Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 2351 to 2375 of 4681 results

2351. Liberty And Civility

Galatians 5:1-15

Sermon

Brett Blair

... the battlefields of Gettysburg. Martin Luther King encountered it in the streets of Memphis. And John F. Kennedy in his Inaugural Address warned the enemies of liberty: "Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we will pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of Liberty." On no greater stage is this now being played out than on the streets of Baghdad and the mountains of Afghanistan. The people ...

2352. All I Want for Christmas is Hope

Luke 1:26-38

Sermon

James W. Moore

... in a tiny nation which itself was under subjection to a despised foreign power. Then one day out of the blue, an angel came to her with a message from the Lord: “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold you will conceive and bear a son and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great. He will be the Messiah, the Son of God, the Savior of the world....” And all this was going to happen without her ever having been with any man. Now, be honest. Would you have believed that ...

2353. Excuses

Luke 14:15-24, Genesis 3:1-24

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... did. Big Time INSULT...to GOD! That sounds like risky business. Years ago I ran into something penned by a frustrated pastor who wanted to do SOMETHING to overcome all the excuses. You may well have seen it because it has been published far and wide. Still, it bears repeating. He wrote: To make it possible for everyone to attend church next Sunday, we are going to have a special "No Excuse Sunday" • Cots will be placed in the foyer for those who say, "Sunday is my only day to sleep in." • Murine will be ...

2354. When The Risen Christ Comes Looking For Us

John 21:15-25

Sermon

James W. Moore

... a good friend who is one of the most outgoing gregarious persons I have ever known. He is so full of life that he just lights up the room. Physically, he is a great big guy – a former football player, strong powerful – and yet he has a “teddy-bear” personality. He is a hugger. He just hugs everybody; he is wired up that way. He expresses his love with hugs. Some years ago, I heard him speak to a group of young people, and he said something that inspired them and touched me. He said, “When I first ...

2355. The Grief Grinch

John 11:17-37

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... father could not stand the loneliness or the loss, so he took his own life. He never knew that there was someone who understood loss, standing in front of a rock-hewn tomb back in Bethany so many years before. I must tell Jesus all of my trials; I cannot bear these burdens alone; In my distress He kindly will help me; He ever loves and cares for His own. The Grief Grinch...something we have all had to face and will all continue to face as long as God gives us breath. At holiday times and days of special ...

2356. The Ten Commandments: One God, Only One

Exodus 20:1-21

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... of what it will be like to live as God's own people."(4) No other gods; no images; do not use the Lord's name foolishly; keep the sabbath; honor your father and mother; do not kill; do not steal; do not commit adultery; do not bear false witness; and do not covet. Ten commandments to define both vertical and horizontal relationships: that between God and God's people, and that between one person and another. Jesus summarized them all when he gave what has come to be known as "the Great Commandment" - You ...

2357. The Ten Commandments #4: The Sabbath

Exodus 20:1-21

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... . And it resulted in a set of restrictions being set around Sundays that were almost as bad as the over-1500 which the Jews had placed around the Sabbath. You have heard about some of those Jewish regulations, no doubt. For example, under the general law "You shall bear no burden on the Sabbath," the scribes solemnly set down, as a by-law, that while a woman could have a ribbon sewn onto her dress, it must not be merely pinned on. If it were only pinned, it was not secure enough to be considered a part ...

2358. The Ten Commandments #7: No Adultery

Exodus 20:1-21

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... of marrying her (remember the story of Jacob and Rachel and the fourteen years he had to work for her father Laban to get her?(2)). A husband had the right to expect that his wife belonged to him and him alone and that any children she might bear would be his. Adultery was not simply sexual sin. If you recall our study two weeks ago on Commandment #5, "Honor your father and mother..." we noted that the family was the basic building block of this new Israelite society. An insistence upon the care of elderly ...

