Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 1676 to 1700 of 3852 results

Acts 4:1-22

Sermon

King Duncan

... story about an aged woman, born and nurtured in the South, who was endeavoring to impress upon her nephews and nieces the beauties of the South and its people. One of her nephews spoke up. "Auntie," he asked, "do you think that all the virtues originated in and have been preserved by the Southern people?" "No, not all, but most of them," she replied. "Do you think that Jesus Christ was a Southerner?" he pressed with sarcasm. The old lady hesitated a moment and said thoughtfully, "He was good enough to ...

1677. A Firm Grip On Your Balloon

Acts 2:1-13

Sermon

King Duncan

... well-grounded in the faith might be sorely distressed by these scholars. For they are expert at pointing out what we have known for at least a hundred years ” that the Gospels are so overlaid with the thinking of the first century church, that the original likeness of Jesus is difficult to recover. All reputable New Testament scholars agree on that. In the Gospels we do not so much see Jesus directly; rather we see him as he impressed and influenced those first disciples. We have to look at him through ...

1678. Get Off The Orphan Train

Romans 8:18-27

Sermon

King Duncan

Alice Marion Ham knows little about her origins. She only knows that police found her and her brother, Robert, who was only a toddler at the time, abandoned on a New York City street in 1926. The two children were subsequently bundled by orphanage workers onto a train that carried them from the city to a new life ...

1679. Blood Sprinkled On A Modern Altar

Exodus 24:3-8, Mark 14:12-16, 22-26, Hebrews 9:11-15

Sermon

King Duncan

... ?’” “Need any help locating your own Eden?” Tracy asks in conclusion. “The place where you first betrayed the noble, the good, and God? Your Eden was that situation in which you discovered that you suffered from a ‘curvature of the soul’--sin, original sin.” (1) It is impossible to fully appreciate the meaning of Christian faith if you do not have some familiarity with the entire biblical drama--from Eden, where Adam and Eve enjoyed a carefree existence, to Patmos, where John had his vision ...

1680. Long Range Planning

Ephesians 1:1-14

Sermon

King Duncan

... were part of the animal kingdom. Others say it was when Copernicus said that the earth was not the center of the universe. And still others claim it was when Freud revealed that our actions are the result of forces in our subconscious. Whatever its origin, the battle to maintain a sense of humanity's innate dignity still goes on. Ultimately, the sexual revolution is about human dignity, and to a certain extent, the battle over abortion. New questions raised by the specter of human cloning strike at the very ...

1681. We Know Where You Came From

John 6:41-51

Sermon

King Duncan

... frenzy, had broken into the high school and torn apart whole classrooms. Now the judge wanted to hold them up as an example to others with similar mayhem in their blood. Tracy was sentenced to a five-year term in the juvenile offenders facility. Originally conceived as a lesser form of penitentiary, this facility now held hardened criminals, even murderers and rapists. It would not be a slap on the wrist. In prison, Tracey was determined not to bend an inch. He would be tough. He would never admit defeat ...

1682. Motorcycles, Marriage And A Word From God

Mark 10:1-12

Sermon

King Duncan

... on it. One man and one woman becoming one flesh until death do they part. That is the plan. Not everyone will realize that kind of ideal arrangement in his or her life, but still it remains for most people the ideal. Perhaps you saw the original "Rocky" film before Sylvester Stallone. Do you remember the love relationship Rocky had with Adrian in "Rocky?" She was the little wallflower who worked in the pet shop, the sister of Pauly, an insensitive goon who worked at the meat house and wanted to become a ...

1683. When Are You Coming?

Isaiah 63:1-6

Sermon

King Duncan

... found that showed police dragging Emory off, both his arms loaded down with books. A superior court judge ruled that Emory was entitled to a new trial, and the district attorney's office declined to prosecute again. Emory was now free of the original charge. Further, Emory, a professional welder, was offered a full scholarship in physics at Northeastern University if he wanted to resume his studies. Emory said he was simply pleased and relieved to have the matter brought to a close. There is no guarantee ...

