Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 2176 to 2200 of 2665 results

2176. A New Name for a New Year

Ephesians 1:1-14

Sermon

King Duncan

... that used the forward pass. That first season they outscored their opponents 402 to 11! (1) Sometime change is for the better. God loves change, especially changed lives. Resolutions are hard to keep, wouldn’t you agree? How many of you have ever been determined to drop an old habit and begin a new one? How many of you have seen a resolution shattered the same day you made it? Turning over a new leaf is hard. What we need is not inspiration, but a transformation. Not a resolution, but a revolution. We ...

2177. In the Shadow of His Brother

John 1:35-42

Sermon

King Duncan

... throat . . .” and he added a few other curt, sarcastic things as well. At this, a disappointed Jesus looks at Norton and asks, “Norton, do you know where you’d be if it hadn’t been for John?” Norton blushed, squirmed and dropped his eyes. “Still snitching fruit hanging . . . [and] around the market,” he replied. “Exactly,” Jesus said . . . and at that point, Norton says, Jesus taught Norton one of the greatest lessons he had ever learned that young idealists frequently find their Messiah ...

2178. The Lifesaver App

1 Corinthians 1:10-17

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... of 1468 drive-through customers kept an app of generosity running for the next car behind them. How about a “pay it down” app? Several anonymous donors paid in full the layaway plans people were working on at K-Marts around the country. How about a “just dropping by” app? Take half an hour of a busy day to check in on someone shut-in and shut-off from easy access to the world. How about a “turn the other cheek” app? This may be one of the hardest apps to run. Choose compassion over confrontation ...

2179. When We No Longer Recognize Ourselves

Psalm 51:1-19

Sermon

King Duncan

... tip quickly to the bad side. He cried out, “Oh, Christ, have mercy!” At that moment, he heard the sound of three blood-stained nails falling on the good side. They didn’t look that heavy. After all, how much could three nails weigh? But as they dropped onto the scales, the scales tipped back to the good side and no matter what the demons added, they stayed there. Those nails, of course, were the nails driven through the hands and feet of Jesus Christ. (4) Are there times when you look in a mirror and ...

2180. Hill Climbing

Psalm 121:1-8

Sermon

King Duncan

... climbs onto the teeth of an enormous power shovel. But he is betrayed by the huge piece of earth-moving equipment, as it shudders and grinds into motion. He can’t escape. “I want my mother!” he shouts. At this climactic moment, his fate is suddenly reversed. The shovel drops him back in his nest, just as his mother is returning home. And then it is she who asks the question: “Do you know who I am?” (3) She is the one who would never forsake him. She is the one watching over him, loving him as no ...

2181. A Straying Heart

Psalm 95:1-11

Sermon

King Duncan

A neighbor dropped in on a friend and found her sitting at the kitchen table, staring blankly at a half-empty cup of coffee, her three kids squabbling loudly in the other room. “What’s wrong, Marge?” she asked. Marge told her that she had “morning sickness.” Surprised the neighbor said, “I didn’ ...

2182. Expect the Unexpected

Psalm 23:1-6

Sermon

King Duncan

... he knew to reach her, but without success. He said things to her that were offensive. He made jokes. He even got angry. She did not respond. Frustrated, he finally stood and in a last ditch effort to get her attention, he unstrapped his artificial leg and let it drop on the floor with a loud thump. Startled, she opened her eyes and saw him for the first time. Encouraged, he began to laugh out loud and hop around the room on his one remaining leg in time to music that was playing on her radio. After a moment ...

2183. Stuck in Park

Acts 17:16-34

Sermon

Tony Everett

... philosophers Socrates, Plato, Epicurus, and Zeno had taught. They visited the famous Parthenon dedicated to the goddess Athena. They wandered past many other religious sites containing idols that represented many different gods and goddesses. During his walks Paul dropped in at Jewish synagogues. Every day he wandered through the civic center market place and talked with whomever happened to be there (Acts 17:17). He engaged in discussions with well educated and arrogant Stoic and Epicurean philosophers ...

