Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 2276 to 2300 of 4972 results

2276. Holy Love and Herod's Love

Matthew 2:13-18, Matthew 2:19-23

Sermon

Mark Radecke

... to understand the story of Herod's brutal murder of the holy innocents, the baby boys of Bethlehem. Herod's story, at one level, is the story of a frustrated desire to be loved. Herod wanted the love of his people and he would tolerate no competition, stop at nothing to eliminate his rivals. Wise men from the East came seeking the newborn "King of the Jews." Their arrival, precipitated by a celestial sign of an auspicious birth, alerted Herod to the advent of a challenger. And so Herod's fit of jealous rage ...

2277. Light In Darkness, Speech From Silence

Matthew 2:13-18, Matthew 2:19-23

Sermon

Mark Radecke

... two of my children and I went caving. We were part of a group that explored a cave in Giles County, at the foot of Mountain Lake, where the movie Dirty Dancing was filmed. Three rooms and several hundred yards into the cave, the leaders had the group stop, sit down, be as quiet as we could be, and turn off our headlamps. One by one the lights clicked out until we were enveloped by an utter and impenetrable blackness. It was the most profound darkness I have ever experienced. It made no difference whatsoever ...

2278. Light In Darkness, Speech From Silence

John 1:1-18

Sermon

Mark Radecke

2279. Getting Down To The Local Issues

Sermon

Thomas Long

... of him, palms up, as if to say, "We may as well face it." "It's the impact of the instant, electronic media," he continued. "Two generations ago, a presidential candidate could write one speech addressing the big issues facing the nation and whistle stop around the country giving it everywhere. But not today. The issues are hotter and more immediate. People don't care about anything in the general sense, not the broad economy, not health care in the abstract, not education in the global sense. They want ...

2280. Good News, Bad News, Good News

John 13:1-17

Sermon

Thomas Long

... come along, but carefully cross the road so they can pass by without getting involved with him. Finally a Samaritan comes, and like Peter when Jesus reached out to wash his feet, the lawyer surely recoiled. Who would want to be touched by a Samaritan? But the Samaritan stopped, dressed the injured man's wounds, took him to an inn, saw that he was cared for in his need. "Who turned out to be the neighbor?" asked Jesus. In other words, "You, Mr. Lawyer, were in that ditch. How did it feel? Who proved to be a ...

2281. Behold The Man Who Took The Victory

John 20:1-18

Sermon

Thomas A. Pilgrim

... we have doubts I have a feeling God smiles and seeks to show us more. Frederick Buechner, a Christian writer and Presbyterian minister, wrote, "A God who leaves no room for doubt leaves no room for me."6 In times of doubt God reaches out to us. A preacher was stopped for speeding. He apologized to the patrolman and said, "You wouldn't give me a ticket, would you? I'm a messenger of the Lord." The patrolman said, "I'm a messenger of the Lord, also, and I was sent here to save your life."7 Easter has a ...

2282. Behold The Man Who Takes Away Sin

John 1:29-34

Sermon

Thomas A. Pilgrim

... he even got to the cross. In Capernaum a crippled man was let down through the ceiling to where Jesus was preaching. Jesus said to the man, "Your sins are forgiven ... Take up your bed and go home." A woman was about to be stoned to death for adultery. Jesus stopped the crowd and said to her, "Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more." Late in the night Nicodemus came to see Jesus. Jesus said to him, "You must be born anew." In all of those incidents and in so many more, we see Jesus calling people away ...

2283. Behold The Man Who Trained Disciples

Luke 10:1-20

Sermon

Thomas A. Pilgrim

... Jesus may have said to his followers. We have in the New Testament only a small part of what he said over three years. But we can assume Jesus put a great deal of time into training all of his disciples. As Jesus was moving toward Jerusalem he planned to stop in several towns along the way. He had been in those towns before, but now he prepared the seventy to go on ahead and announce that he was coming that way. He told the seventy that the harvest was great, and that they should pray that God would send ...

