Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 1 to 25 of 48 results

Mark 1:9-15

Sermon

Mary Austin

... plenty of wild rage and anger around us — and within us. When we make friends with our own wild beasts, whatever their shape, we can be much more useful to God. The things that divide us from God get torn away, and we are connected to God in deeper and deeper ways. Everyone has had a time when life rips you open and empties you out into a desert of confusion… or pain… or change. We choose to deal with an addiction, or to take a step toward a long-held dream. We work up the courage to live differently ...

2. Tearing The Sky To Get To You

Mark 1:9-15

Sermon

Timothy W. Ayers

... not tear. At the end of Christ’s journey to the cross, the scripture tells us that when Christ gave up the spirit that this sixty foot high, five inch thick, majestically woven veil was torn. That is the same word as used in today’s reading from the gospel of Mark. The veil was torn beginning sixty feet in the air, and ripping down through the entire veil to expose the holy of holies to the people. God was tearing that curtain so he could get to his people and so his people could get to him. Christ ...

3. Standing Room Only Religion

Mark 2:1-12

Sermon

Maurice A. Fetty

... by these exuberant, determined friends? Look, it says Jesus had returned to his own home in Capernaum on the shores of Lake Galilee." It was Jesus' roof these fellows were ripping up without permission. (Or possibly Peter's, as some scholars contend.) While Jesus was preaching the Gospel to a standing room only crowd, his roof was being torn apart for the sake of the paralytic. Standing room only religion can lead to roof repair. But it can lead to a whole lot more. And that's what this wonderful story ...

4. Mending

Ephesians 4:1-16

Children's Sermon

B. Kathleen Fannin

... you suppose will happen if I pull too hard on the ends of this piece of cloth?" I ask.Several children respond at once: "It'll rip!" "You'll tear it!" "That's right," I agree, "and if I keep on pulling, it will come completely apart, won't it?" As I speak, I ... the other bright threads that keep the pieces of our lives together." As I hold up my now-completed mending of the previously torn material, I tell the children, "Just as I have mended the cloth with the 'stuff' of which it was made, so too are our ...

5. Breaking Down The Walls

Ephesians 2:11-22

Sermon

King Duncan

... breathed his last? "It was now about the sixth hour and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour, while the sunlight failed; and the curtain of the temple was torn in two." (23:44-45) The curtain that separated the believer from the holy of holies was torn in two. The final wall separating humanity from its Creator was ripped apart. That is what the cross of Jesus Christ is all about. That is what our faith is all about. He tears down walls. Especially the walls we build around our own ...

6. Lord of the Sabbath

Luke 5:33-39, Luke 6:1-11, Luke 7:18-35

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... same. And I thought I’d show you in person what he meant. I have here some jeans. As you can see, they’ve been torn and ripped an awful lot. They are very old. And they are covered with patches. [take out a pair of old patched jeans] When I was young ... told them a parable: “No one tears a piece from a new garment and sews it on an old garment; otherwise the new will be torn, and the piece from the new will not match the old. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the new wine will burst ...

7. A Maturing Faith

Acts 16:16-40

Sermon

Douglas J. Deuel

... owners of the slave girl see to it that Paul and Silas are put into prison. This happens after their clothes have been ripped and they have been severely beaten. How would you expect Paul and Silas to respond? They have been out doing the work of ... was anxious about how to help Gary. But still he went. When the minister got to his house, the place was a wreck. Gary had torn the place up looking for money. The minister went upstairs to the master bedroom and while the family was kept outside, he was allowed in ...

8. When All Is Said And Done

Mark 13:1-31

Sermon

William G. Carter

... , "Golly, Jesus! That's an amazing building." Jesus replied, "Do you see these great buildings? One day, they're going to be torn down and scattered like children's blocks." They looked at Jesus in terrified astonishment. The Temple was the central house of worship ... on the cross, and "the curtain of the temple was ripped in two, from top to bottom" (Mark 15:38). According to Mark, it happened with the same force as the day of his baptism, when God ripped apart the sky (Mark 1:10). The powers were shaken, ...

