Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 2676 to 2700 of 4935 results

2676. Time to Get Ready

Luke 12:32-40

Sermon

Jesus said: "Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions, and give alms; provide yourselves with purses that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. "Let your loins be girded and your lamps burning, and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the marriage feast, so that they’ may open to ...

2677. The Reins of Power

2 Samuel 5:1-5

Sermon

In keeping with the directives of our church calendar, we celebrate Christ the King today. As we do so, two great events are in the background of our thinking. One has to do with the occasion when the Israelites came to David at Hebron and petitioned him to take on the additional responsibility of being their king as well as the king of Judah. The other is the remembrance of Jesus riding a donkey into Jerusalem, and being acclaimed a king by the excited multitude that had gathered, because they had heard ...

2678. The Demanding Word

Matthew 13:1-23

Sermon

"That same day Jesus left the house and went to the lakeside, where he sat down to teach. The crowd that gathered around him was so large that he got into a boat and satin it, while the crowd stood on the shore. He used parables to tell them many things. 'There was a man who went out to sow. As he scattered the seed in the field, some of it fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some of it fell on rocky ground, where there was little soil. The seeds soon sprouted, because the soil wasn't ...

2679. Proper 22

Lk 17:5-10 · 2 Tim 1:1-14 · Am 5:6-7, 10-15

Sermon Aid

John R. Brokhoff

COMMENTARY Amos 5:6-7, 10-15 Though Israel is guilty of social injustices, Yahweh will be gracious to her if she seeks the Lord and loves good. Amos urges Israel to seek life by seeking the Lord, hating evil, loving good, and establishing justice. Because of their sins, they will experience the fire of judgment. Their sins are of a social nature: the wealthy oppress the poor, afflict the righteous, and accept bribes. Amos calls upon the nation to repent by turning from evil and turning to Yahweh. Then it ...

2680. An Easier Way?

Matthew 16:21-28

Sermon

(Author's note: this sermon was preached as a first-person monologue by Jesus' disciple Peter. To help the congregation grasp the time difference, I costumed a bit by wearing the khafia, the common headdress of the Mideast. I also wore a cross, which I used as a "prop" near the monologue's end. At the same time, the sermon incorporated a "time warp, " with Peter speaking at one point as if he could see through the centuries.) I was asked the $64,000 question. The big question where "winner takes all." The ...

2681. Communion Is Relief

Matthew 11:25-30

Sermon

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. I'm worried about education in America. My concern right now is different from the usual ones about drug abuse, sexual immorality and secularistic ideas. I'm worried about the way some Americans have learned to spell. There are people who cannot spell even the simplest words ...

2682. What the End Will Be Like

Zephaniah 1:4-13

Sermon

To speak about the end of the world sounds rather oldfashioned, but admittedly not as old-fashioned as it once was. Israel never kept its part of the covenant with God very long. The people always sinned and turned their backs upon the God who had not only delivered them from slavery, but also had led them to the Promised Land and saw to it that they were established there as an independent nation. The message, which Zephaniah had received from God and had spoken to the Israelites, was that a day of ...

2683. The Changes Children Bring

Isaiah 11:1-16

Sermon

... and a little child shall lead them. (Isaiah 11:6) During the last five years my wife and I have found out what every other parent in all of human history has found out: children bring changes to your life. In fact, children take life as you’ve known it and turn it upside down. In his book, Fatherhood, Bill Cosby asks just one question of those who want to have children: Why? "Why would you have children when all your other acts were rational?" Why would you give up the comfortable patterns of your life ...

2684. Between a Rock and a Hard Place

Daniel 2:24-49, Daniel 2:1-23

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

My friend Mary Jane had just picked up her little boy from kindergarten. She was in a hurry, so she eased through a stop sign instead of coming to a complete stop. A city policeman saw it all and pulled her over. He was very abrupt and stern. She tried to offer a word of explanation but he interrupted and said, "I'm going back to my car and write you up." Mary Jane sat there seething with anger. She said out loud, "That turkey! That guy is an absolute turkey!" She forgot that her four-year-old son was ...

