Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 2151 to 2175 of 3099 results

Mark 8:31--9:1

Sermon

King Duncan

... sat on hard benches. But today 50% of their orders are about softening the seats of people in church. It has become a market share commanding hundreds of millions of dollars annually. According to some of the pastors and church leaders weighing in on the subject, soft pews are an essential part of church life today. “Let’s face it,” says one, “soft seats are more inviting.” Another says, “It’s hard enough to find comfort in the world and church should be comfortable.” And one more said, “I ...

2152. Big Men in Little Planes

Mark 9:33-37

Sermon

King Duncan

... ’t be deceived by what you see,” the priest responded. “Many years ago an artist was commissioned to create a statue for the cathedral. As he sought a young woman to pose as the model for his sculpture, he found one who seemed to be the perfect subject. She was young, serenely lovely, and had a mystical quality in her face. The image of that young woman inspired his statue of Mary. The woman who now worships the statue is the same one who served as its model years ago. Shortly after the statue was put ...

2153. The Golf Shot That Destroyed an Airforce

Mark 9:42-50

Sermon

King Duncan

... of getting out of hand and wreaking havoc in our lives. Sin destroys lives. Sin destroys families. Sin destroys churches and communities. And without the cross, sin would have destroyed all humanity. “If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off . . .” Not a very cheerful subject for a sermon, but it comes from the lips of the Master. And so we should listen. Sin is serious business. Get it out of your life. Keep it out of your life for your sake and for the sake of those around you. Let Christ help ...

2154. Angels As Explained By Children

Humor Illustration

... . Mitchell, age 7 My guardian angel helps me with math, but he's not much good for science. Henry, age 8 Angels don't eat, but they drink milk from Holy Cows!!! Jack, age 6 Angels talk all the way while they're flying you up to heaven. The main subject is where you went wrong before you got dead. Daniel, age 9 When an angel gets mad, he takes a deep breath and counts to ten. And when he lets out his breath again, somewhere there's a tornado. Reagan, age 10 Angels have a lot to do and they ...

2155. Persisting over Rebukes

Mark 10:46-52

Illustration

James W. Robinson

... insisted that he sit down and remain quiet. The poor man meekly acquiesced. He slid into his seat and thereafter maintained a discreet silence. The man's inquiries had been reasonable, and politely phrased. He had simply sought light on an important subject, and everyone present would have benefited if he had been permitted to complete his line of questioning. But he folded weakly, cowed by the frown of rebuke, and left the room with feelings of frustration and futility. Not so with Bartimaeus. Despite ...

2156. The Messiah’s Mark

Mark 12:28-34

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... text, Jesus’ declares that the Scribe who engages Jesus with a question receives an answer, celebrates and expands on Jesus’ answer, and is declared by Jesus to be “not far from the kingdom of God.” In Mark, Jesus’ last word to the Scribe changes the subject — from the Torah to the kingdom — and so opens the door to a whole host of new questions. But instead of following Jesus down this new line of inquiry, Mark reports that this audience of religious authorities did not “dare to ask him any ...

2157. Acts of God?

Luke 13:1-9

Sermon

Brett Blair

... still searching. So what do we do when nature overwhelms us, or when men conspire to create monstrous works of evil, and God seems so far from us? Who’s in control here? Nature? Man? God? I Let’s take a look at Nature. Are our lives simply subject to the whims of nature or does God somehow use the forces of nature to accomplish his will? In other words did God cause the hurricane? Before we answer this question let me draw attention to something we all do as humans. We ask questions. And questions are ...

2158. Passing the Test

1 Corinthians 10:1-13

Sermon

Steven E. Albertin

... young men must "Be Prepared!" (If I remember correctly from my scouting days, that is the motto of the Boy Scouts.) The worst situation you can be in when taking a test is not being prepared. Maybe you forgot to study or maybe you never understood the subject matter or worst of all you were so sure of yourself that you never bothered to study. But then after taking the test you knew you were in over your head. You knew that your grade would be a disaster. You were embarrassed to admit that your complacency ...

2159. The iPod Vs. The Larynx

Revelation 5:11-14

Sermon

Steven E. Albertin

... singing since everything is about the performance of the worship leaders who were positioned in front of the congregation on a stage. It is no accident that many such churches will call their worship not a "service" but an "experience." Personal, subjective, individual involvement is of paramount importance. Unless "I can feel it," the worship experience is of little value. Worship portrayed by John in this passage from Revelation is very different. Yes, we want worship to be lively and not boring. We ...

2160. All in God’s Time

Revelation 22:12-14, 16-17, 20-21

Sermon

Steven E. Albertin

... nothing about it?" It is bad enough if some outsider is the villain. It is intolerable when the villain is homegrown. It's like having the fireman start the fire, the policeman rob the bank and murder the citizens, the government extort money from its subjects, and the armed forces ravage their own country. Outsiders we could excuse by saying that they are outsiders. But how does one excuse the insiders? This is the most haunting question of all raised by those to whom John wrote his book. "God, how could ...

2161. Thicker Than Blood

Galatians 3:23-29

Sermon

April Yamasaki

... " or "guardian." But like the paidagogos of a wealthy family, the law was really more than any of those things. It provided discipline, teaching, supervision, and overall caretaking — but only for a time. With the revelation of Jesus Christ, the people were no longer subject to the law. Like a child who had outgrown his paidagogos, the people had been set free from the law through faith in Christ. It was not a license to do whatever they pleased whenever they pleased — it was not lawlessness. After all ...

2162. When God Adds Insult to Injury

Colossians 2:6-15

Sermon

Charles L. Aaron

... small bit of white space. This gap indicates that the NRSV editors thought that a transition occurred between verse 7 and verse 8, so they put a gap. Even though the gap on the page is only a quarter of an inch or so, the gap in subject matter is huge. The gap between what verses 6-7 talk about and what verses 8-15 talk about is significant. This gap has been around from the earliest days of the church. We still live with it. Among denominations, among congregations within denominations, among groups within ...

