Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 1351 to 1375 of 1967 results

1351. Until It Dawns on You

Matthew 17:1-9

Sermon

Mark Trotter

Lord Dunsany said, "It is seldom that the same man knows much of science, and about the things that were known before science." That has been my experience, and I think there is a reason for it. You can blame it on the Darwinians, and their assumption that life is always evolving into higher, more complex forms, so that what is now is better and more sophisticated than what was before. That was brought home to me when our children pointed out to me, "This is the 80s." They said that back in the decade in ...

1352. Baptism of our Lord

Isaiah 42:1-9, Matthew 3:13-17, Acts 10:23b-48

Sermon Aid

John R. Brokhoff

COMMENTARY Old Testament: Isaiah 42:1-9 Yahweh describes the character and work of his Servant. This is the first of four servant songs in Isaiah. In verses 1-4 the Servant is described as chosen and well-pleasing to Yahweh, Spirit-filled, patient, and faithful. In verses 5-9, the work of the Servant is to bring the light of salvation to the world, justice, and he shall be a covenant of the people. How does this passage relate to Jesus' baptism? As the Servant was anointed with the Spirit, Jesus at his ...

1353. Come Back

Luke 21:5-38

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

Just when I think that all this talk about A.I. or Artificial Intelligence is a bunch of artificial air, something happens to show me that maybe we're further along the AI path than we think. Maybe the worlds of the born and the words of the made are coming together faster than we ever imagined. In researching this week's theme of betrayal, I undertook a Google search to reference a disturbing news story I remembered hearing the last week of October. Here's the Associated Press news release: TACOMA, Wash ...

1354. Your Cheatin' Heart

Luke 6:17-26

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

In every machine, gizmo, tool, and implement designed by human ingenuity, there always seems to be one malfunction, one fatal flaw, one fault that spells doom for the entire contraption. You know its bad when the auto mechanic solemnly pronounces over your unmoving carcass of a car "it's the transmission." You know you're in trouble when the washing machine repairer proclaims "it's the water pump." You know it's curtains when the furnace maintenance expert just shakes his head, and hands you your heavy ...

1355. Hypocrites

Matthew 6:1-4

Sermon

King Duncan

Sometimes I almost feel sorry for hypocrites. Don’t you? Everybody hates a hypocrite. Isn’t that right? We may be able to tolerate diverse groups of people in our society, but one group that does not get compassion is the group made up of people who publicly stand for one thing and do something else. We might be able to stomach a politician who allegedly solicits gay sex, but not when he’s one of Congress’ leading gay bashers. It somehow troubles us when we see someone who expresses concern about global ...

1356. Wide Enough for All (Mother's Day)

Acts 2:1-13

Sermon

King Duncan

Welcome on this Mother’s Day. All Moms are unique, of course. Joan Torello says her mother is notorious for her lead foot. Joan was not at all surprised to hear that a Georgia State Trooper pulled her mother over for speeding as she raced through the state on the way home from Florida. Hoping to get off with a warning, Joan’s mother tried to appear shocked when the officer walked up to her car. “I have never been stopped like this before,” she said to the officer. “What do they usually do, ma’am,” he asked ...

1357. Singing at the Table

Joel 2:21-29

Sermon

John E. Harnish

Joel. One of what are called the "Minor Prophets," not because they are the "minor league," less important, but simply because of their size. The Major Prophets are the heavy-hitters—Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel. It took up a full scroll to record them. But these little guys played shortstop. They were the quick-read, the USA Today version—short enough for all of them to be recorded on one scroll. So they came to be known as "The Twelve" or the Minor Prophets. In Joel's day, it seems the worst had come to ...

1358. Enemies of Promise

Matthew 3:1-12

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

What are the enemies of promise that keep us from becoming the persons God made us to be? Rob Reiner's film Stand By Me tells the story of a group of four boys on their last journey of childhood. They are four very different kids from very different circumstances, and yet, they are still young enough that these differences don't matter very much. But they sense their time is short. It is the summer before they will enter junior high - where our education system and adolescence work together to divide ...

