Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 2326 to 2350 of 4972 results

2326. Connected

John 15:1-8

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... live life all by yourself for the rest of your life. For our graduating Seniors I'd give this piece of advice. You're fixing to leave home and go off to school. You'll be on your own. You'll get to make all the decisions. The temptation will be to forget ... Jesus, just abide in Him. "Lean on him and let Him lean on you." And then know this. There will probably be times when you do leave home, when you do forget, when your life gets off center. It happens to all of us. Remember what Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz ...

2327. The Dawn of Forever

John 20:1-18

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... in harmony and shouted "TA-DA!". All of life was waiting in expectation for the Son to rise at sunrise. Some have even said that the early morning breeze that we barely feel but causes the leaves and flowers to tremble isn't really caused by the wind. It's just opposite; the gentle breeze is really caused by the leaves and flowers of the whole world trembling in anticipation of the resurrection. The tomb was the first to know, the dirt and stones in the tomb began to pass the word. It traveled through the ...

2328. Acquired Taste

2 Timothy 1:1-2:13

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... Jane Haining is thought to be the only Scot to be slain in the Nazi death camps. She is remembered in the stained-glass windows of Queen's Park Church in Glasgow and at the Church in Dunscore. A British woman who sacrificed her life by refusing to leave Jewish orphans in her care is being hailed as one of the forgotten heroes of the Holocaust. Could you acquire a taste for loving and serving those who are as unlike you as they could be? Could you acquire a taste for preferring failure over flattery of truth ...

2329. Time to Unpack

Matthew 11:1-19

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... fact, the Christian faith is based on God’s initiative, not our industry. When I look at how some people are working so hard at being good and getting it right, I want to say to them: “Hey, leave something for the Savior. You don’t have to do it all. Let go and let God. Leave something for the Savior.” When intolerance for vulnerability reigns supreme, the likely result is extremism. Brown has a neat, devastating bit of math that explains so much of the fear focusing the trajectory of the world we ...

2330. God Does Not Desert Us

Matthew 28:20; Deuteronomy 31:8

Illustration

... bad that bullets zipped through her tent as she assisted the surgeon in surgery. When the situation continued to deteriorate arrangements were made to get all of the nurses out. But Mary Wilson would have none of it. She refused to leave at the gravest hour. As she related her story years later, she said: "How could I possibly leave them. I was a part of them." Our God is a good God. He does not desert us in our hour of need. He hears the cries of Israel. He hears the cries of the church. He hears the cries ...

2331. Dream Power

Matthew 2:13-18

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... . How many of us here this morning would believe in the dreams Joseph had? Believe that your pregnant fiancée’s child was conceived by the Holy Spirit. Believe that despite all social and moral requirements you should marry a pregnant woman. Believe that you should leave the land of your family and relatives, the ties of your community and kinship, just when you had a new baby and a questionable future? Believe that you should pack up a newborn and your wife and take a long journey into a foreign land ...

2332. Captured by the Spirit of Christ

Jn 1:29-42

Illustration

King Duncan

... try to visit those in prison. I want you to say that I tried to love and serve humanity." Dr. King concluded with these words: "I won't have any money left behind. I won't have the fine and luxurious things of life to leave behind. But I just want to leave a committed life behind." Did Martin King have that level of commitment when he first began his ministry? It's doubtful. He had youthful enthusiasm to be sure. He had strong convictions. He was well brought up, with an outstanding Baptist preacher as a ...

2333. Miss Donna

John 1:29-42

Illustration

James W. Moore

... by Miss Donna, his friend and mentor. Some of us saw John eyeing the goodies on the reception table – punch and chocolate chip cookies in abundance… and some of us said to him, "John, would you like to walk over here and have some refreshments?" But no, he would not leave Donna's side. "I want to stay here with Miss Donna.," he would say. The love between the two of them was so radiant and powerful in that room. Also in the room that day was a man from Chicago. He had flown all the way from Chicago to ...

