Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 2001 to 2025 of 4937 results

2001. It Dawned on Me

Sermon

Ron Lavin

... wanted to become a disciple for so long, but he hesitated because of his position, for fear of what people might say. He was a decent man, but so cautious that opportunity passed him by. Now, when Jesus was dead, he threw all caution to the wind and decided to give up his own eternal resting place to the Lord. A large stone was rolled in front of the grave which had been dug into a stone wall. No way out. Saturday No way out! I thought of that the Saturday after Jesus' death. That's how my life had been ...

2002. Taking Risks

Mt 4:1-11 · Lk 4:1-13 · Mk 1:12-13

Children's Sermon

... with it. That is what Jesus calls tempting. When we walk into a room where there is a contagious disease or drive at an unsafe speed, we are playing dangerously with our own lives. We may get so sick or have such a bad accident that we foolishly give up our lives that God gave us. Well, the devil tried to tempt Jesus into forgetting God and following him. He made it sound pretty attractive. He also tried to get Jesus to jump off the highest building in town just to see if God really cared. Now, God would ...

2003. Christian Values: The Cost of Salvation

Isaiah 52:13--53:12

Bulletin Aid

... and we thought he was stricken by God. Leader: Let us consider the cost of our salvation. Congregation: For us, his appearance was disfigured beyond that of any man and his form marred beyond human likeness. All: Let us consider the cost of our salvation when we are tempted to give up on God. Let us remember what he has already done for us when we are discouraged, because he hasn’t given a particular answer to a certain prayer. May we remain faithful as we consider the ransom paid for us.

2004. April Showers

1 Samuel 20:1-42

Sermon

... Suddenly a friend approached the camp. Longfellow said that friends are "way stations of love on life’s journey." Jonathan was such a friend to David. Jonathan simply said to David, "Fear not! Saul, my angry father, won’t harm you. I will help you. I will gladly give up my right to the throne and be your best friend. Your fear shall not defeat you. Your friend shall be to you closer than a brother." That was the last time David looked on the face of his friend. Soon the cries of warriors would drown out ...

2005. God’s Choice

1 Samuel 16:1-13

Sermon

Roger Prescott

... a great deal to have to anoint a successor. It’s never comfortable telling someone they’re going to be replaced. But Samuel listened to God speaking to him and followed his strange guidance in selecting a replacement for Saul. Samuel knew that Saul would not agree to giving up his power. In fact, Saul could probably be counted on to throw one of his famous fits and fly into a murderous rage. So the anointing would have to be in secret. And so it was. The symbolic act only marked out the man who was to ...

2006. Job - A Probe Into the Shadow World of Despair

Job 6:1-7:21

Sermon

... in the realm of destiny and the only hope for peace is to become dust again in death, in a return to the clay. "If my troubles and griefs were weighed on scales, they would weigh more than the sands of the sea ..." (Job 6:1-3a), said Job, "I give up; I am tired of living. Leave me alone. My life makes no sense ..." (Job 7:16). "When an innocent man suddenly dies, God laughs. God gave the world to the wicked. He made all the judges blind. And if God didn’t do it, who did?" (Job 9:23-24 ...

2007. The Good News of Easter

John 20:1-9

Sermon

Brett Blair

... of the resurrection, he asked. I replied: I believe that it happened in reality and not just in the minds of men. What is your evidence, he asked, like a professor prodding a student. I presented as Exhibit A: the disciples. Twelve men are not going to give up their lives to simply perpetuate that which they know to be a hoax. “I don’t know,” he mumbled. “I just don’t know.” There was his problem. He was seeking knowledge, not faith. You do not say: resurrected Christ, appear to me and then I ...

2008. The Reality of the Resurrection - Sermon Starter

Luke 24:36-49

Illustration

Brett Blair

... on every ship that sailed out of the mouth of the Mississippi in New Orleans. What made matters worse is that it looked like Napoleon was going to close the rights to the Mississippi to the Americans entirely. There was no way to expect Napoleon to give up this kind of control. But a U.S. ambassador to France, Robert R. Livingston, concocted a plan to trump Napoleon, and he played that trump with a flourish. He made it known in the right circles that the United States was considering settling its difference ...

