Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 2001 to 2025 of 4957 results

2001. Good-Bye Mardi Gras, Hello Lent

Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21

Sermon

R. Robert Cueni

... is good for you. A common fasting practice of the biblical era was to throw ashes over your head and let them drift down on your face as part of the fast. Apparently some people liked to walk around the streets that way so that they could claim a little attention from others. “Hey, look at me, I am fasting. I am being religious.” Jesus offered a corrective, “And whenever you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites… but when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face.” The reward of ...

2002. The Devastating Influence of Faultfinding, Nay-Saying, and Nitpicking

John 12:1-8

Sermon

R. Robert Cueni

... I remember he played on the same Little League team with my son. Who does he think he is? How does he think he can lay claim to the prophecy of Isaiah? This Jesus is just like every other kid who grew up in Nazareth. There is nothing special about him.” There ensued a ... are capable of saying things to people who love and respect us that hurt and demoralize them. We can justify it by claiming we were acting in that person’s best interest. However, we need to keep in mind this unwelcome principle of our ...

2003. From His Arrest to His Crucifixion and Burial

John 18:1--19:42

Sermon

R. Robert Cueni

... tasted in high school, if not since, penned a short work on this theme that in spite of what any of us think or claim, death is the destination we have in common. Sandburg wrote: I am riding on a limited express, one of the crack trains of the ... man in the smoker where he is going and he answers: “Omaha.”1 We might think we are on the way to Omaha or Disneyland. We might claim we are on the way to riches or success. In fact, all of us in the diners and sleepers are headed for ashes to ashes and dust ...

2004. Known By Our Love

John 13:31-35

Sermon

R. Robert Cueni

... will know us by our ability to recite the Apostles’ Creed both forward and backward. Our Lord did not say they will know us by the way we go to church regularly, because we have the outline of a fish on the bumper of our car, or because we claim to believe all the approved doctrines of twenty-first-century cultural Christianity. Jesus said his followers were to be identified by their love for one another. Yet exactly what does this love for one another look like? How do we know it when we see it? How do ...

2005. In Which City Do You Live?

Revelation 21:10-14, 22-23

Sermon

King Duncan

... happen in the city of man where there are persons who also hold dual citizenship in the city of God. “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” A Tale of Two Cities. In which of those cities do you live? Which city claims your primary allegiance? Where are you investing your time, your talent, your treasure--the city of man or the city of God? 1. https://www.rd.com/funny/state-jokes/. 2. Gregory Favre: “Indifference, the story of our time.” The Sacramento Bee, July 13, 2014. https://www ...

2006. Can We Really Love Our Enemies

Luke 6:27-36

Sermon

Charles H. Bayer

... peace, but it won't solve the problem. But when we learn to treat our enemies differently, there is hope. Right now the Soviet Union is beginning to act differently, while we in the United States are keeping our guard up. If we are really the Christian nation we claim to be, why hasn't the initiative first come from us? As James said to the early church, "Let us not love in word and speech, but in deed and truth." Whoever said, "If you want peace, prepare for war," hadn't come within a million miles of the ...

2007. Making Your Life Count

1 Timothy 2:5-7

Sermon

King Duncan

... declare that there is but one God. Our Jewish friends declare that there is but one God. Most thinking people in the world today declare that there is but one God, but it is the unique claim of the people called Christians that there is but one mediator between God and human beings, the man Jesus. Again, this was no frivolous claim. Most of the early Christians had been Jews. The God they worshiped was a God of power, majesty and strength. To look upon God was to die. To even touch the things of God with ...

2008. A Strange, New Math

John 17:20-26

Sermon

Glenn E. Ludwig

... power, we are one -- not by our own initiatives, not by our own creativities, not by our own inventions. We are God's, claimed in the waters of baptism, joined together in his body, the Church, and empowered for living as a community of faith -- through his ... that math, you see. Our oneness is a witness to the world of who Jesus is. People look to us to understand Jesus. Why? Because we claim to be his body. And further, the only way the world will know about his love for them is through us. We are the arms of ...

2009. God's Most Welcome Gift

Isaiah 9:6-7

Sermon

King Duncan

... am here.” Suddenly the man had a remarkable recovery. “I’m not Jesus. I’m not Jesus!” the man started yelling. Bandler’s method of helping this man face reality may have been a little cruel, but his story does remind us that many have come through history claiming to be the anointed one, but few have been willing to pay the price that Jesus paid. He was not born like a Messiah. He did not act like a Messiah. He did not die like a Messiah. No wonder his own people had difficulty accepting him. In ...