9. When All Is Said And Done

Matthew 13:24-30

Sermon

William G. Carter

10. Back To Basics: The Three R's of Baptism

Mark 1:1-8, Mark 1:9-13

Sermon

Brett Blair

... startling and awe filled punctuation. This is God’s sudden bolt of lightening upon the world. Twice in Mark's gospel the word "torn," with a dramatic and active sense is used. The first “tearing” occurs as Jesus rises from the waters of baptism and the ... away of the religious barrier between God and humanity. It is as if Mark is saying God has to rip open the skies and change the course of human behavior and rip apart the human barrier of sin that separates us. God has to do it in a sudden and violent ...

11. Power

Mark 1:9-13, Mark 1:1-8

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... Spirit." Then one day it happened...Jesus. The request for baptism. John's initial reluctance, then acquiescence. Finally, the dramatic climax. As our lesson has it, "And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens TORN APART...not just "opened," the Greek schizomai means SPLIT, RIPPED, SUNDERED...and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. The voice from heaven, 'You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.'" What an image! It is as if God the Father is confined to heaven at ...

12. An Easter Heart

John 20:1-9

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... with delight: “Here’s my heart, Daddy.” When I looked at her picture, my heart sank. In the middle of the picture was a giant heart, not blood red, but yellow-ish pink. Even more disturbing than its sickly look, the heart was breaking in two, torn and jagged from ripping apart. But rising out of the broken heart like a dawning sun, there was a whole new heart – a throbbing, beet-red, strong heart being birthed from the pain of a broken heart. That one image is the best icon of the gospel I have ever ...

13. Power!

Mark 1:4-11

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... day it happened ... Jesus came with his request for baptism. There was John's initial reluctance, then acquiescence. Finally, the dramatic climax. As our lesson has it, "And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart ..." not just "opened," the Greek schizomai means "split," "ripped," "sundered" ... and the Spirit descended on him like a dove. The voice sounded from heaven, "You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased" (Mark 1:11). What an image! It is as if God the ...

14. Good Hearts

Romans 5:1-11

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... length, but at a life’s-length from God’s presence, peace and power, from God’s glory and splendor, was suddenly and surely torn down. Whether it’s got the exact name or not, from that moment on every temple, every church is a “Church of the ... altering this moment really is. Because of Jesus’ death and resurrection, everything that had separated humanity from God has now been ripped apart and thrown away. God’s presence, God’s peace, God’s power is finally and fully available to all those ...

15. Click to Unfriend

Hebrews 10:16-25

Sermon

John B. Jamison

... stable and drape it over the back and shoulders of the prisoner, pressing it into the flogging wounds. Then, they would rip it off again, put it back on, rip it back off, over and over until they grew tired of it. She later heard that one of the soldiers ... God and people. Paul reminded the Hebrews that the moment Jesus died, that holy curtain, the veil dividing God from people, was torn in two from top to bottom. The death of Jesus on the cross ended division between God and people, and between people ...

16. Epiphanies and Training Wheels

Mark 1:9-13

Sermon

Johnny Dean

... writer of Mark’s gospel says that as this man named Jesus came up out of the water, "He saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending…" Now, unlike Matthew and Luke, Mark doesn’t say that EVERYBODY saw that. Mark doesn’t even bother ... all the implications of this powerful moment in the life of Jesus. But we do know this: God has power – awesome, earth-shaking, heaven-ripping power! And it’s important for us to know that. Because Mark knows that when we’re at the end of our rope, when ...

17. A New Plan for Lent

Joel 1:1-12

Sermon

... cockeyed season. The fabric of these weeks before Easter, a fabric carefully woven by the early church, has become threadbare and ripped over the years: our efforts to mend it, with little rituals of pancake dinners on this day, and forsaking sweets ... be pitched." From Easter morning to Lent to Mardi Gras, the fabric of this season is unrolled, to be trampled and bunched and torn. Don't we need the same deepening of devotion the early Christians sought? You and I need the same emphasis on the spiritual, the ...

