Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 1 to 25 of 41 results

John 1:29-34

Sermon

King Duncan

... Christ, or more correctly having been found by Christ, we find others ” that they, too, may come and see. 1. Bill Bryson,The Lost Continent: Travels in Small Town America (New York: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1989), pp. 35-36. 2. David Douglas,Wilderness Sojourn (San Francisco: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1987), p. 68. 3. Peggy Payne, Revelation (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1988), pp. 296-297. 4. Voices of Freedom, Henry Hampton and Steve Fayer with Sarah Flynn, (New York: Bantam Books, 1990), pp. 470-471 ...

2. Transforming Moment

Matthew 17:1-13

Sermon

King Duncan

... of the mountaintop variety or whether you meet him in the valley. What matters is the change that takes place in your life. What matters is not a feeling, but a faith. 1. Peter and Barbara Jenkins, The Road Unseen (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1985), pp. 32-33. 2. David Douglas, Wilderness Sojourn (San Francisco: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1987), p. 68. 3. Frederick Buechner, Telling Secrets (San Francisco: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1991), pp. 49-50.

3. Preparing For A Royal Visit

Mark 1:1-8

Sermon

King Duncan

... had in mind when he wrote these words of comfort and hope for his people. The King is coming. A voice cries, "In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord. Get ready for a royal visitation." Suppose you and I were on the committee. Suppose we had been ... field goal. Dallas won the playoff game because this young man fresh out of the Navy was ready. Are you ready? General Douglas MacArthur, from his own experience once said, "Preparedness is the key to success and victory." Henry Ford put it this way: "Before ...

4. Come Out, Come Out, Wherever You Are!

Exodus 1:1-22, 2:1-10

Sermon

... bush, called Moses to the public court of Pharaoh to be himself. In essence Moses was being told, "You have done enough research on the Egyptian strengths. You have sufficiently studied the dwellers in the wilderness where I will bring my people in the future. It is now time to come out and be one of my own people." Douglas John Hall has written: "The world's suffering is not going to be engaged by people in designer jeans frolicking and posturing in the wilds of Colorado in search of "the meaning of life ...

5. Report of a Secret Meeting

John 3:1-21

Sermon

George Bass

... , we fail to pray, "I have sinned and fallen ... Lord, have mercy upon me," confident of what Christ accomplished at Calvary. I remember Douglas Webster’s book, In Debt to Christ (A Study in the Meaning of the Cross). As the reader opens it to the title ... That is how Salvador Dali interprets Jesus’ own words, "So must the Son of man be lifted up" - not simply on a staff in the wilderness for people who have been bitten by snakes, but on a Tree that is lifted up over the whole earth so that every person on ...

6. Exodus 17:1-7

Exodus 17:1-7

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... slaves than did the first. Better they had been left in Egypt (the inference of v. 3) than be brought out into the wilderness to die of thirst. It is only after this second confrontation that Moses seems to take the thirst of the people as a ... of stone. A single, sharp blow on this igneous rock can shatter it and release this hidden water with a forceful gush (See Douglas E. Wingeier, "Tapping the Rock: A Model for Ministry," Asian Journal of Theology 3 [1989], 558-563, for more on this theory.). Whether ...

7. Fire Wood

Luke 12:49-53

Sermon

John G. Lynn

... of years -- lightning has cracked the big sky out there down to the forests below. (Often the lightning will hit the Douglas Firs, less rugged than the Lodgepole Pines, and a forest fire will begin.) For years, of course, the United States ... the earth, and how I am constrained until it be kindled!" What did Jesus mean? He knew that Peter, like all of his disciples, was a wilderness that needed fire or he would die. Peter needed the fire of God's Word to keep his heart from freezing over and to keep the ...

8. The Covenant Of Amazing Grace

Genesis 9:1-17

Sermon

Durwood L. Buchheim

... gospel reading for this Sunday, we are reminded that this journey begins in the wilderness. The business of living has been compared to a wilderness journey. We know that wildernesses can foster the spirit of worry and anxiety. Our age has been called the " ... unknown to the author. 2. Jurgen Moltmann, "God, Hope, and Nuclear Catastrophe," (Perspectives, April 1988, pp. 7-10). 3. Douglas John Hall, Lighten Our Darkness, (Philadelphia, Westminster Press, 1976). I am indebted to this book and other writings (and ...

