Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 2426 to 2450 of 4977 results

2426. The Servant’s Credentials

Matthew 23:1-39

Sermon

... whom the managing group must, after extensive testing, torturous discussion and agonizing interviews, finally say, "No." Some are drawn to church occupations out of fairly severe emotional and psychological needs. Others lack the gifts their intended occupations require. And a few quite simply misperceive what professional service in the church is all about and refuse or are unable to alter their perceptions. I think of one man in his forties who had problems in all three categories. When interviewed by the ...

2427. If the Son Makes You Free

John 8:31-41

Sermon

... . "Greater danger than before: greater gifts bring greater risks. The world hasn’t changed since we’ve become butterflies. We’ve changed. Or, more precisely, we’ve been changed." "Been changed, yes," said the second. "I didn’t choose this silly looking angel outfit. I was quite content to live out my days as a caterpillar, feeding on cabbage leaves, staying out of trouble and out of the way, taking care of myself. I don’t know why I ever let you talk me into going into that cocoon in the first ...

2428. The Divine-Human Nexus

Matthew 25:31-46

Sermon

... Teresa of Calcutta observing a novice using a tweezer to pluck maggots from the leg of a dying leper. The young woman stood at arm’s length to perform the odious task. Gently but firmly, Mother Teresa corrected her charge. Taking the tweezers and putting her face quite near the wound, she said, "You don’t understand, my dear. This is the leg of Christ our Lord. For what you do to this man, you do to him." Or gain, Leo Tolstoy’s story "Martin the Cobbler" tells of a lonely shoemaker who is promised ...

2429. Possession is Nine Tenths of the Fall

Matthew 21:33-46

Sermon

D. Wayne Burkette

... If a man loves a place enough he doesn’t need to possess it; it’s enough for him to know that it is safe and unaltered...." (The Tenth Man, New York, Pocket Books, 1986, p. 89.) The trouble is that we never seem to be able to love quite enough, at least not enough to be delivered from the unhappy desire to own our lives and almost everything that touches them. It seems so often that nothing pleases some people more than the feeling that life is like putty in their hands, ready for whatever molding and ...

2430. God’s Safety Net

Matthew 25:31-46

Sermon

D. Wayne Burkette

... it is to feed and clothe and shelter, is frequently as much a part of the problem as of the solution But the answer is not despair! None of the sheep in the parable of the last judgment was excused because she or he gave up hope and quit. Notwithstanding the complexity and magnitude of the problem, there are steps the church can take. The weaving of a safety net is our task even it if must begin with small stitches. Some joker once suggested that the likelihood was that, in the Parable of the Good Samaritan ...

2431. When the Poor Become Rich

Matthew 5:1-12

Sermon

... good reasons, but happiness is like one of those islands far out in the Pacific which has been reported by sailors when it emerges from the haze where no cartographer has ever marked it. The island disappears again for a generation, but no navigator can be quite certain that it only existed in the imagination of some long-dead lookout.[1] As understood in the Bible, happiness is the condition of being spiritually blessed. It is an inner assurance of God’s love and grace; it’s a confidence in God’s ...

2432. The Beginning of a New Life

Ruth 2:1-23

Sermon

... save him." Don Paolo protested, "My poor woman, I’m sorry, but there’s nothing I can do." She began to weep and to beg him to help her, but he adamantly refused and attempted to get her to leave; she would not. Silone comments, "But Don Paolo knew quite well that if he were to pretend to recite some prayers or carry out an exorcism in just one case, the whole inn would be full of people waiting for their turn. He would not be able to refuse anyone. They would all say, ‘You helped Teresa Scaraffa. Now ...

2433. The Surprising Twist to the Story

Ruth 4:1-12

Sermon

... poems, Notes of An Alchemist, to his own loving and faithful wife, Mabel: Dedicated to Mabel Langdon my wife of many years in appreciation of a devotion which cannot be spoken about save to say it exists having come unbidden into an unexpected world to a quite uncommon man. All Boaz would have had to change in that statement was the word "appreciation" to "anticipation" and it might have suited his situation perfectly. There is no reason to suspect that Ruth was not as faithful to Boaz as she was to Naomi ...