2284. Behold The Man Who Turned Toward Jerusalem

Mark 10:32-34

Sermon

Thomas A. Pilgrim

... in that the call to serve him. He calls us to choose the way of the cross. One year we put up three crosses for our sunrise service. They were still up for a few days the next week. One afternoon I saw three boys come through our yard. They stopped and looked at those crosses. They seemed to be talking about them. Then one of the boys stepped over to the one in the middle, stood in front of it, stretched out his arms and showed the other two how it was done. That is what Jesus did. He shows ...

2285. Welcoming Christ

Matthew 10:40-42

Sermon

Marc Kolden

... and if people relate to us as believers, we and they are really seeking to relate not only to those persons but also to Jesus and to the one who sent him. Someone has written that when church members call on people who have stopped attending worship and other congregational activities we should never accept at face value the reasons such people offer for staying away. These reasons often have to do with being offended by someone or by some change in the congregation. Such reasons may be real enough ...

2286. Professor Of Paradox

Matthew 13:47-52, Matthew 13:44-46, Matthew 13:31-35

Sermon

Roger G. Talbott

... gold nugget in his hand. This went on for a long time: the old man stirring and stirring and every once in awhile, excitedly retrieving gold nuggets from the bowl. Finally, when he had a half-dozen gold nuggets lined up next to him, the old man stopped stirring, washed out the bowl at the pump, picked up the nuggets and then went on his way. As you can imagine, no sooner had the strange old man disappeared over the horizon than the people of the village seized their bowls and spoons, scooped some dirt ...

2287. Love Without Limits

Matthew 15:21-28

Sermon

Roger G. Talbott

... to get his attention. Malcolm X strides on, trying to ignore her, but she runs out in front of him and backpedals as she tries to ask him what she, a white person who sincerely cares about good racial relations, can do to help black people. Malcolm X stops for a moment, looks directly at her and coldly says, "Nothing!" Then he marches on. That's a little bit like the way Jesus felt about his mission to the Jews. His mission was to his own people. Other people were a distraction. But Jesus . . . Jesus was ...

2288. The One Thing That Would Make The Biggest Difference

Matthew 18:15-20

Sermon

Roger G. Talbott

... the love of Christ and nothing ought to separate us finally from the people we love in Christ. They may choose to go their own way. We may even have to take certain precautions just to protect ourselves physically from some people, but we don't stop loving them even then. And where two or more people agree that even someone who has hurt them deeply can be loved, won't their heavenly father grant anything they ask? Amen. 1. Frost, Robert, "Mending Wall" in Twelve Poets, Legget, Glenn, ed., (New York: Holt ...

2289. Seeing The Whole Person

John 4:1-26

Sermon

David Belgum

... with the money changers in the temple threw them for a loss. And maybe Jesus' counseling session with Nicodemus was confidential, and they hadn't been involved in that lesson. So here they were returning from downtown with the groceries for lunch when they stopped dead in their tracks. John reports that "they marveled that he was talking with a woman." No one asked, "Why are you talking with her?" or "Do you want to get us all in trouble? Have you forgotten? These are Samaritans up here -- these hillbillies ...

2290. Seeing Light In Darkness

John 11:1-16

Sermon

David Belgum

... , machinery and powerful technology, wonder drugs, CAT scans and magnetic imaging diagnostic gadgets -- the list grows longer each month as inventors and researchers strive mightily to stave off death. Finally, the State of Oregon has said that this mad race with death must stop. It has gotten totally out of hand and out of proportion. In order to prevent some rare cases from dying, we must deprive a hundred thousand or more of even basic health care. The vast majority of our health care costs are spent ...

2291. Preaching On Biblical Personalities

Sermon

John R. Bodo

2292. "Unless A Grain Of Wheat ..."

John 12:20-33

Sermon

Elaine M. Ward

... a par with flies and fleas and flowers that die. But the Christian sees beyond death. Yet it takes courage to die. A young boy dying of cancer gave Elisabeth Kubler-Ross a picture of a cannon with a large barrel aimed at a small boy with a stop sign in his hand, his interpretation of death, the great destroyer, before whom he felt helpless. Elisabeth accepted the picture and did not remove the cannon, as most of us would want to do, thus denying death. Instead, she drew a large figure next to the small one ...

