Dictionary: Rest
Showing 2301 to 2325 of 4298 results

Sermon
Robert Noblett
The urge to be a part of what is going on is very powerful. Or to say it differently, to be on the outside looking in can be unsettling at best. Just remember the last time you came into a room and found a group of people talking excitedly about a news event or something that happened to someone else in the office. You probably went right up to those assembled and in some way signaled your interest in their conversation. Or think of it this way. Whenever you have been part of a group of three -- perhaps at ...

Sermon
Robert Noblett
Here's the scene. The disciples are huddled together and they have just heard Simon's account of experiencing the risen Christ when Cleopas and his companion enter and add word of their encounter with the risen Christ. Luke describes the scene like this: "While they were talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, 'Peace be with you.' They were startled and terrified, and thought they were seeing a ghost" (v. 36). This account picks us up at a point where -- were we to be present ...

Sermon
Robert Noblett
Images are highly influential. They become emblazoned on the wall of our minds and they evoke a wide range of responses. Millions of people will remember the fireman carrying the baby out of the ruins of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. World War II veterans, particularly the ones who served in the South Pacific, will always remember Mount Surabachi and the Marines who raised an American flag at its summit, as well as the image of General MacArthur returning to the Philippines. Neil Armstrong ...

Sermon
Robert Noblett
Jesus describes the community gathered in his name -- and that would be all of us -- using the imagery of the vine. We, individually, are the various branches of the vine. Jesus is, as John describes him, "the true vine." And God is the vinegrower. Jesus is shaped and empowered by God, and we -- as branches -- are shaped, empowered, and nourished by the presence of the risen Christ. We are strongly impacted by images; no surprise here. Early in the Bush administration when Vice President Cheney left the ...

Sermon
King Duncan
It was a Christmas pageant presented by a class of four-year-olds and it was an evening to remember. It began with the three virgin Marys marching out onto the stage. As they stood there, they, of course, were waving to their parents. It’s not every Christmas pageant that has three virgin Marys, but over the years the school had acquired three Mary costumes, and so, quite naturally the script was revised. This gave a chance for more children to be involved and kept down the squabbling over who got the ...

Sermon
King Duncan
Some of you football fans will remember when Bo Schembechler was the coach of the Michigan Wolverines. It’s said that Schembechler used to work his players especially hard during spring practice to see what kind of young men he had, winners or quitters. He made a sign with a slogan on it and hung it above the locker room door. The sign read like this: “Those Who Stay Will Be Champions.” Of course, not everyone stayed. One morning Schembechler came to the office and looked at the sign. Underneath the words ...

Sermon
King Duncan
A man in Maryville, TN, called 911 sometime back to report someone was chasing him down the highway. As it turned out, it was the sheriff that was chasing him. It all started when a deputy noticed the man driving erratically and signaled for him to stop. The man pulled over at first, then spun his pickup truck around and fled down the highway. Soon three patrol cars were in pursuit. At that point the man dialed 911 and reported he was being chased. The dispatcher advised him to stop, but the man would not ...

Sermon
King Duncan
There aren’t very many heroes nowadays, are there? Even in sports. Steroids. Drugs. Violence. Many of today’s best-known athletes reflect some of the worst values in our culture. There was a time, however, when sports stars were a steady source of positive inspiration. Take Lou Gehrig, for example. Even today, the name stirs positive emotions among baseball fans in spite of the fact that it has been 68 years since Gehrig last played the game, long before many of us were born. For those who don’t know his ...

Sermon
Cathy A. Ammlung
Before there was Harry Potter, there was Bilbo Baggins, the hobbit. In J. R. R. Tolkien's wise fantasy, this short, hairy-footed resident of the Shire in Middle-Earth was a well-to-do bachelor and country squire. Comfortable and conventional, but just a touch bored with life, he nevertheless was shocked when the mysterious wizard, Gandalf, knocked on his door one spring morning and requested his services as (of all things) a thief. The clever, nimble-fingered hobbit was just the person to help a struggling ...

Matthew 6:25-34
Sermon
Cathy A. Ammlung & staff
On Thanksgiving, isn't it odd to hear a Gospel that talks about anxiety and worry and not about, well, thanks? At this time of year, we offer thanks for food, shelter, health, favorable weather, peace, and a whole raft of other blessings. Isn't it a bit jarring to hear Jesus tell us, "Do not worry, saying, 'What will we eat?' or 'What will we drink?' or 'What will we wear?' For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things"? Why is this text rubbing worry into our faces? Worry -- and trouble. "Today's ...

1 Corinthians 1:1-9
Sermon
Fredrick R. Harm
As we embark on another Advent Adventure we pause to remind ourselves that this sacred season holds a twofold emphasis. Not only do we journey towards Christ's nativity but also we project our thoughts towards his second advent when the final curtain will be lowered on the world as we now know it. This twofold emphasis is underscored in Saint Paul's greeting to his friends in today's text. In Samuel Beckett's tragicomedy, Waiting for Godot, we are introduced to Vladimir and Estragon who are waiting for the ...

1 Thessalonians 5:12-28
Sermon
Fredrick R. Harm
A lecturer was talking about what he called "the most dangerous road in the world." Most people in the audience began to think of a journey into the African jungle, or facing shipwreck going through the Straits of Magellan. The lecturer explained: "More and more books are being sold about escaping prison with a toothpick or journeying up the Amazon on stilts. But the most dangerous journey is the journey of our everyday living. It is dangerous because it ends, for all of us, in death!" Not a very pleasant ...

