Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 2676 to 2700 of 5000 results

2676. Till Death Do Us -- Unite

Acts 10:34-43

Sermon

Paul W. Kummer

Praise be to the Death Conqueror! God had done miraculous things for the widow and her family through the Prophet Elijah. Enough flour and oil to live on through a drought. Then this widow's son became sick. He eventually died. "Why, O prophet, have you let this happen?" she asked. But God wasn't done bestowing miracles on this family. Elijah, harboring the same question for God, stretched himself on the boy three times -- and he became a fence-climbing, dog-chasing son again! A second widow had heard ...

2677. To Have And To Hold (Your Tongue)

Acts 10:23b-48

Sermon

Paul W. Kummer

There once was a Roman Catholic priest, an Episcopalian rector, a Presbyterian minister, and a Lutheran pastor who met together for lunch on a regular basis. One afternoon they got in a confessional mood and the minister suggested that they talk about their personal problems. The priest confessed that he was a compulsive gambler. The rector admitted that he had an obsession about attractive women. The minister hesitated, but then admitted that he was an alcoholic. Then all three turned to the Lutheran ...

2678. Decisions, Decisions

Acts 1:12-26

Sermon

Paul W. Kummer

Think of how many decisions you make in a day: What do I wear today? Should I take a different route to work due to construction? Should I have a bagel or an English muffin for breakfast? Should I talk with that person about yesterday or just blow it off? Which child is it that had flute lessons today? Should I get a quick twenty out at the ATM machine at lunch or after work? Do I need to pay bills today or can they wait until tomorrow? Do I have enough energy to run today or not? Should I drive to the ...

2679. By What Authority?

Mark 1:14-20

Sermon

John A. Stroman

And Jesus said to them, "Follow me and I will make you fish for people." And immediately they left their nets and followed him. -- Mark 1:17-18 This text is a statement about a radical discipleship. It needs to be pointed out at the beginning that this reading is the most compact and compressed statement of the gospel expressed anywhere in the New Testament. Leonard Sweet points out, "In these few verses, Jesus' role as an authoritative, compelling, charismatic preacher is defined; the kernel of the gospel ...

2680. Seeds And The Kingdom

Mark 4:30-34, Mark 4:26-29

Sermon Aid

William E. Keeney

At this writing the U.S. House of Representatives has just completed its 100 days of legislation on the so-called Contract with America. It was an effort to change quickly a process which was at work through several decades. Some analysts criticize the legislation for having been put together too hastily. It was driven by a desire to demonstrate instant results. The probability is that the legislation will move through the Senate with more "deliberate speed." The Senate will look more closely to discern ...

2681. Accepting Responsibility

Lamentations 1:1-22

Sermon

Robert P. Hines

There is a broad tendency in our culture to blame other people for our mistakes, to shift responsibility to someone else, to refuse to be accountable for the sins we commit. One motorist filled out an insurance claim by stating that he was driving along, minding his own business, when a parked car got in his way. Criminals will blame their behavior on their genetics and home life. This kind of blaming was carried to its most extreme form in the case of the Menendez brothers, who suggested in court that ...

2682. Permission To Daydream

Joel 2:28-32, Joel 2:18-27

Sermon

Robert P. Hines

Manny pictured it in his mind. He would go to Harvard Law School and graduate with highest honors. He would come back home and run for office: mayor, state representative, governor, and finally, president of the United States. He could see himself doing important things in politics, helping people in significant ways. He would fight poverty, repair bridges and highways, clamp down on crime, and negotiate peace in different parts of the world. When he saw these things happen in his mind, a great big smile ...

2683. So Much To Say, So Little Time

John 16:5-16

Sermon

Alexander H. Wales

The hours were passing rapidly. Time was running out. Jesus was trying to get everything in before the end of his ministry. He had so much to say, and yet, he was aware of the fact that the disciples were just not ready to take it all in. Up to this point, they were struggling just to understand what he had been trying to tell them. They were still stumbling over the meaning of the parables, attempting to put some flesh on stories that seemed to be like a gossamer cloth spun with gold thread, yet ...

