Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 2076 to 2100 of 5000 results

2076. Washing Away The Junk

Luke 3:21-22

Sermon

King Duncan

... my son, today I have begotten you . . . ˜" words that God would use toward a king when he came into power. According to the Code of Hammurabi, these are also the words one would use in legally adopting a child. This baptism by water and the Spirit marked the beginning of Jesus' ministry, revealed his identity to those who witnessed it, and deepened the faith of many of the witnesses. LET'S CONSIDER, FOR A MOMENT CHRIST'S IDENTITY AND WHAT IT MEANS TO US. Ted Engstrom, in his book THE FINE ART OF FRIENDSHIP ...

2077. Well . . . I Was A Little Confused

John 16:5-16

Sermon

King Duncan

... of this savings and loan institution, it was one of the wealthiest, most successful, most stable organizations of its kind. One would think that Ed and his wife, Joyce, must have lived a charmed life, but that is not the case. Their life bears the defining marks of tragedy, for in 1959 they lost their beloved daughter, Karen, in a car crash. Fortunately, the Johnson family has a very strong faith in Christ, and it was this faith that pulled them through the heartbreak and brought them out stronger and more ...

2078. Sitting At God's Table

Luke 13:22-30

Sermon

King Duncan

... in stunned silence as he explained. If they stayed, Dondre couldn't play. If they left, they forfeited the tournament. Without hesitation or discussion, the whole St. Frederick's golf team gathered up their bags and headed to the van. They would not play. Moments marked by true integrity, backed up by true solidarity, are rare and moving and memorable. This was such a moment, and it would be beautiful even if the story simply ended here. But it doesn't end here. Dondre's story so affected the people of ...

2079. Never Give Up

Luke 18:1-8

Sermon

King Duncan

... years men dominated the world of humor. But today, as in most fields, women are making their mark. Here are some oneliners from various famous women. The first one is from singer Dolly Parton. "I' ... he hadn't let it dominate his life. He said, "It is not what happens to you that is important, but how you react to what happens to you." This marked a turning point in W. Mitchell's life. He got a job in radio, then in television. He returned to his idealistic roots and entered the political arena. Crested Butte ...

2080. What Fragrance Are You Leaving?

Mark 14:1-11

Sermon

King Duncan

... saying that they will always have opportunities to express their concern for those in need, but at this moment Mary is expressing a greater need--a need to satisfy the deepest longings of the heart and spirit--to express devotion to God. For the first fourteen chapters of Mark's Gospel we see Jesus had been teaching them to reach out and help others, so that is not really the issue here. What is at stake here is the need all of us have to move beyond a cold, calculating approach to religion an approach that ...

2081. An Unlikely Witness

John 20:1-9

Sermon

King Duncan

... bills. That is the way that is has always been in the church, right ladies? Men getting the glory, but women doing the work. Never is this clearer than on the day that Jesus was crucified. The men have deserted the Master and fled. Not the women. Mark adds two new names to those who were faithful to the end, Mary the mother of James and Salome. He also mentions that many other women were there. And heading the list again was Mary Magdalene. The fact that Magdalene is often mentioned first suggests she may ...

2082. Trees

Jeremiah 16:1--17:18

Sermon

King Duncan

... about a man named Gemini Wink, 26, of Louisville, Ky., who, while visiting a friend in Tampa, Fla., waded into a swamp to shoot pictures of alligators. Worried about getting lost, he carried along a roll of duct tape to mark his path. Unfortunately, at dusk when he was ready to head back he couldn't find his marks. Terrified to be spending a night in a swamp filled with alligators, he climbed 40 feet up a tree where he used his duct tape again to tape himself to a branch for the night. When he didn't return ...

2083. Who Is Your Hero?

Matthew 17:1-13

Sermon

King Duncan

... to elicit their concept of a hero. Finally he resorted to asking if anyone could name a hero. Only one student, a girl, raised her hand. She replied, "Dustin Hoffman." (1) Well . . . Dustin Hoffman is one of the finest actors in Hollywood, but a hero? Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire have become baseball's new heroes. They seem to be fine men of remarkable athletic ability. They came along at a great time for baseball, and perhaps for the nation as well. Who is your hero? WE SEEM TO HAVE A NEED TO LOOK UP TO ...

2084. Passing The Test!

Genesis 3:1-24

Sermon

Eric Ritz

... . One of his associates said to him, “Thou art able to conquer the world, but unable to resist a single temptation." How tragic that such a large man would cast such a small shadow. He would not be the last leader so flawed, as we all know. Contrast Mark Antony with Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus was a penniless, itinerant preacher in the eyes of Rome, yet he cast a shadow over history like none other who ever lived. And he did it partially by the strength of his character. The Bible tells us he was without sin ...