2334. Turning Toward the Light

Matthew 4:12-17

Illustration

Brett Blair

... a sunny windowsill and the other in a cardboard box. After a couple of weeks, Bobby checked on the two plants. The one on the windowsill had grown a couple of inches and had vibrant green leaves. The one in the box had actually grown a bit, but it had lost all of its green color, becoming almost white and its leaves drooping. Thinking that the plant might die, Bobby cut a hole in one side of the box, and set the box, with the plant inside, by the windowsill … with the hole facing toward the incoming light ...

2335. The Garden of Temptation

Genesis 3:1-24

Sermon

King Duncan

... water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him.” In Christ, the curse of death has been removed. Christ has made it possible ...

2336. The Evangelist Has a Shady Past

John 4:1-26

Sermon

King Duncan

... Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.” Then Jesus declared, “I who speak to you am he.” Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find Jesus talking with a woman. But no one asked why he was doing this. Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ?” The people of the town made their way toward Jesus. And many of these Samaritans believed ...

2337. Act Quickly - Catch It Early

Matthew 5:21-26

Sermon

King Duncan

... problem.” And he did. Here is how he went about it. When his men located a herd of these gazelles, he would pour sweet feed a blend of oats and barley rolled in molasses on the ground in an open area in the middle of the night and then leave. The next night, he would scatter the feed again. For two weeks, he spread the feed, night after night. The animals, of course, came in and ate this delicious concoction. On the first night of the third week, he scattered the feed and sank an eight-foot post into the ...

2338. John 4:5-42

John 4:1-26

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... secrets. The first section of this Samaritan scene ends with the return of the disciples. They appear suitably astonished and subtly appalled to find Jesus talking with a Samaritan and a woman. The woman herself leaves immediately. The telling detail of her abandoned water jar suggests she might return. Although she leaves Jesus at the well, the woman takes the possibility of a new reality with her. Considering all Jesus has said to her, she wonders if he truly may be the Messiah. Her definition of messiah ...

2339. It's Not Fair!

1 Peter 2:13-25

Sermon

King Duncan

... t depend on how healthy they were and how well their lives were going.” Yancey says he and Douglas sat there together going through so many of these stories from the Bible. Suddenly Douglas glanced down at his watch and said, “I’ve got to go. I’ll leave you with one last thought and that’s this. If you are ever tempted to confuse God with life, go back and read the story of Jesus, the story of God on Earth. Ask yourself how Jesus would have answered the question, is life unfair.” Just before he ...

2340. The Scope of Love

John 14:15-31

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... to life, eyes blinking, looks around, and asks: “What is the purpose of all this?” God asks a question in return: “Everything must have a purpose?” Adam replies emphatically, “Certainly.” God says: “Then I leave it to you to think of one for all this.” And God went away” (214-15). Well, God didn’t go away. And God didn’t leave it to us to come up with a purpose for all this. God has a vision for us that has been telescoped through time. God has a mission for us that has been unveiled ...

2341. When Doubt Sets In

John 14:15-31

Illustration

Barbara Lundblad

... together like branches on the vine-or like climbers tied to the rope-tied together by the Spirit, to trust in one who is always more than we can understand, to keep us moving ahead on the journey of faith, to encourage us when believing seems absurd. "I will not leave you orphaned," said Jesus. "I am coming to you."

2342. The Best Relationships

John 14:15-21

Illustration

Billy D. Strayhorn

... and friendship. And of course, over the months, they each learned a few phrases from each other. When it came time for the young man to return to college, the tribe held a going away celebration for him. The next day, as he prepared to get in his pickup and leave, the grandmother came to tell him good-bye. With tears in her eyes, she said, "I like me best when I'm with you." We can say the same thing about our relationship with Jesus, "I like me best when I'm with Jesus." Jesus said He "would not ...

