Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 226 to 250 of 990 results

226. This Grace In Which We Stand by Dr. Gene E. Bartlett

Sermon

Leonard Mann

Anyone who has browsed through a gift shop sooner or later has come to a polite but insistent sign, "Please Do Not Touch." It was refreshing, therefore, to come recently upon a sign of different tone. In the gift shop at O’Hare Airport the word above some African wood carvings said, "Please touch. You can’t appreciate these until you do." There are many evidences that this in fact was the mood in...

227. Power For Christian Living: Am I On My Own?

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

The glorious good news of the gospel is not only are we pardoned by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, we are empowered by the Holy Spirit to live as “new creatures” – “everything old has passed away…everything has become new” (II Cor. 5:17). We are not on our own. After expressing the truth that we are justified by faith and have peace with God through Jesus Christ, (Romans 12:1). Then states a...

228. Amazing Grace

Sermon

Edward Inabinet

When Al Smith was the governor of New York, he was invited to speak at Sing Sing prison. He was asked to address a gathering of the prisoners, and he wondered how he should begin. After they ate, he stood up and just automatically said "My fellow Democrats." Well that didn’t suit, because he felt that "no good Democrat should be in prison." So he backtracked and he started again. He said to them, ...

229. Batman: Driven By Guilt or Grace?

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

Sometimes on our journey of faith, we let other things get between us and God. Sometimes it's not things so much as it is ideas and attitudes. Sometimes its just our emotions. The point is, we let other stuff get between us and God. Usually it's just our own selfish pride. But whatever it is, it blocks us from receiving the full extent of God's Grace. It's like going to a banquet in our honor, be...

230. Proper 6, Pentecost 4, Ordinary Time 11

Bulletin Aid

Amy C. Schifrin

Confession And Absolution Leader: In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. All: Amen. Leader: Merciful God, your will for us is to know the abundance of life, yet this world’s suffering continues. All: We have no answers, and we confess to you the failure of our self-reliance and the anger that is born of our despair. Speak to our questions. Speak to our confusion. Speak ...

231. Proper 6

Bulletin Aid

B. David Hostetter

READINGS Psalter--Psalms 116:1-2, 12-19 First Lesson--Abraham and Sarah are hosts to God's messengers who renew the promise of a son who will be the beginning of a great nation. Genesis 18:1-15 (21:1-7) Second Lesson--Paul does not promise that salvation spares us from suffering but that God can use that experience to enhance our character as Christians. Romans 5:1-8 Gospel--Jesus outlines a rigor...

232. Lent 3

Bulletin Aid

Amy C. Schifrin

Gathering Have a water supply available in the narthex for your congregation to fill their cups and glasses and then have them leave their seats and surround the baptismal font. Pre-assign different voices to speak the following litany as people pour water into the font. Clean, pure, rushing water, running on the streets, flood water, muddy water, bath water, bottled water, ice cold water, steami...

233. Lent 3

Bulletin Aid

B. David Hostetter

READINGS Psalter - Psalms 95 First Lesson - Moses is counseled by God to assure the Israelites of his caring like the parenting eagle. Exodus 19:3-6 Second Lesson - Paul outlines the growth that follows suffering when Christians share their pain with Jesus Christ. Romans 5:1-11 Gospel - John relates at length the encounter of Jesus with a Samaritan woman at Jacob's well. John 4:5-42 CALL TO WORSH...

234. Holy Trinity

Bulletin Aid

Julia Ross Strope

Call To Worship Leader: Welcome. Last week was a fiery Sunday. Today is a white one. Today we mark the description of God as three parts — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Another way to describe God as three parts is: mind, body, and psyche. We’re here to sing and pray to God, the Holy One. People: We are here to “keep the sabbath.” We are glad for one day to rest and to do different things from the...

235. Trinity Sunday

Bulletin Aid

B. David Hostetter

READINGS Psalter—Psalm 8 First Lesson—Wisdom is personified similarly as the Word is made personal. Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31 Second Lesson—To know God is to grow in spiritual maturity. Romans 5:1-5 Gospel—Jesus promises further extension of the understanding of the things of God. John 16:12-15 CALL TO WORSHIP Leader: The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. People: And also with you. Lead...

236. Proper 6

Bulletin Aid

John R. Brokhoff

COMMENTARY Old Testament: Genesis 18:1-15 In their old age Abraham and Sarah are promised a son. Abraham and Sarah were childless. Yet Yahweh promised Abraham he would have progeny as numerous as the stars. Unexpectedly three men (angels?) came to Abraham's tent and were fed and refreshed generously. Before they went on their way, Sarah was promised a child by the next year. Old Testament: Exodu...

237. No Record of Wrong

Illustration

John Flavel

There was a man in England who put his Rolls-Royce on a boat and went across to the continent to go on a holiday. While he was driving around Europe, something happened to the motor of his car. He cabled the Rolls-Royce people back in England and asked, "I'm having trouble with my car; what do you suggest I do?" Well, the Rolls-Royce people flew a mechanic over! The mechanic repaired the car and f...

238. Safe from Sin-Hounds

Illustration

E. Lutzer

In the 14th century, Robert Bruce of Scotland was leading his men in a battle to gain independence from England. Near the end of the conflict, the English wanted to capture Bruce to keep him from the Scottish crown. So they put his own bloodhounds on his trail. When the bloodhounds got close, Bruce could hear their baying. His attendant said, "We are done for. They are on your trail, and they will...

