Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 1826 to 1850 of 4986 results

1826. But You Can't Get Water Out Of A Rock!

Exodus 17:1-7

Sermon

Steve Burt

... of rent, food, and household expenses. The thought terrified me. All I could see was the rock. "In the spring of that year my wife, her parents, and I traveled to Maine for my entrance interview at Bangor Theological Seminary. My in-laws had a small camper, so we stayed in a campground outside Bangor. The interview went well, but my concern wasn't that I wouldn't get accepted -- my concern was that I would, for I had no idea how the bills would be met. But I trusted God would help us through. "The day we ...

1827. A Law We Can Live With

Exodus 20:1-21

Sermon

Robert S. Crilley

... the fence separating the viable community of Israel from the marauding beasts of disorder, confusion, and bloodshed howling outside the pale."1 As helpful as it may be to start from this vantage point, however, it doesn't do us much good to stay here. To be rather blunt, one cannot understand this passage from a casual, philosophic distance -- for the Commandments are not a set of abstract regulations thundered down from the mist-shrouded heights of Sinai by some impassive deity. Quite the contrary. They ...

1828. A Misguided Game of Hide-and-Seek

Exodus 32:1-33:6

Sermon

Robert S. Crilley

... you're searching for the Lord, you'd do well to start with that one wandering the streets, hungry, and whom someone yesterday offered a little food; thirsty, and someone gave a cup of cold water; a stranger, and someone opened the door, offering a place to stay. The good news of the gospels is that even when we do not see evidence of God's presence; even when we've lost our bearings and struggle to find our place; even when it appears that everything once familiar has been suddenly rearranged, the Almighty ...

1829. Veiled Glimpses of God's Glory

Exodus 33:12-23

Sermon

Robert S. Crilley

... -of-order with the travel itinerary. By now everyone in the audience is well aware that the stakes have never been higher, and we are starting to sense that what Moses actually wants is for Yahweh to put all the cards on the table. Does the Lord plan to stay here at Sinai, or come with the people of Israel? Like a defense attorney subtly reminding the witness of previous testimony, Moses begins to plead his case: "You have said, 'I know you by name, and you have found favor in my sight.' Now if I have found ...

1830. Sometimes, You Gotta Get Your Feet Wet First

Joshua 3:1-4:24

Sermon

Robert S. Crilley

... a verb than a noun.5 But if you ask me, it's actually more of a participle -- that is, something you need to keep doing. Paul Scherer once compared it to riding a bicycle. "The only safety there is," he said, "lies in riding! Otherwise you can't even stay on. Momentum is the secret of poise."6 At the very least, faith can ill afford to be treated leisurely, or worse still, at one's convenience. It's not a window-shopping activity. You can't find it in a book, or learn it from a class. You can ...

1831. Recalling, Remembering, And Rejoicing

Deuteronomy 8:1-20

Sermon

Robert S. Crilley

... and arbitrating their disputes every step of the way. And now, here they are, poised on the east bank of the Jordan, anxiously awaiting their chance to enter into the Promised Land. Sadly, Moses will not be accompanying them. By divine decree, he is to stay behind so that his words may be sent ahead. But strangely enough, though the prophet is center stage throughout, the text offers no voice for the poignant soliloquy of competing emotions which must have swirled within him. We can only guess at what he ...

1832. Signs Of Christ's Return

Matthew 24:1-35

Sermon

Phyllis Faaborg Wolk

... floor and over to the door jamb, his chest of drawers came crashing down onto the floor. "Tommy, are you all right?" called his father, who Tommy now noticed huddling with his mother under the door frame of their bedroom. "You're doing the right thing, Tommy; stay right where you are," he said. It was difficult not to run. As he sat clutching his knees to his chest, he heard dishes shattering in the kitchen, and continued to feel the rumble beneath him for what seemed an eternity. The next days and weeks ...

1833. Epiphany 5

Matthew 5:17-20, Matthew 5:13-16

Sermon Aid

William E. Keeney

... four of them decided to go hiking. They took longer than expected and got off the trail as it turned dark. They got to the crest of a mountain and could see the light of the camp off in the distance, still two or three miles away. They decided to stay for the night since they could not see their way ahead and were not on a trail. In the morning they awoke and moved toward the camp. Just a short distance ahead of them in line with the camp, they suddenly saw a cliff over which they would probably have ...

