Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 226 to 250 of 4935 results

226. Being A Man of God

1 Peter 2:4-12

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

Some of you have known me long enough to know that one of my favorite theologian is Charles Schultz, the artist who gave us the wonderful Peanuts cartoons. In one of my favorite cartoons, Lucy comes storming into the room and demands that Linus change TV channels and then threatens him with her fist if he doesn’t. “What makes you think you can walk right in here and take over?” asks Linus. “These five fingers,” says Lucy. “Individually they are nothing, but when I curl them together like this into a single ...

227. God and the Minimum Wage

Matthew 20:1-16

Sermon

James Merritt

In 1938 the United States Congress passed a law called "The Fair Labor and Practice Act." That law affects millions and tens of millions of lives to this very day, because it established for the first time in our history a minimum wage. Believe it or not, it was set at 25 cents an hour. I can remember working when I was in high school in a Five & Dime Store for $1 an hour. The only reason he paid me that much was because he had to, because he would tell me many times I wasn't worth that. That law was ...

228. Follow Me!

Matthew 16:21-28

Sermon

James McCormick

It was the beginning of new life for Peter and Andrew on that day, by the Sea of Galilee, when Jesus tapped them on the shoulder and said, “Come, follow me.” And, what an opportunity he gave to Matthew, the tax collector, when he issued the invitation to him, “Matthew, come, follow me.” Those three, and the other nine disciples all answered, “Yes.” But there were others who heard the call and said, “No.” There were those balking inquirers who responded with excuses, “I’ve just gotten married,” or “Let me ...

229. Prophets and the Powerful

1 Kings 21:1-3, 17-21

Sermon

Will Willimon

“Ahab said to Elijah, 'Have you found me, o my enemy?' He answered, 'I have found you, because you have sold yourself to do what is evil in the sight of the LORD.”' (1 Kings 21:1-3, 17-21) A few years ago, Dr. Billy Graham was asked about his friendship with then recently deposed Richard Nixon. Graham had been something of a court chaplain during the Nixon years -- a frequent guest at the White House, deliverer of state prayers, conductor of private services on Sundays in the East Room for the President, ...

230. A God Pleasing Savior and God Pleasing People

Malachi 1:1-5

Sermon

Daniel G. Mueller

One of the basic rules of interpersonal relationships is that you can please some of the people some of the time, but you can never please all the people all the time. There is a children’s story that illustrates how totally useless it is even to try always to please everyone. The story tells about a father, his son, and their donkey. As their journey began, the father led the donkey and the boy rode. But because some people criticized the boy for being lazy, he got down from the donkey and let his father ...

231. Getting in S.H.A.P.E. for Ministry

Ephesians 4:1-7, 11-16

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

Here’s the church, here’s the steeple, open it up and here’s all the people. Do you remember that childhood jingle? It’s the people part of that trilogy that I want to talk about today. For the past two years, we have worked diligently casting a vision, building a staff and raising the funds for the future of this great congregation. We believe God is calling us to touch hearts and transform lives for the glory of God and the good of the world. Now we must do one more thing to transform that dream into ...

232. The Babel Disaster -- You Are There

Sermon

Jerry Eckert

July 25, 1982 Comment: Up to this time, I had tried to handle thestory sermons myself. With the encouragement shown for mydramatic efforts of the earlier weeks that summer, I decidedto try to involve the congregation in a more direct way. That year, a large hotel in a major U. S. city hadcollapsed, killing scores and injuring hundreds. I saw thestory in a periodical which, unfortunately, I did not keep.The first interview in the script, the woman's experience,comes from that. With a few bits remembered ...

233. The Road To The Cross

Matthew 27:11-26

Sermon

Mark Ellingsen

Passion Sunday, the whole story of the dastardly plots and betrayals that brought Jesus to the cross, lies before us. You know the story well. It is filled with a number of subplots, all of which provide insights about the kind of people that we are and how our sins nailed Jesus to the cross. We see how the disciples (especially Judas and Peter, as well as the sons of Zebedee), each in his own way, failed our Lord. In similar ways we have failed him. We hear the story of our Lord's courage, his love of ...