2163. Killing What Is Already Dead

Colossians 3:1-11

Sermon

Charles L. Aaron

... . For the author of Colossians, our attempts to become better people have to fit into the big picture. Colossians is a big picture kind of book. College students sometimes joke about having been assigned a research topic on "You, the Universe, and Other Related Subjects." That's what Colossians tries to do. Our passage this day begins with the word, "so." In order to understand what comes after the "so," we have to look at what comes before the "so." Before the "so," Colossians writes of the creation of ...

2164. Unbridled Ambition

Humor Illustration

Joe, the governor's most trusted assistant, died in his sleep one night. The governor had depended on Joe for advice on every subject, from pending bills to wardrobe decisions. In addition, Joe had been his closest friend. So, it was understandable that the governor didn't take kindly to the droves of ambitious office seekers who wanted Joe's job. "They don't even have the decency to wait until the man is ...

2165. RSVP

Isaiah 55:1-9

Sermon

David J. Kalas

... our merit; and one in which he voluntarily condescends. The Bible offers us a variety of images to describe our relationship with God. He is shepherd, and we are his sheep. He is a master, and we are his servants. He is the king, and we are subjects in his kingdom. Yet none of those authoritarian images for God quite captures the whole truth. For his communication with us is not solely orders and instructions: He also invites! This is a testimony to how he created us. Namely, he made us free. If you and I ...

2166. Joshua's New Diet

Joshua 5:9-12

Sermon

David J. Kalas

... 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 subject of the famous Enstrom portrait. This man's prayer is not original with him; rather, it is a customary prayer of his people. "Blessed art thou, O Lord our God," he begins, but then he pauses. He says nothing. Nothing. Has he forgotten the next line ...

2167. The Gospel According To Pronouns

Acts 10:34-43

Sermon

David J. Kalas

... that presumed a certain favoritism on God's part. But the declaration that God shows no partiality is the first bit of very good news for Cornelius and for us. Next we hear that God sent a message to the people of Israel and that Jesus Christ was both the subject and agent of that message. He is the one anointed and ordained by God. He is the one who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed. He is the one who was put to death, but who rose again. He is the one proclaimed by the ...

2168. Birthdays and Marriages

Acts 2:1-21

Sermon

Stephen P. McCutchan

... first followers of Jesus, the church today celebrates Pentecost with a mixture of hope and uncertainty. We are all aware of our weaknesses when compared to the power that many other institutions in this world can wield. We too often find ourselves subject to their power rather than transcending it. We tremble when the voice of economics cautions us against performing a ministry that it considers unfeasible. We conform all too easily when the voice of class differences suggest that certain people should go ...

2169. The Sinner And The Sinned Against

1 Kings 17:1-24

Sermon

Stephen P. McCutchan

... and stop sinning. The story of Elijah is helpful in knowing how to respond when we are the sinned against. The first thing that you note in the story is that God cares for the faithful. When Elijah told Ahab of the coming drought he, too, would be subject to those conditions. It was God who directed him to go to the Wadi Cherith, which was east of the Jordan, and hide himself. There he found water to drink and the ravens fed him. It is interesting that the term for ravens can mean Arabs. We are either ...

2170. When God Measures The Church

Amos 7:7-17

Sermon

Stephen P. McCutchan

... God to let them have a king. It was almost as if God set up his own checks and balances system. Once the people looked to a king and the government to guide them, God also called prophets to remind the government that it, too, was subject to God. There were apparently professional prophets in Israel who served as ethical advisors to the king, but occasionally a voice arose that challenged the very nature of the society. Amos was one of those unique voices. By his own admission, he was not a professional ...

2171. Earth, Wind, and Fire

Joel 2:23-32

Sermon

R. Kevin Mohr

... the swarm from landing in the area. The Malagasy knew all too well that the arrival of the locusts was a devastating life-and-death situation. This is so because locust swarms almost always occur in those marginal semiarid regions of the world often subject to frequent droughts as well; places where there is little margin for error when it comes to agricultural production. Once the locust swarm moves on after having destroyed the young crop, there is the anxious wait to see if more rains will come. That ...

2172. P.S. I Love You

John 21:1-14

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... once again among them. Their Lord was caring for their physical needs, even serving them, as he had so often before the crucifixion. They are once again a community gathered by and joined together by the living Jesus. The redemption of Peter is the subject of 21:15-19. Despite Simon Peter’s obvious first follower role throughout the gospel, he has yet to “live down” his threefold denial of Jesus on the night his master was arrested. It is, then, with mathematical precision that Jesus presses the point ...

2173. John 21:1-19

John 21:1-14

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

2174. A New Kind of Authority

Acts 9:1-19a

Sermon

King Duncan

... over everything, Saul was humbled to the point that he could become a magnificent ambassador for Christ. Saul had a reputation . . . but he received a revelation a revelation about himself and a revelation of God in Christ Jesus. From this day forward he would subject his reputation and his authority to the will and glory of Jesus Christ. The converted Saul who once thought he had it all figured out now sees himself as an unimportant and weak “vessel,” and a mere slave to an all-important and all ...

2175. Coincidence or Providence?

Acts 16:11-15

Sermon

King Duncan

... it a matter of simple happenstance? Interesting question. Dr. Steve Land tells about a seminary student during World War II who was preparing himself to enter the war as a military chaplain. One day this student found a used book at a bookstore on the subject of “How to Speak Russian.” This student was somewhat of an introvert. He preferred to remain in his room reading rather than going out to socialize with his friends. He decided that this little book on how to speak Russian would be a nice, quiet ...

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