Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 1876 to 1900 of 2962 results

John 12:12-19

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord." We exalt Christ when we kneel in worship. Worship is not designed to please us, but to exalt Jesus. The question is not did the service suit me? The question is did it honor God? Jesus said, “God is spirit and those who worship God must worship in spirit and in truth." Worship is not about style; worship is about ...

1877. Marketing or Disciplemaking?

Acts 2:42-47

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... who freeze to death. We belong in the fellowship of faith. We try to do that in many and multiple ways and it happens in lots of places in our lives. One of the things we've tried to do in the last few years is introduce a worship service designed for persons in their late 20's and it's going great. About 160 to 175 young adults gather every Monday night in the youth café and it's an all out worship service. Amy Saffell is one of those participants. I asked Amy if she would come talk with ...

1878. The Curse of the Impossible

Mark 9:14-32

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... Dr. Lorenz went out to relax and to see the more remote sections of that vast city by the lake. He told his driver as they came to a humble residential area to let him out for an hour’s stroll and to pick him up at a designated place. In the midst of his walk a sudden violent rainstorm swept down over Chicago, and the stranded doctor sought brief shelter in a simple cottage near where he was walking — the very house, it happened, where the praying mother and the sick child lived. But when he courteously ...

1879. Heart Religion

Mark 7:1-23

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... hear this sermon, because from now on your whole life will deal with what we’re trying to deal with today. At the heart of it all is the question: “What is the essence of being Christian? In architecture there is a law of design which insists that form follows function. In religion, as clarified by Jesus in our scripture lesson, form follows faith. For the Pharisees, tradition had become more important than the true worship of God. There was letter without spirit, religiosity without Godliness. It was ...

1880. Building a Barn

Luke 12:13-21

Illustration

Dave Barry

... . Yes! A barn! Can you imagine average Americans doing that today? Not a chance! They'd spend weeks debating the membership and organizational structure of the Barn Architect Selection Committee, whose members would then get into a lengthy squabble over the design of the logo to appear on their letterhead. Ultimately this issue would become a bitter and drawn-out dispute, be taken to court, and the people involved would start complaining of depression and anxiety, and psychologists would announce that these ...

1881. Offering Ourselves to Serve

Luke 12:22-34

Illustration

Craig Brian Larson

... ," writes Jaroff, "those signals emanate from an 8-watt transmitter, which radiates about as much power as a bedroom night light, and takes more than nine hours to reach Earth.'" The Little Satellite That Could was not qualified to do what it did. Engineers designed Pioneer 10 with a useful life of just three years. But it kept going and going. By simple longevity, its tiny 8-watt transmitter radio accomplished more than anyone thought possible. So it is when you and I offer ourselves to God in faithful ...

1882. Exactly How Wide Is It?

Luke 13:22-30

Sermon

King Duncan

... go watch television.’ The most often spoken words in the American household today are the words: go watch television.” Keeshan continues. “If not now, when? Later. But later never comes for many and the parent fails to communicate at the very earliest of ages. We give her designer clothes and computer toys, but we do not give her what she wants the most, which is our time. Now, she is fifteen and has a glassy look in her eyes. Honey, do we need to sit down and talk? Too late. Love has passed by.” (4 ...

1883. God’s Weather Report

Matthew 5:38-48

Sermon

Charles L. Aaron

... on the right cheek, as a putdown. The bullies insult the Amish man, but didn't threaten to physically hurt him. The progression of the scene in the movie, from the taunting to the ice cream in the face to Book punching out two of the bullies was designed to create in the viewers a sense of catharsis, a release of emotions. Watching the bullies pick on the Amish man creates a building anger inside of us. Something inside of us doesn't want them to get away with what they did. Something inside of us resists ...

1884. Faith to Follow

John 3:1-17

Sermon

Lee Griess

... fear, chancing failure. Maybe it's the fear of the unknown, the uncomfortable, the unacquainted. Or maybe it's the fear of physical harm or emotional hurt. Whatever it is, risk always involves adventure. When I was a child, I had a little, old motorcycle. It was primarily designed for off-road use, but sometimes I'd ride it on the streets of the town where I grew up. Going twenty miles an hour (because that's as fast as the old thing would go) down the smooth streets in town was pretty boring. There wasn't ...

