Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 2151 to 2175 of 4943 results

2151. Remember: Live Worthy of the Calling

Ephesians 4:1-16

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

A group of tourists were visiting a rather picturesque town on the outskirts of a well know city. As they walked by an old man sitting beside a fence. One of the tourists, in a rather patronizing way, asked, "Were any great men born in this village?" To which the old man replied, "Nope, only babies." (1) That wisecrack answer holds a lot of truth. There are no instant heroes, there is no instant status or fame, whether in this world or in the Kingdom of God. Growth takes time. We live in the instant age. ...

2152. Show Me Your Baptismal Certificate

Mark 1:9-13

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

At your baptism, you are given an identity as a follower of Jesus. For the past thirty years or more, the church has tried to find its identity, not in baptism, but in leadership. Leadership is a function. Being a disciple is an identity. Let’s explore this morning why this confusion of categories is so important, and so debilitating to the body of Christ. “What’s in your wallet”? That is the take-away line for a credit card company that wants their card to be front and center in your wallet. Forget the ...

2153. Everything Must Go: If I Were a Rich Man

Luke 12:13-21

Sermon

James Merritt

If I had announced ahead of time that today I wanted to give a message only to people who were rich you realize that this room would be mostly, if not totally, empty. Most of you, if not all of you, wouldn’t show up for two reasons. First of all, most of you do not think of yourselves as being rich. If you heard that announcement, your first response would be, “We aren’t rich so we will sleep in.” You are actually the second reason why nobody would come, because what you would do is say, “We don’t need to ...

2154. Can One Become Two?

Matthew 19:1-12

Sermon

James Merritt

A couple in Sweetwater Texas had a lot of potted plants, and while watching TV the weatherman predicted a cold front coming through. The husband suggests that they bring in the potted plants. The wife goes outside to bring them indoors to protect them from freezing. It turned out that a little garden grass snake was hidden in one of the plants and after it got warm, it crawled out on the floor. The wife saw it just as it went under the couch and she begins screaming hysterically. Her husband who had gotten ...

2155. The Golden Calf

Exodus 32:1-33:6

Understanding Series

James K. Bruckner

32:1–34:35 · Crisis at Sinai: The Golden Calf - Exodus 32–34 forms an important watershed for understanding God’s relationship to the world. The Creator had sought to redeem, form, and live among the people. To this end God delivered them out of Egypt, brought them to Mt. Sinai by going with them in the fiery cloud, and provided for them in the wilderness. At Sinai God set about forming them into the sort of community originally intended: in trust and fidelity with the Lord, with each other, and with the ...

2156. Pop Verses: John 3:16

John 3:16

Sermon

Charley Reeb

Today I continue our series “Pop Verses.” We are taking a closer look at some of the most popular Bible verses. We are going to find out why they are so popular and how they apply to our lives. What you might discover is that some of these verses don’t mean what you think they mean or they mean a lot more than you think they mean. You see, quite often our favorites verses are just that – they’re verses. They’re not read in light of the passage in which they appear. This can lead to a misunderstanding about ...

2157. The King Who Exalts Himself

Daniel 11:36-45

Understanding Series

William Nelson

The Final Revelation--The Body: We enter now into the body of the last main revelation of the book of Daniel. There has been some progression in the visions of the book from a more general scope, encompassing larger blocks of history, to a more narrow focus on shorter periods of time. So, for example, Daniel 2 spans four and a half centuries by outlining the four human empires of Babylonia, Media, Persia, and Greece, which are swept away by the fifth—the eternal kingdom of God. Aside from the fact that the ...

2158. Beyond a Friendly, Cuddly Christmas

Matthew 2:13-23

Sermon

King Duncan

This is the season for returns is it not? . . . Especially for returning unwanted or impractical Christmas gifts. I was reading something interesting recently about Costco, the giant members-only warehouse store. Costco is the second largest retailer in the world after Walmart. What you may not know is that Costco has one of the most generous return policies in the retail world. They will allow customers to return just about anything they buy there . . . for a full refund. As you might guess, that kind of ...

