Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 2101 to 2125 of 4972 results

2101. "Head" Lines

Ephesians 1:11-23

Sermon

King Duncan

... . Listen how St. Paul begins today’s lesson: “For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers . . .” Paul’s first prayer for the church is a prayer of thanks. In fact, Paul writes, “I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers.” That’s a lot of thanks. What causes Paul’s sense of gratitude and joy to overflow? It was this new church’s ...

2102. Silent Sinning

Luke 18:9-14

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... story. The lion won. The tamer, well, he’s been devoured so to speak by his own overconfidence. Sometimes as people of God, we can feel too taken with our own “goodness,” and too confident in our own salvation that we stop investing in God’s mission, and more than that, stop trusting in God as our ultimate authority. Somewhere along the line, we’ve decided to take that power unto ourselves, to take over God’s judgment seat, and to imagine we are better than anyone else. That’s when our warning ...

2103. If It Had Been a Snake

John 1:29-42

Sermon

King Duncan & Angela Akers

... be fearless spies. (2) It’s hard to look past our biases and distractions and to see what’s really in front of us. Fortunately, John the Baptist didn’t have that problem when he met Jesus. Last week, we talked about how John tried to stop Jesus from getting baptized because he didn’t understand how this could possibly fit in with God’s plan. But during Jesus’ baptism, John saw the Holy Spirit descend on Christ and suddenly he understood entirely who Jesus was! This man, who looked like a humble ...

2104. The Complete Picture

John 11:1-45

Sermon

King Duncan & Angela Akers

... surgery on two teenage victims of gun violence. As one of the teenagers died of his gruesome injuries, his mother appeared in the emergency room door. Her howls of grief echoed in Dr. Butler’s ears that night as she drove home. On her way home, Dr. Butler stopped on a bridge that spans the Connecticut River. She says she stood on the edge of the bridge, gripped the guardrail, and took a deep breath. She opened her mouth to pray. And no words came out. She writes, “I felt cut off from God. I thought the ...

2105. Places That Have a Memory

Matthew 21:1-11

Sermon

King Duncan & Angela Akers

... Samuel 15, we see this tragic picture of King David and his men weeping as they climb the Mount for safety. He had been the hope of his nation; now his kingdom was threatened and he was running for his life. And it was at this moment that David stopped to pray on the side of the mountain. (2) Many years ago, a journalist was interviewing a single mother who lived in a tar-paper shack in Louisiana. She had raised eight children by herself, provided for them and made sure they all got a good education. The ...

2106. Righteous, Dude!

Matthew 5:13-20

Sermon

John Jamison

... all the salt was gone. They would have laughed because it was an obvious answer. Unless you were a collector of old rocks, when salt lost its saltiness it was of no use whatsoever. I think the Pharisees were left shaking their heads. At least he had finally stopped going after them. But then Jesus said, “You are the salt of the earth.” In other words, here it comes again. Your purpose as one of my followers is to change the taste of things in this world. That is your role. If you choose to not follow ...

2107. Sharing God's Vision

Acts 2:1-21

Sermon

King Duncan & Angela Akers

... it is completed. In other words, you sit there until you get it done, whatever “it” is. (3) I think we would all agree that we would be more effective in all our daily tasks if we had the ability to focus on a task and not stop until it is completed. So the believers were committed to sitzfleisch—to sit and wait as Christ had instructed them until they received the promised Holy Spirit. Then it happened. Our Bible passage reads: “Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven ...

2108. People of the Rolled Stone

John 20:1-18

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... and almost unbelievable. But it was enough to shock them out of their gloom. Peter and John took off running. From a distance they could see the stone had been rolled away. That surprised them and spurred them on. John was the first one there. He skidded to a stop and bent down to look in. What he saw really surprised him. The tomb really WAS empty. True to character, Peter barged right on past John. He didn't even bother to bend down and look. But for John, that glance into the empty tomb was the biggest ...

