Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 1326 to 1350 of 2404 results

1326. Momentous Moment

Mark 14:12-26

Sermon

David T. Ball

... , or personal struggles to come to terms with something that threatens to control us, can’t we feel awfully alone in such times? Our family and friends are there for us at the high points — graduations, births and birthdays, weddings, other celebrations of our achievements. But who is there when we are facing something we fear is so powerful that we cannot stop it? There is so little in our lives that provides a place and a space for us when we’re facing difficult situations. Of course, we ...

1327. It’s Good to Know Who Is Calling

1 Samuel 3:1-10 (11-20)

Sermon

Schuyler Rhodes

... by the demands and cacophony they make. My hope, my prayer is that we will all make a reasoned, intentional effort to slow down enough so that we can actually hear God's voice. My not so secret desire is that we will step out of this world's hyper achievement mode long enough to tell a joke, or listen to a child's story. My yearning is for not just quality, but quantity. Time for us to love, to play, and to listen. Then when we hear the voice, we'll have someone to go to, as Samuel did, to ...

1328. A Sure-Fire Way to End Burn Out

Isaiah 40:21-31

Sermon

Schuyler Rhodes

... the gift of days that has been given us. Right action, good works, compassion are still at the core of God's summons to us in our daily lives, but the outcome? It's not in our hands, and the more we fret, worry, maneuver and manipulate to achieve our desired outcome, the farther we travel from God. It is also a sure-fire way to flame out and find ourselves burned out, exhausted, and empty. There is a cliché that surrounds these ideas. It says that we should work as though everything depends on us, and ...

1329. What’s New?

Jeremiah 31:31-34

Sermon

Ron Lavin

... was totally rejected by his own people. His words and his life of suffering for the people point beyond himself to Christ. In Christ, Something New Has Come Near Another prophet spoke about the possibilities of a new personal relationship with God being achieved through the suffering servant, "a man who was despised and rejected, acquainted with infirmity ... despised and held in no account" (Isaiah 53:3). We pick up the story of the Savior of the new covenant in Isaiah. Surely he has borne our infirmities ...

1330. Being Good ... for Nothing

Job 23:1-9, 16-17

Sermon

Mary S. Lautensleger

... . Even more shattering, her husband left her, asking for a divorce. Suddenly, Jeannie found herself unneeded by her children, unwanted by her husband, and all alone. Her world had collapsed. Even God seemed far away. Or what about Danielle? She had worked hard to achieve her goals. She had been a good student in high school and was the first in her family to attend college. After graduation she began working for a nationally known retailer and worked her way up to store manager. Devoting herself totally to ...

1331. Apocalypse Wow!

Isaiah 25:6-9

Sermon

Mary S. Lautensleger

... because they now have a vision of salvation. Paul interweaves prophetic and apocalyptic responses to questions concerning suffering and hope. "Through scripture and experience we have the sure knowledge that God's victory over death in the cross and resurrection of Christ achieved the ultimate glory and victory of God. This triumph will seal the final defeat of the power of death in God's world,"3 proclaims J. Christiaan Beker, who is no stranger to suffering, having experienced as a teenager the horrors of ...

1332. The Right Kind of Devotion

Matthew 22:34-40

Illustration

In order that we may know how to love ourselves, an end has been established for us to which we are to refer all our action, so that we may attain to bliss. For if we love ourselves, our one wish is to achieve blessedness. Now this end is to cling to God. Thus, if we know how to love ourselves, the commandant to love our neighbor bids us to do all we can to bring our neighbor to love God. This is the worship of God; this is true religion; this is the ...

1333. Would You Be a Saint?

Matthew 23:1-39

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... have but to recognize and celebrate them. And this is our problem. The problem with real “saints” is that they are slippery. Jesus identified the revealing qualities of a true “saint” in today’s text. They don’t proudly peacock their achievements. They do not wear “broad phylacteries” or “long fringes.” They do not insist upon the best, recognition of their deeds, or need special placement in the community, or the best seats in the sanctuary. True “saints” slip under the radar. One ...