1359. What’s the Big Deal about Baptism?

Mark 1:9-11

Sermon

James Merritt

Jesus had a ministry that lasted a little more than three years. Of all the things He could have started His ministry with and ended His ministry with, He started it by being baptized and concluded it by commanding the church to make disciples and baptize others. Now, since baptism was the bookends of the ministry of the Son of God, that alone should tell us that baptism, is a big deal. It is but not because of what some people think. There are two extreme ways that people have of looking at baptism. There ...

1360. What's in a Name?

Deuteronomy 26:1-11

Sermon

Frank Ramirez

What's in a name? Does a name matter? Does it really matter if you're named Tom, Dick, or Harry — or Sharon, Sue, or Maggie? Hard to say. Consider the case of Gerald Ford, a former president of the United States. He was sixteen years old when a strange man sat down next to him at a soda fountain, introduced himself as his father, and told Gerald his name was really Leslie King, Jr. President Ford sounds very American, but in our democratic society, would we really want a person named King to be president? ...

1361. The Easter Era

Acts 10:34-43

Sermon

Frank Ramirez

Most of us probably enjoy taking part in Easter rituals both here at church and at home. There are things we have done since we were children, and we're glad to pass them on to the next generation. Some of these practices are deeply religious. We may have taken part in solemn Maundy Thursday and Good Friday services, or greeted the Easter Sunrise with song and celebration! Some of the practices may be a little secular, but we practice them religiously as well — breaking our Lenten fasts with a special ...

1362. Plenty Good Room

John 14:1-4

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

Time magazine once wrote a story on Eudora Welty, a novelist and Pulitzer Prize recipient from Jackson, Mississippi. It was a story about the silver jubilee celebration in her honor. Jackson named April 13, Eudora’s birthday, Eudora Welty Day, and Milsap’s College staged a southern literary festival. The festival attracted all sorts of outstanding writers from all across the nation, a lot of pipe-smoking academics, and would-be writers too—people who wanted to write, as well as people of the earth, people ...

1363. Miracles in Contrast

John 1:1-18

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

Text: “In him appeared life and this life was the light of mankind. The light still shines in the darkness, and the darkness has never put it out” (John 1:5-6 Phillips). A Burden and an Ache. That’s the title of a beautiful, heart stirring book written by Clarence McConkey. It’s a series of word portraits of persons in the inner city, living around the church McConkey served as pastor – persons whose lives are as down-beaten and ravaged as the buildings around them, as torn apart as the shattered economic ...

1364. Touching Hearts and Transforming Lives

2 Corinthians 5:11--6:2

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

At the tender age of eleven, my father and his three siblings were orphaned. His father died in the cold of winter. His mother fled for fear. The four children were left to fend for themselves. In a real drama of Survivor, my father set out the following spring to find work on farms as a hired hand. For 87 years now, he has dug out a living by the sweat of his brow. A few weeks ago, I sat by his hospital bed, holding his hand as he awakened from surgery. My father's hands are huge. If he ever gets you in ...

1365. Diving Deeper

Luke 5:1-11

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

Did you hear the story about the toddler who fell out of bed one night? Hearing the fall, the father rushed to the room, picked up the kid, dried his tears, and put him back to bed. When things calmed down a bit, the Dad asked his son, “What happened, what caused you to fall out of bed?” Still sobbing, the toddler said, “I don’t know, I guess I went to sleep too close to where I got in.” Living on the edge is a problem, not just for toddlers, but Christians, as well. Some of us have stepped into the kiddie ...

1366. The Door of Forgiveness

1 Timothy 2:1-15

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

Ernest Hemingway wrote a story about a father and son who had a serious misunderstanding. In the story, the boy finally runs away from home. The father however, is not content to let his son go. In an effort to find the boy, the father puts an ad in the Madrid, Spain newspaper. It contained these words: Dear Paco, Meet me at the town square at noon on Sunday. All is forgiven...Your father That Sunday, 800 males by the name of Paco showed up at the town square. They all came seeking forgiveness from their ...

1367. Reconsider

Matthew 1:18-25

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

Have you seen the cartoon featuring a gentleman and his cat? The man is holding his pet feline over a kitty litter box shouting firmly, “Never, never, never, ever think outside the box." What's good for cats may not be so good for people. The hope of the world lies with creative dreamers who are willing to think outside the box. At least that seems to be the case surrounding the birth of Jesus. While people complained that things never change and nothing new ever happens around Nazareth, the angel of the ...