9. Without the Fire the Seeds Will Never Grow

Luke 12:49-53

Illustration

John G. Lynn

... up in the high country, but a golden eagle may be spotted and the elusive wolverine may be tracked. The Bob Marshall Wilderness hosts some 90,000 packers and hikers each year, most of them in the months of July and August. They must come ... oh, millions of years lightning has cracked the big sky out there down to the forests below. (Often the lightning will hit the Douglas Firs, less rugged than the Lodgepole Pines, and a forest fire will begin.) For years, of course, the United States Forest Service fought ...

10. The Census

Numbers 1:1-54

Understanding Series

W.H. Bellinger, Jr.

... judged), Ahiezer (the brother is a help), Ammishaddai (Shaddai is my kin), Eliasaph (God has added), Deuel (God is a friend). See Davies, Numbers, p. 9; Budd, Numbers, pp. 4–6. Mary Douglas has argued that such tribal lists emphasize including all Israelites, in contrast to the postexilic tendencies toward exclusivism in writings such as Ezra-Nehemiah (In the Wilderness, pp. 35–41). 1:20–46 The huge census number has been a matter of significant debate. Most interpreters think it unreasonable that the ...

11. Moab Seduces Israel

Numbers 25:1-18

Understanding Series

W.H. Bellinger, Jr.

... the divine loyalty so striking in the Balaam narrative. Olson understands this narrative to be the final dissolution of the wilderness generation (Numbers, pp. 152–56). The order instituted in Numbers 1–10 has disintegrated; consequently, a new generation is set up ... loyalty, and so God is zealous to maintain that loyalty. This zeal is sometimes pictured as God’s jealousy. 25:14 Mary Douglas ties the reference to Simeon, along with references to Reuben and Levi in ch. 16, to the last words of Jacob in ...

12. Dynamic Preaching January 2024 Sermons

Sermon

King Duncan

... Isaiah had in mind when he wrote these words of comfort and hope for his people. The King is coming. A voice cries, in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord. Get ready for a royal visitation. Suppose you and I were on the committee. Suppose we had been chosen ... place. Despite being a newcomer to the sport, he was able to make a significant impact and set new records. General Douglas MacArthur, from his own experience once said, "Preparedness is the key to success and victory." Henry Ford put it this way ...

13. Rules For Living

Exodus 20:1-21

Sermon

Robert Allen

... rules and regulations. A society without rules and regulations has to create them. So, while the Hebrew people were in the wilderness, Moses went up on Mount Sinai. When he came down from the mountain, he brought the Ten Commandments to the ... could be called that, a small room set in a long row of rooms where other music teachers taught. "I liked to drop in on him," Douglas said, "for he had a kind of homely wisdom that refreshed me. One morning I walked in and by way of greeting, said, ‘Well, what’s ...

14. Let's Get Ready to Rumble

Ephesians 6:10-20

Sermon

James Merritt

... cannot see the forces ranged against them; who are buffeted by invisible opponents and respond by striking one another." Douglas MacArthur, one of our greatest generals, once said, "In war there is no substitute for victory." Well, that ... about a scene that took place on a battlefield during the battle of Gettysburg. He said: Right in the middle of the Battle of the Wilderness, all the staff men who had been fighting in the east all this time—Grant had just come from the West—kept talking "Robert E ...

15. Everyone's a Fundamentalist About Something

Mark 2:23-3:6

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... man's withered hand on a Sabbath. It was love fundamentalism that kept Jesus from Satan's temptations in the wilderness. It was love fundamentalism that spurred Jesus to sweep the children up into his arms. It was love fundamentalism that ... pluralistic society; but it is not good enough for the one who did not say, 'Tolerate your neighbor,' but 'Love your neighbor'" (Douglas John Hall, The Future of the Church: Where Are We Headed? [Toronto: United Church Publishing House, 1989], 57). The great thing about ...

16. We Are At War

Ephesians 6:10-20

Sermon

James Merritt

... be on your guard, because there is a war that's going on. II. Know Your Adversary I quoted General Douglas MacArthur, one of our great military leaders. He once wrote an article entitled "Requisites for Military Success," and he gave ... story about a scene that took place on a battlefield during the battle of Gettysburg. He said: Right in the middle of the Battle of the Wilderness, all the staff men who had been fighting in the east all this time—Grant had just come from the West—kept talking "Robert E. ...

17. Looking for Shoots or Roots?

Matthew 11:1-19

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... sharp and theologically unexpected. John’s personal history with Jesus, his kinship connection, their meeting in the wilderness, Jesus’ apprenticeship to John, John’s apologetic baptism of the one whom he feels should be ... college, one of my favorite authors was Kurt Vonnegut, who died earlier this year. In many ways, the Canadian fiction writer Douglas Coupland (born 1961) is today’s Vonnegut among college students, but I cut my novelistic teeth reading Slaughterhouse Five, which fictionalizes ...