1834. The Holy Spirit As The Dove Of Peace

Sermon

John A. Stroman

... times scared, by what is happening in us, to us, and around us. The peace that Jesus gives us is that which anchors the soul in the time of storm. As the hymn writer states, When all around my soul gives way, He then is my rock and stay. How discouraged God must feel when he looks at his world of creation and sees the bloodshed, violence, and destruction that men, women and nations have brought upon one another. We seem to be hell-bent on destroying the environment and ourselves with it. Morality And Peace ...

1835. Two-and-a-Half Cheers For Hypocrites

Matthew 6:1-2, Matthew 6:5-6, Matthew 6:16

Sermon

Thomas Long

... on Saturday and whose Sabbath liturgy consists of sleeping late and pondering what sort of toppings should go on the Domino's pizza they will order for the halftime of the football game. In fact, people with a sharp eye for hypocrisy would consider those who stay at home on Sunday as actually morally superior to the hypocrites who drag themselves out of bed and show up for Sunday school. At least they aren't wearing a pious mask and living a lie. If we want to be hard on hypocrites -- especially religious ...

1836. The Way, The Truth, And The Life Style

John 14:5-14

Sermon

Thomas Long

... composed of the cards we lead with, the ones we lay face up on the table to show our strength. A life, on the other hand, is every aspect of who we are, every card we hold, weak and strong. Renting the video of Saturday Night Fever is life style; staying up all Saturday night with a child with a fever is life. Our life styles can lose luster, but with sufficient cash flow, they can be improved; our lives, on the other hand, are more desperate and in need of being saved. It is worthy of note, then, that ...

1837. Good News, Bad News, Good News

John 13:1-17

Sermon

Thomas Long

... could have spelled disaster. The driver is terrified, crying out that he is scared of dying. So, Jack crawls into the cab next to him and says, "Look, don't worry, I'm right here with you; I'm not going anywhere." And Jack was true to his word; he stayed with the man until he was safely removed from the wreckage. Later the truck driver told Jack, "You were an idiot; you know that the whole thing could have exploded, and we'd have both been burned up!" Jack told him that he felt that he just couldn't leave ...

1838. Behold The Man Who Taught By The Sea

Mark 4:1-20

Sermon

Thomas A. Pilgrim

It was the end of the school year and a first grade teacher was saying good-bye to her students. One little boy said to her, "Teacher, I sure do like you. I'd like to stay in the first grade forever, but I've been promoted. Boy, I wish you knew enough to teach me in the second grade."1 So many people who are successful are able to look back at a person who first turned on a light inside the mind, who quickened the ...

1839. The Promising Invitation

Matthew 11:25-30

Sermon

Marc Kolden

... meant or - worse -- we may not see where they really do apply most profoundly. Clearly, Jesus couldn't have meant that in this life all our weariness and burdens of work, poor health, poverty, and the like will disappear. The life of the Christian is not just staying in bed! One day all our burdens will be lifted, but here Jesus is not speaking primarily of eternal life in heaven. He is speaking to his followers in the midst of their participation in his mission. "Come to me now and I will give you rest ...

1840. Professor Of Paradox

Matthew 13:47-52, Matthew 13:44-46, Matthew 13:31-35

Sermon

Roger G. Talbott

... swept by wars and invasions. Every time people heard that invaders were coming they would bury their valuables in spots that only they knew about. When the threat passed, they dug them up again. Sometimes the invaders carried away the owner and the treasure stayed buried, forgotten. Generations may have come and gone, plowing the fields over the top of the treasure. For the treasure to be found again, two things had to happen. Frost and earth tremors had to push the treasure upward toward the surface and ...

1841. Wanting To Be Seen

Matthew 6:5-6

Sermon

David Belgum

... his reputation and the public adoration ascribed to him as part of his civic obligation. Personally, he would rather have taken a week off here and there to attend to his beloved plantation at Mount Vernon. There he was, for over four months, staying in a different town practically every evening, being introduced to fifty or sixty ladies at a fancy ball and listening to endless welcoming speeches that sooner or later all began sounding alike. It wasn't what you would call fun. Now George had grown ...

1842. Second Sight

Matthew 17:1-13

Sermon

David Belgum

... orderly life. In the case of Elijah it meant tossing the mantle down to Elisha so that the work could continue. To this day we speak of accepting the mantle of authority or this or that as an obligation, a calling. Jesus refused the luxury of staying in this mountaintop experience in the three booths the disciples offered to construct, a kind of Scout camp away from the city, the pleasures of being out in nature away from the hassles of the masses. "As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus commanded ...

