Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 2551 to 2575 of 4963 results

2551. Faithful Servants Until the Lord's Return

1 Corinthians 1:1-9

Bulletin Aid

James Wilson

... have allowed the noises of the world to distract us from Your tasks we should be about. Too often, Lord, we even let ourselves begin to doubt Your return, and the temptations of the world begin to seem reasonable. Forgive us, Lord, and give us the strength and courage to remain true and faithful servants until Your glorious return. In Christ we pray. Amen. Hymns "Ah, Holy Jesus" "Holy God, We Praise Thy Name" "My Hope Is Built"

2552. Getting Together

Isaiah 51:17--52:12

Children's Sermon

Wesley T. Runk

... boy living in Israel. Most things change, and change a lot. Our foods are a lot different than the kinds of food that Jesus ate, our way of getting to places is different, and a lot of our musical instruments have either been improved or are new. Some things remain the same, and one of the things that is almost the same is the castanet. How many of you know what I mean when I say the word castanet? (Let them respond.) A castanet is an instrument that beats out rhythm. It looks like this, and when you shake ...

2553. The Gift

Drama

Esther Lense

... other disciples did too of course, but it was all worth it and we were glad to suffer for his sake, because he had given joy and meaning to our lives, just as he does for all who believe and follow him. The congregation sings Joy to the World. John remains on the chancel. READER: You have heard the eight gifts of Christmas. But there is one gift that shines above all others - the gift that made it all possible - the gift of love. John, you wrote about that, didn’t you? JOHN: Yes, this is what I said: "For ...

2554. Christmas International

Drama

Dory Younger

Director’s Notes CAST: Narrators (1-4) Child of Germany Ireland Mexico England Denmark Poland Italy (7) Mary Joseph Angels (3 or 5) Shepherds (3 or 5) Wise men (3) Child to carry star CHOIR: Remaining available children COSTUMES: German: Shorts with colorful suspenders, knee socks and oxford-type shoes, white shirt for boy OR dirndl or peasant dress for girl. Irish: Green dress or shirt or skirt for girl OR green shirt for boy. Felt or paper shamrocks may be used to decorate costume. Mexican: ...

2555. The Miracle of Salvation

Isaiah 52:13--53:12

Sermon

... of each man who faced him. The Sermon on the Mount, often misinterpreted as a set of ethics, was a denunciation of sin - and there was no question of "If the shoe fits ..." The shoe fit everyone. The religious leaders had kept the fasts - had remained ceremonially pure - had tithed - had, as a matter of fact, lived a much better life than any of us would profess today; and yet Jesus’ teachings indicated the guilt that they had tried to push back into the dusty recesses of their minds. Looking with lust ...

2556. I Affirm

Acts 27:13-26

Sermon

... said, "Affectionately," signed by the professor. The young man took the picture to his room. He had to remove some of the pictures from the wall in order to hang it. When he did that the rest of the wall didn’t look appropriate. He took down the remaining pictures. This is the way Jesus comes to us as savior. When we stand in his presence all that is unworthy, all that is sordid, all that is out of keeping with our best selves, stands out very clearly. He becomes the one who saves. It is difficult for ...

2557. Which Self Are You?

Genesis 2:4-25

Sermon

Louis H. Valbracht

... MYSELF" that we are talking about? They all show clearly that there is a self that is ideal, the image of God, that keeps struggling upward toward the light. Ancient theologians called it the "imago Dei" - the image of God. Luther said it was "the relic of God that remains within each one of us." It is that "I" that I was created to be. And it is true that if that "I" had the power equal to its authority, then it could thrust out all of the counterfeit dupes and liars who seek to enthrone themselves in our ...

2558. A WALL OF ROCK AND THE EVERYBODY GAP

Drama

William McKee Aber

... won’t see Sue’s hand reaching toward him. Jack: Ooops - there’s that ride now - I hear the horn - I wish Harry would quit smoking; see you tonight, honey, I’ve got to run. (with that Jack leaves, stage right; Sue pauses, then she leaves also.) Wormwood: The wall remains; I rest my case. Christian: But there is hope - wait till this evening. Judge: This court stands recessed until this evening. (the court leaves)

2559. Free to Live as Victors

1 John 5:1-12

Sermon

Charles L. Koester

... ." He had learned what John relates in our text; the victory that defeats the world is our faith. With faith possessing us, we are free to live as victors in spite of all the adverse circumstances surrounding us, or engulfing us. But the word is and remains - faith. Faith! Faith is a strange word. We can describe it, talk all around it, give beautiful examples of it. Yet we cannot possess faith, nor give it to another. We do not possess faith, because faith possesses us if it is genuine. We cannot give ...

