Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 2176 to 2200 of 2331 results

2176. Reveille

Mark 6:7-13, Matthew 10:1-42, Luke 9:1-9, Luke 10:1-24

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... troubles, but also knowing that “where we are” will never be sufficient for our lives and our hearts. And we never go alone. For Christians, Jesus is our “north star.” Just as God was always there for the Jewish people, leading the way through deserts and across rivers, so too is Jesus with every disciple who goes out into the world to proclaim God’s coming kingdom. Every disciple is both follower and proclaimer! Every disciple is obedient even as he or she calls others into obedience to the One ...

2177. The Samaritan

Luke 10:25-37

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... man. One appears to have a knife. You see them take his car keys, wallet, shoes, and coat, jump into his car, and then speed off down the empty road. The beaten man, who is lying bleeding near the bleachers, isn’t moving. You look around. The road is deserted. You slow down, open the window and listen. At first, all you hear is the sound of crickets preparing for their nightly song. Then you hear a slight moan. Cautiously, you get out of the car, walk around the corner, and take a look. You see a young ...

2178. Don't Stop Praying!

Luke 18:1-8, Luke 18:35-43

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... framed, and so no matter what “evidence” was presented, no matter what taunts and insults strewn, no matter how his colleagues poked fun at him, Mike continued to believe in the character and integrity of his former boss and enduring friend. When everyone else had deserted the company, and no loyalty remained for Joe as head of the company, still when Mike saw his former ally walking down the road toward a new horizon, Mike called to him and asked if he might have a place for him in his new endeavor ...

2179. The Tragedy of Caiaphas

John 18:1-27 · John 11:45-47 · Matthew 26:36-75

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... ear. “Am I leading a rebellion,” said Jesus, “that you have come out with swords and clubs to capture me? Every day I was with you, teaching in the temple courts, and you did not arrest me. But the Scriptures must be fulfilled.” Then everyone deserted him and fled. A young man, wearing nothing but a linen garment, was following Jesus. When they seized him, he fled naked, leaving his garment behind. They took Jesus to the high priest, and all the chief priests, the elders and the teachers of the law ...

2180. The Good Husband

Isaiah 54:1-17, Isaiah 55:1-13, Isaiah 56:1-8

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... His bride, the Head of the Feast offering food and drink to all. The idea of husband and husbandry is combined in Isaiah’s prophecy of hope. God is husband and redeemer, who has promised with the arrabon of the “rainbow” never to desert His people (His bride), but to ensure the “fertility” of His people with His eternal presence and eternal promise. Husbandry, or the art of agriculture including herding of animals meant originally a “Head of Household,” much like the parables Jesus told about ...

2181. The Apothecary

Isaiah 40:1-31, Isaiah 61:1-11

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins. A voice of one calling: “In the wilderness prepare the way for the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain. And the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all people will see it together. For the mouth of ...

2182. Elisha's Bones

2 Kings 13:10-25

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... to have that life-giving quality. A dead man comes into contact with Elisha’s bones, and lo and behold, he immediately is given resurrected life, and he stands up on his feet! The Israelites are carrying the lifeless body of their compatriot to a deserted place in the hills. They are in a funeral procession to conduct a burial. Instead they encounter a group of raiders. Moabites! Fearing for their lives, they lose all sense of decency and decorum and thoughtlessly toss (or roll) the body of their friend ...

2183. Garden of Love

John 20:10-18, Song of Songs 4:1-16, Revelation 22:1-6

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... invite Jesus into our hearts and souls, to invite Him to breathe His breath upon us and within us, and to invite us to live His resurrection life within and through us, that we may become that fragrance of God to the world, that garden to a desert place. Jesus is the Tree of Life. “Blessed are those who wash their robes…..they have the right to the Tree of Life” says Revelation 22. “His name will appear on their foreheads.” Jesus says, “I am the alpha and the omega,” the “root,” the star ...

2184. The Golden Hour

Exodus 19:1-25, Genesis 15:1-18, Ezekiel 24:1-14

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... matter how bad the storm, you could see that soft beaming, never-diminishing light through the fog and waves, telling you, you are near the shore. Near home. Near safety. Near God. In the story of the Exodus, God leads the people of Israel through the desert wilderness with its hot, blazing sun under an umbrella of God-fog. In the scriptures, it’s called a “pillar of cloud.” God’s presence is both shelter and beacon, shielding them from too much stress, telling them where to go, allowing them to see ...

2185. Vendetta

2 Kings 1:1-18

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... possible state of humanness. Think of the Hatfield and McCoy feud which became a war. In 1954 William Golding wrote a book about a similar state of human fallenness called “Lord of the Flies.” In the story, several boys are stranded on a desert island for a period of time, and in that time, as they face hunger, envy, vie for power, and disagree over strategies, they descend quickly into savagery, attacking one another and mistaking each other for a “beast.” Both stories show the all-too-common ...

2186. The Well Watered Soul

Ezekiel 17:1-24, Ezekiel 47:1-12, Matthew 12:1-14

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... restoration upon you! What does psalm 23 say? “He leads me beside still waters….He restores my soul.” It’s not easy to live in the world today. It can be a confusing, dry kind of place, where you can easily get lost in a stony land and dry deserts. When your roots are planted in Jesus, in prayer you will find the nourishment and the life you need to live another day. For the world is not our adversary. The world is our home. God’s rain/reign is always within reach. Stand in God’s rain of grace ...