2085. A New Skin

Ephesians 1:13

Children's Sermon

King Duncan

... lose a few old skin cells. They're so small we don't even notice them. And then new skin cells grow in their place. New stuff is pretty exciting, isn't it? In our lesson today Paul says you have a new "mark," a new "seal." Kind of like the new skin of the caterpillar. It's the mark of the Holy Spirit. That means God has chosen you as his children. Today we are celebrating the dawn of a New Year. We said goodbye to an old year, the year 2022, and said hello to the New Year, the year ...

2086. All That From A Little Bit Of Water?

Mark 1:9-13

Sermon

King Duncan

... that he forgot which sacrament he was administering. Eyes heavenward, he borrowed words from the communion service instead of the baptismal service and gave this command: "Drink ye all of this!" Now there is a challenge for this second Sunday of the New Year! One day, Mark tells us in his typically succinct manner, Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee, and was baptized by John in the Jordan River. The moment Jesus came up out of the water, he saw the heavens open and the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove ...

2087. Surprise!

Luke 4:14-30

Sermon

King Duncan

... to the thief dying beside him. This was Jesus' first act in life and his last act before death--the giving of hope. In the ancient classic, titled Inferno, by Dante, the author imagines that the entrance to Hell is marked by a sign, “Abandon all hope, ye who enter here." (3) Dante can't be far off the mark. Where God is, there is hope; where God is absent, there is no hope. That was the message Jesus came to share with us. THE SECOND THING JESUS' ANNOUNCEMENT TELLS US IS THAT OUR GOD IS A GOD OF JUSTICE ...

2088. Is It Time To Tear Down Our Church?

Mark 13:1-31

Sermon

King Duncan

... tradition! The opposition was so intense that Pastor Bohlman would write, "œIt was easier to rally people together to fight to keep a pew from leaving the church, than getting them to fight to put people into it!" (1) Our lesson today is from the 13th chapter of Mark. It is stark chapter about the return of the Son of Man. But the chapter begins with a warning that you and I need to heed. One day as Jesus was going out of the Temple, one of His disciples said to Him, "Teacher, behold what wonderful stones ...

2089. The Ultimate Solution For Sin

Mark 9:38-50

Sermon

King Duncan

... party tent big enough to draw in as broad a constituency as possible. Jesus has the biggest tent of all. If you are not against him, you are for him. All who will may come. Jesus was the most tolerant man who ever lived. But there were limits. Listen to Mark 9: 42: "And if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a large millstone tied around his neck." Not much tolerance there. And it gets worse: "If your hand causes you ...

2090. A Question We All Ask

Mark 10:17-31

Sermon

King Duncan

... shall have treasure in heaven--and come, follow me." And like the lady psychologist on the witness stand, this man catapulted head-over-heels backward and landed wounded and disheveled at the bottom of the hill. Well, that's not exactly how Mark tells it. "Then the man's face fell," Mark writes, "and he went sadly away, for he was very rich." PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS WAS THE ONLY TIME JESUS TOLD SOMEONE TO GIVE AWAY ALL THEIR POSSESSIONS. It is easy to turn this story into another legalistic burden. "Okay, if ...

2091. On Picking Your Battles

Matthew 18:15-20

Sermon

King Duncan

... , unfortunately, are girls, who are resorting less to name-calling and more to punch-throwing. Equal opportunity stupidity, I guess. (2) Did you know that dueling is still legal in Paraguay--as long as both parties are registered blood donors? Socially responsible stupidity. In September 1996 Mark E. Mire was convicted in Baton Rouge, La., for shooting to death a man in a bar in 1994 because the man had said Mire's dog was ugly. My guess is that this was drunken stupidity. A few years ago at the Daytona 500 ...

2092. It's A Question Of Priorities

Mark 9:33-37

Sermon

King Duncan

... in the air. You will soon understand that work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back. But the other four balls--family, health, friends, and [faith] are made of glass. If you drop one of these, they will be irrevocably scuffed, marked, nicked, damaged, or even shattered. They will never be the same." That is powerful imagery. Work is a rubber ball--but the other important things in life--family, health, friends, and [faith] are made of glass. If you neglect these other life's concerns in ...