2560. What’s Going On in Your Orchard?

John 15:1-17

Sermon

Charles L. Koester

... he said to us before he returned to the Father? He saved it until last because it was so very important to each of us, for he said, "Lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age." No, please, whatever you do, don’t think of him remaining as dead! This is a mistake even we Christians make, forgetting our Risen Lord walks with us through our every moment and movement of life. That’s what it means to be connected to him as our vine, to allow him access, entry and presence within us. If anything is ...

2561. Mission Accomplished!

Luke 24:50-53

Sermon

Charles L. Koester

... who was taken up from you into heaven will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven." Grandma is with the Father. It is as simple as that. She loved her Lord. She believed in him. She has more life today than any of us who remain in this body. She ascended, as Christ ascended, to live with the Father in his House. The Good Shepherd, the Lamb of God, has taken her by the hand and led her to the Father, the source of the spring of living water. God has wiped away every tear from ...

2562. Joseph

Drama

Charles L. Koester

... ,000 years of history, know more than I. Do you? I made the enrollment, and we made preparation to return home. The night before leaving, I was visited again in my sleep by the angel who warned me, "Rise, take the child and His mother and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the Child and destroy Him." I could not deny what I had experienced for the second time. It must be true ... it must all be true; Mary’s experience and now mine too! Quickly, we packed our ...

2563. What's Mine Is Yours

Luke 12:13-21

Sermon

Ewart E. Turner

... you made possible. And in the parched Sahelian countries of tropical Africa, wide areas now produce food because you supplied the irrigation. I appeal to that spark of humanity planted in you by God the Father. Respond to the needs through CROP. Do not remain unmoved by human misery. The life you save may be your own. "You could project your influence into the future through many Christian agencies, but at the moment I am inviting participation with CROP in caring for those God loves. CROP started out as ...

2564. The Bread of Life

Luke 9:10-17

Sermon

Ewart E. Turner

... "main meal of the week," and then commuting back and forth to his realm (the back patio) where they dumped "the fragments left over." And they were all "lost." Fragments Are Garbage One day Chompo let her have it. Tipping his lid, he said, "Mrs. A, I want to remain subservient, and all that, but if the Lord didn’t throw away the fragments from his big desert picnic, why do you all throw away so much good food when the hungry of the world would be saved by it?" "I am taken aback," replied a confused Mrs ...

2565. The Crowd That Hated Him

Matthew 27:11-26

Children's Sermon

Wesley T. Runk

... . But the priests and the other leaders began to accuse Jesus of all sorts of things. Jesus did not try to defend himself but just kept quiet. Pilate wanted Jesus to speak and he told him to answer the people who were speaking against him but Jesus still remained quiet. Pilate was worried. He did not think Jesus was guilty, but he was afraid of the priests and other leaders and he tried to bargain with them. There was a man who had committed murder and caused all sorts of trouble and Pilate said he would ...

2566. The Overlooked

Luke 1:26-38

Sermon

Theodore L. Yewey

... and openness to the Almighty. We cannot imagine the great emotional and physical stress that she must have experienced. Imagine her feelings. Think upon the menial and the emotional and the religious and the physical matters that confronted her. Yet, even so, Mary remains one who trusts the wisdom of God. She trusted to such a degree that all who were immediately concerned in the situation also gave their trust to God. Moreover, Mary became, for all ages of women who would look to her, the perfect woman ...

2567. The Forgotten

Matthew 1:18-25

Sermon

Theodore L. Yewey

... protect the infant Jesus. A man chosen by God to guide and teach this special child the values and responsibilities of human life. If we forget Joseph, we forget a very human element in the story of Jesus’ birth and development. Not a lot of facts remain concerning this man Joseph; however, the biblical writers do give us some firm information about him. We know that he lived in Nazareth at the time of his engagement to Mary. His family, however, had its roots in Bethlehem. It was that fact that took him ...

