Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 1526 to 1550 of 3160 results

Mark 10:35-45

Sermon

King Duncan

... . We'll come back to this dramatic moment in American history. (1) James and John, two of Jesus' disciples, weren't deserters, but it's clear that they didn't have a clue what they were getting into when they signed on to walk with Jesus. They were sort of like you and me. Many of us came to church riding primarily on our family's faith. We identify ourselves as Christians mainly because our parents were Christians. We're not pagans or Jews or Muslims. We believe in Jesus, but we've never really given much ...

1527. Living In The Kingdom Of God

Mark 12:28-34

Sermon

King Duncan

... Steven Wrage, a professor teaching American politics in Singapore, wrote about an incident that illustrates the difference between our society and theirs. One evening, Steven went to water a sickly-looking fern a previous resident had left at his apartment. He was sort of reckless in his watering, and just about drowned the poor fern. Afterward, he went for a swim, then returned to the apartment. A persistent knock at the door interrupted his peaceful evening. Steven opened the door to find two Singaporean ...

1528. The Perfect Antidote For Worry

Matthew 6:25-34

Sermon

King Duncan

... people who listed the most contamination sequences in their life story were far less successful in creating a positive impact. They were less likely to concentrate on creating a meaningful legacy for their lives. (6) In other words, needless anxiety about life produces a sort of self-fulfilling prophecy. The more we worry, the less likely we are to see God's hand at work and to experience God's blessings. The perfect antidote for worry is gratitude. Gratitude is the opposite of fear, the opposite of self ...

1529. I Can Make It By Myself . . .

1 Corinthians 12:12-31, 1 Corinthians 12:1-11

Sermon

King Duncan

Margo Ballantyne was shopping at a store in Scotland when it seemed that the whole world suddenly stopped. As Margo sorted through stacks of scarves, the other shoppers in the store suddenly froze in place. All conversation ceased. Sales clerks refused to make eye contact with Margo or answer her questions. What would you think if you were in Margo's situation? She assumed that she was unwelcome in the store, ...

1530. A Terrifying Darkness

Genesis 15:1-18

Sermon

King Duncan

... off the landing lights." (1) In that situation, if you don't like what you see, it is too late to do anything about it. You might as well turn off the lights. You're in trouble. It's like the old joke about the pilot who asked the same sort of question and the instructor said, "If you don't like what you see, repeat after me: Our Father, who art in Heaven . . ." And sometimes life is like that. An old man named Abram is nearing the end of his life. Abram was not a perfect man by any means ...

1531. Who Are Those Strangers In White Robes?

Revelation 7:9-17

Sermon

King Duncan

... of the world. In fact, it is while coming through a great ordeal that many people touch God. This is an important truth. Many of us feel that our lives should be much easier than they are. Perhaps you have challenges on your job, or maybe you're facing some sort of health crisis. Maybe someone you love is hurting deeply. Maybe you feel you can't handle much more in the way of disappointment. Welcome to the human race! Life is sometimes very, very hard. But you say, "I'm a Christian. I am one of God's people ...

1532. "yes, And..."

Luke 24:44-53

Sermon

King Duncan

... promised them that with his Spirit enabling them they would do even greater things than he had done. So now it was time for a decision. The disciples didn't know the form of power the Holy Spirit would bestow on them, and they didn't know what sort of risks they were about to face. These were 12 men who had most likely never traveled far from their homes, so how could they preach repentance and forgiveness to all the nations on earth? After the roller-coaster ride of experiences the disciples had just been ...

1533. Bacon Grease And Abounding Grace

Luke 7:36-50

Sermon

King Duncan

... trigger was pushed, the pilot's body was automatically forced out of the seat. (8) Do you get the picture? A woman holds on to a marriage to a man who beats her. Her marriage represents security to her. Unfortunately, it actually represents certain destruction rather than any sort of security. A man holds on to a bottle. It helps him cope with an inner pain and fear. But the end is more pain and perhaps terror. Sometimes you have to let go of the illusion of security to grab hold of the only rock that has ...