1334. Keeper of the Springs

Proverbs 31:10-31

Sermon

Peter Marshall

... hear of a godly woman–or of a godly man either, for that matter. I believe women come nearer fulfilling their God-given function in the home than anywhere else. It is a much nobler thing to be a good wife than to be Miss America. It is a greater achievement to establish a Christian home than it is to produce a second-rate novel filled with filth. It is a far, far better thing in the realm of morals to be old-fashioned than to be ultramodern. The world has enough women who know how to hold their cocktails ...

1335. The Kingdom of Heaven Is Like a Professor

Matthew 25:14-30

Illustration

... five projects, to another two, and to another one, each according to their ability. The one who received five projects immediately went to work, designing experiments, building equipment, and analyzing data. She worked long and hard, and eventually she achieved good results on each project. Likewise, the one who received two projects immediately went to work, and eventually got results as well. But the student who received one project was easily discouraged, got distracted by her coursework, and eventually ...

1336. An Exquisite Attitude of Gratitude

Ephesians 1:15-23

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... a dreadfully ill-fitting, cheap-looking suit. He looked like the guy who never could get a date, and was a member of the chess club (but not one of the really smart ones!). He looked like the one destined from the womb to only hope to achieve mediocrity. Have any of you seen this YouTube clip? Then you know the rest of the story. Paul comes out stuffed into his shabby suit, and announces to the judges (including the dread-inspiring “Simon”) that he is going to sing opera. The judges set their collective ...

1337. Merry Christmas or Happy Kitschmas?

1 Corinthians 1:1-9

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... first steps you would think they had found a way to run cars off pure air! Every tiny advance, every minuscule milestone, is celebrated by proud parents. And they should be. They are signs of a child’s physical growth, general maturation, important achievements that make us all human. Paul celebrates the spiritual gifts experienced and displayed by the Corinthian Christians in much the same way. Their gifts are real. Their talents are many. But their talents and gifts are as they should be, fitted to this ...

1338. Mark 1:1-8

Mark 1:1-8

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... “a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins” (v.4). But to a first century audience this activity isn’t as readily understandable. In Judaism and in various Gnostic sects, ritual washing was part of everyday piety. Immersion in a “mikvah” to achieve purity was also part of Jewish tradition. But it is unclear whether there was any true convert baptism at this time in Judaism. Even more unusual is linking baptism to “a forgiveness of sins.” The baptism John proclaims does not join those ...

1339. Body Sculpting and Self Shaping

Mark 1:21-28

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... , as our aerobics, jogging, body sculpting, and dieting reveal. By combining our food-fixated culture with our technology-fascinations we strive to create the perfect outer self, a slimmed-down and firmed-up body. Once a "Ten" or "Gold's Gym" body is achieved through makeovers by Moore's Nautilus and takeovers by TCBY (the new breakfast, lunch and dinner of champions), the consensus reads, those demons that hound our soul and grind down our spirits will be dispossessed. But in trying to drive out our demons ...

1340. Wild Beasts

Genesis 9:8-17

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... nature of Christ's death and resurrection. If Christ's death was a saving event for even the antediluvian generation, then salvation is for the entire order of created beings. All those who faced punishment are now redeemed. All life is now able to achieve its fullest expression of being through the grace of God's sacrificial love. The gospel is not simply news of our redemption from the world. The gospel promises redemption of the world. It is no coincidence that the somber period of Lent occurs, for ...

1341. MegaGrace

Acts 4:32-35

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... wrong God for a lifetime" (Herb Miller, How Not to Reinvent the Wheel(barrow) [Nashville: Abindgon, 1990], 15-16), some people are talking to God with the wrong instrument. Men and women of the Hebrew Scriptures were the first to be convinced that God's will could not be achieved with out the help of divine grace. Psalm 90 begs of Yahweh: "And may the gracious care of the Lord our God be ours; prosper the work of our hands for us!" (90: 17). Another psalm prays: "Teach me to do Your will, for You are my God ...