2159. Hiding in Plain Sight

Matthew 2:13-18, Matthew 2:19-23, Exodus 2:1-10, Exodus 2:11-25

Sermon

Lori Wagner

“Things are not as they appear. We will not know ourselves or our beauty until we see God.” C.S. Lewis (“Till We Have Faces”) C.S. Lewis loved secrets, symbols, layers of meaning, and mystery. In 2008, Michael Ward, currently Senior Research Fellow at Blackfriars Hall, University of Oxford, announced his discovery of a possible new connection between Lewis’s 7 fiction books, The Chronicles of Narnia. Based on Lewis’s love of the stars, cosmology, and time spent in the Oxford observatory, Ward believes that ...

2160. A Sure Path to the NFL

1 John 2:28--3:10

Sermon

King Duncan

If I were to ask you to name someone whose character inspires you to be a better person, who would you name? Did a name pop into your head right away? I hope so. I hope we all know someone--a parent, a teacher, a colleague, a neighbor, a church member—whose example inspires us to live better lives. Here’s a little trickier question: How many of you thought of a Disney character as an influence on your life?? Last year, a British couple put an advertisement on a childcare website asking for a nanny. They ...

2161. First World Problems

Luke 12:13-21

Sermon

King Duncan

Have you ever stopped to notice the things that you worry about? If you were to make a list of the last three things you worried about, what would be on it? I ask this question because most of us live fairly insulated lives. We have a place to live. We have enough food to eat. We are not in danger of starvation or homelessness or dying from a simple infection because we can’t afford antibiotics. We are insulated from the dangers of extreme poverty that afflict about 689 million people worldwide. That’s ...

2162. After Everyone Had Gone Home

Matthew 2:13-23

Sermon

John Jamison

It was over. The shepherds had gone back to their flocks. The three wise men had gone to wherever they were going, the other visitors that had come to see what was going on had drifted away to other things, and the animals had begun to settle back down in the straw. Mary was resting and the baby was sleeping soundly. Joseph looked around the room and let out a long, deep breath. “It was over.” He leaned back against the wall and closed his eyes, looking forward to a much-needed long night’s sleep. Then the ...

2163. 101 Ways to Spend Your Time

Illustration

Tim Kimmel

Becoming good at the things that build inner confidence and calm takes practice and a dash of creativity! The following list might provide some cloudseeding for a brainstorm or two of your own: Pay off your credit cards. Take off ten pounds or accept where you are without any more complaints. Eat dinner together as a family for seven days in a row. Take your wife on a dialogue date (no movie, guys). Read your kids a classic book (Twain's a good start). Memorize the Twenty-third Psalm as a family. Give each ...

2164. Promises Kept!

Matthew 2:13-18

Sermon

King Duncan

Some years ago the Canadian Medical Association reported the strange case of Jack Traynor. Jack was an Englishman who fought in the trenches of World War I. Twice he was shot: one bullet severed the nerves and tendons in his right arm; the other put a hole in his skull. Jack was alive, but his arm was useless and his brain was damaged. He couldn’t walk, and he had constant epileptic seizures. His right arm hung paralyzed. Doctors stopped treating him and predicted his death in a very short while. The ...

2165. Sine Qua Non

Mark 12:28-34

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

I read somewhere that a new Guinness World Record has been set for the world’s shortest sermon. An Episcopal priest stood up one Sunday morning, walked to his pulpit, stood there for a moment, and said one word: “LOVE.” Then he sat down. I know, some of you would like me to attempt a sermon like that one day. But it is not that easy. The word “love” is capable of many different meanings. Love is what a mother gives to her children. Love is what a thrice-divorced Hollywood actress is supposed to have for a ...

2166. In the Darkness of Uncertainty, There Is the Light of Wonder

Luke 2:8-20

Sermon

Thomas A. Pilgrim

William Sloane Coffin, Jr., was, for several years, the pastor at Riverside Church in New York City. In his autobiography, he told of going back to France and visiting some of the places where he had been in World War II. One of those places was the town of Sainte-Mère-Eglise. The 82nd Airborn Division had dropped into that town. While there for his visit, the mayor showed William around. They went inside the village church. The mayor pointed to a beautiful stained-glass window that depicted the 82nd ...

2167. Obstacles as Popsicles

Exodus 1:1-22

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

Lake Junaluska is a conference center for United Methodists in the mountains of North Carolina. The first thing any visitor notices is the giant cross on top of a hill. When it's illuminated at night, it shines for miles, a beacon that draws Christians from the southeast and from all over North America every summer. A few years ago, I went to bed one night at Lake Junaluska with the resolve to climb the hill early the next morning as both physical exercise and spiritual pilgrimage. When I got on my jogging ...