2359. Super Sunday

Deuteronomy 5:1-33

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... Bowl Sunday. The ushers were dressed in referee-stripe shirts, the pews were marked off as yard lines, and at the beginning of the service the choir director and pastor came down to the front of the chancel fully robed, then pealed off to reveal Chicago Bear and Green Bay Packer sweat shirts. The lay leader flipped a coin to see who would direct the choir and who would preach. The choir director got to direct--of course. The choir had a couple of cheers ready. At the hymn times, the ushers were equipped ...

2360. Blessed Be The Title That Binds

Deuteronomy 14:22-29

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... . Caesar's. And where do we find the image of God? According to scripture, that is you. And you and you and you and me. "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them."(3) If what bears the image denotes ownership, then what belongs to God is all of us, 100% of each one. And down deep we know that is true - all that we have and all that we are belongs ultimately to God, and the owner has the right of recall at any time and ...

2361. A Wonderful Mother (In-Law)

Ruth 1:1-22

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... -in-law." Ah, yes. Acceptance. Fortunately, that was not Naomi. There is more to her story, of course. More tragedy. Both Mahlon and Chilion died. Now Naomi had lost not only her husband but both her sons as well. One wonders how she was able to bear it...but she did. When such things happen to people, they begin to think of better times, if only to keep from thinking about how rotten the current times are. For Naomi, those thoughts turned to home...Israel...Bethlehem...memories of the joys of young love ...

2362. Therapy in Melody or Healing in 4/4 Time

1 Samuel 16:14-23

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... to that. Our friend Will Willimon, the Dean of the Chapel at Duke, tells of a visit he made one afternoon to the office of a lawyer in his congregation. It was just a drop-in. Will says he did not know the man that well - his wife seemed to bear the church interest for the family. Listen to the story in Will's own words: "It was at the end of the day. I entered the outer office of his law firm. Everyone had left. All was dark, except for a light coming from the inner office. He called to ...

2363. When God Is Gone

Job 23:1--24:25

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... it, "They sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great."(6) They just SAT with him. But sitting in silence soon proved to be more than even the ancients could bear and the legendary "patience of Job" which has become a cliché in our culture we find is a bit overstated. Job is VERY unhappy, and he says he regrets that he was ever born. Have you ever felt that way? Probably. If you did, I hope you had friends who ...

2364. Do I Matter?

Psalm 8:1-9

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... you care for them? Yet you have made them a little lower than God, and crowned them with glory and honor." We matter. And when I think that God, His Son not sparing, Sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in. That on the cross, my burden gladly bearing, He bled and died to take away my sin. It was Sam Shoemaker, one of the great preachers in the first half of this century who confessed that during his seminary days, as he studied and reflected on God and creation, that he found it difficult to imagine how ...

2365. God the Boggler

Psalm 8:1-9

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... sky some night. And the God who made all that cares more for us than about all THAT! There is BOGGLE for you! And when I think that God, His Son not sparing, Sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in. That on the cross, my burden gladly bearing, He bled and died to take away my sin. Here is where the boggling really gets into high gear. My mind can hardly go on when I try to think how people could make themselves take a mallet and drive nails through the gristle and bone of men's hands ...

2366. There's No Such Thing as Too Much Sugar

Psalm 91:1-16

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... policemen.(3) Michael is a mighty warrior fighting for truth, justice, and, if not the American way, then certainly God's way. Of course, this is not the only picture we have of Michael. Several years ago Hollywood offered us an alternative, a movie that bears our hero's name.(4) Good business, no doubt. Recent polls say that 68 percent of Americans believe in the existence of angels. Thus, the calendars, mugs, shirts, dolls, books, TV shows. The line from Psalm 91:11, "For he will command his angels ...

2367. Angels

Psalm 91:1-16

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... . One of the biggest questions people have regards Guardian Angels? Do we have them? As I mentioned, lots of folks believe we do. The passage in Psalm 91 suggests YES: "he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone" (11,12). There is Jesus' comment in Matthew 18:10: "Take care that you do not despise one of these little ones; for, I tell you, in heaven their angels continually see the face of ...