2 Corinthians 2:12--3:6
Sermon
Fredrick R. Harm
If you were to visit the Library of Congress and look up Jesus of Nazareth in the card catalog of authors, you will not find a single entry. Thousands of books have been written about Jesus, but he himself wrote no books, not even a pamphlet or tract. He was able to write, we know. When a woman accused of adultery was brought to him, Jesus "bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger" (John 8:5). Giovanni Papini suggested that he chose the sand on which to write "expressly that the wind ...

Sermon
Paul E. Robinson
One of the typical difficulties of days like today is connecting the ritual and annual stories of Palm Sunday with the stuff you came in here today worrying about! Okay, so Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey 2,000 years ago. Hey, that's cool. But, you say, I'm worried about paying for repairs to my Chevy so I can ride into Buffalo to go to work! Okay, so the people were all excited about Jesus and waved palm branches at him. That's a neat image, you say, but I'm more concerned about whether the ...

Sermon
Glenn McDonald
Over the centuries rank and file church members have grown up in the presence of stained glass saints. Sanctuary windows throughout Europe and America have featured thousands of them -- monumental, brightly colored portraits of men and women whose lives were right with God. Their faces are placid and trusting. Their heads are often enveloped by golden auras or haloes. All of them were heroes of the faith, either from the Bible or from Christian history. They are spectacular representations of spiritual ...

Ephesians 3:14-21
Sermon
Harold Warlick
According to those whose job it is to know such things, it only takes three weeks to become blind to the presence of stationary objects in our everyday worlds. Hang a new picture on the wall, and one is likely to notice it for about 21 days. After that it has become part of the scenery. It simply doesn't leap into the foreground any more. That's why it can be so hard to accomplish the simplest chores of housework before the arrival of guests. We've stopped noticing the screwdriver that's been sitting on ...

Ephesians 4:17--5:21
Sermon
Harold Warlick
A university president, as was his custom, attended the mid-week worship service in his institution's chapel. As he sat in the pew, he could not help but notice a reaction from two coeds seated directly in front of him. Midway through the chaplain's sermon, one of the young women wrote a message on the cover of her bulletin. She quickly passed it over to her fellow student. When she read the message, the reader turned to the sender and nodded vigorously. At the conclusion of the service the two students ...

Sermon
Brett Blair
Jesus taught his disciples, saying: And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that others may see them. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. (Matthew 6:5-6). Prayer just the word elicits a wide variety of responses and feelings. Everything from the most ...

Sermon
Richard Gribble
The idea of going home is experienced by various people in different ways, depending on circumstances, time, past history, and many other important factors. When we are young, the experience of returning home is generally very pleasant, not troublesome, and most often an opportunity which we all welcome. If we were away from our home visiting grandparents or a friend, or even the day-to-day return home from school, it was nice to know that we had returned. Home was a place of safety; it was the location of ...

Isaiah 52:13--53:12
Sermon
Richard Gribble
Long ago on a high mountaintop three trees were speaking about their future dreams. The first tree said, "I would really like to be made into a cradle so that a newborn baby might rest comfortably and I could support that new life." The second tree looked down at a small stream that was flowing into a big river and said, "I want to be made into a great ship so I can carry useful cargo to all corners of the world." The third tree viewed the valley from its mountaintop and said, "I don't want to be made into ...

Sermon
Richard Gribble
Pastor David Johnson was all prepared, he thought, for his Easter sermon. Having only graduated from the seminary three months prior to taking his present position at the MapleStreetCommunityChurch, he possessed all the latest and most interesting theology. He made the final touches to his sermon on Holy Saturday morning and outlined its content to his wife. He told her that his sermon was based on theology of Paul Tillich, who spoke of the resurrection as a symbol that the estrangement from our authentic ...

Sermon
Richard Gribble
"Outlined against a blue-gray October sky, the Four Horsemen rode again. In dramatic lore they are known as Famine, Pestilence, Destruction, and Death. These are only aliases. Their real names are Stuldreher, Miller, Crowley, and Layden. They formed the crest of the South Bend cyclone before which another fighting Army football team was swept over the precipice at the Polo Grounds yesterday afternoon as 55,000 spectators peered down on the bewildering panorama spread on the green plain below." Grantland ...

Acts 2:1-13
Sermon
King Duncan
It happened back in 1983. Only eight minutes and thirty-four seconds remained in a game between the University of Nevada-Reno Wolf Pack and the Fresno State Bulldogs. Suddenly Wolf Pack running back, Otto Kelly, broke loose on an eighty-nine yard scamper and a touchdown, giving his team a 22-21 lead. During Kelly's run his coach, Chris Ault of the Wolf Pack, got so caught up in the excitement that he began racing down the sideline alongside Kelly. When Ault reached the FresnoState twenty-yard line, he ...

Sermon
Maxie Dunnam
As most of you know, I don't always preach a thematic sermon for special secular holidays such as the Fourth of July Sunday, Memorial Day, Mother's or Father's Day. It's also rare that I preach a sermon on a single theme, such as racism, war, abortion, pornography, poverty. But, hopefully, my sermons address all these pressing issues in the context of Scripture, as that scripture presents itself in the order of my preaching. For you who wonder about that approach to preaching and the fact that we don't ...

Sermon
King Duncan
A pastor was shaking hands with people as they left the church. A couple greeted him and said, "We listened carefully to every word you said." The pastor thanked the couple and said that he looked forward to seeing them next week. "Oh, we won't be here next week," the couple responded. "We're going to another church next week to get a second opinion." (1) It's not easy being a pastor. It's not easy being the church. The first Christian church had challenges right from its birth. In today's lesson Jesus had ...

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