2685. Zacchaeus

Luke 19:1-10

Sermon

Brett Blair

We owe Luke a great debt. For in his Gospel alone is told a dramatic story that capsulizes for us what the mission of Jesus was all about, and in turn what the mission of the church is all about. The event happened while Jesus was passing through Jericho, the city of palms. Writes Luke: “And there was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector, and he was rich.” In one sentence we are told the story of a human life. Here’s the background. Nothing in first century Judea was quite so hated and ...

2686. 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 ...

2687. EPISODE 1: THE FIRST WEEK IN LENT

Drama

Robert Clausen

ACT ONE EPISODE 1: THE FIRST WEEK IN LENT BISHOP FIRST CLERGYMAN SECOND CLERGYMAN JESUS PETER JOHN JUDAS [The BISHOP is in conversation with the FIRST and SECOND CLERGYMEN.] BISHOP: I have said it before, brothers, and I say it again. This man has got to go. FIRST CLERGYMAN: Amen. BISHOP: For the good of the church, for the good of the people, for the good of every one of us ... FIRST CLERGYMAN: Amen. BISHOP: This man has got to go. SECOND CLERGYMAN: But, brother ... BISHOP: Please, remember to address me ...

2688. Marantha: Come Lord Jesus

Luke 2:21-40

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

A brand new pastor, fresh out of seminary, was preaching his first sermon in his first church. In seminary he had been taught to repeat his text numerous times for emphasis, and to pound on the pulpit occasionally. His text happened to be that promise of our Lord: "Behold I come quickly." At the beginning of the sermon he slammed the pulpit rather smartly and declared, "Behold I come quickly." Then about five minutes into the sermon he did the same thing. About ten minutes into the sermon he did it again. ...

2689. The Struggle of Faith

Matthew 11:1-19

Sermon

Gregory J. Johanson

A local pastor for ten years, the author of a number of publications in the area of pastoral care and counseling, WILLIAM B. OGLESBY, JR., has been from 1952 to the present Marthina DeFriece Professor of Pastoral Counseling at Union Theological Seminary in Virginia. He is a past president of the Association for Clinical Pastoral Education and a Diplomate of the American Association of Pastoral Counselors involved in a number of therapeutic institutions in his local area. His sermon, The Struggle of Faith, ...

2690. At The Potter's House

Jeremiah 18:1--19:15

Sermon

John W. Wurster

(Note: This monologue is from the point of view of an imagined contemporary of Jeremiah.) I was down at the potter’s house yesterday. Have you been recently? I haven’t see you there. In fact, I haven’t see many people there at all recently. Nobody much comes to the potter’s house these days. It’s certainly not how it used to be when the potter’s house was a gathering point for the community. Well, you know how people would come just to watch the potter work with the clay. We would just stand there and ...

2691. The Greatest Show on Earth

Matthew 24:36-51, Mark 13:1-31, Mark 13:32-37, Luke 21:5-38

Drama

Dave Marsh

Director's Notes: Why is it that the idea of meeting or knowing a celebrity (actor, musician, writer, etc.) something that we as people find so compelling? While they may have talents or money that we may not possess, they are still just like us, human beings. If I were to tell you that Tom Cruise or Julia Roberts were going to come visit you for a month, declare their undying friendship to you, shower you with gifts and always love you, chances are you might just faint or die of a heart attack, overcome ...

2692. When Our Children Teach Us

Luke 2:41-52

Sermon

James W. Moore

Some years ago, the Journal of the American Medical Association published an article by Dr. Paul Ruskin on the “Stages of Aging.” In the article, Dr. Ruskin described a case study he had presented to his students when teaching a class in medical school. He described the case study patient under his care like this: “The patient neither speaks nor comprehends the spoken word. Sometimes she babbles incoherently for hours on end. She is disoriented about person, place, and time. She does, however, respond to ...

