Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 2251 to 2275 of 4977 results

2251. The Pop Quiz

Matthew 16:13-20

Sermon

Johnny Dean

... off into the distance, as if searching for an answer that just wouldn’t come. They had no problem reporting what other people were saying about who Jesus was, but when it came to expressing their own innermost understanding of who he was, they weren’t quite so eager to speak. In the movie version of "The Cotton Patch Gospel," this scene is portrayed in an amusing but thought-provoking manner. Peter – or "Rock Johnson" as he’s known in the movie – mulls the question over in his mind by shifting the ...

2252. Gentiles 'R Us

Matthew 18:15-20

Sermon

Johnny Dean

... of our church family member. If you’ve never been in that position, you cannot understand how painful that decision was. From those circumstances emerged this sermon.) If I were to say that last week was one of the more difficult weeks I’ve been through in quite a while, I would rightfully qualify for the "Understatement of the Year Award." No matter how much time we have to prepare for the death of a loved one, death always seems to catch us with our guard down and sneak in a blow that takes our ...

2253. Another Tricky Question

Matthew 22:15-22

Sermon

Johnny Dean

... are living right on top of the greatest treasure that has ever existed, and yet they cannot see it? The church of 1999 isn’t that different from the synagogue the Pharisees loved and tried to protect. What started out as the body of Christ has quite contentedly taken on the form of a political body, with power structures and, sadly, power struggles no different from the world in which it lives. And we still have the nerve to say, "Let’s keep politics out of the church?" The truth is that after almost ...

2254. Nothing Difficult Is Ever Easy

Matthew 22:34-40

Sermon

Johnny Dean

... church? Do you really think that visitor who has come to you for information does not know who the preacher is? But he or she did not ask the preacher the question, did they? They asked YOU! They want an answer from an ordinary person, someone who won’t take quite so long to tell them what they need to know. What will you tell this person who sincerely wants to know what it would mean to be a member of Snow Creek Christian Church? How would you summarize, in five minutes or less, what it means to be a ...

2255. Beware of Angels

Luke 2:8-20, Luke 2:1-7

Sermon

Brett Blair

... presence, or simply the chill of a cold east wind. Would I have understood the message of Emanuel, God with us, or would the cosmic implications of that evening have passed me by. I am convinced that had two people been there that night in Bethlehem it is quite possible that they could have heard and seen two entirely different scenes. I believe this because all of life is this way. God never reveals himself in such a way that we are forced to believe. We are always left with an option, for that is God's ...

2256. When Drudgery Becomes Joy

1 Samuel 16:1-13

Sermon

Joann Hary

... than something she had to do! Isn't it true that sometimes when we do things on a daily basis we just get tired of doing them? They aren't as much fun or rewarding as they once were, and we wish sometimes that we could just quit doing the wash, or cooking the meals, or shoveling the sidewalk, or feeding the cattle, just for a day or so, or maybe a week. Somehow, at times things become a drudgery rather than a privilege, and we grudgingly accept our responsibility, rather than remembering our call. Perhaps ...

2257. Hard Times May Drop In For A Visit

Ezekiel 37:1-14

Sermon

Joann Hary

... supposed to, and gets herself into all kinds of trouble. And finally, not knowing what to do with her, they send her to practice with the choir. Now I couldn't imagine any choir being as bad as this one was portrayed. And come to find out, the singing was quite typical of the run-down condition of everything in the place. It was old, and dirty, and shut off from the world that surrounded it. The church that was part of the convent was as empty as the hollow singing that was going on inside. It didn't take ...

2258. Repentance - King David and Peter

Luke 22:54-62

Drama

Martha L. Leach

... people, and yet we are! Repentance begins with the acknowledgement that we are indeed sinful. Our guests from the scriptures tonight are David, King of Judah, and Peter, a disciple of Christ. David: Hello! I did not see you sitting there. Are you alone? Peter: Yes, I am quite alone - more alone than I've ever felt before. David: My name is David. I'm on my way to Jerusalem. Would you care to walk along? Peter: I am Peter. I would appreciate the company, but I want to stay away from the city today. Besides ...