2343. The Receptive Heart

Matthew 13:1-23

Sermon

King Duncan

... Follow your dream! . . . Unless it’s the one where you’re at work in your underwear during a fire drill. Do not walk behind me, for I may not lead. Do not walk ahead of me, for I may not follow . . . Do not walk beside me, either, just leave me alone. If you don’t like my driving . . . don’t call anyone . . . Just take another road. That’s why the highway department made so many of them. It’s always darkest before the dawn . . . So if you’re going to steal the neighbor’s newspaper, that’s ...

2344. Matthew 14:22-36

Matthew 14:22-36

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... of magnet for stormy seas (Matthew 8:24), and this time Jesus is not in the boat with them. A continuous, contrary wind has driven their boat off course and far out to sea. It is a long night for the disciples, since Jesus does not leave his mountain-top prayer vigil until “the fourth watch of the night,” that is, somewhere between 3-6 a.m. There is little doubt that Matthew intends to describe Jesus’ approach to his disciples as more than spectral–-in fact, supernatural. Controlling the chaos of ...

2345. Save Me, Lord

Matthew 14:22-36

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... and will always respond the call to “Save me, Lord.” Frederick Buechner is one of my favorite writers. In one of his autobiographical works, he provides this summary of his life’s mission: There is no event so common-place but that God is present within it, always leaving you room to recognize him or not to recognize him. . . If I were called upon to state in a few words the essence of everything I was trying to say both as a novelist and as a preacher, it would be something like this: Listen to your ...

2346. The Mouse Christmas

Drama

Frank Ramirez

... garlands are soggy. Things won’t be too jolly. The pieces were ruined. All I’ve got is the manger, And part of the stable. Will Christmas be stranger Because I don’t have a nativity set? Oh woe, how much sadder can all of this get? (Grandmother exits, leaving the manger, stable, and scraps of cloth behind. Outdoor Mice and Indoor Mice enter.) Outdoor Mice We are the mice who live out in the barn But come to the house for some string and some yarn The winter is here, so we stretch and we yawn But now ...

2347. A Wonderful Mother (In-Law)

Ruth 1:1-18

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... is all about. What Ruth said has expressed a bond of union so close that it is even repeated in wedding ceremonies to reflect undying devotion. In the beautiful expressions of the King James Bible in which so many of us were nurtured, "Entreat me not to leave thee or to return from following after thee; for whither thou goest I will go, and where thou lodgest I will lodge; thy people shall be my people, and thy God, my God" (v. 16). What a magnificent pledge! What would prompt such a thing? Only that ...

2348. What the Future Holds

Mark 13:1-8

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... of Jewish worship. Along came the Romans and, at the pleasure of Caesar, Herod the Great as king in Israel. Herod knew that the temple was not all the Jews wished it were, so, in an effort to curry favor and, at the same time, leave a monument to his rule, he embarked on a temple renovation and expansion project that would make it bigger and better than it had ever been. His most notable contribution was the magnificent stonework of the temple platform that was greatly enlarged — beautiful. But Jesus ...

2349. When Did This Start? — Part 2

John 1:6-8, 19-28

Sermon

Robert J. Elder

... names, taking people, buying and selling human beings, separating wife from husband, child from mother, as though they were cattle, leaving their hearts and their lives in pain, and there wasn't a thing they could do about it except sing ... to notice the return of lengthening days, weeks of dark afternoons and mornings to remind us of a world in the absence of light. Many leave for more southerly climates in this season; they find the short days and long dark nights too taxing on their spirits. But we do have ...

2350. The Thoughts of Our Hearts

Luke 2:22-40

Sermon

Robert J. Elder

... of thanksgiving over the special baby that God had singled out that day. There is no record of how the rest of the day went for the young parents, but we can be sure that when they got back on the road to Nazareth, they were glad to be leaving Jerusalem, with all of its spiritual fervency, behind them. Certainly they hoped they wouldn't have to make the trip there again soon. They would be happy to enter their little village once again out of range of the stench of death that hung over the temple. It is ...

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