2293. Hailing The King Of Chaos

Job 12:13-22· Matthew 27:32-44

Sermon

Wallace H. Kirby

... disorder and confusion can a person endure? There's a song we used to sing about "building a sweet little nest somewhere out in the west, and letting the rest of the world go by." Have you ever wanted to do that? Have you ever wanted to stop reading the newspaper or listening to the news? Have you ever wanted to blot out everything that is happening because the chaos and the contrast are too overwhelming? The temptation to play ostrich is strong in all of us. Just stick your head in the sand and pretend ...

2294. The Christian Journey I: The Path

Mark 1:14-20

Sermon

John N. Brittain

... is the one from the Gospel lesson: "And Jesus said to them, 'Follow me and I will make you fish for people.' And immediately they left their nets and followed him" (Mark 1:18). There are times in our lives when Jesus dramatically beckons us to stop what we are doing for the moment and to make a real commitment to follow him by redirecting our lives toward him and others -- fishing for people -- taking our own place on the path of discipleship and helping others find theirs. The drama of this familiar ...

2295. The Keys To Happiness -- Purity Of Heart

John 1:1-18

Sermon

Alex Gondola

... us. We can be cleansed. We can be forgiven. We can start again. Friends, if you're beating yourself up for something you've said or done -- or something you've not said or not done; some sin you're truly sorry for; some sin you intend to stop: rest easy. Hear again these words of assurance: "If we confess our sins [God] is faithful and just, and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9, RSV). Or the words of King David: "A broken and contrite heart, O God, thou wilt ...

2296. "Do This In Remembrance Of Me"

Luke 22:7-38

Sermon

Alex Gondola

... common with other creatures. But one thing that sets us apart is the act of remembrance. Human beings are the only creatures I can think of that remember and honor their dead. A herd of elephants, coming upon the dead body of another elephant, will stop and touch it with their trunks, and trumpet loudly, as if mourning the loss, sometimes for hours. But then they move on. Only human beings erect mausoleums and monuments to keep the memory of a loved one alive. Or endow colleges, hospitals, libraries, parks ...

2297. "Friend, Why Are You Here?"

1 Corinthians 10:14-22

Sermon

Alex Gondola

... be, is not the best reason for coming to worship. Other reasons for being here? Curiosity, perhaps? I once had a gentleman tell me that he had been driving past this church for years and thought it was "cute" and wondered what it looked like inside, so he stopped in on a Sunday morning. I guess his curiosity was satisfied, since I noticed he didn't come back the next week! Perhaps some of us are here out of a feeling of moral superiority. Others may be golfing today, or weeding their gardens, or sleeping in ...

2298. "Friend, Why Are You Here?"

Sermon

Alex Gondola

2299. Entertaining Tips for Christians

Luke 14:1-14

Sermon

Alex Gondola

... , and not look for any reward. To some extent, what Jesus proposes is like that bumper sticker that says: Practice Random Acts Of Kindness And Senseless Acts Of Beauty. Have you seen it? A random act of kindness would be something like driving back from Logan Airport, stopping at the toll booth to the Sumner Tunnel, paying your two-dollar toll, and then paying for the next five drivers behind you in line. Can you imagine the looks on the faces of the next five drivers when they are told to "Have a nice day ...

2300. The Savior Life Diet

John 6:25-59

Sermon

Alex Gondola

... in "The Savior Life Diet," Lectionary Homiletics, August, 1997, p. 21). I made a trip to the discount bookstore this past week to see if Andy Rooney was right. I discovered he was at least partly right. There were lots and lots of cookbooks there. I stopped counting at 250 different titles -- because at 250 I was only half-way through the cookbook section! And, that didn't count the bargain bins! There was an astonishing array of topics and titles. I found cookbooks for Christmas. And, it's only August! I ...

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