1534. No Plastic Easter

John 20:19-23

Children's Sermon

King Duncan

... this egg as Jesus' tomb. What happens if we let this egg hatch? A baby chick will break out of it full of life. The shell on the outside seems cold and hard. But there's life within. God brought Jesus out of the tomb on Easter in the same sort of way that a new chick hatches from an egg. Or think of it this way. The real us is not what people see on the outside. Just like I decorated these eggs, we can fancy ourselves up with haircuts, make up and clothes, but the real "us" is inside ...

1535. Don't Be Ashamed . . .

2 Timothy 1:1-2:13

Sermon

King Duncan

... But at the time Paul was writing, Christianity was merely a tiny sect about whom many vicious rumors were being spread. Many saw the early Christians as a threat to the religious and political status quo. Christians were regarded as somewhat kooky, subversive, fanatical--sort of how we might feel about Moonies today. So, St. Paul says to him, "Don't be embarrassed to call yourself a Christian." There's somebody in this room today who is embarrassed about being a follower of Christ. You would prefer to keep ...

1536. Swords Into Plowshares

Isaiah 2:1-5

Sermon

King Duncan

... arrive around Christmas and Jewish holidays. As long as anyone can remember at the post office, the letters to God have turned up at the Postal Authority's center for undeliverable mail in an industrial zone in Jerusalem. In the tiny warehouse, eight workers sort problem envelopes in various cubbyholes but there is one marked "Letters to God." Puzzled by what to do with the letters, one worker started taking them to the Western Wall, a remnant of the ancient Second Temple compound and Judaism's holiest site ...

1537. Winners And Losers

Luke 13:22-30

Sermon

King Duncan

... the love of Christ, and to know that this love surpasses knowledge . . ." And in II Peter 3: 9, we are assured that the Lord doesn't want anyone to perish, but all to come to repentance. Just when we think we have got the saints and the sinners sorted into their own separate boxes, Jesus comes along and praises a tax collector and spends an afternoon with a Samaritan woman. We can never rest comfortably in a place of judgment over others, because God's love is wide enough to draw in even the people we don ...

1538. Who Are You?

Psalm 16:1-11

Sermon

King Duncan

... round and hard and your brains are in it and your hair is on it. "Your face is the front of your head where you eat and make faces. "Your neck is what keeps your head out of your collar. "Your neck is hard to keep clean. "Your shoulders are sort of shelves where you hook your suspenders. Your stummick is something that if you do not eat often enough, it hurts and spinach don't help it none. "Your spine is a long bone in your back that keeps you from folding up. Your back is always behind you no ...

1539. He Calms The Storms

Mark 4:35-41

Sermon

King Duncan

... years, someone asked him to preach a sermon on comfort. He began to think about it, and became curious as to how necessary this sermon was. So he looked through the church roll and listed all the families that had suffered grief or trouble of some sort during the past two years. He found that an incredible 80% of his parishioners needed comfort. Badly. We should never minimize the reality of life's storms. However, we should always know that there is certainly help and there is hope. Corrie ten Boom nearly ...

1540. Casting Aside His Garment

Mark 10:46-52

Sermon

King Duncan

... all these books." Just a bunch of books, all very much alike-that's what he sees. But what about the librarian? What does she see? Probably not a bunch of books. She has seen these books come in from the publishers. She has helped sort and catalog them. She has checked them out to people, reshelved them, hunted some of them for customers, and has probably read several of them. She thinks in terms of individual books, individual authors, individual subject matters. The more people know about books, the less ...

1541. The Grief Of God

Luke 19:28-44

Sermon

King Duncan

... now, but "bye and bye He will make it plain." We might call this view a theological version of "Father Knows Best." Another view that was popular at the beginning of the last century is that suffering is a tool of God's teaching. It is sort of God's Sunday School lesson. According to this view, God gives handicapped children to teach the world compassion. God gives cancer or AIDS or whatever so that we can learn about our mortality. (Thanks a lot, God!) I remember as a seminary student how unsatisfactory ...

1542. Lord, What A Bountiful God!

John 6:1-15

Sermon

King Duncan

... person of the Holy Spirit to guide us. As a loving Father God awaits the opportunity to meet our needs, but we are not accustomed to receiving from His loving hand. Nor does it occur to us to pray. So we wander blindly from problem to problem, a sort of picture of those early settlers who starved in a land of plenty. "Make the people sit down," Jesus commanded his disciples. Then he took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed these loaves and these fish to all who were seated, as much as ...