2009. His Resurrection

John 20:1-9, John 20:10-18

Sermon

Brett Blair

2010. Might as Well Be You and Me

Judges 4:1-7

Bulletin Aid

Frank Ramirez

... raise up the lowly and least likely. Surprise us today as you call forth leadership in our midst. Grant us the wisdom to follow your prophets wherever they might be found. Amen. Prayer Of Confession At times of crisis there are always those ready to surrender. It is easier to give up than to believe God calls leaders of the least likely sort. I believe, Lord. Help my unbelief. Amen. Hymns "What Wondrous Love Is This?" "My Jesus, I Love Thee" "Dear Lord And Father Of Mankind"

2011. The Wind Blows Where It Chooses

John 3:1-17

Illustration

Nan Stokes

Since Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent, we may have been wrestling with what to "give up" or what to "take on" during this season of penitence. Whatever we decide to do or not to do, this is a time of change, of movement, of going from what we are to the place or condition where we want to be. In the Old Testament lesson, Abram heard ...

2012. Good and Bad "Magical Thinking"

Acts 17:16-34

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... in the lives of the Flatlanders. How can the Sphere, a three dimensional being, who sees the entirety of Flatland, the true shape of its inhabitants, communicate with the Flatlanders? There is only one way: it will have to voluntarily give up its three dimensional existence and become a two dimensional circle. Only when it takes on that two dimensional form will the Flatlanders, regardless of their individual geometrical shape, be able to understand what their Creator is trying to tell them. Obviously ...

2013. Christ the Apple Tree

Isaiah 11:1-10

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... Christmas - box, bay, ivy, holly, yew, larch, juniper, pine, spruce, fir - was a medieval practice from Northern Europe. The green boughs served as devil-proof shields against all the evil forces of the universe, because as evergreens, these species refuse to die, to give up their green for the winter. Citing John Snow's The Survey of London on 15th century cultural celebrations, Count's book notes that demons fear green, the color and symbol of summer and life. "Winter kills most of summer's train but the ...

2014. A Say-so Spirituality

John 20:19-31

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... teenage "valley girls" is paraded before us. One of the trademark comebacks of these girls' vacuous lingo is to offer an incredulous "As if!" in response to an apparently obvious statement. "As if" they would ever be caught dead in Kmart. "As if" they would give up an afternoon at the mall for an afternoon in the library. "As if" they would get a ride home with someone in a Volkswagen. Sometimes it seems that in our own "clueless" church culture, we have taken Jesus' powerful "As/so" declaration and allowed ...

2015. Ephesians 3:14-21

Ephesians 3:14-21

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... superabundantly beyond and above all things - far over everything - surpassingly more than all - transcendently more - far in excess - far, far more than anything - immeasurably more than all - everything immeasurably far beyond The New Jerusalem Bible just gives up and says simply "infinitely more." Still another translator manages to go even beyond that with "infinitely more abundantly above all." We are basing this classical exegetical word-by-word sermon on the KJV translation: "exceedingly abundantly ...

2016. It’s a Trick

Mark 9:2-9

Humor Illustration

Billy D. Strayhorn

A brilliant magician was performing on an ocean liner. But every time he did a trick, the Captain's parrot would yell, "It's a trick. He's a phony. That's not magic." Then one evening during a storm, the ship sank while the magician was performing. The parrot and the magician ended up in the same lifeboat. For several days they just glared at each other, neither saying a word to the other. Finally the parrot said, "OK, I give up. What did you do with the ship?"

2017. The Presence of Doubt

Mark 6:14-29

Illustration

David Heller

... on the next block like that. I don't want to get them in trouble, so I can't say who. See you in church. Alexis (age 10) Dear God, Want to hear a joke? What is red, very long, and you hear it right before you go to sleep? Give up? A sermon. Your friend, Frank (age 11) Then there is this one from a youngster who sees all the misery in the world and wonders: "Dear God, I have doubts about you sometimes. Sometimes I really believe. Like when I was four and I hurt my arm and you healed ...