1368. Spiritual Resuscitation

Romans 8:6-11

Sermon

David O. Bales

One spring when I was about ten, I was home alone after school. I don't know where the rest of the family was, but I did my chores as quickly as possible so I could join the rest of the neighborhood boys in our field for a baseball game. As I was dashing through the house and yard doing my jobs, I worked up an early appetite and thought I should prepare some nutritious morsel before the ordeal of a baseball game. In the refrigerator I found frankfurters. Not hotdogs. These were the fat — literally fat, I'm ...

1369. Swept Clean

Luke 10:38-42

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

You've probably heard that joke about the man who asked his wife what she'd like for her birthday. "I'd love to be six again," she replied. So, on the morning of her birthday, he got her up bright and early and off they went to a local theme park. What a day! He put her on every ride in the park. Five hours later she staggered out of the theme park, her head reeling, her stomach upside down. Right to a McDonald's they went for a Big Kids Meal with extra fries and a refreshing chocolate shake. Then it was ...

1370. Come On In The Water's Fine

Luke 3:15-17, 21-22

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

Show Clip from "Oh, Brother, Where Art Thou?"(Baptism scene, edited for language) That movie has become one of my favorite movies. And I particularly love that scene. As you watch the scene unfold you see the human need, the tugging of the heart and spirit as Delmar sees and recognizes the baptismal procession. He instinctively recognizes his need for spiritual cleansing and renewal. And he acts upon it. And then there's that last line of invitation, "Come on in, boys, the water's fine!" I love that. Every ...

1371. You Bring Me Great Pleasure

Matthew 3:13-17

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

How many of your New Year’s Resolutions have made it intact through the first full week of 2011? Have you missed a day of exercise yet? Have you stuck to your diet? Are you texting less, talking more, always telling the truth? Most “resolutions” we make are self-directed: get thinner, work smarter, be stronger, take control of your life. We want to make changes that will help us, improve us, and bring us good feelings about ourselves. Jesus said to be “in” the world but not to be “of” the world. So let’s ...

1372. Ascension Answers

Acts 1:1-11

Sermon

Ken Lentz

Many folks, especially preachers, don't know what to make of Luke's accounts (Luke 24:50-53; Acts 1:1-11) of the ascension of Jesus. The other three gospels don't mention it and, frankly, the story seems a little too mythical for twenty-first-century readers. Educated people of the western world have discarded the three-tier cosmology. In the understanding of today's universe, it's not possible to know what is up and what is down. People looking up into the skies today might be looking at other beings on ...

1373. Advocate and Redeemer

John 14:23-29

Sermon

Frank Ramirez

Imagine the wind rushing through an open door while the roar of the propeller in an aging old Ford Trimotor airplane rattles in your ears. You can smell the smoke from a raging fire hundreds of feet below. You are dressed in thick, padded clothing, wearing an old-fashioned football helmet with a jury-rigged grille in front of your face making it hard to breathe — that is, if it weren't already impossible for you to take a breath because of what is waiting beyond that open hatch. In a matter of minutes you ...

1374. The End of The Beginning

Acts 1:1-11, Luke 24:50-53

Sermon

Frank Ramirez

Three decades ago my nephew, Nathaniel, was a toddler when he discovered the full moon for the first time. For a day or two he would talk of nothing else. Then a week later he was out on a summer evening and looked in vain for the moon. He was genuinely puzzled. "Where did the moon go?" his mother asked him. After a moment's reflection he shrugged and said, simply, "Exploded." That explanation covered the facts as far as he was able to observe, but it wouldn't be long before the moon again dominated the ...

1375. Finish What You Start

Luke 14:25-33

Sermon

I remember as I was growing up, before gas became more precious than gold, that our family would go on buggy rides, as we called them, on Sunday afternoons after church and dinner. It was a great time for the entire family to be together, to wander back roads aimlessly, and to talk about just about anything you could imagine. Most of the time my dad would surprise us but sometimes he would ask us where we wanted to go. One place I always asked my dad to drive to was the park in town. One reason was that I ...

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