Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 1651 to 1675 of 4957 results

1651. People of the Book

2 Timothy 3:10--4:8

Sermon

King Duncan

... , 1847. One of the men had purchased a crystal called chloroform in Paris. As the doctors sniffed the burning substance, they fell to the floor unconscious. Simpson had his answer, but he soon encountered another problem. He was attacked by fellow Christians who claimed that pain was a God‑ordained part of life. Freedom from pain comes only in heaven, according to these misguided saints, and it is immoral to devise dangerous ways of escaping pain on earth. Sir James went to the Scriptures, seeking answers ...

1652. Accepting a Human Messiah

Luke 23:26-43, Luke 24:1-12

Illustration

Brian Stoffregen

... and probably always will be deeply unwilling to accept a human messiah. We don't want to be saved in our humanity; we want to be fished out of it. We crucified Jesus, not because he was God, but because he blasphemed: He claimed to be God and then failed to come up to our standards for assessing the claim. It's not that we weren't looking for the Messiah; it's just that he wasn't what we were looking for. Our kind of Messiah would come down from a cross. He would carry a folding phone booth in his ...

1653. Erasing All Incriminating Evidence

Luke 23:33-43

Illustration

King Duncan

... that one day God would show us a movie of every single sinful thought, word, or action we ever committed. And he ended his lurid description with the announcement, "And your mother will be there!" But Tony claims that Judgment Day will more closely mirror what happened during the trials over the Watergate scandal. The prosecutor brought in a tape of a conversation between Nixon and his aides. Just at the most crucial part of the tape, the section that revealed their crimes, there was an eighteen minute ...

1654. Christmas Drama

Luke 2:1-7

Drama

Amy C. Schifrin

... Yeshua, the one who will save people from their sins. Mary: How will our baby do that? Joseph: Only God knows. Scene Three Mary: Joseph, have you ever walked this far before? Joseph: No. And I’ve seen some folks who have even come farther. All of us who claim David as our ancestor will be here soon. Mary: I know that Caesar wants us all here to control us. Even the women have talked about how people are calling him the Savior. Joseph: Yes, the workmen, too. We know of an altar built in his honor, and how ...

1655. Matthew 1:18-25

Matthew 1:18-25

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... ’s gospel text the writer makes it clear, as does Luke in his own birth narrative, that Joseph, the direct descendant of all those previous generations, is NOT Jesus’ biological father. Instead of making it perfectly obvious that Jesus could absolutely claim the designation of “the Messiah” as his birthright, Matthew’s narrative would seem to undermine that very argument. Yet it is Jesus’ true messianic identity that Matthew’s text is intent upon unveiling. As he begins to describe how Jesus ...

1656. Impossible Is Nothing

Matthew 1:18-25

Illustration

Leonard Sweet

... of religion are "mind-boggling, implausible,"fantastical," "manifestly unbelievable." I say: Now you're talking, Dr. Zuckermann. For the very category of "impossible" is God's category. The impossible is the very definition of God. So if you tell me, the truth claims of Jesus are "impossible," I say...Hallelujah! It's only when you cross the border from the possible to the impossible that you're in God's territory. Faith does NOT stand to reason. Or to quote Adidas, who stole one of our lines like the ...

1657. Mary Magdalene: An Adulteress?

John 4:1-26

Illustration

David J. McBriar

I don't know if you realize it or not, but lately there's a great preoccupation with Jesus' relationship with women. The Da Vinci Code has sold 80 million copies. It's a fast paced thriller that claims Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene, and the church knew about this, the novel claims, but suppressed it. And let me ask you, as an aside, whenever you hear the name “Mary Magdalene," what comes to your mind? The woman accused of adultery? The woman history says was a prostitute? If it does, then you've ...

1658. The Five-a-Day Rule

John 20:24-31

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... seen the Lord.” Thomas doubts. However, it is not entirely clear WHAT it is Thomas doubts. Does Thomas doubt the truthfulness of the other disciples? Does Thomas doubt the sanity of his friends? Does Thomas doubt the identity of the one the other disciples claim to have seen? Does Thomas doubt the actual death of Jesus? Does Thomas doubt the physicality of a risen body? Whatever it is that Thomas doubts, it is not enough to break the bond he has with the disciple community. He voices his “doubt” and ...

