Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 1426 to 1450 of 3099 results

John 20:24-31

Sermon

King Duncan

... t believe that. I'm sure a person of your wide knowledge and attainments would have sought to find God." Whereupon Asimov saw his chance and seized it. He said, "God is smarter than I am. Let him try to find me." In the laughter that followed, the subject was dropped. That isn't the end of the story, however. Asimov was quite certain that God, even if he existed, would not mind an honest atheist. He might, however, grow irritated over a wiseguy atheist. His talk with Frost had only been a taping. What would ...

1427. Who Is God Anyway?

2 Corinthians 13:11-14

Sermon

King Duncan

... themselves ” had loving, accepting images of God. Those with low self-esteem ” guilty, pessimistic people ” had punitive, rejecting images of God. (5) The value of a doctrine like the Trinity is that it gives us a universal concept of God that is not altered by subjective experience. Still, we have to be sensitive to the fact that when we say God is Father, we may be hurtful to people who have been hurt by their fathers. It is a complicated issue. The Trinity says to us that there are some issues ...

1428. A Reason For Living

Philippians 1:12-30

Sermon

King Duncan

... religion has positive effects on diseases ranging from cervical cancer to stroke. In short, the evidence indicates that faith is good for us. Where there is purpose, there is power! Why has psychiatric research been so scant and shallow on this subject? For one thing, few psychiatrists are religious. While 90 percent of Americans believe in God, an American Psychiatric Association study found that only 43 percent in the profession do. And almost a third of psychiatrists with religious upbringing now profess ...

1429. Wouldn't You Prefer Real Freedom?

John 8:31-41

Sermon

King Duncan

... you have, the greater your range of choices. You see, "freedom from . . ." and "freedom to . . ." are often in conflict. Sometimes we have to give up one freedom in order to gain a greater freedom. Our athletes understand this. They have to subject themselves to grueling discipline so that they may have the greater freedom of an athletic body. Musicians understand this. Is there anything more boring than to spend hours practicing scales? But the greater freedom of being able to play a magnificent sonata ...

1430. Be Careful What You Call Me

Matthew 23:1-39

Sermon

King Duncan

... agreement on doctrinal issues. We came together not for confession and forgiveness but for debate." This change in attitude towards God had its greatest impact in Kefa's prayer life: "God Himself had become a distant figure," he writes. "He had become a subject of debate, an abstract category. I no longer prayed to Him as a living Father but as an impersonal being who did not mind my inattention and unbelief." When he realized how far he had drifted from God due to theological speculations, Kefa repented ...

1431. Living With The Birth Pangs

1 Thessalonians 4:13--5:11

Sermon

King Duncan

... even he did not know when that day and time would be. Even Jesus did not know? Then how dare anyone else set dates whether they be 1996, the year 2000 or whenever they may be. But it is human to wonder about the future. Paul was addressing this very subject in our lesson from the Epistles for today. He writes: "Now, brothers, about times and dates we do not need to write to you for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, Peace and safety ...

1432. The Forgiven

Hebrews 10:1-18

Sermon

King Duncan

... the prayers of forgiveness could accomplish that miracle. (4) Forgiveness is serious business. Only an experience of the Grace of God can deliver us from the feelings of anger and resentment we may feel toward another. I have an important reason for dealing with this subject today. Soon, we will be entering the holiday season. Christmas is not only a time of joy. It can also be a time of dredging up old hurts. Denis Rainey in his magnificent book, THE TRIBUTE, tells us how one man made this special season ...

1433. What It Means To Be A Family

John 13:31-38

Sermon

King Duncan

... ) When is it okay to kiss someone? "You should never kiss a girl unless you have enough bucks to buy her a big ring and her own VCR, ˜cause she'll want to have videos of the wedding." (Jim, age 10) Kelly, age 9, has her own ideas on this subject. She says, "Never kiss in front of other people. It's a big embarrassing thing if anybody sees you. But if nobody sees you, I might be willing to try it with a handsome boy, but just for a few hours." The great debate: is it better to be single ...