1843. Seeing The Whole Person

John 4:1-26

Sermon

David Belgum

... handicaps, mistakes, failures, and sin. She experienced grace, the grace of God, and knew it. It was good news for her, the good news she wanted to share with others. The Samaritans also sensed the blessing of Jesus' presence and grace and asked him to stay with them. One wonders how many others got a clearer vision for their lives because of their encounter with this prophet, who could see so clearly all that made up the whole person, the strengths and weaknesses, the shame of group rejection and prejudice ...

1844. Seeing The Unseeing

John 9:35-41, John 9:13-34, John 9:1-12

Sermon

David Belgum

... blind" (John 9:39). When Jesus was describing the moral bankruptcy of the hypocritical Pharisees, he used the metaphor of blindness: "... they are blind guides of the blind. And if one blind person guides another, both will fall into the pit." To some Pharisees who stayed on to question him after he made the remark above, he made this statement: "If you were blind [like a sociopath who can't distinguish right from wrong], you would have no guilt; but now that you say, 'We see [understand the spiritual issue ...

1845. Affirming The Ash Heap

Job 2:1-10, Mark 8:31--9:1

Sermon

Wallace H. Kirby

... life is a personification of perfection. And let's imagine this perfect person going through all kinds of trouble. If this person wants to continue living in the midst of all this trouble, then there may be some hope. But if that little spark of determination to stay alive is snuffed out, then the person feels like giving up on life before it gets more painful. But wait! We don't have to use our imaginations because such a situation has already been described in one of the books of the Old Testament. It is ...

1846. Responding In Anger

Job 7:11-21 · Matthew 21:12-13

Sermon

Wallace H. Kirby

... secret?" The patient replied: "Well, when my wife and I were married fifty years ago, we made an agreement. We decided never to fuss or to argue with one another. Whenever we have a difference of opinion that causes friction and we can see a fight coming on, she just stays in the house and I go out for a long walk. I guess my good health is due to the fact that for fifty years I've pretty much lived an outdoor life." We chuckle at his answer, but isn't it true we all have had to find ways ...

1847. Hailing The King Of Chaos

Job 12:13-22· Matthew 27:32-44

Sermon

Wallace H. Kirby

... even cheering at what was happening. The news release reported that the young woman entered the bar to buy cigarettes. Never having been there before, she was not aware of the bar's reputation for gambling and brawling. When she met a woman she knew, she stayed for a drink. According to police accounts, when her female friend left, a man grabbed the young woman, stripped off her clothes, and raped her on the barroom floor. And then she was lifted on to a pool table and raped again and again to the cheers ...

1848. Troubled By A Talking Whirlwind

Job 38:1-7 · Matthew 21:1-11

Sermon

Wallace H. Kirby

... Son of God." We often ask too many questions, seek too many answers, want too much explanation. When Moses saw the burning bush, he didn't ask, "Is this one of the seven wonders of the Sinai peninsula?" No, he turned to see, and took off his shoes, and stayed to worship. He waved! What would Job and the Palm Sunday folk say to us on this festive day? I think they both would point out two things. Number one: Meet halfway any glory that comes your way. Whenever you see a glory passing by, bend with it, bend ...

1849. The Backside Of God

Sermon

John N. Brittain

... it does put something of an onus on us. I am surely not the only one who has received gifts over the years that I really don't know what to do with: the unworn tie, the somewhat too-colorful shirt, the clock in the shape of a bird that stays in the attic. As Paul wrote to the Galatians, in the absence of a living relationship with God, we may not know exactly what to do with the gift of the law. Trying to rely on mere obedience to the law in order to win God's favor can become ...

1850. Responsibility And Motivation

Ruth 1:1-22

Sermon

John N. Brittain

... in Egypt and come to their aid. She now worshiped the same God who would not allow Cain to evade responsibility by asking, "Am I my brother's keeper?" Of course he was! So it was this faith in the Hebrew God that led to her insistence on staying with Naomi: "É Your people shall be my people, and your God my God." Could Ruth really have foreseen the situation into which her new faith would lead her? Of course not. No more than any young couple can really foresee what life will bring when they make warm ...

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