1659. Grabbing up the Truths

John 17:1-11, Phil 3:12-17

Illustration

... truth from others, they squeezed it until it became misshapen....deformed....even grotesque. Until the person holding it became grotesque. Which happens in my business all the time. And which is why I hold the truths I love in humble hands. For short of eternity, there is little I can claim with absolute certainty. I suppose if you persist in a belief that out there is to be found "the one true church," all I can tell you is where you cannot find it....that being the church that ...

1660. Super-Size Your Faith

Romans 8:18-27

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... faith. In the confrontation between living as a person who is “in Christ,” and the faithless “powers” of the world, there is no crushing, mortal blow Christians can claim as a “victory.” Battles, confrontations, head-butting contests, genocidal horrors and holocausts do not determine “who wins.” The only “win” Christians may ever claim in this world is the victory of faith. Faith that is so secure and so sure that it knows neither “hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or ...

1661. Soul Bread!

John 6:24-35

Sermon

Robert Leslie Holmes

... the beginning of time. Bread has a satisfying quality that many other diet staples do not. There are three things the lesson teaches us. First, this bread called Jesus is not product but personality. When Jesus says, "I am," he is claiming for himself not only the very name of God but he is claiming to be everything God is. This is something that we see seven times in John's gospel. John leaves us in no doubt that this Jesus Christ is not just another religious leader. He is the Lord God himself. Listen ...

1662. When The Baker Becomes the Bread!

John 6:51-58

Sermon

Robert Leslie Holmes

... only God. The Jews know that this name dates back to when God commissioned Moses at Sinai to go to Egypt and bring deliverance from bondage to the children of Israel. Moses, aware of the magnitude of his assignment, asked by what name of God he should present his claim and credentials, and God told Moses to say, "I AM has sent me to you" (Exodus 3:14). What makes this name particularly important is that Jesus now uses it to speak in the first person for himself. Thus, he is saying that God is no longer a ...

1663. The Great Inescapable Question of Eternity

Mark 8:27-38

Sermon

Robert Leslie Holmes

... of two millennia of the Christian gospel stands or falls according to how Jesus responds. What does Jesus say? There are many places where we can find his direct answers, beginning with his name. Jesus means "Jehovah is salvation." Jesus is another name for God. Of the numerous claims Jesus makes about his identity, here are a few samples that come to us in Jesus' words as recorded in John's gospel: I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be ...

1664. But Is It True?

Luke 2:8-20, Romans 16:25-27

Sermon

Scott Suskovic

... their own religious agenda. Thus, what we have in the Bible is, unfortunately, this very flawed, human-shaped collection of books that cannot be fully trusted. So much for the mystery proclaimed by the prophets now revealed to us in Jesus. Now, part of what Ehrman claims is absolutely true. It's true that before the printing press in the 1400s, scribes had to hand-copy the Bible word for word. It's true that there are discrepancies among the copies. It's true that changes were made. The most famous example ...

1665. A Grandmother’s Touch

Acts 19:1-7

Sermon

Scott Suskovic

... and nothing from the Reformation that would suggest that we are justified by baptism alone. We are saved by grace through faith ... and not just any faith — faith in Jesus Christ. To be sure, the primary actor in baptism is God. God forgives. God names. God claims. God welcomes. It is true that the parents make a promise to raise this child in the knowledge of their baptism but the fact that we most often perform baptism on infants highlights that baptism is an act of sheer grace. But we live in that ...

1666. Welcome to the Center of Life

Ephesians 1:3-14

Sermon

Gibson “Nibs” Stroupe

... of life, at the center of our own individual lives, is a loving God who seeks life for us, who asks us to be motivated by love rather than by fear. The center of life is not death or violence or injustice or greed, but love. This is quite a claim in our crazy, violence-based, fear-driven world. The author of Ephesians tells us that in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, God has given us what we need to live and to love in this kind of world: "Who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual ...