1434. Getting Rid Of Fear

2 Timonty 1:6-14

Sermon

King Duncan

... in order? In one of the great cities of Russia there is a magnificent equestrian statue of Peter the Great with his hand uplifted, pointing his nation toward the sea. He was truly one of the great rulers of his country and helped mold modern Russia. But he was subject to maniacal outbursts of fury and rage, in one of which he killed his own son. Toward the end of his life Peter the Great said, "I have conquered an empire, but I was not able to conquer myself." (7) How very sad. Just as power without love is ...

1435. Is Suffering Really Necessary?

Hebrews 4:14-5:10

Sermon

King Duncan

... reviled and beaten and crucified. Why? The early church struggled mightily with that question. In fact, some of our most prized theological statements came out of that struggle. Why did Christ suffer? The writer of Hebrews said something interesting on this subject. He said that Christ "learned obedience from the things which He suffered." That's deep--too deep for me. Jesus learned obedience through suffering. What does it mean? Wasn't Jesus already perfectly obedient to God's will? In some respects this ...

1436. Convinced Beyond A Doubt

John 20:24-31

Sermon

King Duncan

... most basic truth about life, and that is that there is a Divine Creator. Others believe in God, but cannot bring themselves to believe in Jesus. While still others, like Thomas, believe in God and profess to follow Jesus, but have closed the door of their minds on the subject of the resurrection. For Thomas nothing would do except to see for himself the nail marks in Christ's hands and to put his finger where the nails had been, and to put his hand into Christ's side. And when he had done all this, when his ...

1437. The Patron Saint Of All Who Are The Last To Know

John 20:24-31

Sermon

King Duncan

... bad. For a faith to be a mature, it must be examined. Hans Kung goes so far as to write, "We must at some time doubt seriously, absolutely seriously, to the point of despair." (9) An authentic believer is not afraid of questioning or subject to premature answers. Honest faith seeks mature answers and honest Christians who have doubted can make fine witnesses for the faith. As it's been said, "The believer who has never doubted will hardly convert a doubter." (10) One commentator described Thomas like this ...

1438. Fishing Stories

John 21:1-14

Sermon

King Duncan

... For one of Benchley's final examinations, he was to write an essay on fish hatcheries. He hadn't cracked a book all semester. Undaunted, he started his final something like this: "Much wordage has been devoted to fish hatcheries. No one, however, has ever covered this subject from the point of view of the fish." And this he proceeded to do in what is probably the most entertaining final exam in Harvard's history. (6) We've looked at this Bible passage from the perspective of the disciples. Now let's look at ...

1439. Trying To Grasp The Meaning Of It All

Luke 2:21-40

Sermon

King Duncan

... a pulmonologist and a leading asthma expert. Today, as head of the Division of Respirology at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ont., Paul works in a most unusual way to develop treatments for allergy-related asthma. In most of his studies, he himself is a test subject. That means that periodically he inhales allergens to give himself short episodes of asthma. He has even examined his own bone marrow and tissue biopsied from his airways and lungs. This has been one of the keys to Paul's success, he says. "I ...

1440. Who Are Your Gentiles?

Acts 10:23b-48

Sermon

Landon Winstead

... the treatment he received from fellow Americans are beyond comprehension. Prejudice ultimately killed him in the form of an assassin's bullet. When Martin Luther King, Jr. began to promote his vision of nonviolent equality, many who were full of prejudice subjected him to incredible injustices. After King's assassination, Dr. Benjamin Mays listed some of the persecutions King endured. His home had been bombed; he lived, day by day, for years, under constant threats of death; he was publicly accused of being ...

1441. A Great Love Story Gone Awry

Genesis 24:1-67

Sermon

King Duncan

Comedians have a field day with the subject of marriage. The jokes probably number in the thousands. Rita Rudner used this classic: “My mother buried three husbands.” Then she adds, “And two of them were just napping.” One woman said to a friend: “I’m in trouble. I broke my husband’s favorite golf club.” “What did he ...

1442. Birdbaths and Flagpoles

Matthew 13:1-23

Sermon

King Duncan

... University of Manitoba. His nickname is Professor Popsicle. This is not a sign of disrespect. Professor Giesbrecht has spent his career studying the effects of extreme cold on the human body. He quite literally immerses himself in his subject. Throughout the course of his career, Professor Giesbrecht has induced hypothermia--extremely low body temperatures--on himself thirty-seven times. He regularly exposes himself to freezing temperatures and records the effect those temperatures have on his physical and ...

