Up (Mother's Day)

John 10:1-21

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... entryway. Jesus is the Patrol. As the “gate” itself Jesus declares that he is not only a gifted guide — a sage and Sherpa — but the only point of entry on life’s journey where there is a guarantee of safety and security, of love and protection, from the wildness and wilderness of life. As the Son of God Jesus is the entryway to God’s love and forgiveness. Jesus is the portal. Who in your life has been port, portal and patrol for you? Jesus has no hands but our hands. It is our safe guardians ...

1307. A Prayer for Persecuted Christians Everywhere

John 17:6-19

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... It seems 1492 is a year when both new, exciting frontiers and possibilities were discovered. Yet it is also a year when old prejudices, animosities, and cruelties were reborn with a vengeance. Although there were all sorts of free thinkers and some genuine wild-eyed crazies who got caught up in the Inquisitor’s net, the primary focus was on the resident Jews and Muslims residing in Spain. Both Jews and Muslims were rounded up and subjected to questions and the questionable tactics (yes torture) of the ...

1308. Appetites and Desires

Romans 7:7-25

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... . Jesus ate with all sorts of “out there” persons. Yet John the Baptist, the one charged with announcing the coming of the Messiah, was discharged and dismissed for being some kind of aesthetic weirdo — living in the wilderness, living off locusts and wild honey, baptizing people in the river, not fitting in with the first century dress code. He too, was “wrong.” Both life-styles of fasting and feasting were refused and rebuked by the mainstream. In the Pauline text, his letter to the Roman ...

1309. How Does Your Garden Grow?

Matthew 13:31-35

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... heaven is like.” Last week Jesus likened the Kingdom to a field sowed with both wheat and weeds. This week he compares the Kingdom of God to the tiny mustard seed, which has the ability to grow into a huge shrub, capable of housing all sorts of wild life. In Matthew 13:44 Jesus extols the “richness” that might be found in ordinary soil. In v.45 he draws our attention to the richness, the “pearl of great price,” that might be found in ordinary seawater. But it is not just unexpected bounty to which ...

1310. All In: Betting the Ranch

Luke 9:18-27

Sermon

James Merritt

... win or lose. When a player does that he is saying to all of the other partners, “I am betting everything I have. I am committing all that I’ve got.” If you have ever heard the term “bet the ranch” that came from what would happen sometimes in the Wild West. Gamblers would come in and bet hand after hand and if they really felt like they had a shot at the big pot they would literally put the deed to the ranch on the table and bet the ranch that they had a winning hand. Back in the day ...

1311. How to Hug

Romans 13:8-14

Sermon

King Duncan

... to become second lieutenants in the Nazi army. The commandant told them he would approve the promotion on one condition: that they join the Officers’ Club. Being a member of the Officers’ Club would require them to attend some wild and rather permissive weekend dances. So these young soldiers refused the invitation. They believed that dancing was wrong because it promoted sexual looseness, and sexual looseness would lead to immorality. And because of their convictions, they turned down the promotion ...

1312. Prison Theology: Bait and Bail

Philippians 1:12-30

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... lesson, part of the rich prison literature of the Christian tradition. Some of the most beautiful and exquisite literature ever written comes out of prison…think Cervantes, Voltaire, Diderot, Dostoevsky, Defoe, John Donne, Henry David Thoreau, Oscar Wilde, Jack London. Christianity’s prison literature includes classics like Martin Luther’s translation of the New Testament into German, John Bunyan’s "Pilgrim’s Progress," Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s "Letters and Papers from Prison," Martin Luther King ...

1313. An Announcement from the Wilderness

Mark 1:1-8

Sermon

King Duncan

... people of Jerusalem go out to him. Confessing their sins, they are baptized by him in the Jordan River. John was a strange looking spokesman for God. He wore clothing made of camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. And this was his message: “After me comes the one more powerful than I, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” So, almost immediately, Mark ...

1314. The Two Faces of Thanksgiving

Ephesians 1:15-23

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... them with grace and hospitality because they are family, but also because, as people of faith, we know our “family” goes way beyond our genes and geography. Our “family” will always be who and where we make it. It was probably goose or wild duck, not turkey, that was the centerpiece of that First Thanksgiving. There would have been fish present in the form of eels and various shellfish like lobster, clams and mussels, which were dried and smoked. Probably no salmon, just like no sweet potatoes ...

1315. Jesus Is Baptized

Mark 1:9-13

Sermon

King Duncan

... Zechariah and Elizabeth you will remember, was Jesus’ cousin. John was in the wilderness preaching about the coming Messiah. John was an eccentric character, with his clothing made of camel’s hair, a leather belt around his waist, and his diet of locusts and wild honey. Of course, maybe he was just ahead of his time. We could say he was into organic food and committed to a lifestyle of simplicity. Today he would be celebrated, not looked down upon for his unusual habits. Actually, he was celebrated in ...

