Sermon and Worship Resources

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John 20:19-31

Sermon

Lori Wagner

Look at the image. Tell me what you see. Our brains are amazing vehicles for informing us of the world around us, but they can also limit us and impede us when we believe that what we see defines everything that’s real and true or that what we see defines the entirety of the universe. Can we truly know based on only our sensory experience? Or is there something more, another kind of knowing, that lies outside of our empirical knowledge? Christians believe there is. In fact, most people believe there is, ...

2. A Not So Simple Story of Demons and Pigs

Luke 8:26-39

Sermon

... unclean, they would cheer their demise. Or, as long as we are speculating, consider Emery Percell's observation that Luke's readers would have understood the word "swine" to be a euphemism for "Roman soldiers" ... in much the same way that the SDS protestors in Chicago (circa 1968) referred to the Chicago riot police as "pigs." Meaning that a Jewish readership would have snickered over the image of legions of demons entering legions of soldiers, thus confirming a widely held belief that Romans were not only ...

3. Working Together with One Heart and One Mind

Illustration

Staff

I've never lifted a barn, but Herman Ostry, a farmer in Bruno, Nebraska has. Shortly after buying a piece of land and a barn, a nearby creek rose, and the barn was under twenty nine inches of water. He half-jokingly said to his family, "I bet if we had enough people, we could pick up that barn and carry it to higher ground." To his surprise, one of his sons, Mike, started thinking about it, and by counting the number of boards, timbers, and nails, he estimated that the barn weighed about 19,000 pounds. ...

4. Burning Bridges and Scuttling Ships

Illustration

Michael P. Green

Many men of the world have understood the necessity for commitment if they are to accomplish great things. For example, when Spanish explorer Cortez landed at Vera Cruz in 1519 to begin his conquest of Mexico with a small force of seven hundred men, legend has it that he purposely set fire to his fleet of eleven ships. Presumably, his men on the shore watched their only means of retreat sink to the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico. There was now only one direction to move—forward into the Mexican interior to ...

5. Final Greetings

2 Timothy 4:19-22

Understanding Series

Gordon D. Fee

... . Exler (The Form of the Ancient Greek Letter), pp. 69–77 and 111–13. The Pauline closings have been formally analyzed by W. G. Doty, Letters in Primitive Christianity, pp. 39–42, and H. Gamble, The Textual History of the Letter to the Romans, SD 42 (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1977), pp. 56–83. 4:21 For a full presentation of the difficulties of travel on the Mediterranean in winter, see F. Brandel, The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II (New York: Harper & Row, 1966), pp ...

6. Sheep Just Wanna Have Fun

John 10:1-21, Psalm 23:1-6

Sermon

Lori Wagner

Earlier this month in some parks, farms, and yards of the UK, British sheep have been experiencing a new sense of freedom. Even as parks and open spaces are shut down due to coronavirus, and people are secluded in their homes, sheep have taken to roaming about the newly open spaces. But rather than wandering aimlessly through the fields, it seems, sheep have been seeking out children’s playgrounds, and have begun [wait for it] to play! It appears, their favorite activity is to take turns riding the “ ...

7. Raising Power

Mark 16:1-8

Sermon

Lori Wagner

Power fascinates us. The powers of nature both terrify us and intrigue us. Tsunamis, storms, lightning, hurricanes, the devastation of a tornado, the movement of glaciers. These and other events remind us that we humans are no match for nature’s power. But these are not the only powers that threaten to overwhelm us. The advent of technology has unleashed new realizations of how limited we are as human beings. AInow harbors the potential for power that we can’t really comprehend. We really have no idea what ...

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