1543. Bearing Fruit

John 15:1-17

Sermon

King Duncan

... and gave permission for the two prisoners to talk. He also arranged for these two men to take their daily half-hour walk at the same time and in the same yard. The atheist was a very intellectual person, and a skilled debater. He had been promised all sorts of favors if he could just make Niemoller lose his faith. Each of the two men enjoyed presenting his own point of view, and they talked together for four days. On the fifth day, the atheist begged Niemoller to lend him his Bible, a book that had assumed ...

1544. It Does Matter What You Believe

Acts 4:1-22

Sermon

King Duncan

... 're neutral, you just sit there on that stump, an' you'll see the darndest bear fight you ever saw!" (1) I think that trapper showed a lot of humility by conceding that, in a fight between himself and a bear, the Lord just might have been neutral. That's sort of refreshing. Almost every warrior I've ever heard of has been convinced that God was on his side. Abraham Lincoln was one of the few leaders who was ever wise enough to see that the question is not, "Is God on our side?" but, "Are we on God's ...

1545. Taking Time To Love

Matthew 22:34-40

Sermon

King Duncan

Billy Rose once told a story about a young man and his father who had a small farm. Several times a year they would make a trip to market with their oxcart loaded with vegetables. The son was an impatient sort. He would always prod the ox with a stick to hurry it along. His father, however, believed in following a more leisurely gait. The son wanted to get to market first thing the next morning in order to beat the other vendors to the best spot. The father, however, had ...

1546. Like A Big Happy Family

1 Peter 3:8-22

Sermon

King Duncan

... Heavenly Father. He picked me up. He nursed my wounds with his love. He held me close to his heart. He healed me of all my brokenness and made me whole. God has set me free to fly to the heights again." (3) I have seen God do that sort of thing for people. Quite often he uses the church to lift the broken and bruised bird to life and freedom once again. Look around this room this morning for someone who needs your love--a painfully shy child or teenager who desperately needs a word of encouragement; someone ...

1547. Three Promises

Acts 1:1-11

Sermon

King Duncan

... reluctantly, there stood the upperclassman. He had on a raincoat, and on his arm were two umbrellas. "˜I thought,' he said, "˜you might have trouble finding the church so I have come to walk along and show you the way.' As I dressed, I said to myself, "˜What sort of fellow is this anyway?' As we walked along under the two umbrellas I said to myself, "˜If this man is so interested in my religion, I ought to know something about his,' so I asked him. He told me and then he added, "˜My church is just ...

1548. When The World Goes Crazy!

Genesis 6:1-8:22

Sermon

King Duncan

... I make plenty of money for you to spend. 1. What do I want for my birthday? Aahh--don't worry about that. It's no big deal. Okay, they might say it. But they don't mean it. (1) Fathers are funny creatures. They are known to make all sorts of overblown predictions at the birth of their children. "Feel that strong grip! He'll be a star quarterback!" "Look at those bright eyes. She'll grow up to be the first female President, for sure." That's just the way fathers are. Flush with pride, joy, ego--whatever you ...

1549. Passing The Ultimate Test

Genesis 22:1-19

Sermon

King Duncan

... daughter's decision to work in a very dangerous part of Africa. Young said something like, "When we brought her to church and Sunday school, when we had her baptized, we didn't really know that she was going to take all of this religion so seriously! It's sort of scary to realize that you are putting your own child at risk when you bring her to the Lord!" (4) Isaac's life had been consecrated to the Lord. He belonged to God. There was no turning back. Abraham and Isaac traveled for three days to reach Mount ...

1550. Preparing the Way

Mark 1:1-8

Sermon

King Duncan

... When he got to the window he asked for a sheet of Christmas stamps. The clerk proffered a brightly colored set showing lots of candles and emblazoned with the word “Kwanzaa.” “No,” he said, “I’d like some Christmas stamps.” The clerk did a sort of ‘oh-h-h yeah’ thing and rummaged around in the supply and pulled out some jolly snowmen and made ready to ring up the transaction. “No,” he said again, “I’d like some religious ones.” Out came more candles, this time saying “Hanukkah ...

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