2434. What the End Will Be Like

Zephaniah 1:4-13

Sermon

... the silence and intuitively to awake the pack. There was silence for the simple reason there was no pack to answer ... They could not know but a vast loneliness had begun to descend upon them - the loneliness of a dying species. The Ice Age had ended. No, not quite, for the white cub with the big feet toddled on beside his mother. When she slept, he would sleep. He would never know that he was a floating shadow from the past. Only the shadows and the moonlight knew and embraced him, knew they would do so to ...

2435. The Shepherd King

Revelation 7:9-17

Sermon

... ! I wonder, sometimes, how many people make the connection between the painting and the hymn and the promise of the Gospel, let alone with the John 10, Gospel for the Fourth Sunday of Easter, Good Shepherd Sunday, and Christ the King Sunday. I wonder, quite often, if people even see the painting after awhile, let alone as an announcement of a momentous event that has already begun and will reach fulfillment only in God’s good time. I wonder, too, whether people connect this painting to the very heart ...

2436. Our Attentive Lord

Psalm 116:1-19

Illustration

... upon him as long as I live." So wrote Israel's ancient singer in Psalm 116, verse 2. Here is the psalmist's picture of God: he is inclined, he has inclined his ear. To be inclined is to be sloped or slanted in some direction; and the psalmist is quite confident of God's inclination: "His ear is inclined toward me." Putting it another way, God is leaned forward listening. Ordinarily, we should not think of God as having human or physical form. But if, for just a moment, we may picture him in this way, we can ...

2437. A Different Kind of Meeting

Matthew 18:15-20

Illustration

Staff

... man. One Saturday the rector's phone rang and a lady asked, "Do you expect the President to be in church tomorrow?" Promptly and thoughtfully, the rector replied, "This I cannot promise; but I can promise that God will be here, and this should be incentive for quite a large attendance." The presence of God ought to be enough to bring almost anybody to church! And he is here, you know. Yes, the omnipresent God is everywhere - I know this. But when his people meet in the worship of him, somehow he is uniquely ...

2438. The Starting Line

Hebrews 12:1-13

Illustration

Welcome to the starting line! Strange words perhaps with which to welcome you to church this morning. But the words are really quite appropriate for the occasion. You've seen races run: the runners line up, and someone fires a gun or says, "On your mark, get set, go!" In Hebrews 12:1-2, we read: "Let us lay aside all the weights, and the sins which beset us, and run with perseverance ...

2439. On Holy Ground

Exodus 3:1-22

Illustration

Staff

... failure, and (although he really didn't mean to, I think) he was also running away from God. But God wouldn't let him go. High in the mountains of Midian, God set a bush on fire. Nothing really remarkable about a bush burning - lightning caused bushes to burn quite frequently. But this bush was not consumed: it burned and burned, but it didn't burn up. And that got the attention of Moses, and Moses "turned aside" to see. And, ah, that's where God got at him again. Out of the bush God spoke, and Moses went ...

2440. Thanksgiving Time

Psalm 29:1-11

Illustration

... somebody to collect what you owe him. He doesn't keep reminding us how deeply we are in debt. This is something he would like for us to find out for ourselves. It is one thing to be told that we have a lot to be thankful for; it is quite another to make the discovery on our own. We can be told and not be convinced, but what we discover we can be sure of. And each of us needs to make the discovery that he or she is a deeply indebted person. A Christian person is one who has ...

2441. Fifth Point of the Compass

Illustration

Staff

... can think of them in relation to where I am. It's hard to know which way I should go unless I have some notion of where I'm starting from. I must know my position, locate myself, see myself in context, in relationship. And all of this is quite true also in our personal lives as we make our pilgrimage across the years. We need some perception of where we are - in relationship with God, in relationship with others, in relationship with life. We need to identify our position if we are to know how to reach our ...