2109. Singing the Lord's Song

1 John 3:16-24

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... program remained. The conductor turned to the orchestra just after midnight prepared to continue. Unfortunately, he found the orchestra was down to twelve musicians. Explaining to the audience that none of the music could be performed by such a small group, the embarrassed conductor had to stop the concert. The point is takes us all to live this life of love and be the Church. We may not think anyone will miss the small part we play bbut we're wrong. We ALL count. We're ALL needed. IV. Sing lustily and with ...

2110. With Peace for the Fearful

John 20:19-31

Sermon

April Yamasaki

... disciples realized that Jesus was once again fully alive before them, their fear turned to great joy. In our text, the disciples’ transformation from fear to joy takes just two verses, from verse 19 to verse 20. When I read that far, I wanted to stop. Those two verses contained more than enough for one sermon, or even a series of sermons. From fear to joy, from mourning the death of Jesus to delighting in his presence, from cowering behind locked doors to finding peace - that was already more than enough ...

2111. Professional Angel

1 Peter 2:19-25

Sermon

Ronald Love

... 1934 at the age of 66. In the closing months of her life, realizing she was ill, Marie Curie refused to cease from her labors. She summarized her attitude in a letter addressed to her sister: “Sometimes my courage fails me and I think I ought to stop working, live in the country and devote myself to gardening. But I am held by a thousand bonds, and I don’t know whether, even by writing scientific books, I could live without the laboratory.” Marie Curie persevered because she was a doer; she felt held ...

2112. The Gift of Forgiveness

Matthew 18:21-35

Sermon

King Duncan & Angela Akers

... only three times. It shows that Peter already sensed that Jesus had a bigger heart than any of his contemporaries. But even he was surprised at Jesus’ response. Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.” Let’s stop right there. Some translations of Christ’s words insist he said seventy times seven—not simply seventy-seven times. After all, Jesus loved to use exaggeration to make his point when teaching his disciples. Think about that larger number for a moment. How ...

2113. Overcoming Envy

Matthew 20:1-16

Sermon

King Duncan & Angela Akers

... section titled, “They’re Getting Ahead of You,” she tells about a young man who went berserk one day in late 1969 in the research library of the University of California in Berkeley. He ran through the library, shouting hysterically at his fellow students, “Stop! Stop! You’re getting ahead of me!” For that he was arrested. According to Ms. Pettler this young man’s only crime was being born in the wrong decade. He lived in the laid-back sixties. It was not until the stress-filled eighties, she ...

2114. The Law of Unintended Consequences

Illustration

Simon Ateba

... top, assumed power, and permanently ended the Republic by establishing a de facto monarchy. After Caesar's death, it came out that he had never intended to create a monarchical system. The conspirators brought about precisely what they had tried to stop. In 19th-century India, under British colonial rule, authorities decided there were too many venomous cobras in the streets of Delhi, making life uncomfortable for the British residents and their families. To solve this, they offered a reward for every dead ...

2115. Life's Clock

Illustration

Maxie Dunnam

... Havesham in Dickens’ Great Expectations, who 25 years before had been jilted by the only man she ever loved? She received a letter from him calling off their wedding twenty minutes before nine while she was putting on her wedding dress. Something died inside. She stopped all the clocks at twenty minutes until nine, sealed up every window in the house, and never took off her wedding dress. There she sat while her world wasted and withered away. While not so dramatic, I know a lot of people who respond to ...

2116. Hanging On To Today

Illustration

Maxie Dunnam

... Her son had died in infancy and, fifteen years after their marriage, her husband died. Sarah, now made painfully aware of the fleetingness of life, went to a spiritualist who told her that she had to build a house and continue building and never stop because the day she stopped she would join her husband and her son. "What bizarre behavior,” you say, and you’re right. But the problem is a common one -- trying to hold on to the present As you move into the new year, remember -- the past is forgiven; the ...

2117. Redeem the Time

Matthew 24:36-44 · Romans 13:11-14

Sermon

Will Willimon

... human catastrophe, but divine advent. ''Therefore you must be ready," he says, "for the Son of man is coming at an hour you do not expect." Christians are those who have been schooled to fear not that the Bomb will be dropped and we won't have done anything to stop it, but that God will sweep in among us and we will be caught wasting our time doing that which is insignificant to God. The flood we fear, the thief for whom we await, the night visitor whose advent wakes us, is God, not the Bomb. Here is the ...