1684. The Greatness Of John The Baptist

John 1:19-28

Sermon

King Duncan

... be baptized by him in the river Jordan. Many of those who were baptized became his disciples. They studied with John and sought to follow him as others later were to follow Jesus. Indeed, two of Jesus' most prominent disciples, Andrew and John, were originally followers of John the Baptist. You will remember that one of the most gifted and influential preachers mentioned in the book of Acts was a man named Apollos, who, according to Acts 18: 25, was baptized as a disciple of John. YET, CONSIDER THE HUMILITY ...

1685. A Song, A Star, A Savior

Matthew 2:1-12

Sermon

King Duncan

... . The chaplain and others had tried to tell the natives about the Christian faith, but the natives responded slowly. Orders came to move on at Christmas 1943. The departing Americans gave a farewell party with make-shift gifts, and several tried to explain the origin of Christmas and the true meaning of the Christmas spirit. A few years later the same chaplain stopped at the island en route to a Far East assignment. He was greeted with excitement and taken to see the beautiful Church which the natives had ...

1686. Watch!

Matthew 24:36-51

Sermon

King Duncan

... bigger and more tempting." That is to say that life is so often a matter of perspective. The person who "expects the worst out of life" usually gets it. There is an old German proverb: "If you paint the Devil on the wall, he'll come." Originally the Devil was painted on the walls of homes out of primitive superstition that he would NOT come. However, by painting his visage where it could not be missed, a fixation upon his reality often took place. In short, what people expect is what they get. Psychologists ...

1687. His Nature Is Light

John 1:1-18

Sermon

King Duncan

... , a passenger, safe and snug on a strong steel cargo ship, eating three meals daily could never really 'feel' the suffering of those chained so many years before in the bowels of a slave ship! (2) Still, the journey was important for him to touch his origins. We can only speculate as to Christ's reasons for making his way into the world of humanity that first Christmas. Surely, though, sharing with us a common humanity is a possibility. It's always helpful to put yourself even temporarily in someone else's ...

1688. Would You Like To Hold The Baby?

Matthew 1:18-25

Sermon

King Duncan

... 's what AIDS is. It's a death certificate given months or years in advance. There is NO cure. The ONLY safe sex is within a monogamous relationship held together by love and the vows of marriage. The only safe way to use alcohol and drugs is with their original intent, medicinal purposes under a doctor's orders. Anything short of that is like playing Russian Roulette. And we play it every day. Our lives are out of control. The sad truth is that God HAD to send His son. We'd become so sin-filled that we just ...

1689. News From The Vineyard

John 15:1-17

Sermon

King Duncan

Some of you may know the story of Dawson Trotman, founder of the Navigators, an organization originally begun with the goal of reaching men serving in the Navy. Trotman began to meet with a Navy man named Les Spencer, teaching him basic truths from the Bible. After a while, Spencer brought a friend from the ship to Trotman and said, "Dawson, I want you to teach him ...

1690. A House Divided

Mark 3:20-30

Sermon

King Duncan

... afloat in a raft. The mutineers went back to Tahiti, grabbed a small group of Tahitian men and women and sailed off to live on a deserted island. When an American whaling vessel found the crew and their "friends" 18 years later, only one of the original crew was left. Friction and fighting for the women had quickly led to murder and suicidethey had no purpose to rally around other than their selfserving lusts. (5) So it is with our lives. Many of us live fragmented lives tossed and buffeted by conflicting ...

1691. The Real Tragedy Of The Tv Evangelists

Mark 6:7-13

Sermon

King Duncan

... , speaking before a Methodist Annual Conference, hit the nail on the head. At one point in his sermon, he looked up from his notes, stepped beside the pulpit, pointed his finger at the congregation and said, "Some of you Methodist preachers, I hear, do not believe in original Sin. I have only one thing to say to you: LOOK INTO YOUR OWN HEARTS!" 3 He got their attention. He was right. Something is wrong in the human heart. Something is wrong, in your heart and mine. Now please. I am not trying to make us ...

1692. Losing Favor Or Losing Flavor?

Mark 9:42-50

Sermon

King Duncan

... mark. Each rafter was one pencil mark wider than the one before. After a while, this can add up to quite a difference. By lunch time they looked at the barn and discovered it was going up at a very strange angle because they had deviated from the original standard. (2) Do you not sense that our barn is a little askew today, too? Chuck Swindoll tells about a wife who went to lunch with eleven other women who were taking a French course together since their children were all in school. One rather bold type ...

