Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 1901 to 1925 of 2962 results

1901. The Names by Which He Is Known

Exodus 3:1-15

Sermon

David J. Kalas

... was tending the flock, Moses' attention was suddenly captured by a strange sight. The occasion reminds us, of course, of the marvelous versatility of our God. He appears to and calls Isaiah in the temple, but he is not limited to working in such a designated sacred space. He calls Gideon in his hiding place, the fishermen and the tax collector at their work, young Samuel in his bed, and Saul/Paul right on the path of his well-meaning and zealous opposition to God. So, here, Moses is walking along, literally ...

1902. Do You See What I See?

Exodus 14:19-31

Sermon

David J. Kalas

... the skeptic sees exaggeration, Moses and the Israelites saw the hand of God. They all looked at the same things, but they did not see the same things. I once created a kind of word search puzzle on a blackboard for a church youth group. I carefully designed it so that it had no English words of more than two or three letters in length. What it did have hidden within it, however, was the standard conjugation of the Latin verb "to love." Any first year Latin student would recognize the familiar forms. Anyone ...

1903. Forward March

Joshua 3:1-17

Sermon

Timothy J. Smith

... a large church. She wisely realized that what worked at the larger church would not work in her new setting. She began emphasizing the principle of "different functions, equal importance." She led Bible studies as the congregation studied scripture together to discern God's design for the church and each person's role in that plan. This was a break from the past where the pastor dictated whatever direction for the church she or he thought was right. This new approach would involve all the members in every ...

1904. No Partiality

Acts 10:34-43

Sermon

John N. Brittain

... am in no way making light of the thousands of people who have their identities stolen, nor of the major brands and institutions (over 20,100 in May 2006 alone) that are victimized by "spoofed" emails that take consumers to counterfeit websites designed to trick them into divulging financial data thinking that they are actually updating their accounts. The Brittains are especially sensitive to identify theft since my wife, Eileen, had hers stolen before the term "identity theft" had even been coined. She was ...

1905. By Whose Standards?

1 Corinthians 4:1-5

Sermon

John N. Brittain

... those (nautes), and it was not just a rower. It was an under-rower, the lowest and lowliest of the rowers. There are a few other places where this term appears in the New Testament, and it always emphasizes the subordinate role of the person designated huperetes. In Acts 13:5 (NASV), "When [Paul and Barnabas] reached Salamis, they began to proclaim the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews; and they also had John as their helper [huperetes]." And Paul recounting his own conversion experience in Acts 26 ...

1906. Spiritual Judo

Romans 5:1-11

Sermon

David O. Bales

Back in the old days, meaning before Computer Assisted Design (CAD), blueprints for a house were drawn on paper with a T-square, triangles, and a real pencil. A carpenter friend of mine used those tools to painstakingly draw each house before he built it. He'd have every wall, joint, and joist drawn in such a way that any ...

1907. The Ordinary in God’s Hands

1 Corinthians 11:23-26

Sermon

David O. Bales

... — in ancient Corinth, Greece, or in our towns: Failures like us, doubters like us, spiritual orphans like us, sinners like us. God is extraordinary, and God works miracles in the ordinary. No matter how strong the temptation for Christians to designate trained pastors as the people able to do the important, religious ministries, God uses real Christians, like those Christians sitting around you, to do God's extraordinary things. He uses real Christians, like those in Corinth or those in our congregation ...

1908. Righteous!

Romans 1:16-17; 3:22b-31

Sermon

Steven E. Albertin

... finally put our trust in is part of this restless and relentless search for righteousness. Martin Luther spent much of his early life in this restless and relentless search for the righteousness of God. He rigorously followed all the prescribed programs of the church that were designed to get him the righteousness of God. He worked harder than anyone else to get right with God and be at peace with himself. He was never able to achieve it. He always fell short. He never was able to do enough and be sure that ...

1909. Righting Wrong

Romans 9:1-5

Sermon

Larry Lange

... he warned, "our church will die. Who will come all the way downtown unless we provide excellent programming to make the trip worthwhile? It's just wrong to even think about getting rid of him!" Then he announced the results of a pledge drive designed to save the youth director position: with the pledges, the budget would almost be balanced as long as they reduced the position of administrator to part-time. A few people spoke so vehemently against this proposal that the group representing the youth director ...

