Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 2726 to 2750 of 4945 results

2726. Political Pardon

Matthew 18:21-35

Sermon

Wayne Brouwer

My parents were married in the wave of weddings that followed World War II. Dad came home from military operations in Europe to start a new life on the farm, and Mom became his partner in the enterprise. There was only one problem — Dad had an older brother who was destined to take over the family agricultural enterprise, and there was not enough work or income to support two families. So Dad began to look for other opportunities. For a while he drove a cattle truck, bringing fattened animals to the sales ...

2727. There's Something about Con Men

Luke 16:1-15

Sermon

King Duncan

There’s an old story that many of you may know about a young man in Montana who bought a horse from a farmer for $100. The farmer agreed to deliver the horse the next day. However when the next day arrived, the farmer reneged on his promise. “I’m afraid the horse has died,” he explained. The young man said, “Well, then give me my money back.” The farmer said, “Can’t do that. I spent it already.” The young man thought for a moment and said, “Ok, then, just bring me the dead horse.” The farmer asked, “What ...

2728. Sitting at the Big People Table

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, 1 Timothy 2:1-7

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

Psalms 100 [1] Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth. [2] Worship the LORD with gladness; come into his presence with singing. [3] Know that the LORD is God. It is he that made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. [4] Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise. Give thanks to him, bless his name. [5] For the LORD is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations. 1 Tim. 2:1-7 [1] First of all, then, I urge that ...

2729. Good News about Hair

Luke 21:5-38

Sermon

King Duncan

Today we’re going to talk about hair. That’s a universal subject, isn’t? All of us have hair well at least most of us. A balding man once asked his barber, “Why do you charge me full price for cutting my hair? There’s so little of it.” “Actually I don’t charge you that much,” said the barber. “But I do have to tack on a finder’s fee.” A little boy was looking through the family album and asked his mother: “Who’s this guy on the beach with you with all the muscles and curly hair?” “That’s your father,” said ...

2730. He Has Never Forsaken Me

Matthew 6:25-34

Illustration

Eric Ritz

Phillips Brooks, the distinguished Congregational Preacher from Boston, said that he began keeping a diary when he was a 13 year old boy. He was one of 11 children, and what spurred him to keep that diary was that he was sitting at the dinner table one night with his parents and his mother expressed concern about how they were going to pay their bills and how they were going to live. In fact, she fully expected to go to the poor house. Phillips Brooks wrote in his diary that his father looked up from the ...

2731. Bothered and Bewildered

2 Corinthians 4:5-12

Sermon

Gibson “Nibs” Stroupe

Whatever one wants to say about the apostle Paul, we must at least say this: He took Christianity out of the rural roads and countryside and spread it into the urban experiences in places like Rome, Ephesus, Antioch, and Corinth. We have two of his letters to the church at Corinth, and it was a church that bothered and bewildered him. The city of Corinth had a rough reputation. Prior to its fall to Rome 140 years before the birth of Jesus, its nature as an urban seaport had given rise to a temple to ...

2732. When Necks Break

2 Samuel 18:5-9, 15, 31-33

Sermon

Donna Schaper

What is the point of war? Even wars of old? The horrible story of Absalom's neck breaking as he rides his horse as part of an ancient army is very hard to take — and still many of us teach it in Sunday school! One picture that I remember from my own heavily Sunday-schooled youth is of Absalom, beautiful, long, black hair, riding along on a white horse, with a branch straight at his throat. Chapter 18 of the second book of Samuel tells quite a story of violence and death. We get nothing but a slight ...

2733. Wise Leadership

1 Kings 2:10-12, 3:3-14

Sermon

Donna Schaper

Solomon asks for the right thing: He asks for wisdom. He asks for it from a very humble place, the place of knowing that he is but a child and still he has been put in charge of large things. Leadership is a treacherous thing. How can we possibly know so when we are but children? That is what Solomon knew. He knew, even as a child, just how much help he was going to need to be a leader. He already had some of the wisdom he seeks. Ironically, he was wise beyond his years. God rewards him with wisdom for ...

2734. Finding the Good Woman Part in Us All

Proverbs 31:10-31

Sermon

Donna Schaper

A good woman is a superwoman, or so it appears to me as I read the list of things she can do. In this famous passage from Proverbs, we read that a good woman is precious and that her husband trusts her. A good woman is a good marketer and bargainer, buying fields, trading wool and flax, finding good food from far away. She makes her arms strong! There is certainly no picture of twenty-first-century "typical" femininity here. She is not just precious to her husband or a good businesswoman: she also opens ...

2735. Looking for Rainbows

Genesis 9:1-17

Sermon

King Duncan

Jack Coe was a popular evangelist in the first half of the twentieth century. Like many popular evangelists of the time, Coe held his services in a tent. Coe’s tent was a massive structure which would hold ten thousand people. One day Coe had a dream in which he saw a flood. The dream troubled him so much that he told his wife about it. Later, when he was conducting a crusade in Kansas City, he dreamed once again about a flood. Together these two dreams seemed so real that he felt that perhaps God was ...