2568. A Chance Meeting

Sermon

Leonard H. Budd

... . In the streets of Jerusalem I tried to sell the pins of precious stone. And in my stupidity I tried to sell them to a dealer whom I too late saw had a bandaged head. The guards were quick and sure and thorough. The prison cell was foul with the remains of human life. The darkness that once was so great a blessing now settled upon me with a heaviness that nearly drove me mad. How many days was that stone hole my prison? I do not know, for day was just as night. But after an eternity I was hauled ...

2569. Toward Health With Confidence

Sermon

Leonard H. Budd

... hundred paces a servant ran up to announce that death had won the race. The child was gone. The crowds fell to weeping, and Jairus took handfuls of dirt and threw them on his head and in his robe. His cries were loudest of all." "Only Jesus remained undisturbed. ‘She is not in death,’ he said, ‘only sleeping.’ And he turned to Jairus and said, ‘Show thy faith and she will be well again.’ " "All the while they journeyed to the house of Jairus. Three of the disciples and the parents of the little ...

2570. Focused Light

Acts 10:23b-48

Sermon

William F. Dunkle

... as Christians have celebrated our Lord’s Nativity. We decorate homes, hearths, altars, and Yule trees with the Star. It inspires our hymnody and is acted out in our pagentry. Ranking second only to Calvary’s Cross, the Epiphany Star remains central in Christian symbolism. More than all this, however, the Epiphany is the core meaning of our Christian mission. That "shining forth" (the literal translation of the word epiphany) which guided the first Gentiles, magi astrologers from the East, to Bethlehem ...

2571. Extended Light

1 Corinthians 7:29-31

Sermon

William F. Dunkle

... Christ is coming again but because Christ came once. The lives of human beings are reformed. The human society is given new structure. Life values are radically changed. Relationships are quite different. All because Jesus Christ was here and lives forever. Nothing remains static since this happened. Remember that when a peasant teenager gave birth to a baby she named Jesus, babies and women counted for very little anywhere in the world that night. Unwanted babies could be thrown over the walls of any ...

2572. Believable Light

2 Corinthians 1:12--2:4

Sermon

William F. Dunkle

... Baby Jesus real? Did you hear that question from a child at the Family Christmas Eve Service? Sharpeyed oldsters recognized Lee and Kathleen Beddingfield as Joseph and Mary and knew that the baby Jesus had to be their two-month Kevin. But the question remains: Is it real ... the Christmas story ... the Adoration of the Shepherds ... the Visit of the Magi ... the Mystery of the Incarnation? If it is not real, we risk much more than being fooled about a favorite story; we risk being fooled about ourselves. If ...

2573. Glorious Light

2 Corinthians 4:1-18

Sermon

William F. Dunkle

... when people are living longer, that’s serious. Any sort of senility, statutory or otherwise, is sad waste indeed. But the Christian life Saint Paul described as "the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ" remains expansive, progressive, enriched, ever useful. Jesus does not offer our futures as just ongoing history, but futures that fulfill the present. Even the conclusions of earthly existence can be radiant for Christians. "We die well," said a 19th century Christian. it can ...

2574. OUR LORD DENIED

Sermon

E. Jerry Walker

... ," his Lord had said, "but seventy times seven." In the remembering of it Peter felt again how naked he had thought himself at that moment. He had fooled no one. Not even himself. Stripped of his self-righteousness, no real, no valid righteousness had remained, and he had turned away, ashamed. And it was this man they accused of being an enemy of Israel? A violent insurrectionist? A terrorist? He saw that his idle wanderings had brought him near the upper city. Though long past midnight, there still were ...

2575. OUR LORD FORSAKEN

Sermon

E. Jerry Walker

... , drawn, as though they could not believe what they saw, or believing, could not accept it as final. The man, broad of shoulder, sturdy, his arm around one of the women, made as if to lead her from the gruesome sight, but she shook her head and they remained there silent, helpless, like a symbol of all that is hopeless. Again the sky struck at the earth in flashing anger, but they seemed neither to see nor to hear its roar. Slowly the man’s eyes moved up the cross from the place where its upright beam ...

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