Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 201 to 225 of 609 results

201. Praying for a Whole New World

Luke 21:5-38

Sermon

William G. Carter

... shake the heavens and prepare us for what God has in store. In personal moments like these, the Holy Spirit is God’s subversive Advocate. We can expect the Spirit to disrupt us until we are ready to receive what God has prepared for his beloved children and a cherished creation. As Walter Brueggemann goes on to say: Advent asks if we are bold and sharp enough to speak the hurt that belongs to our weary world. It asks if we are ready and open enough for a newness to be given. It asks if we know the name ...

202. What a Star Can't Tell You

Matthew 2:1-12

Sermon

William G. Carter

... and set the stars in the sky. We come in here to sing the songs and tell the sacred story. And we worship a God who loves us so much that he has given us Jesus Christ, the King of kings. A star can’t tell you that you are cherished by God. But the church can. 1. Raymond E. Brown, The Birth of the Messiah (New York: Doubleday, 1977), pp. 170-171. 2. From one of Keillor’s unpublished Lake Wobegon monologues, broadcast on National Public Radio. Mr. Keillor is particularly fond of the magi, and they appear ...

203. He Commanded Us to Preach

Acts 10:23b-48

Sermon

Carlyle Fielding Stewart

... impediments that hinder the word from reaching present and future generations! God give us strength to preach the word with fire, compassion, joy, and praise. That God commanded us to preach a gospel of truth, love, reconciliation and forgiveness, and freedom and liberation is a task that we should forever cherish. God commanded us to preach! Let us do it in ways that will bring honor to the saints and glory to God always!

204. His Last Supper

Luke 22:7-38

Sermon

Brett Blair

... the same way fellowship in the church needs to be understood. We hear it and we think of a potluck meal. True fellowship is expressed in the words of John Wesley: if your heart is like my heart, then give me your hand and we walk together. We need to cherish our times of coming together-— as families, friends, and as the church. The day was not yet over. Jesus went up to the Mt. Olivet and prayed and spoke to a crowd. It was here that Judas came up to him and gave him a kiss. I have often wondered ...

205. Real Gratitude

Luke 19:1-10

Sermon

James W. Moore

... most prized possessions. The first one is a simple ordinary rock. It’s a rock with some green and yellow paint splattered on it. I use it as a paper weight on my desk. I have had it for over 30 years. It’s not worth a lot, but I cherish it. If I tried to sell it, I couldn’t get much money for it, but you see, I would never even consider selling it, because I treasure it so much. Why is it so special to me? Not because of what it is. Not because of how it looks ...

206. God Cares About Justice!

Exodus 20:1-21

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... story about a village that, through one tragedy after another, had land mines planted everywhere. One night, one of the elders had a dream that showed where they were all located. He drew a map that showed the villagers where not to go. They cherished it and memorized it. That map is like the 10 Commandments...they tell us what to avoid...those actions, attitudes that would blow us and our world apart.(2) So saying, a good deal of misunderstanding has burdened the interpretation of the Decalogue. It starts ...

207. Do I Matter?

Psalm 8:1-9

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... things in our lives that we do not understand. We do not understand how brown cows eat green grass and give white milk, but we still pour it on our cereal. We do not understand a mother's love or a father's patience, but we count on them and cherish them. We do not understand how pain can help us grow, but we know that it does. Yes, there is much we do not understand, and this is just one more thing. Then sings my soul, my Savior, God, to Thee; How great Thou art; How great Thou art. Do ...

208. God the Boggler

Psalm 8:1-9

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... we do in so many areas of our lives. We do not understand how brown cows eat green grass and give white milk, but we still pour it on our cereal. We do not understand a mother's love or a father's patience, but we count on them and cherish them. We do not understand how pain can help us grow, but we know that it does. Yes, there is much we do not understand, and this is just one more thing. Then sings my soul, my Savior, God, to Thee; How great Thou art; How great Thou art. God ...

209. Trouble in the Manse

Hosea 1:1-2:1

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... work. For him, the message was supremely clear: sin leads to ruin. There was living proof of it right in the preacher's own home. Hosea had taken Gomer as his wife with all the high expectations of any new bridegroom. Here would be one he could love and cherish, one with whom he could share joys and sorrows, one with whom he could raise a family that would walk upright in the presence of the Most High God. It had gone well...until sin entered in. The dream was destroyed. All that was left for Hosea now was ...

