Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 2051 to 2075 of 2962 results

2051. Luke 21:25-36

Luke 21:5-38

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... .” Those who don’t understand the divine purpose behind these events will “faint” or even die (“popsycho”) from terror. The very heavens themselves will appear to be “shaken.” But Jesus connects these global and cosmic “signs” to a long-foretold divine design, the arrival of the “Son of Man,” coming in a cloud with power and great glory (vs. 27). Such an arrival of the “Son of Man” was described in Daniel 7:13 as a judgment upon Israel. Jesus’ description expands the role of ...

2052. To God Be The Glory!

Isaiah 60:1-6

Sermon

Derl G. Keefer

... within us! III. God's Glory Radiates Outside (Isaiah 60:6b) Living near Lake Michigan for nearly a quarter of a century allowed me to observe lighthouses from Chicago's shores to "Big Red" in Holland, Michigan. No matter the architectural style, shape, color, or design, the purpose of all lighthouses is to send out the light! With our hearts throbbing and swelling with God's glory, we will radiate like lighthouses through the dark waters on which spiritual vessels sail. We will send out the light of God's ...

2053. Lessons From a Hurricane

Jeremiah 17:5-10

Sermon

Derl G. Keefer

... strength? The text lends itself to help us learn some lessons from hurricane forces that occasionally hit our lives. I. Encounter God In Life's Hurricane (Jeremiah 17:5a) We live in a world of high rise apartments, gated communities, and fenced-in homes designed to keep people out. What a striking contrast that is with our God! He delights in meeting with people. He offers his love and availability at every turn in our lives. His desire is for intimate connection with us. Humanity is his parish! God comes ...

2054. Joshua's New Diet

Joshua 5:9-12

Sermon

David J. Kalas

... him, with folded hands and bowed head, saying his thanks to God before eating. Painted versions of the original photograph hang in countless homes and churches. For generations, it has been a cherished image of the table grace, and more recently it has been designated as the official state photograph of Minnesota (where it was taken). This morning I'm picturing another man bowing his head to pray before he eats. He, too, is an old man, with perhaps the same sort of white beard and weathered face as the ...

2055. Prelude To A Sacrament

Exodus 12:1-4 (5-10) 11-14

Sermon

David J. Kalas

... also gave them instructions for the future; namely, that they were to eat that meal on that same night every year for the rest of their lives. And, beyond that, their children and their grandchildren were to eat that meal every year on that night. It was designed to be "a day of remembrance for you," God told them. "You shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord; throughout your generations you shall observe it as a perpetual ordinance." So it was that over 1,000 years later, Jesus and his disciples sat ...

2056. That’s Why We Call It Good

Isaiah 52:13--53:12

Sermon

David J. Kalas

... uninterrupted blackness now brims with color, splendor, and life. Oh, the life! All shapes and sizes: an almost incomprehensible array and variety. Plants and animals, fish and birds — all of them endowed with their own peculiar beauty and wisdom of design, as well as a magnificent capacity for fruitfulness. That fruitfulness, then, makes this beauty more than a mere still-life portrait. For this life is not static: it is cascading, abounding, and reproducing. Then, as a crowning element, finally there ...

2057. The Man Who Wasn’t There

Acts 16:9-15

Sermon

David J. Kalas

... had been beckoned over to Macedonia to help, but where were the people who wanted his help? In the absence of a formal synagogue, there was a Plan B. Where there was insufficient population to establish and maintain a synagogue, local Jews and God-fearers would designate a "place of prayer." It had no street address or structure. It was just the site where a handful of devout folks habitually gathered. In many instances, such a place was by the local body of water. In Philippi's case, that was the river ...

2058. Birthdays and Marriages

Acts 2:1-21

Sermon

Stephen P. McCutchan

... do with values, relationships, roles, and responsibilities. When I am counseling a young couple in preparation for marriage, I often suggest that they are entering into something like the formation of a new architectural partnership whose first contract is to design a new community. Fresh out of their respective schools of architecture, replete with all of the individual quirks of their professors who trained them, they enter into their new project with full enthusiasm. Soon they begin to notice points ...

2059. From Death To Life To…

Jeremiah 4:11-12, 22-28

Sermon

Chrysanne Timm

... cover." ‘Duck and Cover' was produced by the United States Civil Defense Administration in 1951, about two years after Russia detonated its first nuclear device. As the Cold War between the United States and Russia grew, Civil Defense began designating fallout shelters and devising other means for protection from nuclear attack. Other films addressed the threat of nuclear attack. ‘On the Beach' in 1959 and ‘The Day After' in 1984 imprinted terrifying images of the complete destruction and desolation ...

2060. The ABC's of Grief

Lamentations 1:1-6

Sermon

Chrysanne Timm

... seems that we have been hopping and skipping through Jeremiah, you are right. It would appear that somewhere between the original scribing of Jeremiah and the rendering of those texts into a book of the Bible, some juggling took place. Those who designed the lectionary, the schedule of weekly readings that millions of Christians join in reading in worship, explored Jeremiah carefully for signs of a cohesive chronology from the reign of King Josiah until the destruction of Jerusalem. The order of our ...

2061. Luke 3:1-6

Luke 3:1-20

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... given time. However, Annas’ term as high priest (6-15 CE) was then carried on by no less than his five sons and eventually his son-in-law Joseph Caiaphus (18-37 CE). It is not hard to imagine that even if Annas were no longer serving as the designated leader of the Temple during this time, the long arm of his influence and power would have shaped whomever was serving as high priest. It is in this ominous mix of persons of power and prestige that Luke now declares “the word of God came to John, son of ...

