Sermon and Worship Resources

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Matthew 5:38-48; 7:1-6

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... of them. Which one, then, will love him more?” “I suppose the one who was forgiven more,” Simon replied. “You have judged correctly.” Jesus said.” (Luke 7:42-43) “Judge nothing before the appointed time; wait until the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of the heart. At that time each will receive their praise from God.” (1 Corinthians 4:5) The northern area of Galilee, archaeologists tell us, wasn’t dry as today. But was beautiful ...

2. Deadly Sins - A Matter Of Sutton's Law

Romans 7:14-25

Sermon

R. Curtis Fussell

... the light could live in such darkness. But this scene is no less true of people. We are glad that there has been darkness to hide our sins. Even though there will come a time, as the apostle Paul says to the Corinthian church, when "the Lord will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart" (1 Corinthians 4:5), for the moment, we are glad there's darkness. Let me ask you a question. If someone took the lid off your life and looked down into its darkest parts ...

3. Through the Eyes of an Eagle (Introduction)

John 20:24-31

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... First Jewish Revolt in A.D. 70, and yet the writer of the Fourth Gospel knows many intimate details about the way the Holy City looked prior to A.D. 70 like he knows the back of his hand...details which archaeology is only now beginning to bring to light. He knows intimately the religious practices of “the Jews.” Here we must take a minute to note that the writer did not mean to be anti-Semitic when he wrote about “the Jews” even though he seems to say that they are the “bad guys” while Jesus ...

4. The Old, Old Story

Matthew 25:14-30

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... and engaging thing about the scriptures is that they too keep saying essentially the same thing over and over again in various different ways and narratives. When Jesus teaches, he emphasizes the basics of the faith and then creates parables and interpretations that bring to light God’s truth and intention. Although as in any age, Jesus uses new “lingo” to describe God’s love and plan for humanity, he is illuminating the old and then building upon it in a way that fits his time and place. Last ...

5. Ready for Change

Mark 13:24-37

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... intervention. His comforting warning is the same: Don’t despair. Don’t give up. Don’t lose faith. Know that a time is coming when God’s plan will come to fruition and Jesus will return in the glory of God’s divine power and might to bring to light God’s final victory. What a relief that must have been to those who only saw darkness and worry ahead. What would happen when Jesus had to leave them? Even though they still resisted believing that he would have to die. This was something they just ...

6. Death: Commonality Explored

Deuteronomy 34:1-12

Sermon

... in Lima, Peru, in January of 1982. It was used in the Ecumenical Centre Chapel in Geneva, Switzerland, in July of 1982. It was also used at the Sixth Assembly of the World Council of Churches in Vancouver, Canada, in 1983. It brings to light the solid theological achievements of "Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry," a document produced by the Faith and Order Commission of the World Council of Churches. Members of the Roman Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox churches have found a deep richness in the service ...

7. Worth the Wait

Luke 2:1-14 (15-20)

Sermon

Robert J. Elder

... in keeping with scripture's theme for the day. Prayers and hymns and worship songs are all intended to build on the theme set by scripture. In preaching on the passages for Sundays, preachers go to commentaries and Bible dictionaries and try to bring to light the context for scripture, to ferret out details that might help the congregation to understand a particular passage and its emphasis. But today? How can we mistake the emphasis for today? Joy can be a challenge for churches sometimes. But do we really ...

8. The Stone is My Witness

Matthew 28:1-10, Mark 16:1-20

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... ,” he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.” Image Exegesis: The Stone is My Witness “He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of the heart. At that time each will receive their praise from God.” (I Corinthians 4:5) God is many times referred to as a “surgeon” of the heart regarding Ezekiel’s passage. However, perhaps ...

9. Praise and Blame

1 Corinthians 4:1-21

Sermon

Timothy J. Smith

... judge myself.” Paul was quite confident in carrying out Jesus’ ministry knowing that, “It is the Lord who judges me.” We too can participate in outreach ministries with that same sense of confidence knowing that Jesus will judge each of us. Jesus “will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart.” Jesus will not be fooled by self-promotions. We may be able to fool others but we cannot fool Jesus. Instead of seeking status from each other, we need ...