1910. How Beautiful the Feet

Romans 10:5-15

Sermon

Larry Lange

... divide between "the Greeks and the Jews." There are some similarities between this divide and the divide between Judy and the new pastor and the divide between Judy and the congregational leaders who had called him and the divide between Judy and those who had designed the policy that kept her beloved old pastor from ever ministering to her again. These divisions among Christians are not based upon any form of the laws of Moses, but they are based upon laws nonetheless: It was a "law" for Judy that she just ...

1911. Just a Crazy Story

Philippians 2:1-11

Sermon

Larry Lange

... sheep, when do I get the babes?" "You remember the two rules, Zachary?" "Uh ... yeah: I can't kill anyone. And I can't interfere with free will." "Excellent. Despite the loss of 348,215 brain cells last night alone, you're a pretty sharp young man. I designed the human brain with its superfluous capacity for the folly of youth." "Very generous of you." "Thank you." "Hey, God?" "Yes?" "Don't people ask you for your powers a lot? I mean, after that movie, you'd think there'd be like this huge rush of people ...

1912. The Longest Line

Lk 14:1-14

Illustration

King Duncan

Chuck Swindoll tells about a study of teenagers and peer pressure. The design of the study was simple. They brought groups of ten adolescents into a room for a test. Each group was instructed to raise their hands when the teacher pointed to the longest line on three separate charts. What one person in the groups of ten did not know was that ...

1913. Silly Putty, Play-Doh and Potter's Clay

Jeremiah 18:1-11

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... . You can make almost anything out of Play-Doh. All you have to do is let your imagination go wild. I love watching my grandson, Zach, play with his Play-Doh. The only problem with Play-Doh is that it's not made for creating permanent objects. "Play-doh is designed to be used over and over again. If allowed to harden (to preserve a creation) it will most likely crack." (5) That's right from their website. So, if you make a pitcher or a cup or even a vase out Play-Doh and it cracks, that means it won ...

1914. Swept Clean

Luke 10:38-42

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... like being in animal control. Anyhow, Pam hated to do laundry. Consequently, her laundry room was an absolute disaster. They lived in an absolutely gorgeous house, with a full basement. It was the biggest house I'd ever seen. She and my brother-in-law, Kenny designed and built it. Kenny was a contractor/carpenter. It was a 5 bedroom home. All three kids had their own room, plus, there was a guest bedroom. In one portion of that full basement, there was a laundry room. There were laundry chutes from every ...

1915. A Double Portion

2 Kings 2:1-2, 6-14

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... placed side-by-side, they would encircle the earth, at the equator, 381 times. An Oreo cookie is 29% creme, 71% cookie. More than 7.5 billion Oreo cookies are consumed each year, which comes out to 625 million per month and 20.5 million per day. The floral design on the oreo cookie consists of 12 flowers per side. There are places that sell Fried Oreos. Us Americans are something else aren't we. We think we can take anything and make it better by dipping it in batter and deep frying it. That's exactly what ...

1916. Fresh Grilled Forgiveness

John 21:1-19

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... driving me crazy. I'm going fishing." And everybody came along. And that was when they encountered the risen Jesus for the third time. They encountered Him through FISH, FORGIVENESS AND THE CHALLENGE FOLLOW ME. I. Fish A. I'm convinced that the events of that morning were designed to remind the disciples of all that Jesus had taught them. The events are very similar to the time Jesus asked Peter to push out from the shore in his boat so Jesus could use it as a floating podium. That day they had come in with ...

1917. Come On In The Water's Fine

Luke 3:15-17, 21-22

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... chances in the world. We are God's walking signboards, carrying the message of God for all to see and hear. The Font of Baptism is used to write who we are on our hearts. It's God's autograph and it says we are a child of God, a designer original. Baptism Names Us, and tells us who we are. But it also tells the world who we are and who they can be. III. Baptism Aims Us A. Baptism Claims Us, Baptism Names Us, and Baptism Aims us. Baptism tells us what we are called to do. And we ...