18. Why Did He Do It?

Mark 14:1-11

Sermon

King Duncan

... was about a boy who wore an invisible sign around his neck that said IALAC. The letters stood for "I Am Lovable and Capable." Pieces of the sign would be torn off when he had conflicts with his parents, peers, teachers, and even himself. Every time he lost a portion of his self-esteem, another part of the sign was ripped off. Maybe Judas had his IALAC sign torn to shreds through the years. He couldn't let anyone love him, even Jesus. It can happen to people. People can feel shut out in any group. I know we ...

19. Damaged In Transit, But Deliverable

Luke 20:27-40

Sermon

King Duncan

... or UNDELIVERABLE, and a big black crayon marked this package as DELIVERABLE! The string was hanging off it, the label was torn off, and tapes were hanging out of one corner, but it was still deliverable. Barbara Johnson says she thought of how many ... card from her friend Elizabeth. Elizabeth had lost her husband six months earlier. How is Elizabeth managing? Jill wondered as she ripped open the envelope. Inside was a card. Across from the printed message, Elizabeth had written in ink in her distinctive hand ...

20. Hope in the Shadows

Mark 13:1-31

Sermon

Darrick Acre

... , and kingdom against kingdom (v. 8). He tells them about earthquakes, famines (v. 8) and disasters, disasters like hurricanes that rip people’s lives apart. He cautions them about deception and falsity (vv. 6, 21-22). He warns of betrayal (vv. ... will come again; one who is the divine healer who makes us whole; one who calls himself the resurrection and the life. When we are torn and broken by sin, can’t escape our guilt, and feel the sting of shame, when the past dominates us, we have hope because there ...

21. Be of One Mind

2 Corinthians 13:11-14

Sermon

King Duncan

... . “Well, things got out of hand at the board meeting last month,” he was told by one of the members. “Folks started ripping up carpet,” the member said, “dragging out the pews they had given in memory of their mothers. It got bad. The Sheriff [ ... a church that is united. There are few things that grieve the heart of God like a church divided. Few churches have been torn by conflict like the church at Corinth. They argued over everything. Paul pleads with them, “Listen to my appeal, be of one mind ...

22. Mark 15: 1-39 (40-47)

Mark 15:1-15

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... , it was an event away from Golgotha that revealed hugely the divine power Jesus embodied. The “curtain” in the temple is “torn in two.” There is no clarity from Mark’s text about what curtain is referenced here. Was this “curtain” the veil ... Whether tearing apart the separation between God and the people or rending the separation between the heavens and the earth, either rip demonstrates a new cosmic reality. But the final moment in Mark’s crucifixion scene is not dark and despairing. Faced ...

23. Demons, Pigs, and the Economy

Luke 8:26-39

Sermon

Maurice A. Fetty

... defiant, maniacal strength, he refuses to be entrapped by the ancient equivalent of a straitjacket. He bursts the bonds, ripping off his clothes as a rejection of all constriction and runs wildly among the rocks, shrieking and screaming ... God most high, what do you have to do with me?" The answer was, and is, everything. II. He has everything to do with societies torn apart by the demonic. No doubt most of us would resist being called demoniacs and many of us would hesitate to allow that our society ...

24. Uplifted By The Blues

Lamentations 1:1-22

Sermon

Thomas G. Rogers

... , forgiveness and salvation. Yet Raymond listened closely to the words that surrounded this meal of joy. The pastor spoke of Christ being broken. Jesus was giving his blood, blood that had leaked out of holes that had been torn in his body. Jesus was also giving his body, flesh that had been stretched and cut and ripped. It was a scene filled with intense pain. Yet it was here that Raymond met a loving and forgiving God. Earlier, Raymond had felt that he had no one to comfort him. Here, in this meal of ...

25. Overcoming The Blues

1 Kings 19:1-8

Sermon

Robert Allen

... our lives like the loss of a job, a financial setback, the shattering of a dream, a physical illness, the ripping apart of a special relationship. We all encounter difficulties and these difficulties will leave us feeling blue or depressed. That ... out to God: Lord God almighty, I have always served you -- you alone. But the people of Israel have broken their covenant with you, torn down your altars, and killed all your prophets. I am the only one left -- and they are trying to kill me. Elijah was feeling ...

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