2259. Faith -- Abraham and the Centurion

Luke 23:26-43

Drama

Martha L. Leach

... tell me that Sarah was going to have a son. Sarah overheard, and she could not suppress her laughter, for we were both old. But Sarah did bear a son and we named him Isaac, which means laughter. But my faith was to be tested again. When Isaac was still quite small, God said I must take him to Moriah and offer him as a burnt offering on one of the mountains. I could not believe God would give me a son after so many years and then ask me to sacrifice him. But my faith told me I must do ...

2260. The Women

John 20:1-9

Drama

William Grimbol

Setting: Five women gathered in a courtyard garden for conversation Time: Christ's ministry Characters: Shirlee Diane Nancy Carol Karen Patti SHIRLEE: Nonsense! DIANE: Quit acting as though you are the only intelligent person present (Pause) ... please. SHIRLEE: Oh, good grief, don't be so offended, but really, miracles? Every year there is some new magician, some new mystic, some awesome miracle worker. (Standing, assuming a mocking tone.) I will make the blind see. I ...

2261. The Stranger in the Manger

John 1:1-18, John 1:19-28

Sermon

Johnny Dean

... . "You think you know Jesus? You haven't seen anything yet!" John comes to "bear witness to the light." And with just such strange and cloudy words as these "Among you stands one whom you do not know" he DOES bear witness. For an America that is quite obviously lacking a moral core; for the thousands who do not know and cannot believe; for those who profess to believe but seem incapable of acting; for those living lives of quiet desperation, who need for the church to be what we have been called to be ...

2262. Fingerprints on the Chalice

Luke 22:7-38

Sermon

Steven Burt

... warm, warm like the Communion grape juice, and the warmth seemed to add to its sweetness. The minister moves on to a balding man with a big tin button on his collar that says something about turning forty. He has a salt-and-pepper mustache which curls not quite into a handlebar at the ends, and on his wrist he wears a bracelet inscribed “MIA,” for the missing in action in Southeast Asia. He’s never been much of a churchgoer -- at least not after he left Sunday school in his teens. And when he returned ...

2263. The Benefit of the Doubt

John 20:24-31

Sermon

Johnny Dean

... being filled by substitute preachers. Our denominational leaders advise us that it is wise for preachers to take some time off the week after Easter. And I did keep a rather low profile this past week. I didn’t do as much visiting as I normally do, wasn’t quite as visible as usual. I tried to follow the advice of our Regional Minister and take some time for myself, some time to just relax. There are two main reasons we are advised to do this. First, the week before Easter is usually a very busy week in ...

2264. We Don't Know How To Pray

Romans 8:18-27

Sermon

Johnny Dean

... Buechner, speaking about prayer, said this: "People pray because they cannot help it. Prayer is not for the wise, not for the prudent, not for the sophisticated. Instead it is for those who recognize that in the face of their deepest needs, all their wisdom is quite helpless. It is for those who are willing to persist in doing something that is both childish and crucial." Prayer is a tough matter for any of us. To truly pray "in Jesus’ name," as Jesus would pray, is often beyond our capacity. But the good ...

2265. When the Tie That Binds is a Slipknot

1 Corinthians 11:17-34

Sermon

Johnny Dean

... t always display, Paul says, "I hear that there are divisions among you, and to some extent I believe it." That would be like me saying, "I hear there will be a race in Martinsville today, and to some extent I believe it." Paul also said something quite surprising as he addressed this conflicted church. He said, "Indeed, there HAVE to be factions among you, for only so will it become clear to you who among you are genuine" (v 19). In other words, conflict and disagreement, even in the church, may not be all ...

2266. In the Beginning, God

Genesis 1:1-2:3

Sermon

Johnny Dean

... exile, having lost everything, need to be reminded that God is still in control, that God is still actively involved in creation, still bringing something out of nothing, still battling chaos in all its various forms. And you, almost breathing easy again but not quite yet after your fourth consecutive good report since your cancer surgery; you on whom the sun shines today, but for whom darkness is never more than a phone call away – you need to hear the message that God is still in control, still actively ...

2267. Not Your Favorite Father's Day Scripture

Genesis 21:8-21

Sermon

Johnny Dean

... said this was a difficult text for Father’s Day? I wouldn’t have minded having the day off today. I mean, it’s one thing to say that we have to study the tough passages of the Bible as well as our favorite Bible stories. But it’s quite another matter to focus on the moment or the location or the situation being described in a Bible story. The moment we begin to address the reality of people in the Bible, it’s impossible to be anything but concrete and personal, even in dealing with the stories we ...