2187. The Healing Tree

Revelation 22:1-6, Luke 8:1-15

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... bearings of fruit for all life. 12 is the completion number that signifies all existence, all life. The date palm itself is associated in Kabbalah with the tzadik (or righteous prophet).^^ Also inherent in this salvation story are the metaphors of water vs desert. It is highly significant that the Tree of Life is entirely immersed in “water.”^^^ Whether fig tree, date palm, or almond tree (signified by menorah and light), or tree of life, the tree is a “junction” or crossroads in which healing and ...

2188. God Encounter

Luke 1:1-4, Luke 1:26-38

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... prayer or meditation, some in music and song, some in the beauty of art or liturgical dance, some in holy communion, some in reading the scriptures, some in walking through the woods on a misty morning. Jesus loved to go to the mountains, the gardens, the desert, or the sea to pray, and we know He must have experienced many sacred moments in His life, in which He continued to be changed and renewed, refreshed, and refueled. As advent begins, and the busyness of our civilized world starts to overtake us, we ...

2189. The Neverending Feast

1 Kings 17:7-24

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... in the land. At first, God sends Elijah to Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan to drink from the brook there. During that time, ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening, much as we saw happen for the Israelites in the desert with manna and quail. But later when that brook dried up, God sends him to Zarephath in the region of Sidon and tells him to stay with a widow he will meet there. Now our story is a bit strange already, since a widow, having no man to take care ...

2190. Dark Waters

Exodus 13:17--14:31, Joshua 3:1-4:24

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... , it is too with our personal landscapes and our cultural landscapes. It doesn’t matter whether we are talking about the Israelites leaving the security of their long-time Egyptian homes in the most cosmopolitan city in the world as they knew it to trek across the desert and to cross through the sea, or whether we are talking about our own challenges today in crossing boundaries and borders to reach the people of our own surrounding communities and to help them start a new life in Christ in a way they can ...

2191. Raison d’Etre

Matthew 5:13-16, Matthew 5:17-20

Sermon

Dean Feldmeyer

... toughness, to triumph over whatever obstacles were set before them. This was true of Samson, Hercules, Ulysses, Sam Spade, Marshall Dillon, Steve McGarrett, Captain Kirk, Sergeant Saunders, and John Wayne in pretty much every role he played. Whether they were crossing the desert on foot, chasing a fugitive, solving a murder, or repelling an attack, they – with only very rare and heroic exceptions such as The Alamo — always came out on top. They were the good guys, after all. Then I was introduced to the ...

2192. Hold Me When I'm Angry

Joshua 5:1-12

Sermon

Carl Jech

... they are full of love and thankfulness toward God for the miracle of this manna - thought by some modern scholars to be the honeydew excretions of scale insects, plant lice and other insects ... secretions which rapidly turn into drops of sticky solids in the dry desert air. But in the book of Numbers, chapter eleven, verse six they begin to complain bitterly that "there is nothing at all but this manna to look at." In reaction to this fickle love-hate attitude on the part of his children, we read that ...

2193. The Scariest Job Interview

Acts 1:1-11

Sermon

King Duncan

... , so intimidating that very few people who say they follow Jesus actually attempt to be a witness at all. First and foremost, if we are going to be his witnesses, we will need to pray. Action without prayer is like planting seeds in a desert. Better yet, get a team together and pray. Notice what the disciples did after Jesus was taken up into heaven. They returned to Jerusalem, and “joined together constantly in prayer.” We cannot be witnesses to something we’ve never experienced. Prayer is the ...

2194. Goin' Down the Road

Luke 24:13-35

Sermon

David & Marian Plant

... of Adam and Eve and why the apple can’t be eaten was confusing. Abraham and Sarai with an angel telling her she was going to get pregnant at ninety years of age, HA! — was confusing for sure. What about Moses and Aaron, and the people Israel, in the desert? After all that was done to release them from the house of bondage a golden calf was made when Moses was up on the mountain too long for them to stand! The list goes on and on. I must confess, even this Emmaus Road story fits the profile, with its ...

2195. Sheep Just Wanna Have Fun

John 10:1-21, Psalm 23:1-6

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... . Human beings, though we can be fearful at times, are also the most adaptable creatures on the planet! When our bodies feel inhibited, when we feel we have no control over parts of our lives, something happens to our minds and hearts. We look for an open window or a deserted field and we find a new way to play. We look for a faux canvas, and we find a way to paint a masterpiece. We look for a tin can or wooden sticks and a steel drum, and we begin to make music. We sing. We dance. We play. And ...

2196. Desperate Times Call For...

Matthew 15:21-28

Sermon

King Duncan

... special kind of vacation package. It’s called a “Get Lost” tour. For a very large amount of money, you can pay the folks at Black Tomato to send you to a surprise destination in a challenging environment, like in a remote wilderness or a desert. Once you get to the airport, you receive essential information about your trip, a satellite phone and survival gear for your destination. Then, after your surprise excursion, it’s up to you to make it back to safety and civilization. Sounds like an episode ...

As a remedy to life in society I would suggest the big city. Nowadays, it is the only desert within our means.

Albert Camus

God never deserted our people. Right through the ages there were Jews. Through the ages they suffered, but it also made us strong.

Anne Frank

What makes the desert beautiful . . . is that somewhere it hides a well.

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

True friendship multiplies the good in life and divides its evils. Strive to have friends, for life without friends is like life on a desert island... to find one real friend in a lifetime is good fortune to keep him is a blessing.

Baltasar Gracian

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