Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 1576 to 1600 of 4957 results

1576. Mrs. Proverbs

Proverbs 31:10-31

Sermon

Stan Purdum

... differences in each strand, it is possible to do some untangling and make an educated guess about which material came from which earlier source. All of that leads us back to the claim of one literary critic that a woman wrote part of the Pentateuch. That critic is Harold Bloom, who in his book, titled The Book of J,1 claims that the ancient J source was composed — and very admirably at that — by an anonymous woman. As one piece of evidence, Bloom points out that the women in the J strand, including ...

1577. First Things First

Luke 21:25-36

Sermon

Gary L. Carver

... , you know the play is over. This is how he understands the doctrine of the Second Coming of our Lord. It means that he who has begun a good work will bring it to the best conclusion of which he is capable. After all, no one has ever claimed that this planet earth was intended to exist forever. In what is called by scientists "the second law of thermodynamics," it is clearly predicted that the energy supply of this planet will eventually come to an end, which means that a conclusion of life as we know it ...

1578. Bethlehem: Where Extremes Meet

Luke 2:1-14 (15-20)

Sermon

Gary L. Carver

... itself, for here is an even greater paradox to boggle our minds and imaginations. If where all this took place can be called a meeting of extremes, the same thing can be said of what took place, only raised to infinite proportions. For here is the most startling claim ever made for any event in history; namely, that God became a human being; that divinity put on flesh and blood, that for a period of time, the invisible Creator of all things came to live on earth as a human being among human beings. G. K ...

1579. A Samaritan Took Care of Him

Luke 10:25-37

Sermon

David R. Cartwright

... two did, it would have been understandable. No one would have thought much about it, least of all the priest and the Levite. In fact, they might have respected him for it. For after all, the man was living up to the religious principles of purity he claimed to believe in. But, as the story tells us, this is not what happened. No, "this Samaritan," who was also on a journey, came upon the battered man by the side the road. When he saw him, he was moved to pity, or "had compassion," as another translation ...

1580. All Is New in Christ

John 11:4-6, Philippians 3:4-11

Sermon

Richard Gribble

... , to travel throughout the majority of the then-known western world on three dangerous and arduous journeys. He was asked to preach ideas that were not popular to most. He was caught between faithful Jews who saw him as a traitor and Gentiles who found his claim of a slain Messiah now alive to be unbelievable. Yet, Paul says that Jesus was so important to him, that he willingly cast aside all other things, leaving the past completely, so as to have Christ and Christ alone. As Jesus reached out to Paul in ...

1581. Jesus Brings Hope

Revelation 1:4-8

Sermon

Richard Gribble

... , given for you." With that, a crack of thunder was heard and a streak of lightning flashed through the sky. The clouds parted and in the distance could be seen Christ coming toward earth. Yes, it was the end of the world. Jesus had come to claim his own and restore truth to the world. This apocalyptic story is told by Myles Connelly in his 1928 novelette, Mr. Blue. Written during a time of perceived prosperity in the Unites States, one might interpret the tale as a warning suggesting where unbridled wealth ...

1582. Sowing Eternal Seeds

Isaiah 55:10-13

Sermon

Mary S. Lautensleger

... you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor" (John 4:37-38). We all know folks who have exiled themselves from corporate worship, claiming they can commune better with creation by walking in the woods or walking on the golf course than they can in this room. Still others claim that it's their only day to "sleep in," and they prefer to spend Sunday mornings at "St. Mattress-by-the-Springs." I do believe that God wants us here in this very room on ...

1583. What's in a Name?

Deuteronomy 26:1-11

Sermon

Frank Ramirez

... , our nationalities, our ethnic background, as the hymn writer puts it, "... the vain things that charm me most, I sacrifice them through his blood." If we are known as a disciple of Jesus, as one who is ready to suffer and die for the name that we claim above all others, we are a member of the family of God. If we allow other things — pride over nationality or name or economic status, the team we root for, the school we attended — if we allow these other things to matter more, we have nothing. And we ...