1885. The Cross No One Wants To See

John 18:1-19:42

Sermon

Lee Griess

... in the ancient world, and death by the cross was made even more degrading by the fact that in many cases, the victim was left to hang on the cross in public view until the body rotted away. The cross was a place of suffering — it was designed to be so. That is the meaning of the cross itself — an instrument of capital punishment, an executioner's device, like the electric chair or a hangman's noose. Death on a cross was a slow, agonizing, humiliating form of death, intended to torture its victims as ...

1886. and Forgiveness Come Easy When You’re Filled with The Spirit

John 20:19-23

Sermon

Mark Ellingsen

... , is going along, and he'll do all the heavy lifting for you! Amen. 1. For an example of scholarly consensus regarding how John diminishes the testimony of Mary Magdalene, see R. Alan Culpepper, Anatomy of the Fourth Gospel: A Study in Literary Design (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1983), pp. 144, 147, 161. 2. Martin Luther, The Small Catechism (1529), II.III.6, in The Book of Concord, ed. Robert Kolb and Timothy J. Wengert (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2000), p. 356; Augustine, On The Creed: A Sermon To ...

1887. Sick People Like Us Will Always Need The (Divine) Doctor

Matthew 9:9-13

Sermon

Mark Ellingsen

... 's Dependence. Hence these doctrines and schemes of divinity that are in any respect opposite to such an absolute and universal dependence on God, derogate from His glory ... Now whatever scheme is inconsistent with our entire dependence on God for all ... is repugnant to the design and tenor of the gospel....5 You and I are really telling God that we do not need him if we fail to confess our insidious selfish sinfulness. The next time you do not want to make that confession, keep in mind that in our gospel ...

1888. Ecological Politics

Matthew 14:22-33

Sermon

Wayne Brouwer

... animal cries, and his hands are directing the choreography of a marvelous beastly dance. The bear is on its hind legs, not to swipe and strike but to gyrate with the tempo of the child's clapping. The snakes slither in pairs forming artistic designs in the desert sands. Above, the vultures and hawks swoop and turn and bank and dive in aviary formation. The lions and tigers nod their heads as if in rhythm to celestial instrumentation. Slowly, and with mesmerizing fascination, the adults creep back to their ...

1889. Religious Balkanization

Matthew 15:21-28

Sermon

Wayne Brouwer

... neighborhoods didn't wear white on Communion Sunday, regardless of her spiritual condition, she was physically directed to the back of the church building. And when the loaf and cup of communion were passed, those whose shirts were yellow, or whose skirts had pink designs on otherwise white backgrounds, or those who were too poor to buy a white blouse — these were served the bread and wine last, as if they were second-class citizens in the kingdom or inferior members of the church. As a bit of a protest ...

1890. Mistaken Identity

Matthew 16:13-20

Sermon

Wayne Brouwer

... " in a manner similar to that found in the prophecy of Ezekiel. According to Ezekiel, when he was approached by heavenly messengers to form a link in the communication process between God and God's people, the angels called him "Son of Man." The designation was more of a representational term than anything else. In effect it was an acknowledgement that Ezekiel was truly human, but that he was being used in these settings as the conduit between the celestial and the terrestrial. The "Son of Man," thus, was ...

1891. Personal Politics

Matthew 18:15-20

Sermon

Wayne Brouwer

... is to have a brother restored. Moreover, if that does not happen through our own initiatives and those of the community, the outcome must be that we treat the other person in the broken relationship as if he were a "pagan or a tax collector." These designations sound ominous to us. They are off-putting to our sensibilities of associating with "nice" people. But we need to recall that Jesus was accused of spending too much time with tax collectors and sinners. To treat people in this manner is not to throw ...