234. Here Comes the Judge!

Matthew 25:31-46

Sermon

Johnny Dean

At the beginning of each new semester, teachers and professors frequently distribute to their students a sheet of paper called a synopsis. This synopsis contains a list of things the teacher plans to cover during the semester, along with other pertinent information, such as a list of books the student will be expected to read (which always gave me a headache), the schedule of examinations (ditto), and a list of papers to be written and what length they should be. I argued unsuccessfully with my professors ...

235. Thank God for Dads

Galatians 2:11-21

Sermon

King Duncan

Welcome on this Father’s Day, 2007. It’s not easy being a father. I heard about a man who said that he was warned that, as his three daughters became old enough to date, he’d disapprove of every young man who took them out. When the time came, though, he was pleased that this prediction was wrong. Each boy was pleasant and well mannered. Talking to one of his daughters one day, he said that he liked all the young men she and her sisters brought home. “You know, Dad,” she replied, “we don’t show you ...

236. How Is Your Memory?

Exodus 20:1-21

Sermon

Mark Trotter

I have a poor memory, but I hold to a certain comfort that Albert Einstein had a bad memory, too. It was reported that Albert Einstein couldn't even remember his own telephone number. He said that he never remembered anything that he could look up. But that sounds like a pretty lame excuse to me. Memory is a mystery of the brain. How does information get stored, coded, and then retrieved in the brain? We don't know how. Do all sense impressions, everything that happens to us, all that we hear and see, get ...

237. Is It Too Late? ... Continued

Matthew 25:14-30

Sermon

George Johnson

Today we continue the sermon started last week. Our text is the familiar story of the talents in Matthew 25. We are concentrating on the care of the earth and its environment as an example of a talent - a responsibility - that God has given us. God has entrusted to us this property to care for. We are asking what it means to be a responsible steward of creation? And what are the consequences if we bury this talent? When you listen to the tone of a person's voice you can often catch a feeling of how serious ...

238. Barabbas - People’s Choice or Chance of Providence?

John 18:28-40

Sermon

Carl E. Zahrte

Were you there? Is that what you were singing? Yes, I was there, all right. I had no choice in the matter. I was locked up in that lousy, stinking hole that they called a prison. I didn’t think that there was any chance that I would ever get out of there alive. The Romans had been after me for some time. Once they got their hands on me and threw me down into that dungeon, I thought for sure that my days were numbered. Those stone walls were mighty thick, and the guards kept a close watch on me. They liked ...

239. "Two Men in White Suits"

Matthew 25:31-46

Sermon

Peter Rudowski

This morning’s Gospel lesson is a very difficult one for me. The lesson is a story or a saying concerning the coming of the end - the judgment. Jesus is laying out before his disciples what will happen when he comes for the second time. He tells us the questions that are going to be asked of each of us: "Did you feed the hungry, clothe the naked, did you visit the sick, did you make the stranger welcome?" Basically what he is asking us is, how did we relate with each other? How did we relate with our ...

240. Not the Seasons for Figs

Mark 11:12-19

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

I am surprised that this strange story of Jesus cursing the fig tree ever got into our New Testament. Among all of the stories about Jesus recorded in the Gospels, this one is just about the most embarrassing and difficult to explain. On the face of it, it goes like this: Jesus had just ridden into the Holy City in triumph, accompanied with crowds singing His praises and strewing palm branches before Him. Those who remembered the old prophecy of Micah realized that in riding into town on a donkey, Jesus ...

241. Be Careful What You Wish For, You Just Might Get It!

1 Samuel 8:1-22

Sermon

David E. Leininger

Graduation. Big time. Congratulations on a job WELL... DONE - the emphasis for parents is on WELL, but we know the emphasis for you graduates is on DONE. I appreciated what the President said to the graduates Friday at Chelsea's commencement: "I ask you at the beginning to indulge your folks if we seem a little sad or we act a little weird. You see, today we are remembering your first day in school, and all the triumphs and travails between then and now...Though we have raised you for this moment of ...

242. Heaven: One Way And One Way Only

John 14:1-6

Sermon

James Merritt

There are so many songs about heaven; so many thoughts about heaven. One song just asked the question, "How far is heaven?" The answer is that heaven can be as close as your heart or it can be an eternity away. Contrary to one world view that says that the only heaven there is, is the happiness that we experience here on earth, Jesus Christ definitely believed in a place called heaven. In the very passage that we are looking at today, He told his disciples - "In My Father's house are many dwelling places; ...