1316. A Reminder to God...and to Us

Genesis 9:1-17

Sermon

King Duncan

... with humanity. The covenant God made with Noah is our lesson for this first Sunday in Lent: “I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you and with every living creature that was with you the birds, the livestock and all the wild animals, all those that came out of the ark with you every living creature on earth. I establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be destroyed by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.” And ...

1317. The God of Second Chances

Jeremiah 30:1--31:40

Sermon

King Duncan

... that accident, he was thrust immediately and painfully into the shocked numbness of deep grief. Strangely, one of his very first thoughts was covered with guilt. He remembered that, some months before at a family picnic, he had been showing off with a baseball. He threw it wildly, and it hit his dad and broke his thumb. Jim felt so bad about that. In his mind he thought, “What a terrible son I am!” He had caused his dad great pain. And he lived with that guilt for several months. Finally, he went to his ...

1318. Building a New Team

Mark 8:31--9:1

Sermon

Wayne Brouwer

... time and again. Coaching is nothing without a team that responds. Leaders are merely overblown egos if there is no one who will follow. During the tumultuous French Revolution of 1789, mobs and madmen rushed through Paris streets. One journalist reported a wide-eyed, wild-haired wastrel lumbering along one day, feverishly demanding from all he saw, “Where is the crowd? I must find them! I am their leader!” But just as surely, there is no team without a leader. People will mill about, or wander aimlessly ...

1319. Starting Over

John 12:20-36

Sermon

Wayne Brouwer

... righteousness would rule and blessings would abound. Isaiah saw it as a time when the exiles would come home, the roads to Jerusalem would be made more than passable, the greenery of earth would produce abundance beyond measure, the animals would be both tame and wild in appropriate ways, and the wealth of the nations would flow to Zion. Ezekiel would soon write of this age as the era when the temple would be rebuilt to greater glory and a refreshing stream would emerge from under God’s throne (the Ark ...

1320. I'll Never Forget That Night

John 13:1-17

Sermon

Wayne Brouwer

... there are extended monologues by Jesus scattered through the pages of John’s gospel that are both mystical and doctrinal, and have no clear parallel to the manner of Jesus’ teachings or conversations as recorded by the synoptics. In short, the fourth gospel is a wild ride in a theme park of its own. Yet, it is also so homey and comfortable that elements of it are like old slacks and shirts worn easily. The Greek language, through which the text is communicated, is basic and simple, so that beginner stu ...

1321. The Big "W"

Mark 8:31--9:1

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... us. We become open to the special, individual secret, that God wants to share with our singular soul. It is the Big “W” that empowers and emboldens and ennobles Jesus’ way of ministry and mission. John Eldredge, best-selling author of Wild at Heart, has recently noted that the church has largely given up signing “Onward Christian Soldiers” and replaced it with some alternatives. These are his words: We've exchanged that great hymn "Onward, Christian Soldiers" for a subtle but telling substitute ...

1322. The Story Worth Living

John 3:1-21

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... Hebrew word in Genesis denoting “serpent” (nahash) signifies a dragon (see Isaiah 27:1) or sea monster (Jb 26:13). So you might as well translate it as “dragon” as “serpent.” This serpent is described as “more crafty than any other wild animal that the Lord God had made” (Genesis 3:1). This description, however, does not give the serpent any special, extraordinary powers or fire-breathing skills. Instead it clearly states that the serpent is, like everything else on earth, a creature that ...

1323. Joy Giver

Luke 2:8-20

Sermon

James Merritt

... it possible for me to take my entire family down to Disney World. Many years ago, we took our boys there when they were very, very small. Jonathan was just a little tike. When we walked into the park, he evidently knew about Space Mountain, which is a pretty wild ride. He said, “Daddy, don’t make me ride Space Mountain.” I promised him that I wouldn’t, but I really wanted to ride Space Mountain. Later in the day when we had done all the other rides we came by Space Mountain and Teresa, James and I ...

1324. The Good Life

John 10:11-18

Sermon

James Merritt

... God? In bible days a shepherd who embarked on a long journey with a flock of sheep was considered successful if he arrived with more than 50% of the flock. And the reason is there were just so many dangers to the sheep such as disease, poisoned grass, bad water, wild animals. But that is why Jesus is the good one of a kind shepherd. Because when Jesus starts out with a hundred sheep he ends up with a hundred sheep. He doesn't lose one of them. I realize there are some of you here today and Jesus is not ...

1325. What Do You See?

Luke 10:25-37

Sermon

James Merritt

... was one of the most crime-ridden areas in all of Israel. Bible scholars estimate there were at least 12,000 thieves that roamed that Judean wilderness between Jerusalem and Jericho. It is kind of like our modern day gangs today roaming around like packs of wild dogs attacking innocent victims, beating them, and robbing them. Jesus tells about another victim – robbed, beaten and literally left half dead. There is a lot we don’t know about this man, but there is one thing we do know about him. He is a man ...

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