1342. When C Is Not Average

1 Samuel 16:1-13

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

This world is governed by "C" people - not "the best and the brightest" only, but the committed, the consecrated, and the compassionate. In scriptures you find over and over again that "C" people also prevail. Indeed, God chooses ordinary people to achieve extraordinary tasks. The things we say we'll never do - "It's not in me" - become the very things God's grace leads us into. God gives us the resources we need at the time we need them. One of the greatest pressures we all operate under is the imperative ...

1343. Minding Your Heart

Mark 6:30-44

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

The church is the Body of Christ, and as such it has many organs. This week we consider how best the church can achieve a healthy balance between head, hand and heart. The Hopi Indians have a tradition that contrasts "head knowledge" with "heart knowledge - a tradition that respects the strengths of both ways of knowing. Western culture has been less equal handed, for while it has recognized the existence of other ways of ...

1344. The Golden Calf and the Golden Table

James 1:17-27

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... can the church hope to approach the golden table. Only after having gained the vantage point of that table can the church begin to serve God as an arbitrator of wisdom and justice for the world. The Golden Calf of the American Fairy Tale: Achievement and accumulation, production and consumption, winning and wealth, have all become the idols we worship in our quest for success and fulfillment. In our fixation on these ways and means we lose sight of who and what we are. While James reminds us that ...

1345. Protecting Your Valuables

James 3:13-18

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... the servant status we have been called to seek? Political scientist/technology expert Langdon Winner has stripped the glossy veneer off our grasping at goods, revealing a cataclysmic crack in the dreams of modern materialism: Although society achieves unparalleled wealth, ... because the automobiles, appliances, energy systems, prepared foods, cosmetics, and other products and services have been engineered to corrupt specifications, the good life begins to look like a colossal pile of junk" Langdon, The ...

1346. Global Warming

Genesis 2:18-24

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... potential of relationships can take the chill off. By actively working to transcend the separateness we have structured into our lives, our careers, even our worship, perhaps we can rediscover what Carson McMullers calls "the we of me." But achieving connectedness means opening up our safe little self centered, self-contained lives and making ourselves vulnerable to others. Being vulnerable is the essence of relationships, for only in vulnerability is there true investiture. Just as God risked the divine ...

1347. No Green Without Red

Mark 10:35-45

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... 's unhesitating encounter with the painful "red" lights that blocked his road to the Father. There is no resurrection without atonement, no success without sacrifice, no liberation without suffering. The colors of the dream must include blood red if we are to achieve garden green. Martin Amis is one of the great young novelists writing today. His London Fields (New York: Harmony Books, 1989) was nominated for many of the world's major literary prizes. In an interview on "Nightwatch," Amis was asked what it ...

1348. Grits, Grats and Gruts...Not Grunts

1 Corinthians 15:35-38, 42-50

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... Income Trusts), Grats (Grantor Retained Annuity Trusts) and Gruts (Grantor Retained Unitrusts) are all variations on the same theme: You can write your will so that heirs give up interest on assets today, which they will own in the future, in order to achieve dramatic tax breaks and reduced gift effects. All three of these strategies allow one to help charities and churches while leaving assets to heirs, all the while retaining control over resources plus reducing gift and estate taxes. This is one kind of ...

1349. Christ the Snake

2 Corinthians 5:16-21

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... rage. Likewise, we have heard the story of Jesus'' death on the cross so many times that the painful, bloody details, which made possible an incredibly miraculous cure, are lost to us. We take for granted the fact that the impossible has been achieved; we have been redeemed from death and reconciled to God through the terrible tragedy of Christ's crucifixion. In the 19th century there were two distinctly different schools of thought vying for supremacy in the field of medicine. If you became ill, you ...

1350. Unum Humanum

John 17:20-26

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... original discovery - the oneness at the heart of humanity - has been forgotten and waylaid so long that when it finally does begin proclaiming the unum humanum the world will yawn with boredom. The concept will not be sufficiently original. But achieving political, economic, even environmental oneness will ultimately depend on recognizing the spiritual oneness shared by all humanity. Arab and Jew, Serb and Croat, black and white, will continue to resist the call to global kinship until they experience the ...

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