Sermon and Worship Resources

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1 Corinthians 15:20a

Children's Sermon

... makes bread. Then you let it set and after an hour or so, it rises. What happens if we forget the yeast? (Let them respond.) The bread won't rise and it stays flat. Bread needs that special ingredient yeast if we want it to rise. People are sort of like bread. Can you guess why? (Let them respond.) People need a special ingredient, too, to be special people. They don't need yeast. They need Jesus for their special ingredient. Jesus and his love makes everyone's life rise instead of being flat. Without love ...

227. Epiphany 4

Psalm 71:1-24, 1 Corinthians 14:1-25, 1 Corinthians 13:1-13, 1 Corinthians 12:12-31, Jeremiah 1:1-19, Luke 4:14-30

Sermon Aid

George Bass

... , despite the fact that he has been faithful to God all of his life. In his old age he continues to pray to God, placing his life in God's hands. Psalm 71 might well be called "a psalm of the elderly," and it might be used in all sorts of devotional situations. It appears to have been appointed here because it reflects the actions of Jeremiah, when he got into trouble, and it also points to Jesus' passion, when he has only God to support and deliver him from death at the hands of his enemies. Psalm Prayer ...

228. Lent 2

Philippians 3:12-4:1, Jeremiah 26:1-24, Genesis 15:1-18, Luke 13:31-35, Psalm 27:1-14, Psalm 42:1-11

Sermon Aid

George Bass

... the (Lutheran lectionary) Gospel for the Day, which contains Jesus' lament for Jerusalem. Philippians 3:17--4:1 (RC, E, L, C) As happens too many times, when one compares the readings that the several churches have selected for any given Sunday, it appears that some sort of "liturgical lottery" existed by which the readings were just "pulled out of a hat" and set down on a given Sunday. This reading might be read on the other side of Good Friday and Easter, possibly at Pentecost or even toward the end of it ...

229. Easter 6

John 14:15-31, Psalm 67:1-7, Acts 15:22-35, Joel 2:18-27, Revelation 21:1-27

Sermon Aid

George Bass

... will show us how to follow him through the darkness of death to eternity. Acts 14:8-18 (E, L) Please see the materials for the Fifth Sunday after Easter for a sermon suggestion. Acts 15:1-2, 22-29 (RC, C) - "Resolution Of A Church Conflict" "That sort of thing doesn't belong in the Christian church." How many times have you heard someone say something like that? Just the other day in a restaurant, I happened to hear two women in the next booth talking about a pastor, who had been accused of sexually abusing ...

230. Proper 6

Galatians 2:11-21, 1 Kings 19:1-8, 2 Samuel 12:1-31, 2 Samuel 11:1-27, Psalm 32:1-11, Luke 7:36-50

Sermon Aid

George Bass

... sin was committed? King David deserved to die, didn't he? But God gave him a kind of "life sentence;" the penalty came later. Where is the concern for the victim in all of this, Bathsheba? (What about concern for victims of crime, injustices of all sorts today?) 4. The bottom line is that God knew David's heart, that his remorse was real, and that it went beyond his formal confession; he regretted his adultery and, especially, the murder for which he was responsible. God forgave him, just as he forgives all ...

231. A Short Sermon

Luke 4:14-30

Sermon

James Garrett

... today. This was not what they expected to hear. The Scripture goes on to record: “When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath. And they rose up and put him out of the city.” The good news was bad news. We’ve heard all sorts and varieties of good/bad news stories. One is about a man who goes to see his doctor. The doctor says, “There’s some good news and there’s some bad news.” The patient says, “Well, doc, give the good news first.” “The good news,” the doctor ...

232. Marked In An Empty Tomb -- The Cross Is Still There

Sermon

George Bass

... that he never used the term. Her mother sent her to Sunday School, but “her father would always point out the ‘fantasies’ in the various Bible stories in those Sunday sessions.” She didn’t realize that she was an atheist until she was an adult: “I was sorting mail at my job at the post office and saw a copy of the magazine, American Atheist, and I said, ‘So that’s what I am.’ ” She believes that if she would ever wind up before the judgment seat of God, she’ll have two questions: “I ...

233. Marked At The Cross

Sermon

George Bass

... card. The group moved off quickly and Larry mused, “He must be visiting Bill Cosby’s mother…. Do you think I could get him to visit Ronnie, say a prayer for her?” Melvin explains, “Between one atheist and another this suggestion made an odd but apt sort of sense. We had reason to hope that Ronnie would know what was happening, and we knew that if she did, she would love it. As for the effect on the morale of everyone on the floor -- everyone involved in her care -- it could be incalculable. ‘Ask ...