2442. Up And Down The Mountain

Luke 9:28-36

Sermon

Donald Dotterer

... greater than this achievement, the fulfillment of a mountain climber's greatest dream? The explanation, I think, can be found on the final page of this inspiring book, as Hillary writes these words: Each of us has to discover his own path - of that I am quite sure. Some paths will be spectacular and others peaceful and quiet - who is to say which is the most important? For me the most rewarding moments have not always been the great moments - for what can surpass a tear on your departure, joy on your return ...

2443. Healing And Forgiveness

Luke 5:17-26

Sermon

... who for some reason had kindled the anger of one of his female parishioners. She wrote poison pen letters and was tireless in her efforts to build up dissension against the pastor. After this unpleasant relationship had diminished over time, the woman quite unexpectedly moved to Arizona. Many months later the minister received a letter from her saying simply that she had a change of heart and that she was enormously sorry for what she had done. Reverend Campbell telegrammed a three-word message: "Forgiven ...

2444. Let Christ Speak The Word

Luke 7:1-10

Sermon

... in living. It is about seeing God through the eyes of faith by having a genuine concern for one's fellow humans. In our Scripture lesson for the morning, we have another account of a healing by Jesus; however, the circumstances of this miracle are quite different from the others that we have been considering. This story concerns a Roman centurion who was presumably an officer in the Army of Herod Antipas. We need to understand that a centurion was a highly respected and powerful member of the armed forces ...

2445. What To Do When Everyone's Doing It

Judges 6:1-40

Sermon

Harold Warlick

... is to not play the game. The only way for a father to win at the game of concurrently seeking undue wealth, vengeance on his enemies, personal gratification and accomplished parenthood is not to play that game. From personal experience I can tell you that the only surefire way to quit smoking is not to smoke in the first place. All of us have to learn what not to do in life. What do you do when everyone's doing it?

2446. Real Strength

1 Corinthians 1:18--2:5

Sermon

Harold Warlick

... , Willie Mays, Dave Winfield, Hank Aaron - all of them. He ought to know real strength if anyone does. Peter Ueberroth stood in Kenan Stadium in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and gave his answer to thousands of people. The finest and strongest athlete he ever saw was quite clear. He encountered this athlete a month before the Olympic Games. The Olympic torch was being run across America by relay. Every runner, in order to run, had to donate $3,000 to a charity in his or her hometown. That's how you got to ...

2447. Compassion

Luke 10:25-37

Sermon

Harold Warlick

... his enemies for a little pouch of money. My guess is that the man who walked to Calvary was prematurely gray. He must have seemed more like 63 than 33 years old in appearance. His face must have contained more wrinkles than mine and his joints must have been quite loose. He probably was dead broke and mentally worn by all the sacrifices he had made. But he was the most real person who ever lived. He had more compassion than all of us put together. He was the most beautiful person who ever lived. He was ugly ...

2448. The World's Best Kept Secret

Matthew 6:25-34

Sermon

Harold Warlick

... comes as a revelation. The idea that in terms of relationship with God, genuine friendships and personal fulfillment, you get paid back more in life when you dutifully and faithfully try to live a quiet, loyal life in Christ than when you do not, is still quite a shock to people. Jesus told a story one day about a certain poor widow who rather naturally and unassumingly approached the treasury of the synagogue. She quietly cast in all that she had. Although the amount was far less than others had given out ...

2449. This One's Better

Mark 1:7-8

Children's Sermon

... to the world, and tell the world how special Jesus was. The next time you look at a pencil, or write with one, you can think to yourself that the pencil reminds you of John. He could do a lot of the things that Jesus did, but they were not quite as powerful as the things that Jesus did. When you look at a pen, I hope you will think of Jesus and know that a pen is very special to write with, and will last a long time. When Jesus did something, it lasted forever. Amen.

2450. Give it Away

Mark 8:35

Children's Sermon

... Some people are afraid to be a Christian because they think that Jesus will use them for some great job. They are always hiding from God, and trying to save their life to do something for themselves. They stay about the same, they never are used, and they are quite unhappy. But there are other people who are more like Sudsy. They get up every day looking for another way to serve God. They know that this is the reason that God made them, and they want to serve God in the best way possible. Giving their life ...

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