210. The View from the Mountaintop

Mark 9:14-32, Mark 9:2-13

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow and his orphans, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and all nations."(14) Oh yes, Mr. Lincoln. Oh yes, Lord! Amen! 1. James M. McPherson, Abraham Lincoln and The Second American Revolution, (New York: Oxford University Press, 1990), p. 68 2. ibid., p. 88 3. ibid., p. 16 4. ibid., p. 75 ...

211. What's in a Name?

Luke 3:21-38, Luke 3:1-20

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... we have been hearing, probably more than we want, the name Pete Rose. As you know, Pete was one of the greatest players professional baseball has ever known, and that would have been his enduring legacy... except for the fact that he broke one of baseball's most cherished rules - he bet on the games, even some of his own. That transgression earned him a lifetime ban from the sport. Pete Rose had a great name, one of the greatest names of all time, but he ruined that name, and he has been living with the ...

212. Rejoice

Philippians 4:2-9

Sermon

King Duncan

... town?" "No," he answers, shaking his head sadly, "no, I don't." "Then why do you go each year?" he asked. "Ah," he says smiling, "what if I were the only one who wasn't there when it happened?" (3) I suspect that is where many of us are. We cherish the babe in the manger, but our faith in the future is tentative, weak, wobbly. Hear the good news for the day: God is in control. GOD NOT ONLY IS IN CONTROL OF THE FUTURE, GOD IS IN CONTROL OF THE PRESENT. St. Paul writes: "Rejoice in the Lord always ...

213. Wrestling In A Title Bout

Genesis 32:22-32

Sermon

Mark Clark

... cause harm for years. It even happens in the church. More often than we confess, we compete destructively within the Body of Christ. Someone gets chosen for a position that we wanted. Someone gets the attention of the pastor or the choir director, attention that we secretly cherish, and we begin to undermine that person. We're like the eye that Paul described as saying foolishly to the foot, "I have no need of you." Usually it isn't until we've cut someone off from the fellowship that we realize how we've ...

214. Gambling On God

Acts 1:12-26

Sermon

King Duncan

... did she give you last year?" a guest asked the mom. Her reply, without hesitation, was: "The wrinkles!" James Hewett tells about a young woman named Marylou who was encouraging her mother to dye her hair. Her mother said, "You're not serious, Marylou! I cherish my gray head of hair. It's like the mantle of experience. See this gray hair, Marylou? This is from the time that nice young doctor proposed to you but you declined because his specialty was dermatology and yours was that clarinet player. This gray ...

215. Marriages That Last

Ephesians 5:22-33

Sermon

King Duncan

... 's been so long since I gave my wife flowers except on special occasions that she would think I was up to something if I did it now." Well, take a chance! Romance ” that is our first "r." Equally as important is RESPECT. We all cherish respect ” especially from those we love. This is especially true of women according to researchers at the University of Michigan. Couples who had been together for years were asked separately how much support, respect, and reassurance they got from their spouse. Then the ...

216. The Ultimate Evidence of God

2 Peter 1:16-21

Sermon

King Duncan

... sat down and thought up our faith. It is not the work of philosophers or holy seers, but of preachers, prophets, teachers, housewives, fishermen, and a host of common folk who were witnesses to events that they could not understand but cherished in their hearts. Christian faith is not reason, but revelation. God revealed Himself through encounters with ordinary people like Moses, David, Ruth, Daniel, the Virgin Mary, John the Baptist, St. Paul and many other saints. They were imperfect vessels of God’s ...

217. A Man Who Walked the Talk

Acts 7:55-60

Sermon

King Duncan

... to see about Stephen’s witness. Stephen was willing to forgive those who had wronged him. As he was dying, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord do not hold this sin against them.” Those were his final words. There is something within most of us that cherishes the idea of revenge. Forgiveness is for wimps. That is the attitude many of us have. An old Scottish story tells of a man who feared he was on his death bed. He sent for an acquaintance with whom he had had a bitter quarrel and asked that they ...