1918. Monuments To Self

Luke 16:19-31

Illustration

Brett Blair

... began as a lowly hired hand and by sheer determination and frugality he managed to amass a considerable fortune. In the process, however, Davis didn't make many friends. When his wife died, Davis erected an elaborate statue in her memory. He hired a sculptor to design a monument which showed both her and him at opposite ends of a love seat. He was so pleased with the result that he commissioned another statue - this time of himself, kneeling at her grave, placing a wreath on it. That impressed him so much ...

1919. It's Not Booby Trapped, But . . .

Ephesians 5:15-20

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... 5:18 Paul says: "Give thanks in all circumstances for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." NRSV. In other words: LIVE GRATEFULLY. Conclusion Be Prepared, Read the Manual, Stay Connected, Keep Your Focus, and Live Gratefully. These are all designed to help us LIVE CAREFULLY. Ten-year-old Ashley Danielle Oubré gave a speech at Washington, D.C.'s Mayoral Prayer Breakfast in 1995. In the speech, she reminded the listeners of Jesus' words in Matthew 18 that they must become like little children ...

1920. Chosen

John 15:9-17

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... that speaks quietly to our heart. Its verses can be seen and heard in the smile a a child and a beautiful sunrise. It can be seen and heard in the chorus of a familiar hymn or the weeping of loved one at a funeral. All of those things are designed to lead us to say "Yes" to God's choice and say "Yes" to God. But from the beginning of time, God has chosen us. And this passage tells us that we are chosen to love, chosen as friend and chose and appointed. I. Chosen to Love A. This passage ...

1921. Step into Your 'Adjacent Possibility'

Luke 17:11-19

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... halo of promise that lies just outside your standard zone of existence, is waiting for your presence. In today’s gospel text the “standard zone” inhabited by the ten lepers was a truly bad place to be. They were cast out as outcasts. As designated lepers they were required to stay outside the boundaries of the community, outside the gates of the village. Not only were they socially isolated, which may have been the worst thing that could happen to them; they were also required to renounce themselves ...

1922. 2 Timothy 3:14-4:5

2 Timothy 3:10--4:8

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... or those new to the community of faith, may be equipped to offer “good works” as evidence of their new life in Christ. As Paul moves to close this second letter to Timothy, he offers a somber and sacred charge to his designated successor. Here Paul’s language recalls similar “charges” found throughout the Greco-Roman world. He calls on the presence of “witnesses” to affirm and authenticate the truth and gravity contained in this commission. Paul’s “witnesses” are not some fellow citizens ...

1923. License to Steal

Luke 18:9-14

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... you can download in your computer. “Gated communities” that keep careful tabs on who comes in and who goes out. Government insured securities, pensions, and investments. Extended warranties. Pre-nuptial agreements. No-fault divorces. Everything in our calculated lives is designed to keep us maximally secure and minimally exposed. But are all these safeguards, all these assurances of a safety-first, risk-free life, nothing more than our 21st century version of the 1st century Pharisee’s prayer in this ...

1924. Luke 6:20-31

Luke 6:17-26

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... is Jesus’ first command, “love your enemies,” a statement that flies in the face of all worldly wisdom. The “enemy” was anyone who stood in obvious opposition, or who existed outside any accepted kinship relationship. Jesus’ directive turns the designation “enemy” into an oxymoron, for extending “love” to an “enemy” negates the enemy status of the other. The “love” Jesus advocates here is not a noun but rather a verb, an action word. Luke’s text immediately exegetes the word ...

1925. Can You Be Popular and Serve Jesus?

Luke 6:17-26

Sermon

King Duncan

... happen to us because we are his disciple. And so our question for the day, “Can you be popular and serve Jesus?” A few years ago psychologist Ruth W. Berenda and her associates carried out an interesting experiment with teenagers. This experiment was designed to show how people handle group pressure. The plan was simple. They brought groups of ten teenagers into a room for a test. Subsequently, each group of ten was instructed to raise their hands when the teacher pointed to the longest line on three ...

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