Sermon and Worship Resources

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1. As We Forgive Those Who Trespass Against Us

Genesis 32:22-32

Sermon

Steve Burt

A man got out of the Navy and planned to attend college. Before departing for the college town, though, he and his wife stopped by his parents' house in their old hometown so they could pick up a few items he'd left there in the attic -- pictures from school days, bowling trophies, a high school letter sweater, and a coin collection. The trouble came when the man couldn't find the coin collection...

2. But You Can't Get Water Out Of A Rock!

Exodus 17:1-7

Sermon

Steve Burt

"You can't get blood out of a turnip!" we've all heard (usually in response to a bill collector or a higher church budget). Or we've heard a variation, "You can't squeeze water out of a stone." We nod our heads in agreement with the speaker. After all, how can we argue with something so plain? The rational, analytical side of our brain says, "True, true, sad but true. You can't get water out of a ...

3. God's Power Over Death

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

Sermon

Steve Burt

Unto a woman is born a child, Moses. But the timing is unfortunate, for this is at a time when Pharaoh has ordered all newborn Hebrew males thrown into the Nile. So Moses' mother hides him for three months until she cannot hide him any longer. She's got her back against the wall, knows she's got to do something, and that's when she and her daughter (Moses' sister) cook up this plan. They waterpro...

4. Good Guys And Bad Guys Alike

Genesis 37:1-11, 12-36

Sermon

Steve Burt

Love your enemies, Jesus says in his Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5). Is he serious? Crazy? Love our enemies? We ask, "Why would we do that?" And Jesus says, "So that you may be children of your Father in heaven." Then he gets crazier. "Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect." What a tall order: Be perfect! The key to being perfect, as God is perfect, it would seem, is to unders...

5. Jesus Christ, Our Passover Lamb

Exodus 12:1-30

Sermon

Steve Burt

In the summer of 1976 a hurricane approached eastern Long Island, New York. Older residents recalled the 1938 hurricane which had claimed many lives and destroyed millions of dollars worth of property. Even the younger residents could remember the devastation wreaked by Hurricanes Donna, Carol, and others in the 1950s and 1960s. People took seriously the warnings of the National Weather Service; t...

6. Meeting Our Needs, Not Our Greeds

Exodus 16:1-36

Sermon

Steve Burt

Once upon a time there lived a farmer who raised chickens, wonderful, plump, juicy chickens that cooked up beautifully. But one summer a problem arose. It seemed that a fox had found a way to sneak into the pen where the chickens were kept, and it carried off a chicken every night. The farmer tried setting traps, but the fox was too smart to take the bait and get caught in the trap. The farmer tr...

7. Need Help Removing That Roadblock?

Exodus 13:17--14:31

Sermon

Steve Burt

A middle-aged man lived in a small town. He was single and had lived there all his life. Employment opportunities were limited, so he plucked chickens, a job he'd always hated. He secretly longed to be an artist, a painter. The man prayed something might change to allow his dream of freedom to become realized -- freedom from poverty and freedom to create. He felt as if invisible chains bound the ...

8. The Face Of God

Isaiah 55:1-13

Sermon

Steve Burt

Here we're dealing with the story of Jacob at the Jabbok River Crossing, an incident in which he wrestles all night and secures a blessing. It's a strange incident, isn't it? We've got something which occurred a thousand or more years before Jesus' time, something reminiscent of superstitions and primitive religions: a man wrestling for a blessing with a creature that must escape before the light ...

9. What Do You Do When Life Ain't Fair?

Genesis 29:15-30

Sermon

Steve Burt

Life doesn't always hand us what we want when we want it. In those times there's the temptation to shortcut, or to do the unethical, or to run from the problem. It's then that we need to keep our eyes on our goals and keep plugging along, honestly and diligently. A farmer's crops failed one year because of the drought. The previous year there had been too much rain, and it had flooded everything. ...

10. What Do You Say To A Burning Bush?

Exodus 3:1-22

Sermon

Steve Burt

The Moses I always pictured is the Charlton Heston Moses, the one who leads his people out of Egypt, who parts the Red Sea, gives commands. But the Moses we hear and see in today's scripture reading is different, not the heroic, bigger-than-life character. He's tending sheep, but to see how he got there we must look back to Exodus 2:11-15. A nutshell summary goes like this. Moses is standing aroun...

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