2184. What Does Jesus Look Like?

Isaiah 52:13--53:12

Sermon

Tony Everett

... Cyrus of Persia? How about the population of Hebrews living as exiles in Babylonia? Or the whole nation of Israel? Or even Jesus himself? So, what does Jesus look like? What does this servant look like? Trying to figure this out is like trying to nail a drop of water to a window pane. It can’t be done, and it doesn’t really matter. Isaiah states that the appearance of God’s servant would not stand out in a crowd. In fact, this servant is after one “from whom others would hide their faces” (Isaiah ...

2185. Hey, What’s that Sound?

1 Samuel 16:1-13

Sermon

Tony Everett

... going to show up at the hardware store with my chain saw and get to the bottom of this. I’ll demand that the manager either fix my saw, give me a new one, or return my money.” At the hardware store the following morning Bob confronted the manager. He dropped the chain saw at her feet and exclaimed, “You told me this thing would cut up to ten cords of wood a day. Well, I’ve worked myself to the bone with this saw for two days and it hasn’t even cut one cord. What are you going to ...

2186. Around the Family Table

1 Corinthians 11:17-34

Sermon

King Duncan

... , even at a lunch counter, you’ve got to admit they’re human beings. (5) Max Lucado in his book Outlive Your Life tells about his friend Buckner Fanning who was a marine in World War II. Fanning was stationed in Nagasaki three weeks after the dropping of the atomic bomb. It was a scene of total devastation. But then, there in that scene of horror, this young marine found an oasis of grace. “While patrolling the narrow streets, he came upon a sign that bore an English phrase: Methodist Church. He noted ...

2187. The Voice-activated Life

2 Peter 1:12-21

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... coins from his pocket and tossed them on the ground. With the tinkling of the coins on the sidewalk it seemed everything came to a stop. People turned around. Diners stopped eating to look their way. Several almost seemed to want to reach down and pick up the dropped coins. Then as quickly as it had happened – everything went back to the way it was. That’s when the old man spoke, “It’s all in what you are listening for, my child, it’s all in what you are listening for.” 4) We need to megaphone ...

2188. One For All

Romans 5:12-21

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... saw them. Eli’s attorney were right. Warning people of approaching danger, cautioning others about the hazards they might face because of the way they are making their journey, is never a bad thing. If we see our children playing too near the edge of a dangerous drop-off, or venturing into water that is too deep or too swift, we warn them away from those hazards. As people of faith, people who are “all for the One,” we should also offer such care and concern for everyone who we encounter in our life ...

2189. Outpouring and Indwelling

Romans 8:1-17

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... those apparently dead seed husks. We believe that just a few handfuls of seeds can produce a glorious new crop to nourish our lives and feed our families. Of course, bringing that potential crop to full fruition takes a lot more than simply dropping seeds into the ground and walking away. As every backyard gardener or full-time farmer knows, once you put those babies into the soil you are in a relationship with that garden, with those fields, with the weather. Seeds require constant nurturing — watering ...

2190. Five Ways to be "Holy" During Holy Week

Matthew 21:1-11

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... was there by faith I received my sight, And now I am happy all the day! But the song is beloved because of verses like these: Thus might I hide my blushing face While His dear cross appears, Dissolve my heart in thankfulness, And melt my eyes to tears. But drops of grief can ne’er repay The debt of love I owe: Here, Lord, I give myself away, ’Tis all that I can do. That is why to make your “Holy Week” holy I suggest you keep near the cross, for the reasons suggested by Fanny Crosby: Jesus, keep me ...

2191. What If It's True?

John 20:1-9

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... poured some water on the little horned toad’s body. Immediately the body reacted by moving, curling up, its tail twisted. It had life again. But the first reaction of the little girl to a toad come to life was not rejoicing, but screaming in horror and dropping the box. It is one thing to hope for a life come back to life. It is another thing to accept that there actually may be an indestructible spirit that can overcome death, that resurrection may be real. Most of us are caught somewhere between wanting ...