2736. Questions That Puzzle Me

Humor Illustration

Puzzling Questions: Can you cry under water? How important does a person have to be before they are considered assassinated instead of just murdered? Why do you have to 'put your two cents in'... but it's only a 'penny for your thoughts'? Where's that extra penny going? Once you're in heaven, do you get stuck wearing the clothes you were buried in for eternity? Why does a round pizza come in a square box? What disease did cured ham actually have? How is it that we put man on the moon before we figured out ...

2737. Hit Me with Your Best Shot

Luke 4:1-13

Sermon

Frank Ramirez

Harry Houdini (1874-1926) was an expert at sleight of hand, a skeptic when it came to the spiritualists and other psychic phonies of his day, but he was best known for his ability to escape from what seemed to be impossible situations. Straitjackets, chains, ropes, jail cells, strange devices such as a milk pail filled with water — he managed to escape from one situation after another in full view of his audience. What did him in, however, was the blow he never saw coming. While reclining on a couch ...

2738. Just Deal with It

Luke 20:27-38

Sermon

Scott Bryte

If you could ask Jesus a question, any question, and be promised a plain answer, what would you ask? There are a lot of big ones that have never been answered. Wouldn't it be great if you could just go up to Jesus and ask him one of life's big, profound eternal mysteries? "Why is there evil?" "What happens when we die?" "Why are we here?" Jesus was asked a lot of questions during the time he was walking around the near east some 2,000 years ago. Some of them were pretty good questions: "What must I do to ...

2739. Risky Business

Acts 9:1-6 (7-20)

Sermon

David E. Leininger

High drama. The story of Paul's miraculous conversion from pious persecutor to proud preacher. We all remember it from Sunday school: the Damascus Road, the light from heaven, the voice. Some of us have had similar experiences as well, although perhaps not as dramatic. The drama in this one is heightened once Saul is brought into the city. Following a three-day pause in darkness (is there something significant about three days — echoes of the resurrection, no doubt), we hear the story of one of the most ...

2740. Proper 24

Genesis 32:22-32, Psalm 119:97-104, Jeremiah 31-27-34, Luke 18:1-8, 2 Timothy 3:14--4:5

Bulletin Aid

Julia Ross Strope

Call To Worship Leader: I’m glad today is Sunday and we are here together. People: We are grateful for sanctuary and for faithful friends. Leader: God is with us as usual. People: There’s a poem we like to remember: We lift our eyes to the hills; From where does our help come? Our help comes from God who made heaven and earth. God, our protector never dozes or sleeps; God guards us and is ever by our side. The sun will not hurt us during the day nor the moon during the night. God will protect us from ...

2741. The Things Close to Your Heart

Mark 13:1-31

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

If you’ve ever had your wallet or purse stolen you know that the worst “loss” is not the cash (who has it!) or the credit cards (you just cancel them). The worst loss is all those personal, “heart” things you keep close to you. *Your ancient Social Security card that you got at age 15. *Photos of parents, kids, and siblings that are faded and creased from being carted about for years. *Those little “oddments” that remind you of who you are and where you come from — a broken piece of jewelry, a note giving ...

2742. The Temple of Doom and the Bridegroom

Mark 13:1-31

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

If you’ve ever had your wallet or purse stolen you know that the worst “loss” is not the cash (who has it!) or the credit cards (you just cancel them). The worst loss is all those personal, “heart” things you keep close to you. Your ancient Social Security card that you got at age 15. Photos of parents, kids, and siblings that are faded and creased from being carted about for years. Those little “oddments” that remind you of who you are and where you come from — a broken piece of jewelry, a note giving ...

2743. When There’s Nothing Left To Do But Mourn

Jeremiah 8:18—9:1

Sermon

Chrysanne Timm

When a person is diagnosed with a serious disorder, one that threatens their very existence, life as we know it is turned upside down. There is research to conduct about traditional and alternative treatments. There are specialists with whom to consult. Sometimes there are changes in lifestyle and in priorities to be considered, as Tim McGraw sang in his 2004 hit, "Live Like You Were Dying." I have watched this process in many parishioners over the years. Quite often everyone, including the person with ...

2744. Be a Bethany

John 12:1-11

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

We never truly appreciate “home-grown,” or “home-style”,” “home-spun” or “down home” until “home” is in our rear view mirror. For college students, Mom’s meatloaf suddenly take on a whole new luster after a semester of college cafeteria food. A burger from McDonald’s, a Pizza Hut pie, or some KFC, tastes like heaven after an extended tour of duty in Afghanistan. It is the simple tastes, the simple things, the most simple and most familiar people, that make a particular place on this planet “home.” ...

2745. Getting out of the Doldrums

Luke 6:17-26

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

The classic children’s book, The Phantom Tollbooth (1961), tells the story of a young boy named Milo. One dull, rainy afternoon Milo receives the anonymous gift of a cardboard fold-and-cut tollbooth. Bored Milo builds the tollbooth and “drives through” it with his toy car. Immediately Milo disappears from his room and finds himself traveling along a strange road in a new land. But despite this miraculous relocation, as the road continues on and on, and the countryside rolls by and by, Milo begins to grow ...

