Sermon and Worship Resources

Synonyms: Levi, disciple, evangelist, tax collector, the 12, the twelve, apostle, sermon on the mount, jewish audience, beatitudes, lord's prayer, great commission, parables, olivet discourse, mount of olives, olivet, synoptic

Showing 1901 to 1925 of 2815 results

1901. Taking Charge

Joshua 5:1-12

Sermon

King Duncan

... of the most important words in Scripture. "When he came to himself." Suddenly this young man knew it was time for him to take charge of his life. He was on the wrong bus. It was time to get off that bus and get on the right one. Sure, this parable of Jesus is about sin and grace. It is about a father's love for his wayward son, but it is also about a boy who suddenly realizes his strategy for life isn't working--and he knows he needs a new plan. Let's shift gears for a moment ...

1902. Begin With The End

Revelation 21:1-27

Sermon

King Duncan

... Wonders For You by Charles L. Allen, Fleming H. Revell, Old Tappan, New Jersey, 1987, p. 22. 5. "Touching the Heart of God," Leonard Lesourd, Catherine Marshall, Fleming H. Revell Co. Cited at The Inspired Buffalo, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/the-inspired-buffalo/. Cited by Richard@witandwisdom.org. 6. Parables, etc. Submitted by Ron Albertson, Saginaw United Methodist Church, Saginaw, Texas -- adapted.

1903. It's Not About Us

Revelation 22:1-6

Sermon

King Duncan

... Coffeen, III, Guideposts, November 2001, pp. 33-35. 4. "Life in These United States," Reader's Digest, October 2003. 5. A friend of Morgan's, a fellow North Carolina pastor, H. Warren Casiday, shared this with us years ago. 6. Lynn A. Miller's retelling of John Aurelio's "The Parable," in Story Sunday, Paulist Press, 1978. Adapted from Firstfruits Living: Giving God Our Best by Lynn A. Miller (Scottsdale, Pennsylvania: Herald Press, 1991), pp. 37-40.

1904. Running For Joy

Hebrews 12:1-13

Sermon

King Duncan

... had successfully scaled the world's tallest mountain fell and hurt himself over a toy his daughter had left in the floor? That's life. So often it isn't the big things that trip us up, but the little things. Five hundred years ago, Leonardo Da Vinci told a parable of a tiny nut. This nut fell into the clutches of a crow which carried it to the top of a tall bell tower. Just as the crow was set to devour the tiny nut, the nut slipped from the crow's claws and fell into a crevice of the ...

1905. He Left Them Where?

Luke 15:1-7

Sermon

King Duncan

... ." How beautiful. How touching. And also, how absurd. We've made this point before, but it is important. A much beloved gospel hymn goes like this: "There were ninety and nine who safely lay in the shelter of the fold . . ." That's not how Jesus told his parable. "Which one of you," said Jesus, "having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it?" He left them where? In the wilderness. This adds an edge to ...

1906. Money Matters

Amos 5:18-27

Sermon

King Duncan

... all the property he owned--but the game was over, and he had to put all the money and all the hotels, and all the property back into the box and close it up and he didn't have anything. Then he went on to say "Isn't that a parable of life?" No matter how much we accumulate, it all goes back into the box. We can't take it with us--as the cliche goes. We leave it all behind. So we would be wise to hear Jesus' words to this rich young ruler, "One thing thou lackest. Go ...

1907. Frustrated By Their Lack Of Faith

Mark 6:1-6

Sermon

King Duncan

... the wife, "Perhaps you would like to try it." She replied, "Certainly." She pulled up the sleeve of her blouse and thrust her hand into a bucket of water. Calmly she held her hand out while the hot metal was poured over it. In the nature of one of Jesus' parables, we might ask which of the two really believed the workman. The husband believed at one level but he wasn't willing to put his belief to the test. The wife, on the other hand, was willing to take the kind of risk that faith in Christ demands. Many ...

1908. Discerning The Will Of God

Acts 1:1-11

Sermon

King Duncan

... cold or hot. So, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold or not, I will spew you out of my mouth." (3:15-16) We want our lives to count for something. We don't want to be like the flock of geese Soren Kierkegaard described in a parable. There was a flock of domesticated geese that would gather each Sunday in the shade of the barn to hear the gander preach about the glorious destiny of geese. He would describe the grand purpose for which they were created"”flying. Since they were domesticated, none of ...