1667. Dividing Walls

Ephesians 2:11-22

Sermon

Gibson “Nibs” Stroupe

... had chosen them to be God's people. For Judaism, circumcision of males recalled the covenant that God had made with Abraham and Sarah, a covenant in which God had claimed them and their descendants as God's special people, a "light to the nations," as Isaiah called them (42:6). The people who were not claimed in this way were called "Gentiles" in the New Testament, translating a Greek word meaning "the nations." The Bible has various opinions of the Gentiles. Several New Testament portraits show Gentiles ...

1668. Hope on The Day of Judgment

Hebrews 9:24-28

Sermon

Patrick J. Rooney

... sin and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23) as Saint Paul reminds us none too gently. There is not one of us who can claim that sinless state, no one of us who does not deserve the judgment of God. Yet, we believe and confess that when Christ shall come again there will ... just reward, it is the mercy of God that steps forward in the person of Christ Jesus our Lord, who comes to claim as his own all those who have eagerly waited for his return. That poor wife, stricken with all the pain, grief, and ...

1669. At the Banquet...In Your Pajamas

Matthew 22:1-14

Sermon

King Duncan

... good and bad were accepted at the king’s table. This is what grace is about, God’s amazing grace. Both good and bad people are invited by God to receive the gift of God’s love. It sometimes bothers us that the riff-raff of society have as much claim on the kingdom as we do, but Jesus stated that fact several times. God loves sinners, which is good since we all qualify. It’s like a minor fad that swept our land back in the 1980s. Do you remember that, for a while, it became fashionable for people to ...

1670. Get the Monkey off Your Back

Matthew 22:15-22

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... . . . money. The experiment instructed subjects: “Either administer a painful electric shock to a person in another room and make one British pound (about $1.50), or spare the person the shock and forgo the money.” Although initially 64% of the participants claimed they would never electrocute another person, as the ante went up their resolve went down. As the money reward for administering a shock went up, so did the number of people — er, humanzees — who suddenly found that shocking wasn’t that ...

1671. What Is Our City?

Acts 4:32-35

Sermon

Ken Lentz

... noted. We do know that the "apostles gave their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus" (v. 33). What makes the church community different from other communities? The Christian community is the place where resources and gifts are shared. "No one claimed private ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was held in common" (v. 32). Furthermore, they sold their lands and houses and "laid (the proceeds) at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need" (v. 35). In ...

1672. Salvation Has A Name!

Acts 4:5-12

Sermon

Ken Lentz

... authority to put anyone to death. It appears that the court wanted to intimidate Peter and John; usually a stay overnight in jail is sufficient. Peter and John were not only guilty of healing a lame man. (It could always be claimed that it was a trick.) They were pushing the envelope further by claiming that Jesus wasn't really dead. In fact, he was raised from the dead, and his post-death new life had the power to turn nature's laws upside down. The Sadducees were upset because they didn't believe in the ...

1673. From Emptiness to Fullness

Ruth 3:1-5, 4:13-17

Sermon

Robert A. Hausman

... he can go further, Boaz must clear up what seems to be some confusion about what his rights and duties were compared to another, unnamed kinsman/redeemer. The situation is explained to this unnamed rival. He can claim the field that had belonged to Elimelech but now belongs to his widow, Naomi; but, in order to claim the field, he must take Ruth as his wife also (4:1-5). At this, the [rival] next-of-kin says, "I cannot redeem it for myself without damaging my own inheritance. Take my right of redemption ...

1674. Cheating Spouse Statistics

Illustration

... on one another. How and why? Here are some statistics: The percentage of affairs that begin at work: 60%. Up to 60% of all spouses will take part in some form of infidelity at least once during their marriage. 56% of men who have affairs claim to be happy in their marriages. Women and men cheat at the same rate within a marriage, although the reasons why women cheat are very different from the reasons that men cheat. The most common reason why a woman cheats on her spouse: emotional satisfaction. Research ...

1675. Warning: Preaching Fake Stories

Illustration

Brett Blair

... for the holy cross beyond the sea." They reached Marseilles, but the waves did not part and let them go through dry-shod as they expected. It was at Marseilles that tragedy occurred. The children met two men, Hugo Ferreus and William Porcus. The men claimed to be so impressed with the calling of the children that they offered to transport them across the Mediterranean in seven ships without charge. What the children didn't know was that the two men were slave traders. The children boarded the ships and the ...

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