2010. Beyond a Friendly, Cuddly Christmas

Matthew 2:13-23

Sermon

King Duncan

... of what you need? Getting your prayers answered in the way you want them answered? A certain televangelist named Jesse Duplantis made the news when he told his followers that Jesus had challenged him to raise donations for a new $54 million private jet. Duplantis claimed that the new jet would allow him to reach more people with his ministry. As he said, “I really believe that if Jesus was physically on the earth today, he wouldn't be riding a donkey.” And Duplantis isn’t alone in his beliefs. Pastors ...

2011. Surprised by Joy

Luke 2:8-14

Sermon

Dean Feldmeyer

... news of great joy.” The Advent/Christmas season is one filled to overflowing with Joy. No wonder the secular world embraces our religious holiday so enthusiastically. It isn’t just about money as we often so cynically claim; it’s about joy. So why are so many Christians so angry? Why have so many of us who claim Christ as Lord chosen anger, bitterness, and resentment as our go-to posture for this season of joy? Is it all the bad news we hear on the television news? Let’s be honest, it has seemed ...

2012. Recognizing Who God Is

Job 42:7-17

Sermon

King Duncan

... second half of Job's life were joy, peace, assurance, strengthÃ¹these are the spiritual blessings that come through weathering a storm in the presence of God. A few years ago, a tragic car accident claimed the lives of Gerald Sittser's wife and one child. Sittser was left to raise his other three children alone. He claims that his grief has driven him closer to God. He cherishes every day, and sees beauty in the most common things. He writes, "I still want (my family) back, and I always will, no matter ...

2013. The Law of Unintended Consequences

Matthew 5:13-20

Sermon

King Duncan

... requirements of the Law. But Jesus was good enough to fulfill all the Law’s requirements. Like a lamb to the slaughter, he took the penalty for us and gave us his goodness, his righteousness in its place. Do you want to stand before a holy God and claim that you’re good enough to enter the kingdom of heaven? Or do you want the perfect Son of God to stand in your place and open the gates of the kingdom for you? The choice is yours. 1. http://ucstories.com/unintended-consequences-stories/ by Leland Long ...

2014. Same Ol’, Same Ol’

Matthew 2:13-18

Sermon

Dean Feldmeyer

... 300 and 1,000 so the number of male children under the age of two would have been between seven and twenty, horrible enough but fewer than were killed by either side in the Iraq war, and hardly the 14,000 or 140,000 that have been claimed in some versions of this story. Within a year, Herod was dead and his kingdom divided between his three sons, none of whom would even begin to approach either the greatness or the depravity of their father. Their reigns would be filled with petty squabbling, back stabbing ...

2015. Don't Give In

Matthew 4:1-11

Sermon

David & Marian Plant

... with a call to the importance of allowing ourselves to practice the rigor and gift of fasting: the value of the removal of those things that tend to distract us from God, so that we might more purely center ourselves on growing closer to the one who claims us. For those who have long been in the church we can remember the Lenten discipline of “giving up” something for Lent so that we might be better able to focus on what is really important. In equal fashion we can remember the challenge to not give ...

2016. Listening 101

John 4:1-26, John 4:27-38, John 4:39-42

Sermon

David & Marian Plant

... and her attempt at hiding her life, then his uncovering it. You remember how the strange man then spoke more boldly, telling her that this thing over which both tribes would have claim, this well named after Jacob, was now meaningless as a sacred space. You see again how flabbergasted she was that such things should be uttered. But he claimed he was the Messiah. She turned in her own confusion to certainty... it must be so, and any space he was in, was sacred. The drama, if left there, would be sufficient ...

2017. The Gathering at Cana

John 2:1-11

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... watch CSI? This has got to be one of the most interesting shows on tv, which is why it has spawned a series of sequels---CSI Miami, CSI New York. Colleges and community colleges around the country have claimed that this one show CSI has significantly boosted admissions in forensic science! Lawyers and judges have claimed that it has changed the whole mind-set of juries and what they look for before they are willing to convict. But even if you aren’t a jurist or a scientist by trade, we all still love ...