1584. A "Somebody Done Somebody Wrong" Song

Hosea 1:2-10

Sermon

Lee Ann Dunlap

... personal even these centuries later. It is a parable lived out in real life not only by the prophet but by nearly four out of every thousand people in our neighborhood. Such betrayal may even be in your story as well. But more than all that, Hosea claims, it is God's story. In the beginning, the prophet, presumably a young man, is ordered by God to "take for yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom." (That's the NRSV translation.) Whether this female is a common street prostitute or part of ...

1585. We Wait for Light

Mark 10:46-52

Illustration

Katerina Katsarka Whitley

... towns and villages. But when he says, "Son of David," that immediately puts Jesus in the royal succession and identifies him as the Messiah. Now, the acceptance of that title on the part of Jesus is what the enemies of Jesus were waiting for in order to arrest him. To claim the title Son of David would be to lay claim to royal kinship and to the role of the awaited Messiah.

1586. Mary and Joseph: His Obedient Servants

Luke 2:1-7

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... angel had given her the word about her Immaculate Conception, and even though it was incomprehensible to her, still she had the word to hang on to. But what about those weeks and months of anguish through which Joseph went. His beloved pregnant – and her continued claim to innocence. And even after Mary received the word from the angel that she had conceived a child of the Holy Spirit, how do you think Joseph could accept a word like that? Now think about it women, how would you go about sharing a word ...

1587. Jesus: What's in a Name?

Matthew 1:18-25

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... the name means He will save you from whatever holds you in bondage, and will lead you to the fulfillment of your life. (“What’s in a Name, Dec. 21, 1980) But it helps us none unless we respond. So let’s be very specific, name our common bondage and claim our deliverance. Many of us are still in bondage to sin. Now, that’s not easy to admit and we are very adept at evading the truth about ourselves. Very much like the husband who said to his wife after she had suggested that he lose a few pounds ...

1588. Pride

Mark 12:35-44; Matt. 23

Illustration

John K. Bergland

... word: PRIDE. Neibuhr described the four types of pride: The pride of power wants power to gain security for self or to maintain a power position considered to be secure. Intellectual pride rises from human knowledge that pretends to be ultimate knowledge. It presumes to be final truth. Moral pride claims that its standards for virtue test and measure all righteousness. Neibuhr observed that most evil is done by "good" people who do not know that they are not good. Spiritual pride is self-glorification. It ...

1589. Home By Another Way

Luke 2:1-7

Drama

Lois Anne DeLong

... tonight? I did it last night. Servant 2: Yeah, and I don’t know what hurts worse, my feet or my stomach. Servant 3: Can I help it if I only know how to cook couscous? I’m used to tending the master’s telescopes and sky charts. I never claimed to be a cook. And, I sure never counted on cooking over wood fires in the middle of nowhere. Narrator: As the servants were preparing the night’s meal, a group of shepherds came by with their flock. They were hungry and tired from their long day in the field ...

1590. The Whole Family Survival Kit

Luke 3:1-20

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... John the Baptist was Mary’s “kinswoman,” an undefined degree of “relative” (Luke 1:36). When the pregnant Mary visits Elizabeth, the unborn John heard Mary’s voice and “leaped in her womb” (Luke 1:40). Yet in John’s gospel the adult John the Baptist claims, “I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit’” (John 1:33). John, Jesus’ forerunner, his ...

1591. Turning Up the Religious Machinery

Illustration

William G. Carter

... our vocabulary for naming God's presence. And we fill the vacuum by heaping up empty prayers and tuning up the religious machinery. The one thing we need is a Word from God. The one gift we cannot purchase out of a catalog is the Word that names us, claims us, judges us, and redeems us. We do not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. In the fifteenth year of Tiberius Caesar, God didn't speak to the politicians. During the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, God didn ...

1592. The Intimate Gospel: The Word became Flesh

John 1:1-18

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... this. You see, it wasn’t enough, it wasn’t enough for God to name himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He had to become an Abraham, an Isaac, or a Jacob. And he did. And his name is Jesus. This is Christianity’s most unique claim – the word became flesh and dwelt among us. The Greek word translated dwelt is the same Greek word that we translate tent, so we might translate that passage, he cast his tent among us. Let me use a story, a simple human story, that will tell us profoundly what ...

