Sermon and Worship Resources

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Luke 24:36-49

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... a man dies, will he live again?” (Job 14:14) “Let us return to YHWH…he will raise us up on the third day.” (Hosea 6:1-2) In a sense, Israel itself (referred to as YHWH’s “son”) was hidden and dead in Egypt, but was brought out of concealment and into the promised land to “new life.” Israel was again saved in the Passover, a story about death, and those spared and given new life. Each covenant is a symbol of new life. The story of Joseph is a story of he who was thought dead given new ...

2. The Spin Zone

2 Samuel 11:1-27

Sermon

James Merritt

... . Whatever it means and it may mean different things - Get on the bus, Gus Make a new plan, Stan Drop off the key, Lee And get yourself free. But whatever you have to do get away from the source of the temptation. II. Confess Sin Don't Conceal It David goes back to bed that night having sent Bathsheba home thinking it was just a harmless one-night stand that brought pleasure to both of them - big mistake! David was about to learn that a one-night stand can turn into a lifetime of misery. Everything ...

3. The Yoke of Christ

Matthew 11:25-30

Sermon

... of admitting that in some ways his parents are more intelligent and better informed about life than he is. He may even have to bear the burden of ultimately working at summer jobs to pay for the window. But his yoke is still easier than the route of concealment. For there is also the distinct possibility of hearing his father's word of forgiveness, of knowing that this deed has not really separated him from his father's love and grace. This is the kind of easy yoke Christ offers us in view of our sins and ...

4. Trust in Me

Matthew 1:18-25, Luke 2:1-7

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... is the women who are most extraordinary. Both of them accept their “blessing” with rejoicing and praise. Both are pregnant by miracle (one too old; one too young and unmarried). Both sons will play a part in God’s impending kingdom coming. What is now concealed will be revealed! God will be made known! “For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life is reve3aled, then you also will be revealed with him in glory.” (Colossians 3:1-4) *For more information ...

5. Put Up and Shut Up

Proverbs 18:21

Sermon

James Merritt

... listen more. There was a very wealthy grandfather who was getting up in age; he was going deaf, but he went to the doctor and was fitted with a unique hearing aid. It not only overcame the old man's deafness and allowed him to hear perfectly, but it was concealed so no one could see it. When he went back to the doctor for a checkup, the doctor said, "Your family must be extremely happy to know that you can now hear." The grandfather said, "Well, I haven't told them about my hearing aid. I just sit around ...

6. The Inconcealable Christ!

Mark 7:31-37, Mark 7:24-30

Sermon

Robert Leslie Holmes

... Jesus was and could not lock him away for good because he was, and he is, the inconcealable Christ! What He Can Do Cannot Be Concealed! "It is no secret, what God can do!" If Jesus Christ "could not keep his presence secret," we certainly cannot do it! In fact, it ... not keep his presence secret" (Mark 7:24). He is the omnipresent one who is always there for his people. We Cannot Conceal Christ The Bible says that when we receive Christ for ourselves, his Holy Spirit takes up residence in us and lives the ...

7. Candidates for God’s Candid Camera

1 John 3:11-24

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... to do. There is a Jewish Talmudic tradition that teaches the “Legend of the Just” — or in Hebrew the “Lamed‑Vav Tzadikim.” “Lamed” is Hebrew for 30, “Vav” is six, so these are the “36‑ers, the 36 humble, righteous ones, also known as “The Concealed Ones.” The Legend of the Just states that at any time there are at least 36 righteous people on earth, those upon whom God’s radiance rests. In what sounds like a re‑mix of God’s deal with Abraham about Sodom and Gomorrah — you ...

8. Two-and-a-Half Cheers For Hypocrites

Matthew 6:1-2, Matthew 6:5-6, Matthew 6:16

Sermon

Thomas Long

... deceptive; they put on false and pretty faces, hiding their true selves behind the cloak of pseudo-respectability. Indeed, "hypocrite" was originally a theatrical term, describing actors, who concealed their real countenances behind dramatic masks. The sin of hypocrisy, then, is wearing a mask, and in our time no transgression is more contemptible. Hypocrites conceal sadness with a smile; they say they are happy to see you when they would rather have root canal work than to be in your presence; they give ...