243. A Lack of Feeding in the American Dream

Romans 6:1-14

Sermon

Gregory J. Johanson

I would like us to consider a subject which becomes important to us all from time to time, but which is generally confusing and threatening so that we normally try to pass on from it as quickly as possible. The subject is suicide. There are a number of reasons why I am concerned with talking about it. I am continually involved as a minister in suicide cases, both accomplished and contemplated. The other day, our ministerial association met with the staff of the mental health clinic, and they told us that ...

244. A New You or a New Year

Philippians 3:1-11

Sermon

Eric Ritz

Most of us will not have the unique opportunity of Alfred Nobel who read his own obituary. It happened because of a mistaken identity. Alfred''s brother died, but the news media had confused the name and thought Alfred had died. As he read his own obituary, he was horrified to find that he was referred to as the "dynamite king." He was pictured as someone who had spent his life gathering a great fortune from the manufacture of weapons of destruction. When he invented dynamite, he thought it would be an ...

245. What Super Power Would You Choose?

Luke 10:1-11, 7-20

Sermon

King Duncan

When you were a kid what superpower did you want to have? Flying like Superman? Scaling tall buildings like Spiderman? What superpower did you want to have and how did you want to use it? I thought about that recently when I saw a question which was posted on the website forum Reddit. The question was, “If you could have a useless superpower, what would it be?” Did you catch that--a useless superpower? Here’s one response that came in to that question: “The ability to win at rock- paper-scissors every ...

246. LENT: The Passion of Christ: "Betrayed"

John 13:21-30; Matthew 26:14-16; 45-50

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

A Vacation Bible School teacher, one summer, taught class on Judas' betrayal of Jesus. After the lesson, she went over the review questions and asked, "Who betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver?" Without hesitating, her 7-year-old son replied, "I know! It was 'Judas the Scariest!' " (1) For me Judas was the Scariest disciple of all. He's the most frightening character of the entire Passion story. He's more frightening than Pilate or Herod or Caiaphas and the other accusers. To me, Judas is even more ...

247. As Is

Ephesians 2:1-10

Sermon

Mark J. Molldrem

Once upon a long time ago, a friend of mine owned a yellow Datsun. It was a neat little car that took him over the hills and through the valleys of southern Wisconsin. With "five on the floor," it was fun to drive, shifting up and down, turning left and right, accelerating and stepping on the breaks. The yellow Datsun kept him happy for a couple years, until one day it died. The head cracked and the engine decided not to turn over any longer. It was a sad day for my friend, his only consolation coming from ...

248. Portrait Of A Powerful Servant

John 13:1-17

Sermon

John M. Braaten

Jesus loved to paint portraits for the soul. He did it through his actions as well as his words. Indeed, his whole life was a powerful illustration. On the particular night to which our texts bear witness, the image Jesus will etch into the memories of his disciples will be so powerful that they will never again be able to think of him without reference to this event. Writer Walter Wangerin suggests that the atmosphere of that evening was shrouded in mystery and filled with intrigue. There was the meal ...

249. What Do You See?

Isaiah 52:13--53:12

Sermon

Barbara Brokhoff

Behold, My Servant shall deal prudently, He shall be exalted and extolled and be very high. Just as many were astonished at you, so His visage was marred more than any man. And His form more than the sons of men; So shall He sprinkle many nations. Kings shall shut their mouths at Him; For what had not been told them they shall see, And what they had not heard they shall consider. Who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For He shall grow up before Him as a tender ...

250. The First Murder - 1940

Matthew 7:1-6

Sermon

Kent Moorehead

There are four highly accredited ways to study the Bible. First, study the beauty spots, the familiar passages. Second, study the individual books and master them. Third, study the great biographies and know them. And fourth, study the structural ideas of the book as they are developed. Now this last method is unquestionably the most rewarding and likewise the most adequate way of knowing the Bible, but it isn’t the most interesting. The most interesting way to study the Bible is by studying the ...

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