1443. How Many Times Should We Forgive?

Matthew 18:21-35

Sermon

King Duncan

... organized a study of two groups of veterans with coronary artery disease. All these men dealt with a variety of conflicts, ranging from marital or job stresses to painful memories of their war experiences. One half of the veterans were educated on the subject of forgiveness and taught techniques for forgiving others. The other half of the veterans served as a control group. Medical tests revealed that rates of blood flow to the heart increased in those men who had received forgiveness training. (7) The best ...

1444. What Are You Tied To?

John 15:1-17

Sermon

King Duncan

... in loving obedience to God and children live in loving obedience to their parents, then usually you will find a successful family. There was a letter in the Ann Landers column sometime back. A woman writes: Dear Ann: Because of my husband's business, I am subjected to the cocktail circuit more than I want to be. It seems the principal topic for discussion is "our crazy, mixed-up kids." Those who have no nutty offspring to talk about feel strangely deprived. Here is a superb recipe for creating [a nutty kid ...

1445. The Present

Revelation 22:1-6

Sermon

King Duncan

... pupils on a field trip to local attractions. One year it was to Greensville Correctional Center in Jarratt. “We got the chance to see the electric chair," he says. Recently, it was a walk through Death Row at Mecklenburg Correctional Center. “The parents are subjected to a shakedown body search" for weapons or drugs, Clark says. “They hear the door slam. They look at the inmates to see the way the inmates look back at them. We ask the prisoners, "˜Was there something that led you to this life?' They ...

1446. Easter In November

Luke 20:27-40

Sermon

King Duncan

... came home, he got the scare of his life. As he would say later, "I aged thirty years on the spot." The man he thought he'd just said goodbye to was sitting in his house. (3) Pardon me for having a little fun with the very serious subject of death. But why should we reserve the best news humanity has ever received to one Sunday in the church year? Christ is alive! And because Christ lives, we shall live too. Some Sadducees confronted Jesus. These were Jews who believed that death is the end of existence ...

1447. Being A Sheep Is Not So Bad (compared With Being A Goat)

Ezekiel 34:1-31

Sermon

King Duncan

... to switch suddenly from frolicking to butting heads. Called the CAPER by Romans, the animal's behavior led the Romans to label outlandish conduct as cutting capers. Italians who knew the goat as the CAPRICCIO adapted its name to describe a person subject to erratic whims and sudden willful behavior. Thus was born the word "capricious." (3) On the whole goats do not have a particularly favorable reputation--excepting for the fact that their milk is prized by some people today. Jesus, of course, talked ...

1448. Being A Sheep Is Not So Bad

Matthew 25:31-46

Children's Sermon

King Duncan

... . Those are some things the teacher wanted me to do. And every year, the teachers would send home a report card showing my mom and dad if I was doing everything right or not. Have you ever gotten a report card? If I was doing really well in a certain subject, like sharing, I would get an "S" on my report card. That meant "satisfactory," that I was doing a good job. If I was doing a bad job, I might get a "U" or a "P." Those stand for "unsatisfactory" and "poor," or very bad. I really wanted to get ...

1449. Like Cupped Hands

Mark 10:1-12

Sermon

Frank Lyman

... as "till death do you part." Not only does Jesus change the focus of the conversation from divorce to marriage as a sacred act directly instituted by God, he also strikes a resounding chord for the rights of women who previously had been totally subject to the whims of their husbands. It's an axiom in real estate that "location is everything," and that axiom holds true in our Biblical story. Where Jesus gave this commentary on divorce is critical to understanding it. Jesus has left Galilee, has crossed ...

1450. Dirty, Rotten Scoundrels

Luke 16:1-15

Sermon

King Duncan

... in Oklahoma some years ago. Many people thought he would win easily. After all, Jay Wilkinson was an All-American at Duke who married a Miss America finalist after graduating from Harvard Divinity School. Young, handsome, and idealistic, Jay was a perfect subject for Madison Avenue wizardry. A television commercial was designed which pictured Jay and his wife walking hand-in-hand through an Oklahoma pasture. As they walked, they looked soulfully upward at the sky to the accompaniment of soft music with the ...

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