9. The Church With Nothing

John 20:19-23

Sermon

Thomas Long

... is that every church is finally this way; every church, no matter what it says about itself in the newspaper, if it is left to its own devices, if it draws only upon its own resources, is nothing. No liturgical mascara, no programmatic cosmetic, can conceal for long the fact that, apart from the presence of the risen Christ, the church is an empty place. Take the matter of worship leadership. Worship leaders either know that mystery resides at the core of worship, or they don't -- and congregations can tell ...

10. Do I Dare Be Different?

Matthew 5:10; 10:1-42

Sermon

Wallace H. Kirby

... to his ministry. Although it broke his heart to be so misunderstood and rejected, he reckoned with it from the very beginning. Three times he said something to his disciples about the fate in store for him. He made no effort to conceal it. And he made no effort to conceal what would happen to them if they followed his way of life. With an almost startling honesty, he told his followers what they might expect, some of the dangerous consequences of discipleship. When he sent them out on their first mission ...

11. Pardon for Sin

Romans 5:12-21

Sermon

Dennis Kastens

... , of course, is wrong). But he does not realize the full depth of his hostility. He may say on the surface, I don’t wish him any bad luck, but underneath he may unconsciously wish his employer’s demise. By defense stratagem he may manage to conceal the death wish and to obscure the full magnitude of the hatred which gives rise to it. He feels extremely guilty, but the feeling of guilt is detached from the original idea - displaced - and it appears in his consciousness in the company of a different idea ...

12. The Light that Shines Within

John 1:1-18

Sermon

Leonard Mann

... inner selves were infiltrated and flooded by it. But let’s be careful now that we do not sell ourselves short. Much darkness as there is within us, don’t you think God saw something in us that was worth coming for? reaching for? The darkness within us conceals much that is beautiful and of precious worth. God knows the beauty and the value are there; he can see them through the shadows. And so, comes the light, that the darkness may be driven away and the beauty shine forth. So, to start with now, let ...

13. You Are Not Yourself!

Colossians 3:1-17

Sermon

King Duncan

... than using bank bags and armored trucks, move their daily cash intake by putting the money in regular carry-out paper bags and handing the bag to a drive-thru courier. The plan conceals the fact that a large amount of money is leaving the store. In Euclid, Ohio, though, one McDonald’s store was a bit too clever. They handed the bag of concealed cash to an anonymous customer who drove up to the window to pick up his meal. For all we know he may still be anonymous-if he decided to keep the money. Imagine ...

14. Bound By A Promise

Genesis 15:1-18

Sermon

King Duncan

... disappointed with God. "You are supposed to be near the brokenhearted," Sue said to God. "Do you care?" Sue had lost her son; it seemed she had lost her relationship with God, too. One day a card came from one of Sue's friends. It read like this: "When God conceals His purposes, keep living on His promises." Sue says it was as if God were saying to her, "Let go of your anger and trust me again. You do not know why things happen, but you do have my promise of eternal life." (4) Many of us need to hear ...

15. The Truth about Truth

John 8:31-32

Sermon

James Merritt

... and factions. It is my business to remove obstructions, to cut down thorns, to fill up quagmires, and, to open and make straight paths. But if I must have some failing let me rather speak the truth with too great severity than once to act the hypocrite and conceal the truth. If there no such thing as truth, eternal, universal, absolute, immutable, inerrant truth, I am a liar when I walk to this pulpit, and you are a fool for coming to hear me. The Lord Jesus said there is the real principle of truth. II ...

16. Are You Ready for the Journey?

Mark 8:27-9:1

Sermon

John E. Harnish

... they were. "Leave them alone, let it be," I remember them saying. "He's just a trouble-maker. That's what he is, a troublemaker." So in Mark's rapid-paced narrative, Jesus' popularity rises, and so does his opposition, as he tries to gradually reveal and conceal, little by little sharing the secret, until it builds to a crescendo peak in Chapter 8. Finally, Jesus poses the question which is at the heart of the secret: "Who do others say that I am?" "Well, you know, some think you're a prophet. Some think ...