10. Why You Should Come Clean With God

Psalm 139:23-24

Sermon

James Merritt

... God is not. God can only fellowship with a person who has a pure heart. James 4:8 says, “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you doubleminded.” David is wanting God to bring to light what he would normally hide from everyone else—his heart. As you know the heart is the most powerful part of the human body. A little bigger than a clinched fist, the heart expands and contracts 70 times per minute in the average man; pumping an average ...

11. What's Holding You Together?

Matthew 7:21-23

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... fire . . . . . . when applied to wood, first dehumidifies it, dispelling all moisture and making it give off any water it contains; then it gradually turns the wood black, making it dark and ugly, and even causes it to emit a bad odour . . . The fire brings to light and expels all those ugly and dark accidents which are contrary to fire. Father Thomas Green in his comments about this passage points out that the experience of the log, should it have one, must be both painful and alarming as the fire dries ...

12. Grace in the Midst of Hopelessness

Romans 8:18-27

Sermon

Glenn McDonald

... God's grace, even in circumstances that seem to scream out a reality of hopelessness. Author and church leader Lee Strobel, in his book God's Outrageous Claims, recounts an incident from his days as a reporter for the Chicago Tribune, where he helped bring to light the sometimes-deadly consequences of riding in a Ford Pinto. From time to time this compact car would burst into flames when struck from behind. One of the landmark accidents took place in northern Indiana. A Chevy van ploughed into the back of a ...

13. Nebuchadnezzar and the Feet of Clay

Daniel 2:24-49

Sermon

Don Yocom

... . The king had dreamed something that troubled him because he could not figure it out. In fact, it was so elusive that he even forgot it, and yet he was uneasy because he felt that something was weighing on him. So he called his Chaldean astrologers to bring to light what he had dreamed and to interpret it for him. Now, that was a pretty big assignment! They told him so, but he wasn’t satisfied. Finally, a decree was issued that all wise men were to be slain. The prophet Daniel, a wise man of the captive ...

14. He Brings Light

Isaiah 9:1-7

Sermon

King Duncan

There is an old vaudeville joke that goes like this. What is worse than a oneweek vacation in Philadelphia? The answera twoweek vacation in Philadelphia. The reason: Philadelphia rolls up its sidewalks after dark. It's unfair, of course, to label Philadelphia in this way. In the years preceding and immediately following World War II, most American cities were like Philadelphia. Almost everything in them, from retail outlets to radio stations, was packed away for the night. The idea of stores and ...

15. Light In The Land Of Shadows

Isaiah 9:1-7

Sermon

Harold Warlick

On a trip to Munich, Germany, Samuel Miller had a chance to watch Karl Vallentin, the last of the great "metaphysical clowns." As the curtain lifted, the stage was completely dark except for one small circle of light in the middle. Vallentin appeared in his magnificent clown costume and began to intently look all around the circle of light. A policeman appeared on the scene and inquired if he had lost something. The clown replied, "Yes, the key to my house." The policeman joined him in the search for a ...

16. Light and Hope for the New Year

John 1:10-18

Sermon

Charles L. Aaron

Early January always feels like a fresh start. The Christmas whirlwind has settled down. We still have a fighting chance to keep our resolutions for the new year. Cartoons always depict the New Year as a baby, full of possibilities and innocence. We hope that with a new year we can leave the baggage behind us, stretching toward a brighter future. The gospel of John begins when everything was new, before the creation itself had any baggage. John begins when the only thing that existed was the Word. We ...

17. Second Sunday In Advent

Sermon

David M. Oliver

Introduction to this Service: Everyone is asked to bring a candle and a candle holder with them to worship. Additional candles should be provided for those who forget or did not know. The kind of candle used at many Christmas Eve services with the paper drip guard works well. The theme of the service is that Jesus Christ is the light of the world and so are we. Jesus served as a luminary, a light, a beacon for people to find their way to a saving belief in God. Jesus was the light of the world. But Jesus ...