2093. As The World Turns

Matthew 4:12-17

Sermon

King Duncan

... over. Where do we get the power to do what we need to do? And Christ says, "Turn around." But how? How do we make a new start? How do we make a new beginning? WE BEGIN BY TAKING RESPONSIBILITY FOR OUR LIVES. This is one mark of a mature person, and it is the mark of the person for whom there is hope--we quit blaming our situation or our parents, or our boss, or our spouse. We point the finger of responsibility squarely at ourselves. A few years ago, Dr. John Trent received a letter from a fellow who had ...

2094. Counterfeit Christianity

Matthew 7:15-23

Sermon

King Duncan

... disciple. I think you ought to go back to our Baptist church that we belong to and tell them that you are an admirer of Jesus, not a disciple." Disciples are called upon to do more than be just an admirer of Jesus. To carry the cross is a distinguishing mark of a disciple. Bob Wendel, a Presbyterian pastor, wrote tongue-in-cheek what he calls the "Cross of the Scale of Commitment." It is similar to David Letterman's Top Ten List. It is a good test to see if we give lip service or life service to the will ...

2095. Expectant Living

2 Peter 3:1-18

Sermon

King Duncan

... others. 1. E-zine: HUMOR Mailto: Judib@kktv.com. 2. Calvin Miller, A Hunger For Meaning (Downers Grove, Illinois: Inter-Varsity Press, 1984). 3. "Expect Christ's Return," by H. Mark Abbott, Light & Life, August 1995, p. 9. 4. Ron Mehl. The Tender Commandments (Sister, OR: Multnomah Publishers, 1998), p. 63. 5. "The Last Taboo" by Mark Matousek, an interview with Bill and Judith Moyers, Modern Maturity, Sept./ Oct. 2000, p. 46. 6. Kimberly Olson Fakih. Off the Clock (New York: Ticknor & Fields, 1995), pp. 20 ...

2096. Any Friendly Bears Out There?

Matthew 22:34-40

Sermon

King Duncan

... , The Good Life (Dallas: Word Publishing, 1993), pp. 74-76. 4. John Whitcomb and Claire Whitcomb. Great American Anecdotes (New York: William Morrow and Company, Inc., 1993), p. 33. 5. The Futurist. 6. The New Republic (July 19 & 26, 1999). Cited at tim@cybersalt.org (Tim Davis). 7. Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Mark & Chrissy Donnelly, and Barbara DeAngelis, Ph.D. Chicken Soup for the Couple's Soul (Deerfield Beach, FL.: Health Communications, Inc., 1999), pp. 104-105.

2097. Clean Hearts And Dirty Hands

Mark 7:1-23

Sermon

King Duncan

... they were the people who helped maintain standards in a world "Slouching Toward Gomorrah," to use Robert Bork's colorful phrase. They were guardians of good taste, gatekeepers at the walls of tradition. Mark tells us that the disciples were eating with dirty hands and the scribes and the Pharisees were disturbed. Then Mark gives this editorial comment. "The Pharisees, and all the Jews," he tells us, "do not eat unless they thoroughly wash their hands, thus observing the tradition of the elders; and they do ...

2098. Why Jesus Didn't Hire A "Public Relations Guy"

Mark 8:27-30

Sermon

King Duncan

... ordered them to tell no one . . ." Interesting. The next words read: ". . . but the more he ordered them, the more zealously they proclaimed it." (Mark 7:36) Some things just have to be told. Still, as we learned a few weeks ago when we read about the feeding ... clear that he preferred to do his most spectacular work in private. We only have to go as far as the next chapter of Mark to find yet another example. In the 30th verse of the 9th chapter we read: "They went on from there and passed through Galilee. ...

2099. A Failure To Communicate

Hebrews 1:1-4, Hebrews 2:5-18

Sermon

King Duncan

... about an unusual occurrence in his office. The phone system suddenly went out. Later, an announcement was made that a work crew had accidentally cut the telecommunications lines while digging a hole for a new sign pole. Leaving his office at the end of the day, Mark Lang was surprised to see what the sign said: It said, "Dig with caution--buried communication cables below." Just because you are "giving out" does not mean you're "getting through." A priest, a pastor and a rabbi stood by the side of the road ...

2100. A Penny For God

Mark 12:41-44

Sermon

King Duncan

... why taking care of widows was such a priority for the early church. Widows often still have it hard today. By biblical standards, however, the plight of the woman who loses her husband today is usually not nearly as dire as it was back then. When Mark says that this woman was "a poor widow," he was probably making a huge understatement. This woman was probably "dirt poor," as they say in the South. She probably lived on a subsistence level where every coin had to be accounted for. So it naturally caught ...

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