2746. You Have a Friend (Memorial Day)

John 14:15-31

Sermon

King Duncan

An anonymous e-mail tells a story we need to hear on this Memorial Day weekend. It’s about an old man and his wife sitting in the parking lot of a supermarket. The hood is up on their car. Evidently they are having engine problems. A young man in his early twenties with a grocery bag in his arm walks in the direction of the elderly couple. The old gentleman emerges from the car and takes a few steps in the young man’s direction. He points to the open hood and asks the young man for assistance. The young ...

2747. Be A Good Virus

Romans 8:1-17

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

Neither “fish nor fowl.” “Lukewarm.” “Wishy-washy.” “Spineless.” “Mediocre.” These are not good character references. These are descriptions of people who have no personal convictions, no compelling passions, no “take-it-to-the-front-line” faithfulness. Instead, like liquid gelatin, those who have no backbone pour themselves into whatever mold is put before to them for the simplest, easiest gain. The apostle Paul was definitely not a “lukewarm” or “wishy-washy” kind of guy. In fact, he warned the church at ...

2748. Breaking News: God and Government

Romans 13:1-7

Sermon

James Merritt

No matter what your politics might be, whether you are Democrat, Republican or Independent, by common consensus one of the wittiest and funniest presidents in human history was Ronald Reagan. I came across some of his famous one-liners the other day and I thought you would get a kick out of them. It is true hard work never killed anybody, but I figure why take the chance? I’m not worried about the deficit. It is big enough to take care of itself. I have left orders to be awakened at any time in case of a ...

2749. God Is Not Dead

Exodus 20:1-21

Sermon

James Merritt

If there is one commandment that is usually thought to be irrelevant, it is the second commandment. However, it may be second in position because it is second in importance. This commandment is one that is probably the most easily ignored and, yet, the most blatantly broken. In case you doubt that idolatry is alive and well right here in America, picture a newspaper article entitled, THE DEIFICATION OF ELVIS: Those who worship ‘the king’ practice their own form of religion. This newspaper writer thought at ...

2750. While It Was Still Dark

John 20:1-9

Sermon

King Duncan

Welcome on this Easter Sunday 2015 the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the grave. This is the most important day in the year for Christians. Unfortunately, tomorrow is the biggest day of the year for some golfers. It is the start of The Masters golf tournament in Augusta, Georgia. You think I’m kidding about their relative importance? Years ago, Frank Chirkinian, the head of CBS Sports, discovered that The Masters and Easter Sunday happened on the same day that year. Upset at this ...

Showing results

Showing 2726 to 2750 of 4945 results

2726. Political Pardon

Matthew 18:21-35

Sermon

Wayne Brouwer

2727. There's Something about Con Men

Luke 16:1-15

Sermon

King Duncan

2728. Sitting at the Big People Table

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, 1 Timothy 2:1-7

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

2729. Good News about Hair

Luke 21:5-38

Sermon

King Duncan

2730. He Has Never Forsaken Me

Matthew 6:25-34

Illustration

Eric Ritz

2731. Bothered and Bewildered

2 Corinthians 4:5-12

Sermon

Gibson “Nibs” Stroupe

2732. When Necks Break

2 Samuel 18:5-9, 15, 31-33

Sermon

Donna Schaper

2733. Wise Leadership

1 Kings 2:10-12, 3:3-14

Sermon

Donna Schaper

2734. Finding the Good Woman Part in Us All

Proverbs 31:10-31

Sermon

Donna Schaper

2735. Looking for Rainbows

Genesis 9:1-17

Sermon

King Duncan

2736. Questions That Puzzle Me

Humor Illustration

2737. Hit Me with Your Best Shot

Luke 4:1-13

Sermon

Frank Ramirez

2738. Just Deal with It

Luke 20:27-38

Sermon

Scott Bryte

2739. Risky Business

Acts 9:1-6 (7-20)

Sermon

David E. Leininger

2740. Proper 24

Genesis 32:22-32, Psalm 119:97-104, Jeremiah 31-27-34, Luke 18:1-8, 2 Timothy 3:14--4:5

Bulletin Aid

Julia Ross Strope

2741. The Things Close to Your Heart

Mark 13:1-31

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

2742. The Temple of Doom and the Bridegroom

Mark 13:1-31

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

If you’ve ever had your wallet or purse stolen you know that the worst “loss” is not the cash (who has it!) or the credit cards (you just cancel them). The worst loss is all those personal, “heart” things you keep close to you. Your ancient Social Security card that you got at age 15. Photos of parents, kids, and siblings that are faded and creased from being carted about for years. Those little “oddments” that remind you of who you are and where you come from — a broken piece of jewelry, a note giving ...

2743. When There’s Nothing Left To Do But Mourn

Jeremiah 8:18—9:1

Sermon

Chrysanne Timm

2744. Be a Bethany

John 12:1-11

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

2745. Getting out of the Doldrums

Luke 6:17-26

Sermon

Leonard Sweet