2268. A Visit With An Old Friend

Psalm 23:1-6

Sermon

Johnny Dean

... incident. In the first semester of seminary, I remember one of my professors saying something like this: "During your ministry, there will be weeks when your cup overflows with joy and you feel a keen awareness of the presence of God. The sermon will not be quite as difficult to prepare then. In fact, there may even be times when it just seems to write itself, and you are finished with it by midweek and you cannot wait for Sunday to arrive so you can stand before the gathered church and proclaim the ...

2269. Get Ready

Sermon

Rolf E. Aaseng

... kingdom in the very near future there was no reason for them to keep working. They could just sit and wait because when Jesus came everything that needed to be done would instantly be completed. A similar attitude seems to exist among those today who quit their jobs and gather on hillsides to greet Jesus. Paul strongly criticized the Thessalonians and told them to get busy. "For we hear that some of you are living in idleness, mere busybodies, not doing any work. Now such persons we command and exhort in ...

2270. The Clanking of Coins

Matthew 27:1-10

Sermon

Wallace H. Kirby

... pieces of silver. This grating sound is a familiar part of the Passion narrative, but never so familiar that the terrible enigma of Judas fails to haunt us every time we read it. There are five different accounts of Judas and his tragic action, but none quite answers our question of why he betrayed his Master. How could Judas bring himself to go through with it? Was it his greed? It could have been, although thirty pieces of silver was a small sum. The high priest and the other leaders were desperate to ...

2271. It Dawned on Me

Sermon

Ron Lavin

... out! That's how I felt about my job. After I agreed to do it, I had all kinds of doubts, but nobody knew them. Nobody. I didn't like what I was doing, but there was no way to stop. No place to go. No way out. If I quit, the Jews wouldn't accept me. Certainly the Romans would have no place for a quitter. So, you see, there was no way out. Yet, one day this prophet named Jesus, about whom everyone was talking, passed by my tax booth, looked at me, and said, "Follow me." And I ...

2272. St. Jim, Your Halo Is Tipped

Sermon

Ron Lavin

... about what Jesus said. James and John reacted differently. They went forward to Jesus and tried to make a deal which would guarantee them places of honor. James, the elder of the brothers, led off, "Teacher, we want you to do whatever we ask you." Quite a statement for openers! People act in strange ways when they are under pressure. This is especially true when pressure comes with death. Perfectly normal people, when faced with the stress and strain of the death of a loved one, sometimes turn on innocent ...

2273. The Demons and the Counselor

Sermon

Ron Lavin

... . We are Habitations of Dragons, he says; "we all have dragons in our souls." "To know that I am not alone with the shameful dragons I fight in my inner life is very encouraging. Somehow the knowledge that others face these problems makes them not quite so fearsome in their habitation in my mind."3 Dragons, like the fear of failure, overcompensation, and anxiety, are as modern as the morning newspaper. 3. Keith Miller, Habitation of Dragons. Word, Waco, Texas, 1970, p. 7. Miller speaks of the demon of not ...

2274. At the Foot of the Cross

Sermon

Ron Lavin

... and slowly suffocates. His cheeks were hollow. His skin was dry. He made convulsive efforts to breathe. The bloody hours of pain passed slowly by. It began to rain. The one who appeared to be his mother and a young man approached the cross. I didn't quite hear what was said, but it was something about caring for one another. As they departed, it grew very dark, though it was only noon. Most of the spectators began to leave, but some lingered long enough to hear more from the mouth of this so-called prophet ...

2275. Praying With Tears in Your Eyes

Hebrews 1:1-14

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

... , we are not moved enough to have tears. A young woman confessed, "I pray, but I don't think it does much good." Emergency prayers usually do not have tears. As a plane was flying across the Atlantic, the captain announced that one of the engines quit. One man said to his seat companion, "Maybe we had better say our prayers." The other replied, "It isn't that bad, is it?" Indeed, not all prayers call for tears. There are prayers of thanksgiving and praise. On the other hand, there are times for praying ...

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