2018. God’s Grammar

Galatians 3:23-29

Sermon

John Jamison

... try to understand what is to come. The twelve disciples selected by Jesus were all from the Jewish tradition, and all from fairly well-established families. When they decided to follow Jesus, they left behind boats and businesses, some of them giving up rather sizeable and respected positions. They each would have been well-reared in the traditions of the Jewish community, and most likely all full practitioners of the matters of the faith, as were their ancestors before them. We see this fact demonstrated ...

2019. Life's Little Instructions

Mark 10:17-31

Illustration

Billy D. Strayhorn

... God uses simple people to do great things. Nothing hurts more than guilt. My three favorites from the book are: You will never be happy if all you do is think about all the things you don't have. It's OK to fail, but it's not OK to give up. It does not matter how much money a family has. If there is a lot of love in a home, that family is richer than any millionaire could be. That last one is something that the rich young ruler in today's passage didn't quite get, isn't it ...

2020. Lost and Found

Luke 15:1-32

Illustration

... ? Depending on the situation, we can feel disappointed, heartbroken, hopeless, or simply discouraged by our own inability to keep up with things. Isn't it a wonderful relief to know that we will never fall into the ‘Lost Forever' category? Isn't it reassuring to know that God will never give up on us? Let us include a word of thanks in our prayers this week to acknowledge how grateful we are for that kind of gracious love.

2021. Romans 8:26-39

Romans 8:18-27

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... straightforward profundity: “If God is for us, who is against us?” God is not “for us” in some generic, cosmic way, Paul insists. Instead, God has shown the depth of divine “for-ness” in the greatest possible act, not “withholding” but giving up “his own Son . . . . for all of us.” Paul’s intentionally inclusive language here “for us all” (“panton”) reminds his Roman readers that God’s love reaches out to both Jew and Gentile. There are also echoes of the Abraham/Isaac story ...

2022. Where Would We Be Without...?

Romans 3:21-31

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... a position as "Professor of Sacred Scriptures" and he began his work. Calvin stayed for two years until opposition forces ordered the two to leave. Farel, ready for a new challenge, headed for Neuchatel, while Calvin chose Strasbourg. Farel would not give up, however, and kept in touch with Calvin, joining supporters in Geneva in urging Calvin to return. In 1541, after months of indecision, Calvin resumed his work there. Geneva became a center of international influence. After visiting Geneva to sit at the ...

2023. Hard to Catch

Luke 12:13-21

Illustration

Charles Swindoll

... hand in, grab as many seeds as he can, then start to withdraw it. This he cannot do. His fist is now larger than the hole. The monkey will pull and tug, screech and fight the melon for hours. But he can't get free of the trap unless he gives up the seeds, which he refuses to do. Meanwhile, the Zulus sneak up and nab him.

2024. The Price for Ten Million Dollars

Illustration

James Patterson and Peter Kim

What are you willing to do for $10,000,000? Two-thirds of Americans polled would agree to at least one, some to several of the following: Would abandon their entire family (25%) Would abandon their church (25%) Would become prostitutes for a week or more (23%) Would give up their American citizenships (16%) Would leave their spouses (16%) Would withhold testimony and let a murderer go free (10%) Would kill a stranger (7%) Would put their children up for adoption (3%)

2025. Stop Carrying the Anvil

Mk 6:1-13

Illustration

Maxie Dunnam

... this anvil any longer." (Printed 1978 for Wider Quaker Fellowship with permission of Douglas V. Steer) There comes a time when we put the anvil down because we can keep trying too long. It's not easy but we have to find that rhythm, that balance, between not giving up too soon but also not continuing too long. There is a time to stop trying. When things do not work and you know it; when people do not respond and you feel it; when the situation goes from bad to worse and you can do nothing about it; when ...

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