2684. Simply Simon

Luke 7:36-50

Sermon

Alexander H. Wales

I just don't understand the man! I invited him into my home and what do I get? INSULTS! He was a guest in my house. I don't think he understands who he's dealing with! Some people just can't be satisfied with what they've received. Let me explain ... "You see, a few weeks back, I heard that Jesus of Nazareth was going to be in our area. You know, he's that roving preacher who's so popular with the public right now. In fact, I've heard he's done some amazing things during his meetings. And he teaches some ...

2685. The Pastor Who Created A Monster

Haggai 1:1-15, Haggai 2:1-9

Sermon

Thomas G. Rogers

As Pastor Jenkins walked through the church fellowship hall he could not help overhearing part of a conversation between two members of his congregation. What he heard troubled him. The members were standing in front of the big thermometer sign that the building committee had made. Five years ago the church had begun a fund campaign for a new sanctuary. The building committee had painted a big thermometer on a four-by-ten-foot sheet of plywood. The measurement markings on the thermometer were labeled, not ...

2686. Adjusting To The Light

Isaiah 9:1-7

Sermon

Paul E. Robinson

Everyone knows the experience of dragging out of bed on a dark morning in January, stepping around the busy humidifier spewing mucous membrane-healing moisture, finding the door to the bathroom and flipping the switch -- whoops, no, not that one, as the fan roars prematurely -- there, the light switch. "Ouch!" we say or think, and the photons from Edison's folly crash against the reluctant retinas of our eyes. We are blinded. We have a fleeting bed wish, yet know that the time is nigh, and the pain must be ...

2687. The Sacred Other

Isaiah 42:1-9

Sermon

Paul E. Robinson

Schindler's List is a movie one doesn't forget. One of the most horrible scenes is that of the commandant who, for his own amusement and in order to watch the prisoners scatter, uses a rifle to shoot some of the Jews in the courtyard of the prison camp. This one vignette graphically portrays the opposite of the message the prophet Isaiah was communicating in the portion of his writings we are looking at now, chapter 42, verses 1-9. "A bruised reed he will not break." All of us surely shudder and shrink ...

2688. You Can Be A Livesaver

Luke 10:25-37

Sermon

Michael B. Brown

Perhaps any who ever watched William Shatner's television show Rescue 911 share my feelings of inadequacy. Viewing makes you think that some guy hanging by his ankles off a 40-story building to rescue a stranded window washer is everyday stuff. One episode dealt with a three-year-old who saved his mother from a seizure. Someone told me of a dog who saved his entire family from a burning house. Me? I'm lucky once in a blue moon just to save somebody a parking space. There was one occasion when I physically ...

2689. Our Champion Rides Into Battle

Isaiah 50:1-11

Sermon

Gerald Whetstone

From the battlement, the watchman sees a knight riding from the forest and ascending the hill. He is in full armor, a long lance in one arm, a great shield in the other. His powerful black charger wears a coat of bright red and paws the air and snorts as the rider reins him in at the castle gate. The knight bangs his lance on the mighty doors and shouts his challenge: "Who will contend with me? Let us face one another. Who dares to be my opponent? Let him present himself!" Day by day a giant from the ranks ...

2690. A Cross For A Doorpost

Exodus 12:1-30

Sermon

Gerald Whetstone

Lambs! More lambs! We need more lambs! Let the blood from each lamb flow into a pool and the pools into streams and the streams into rivers! Bring trains to take it to the cities! Ready ships to carry it across the world! What did the scriptures say? Blood on the doorposts and on the lintel? And those in that home shall be spared? Then take paintbrushes to the doorposts of the homes where the little children are knocked across the floor. Soak with blood the doorways of the shock trauma and coronary care ...