18. Jesus' Baptism: Affirmed by God

Mark 1:9-13

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... He was. He had made his decision, had identified with the people, and now he would never forget. When He was tempted in the wilderness, He would remember this word of God. When He was anguishing there in Gethsemane, with the ominous shadow of the cross looming over Him ... with one another, seeking to focus our minds and hearts on some growing edge, it’s an important part of my life. Douglas Steere, the Quaker giant of the Inner Life, is the patriarch of the group, and one of my spiritual mentors. Morton ...

19. The Census of the Twelve Tribes

Num 1:1–2:54

Teach the Text

Joe M. Sprinkle

... whole community together . . . The people registered. This census taken at the beginning of the wilderness totals 603,550 men (v. 46), not counting women and children. After forty years of wilderness wanderings the number goes down a little to 601,730 (Num. 26:51). The ... prudence. It is not incompatible with authentic spirituality. Illustrating the Text Promises inspire hopeful perseverance. History: General Douglas MacArthur was the commander in charge of the Philippines at the time it was overrun by imperial ...

20. Excuses

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

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... he was not sure whether the degree B.A. stood for Bachelor of Arts or Builder of Alibis.(1) Douglas Bernstein, a psychology professor at the University of Illinois, recently asked faculty members for the "most unusual, bizarre and amazing ... it? "The serpent tricked me, and I ate." Uh-huh. Do you remember the story of the Golden Calf?(6) The Israelites were in the wilderness. Moses, their leader, was up on the mountain talking with God. His brother Aaron had been left in charge of the camp. The people became ...

21. The Lord's Prayer: "Our Daily Bread"

Matthew 6:5-15

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... our daily bread." Why not simply pray "Give us the bread that we need?" The answer harks back to the story of the wilderness wandering of the children of Israel. If you recall, after their hasty exit from Egypt, they began to murmur among themselves about how, ... Thessalonians 3:10b 2. Psalm 145:16 3. Chicago: Moody Press, 1981, pp. 87-103 4. Noted in an address by Douglas Oldenberg, "Christian Faith and Economic Justice," delivered at Presbyterian College, Clinton, SC, 11/3/87 5. Quoted by Albert C. Winn, ...

22. That Would Be Some Miracle!

John 6:1-15

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

... . But one little problem keeps nagging at the back of my mind. In the stories of Jesus’ Temptation in the wilderness, recorded in Matthew 4 and Mark 1, Jesus specifically rejected the Devil’s suggestion that he turn stones into bread ... could have been a sacrament; but 5000-plus people? One wonders. A third view was propounded by the famous preacher-novelist Lloyd C. Douglas, author of “The Robe.” In his novel about Simon Peter titled “The Big Fisherman,” he describes what happened in a very simple ...

23. The Way Up Is the Way Down

Matthew 5:1-12

Sermon

Phil Thrailkill

... for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” Hunger and thirst hurt if they last long enough. Jesus went through this in the wilderness for forty days; his words are not theoretical but experiential. He uses a physical experience to point to one that includes the ... . 9. For an accessible treatment of world view and philosophical issues which inhibit the church, see Zeb Long and Douglas McMurry, The Collapse of the Brass Heaven: Rebuilding Our Worldview To Embrace the Power of God (Grand Rapids, MI: ...

24. Dad: The Head of a Godly Family

Joshua 24:15

Sermon

James Merritt

... m just ashamed of you; you still don't have a job; when George Washington was your age he had a job as a surveyor in the wilderness." The boy quickly fired back, "That's true dad, and when he was your age he was President of the United States." I know it is true ... and children to know God, love God, worship God, and fear God. One of the great military heroes of the 20th Century, General Douglas MacArthur said, "I don't want to be remembered as the great General who led the armies and liberated the people; I ...

25. A Call to Arms

Exodus 17:8-16

Sermon

James Merritt

... God pushed that wall down and turned it into a bridge and delivered the people from Egyptian bondage. Then they came to a place in the wilderness called Marah. It was an oasis of water and they were dying of thirst. But they tasted the waters and the waters were bitter and ... and fought with Israel in Rephidim." (v.8) Now it is important to understand who Amalek is. General Douglas MacArthur once wrote an article entitled "Requisites for Military Success." That great military leader said that there are ...

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