2018. Your Faith Has Made You Well

Mark 5:21-43

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... wait for Jesus’ voice, but can’t hear him. And sooner or later, they wonder if God is really listening. But our scripture today tells us, even when Jesus may not be in our vision, even if we don’t experience the kind of direct communication that some claim to have, we know that Jesus is there. Jesus is always there. If we will reach out to him, touch even the corner of his garment with our prayer, we can be healed, made whole, resurrected in spirit and body through the living Lord. In fact, sometimes ...

2019. The Death of John the Baptist

Matthew 14:1-12, Mark 6:14-29, Luke 9:1-9

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... ’s bowing to the shouts of the crowd to crucify Jesus is evident. Likewise, not unlike crucifixion, beheading was a form of execution designed to dishonor and belittle the reputation of the one being executed. Finally, even as Jesus’ body was claimed by Joseph of Arimethea, John’s disciples claim his corpse and “lay it in a tomb.” Head and Beheading The head is the part of the body which houses the mind (and in the Jewish/Hebrew tradition, this is also the seat of the heart or spirit). From the ...

2020. The Gardener

John 20:10-18

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... Booth, Florence Nightingale, E. Stanley Jones . . . you, me? One of the insanities caused by resurrection faith was the belief that Jesus somehow rose from his tomb without his grave clothes being in the least way disturbed. Another was that a woman named Mary of Magdala claimed to have seen two angels at the head and foot of the slab where the missing Jesus had lain. Yet another was even more strange –that Mary saw Jesus in the dark of the morning in the garden near the tomb, heard his voice, spoke with ...

2021. Vetted

Luke 3:21-38, Luke 4:1-13

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... , in whom I am well pleased” at the moment of Jesus’ baptism. This startling declaration must be “tested,” and Jesus goes through a number of tests of His loyalty to God, understanding of the scriptures, and sheer will and faith, which “vets” His claim to the title, “Son of God.” Interestingly, the genealogy begins, “Jesus, supposed son of Joseph,….then continues through a lineage from Heli through Son of Adam, and ends Son of God. It’s clear that the author is making a statement about ...

2022. Masks Off!

John 7:25-45 and 8:11-59

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... ? He died, and so did the prophets. Who do you think you are?” Jesus replied, “If I glorify myself, my glory means nothing. My Father, whom you claim as your God, is the one who glorifies me. Though you do not know him, I know him. If I said I did not, I would be a ... as the Pharisees recognize the metaphor immediately and plot to convict him of heresy. With His Father as his witness, he claims to be the ultimate messenger, the final messenger Messiah, who will usher in God’s final redemption. It is no ...

2023. Lazarus Rising

John 11:1-16, John 11:17-37, John 11:38-44, John 11:45-57, John 12:1-11, John 12:12-19

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... status quo. He is rousing more and more people behind him, and crowds are following him everywhere. He’s trouble with a capital “T.” Lazarus is his patron and protector. For a while, Jesus kept out of the way. But now he’s reappeared, and has claimed to raise Lazarus from the dead! The people believe him. They are falling for his rhetoric hook, line, and sinker. Soon, the Roman officials will be in town for the beginning of Passover, and crowds of people will be lining the streets. Many are already ...

2024. Pilate's Ruse

Matthew 27:1-26 · Luke 22:66--23:25 · John 18:28-40; 19:1-16 · Mark 15:1-15

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... has won. With this age-old ritual, Pilate has pulled the wool over the Jewish authorities and placated them into thinking he is doing what they want. He’s placated his wife, to whom he will claim he was put into a difficult position and had no choice. He’s silenced a possible enemy of the state, this Jesus, who claims to be “king of the Jews.” He’s even gained a friend in Herod, whom he will make sure feels he owes him a favor. “We have no King but Caesar,” the Chief Priests boasted. Indeed ...

2025. Joey and Nicky at Skull Mountain

Mark 15:42-47

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... and Joey had enough authority to make sure they could care for the body in the Jewish proper way. No one else was allowed near. The guards were under strict orders not to let any of his followers come near, for fear, they’d steal the body, and claim Jesus had risen from the dead. They wanted to thwart the rumors before they even started! So, Nicky brought the burial oils and wrappings, as Joey moved the body to the cave. There, the two anointed and wrapped Jesus’ body –the usual job of the women in ...

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