2691. People With A Mission

Acts 1:1-11

Sermon

Gerald Whetstone

"What I have here is really going to turn things around in this country," he said. "Maybe even the world." Actually, he didn't have very much to say. He just kept eating, trying not to seem famished, and all the while never letting a bulging, tattered briefcase off his lap. It wasn't the Sunday noon dinner I had pleasantly anticipated. But there had been a knock on the front door just after noon. Though I'd long before taken down the brass plaque identifying my home as the Lutheran parsonage, I had a ...

2692. You Can Be Articulate

Mark 7:31-37

Sermon

Michael B. Brown

A quick look at any medical journal reveals thousands of phobias that afflict people ... not discomforts or unpleasantries, but full-blown, pulse-raising, sweat-inducing, emotionally debilitating phobias. They come in all shapes and sizes. We find arachnaphobia (the fear of spiders) and musophobia (the fear of mice). There are claustrophobia (the fear of confined spaces with no visible exit) and hydrophobia (the fear of water which prevents anyone from knowing the joys of swimming in summer or deep sea ...

2693. Accepting The Call

1 Peter 3:8-22

Sermon

Sandra Hefter Herrma

Last week, we talked about the call of God to be involved in the ministry of the Word to the world. Peter informed us that we are each called to be priests, offering up spiritual sacrifices. This week, as we continue to listen to Peter, we hear some advice or guidance on how to do that job. He says, "Always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and reverence." We've all met people who want to give us advice, who ...

2694. Surviving The Present Trials

1 Peter 1:1-12

Sermon

Sandra Hefter Herrma

There is one question that pastors get asked more often than any other, especially at this time of year. Can you guess what it is? "If God loves us so much, why does he allow suffering?" Sometimes it's a personal question: "Why am I having to suffer so much?" or "Why is the person I love so much having to suffer like this?" Sometimes, after a disaster, it's more general: "Where was God when the volcano turned into a sludgeslide?" Or when the tornado hit the church, killing even the pastor's little girl, ...

2695. Mother's Day

Romans 16:1-27

Sermon

Brett Blair

I must candidly confess that when I was in seminary the 16th chapter of Paul's letter to the Romans didn't do much for me. It struck me as being boring nothing more than a long presentation of people's names, most of whom I could not pronounce; I usually skimmed over that part so I could get to what I considered to be the real Gospel. Over the years I have greatly changed my attitude about this particular chapter and I have discovered that there is much more to it than I had first imagined. For example, it ...

2696. A Salute to Mothers

Romans 16:1-27

Sermon

Brett Blair

2697. Holy Week

Sermon

Richard Gribble

Monday Holy WeekIsaiah 42:1-7John 12:1-11 Following The Road All people have a vocation in life. Many times the word vocation is applied to priesthood and religious life alone, but this is far too limiting. All people have a vocation, a road that they will follow in life. Some people will follow the vocation to the single life; most will follow the call to married life and family. Some will follow the invitation to become religious and/or priests. Many people will be wives or husbands who work daily to ...

2698. Worship Aid, Drama

Drama

Dann J. Ettner

Invocation Hymn Responsive Dialogue 1 Corinthians 2 P: When I came to you, brothers, I did not come witheloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimonyof God. C: We have not received the spirit of the world but thespirit who is from God, that we may understand what God hasfreely given us. P: For I resolved to know nothing while I was with youexcept Jesus Christ and Him crucified. C: This is what we speak, not in words taught us by humanwisdom but in words taught by the Holy Spirit, ...

2699. Biography Of A Changed Person

Luke 19:1-10

Sermon

Robert Beringer

There are many people who outwardly seem to have their lives all together. They have plenty of money, lots of friends, a good deal of power, and they seem at least on the surface of things to be enjoying the "good life." But inwardly, many of these same people feel lost and alone and empty. What they desperately need is to find a turning point in their lives that will fill that emptiness in their soul. Bill Smith (not his real name) was the pastor of a large and thriving congregation. Everybody loved Bill ...

2700. The Witness Of Pilate

Drama

Dann J. Ettner

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