218. The Awesome Power Of Love

John 15:1-17

Sermon

King Duncan

... get along with one another? How trivial our petty antagonisms and animosities are in the shadow of Calvary. "Love one another." What a simple commandment, yet it carries such power. Power to heal minds, souls and bodies. Power to lift us to new planes of accomplishment. I cherish that kind of love for our fellowship and I believe it can be ours. For the God of love is in our midst. He will empower us. And people will once again say, "Look...how those Christians love one another." 1. Adrian P. Rogers, GOD'S ...

219. Looking For Mr. Right

James 4:13-17

Sermon

King Duncan

... do." Most of us got married at an age when we didn't really know what we were doing. Our friends were getting married. Our hormones were running wild. Thus, before we knew it, we were standing before an altar vowing that we would love and cherish a relative stranger "till death do us part." We were too young to know ourselves, too much in love to seriously object to any weakness in our beloved, and totally innocent of what it really means to be married. States have tougher standards for getting a driver ...

220. Extraordinary Faith

Luke 7:1-10

Sermon

King Duncan

... : "In an age contorted by violence, I have no doubt whatever that people are born to kindness as a wind is born to movement. After all, if tenderness were rare instead of normal, wouldn’t the newspapers give it headlines? MOTHER CHERISHES FAMILYBLIND PERSON HELPED ACROSS STREETPRISONERS VISITEDDESTITUTE PEOPLE CARED FORBOY SHARES HIS LUNCH WITH PUPPYBUSY SCHOOLGIRL TAKES TIME OFF TO TEACH FATHER HOPSCOTCHand on and on. But such events are not news; they are as common and as beautiful as dandelions." You ...

221. Stranglers Or Wranglers?

Acts 2:42-47

Sermon

King Duncan

... and nurtured for fifteen years. When the items of the home were auctioned, no one wanted the painting, so the housekeeper was able to buy it for just a few dollars. Once she had the painting in her home, she began to clean it and polish the frame, cherishing the memories the painting evoked within her. As she took the frame apart to repair it, a paper fell out from behind the cardboard backing. It was her former’s employer’s will. In it he stated that all of his wealth should go to the one who loved ...

222. A Cross In A Cradle

Luke 2:21-40

Sermon

King Duncan

... a special moment for this old man. He had waited all his life for this moment. He was holding the Messiah in his unsteady arms. Simeon blessed Mary and Joseph. This would have been one of those warm Christmas memories that Joseph and Mary would have cherished forever if Simeon had stopped there. He did not. He turned to Mary and uttered a heartbreaking prophecy, "A sword will pierce your own soul...." What could he mean? A sword would pierce Mary's soul? Once there was a Christmas play held in the most ...

223. Watchers, Walkers And Worshipers

Acts 3:11-26

Sermon

King Duncan

... heart gave them hope: he was a ray of sunshine in a dark and gloomy environment. And something else happened to Minnesota: he began to attend Wednesday Worship. Soon he became friends with the pastor. The two of them counseled and prayed together, each cherishing the friendship, and strengthening the faith of the other. (4) Minnesota had already watched God's activity in his life and his world. He had been walking for some time where God would have him walk ” in service to others. But now he was ...

224. Strength Through Weakness

2 Corinthians 12:1-10

Sermon

King Duncan

... for liberty: "One, if by land, and two, if by sea; /And I on the opposite shore will be,/ Ready to ride and spread the alarm /Through every Middlesex village and farm /For the country folk to be up and to arm." But even though our cherished legends don't always portray history quite as it happened, we can still be proud of the accomplishments of our forebears. (2) For when we remember and celebrate our Independence, we are inspired once again to be "One nation under God, with Liberty and Justice for ...

225. Working For Love

Mark 7:24-30

Sermon

King Duncan

... of our lives. It takes a great part of our time and most of our energy. As someone has said, things are so hectic nowadays that we are no longer human beings, but human doings. We know Jesus worked hard. Indeed, work followed him everywhere he went. He cherished getting away for a little rest and spiritual nourishment just like we do. In our lesson for today it is evident that this is what he was looking for: a time for personal retreat, for prayer ” a time away from the crowds in a place where he thought ...

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