1892. Kingdoms in Conflict

Matthew 21:33-46

Sermon

Wayne Brouwer

... and were punished through the spread of vices that flowed out of Pandora's mythical box. Others still believed divine perfection was trapped by a mean-spirited creator into the corrupt and forgetful stuff of human flesh, waiting magical gnostic liberation. Jesus' design in his sweeping tale is to give a different view of the origins of evil. God is good; creation is good; and human alienation from the good is a late introduction brought about by our sinful choices. For Jesus' audience of religious leaders ...

1893. Dressed for the Banquet

Matthew 22:1-14

Sermon

Chris Ewing

1894. In Whose Likeness?

Matthew 22:15-22

Sermon

Chris Ewing

... also lose most of his popular support. It seems that no matter how he answers, he's in trouble. Which, of course, is exactly what his questioners want. Coming from these people, the question about taxes is not a faith or conscience query; it is a hostile question designed to make Jesus discredit himself. And it looks as if they have him over a barrel. Is it right for the chosen people of God, citizens of Israel, who have no king but God and God's anointed, to pay tribute to an occupying pagan power whose ...

1895. Nations on Trial

Matthew 25:31-46

Drama

Chris Ewing

... dedicated a day to Notre Dame. We were awed by the grandeur of the cathedral. We spent the day snapping pictures, trudging up and down its steps, and listening in on the insights of tour guides. We were awed by the feats of engineering, physical design, and artisan skill that had gone into its creation ... but we were also awed by the number of Eastern European and Middle-Eastern beggars who roamed the cathedral's square competing with the pigeons for tourist handouts. 2: The strangers? 1: The strangers. 4 ...

1896. I Don't Do Windows

Deuteronomy 11:18-21, 26-28

Sermon

Tony Everett

... Israel and for us is to ignore the "whose" we are. This inevitably results in reliance on more self-help strategies and a surrender to the seductive temptations of the currently popular "gods" that promise immediate success and satisfaction. On the outside, God designated specific, clear signs that would both remind Israel of God's past deliverance and of God's continuing presence and guidance. You shall bind them [God's teachings] as a sign on your hand, and fix them as an emblem on your forehead ... Write ...

1897. Forty Days and Forever

Exodus 24:12-18

Sermon

Tony Everett

... proclaiming God's love in the present. Her spontaneous declaration of God's love would also permeate the soul of that congregation in the future. On that day, Jasmine's faithful waiting became a transfiguring moment for everyone. Note that Aaron and Hur were designated by Moses to serve as leaders of the people as they waited faithfully for Moses' return. They were charged with insuring that God's words would be proclaimed and God's instructions would be obeyed. Perhaps you also recall that it was Aaron and ...

1898. God, What Are You Up To?

Genesis 12:1-9

Sermon

Stan Purdum

... purpose." God's intentions will be fulfilled, regardless of actions or inactions on our part, because God is in ultimate control. In the second verse of Cowper's hymn he says: Deep in unfathomable mines Of never-failing skill [God] treasures up his bright designs, And works his sovereign will. In the television show, God chooses to use actions in Joan's life to accomplish his purposes, but only if she is willing to trust him enough to cooperate. In the Genesis story, God chooses to use Abram's descendants ...

1899. God's Laughter

Genesis 18:1-15, 21:1-7

Sermon

Stan Purdum

... National Humor Month. This observance was started in 1976 by humorist Larry Wilde, author of 53 books on the subject of humor, and director of The Carmel Institute of Humor, whatever that is. According to Mr. Wilde's website, National Humor Month "is designed to heighten public awareness on how the joy and therapeutic value of laughter can improve health, boost morale, increase communication skills and enrich the quality of one's life." Wilde says, "Since April is often bleak and grim and taxes are due on ...

1900. A Man of the Moment

Genesis 25:19-34

Sermon

Stan Purdum

... personal advancement than of wild game. Jacob is his mother's favorite. There is also one more thing that sets them apart: the issue of primogeniture. That is the principle practiced in their society whereby the firstborn son — Esau in this case — is the one designated to take over leadership of the family clan when the father dies and also to receive a double portion of the inheritance. That is his birthright. It was a big deal in the ancient world. Then comes the incident in today's reading. Esau has ...

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