2062. Your Life as a Provenance of the Jesus Story

Luke 3:1-20

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

2063. Luke 3:7-18

Luke 3:1-20

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... sending, is so near, that John castigates the crowds that come to him, claiming them a “brood of vipers.” John’s words are shock therapy. The crowds consider themselves the “children of Abraham,” the select and elect of God. John’s designation of them as slithering snakes points up their fallenness, their dissolute distance from God. The electricity of his words shocked people to consider the crucial, immediate need for their repentance. John’s proclamation to the crowd calls for a new kind of ...

2064. Live the Lullaby

Luke 1:46-56

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... sang sweetly about the great gift she had received from God. But Mary’s hymn also sang fiercely about the actions and changes that would come about because of this new work of God in the world. Mary’s first “lullaby” sung to baby Jesus was not designed to put him to sleep, but to wake him up. “The Magnificat” woke the baby Jesus up to his mission and message just as the sound of his mother’s voice had awakened the baby John to his mission of proclamation and preparation. The Messiah has come ...

2065. When We Don't Know God

Philippians 3:1-11

Sermon

King Duncan

... He wanted more fame, so he went to Hollywood and became a filmmaker and a star. He wanted more sensual pleasure, so he used his fabulous wealth to buy women and any form of sensual pleasure he desired. He wanted to experience more excitement, so he designed, built, and piloted the fastest aircraft of his time. “Hughes could dream of anything money could buy and get it. He firmly believed that more would make him happy.” But, of course, it did not. In Wilkinson’s words, Hughes confused the pleasure of ...

2066. Surprise in a Graveyard

John 20:10-18

Sermon

King Duncan

... cries out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”). Surprise, Mary! Surprise! Your Master is alive. Surprise, Peter. Surprise, John. Surprise, all those who thought Jesus was dead. Surprise, world, Jesus is alive! The story of Easter is no carefully contrived story designed by Jesus’ followers to convince us of something that isn’t so. The story of Easter is the honest reporting of baffled believers who had no idea where Christ was leading them until he appeared to them beyond the grave ...

2067. Kintsugi Vessels

1 Corinthians 12:12-31

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... know them today, “beauty marks.” Probably the last known “beauty mark” diva is super model Cindy Crawford, whose trademark little blemish above her lip set her apart from the rest of her glamour girl compatriots. Today we “blemish” ourselves with purposefully designed tattoos-marking our flesh in an attempt to trademark our uniqueness. [If you can bring a couple of “patch boxes” to showcase, so much the better.] There are only two stories: the desire to be loved and the desire to love. All ...

2068. Prayer-Conditioning Your Life

Luke 2:29-32

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... , prayer changes us. A prayer-conditioned life conditions us to receive God’s presence and power, even and especially in life’s “nunc dimittis” moments. COMMENTARY One of the more popular online search sites is “Ancestry.com” – a genealogy site designed to enable people to research their family trees. With the ever-increasing stockpile of electronic information online, it is becoming easier and easier to find out more about our ancestors than just their names and dates of birth and death ...

2069. Luke 2: 22-40, Luke 4:21-30

Luke 2:21-40

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

One of the more popular online search sites is “Ancestry.com” – a genealogy site designed to enable people to research their family trees. With the ever-increasing stockpile of electronic information online, it is becoming easier and easier to find out more about our ancestors than just their names and dates of birth and death. Where they lived, what they did, whom they knew, is ...

2070. Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32

Luke 15:11-32

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... at this same time: the father “divided his property between them.” While the elder son stays to work his land, the younger apparently immediately liquidates all his assets so that he may travel to “a distant country” — Luke’s typical designation for Gentile regions. Although the older son will eventually angrily accuse his brother of squandering all his property on “prostitutes” (v.30) raising the question of how he knew this the text here only describes the younger son’s actions as ...

2071. Are You Part of the Scandal?

Luke 15:11-32

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

2072. Collections or Connections?

Luke 24:1-12

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... or collected in the cold stone of earth. He is risen, a living connection, and has gone before us. The expectation of death is unexpectedly replaced with the presence of life. Instead of finding a dead body, the first visitors to what had been designated as Jesus’ tomb, find a living word, and embrace the promise of a living Lord. All that Jesus had preached and promised had come true. Nothing less than angelic messengers were the first to kick-start the memory of Jesus’ followers, helping them to ...

2073. Blessed Are Those Who Believe

John 20:19-31

Sermon

King Duncan

... that God exists . . . and now I would like to learn something about Him.” (5) Do you see? He had always believed in God. Now he was seeking to believe God into his life. A British biologist by the name of George Romanes wrote a book designed to further the cause of atheism. He says, “I took it for granted that the Christian faith was played out.” When, however, he saw that Christianity worked; that many eminent persons, some of the most illustrious in the fields of science, had ranged themselves on ...

2074. P.S. I Love You

John 21:1-14

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... and its enormous catch to shore. They find that a breakfast is already being prepared for them. The one who had called them “children” is now offering to feed them. In fact, to serve them. Before this buffet gets underway, however, Jesus calls upon and designates Peter as his sous chef. The “fish” (singular) that is upon the grill will not feed all of the disciples, so Jesus instructs the ever active Peter to bring some more from the prolific catch that had just been made. In his exuberance for his ...

2075. John 21:1-19

John 21:1-14

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

Showing results