2368. Religion and Politics

Isaiah 1:1-31

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... no pleasure in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats." Then God turns thumbs down on fancy religious processions - "this trampling of my courts." Forget the extra commitment offerings and the fragrant incense, the special services of worship and celebration. "I cannot bear your evil assemblies," God says. Perhaps the most radical announcement of all comes when God even rejects prayer: "When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide my eyes from you; even if you offer many prayers, I will not listen ...

2369. Trouble in the Manse

Hosea 1:1-2:1

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... back in line or the BAD times are just around the corner." Now, there is no question that Israel had given Hosea a lot about which to preach. His various sermons that we have recorded in scripture in the book that bears his name deal with swearing and falsehood, murder and bloodshed, robbery, wicked priests, widely prevailing adultery, perversion, false dealing, oppression, idolatry, drunkenness and utter heedlessness of God. No trouble finding pulpit topics from week to week. Hosea's problem was different ...

2370. There Are Other Worlds To Sing In

John 3:1-21

Sermon

James W. Moore

... sky come down to mingle with each other. Then someone at my side says, ‘There she goes!’ Gone where? Gone from my sight… that is all. She is just as large in mast and hull and span, as she was when she left my side and just as able to bear her load of living freight to the place of their destination. Her diminished size is in me, not in her. And just at the moment when someone at my side says, ‘There she goes’ there are other eyes watching her coming… and other voices ready to take up the glad ...

2371. The Preacher Was A Bigot

Jonah 3:1-10

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... across as a sympathetic character...a little misguided to start out, but one who eventually sees the light. A nice story. Not altogether true...but nice. Unfortunately, to stop the story with the landing on the beach is a problem. The book of the Bible that bears Jonah's name contains only four chapters, but the part of it that refers to his adventures at sea is found only in the first two. Chapters three and four fill out the picture of this ancient preacher and show a man completely different from the ...

2372. Giving Dangerously

Malachi 3:6-18

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... , outreach, missions, the relief efforts can only go forward if there are enough funds to accomplish the tasks. Sadly, much of the work does not get done simply because God's people have not given enough money to do it. The numbers bear it out. According to a study released last month by an organization that tracks congregational giving, in the year 2000 (the most recent for which statistics were available), giving to benevolences as a portion of income in mainline denominations remains at an historic ...

2373. An Excuse to Be Better

Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... will Lent 2006 mean for you? The decision is yours. If I may be so bold, I will offer a few suggestions. In the tradition of "giving up" something for Lent, how about some of these (you have heard these before, but they bear repeating):(3) • GIVE UP grumbling! Instead, "In everything give thanks." Constructive criticism is OK, but "moaning, groaning, and complaining" are not Christian disciplines. • GIVE UP 10 to 15 minutes in bed! Instead, use that time in prayer. • GIVE UP looking at ether people ...

2374. The Lord's Prayer: The Kingdom, The Power, and The Glory

Matthew 6:5-15

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... that God is the unquestioned ruler of all things. He wrote, Not only does [God] sustain this universe (as He once founded it) by His boundless might, regulate it by His wisdom, preserve it by His goodness, and especially rule mankind by His righteousness and judgment, bear with it in His mercy, watch over it by His protection; but also...no drop will be found either of wisdom and light, or of righteousness or power or rectitude or of genuine truth, which does not flow from Him and of which He is not ...

2375. Good News for Tenant Farmers

Matthew 13:1-23

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... so many irons in the fire, so many interests in life, that often the most important things, get crowded out. Is that you? Finally, the good ground, the fertile mind - like good soil, it is open, deep, uncluttered. A word from the Lord will take root there and bear an abundant harvest. Is that you? Well, to be painfully honest, answering for myself, I am ALL of them. There are times when someone speaks to me that they may as well be talking to a wall. For whatever reason, I do not hear what they are saying ...

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