1909. Sympathizing With The One Talent Man

Matthew 25:14-30

Sermon

King Duncan

... master shouts at him, "at least you could have put my money in a bank and drawn some interest. Give me my money back, and get out of my house and never come back." Actually Jesus' words about this man's fate are harsher than that, for this was a parable of the Kingdom of Heaven. But that's for another day. What we need to see is the very human, the very common, the very tragic aspect of this man's behavior, for it may be that there is someone in this room who is reacting to life just as ...

1910. The God Who Is Near

Isaiah 55:1-13

Sermon

King Duncan

... I FIND GOD? (Revell Company). (2) Stephen F. Olford, GOING PLACES WITH GOD, (Wheaton: Victor Books, 1983) (3) Dr. George Buttrick. (4) Nelson L. Price, FAREWELL TO FEAR, (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1983). (5) Susan Russell, quoted in Arthur Tonne, WITH PARABLES, (Emporia, KS: Didde, 1945). (6) Keith Miller and Bruce Larson, THE PASSIONATE PEOPLE, (Waco: Word Books, 1979). (7) (Nashville: Discipleship Resources, 1983). (8) Cyril J. Barber and Gary H. Strauss, THE EFFECTIVE PARENT, (San Bernadino: Here's Life ...

1911. Shepherding And Parenting

Psalm 23:1-6, 1 Peter 2:13-25

Sermon

King Duncan

... images of the Good Shepherd. The figure of the Good Shepherd is one used in both the Old Testament and the New to refer to God's care for his people. Jesus, however, went beyond this figure of the Good Shepherd in such teachings as the parable of the Prodigal Son to reveal God as the Good Parent. Good shepherding and good parenting have much in common. As we celebrate this festival of the Christian home, it would be good for those of us who are parents to be reminded of our essential responsibilities ...

1912. Grieve Not The Holy Spirit

Ephesians 4:1-16

Sermon

King Duncan

... , even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you." (KJV) I hope St. Paul isn't describing somebody you know--bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, evil speaking, malice. Why are some people so hard to live with? David Augsburger tells a revealing little parable of three little turtles. They were going out one summer afternoon for a country picnic. One carried a basket with the sandwiches, relishes, and desserts. The second carried the jug with the turtle-ade. The third carried nothing. Just then they felt the ...

1913. Preparing the Way

Mark 1:1-8

Sermon

King Duncan

... The visitor was a carpenter by trade. He was disturbed because he saw those shelves against a true vertical, which ran like a plumb line through his mind. The owner of the cabin, on the other hand, was at ease with crookedness, and even unaware of it. (5) What a parable of our world! We live in a world that is off-center. We are so used to it that we are not even aware of its deficiencies. However, measured against God’s will for our world, we can see glaring problems. So God has a dilemma. God created us ...

1914. Rebellion in the Vineyard

Matthew 21:33-46

Sermon

King Duncan

... tenants. They had no difficulty responding, “He will put those wretches to miserable death, and lease the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the harvest time.” Little did they know they were condemning themselves with their answer. You see, the parable was about them. They had been entrusted with the spiritual care of God’s people. Unfortunately, many of them looked upon it only as a job a way of earning a good living a source of prestige and power. They were so set in their ...

1915. MONEY MATTERS

Amos 5:18-27

Sermon

Edward Inabinet

... all the property he owned--but the game was over, and he had to put all the money and all the hotels and all the property back into the box and close it up--and he didn''t have anything. Then he went on to say "Isn''t that a parable of life?" No matter how much we accumulate, it all goes back into the box. We can''t take it with us--as the cliche goes. We leave it all behind. So we would be wise to hear Jesus'' words to this rich young ruler, "One thing thou lackest. Go ...

1916. The Scariest Drug on the Market

1 Timothy 6:3-10

Sermon

Edward Inabinet

... something would have to be done about it. She started a fund-raising drive. She called people. She sent letters. She got some financial support from private foundations. She finally raised $85,000. Then she used the money to move to another neighborhood. There is a parable there. How many times we see it with idealistic youths? Ask them what they would do if they had a million dollars and they will tell you that they would feed the hungry and house the homeless, but when they actually are in a position to ...