2168. Guilt: How to Keep Your Conscience Clear

Psalm 32:1-11

Sermon

James Merritt

Ogden Nash once wrote this little couplet: There’s only one way to achieve happiness on this terrestrial ball, And that is to have either a clear conscience or none at all.1 Perhaps the most powerful and poisonous of all human emotions is the emotion of guilt. Guilt can make a person afraid of their own shadow. There is a story told of the time when Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the English writer, who created the character Sherlock Holmes, decided to play a practical joke on twelve of his best friends. He sent ...

2169. Am I a Real Christian?

Acts 11:26

Sermon

James Merritt

How would you answer this question? "Do You Consider Yourself a Christian?" That question was asked recently in a nationwide survey and 77% of men and 86% of women in America answered “Yes.” [[1]] The question remains however, what did these people understand the term “Christian” to mean? The term “Christian” is used more today than any other term to describe a believer, a follower of Jesus Christ. People talk about the Christian church and the Christian faith. There is a debate always raging as to whether ...

2170. The Simplex Faith of 3:16

John 3:1-21

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

If I were to say three numbers, “3:16,” what would you say? Wow! Some of you didn’t even say “John 3:16,” you just started quoting the verse: “For God so loved the world . . . “ If there is one Bible verse both locked down and totally lapsed Christians might know, it is John 3:16. Thank you, Tim Tebow. John 3:16 is held up at half –time in sports arenas. It is flashed on cardboard placards on freeway off-ramps. Tim Tebow found a creative new place to assert John 3:16 when he scraped out the three numbers ...

2171. Signs, Sayings, and Oracles of Judgment

Ezekiel 12:1-28, Ezekiel 13:1-23, Ezekiel 14:1-11, Ezekiel 14:12-23

Understanding Series

Steven Tuell

Laying the Blame and Taking Responsibility: The typical Ezekielian expression “the word of the Lord came to me” recurs throughout the chapters between the second vision of the Glory in chapters 8–11 and the oracles against the foreign nations in chapters 25–32—except in chapter 19. Indeed, in the twenty-six chapters between Ezekiel 11 and 38, this is the only chapter in which that characteristic phrase does not appear. This chapter stands out, therefore, in the larger structure of Ezekiel. Further, after ...

2172. The Art of Impersonation

Matthew 5:21-37

Sermon

King Duncan

Series: Seeing God More Clearly in 2020 Who would you say is your favorite celebrity? Can you imagine walking in his or her shoes for one day? It would probably be challenging. The only people who can come close to understanding what it’s like to walk in their shoes might be celebrity impersonators. Did you know there is a worldwide industry of people who pretend to be famous celebrities? These impersonators usually look like the people they are imitating. They dress like them. They take on the celebrity’s ...

2173. Do You Believe in Miracles?

Mark 4:26-34

Sermon

Lori Wagner

[Optional beginning: Have the congregation share about the men who have left an imprint on their lives. Fathers, dads, also learn from their children. What have you learned? We all live in covenant together, and a covenant relationship is one in which we all learn, grow, and take responsibility for a role.] Do you believe in miracles? How do you define a miracle? Sometimes, in our culture, we’ve come to disregard “miracles,” because we’ve set the bar so high for what “wows” us and “pows” us that we end up ...

2174. Building Trust

Mark 4:35-41

Sermon

David Coffin

Imagine a family member receiving a late night phone call, in which the caller ID reads, “County Corrections.” A close loved one is being held in custody due to an arrest of being intoxicated either on an alcoholic or opioid drug influence while driving their motor vehicle. The loved one needs the family member to immediately call them a lawyer and drive down to the county corrections facility. This is like being unexpectedly ambushed at night from a person whom we least expect to be acting like this. This ...

2175. Proper 14

Mt 14:22-33 · Rom 9:1-5 · Ex 14:19-31 · Ps 106:4-12

Sermon Aid

John R. Brokhoff

The Miracle Of Walking On Water When it comes to a body of water (river, lake, gulf or sea), there is one thing humans cannot do. We can drink water, float on it, swim in it and under it, and drown in it. We can sail on it, fly over it and in submarines we can travel and explore under it. But, there is one thing we cannot do: walk on it. Yes, we can ski on it, even without skis when we barefoot ski behind a speeding boat. To walk on water like walking on the ground would be a miracle. Since it is ...

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