234. Black Preaching: A Four-Cornered Universe

Sermon

Carlyle Fielding Stewart

... III. Black Preaching as Spiritual Pharmacology I stated earlier that black preaching is a form of alchemy: a means of healing the hearers of their pain and hurts. This might sound strange to some, but the truth is the black preacher is a shaman of sorts, a cosmic conjurer, a medicine medium who provides regular doses of a prescriptive cure for the congregation's ailments. The medicinal aspects of black preaching as an art form can be observed in what is said and how it is said. The "whoop" so characteristic ...

235. Holy Diet

John 6:24-35

Sermon

Donald Macleod

... Jesus' mission and their notion that life was a matter of performing certain things, in order to qualify to receive what they wanted. Jesus undertook now to set them straight. For him, life was a matter of being, not merely of doing. By so saying, he sorted out for them their priorities: ordinary bread that feeds and satisfies the body can be earned, but the bread Jesus offered them had to do with the inner life; it comes as a gift to those whose spiritual lifestyle qualifies them to receive it. Hence their ...

236. The Interview

Matthew 9:35-38, Matthew 10:1-42

Sermon

Larry Goodpaster

... progress, getting ahead, or climbing their ladders. And some of their confusion is simply that they are so uncertain and afraid of their future that they do not know where to turn. “Enter the harvester! You will be expected to help others sort through their confusion, to sort out their entanglements with the world and with themselves, and to point them to that one who is the source of life and hope, health and wholeness -- Jesus Christ. Have you ever spent much time around farmers? [She nodded her head ...

237. What Happens When We Can't Believe It?

John 20:24-31

Sermon

Mark Ellingsen

... (2:19-25), you have Peter writing to Christians who, to put it frankly, were going through a living hell. Life was really treating them rotten, sort of like it does for us sometimes (1 Peter 1:6; 3:13-14, 16-17; 4:12; 5:10). And in the middle of all the ... from God are the times when I do not feel good about life or myself. I cannot feel God's love on those occasions, and so it is sort of difficult to believe in him. I cannot see what he is doing in my life, cannot see how he is helping me, and so on those ...

238. The Majesty Of God's Love

Matthew 28:16-20

Sermon

Mark Ellingsen

... glorified, divine nature was shining through his earthly body? The disciples were perhaps getting a glimpse of Jesus' heavenly presence (sort of like they had at the transfiguration [Matthew 17:1ff; Mark 9:2ff; Luke 9:28ff].) Some have even ... as he referred to the Trinity (to baptism in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit) (Matthew 28:19). Yes, there are all sorts of indications that we should understand today's gospel lesson in light of how we are to live now that Jesus has ascended. The punchline ...

239. Wedding: A Special Kind of Love

1 Corinthians 1:1-9

Sermon Aid

Jeffrey A. Nelson

... , physical kind of love. It has nothing to do with the senses or with the instincts. Rather, it is a kind of moral love; a love which conveys the idea of goodwill and friendship. It is a thoughtful love with a spiritual quality; in a sense, a sort of reverence which indicates what our attitude toward God and toward each other ought to be. Pearl Buck has described this love as a love which “cannot be forced, cannot be coaxed and teased. It comes out of Heaven, unmasked and unsought.” And, as we heard a ...

240. The Bottom Line

Micah 6:1-8

Sermon

Robert Beringer

... in a warm embrace of love. Could you love that much? No human being in their own strength can show that sort of loving kindness, but with the help of God's Spirit, incredible things can happen! A love that never quits is the second aspect in bottom line ... religion. 3. To Walk With God The third aspect in the sort of life God wants from us brings us to the spiritual or theological dimension: To walk humbly with God. Now the key word here is ...

241. A Lesson From Prayers Overheard

Luke 18:9-14

Sermon

Theodore F. Schneider

... my goods I give to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold."), this tax collector offers nothing! Though our hearts would have to be made of stone to be unmoved by this man's helplessness, he can hardly be the "decent sort of misunderstood underdog" we so readily make of him. His honesty is disarming and his plight touching, but he is what he is, and he makes no offer to struggle with change, not even a little bit. Above all, we must not be caught up in our "foggy-headed ...