239. Trinity Sunday

Sermon Aid

John R. Brokhoff

COMMENTARY Proverbs 8:22-31 Wisdom was with Yahweh when he created the earth. Before the earth was created, wisdom, a female figure, was created and observed Yahweh's bringing the world into shape: the earth, heavens, the boundaries of the sea, and the foundations of the earth. According to this passage, Yahweh did not create out of nothing, but ordered creation. The climax of creation is humanit...

240. Ant Trails & Trials

Children's Sermon

Brett Blair

Object: A Small Piece of straw. If you have something that work as a gap use that to get a clearer image. You might even ask if any of the kids know what the ant did and let them take the straw and make the bridge. Lesson: There once was an ant who felt imposed upon, overburdened, and overworked. You see, he was instructed to carry a piece of straw across an expanse of concrete. The straw was so ...

241. A Question of Trust

Sermon

King Duncan

Does it seem to you that it is getting more and more difficult to trust anybody? It seems to get more and more discouraging to simply answer the telephone, for fear of being bombarded with scam telephone calls. It’s just as discouraging to turn on a cable news program for fear of being bombarded with fake news. And when it seems humanity can’t get any lower, we’re even afraid to open our email. Wh...

242. Lent 3

Sermon Aid

Marion L. Soards, Thomas B. Dozeman, Kendall McCabe

OLD TESTAMENT TEXTS The central theme of the Old Testament texts can be stated as a question: Is the Lord in our midst or not? The central motif that is used to answer the question in Exodus 17:1-7 is the miraculous gift of water in the wilderness. This motif links the Old Testament lesson and the gospel text for this Sunday. Psalm 95 provides commentary on the wilderness story from a somewhat d...

243. Proper 6

Sermon Aid

Marion L. Soards, Thomas B. Dozeman, Kendall McCabe

OLD TESTAMENT TEXTS The Old Testament texts for this Sunday explore the question of whether anything is too difficult for God. This question is central to the story of Sarah's miraculous birth in Genesis 18:1-15; 21:1-7, while Psalm 116:1-2, 12-19 is a song of thanksgiving, which celebrates the fact that indeed nothing is beyond God's reach. Genesis 18:1-15 (21:1-7) - "Is Anything Too Difficult...

244. Grace, Salvation, and Redemption

Sermon Aid

T. A. Kantonen

To be a Christian, says Emil Brunner, is to share something which has happened, which is happening, and which will happen. Archibald Hunter, in his book The Gospel According to St. Paul, makes good use of this approach and it provides a helpful scheme for our study of Paul’s basic theology of salvation by grace. First is salvation as a past event, in which the accent falls on redemption as a once-...

245. Invictus

Sermon

Dr. Ronald Love

Luther Haden Taylor was born on February 21, 1875, in Oskaloosa, Kansas. Taylor is a legend in baseball having played with the New York Giants before the franchise moved to San Francisco. He played with the team for nine years, from 1900 to 1908, while the team was still at the Polo Grounds in Upper Manhattan. As a pitcher, he helped the Giants win their first World Series of the modern baseball ...

246. To Ransom The Prisoners Of War

Sermon

Sandra Hefter Herrma

Although there are several ways of looking at the Atonement, and equal justification for each interpretation, let us consider just one today: the idea that Jesus came as a ransom for many (Matthew 20:28). It is the basis for the statement Paul wants to make in this passage. On Ash Wednesday, we considered Paul's claim that he had been sent as an ambassador on behalf of Christ, begging us to be rec...

247. In the Balance

Sermon

David O. Bales

"He started it." You've probably heard that from the backseat or from a distant bedroom. "He started it." If you have a daughter, the variation is, "She started it." Children become more sophisticated as they grow up, but the jostling and blaming continue. Blaming one another is a human trait; that's why it's recorded in the Bible's story of Adam. In Hebrew, the name, Adam, means "humanity" and t...

248. Romans 5:12-19

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

The first gospel text read at the beginning of Lent this year reminds us how the early church came up with the duration of the Lenten season. The forty day period before Easter mirrors the forty days Jesus sent in the wilderness fasting and praying. The first epistle text read at the beginning of Lent this year reminds us of something else: what awaits us at the conclusion of these forty days — no...

249. Adam, the Law, and the Curse of the Covenant

Teach the Text

C. Marvin Pate

Big Idea: Paul presents another new-covenant blessing: Christians are part of the new humanity created by Christ, the last Adam. Sin and death, instigated by the old-covenant law, began with the fall of the first Adam. This is the curse of the covenant. But Christ has undone the consequences of Adam’s sin by obeying God and thereby creating the new humanity. Understanding the Text Romans 5:12–21...

250. Death through Adam, Life through Christ

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

This section concludes the first major part in Paul’s letter, while preparing for the second part, in which Paul explains the reality of the revelation of God’s saving righteousness in the life of believers. In this section, Adam stands for the sinfulness of all humanity (1:18–3:20), while Jesus Christ stands for God’s solution to the problem of the human condition (3:21–5:11). In 5:12 Paul sets u...

Showing 226 to 250 of 990 results