17. Winning the War Over Fear (Series: Winning the Wars of Daily Life)

Luke 12:1-12

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... hooked on drugs and alcohol. Sports heroes fly off the handle and hurt people. Ministers hang out in brothels. Jesus says that kind of fear will kill you. Get real! God prefers blunt, honest sinners over slick-talking pretenders. II. Embrace the Light “There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. What you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the roofs (Luke 12 ...

18. The Real Real Estate

Luke 12:13-21

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... . Actually it has two problems. The first problem is the one everyone has been hearing about, blogging about, tweeting about. Just the tiny, little problem that you cannot hold the phone up to your left ear and still keep your call online. It seems that the cleverly concealed antennae in the iPhone 4 is uncleverly placed just in the spot where most people put their hand in order to put the phone to their ear. The simple act of putting your iPhone to your head blocks the signal and causes calls to be dropped ...

19. Masks

Matthew 23:1-12

Sermon

Chris Ewing

... relations. In that case, the alcoholic mask tries both to hide shyness and to bring out a more daring and connected personality. Masks can conceal, or they can reveal; often they do a bit of both at once. What masks do you wear day to day? (pause) What masks ... them on, by acting "as if." There can be such a fine line between a mask that draws something out in us and a mask that conceals what we're ashamed to own. Sometimes we put that mask on because of the intolerance of others: if we can't be good, we'll ...

20. The Heart of the Matter Is the Heart!

Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23

Sermon

Robert Leslie Holmes

... 's word into a noose for its own neck and cheat its owner of God's best for life. The only way to avoid a cheating heart is to know God's word and live it out in our personal practices inside and outside the church. The Concealing Heart The second problem these Pharisees have is the same problem that Pharisees have had in every generation, even this one. They imagine themselves to be something they are not. Jesus uses a very powerful name to expose them: "You hypocrites!" The Greek word for hypocrite means ...

21. Ollie, Ollie, All In Free!

John 8:31-36

Sermon

Steven Molin

... that cows are honest with one another about who they are and what they do. They don't try to hide it. They don't try to pretend that good cows don't do that sort of thing. It's cow nature! And yet, our prideful human nature is to conceal our sins and our shortcoming so that people will think more highly of us. That is dishonest. Of course, the best example of hiding in human history is the story of Adam and Eve. They had sinned, no doubt about that. They heard the expectation of God, and they blatantly ...

22. What If It's True?

John 20:1-9

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... and darkness Job could still find the fragment of faith within himself that could confess, “I know that my Redeemer lives.” Have you ever been to the Coliseum in Rome? Did you see concealed beneath it a labyrinth of passages and cells, lifts and ramps, storerooms and concealed traps through which beasts, prisoners, gladiators and stagehands were deployed to engineer the pageants above, including palm trees and mounds of sand? Exploring this underworld is a very different experience from watching the ...

23. Planting Your Feet

Psalm 32:1-11

Sermon

James Merritt

... 32:1, ESV) This is ironic. When we try to cover up our sin, God will reveal it, but when we confess our sin, God will conceal it. Do you know the phrase, “Out of sight out of mind?” When Jesus Christ died on the cross, His blood covered all of our sins ... , when we confess our transgression, God completely forgives everything and totally washes away the dirt of all of our guilt. When we conceal our sin guilt will imprison us, but when we confess our sin, grace will free us. When you empty your sin basket, ...

24. What If It's True?

John 20:1-18 · Matthew 28:10

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... and darkness Job could still find the fragment of faith within himself that could confess, “I know that my Redeemer lives.” Have you ever been to the Colosseum in Rome? Did you see concealed beneath it a labyrinth of passages and cells, lifts and ramps, storerooms and concealed traps through which beasts, prisoners, gladiators and stagehands were deployed to engineer the pageants above, including palm trees and mounds of sand? Exploring this underworld is a very different experience from watching the ...

25. Even in Our Hiding

Matthew 2:19-23, Matthew 2:13-18

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... pile of dresses and shoes in the center of the floor; the shame of walking naked past this man. I could see my sister’s frail form ahead of me, ribs sharp beneath the parchment skin. Betsie, how thin you were! [Betsie and I had been arrested for concealing Jews in our home during the Nazi occupation of Holland; this man had been a guard at Ravensbruck concentration camp where we were sent.] “Now he was in front of me, hand thrust out: ‘A fine message, Fräulein! How good it is to know that, as you ...

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