242. One Flock, One Shepherd

John 10:1-21

Sermon

Jerry L. Schmalemberger

... may know arithmetic, but you don’t know sheep.” Sheep belong together and do just that. Johnny knew it. It’s more a matter of heart and not so much of head. All sorts of disciples saw Jesus between Easter and Ascension and in all kinds of places! On the Emmaus Road, in the upper room, in the garden, along Lake Galilee. All sorts of persons worshiping in different ways still sense his presence. Let’s try in every way possible to extend our hand in fellowship to all God’s families. If there is any ...

243. Strangers at the Manger

Matthew 2:1-12

Sermon

... even your spouse, who has become so familiar to you that you arrogantly assume that you know what he or she is going to say before the words are spoken, and so you don’t really listen to them? Be honest now! You’re in church! That’s sort of the way it was for me with this particular passage of scripture. I saw it listed for Epiphany – which really doesn’t happen until January 6, but when it falls on a weekday, we celebrate it the Sunday before – and I automatically assumed that this would be ...

244. Monday Morning Faith

Matthew 21:23-27, Matthew 21:28-32

Sermon

Johnny Dean

... listening to my description. If I say, "It looked like the runner was going to be out at the plate, but he used a hook slide and slid around the tag," and you don’t know anything about baseball, what do my words mean? The Christian faith is sort of like that. You’ve seen books or maybe even heard lectures on the Christian belief. We’re studying a book like that in our Young Adult Sunday school class now. And you’ve had people ask you, "What do Disciples of Christ believe?" What the question implies ...

245. Epiphanies and Training Wheels

Mark 1:9-13

Sermon

Johnny Dean

... the training wheels you have on your first bicycle when you’re a kid, before you learn how to ride. You have these little training wheels on the back to balance the bike so you don’t fall over so much. Well, religion, to my way of thinking, is sort of like moral training wheels. You need it when you’re young, before you’re old enough to get out into the world on your own, before you know what you’re doing. Once you get more confident in yourself, in your ability to handle any obstacle that gets ...

246. Oh, Lord, It's Hard To Be Humble

Luke 18:9-14

Sermon

Johnny Dean

... is a parable about prayer and worship, about a typical Sunday morning worship service in every church every where. Jesus says that before any altar of God, in any service of worship, you mainly find two sorts of folks: Pharisees and tax collectors. Very few of us are one or the other ALL the time, but most of us are sort of like one or the other some of the time. There are times when we come to worship as good, Bible-believing, righteous Pharisees who ask for nothing and get exactly that. We are so pleased ...

247. Conversation or Monologue?

1 Samuel 3:1--4:1

Sermon

Johnny Dean

... at that point, or maybe the reporter chuckled at this response. For whatever reason, what White said next was this: "You know, when you tell people you’ve been talking to God, they don’t have a problem with that. That’s praying. If you believe in that sort of thing, it’s okay. But when you say that God talked to YOU, then they think you’re crazy or something! Isn’t prayer supposed to be a conversation with God? And in a conversation, don’t BOTH parties talk?" Many people do have problems with ...

248. Vacillation - Pontius Pilate

Sermon

Ron Lavin

... when I would not be visited by man or woman; and his eyes searched my soul when my own eyes were closed. His voice governed the stillness of my nights. "You can't trust feelings," I thought. "They are so ephemeral." Now I could judge for myself what sort of man he is. Jesus stood before me. Caiaphas, the high priest, made the accusation. "The case against him is that he is a revolutionary, who endangers the peace," he said. "He is a threat to the Roman government since he says that he is king. He claims ...

249. The Household Leader

Deuteronomy 6:1-25

Sermon

R. E. Lybrand

... at a baptism such as we will have today. When you think about it, the baby really does not belong to Mom and Dad - the baby really belongs to God. God is permitting Chesley to live with Buck and Libby. He is entrusting Chesley to their care. It is sort of like God has chosen them to babysit for his child. And today during the baptism, God will give some important instructions to Buck and Libby. He will ask them to promise to love Chesley and take good care of him. ... by bringing him to Sunday school and ...

250. Pruning Season

Luke 13:1-9

Drama

Pamela Urfer

... can be of either gender.) Length: 9 minutes [The TREE is seated on the middle of three stools, wearing some sort of "tree costume, "perhaps leaves or branches in the hair. The TREE is staring placidly into space. The LANDOWNER and the ... It hasn't borne fruit in three years. He pulls a few leaves off the tree and examines them. H.G.: It looks as if it's got some sort of blight. Mildew, or something like it. OWNER: It's stunted and diseased. Get rid of it. H.G.: You mean ...? OWNER: Yes. Cut it down and throw ...

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