1917. Maturity in Stewardship

2 Corinthians 9:6-15, 2 Corinthians 8:1-15

Sermon

Edward Inabinet

... own: you were bought with a price." The Christian steward knows he is only a trustee. Genesis 1:28 tells us that after the creation God said to man, "Be fruitful and multiply and subdue the earth and have dominion." We''re not owners but trustees. Jesus in the parables of the talents showed that God has given us the resources of our world, and He expects an accounting for them. He who supplies seed to the sower and bread to the eater expects us to use them and other gifts to glorify His name and minister to ...

1918. Proving Your Love

2 Corinthians 8:1-15

Sermon

Edward Inabinet

... how he earns his money and how he spends it. For then you know a great deal about his motives, his standards, his desires and what his real religion is all about." When we investigate the New Testament we find that one-third of all Jesus’ parables and one-sixth of all his teachings have to do with money and material possessions. Jesus approached life from the perspective that everything belongs to God. We, then, are simply stewards and managers of what he has given us. How we manage what we have been ...

1919. The Question That Will Not Go Away

1 Corinthians 15:1-11

Sermon

Edward Inabinet

... worries. I trust them. I know them and they know me. When it comes to the mystery of death I am trusting in the authority of my relationship to Jesus Christ to open the door which I would not open myself. In one of his novels, Franz Kafka tells a parable about a man who waited all his life outside a door. He looks at the door wistfully and longs to enter it. He watches the door-keeper and wonders how to get past him and through the door. For some time he plots and strategically plans ways to get past ...

1920. Hope in the Shadows

Mark 13:1-31

Sermon

Darrick Acre

... given by this Master would be tragic. But we don’t maintain that post by careful religious observance. The crossing of all our religious “T’s” and the dotting of all our religious “I’s” is not what the Master is looking for upon His return. The parable about servants left in charge of the household and left to watch the door for the master to come indicates that to watch is not to be found asleep at the post of service when the master comes. It implies an attitude of obedience, of commitment ...

1921. Father? Almighty?

John 14:5-14

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... . Jesus gave us a name for that quest: Abba, Father. Something like a Divine Parent, out on all the roads where people get themselves lost, calling their name. In one of his sermons, J. Wallace Hamilton said: “Only once is (God) described as running. It is in the parable of the father. A boy went off to a far country and got lost there, and came to famine. It isn’t a nice place, the far country; it never fulfills its promises. Some of you know that now—that restless uneasiness. I will tell you what it ...

1922. What on Earth Is the Trinity?

John 14:15-31

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... of fire which the Book of Acts says came to rest on the heads of the disciples at Pentecost. But the fire got out of hand and burned the costumes, set fire to the draperies, and eventually burned down the whole church! Perhaps theres a parable for us here. What would happen if we could get some of the spiritual fire which empowered those first Christians at Pentecost? Perhaps it would not burn down the church, but burn out of the church all of the laziness, pettiness, selfishness, half-heartedness, luke ...

1923. Jesus and the Divorced Evangelist

John 4:1-26

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... going on for many centuries. And yet, as in the Middle East today and in Northern Ireland, it smoldered as bitterly as ever. But Jesus would have none of it. He even made a hated Samaritan the hero of one of His little stories, called “parables”! And when He wanted to travel to Galilee, he went through Samaria. Most Jews would not have done that, preferring instead to avoid the Samaritans by crossing over the Jordan River into Perea, then traveling north along the Jordan valley and crossing back after ...

1924. What about Spiritual Healing?

John 4:43-54

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... B and both are in God’.” He tells of an experience he had in India when two farmers sank wells in separate pieces of land, only to discover that underneath the two farms there was a vast underground lake, from which they both drank. It is a parable of the fact that in the depths of our being we are all linked up with one another. Prayer reinforces that connection. Many years ago I heard a story of a rural Indiana telephone company which operated a small party-line system on batteries. But they had a ...

1925. Is Suffering Punishment for Sin?

John 9:1-12

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... , and punishment. It is not a new problem. It is as old as the Book of Job and as new as the latest bulletin from the hospital’s Intensive Care Unit. When suffering and tragedy strike, we cry out, “Why?” Remember the Book of Job, that ancient parable which tries to grapple with the problem of human suffering? Job was the man of many troubles. He lost houses, lands, children, and through some perverse irony of fate still had his wife left to nag him. “Job, why don’t you give up this silly business ...

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