2693. Who Is Your Lazarus?

Luke 16:19-31

Sermon

King Duncan

A judge in New York City was mugged. Later he called a press conference. He made the following statement to reporters, "This mugging will in no way affect my decisions in adjudicating matters of this kind." An elderly woman stood up in the back of the room and said, "Then mug him again!" She wanted to make sure the judge got the message about what is happening in the streets of our cities. An old man was trying to lead a contrary donkey down the road. A passer-by stopped him and commented on the way the ...

2694. Why Won't They Listen?

Matthew 13:1-23

Sermon

King Duncan

Why won't they listen? Why won't they turn back before it is too late? Don't they see what they are doing to themselves? Is there any experience in life more frustrating than to see someone you love committed to a course that can lead only to heartache and despair and yet not be able to get through to them? An aging mother begins shutting herself off from her family and friends. She refuses to care for herself or to get out for social occasions. She becomes obsessed with her physical aches and pains, ...

2695. Rise Above It

Hebrews 4:14-5:10

Sermon

King Duncan

Nothing perplexes the sensitive heart more than the problem of human suffering. Studdert-Kennedy used to say that anyone who was undisturbed by the problem of pain was suffering from one of two things: either from a hardening of the heart, or a softening of the brain. He's absolutely right. Is there any purpose to pain? Any advantage to adversity? Any solace in suffering? "Don't be discouraged, Charlie Brown," Schroeder tells him. "These early defeats help to build character for later on in life." "For ...

2696. He Can Change Water To Wine

John 2:1-11

Sermon

King Duncan

It was the stuff that dreams are made of. A seventeen year old girl in Inglewood, California wrote a letter to her favorite television star. Enclosed was a newspaper clipping accompanied by a picture. The article told about a show the girl was to appear in. In the newspaper article the writer noted what this girl's friends had already told her many times before the girl's physical resemblance to the television star. A few days later the girl's phone rang. It was the television star. "Don't say anything ...

2697. Dr. Life

John 10:1-21

Sermon

King Duncan

Go with me for a few minutes to a quiet suburb of Detroit, Michigan ” a suburb known as Waterford Township. Turn with me down Paulsen Street. The street, surrounded by elm and birch trees, seems like any other quiet suburb. Yet people in Waterford Township call Paulsen Street, "the road of death." Four times a white van has pulled up in front of a brown, two-story house on Paulsen Street. A slender, white-haired man with glasses has emerged from the van and walked up to the door of the house. Each time he ...

2698. The Conversion Of A Scoundrel

Genesis 28:10-22

Sermon

King Duncan

After important negotiations with business leaders in his high-rise office building, John D. Rockefeller used to say goodbye to his visitors at the elevator. While the visitors filed into the elevator, an innocent looking man would slip in and ride with them to the ground floor. He would follow the group out the door and then cross the street. A few minutes later, the innocent looking man would go back to Rockefeller’s office to deliver a detailed report of what the unsuspecting visitors talked about ...

2699. Help For Hurting Dads

Galatians 3:15-25

Sermon

King Duncan

Jeffrey Zaslow is an advice columnist much like ANN LANDERS and DEAR ABBY. Zaslow says he will consider any question. His readers know that, so they send him whatever oddball questions pop into their heads. Consider this letter which one woman wrote: "My husband is a very special man, and I would love to see his face on Mt. Rushmore. I know this is a big request, but how might I go about getting this idea in motion?" Signed, "His Biggest Fan." For an answer, Zaslow called the folks in South Dakota who tend ...

2700. Freedom Song

Galatians 6:1-10

Sermon

King Duncan

Not long ago, a group of youngsters was questioned at random on what they liked about the United States. Here is a sample of the answers: Jackie, age 9 "We've got more stuff and things in America than anywhere in the world. We have pizza as well and it don't grow any other place on earth except maybe Italy." Heather, age 5 "America is the best because people in other countries are smaller and they get trodden on easy." Elliott, age 9 "Everybody wants to live in America because we own the moon. The ...

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