18. Baptism: The Light Shatters the Darkness

Genesis 1:1-5

Sermon

Richard Gribble

Winston Churchill, the famous British statesman who led England as prime minister through the horrors of World War II, was a man who prepared the people for future joy. He was born in 1874 to a British Lord and an American heiress. His heroics during the infamous Boer War in the last days of the nineteenth century made him a national hero and greatly aided his election to Parliament in 1900. In only four years he renounced his aristocratic background and joined the Liberal Party. During World War I and the ...

19. The Light Has Come

Isaiah 9:1-7

Sermon

Elizabeth Achtemeier

Darkness and light. The Bible constantly speaks of those two conditions. Genesis tells us that before God created the world, it was nothing but a stormy chaos engulfed in darkness. Exodus says that one of the plagues that God visited on the Egyptians was a plague of darkness, while all the Israelite slaves had light where they dwelt. Amos talks about the final day of judgment that will be a time of darkness and not light. At the crucifixion of Jesus, darkness covered the whole land from noon until the ...

20. In the Darkness of Fear, There Is the Light of Joy

Luke 2:8-20

Sermon

Thomas A. Pilgrim

One cold Sunday afternoon in December, the congregation of a little Baptist church went over to the nearby river where they did their baptizing. They had several persons who were to be baptized that afternoon. There was one man who had some reservations about all this, as he faced the icy-cold water. He was a new convert and all this was foreign to him. He was, therefore, last in line. He noticed that when the first person came up out of the water, she quoted a Bible verse: “Bless the Lord, O my soul.” ...

21. In the Darkness of Despair, There Is the Light of Hope

Isaiah 9:1-7

Sermon

Thomas A. Pilgrim

A student at The University of Georgia got a job as a disc jockey at a little radio station in Commerce, Georgia. He also got a room at a hotel in town and commuted to school, which was not far away. Sometimes at night, he would crawl out of his window and sit on the roof of the hotel. He would look out over that little town. One night when he was up there, he wrote a song called “City Lights.” The rest is country music history. His name was Bill Anderson. An Episcopalian minister in Boston worked himself ...

22. Light Shines

Isaiah 9:1-7

Sermon

Do you know it is very dark at five o'clock in the morning? You can tell I am not used to getting up that early. But it is deep darkness and cold. Stumbling around trying to shave, dress, pack, and get to Washington to catch a plane; while noticing the nice, inviting, warm bed just beckoning me to crawl back in. And the drive from Gettysburg to Washington is dark and depressing, until the sun begins to rise and light penetrates the darkness, only faintly at first, but then stronger and stronger, until the ...

23. A Light for All Nations

Isaiah 60:1-6, Matthew 2:1-12

Sermon

King Duncan

As far as our society is concerned, the Christmas season has long been over. The lights and the tinsel have been put away. For most of us Christmas is only a pleasant memory. In the Church year, however, Christmas begins on December 25 and extends for 12 days. You remember the silly little song that starts off, “On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me a partridge in a pear tree . . . .” It details an array of gifts that a young woman received from her lover over a period of 12 days. Her true ...

24. Letting Go of Our Nets

Matthew 4:18-22

Sermon

Charles L. Aaron

Did they have any idea what they were getting themselves into? Peter, Andrew, James, and John had no crystal ball that day when Jesus called them. When the call came, they were going about business as usual: casting nets, pulling them back in, sorting and salting the fish, taking them to market, and maintaining their equipment. However it was that they became fishermen, they had not chosen an easy profession. Yes, I've seen the bumper sticker: "A Bad Day Fishing is Better than a Good Day at Work." These ...

25. Don't Be Afraid Of The Light

John 8:12

Sermon

James Merritt

Pop Quiz Question: What was the very first command that God ever gave in the Bible? Answer: "Let there be light" (Genesis 1:3, NASB) Light is a major theme in the Bible. God and light are so interconnected and so inseparable that the Bible even says, "God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all." (I John 1:5, NASB) That verse alone sheds a lot of light on the verse that we are going to be studying today where Jesus said, "I am the light of the world." (John 8:12, NASB) You may not think this is ...

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