1693. Leadership Styles For A New Millennium

Matthew 2:13-18

Sermon

King Duncan

... a simple gesture of holiday spirit. However, a plant manager noticed the hats and called for them to be removed. They were "inappropriate for the workplace," he said. The next day, in what became a symbolic show of support, 100 coworkers of the two original hat bearers arrived at work wearing red Santa hats. Not to be outwitted, the manager suspended all the employees. It took the intervention of the union to get the hats off and the employees back to work. The case went to arbitration. The arbitrator ...

1694. Lighting The World

John 1:1-18

Sermon

King Duncan

... are: "The bearded lady Tried a jar She's now A famous Movie star BurmaShave." "Fisherman! For a lucky strike Show the pike A face They'll like BurmaShave." "If you dislike Big traffic fines Slow down Till you Can read these signs BurmaShave." (1) Now you know the origin of the quaint Burma Shave signs that once graced our nation's highways. And they were the result of one man's kindness at Christmastime. Christmas is a surprising time, isn't it? It's a time when we might send a card to someone who is down ...

1695. Fans or Followers

Matthew 4:18-22

Sermon

King Duncan

... . That sounds like many of us, doesn’t it? We want to be ‘fairly committed’ in our service to Christ, ‘fairly committed’ to Sunday School and worship, ‘fairly committed’ to making our church what God has called it to be. Jesus called those original followers to spend three years in his presence as disciples, learners, students. It was not enough for them to be “fairly committed.” Christ was calling them to be completely committed. They needed to grow. So do we. This brings us to the last ...

1696. Why Do You Believe What You Believe?

1 Corinthians 1:18--2:5

Sermon

King Duncan

... faith was his daily sense of Christ's presence! So it is with us. Our walk of faith may very well have begun as walking in the steps of our parents. Or it may have begun as a search for an intellectually satisfying explanation for the origins of life. It may have begun with some dramatic emotional experience. As our faith has matured, however, we have become aware of the limitations of tradition, reason, and emotion. Now we see the necessity of a daily walk with the Master. Sometime back Guideposts magazine ...

1697. In The Valley Of Dry Bones

Ezekiel 37:1-14

Sermon

King Duncan

... is powerful enough to accomplish whatever He wills. Listen as Ezekiel's vision moves toward a climax, "So I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a rattling; and the bones came together, bone to bone." That is the origin of the spiritual's little refrain, "The shin bone's connected to the knee bone and the knee bones connected to the thigh bone and the thigh bones connected to the hip bone..." But listen to the climax in vs. 10: "So I prophesied as he commanded ...

1698. Cut Down Lifted Up

Philippians 2:1-11

Sermon

King Duncan

... to develop a successful vaccine. Today doctors and drug companies have developed an efficient vaccine against yellow fever, and their cure has saved the lives of untold numbers of people around the world. Each dose of vaccine, though, can be traced back to one original blood samplethat of Asibi. Literally, one man's blood saved the lives of millions of people. (3) In a mysterious way we cannot understand, that is exactly what the blood of Jesus Christ did for us. "By his stripes, we have been healed. Thus ...

1699. Response To The Resurrection: Christian People In A Pluralistic Society

Acts 17:16-34

Sermon

King Duncan

... put down for his drawing and chooses a lonely, solitary life as a test pilot. As the story develops the test pilot crashes in the desert one day and finds a little boy. The little lad asks the pilot to draw a sheep. But the man sketches out instead his original drawing. The little prince says, "I didn't ask you to draw and elephant in boa constrictor." The man's eyes light up with a hopeful radiance as if to say, "This little boy understands me. He believes in my art." The ending of the story is sad but ...

1700. Lightning Struck

Acts 2:1-13

Sermon

King Duncan

... rods instead of crosses in memory of that time when lightning struck the early church and as protection against it ever happening again. On the Day of Pentecost lightning struck the early church. They were gathered in an upper room in Jerusalem. All the original twelve were there, save one. Judas' place had been taken by Matthias, who had been chosen by the casting of lots. That this was an unreliable means of choosing officers for the board is attested to by the fact that Matthias is never mentioned ...

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