2192. Peace Be With You

John 20:19-23

Sermon

King Duncan

... were clear. Under no circumstances was he to surrender. Unable to reach his superiors, Onoda and his men burrowed deeper into the hills. Five years later, in 1949, one of the men surrendered to Filipino forces. A few years after that, an aircraft dropped letters and pictures from Onoda’s family, urging him to come down. Still he refused. In 1954 members of a search party accidentally killed one of Onoda’s men. Twenty years later local police mistakenly shot the last of his comrades. Now only Onoda ...

2193. For Troubled Hearts

John 14:1-4

Sermon

King Duncan

... completely; they were always slipping back in. So he finally made a pact with God to limit his worrying to Wednesday. He even made himself a little Wednesday Worry Box and he placed it on his desk. Whenever a worry cropped up, Rank wrote it out and dropped it into the Wednesday Worry Box. Would you like to know his amazing discovery? When Wednesday rolled around, he would open that box to find that only a third of the items he had written down were still worth worrying about. The rest had managed to resolve ...

2194. The Wednesday Worry Box

John 14:1-4

Illustration

King Duncan

2195. The Nano-Punch of Pentecost

Matthew 28:16-20

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... boys will do, actively checked the whole thing out. They peered down into the grave which, to them, must have looked as if it went half-way to China. The younger of the boys looked up at his Dad and asked, “Is that what happens when you die? They drop you down in a deep hole?” The father was preparing to give a very wise, fatherly response, but before he could open his mouth, the older of the boys responded. “Yeah, that’s what happens. But don’t worry about that. Jesus is strong enough to get you ...

2196. The Key to Getting Enough Rest

Matthew 11:25-30

Sermon

King Duncan

... According to investigators a car was airborne for about 150 feet before crashing through the roof of a home in Derry, N.H., at 3:00 a.m. Driven by a 20‑year‑old woman who was later arrested for drunk driving, the car came through the ceiling and dropped right over the bed of the couple who owned the house. “The thing was right in front of my face,” said the 65-year-old husband. “I could feel the heat from the exhaust system coming through the sheets.” Still, that wasn’t enough to wake his wife ...

2197. On the Ropes: Round 1 - Doubting God

Habakkuk 1:1-4

Sermon

James Merritt

... spot in their life. They’ve hit a tough spot in their finances. They’ve hit a tough spot in their marriage. The engine of their life is sputtering and it is not hitting on all eight cylinders and do you know what they have done? They’ve completely dropped out of church. At the time when they should be in church more than any time in their life they quit. They check out. Other people will back out. They will just walk away from God altogether. They will say, “I knew this God thing didn’t work. I ...

2198. On the Ropes: Round 2 - Debating God

Habakkuk 1:12--2:1

Sermon

James Merritt

... bat that flies around at night, a very nimble creature, cannot take off from a level place. If placed on the floor or flat ground all it can do is shuffle about helplessly until it reaches some elevation in which it can throw itself into the air. A bumblebee if dropped into an open tumbler will be there until it dies unless it is taken out. It never sees the escape at the top. It will always try to find its way out through the bottom. In so many ways there are so many people just like the buzzard, the bat ...

2199. One Thing

Philippians 3:12-4:1

Sermon

James Merritt

... , have a problem. We have been raised to view success as something easy. Our generation doesn’t know a whole lot about determination, perseverance, and endurance. We have the attitude today when the boss gets unreasonable you just quit. When the subject gets too difficult just drop out of class. When the marriage gets unbearable just get a divorce. I am asking you, today, to take a totally different tactic. I am asking you today to say, “This one thing I am going to do.” This is one thing I have never ...

2200. All In: The Winning Hand

1 Corinthians 9:1-27

Sermon

James Merritt

... to reach adulterers you’ve got to commit adultery. If you want to reach pornographers you’ve got to look at pornography. What he meant was he did just the opposite with the Gentiles that he did with the Jews. When he was with the Gentiles he dropped all of those rituals and ceremonial traditions. When he was with the Jews, he followed their customs. He observed their feast. He kept their Sabbaths. He followed their dietary laws. When he was with the Gentiles, he didn’t do any of that. So, I’ll put ...

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