1593. Plenty Good Room

John 14:1-4

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... the Father. And you can sort of feel the rising anger in Jesus as he says, but Philip, I’ve been with you all this time. How can you say, show us the Father? He who has seen me has seen the Father. Now underline this. This is the radical claim of Christianity, it’s the core of it, it’s the heartbeat of it, it’s the center of everything that is unique about the Christian faith – the incarnation of God in Jesus Christ, he who has seen Jesus has seen the Father. Carl Bart was one of the outstanding ...

1594. Better Than a Spanking

Luke 3:1-20

Sermon

King Duncan

... ; what kind of grades you made last semester; what you’re doing with yourself. And then, there is also God. You see, no telling what God might try to do with you. From what I’ve seen of God, once He has claimed you, you don’t get off the hook so easily. God is relentless in claiming what is God’s. And, in baptism, God says you belong to Him.” Eugene Nelson ends his story this way: “The boy shook his head in wonder at this strange unreasonable brand of reasoning and more or less stumbled out the ...

1595. Acts 8:14-17

Acts 8:9-25

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... of its tape for authentic recording productions. The “Memorex” company put its recorded sound up against a live voice. You got to decide. Was there any difference? Of course, they decided for you–they claimed there was no difference. The text in Acts this week echoes that claim. Does the baptism of new believers inside of Jerusalem and performed by someone outside the Jerusalem apostolic community still recall and rebirth the true baptism of believers as experienced by the apostles at Pentecost ...

1596. Do We Live in ‘Why’ or ‘Whynot’

Romans 12:3-8, 16-18

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... the compassionate, in cheerfulness. [16] Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are. [17] Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in ... for that is what I am." And like the Disciples, we are called to learn from Jesus through Worship and Bible Study. Paul reminds us to, "not claim to be wiser than you are." The truth is, none of us know everything, just ask me about the A/C system in the Family Center and ...

1597. Batman: Driven By Guilt or Grace?

Romans 5:1-11; 8:1-2

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... , the guilt must have been overwhelming and at war with his faith. Leave his wife and the business he had worked so hard to build to follow an itinerant preacher whose message quickened his heart, who many, including his brother claimed to be the Messiah, but who never claimed that for himself? Guilt, regret, second guessing, uncertainty all mingled with his excitement and sense of calling had to have driven this analytical man crazy. No wonder one moment he was fully a man of Jesus filled with the deepest ...

1598. Wednesday: The Way Of The Cross: Oooh, That Smell

John 12:1-11

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... woman in question in Matthew, Mark and Luke was none other than the woman caught in adultery, about to be stoned to death, whom Jesus forgave and said, "Let whoever is without sin cast the first stone." Others have equated this person with Mary Magdalene and claimed she was the woman caught in adultery. But that's an unfair connection started by misogynist Pope Gregory 1st and corrected by Vatican 2. John tells us the woman was none other than Mary, the sister of Lazarus. Maybe Mary was the woman caught in ...

1599. Being A View Master

Romans 2:9-21

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... done but what has been done for us. B. So, saints are really just sinners whose lives have been slowly transformed by the presence of God and the work of the Holy Spirit as they try to live and become more like Christ. A true Saint would never claim perfection. You see, if you're already perfect, God can't do anything with you. We know folks who think they're perfect. They may be Saints in their own minds but everyone around them knows that they were canonized by the Wringling Brothers Barnam and Bailey ...

1600. The Wedding Was Saved, but the Marriage?

John 2:1-11

Sermon

King Duncan

... but you have saved the best till now.” It seems like a frivolous use of Jesus power, really water to wine. It’s been the subject of a host of low-brow humor. Like the Baptist preacher who was caught with a load of moonshine whiskey. He claimed he was just hauling water. When confronted with the fact that it was whisky rather than water, he exclaimed, “It’s a miracle. Our blessed Lord has done it again.” And from a superficial stand point, the story deserves such treatment. With a world before him ...

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