2118. Hark, The Herald... What?

John 1:6-8, 19-28

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... stories. In my files I have one of a woman who says she was prevented from going into a certain building at a certain moment because she was held back by an unseen hand on her shoulder. She looked around but saw no one nearby. She tried again and was stopped again. Whirling around, she still saw no one.3 But then she heard a clear voice: “It would not be wise for you to go in there just now.” Hours later she learned that there was a woman murdered in the building, just after she would have entered. It ...

2119. Wherever The Messiah Is

Matthew 16:13-23

Sermon

William G. Carter

... what Jesus is all about. What would that look like, as a model for you or me? How might the followers of Jesus become more like him? A woman who runs an after-school tutoring program was talking about her volunteers. It’s a pretty effective program. Kids stop by after school, before the parents pick them up after work. There’s a snack, and a few minutes of fun. As you would expect, the core of the program is a group of concerned volunteers. She said they come in two kinds. The first group of volunteers ...

2120. The Gracious Dream

Genesis 28:10-17

Sermon

Will Willimon

... comments like, "He looks like one, doesn't he?" (There were many Medical Center people there.) I was embarrassed and tried to fend him off. Well, we ate our meal. About ten o'clock we left and, on our way out of the restaurant, the same waiter calls, "Wait, stop, I need to ask you something." I thought he was upset about the tip. "Could you give me some advice about seminary?" he asked. "I've been wrestling with a call to the ministry." So the next day, when asked about the scarcity of angels, I said, "Look ...

2121. When God Leads

Joshua 3:7-17

Sermon

King Duncan & Angela Akers

... road lines at the main intersection.” No more clear lane markings. No more lines to mark where cars should stop. Just a series of wavy lines that resemble an abstract drawing of the ocean. According to the mayor, the purpose ... waters flowing downstream will be cut[AA1] off and stand up in a heap.” The Creator of all the Universe, the Lord of sea and skies, could have stopped the flow of the Jordan at any time, as easily as a toddler turns off a water faucet. He could have made it so easy for them. But ...

2122. Things That Open

Mark 1:9-15

Sermon

Mary Austin

... When we have the patience and the courage to follow Jesus into the wilderness, doors open for us, too. Life may be ripped open, or we may choose the opening, and we find God in both. Following Jesus into this desert, we realize that we have temptations, too. When we stop and focus on God, we see how addicted we are to our screens, to the instant amusement of our phones, to the quick hit of adrenaline as we win a game online or score a bargain on a purchase. Like Jesus, we have wild beasts in our lives. They ...

2123. More Than a Bad Day?

John 2:13-22

Sermon

Mary Austin

... was used for weddings on Saturdays, and meetings during the week. The coffee hour was bountiful but time-limited, since another church came to use the building in the afternoon. The building was new, the restrooms were spotless, and people who were walking by stopped in for church some Sundays. The members kept giving to the church, and they had very low expenses, so they had money to give away. They picked a community organization each month and gave generously to their work. First Church ran into trouble ...

2124. Embarrassing Visits

John 3:14-21

Sermon

Mary Austin

... I knew how to be a reasonably effective parent. You know: the balance of love and structure, the importance of family, nurturing the talents the child has. There were vegetables and books and math lessons in the summer… that was a big hit, as you can imagine. When she stopped going to high school, when she had to be in the hospital, when we had to keep trying different medication until she found the right one, I had to learn to be a different kind of parent. I wasn’t taking pictures at the prom… I was ...

2125. Knowing, and Known

Romans 4:13-25

Sermon

John B. Jamison

... . Then the grin turned into a laugh. The visitor smiled again and said that they might laugh about the idea of having a son right now, but hang on. If God said you were going to have a son, do you really think something like your age was going to stop it? The visitors left. It was a story Paul knew they would all remember. Paul was writing to people in Rome, to the new Christian community and the Jewish community who were in a real mess. There had been the same ongoing conflict between the Jews and the new ...

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