Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 2801 to 2825 of 4977 results

2801. Prepare The Way

Mark 1:1-8

Sermon

Brett Blair

... of one of Verdi’s operas. He was young and this particular work had been produced in a hurry. Verdi knew that it was not his best. It was performed f or the first time in Florence and at the end the enthusiastic yet undiscriminating audience went into quite unwarranted raptures and cheered the composer. But Verdi paid little heed. He had eyes for only one man. He looked to the box where this one man sat. The adoration of the crowd would not compensate for the lack of this man’s approval. The man was ...

2802. Waiting

John 1:6-8, 19-28

Sermon

Brett Blair

... not swift. I, like you, accept most of our no—wait approach to life, with the exception of instant potatoes, which are intolerable. But the truth is that, though we do not like waiting, waiting is a part of living. We must wait for payday, a break, quitting time, and for the mailman. When you do your Christmas shopping, you had certainly better be prepared to wait in a line to get checked out, wait to get a parking place, and wait through at least four red lights before making a left hand turn on Poplar ...

2803. Something Good Can Come From Nazareth

John 1:43-51

Sermon

Brett Blair

... to become a lawyer. On my first day on campus, a student dropped by to visit. He welcomed me and offered to help in any way he could. Then he asked me where I went to church. I told him I was Catholic. He explained that the Catholic Church was quite a distance away, but he sat down and drew me a map. I thanked him and he left. "On the following Sunday morning it was raining. I decided to just skip church. But then there was a knock on my door. There stood my new friend and he was holding ...

2804. Making A Christian

Mark 1:9-13, Mark 1:1-8

Drama

Robert F. Crowley

... not. BILL: Oh? What is it a question of? SAM: Why, my dear man, it's a question of whether you look like a Christian or not. BILL: It is? SAM: Why, yes, of course it is. BILL: And I don't look like a Christian? SAM: Almost, but not quite. BILL: I don't, eh? SAM: No, you don't. BILL: Well, how does a Christian look? SAM: A Christian looks ... intense. BILL: (WITH AN EXAGGERATED LOOK OF INTENSITY) How's this? SAM: Well, not bad. BILL: More? (EVEN MORE INTENSE) SAM: There, that's about it. Now, hold that ...

2805. Past / Future

Mark 1:35-39, Mark 1:29-34

Drama

Robert F. Crowley

... you and a couple of kids. MOMMA: Well, you're free to go any Time and good riddance. POPPA: I am going and I don't care if I ever lay eyes on any of you ever again. (JOEL BEGINS TO EXIT BUT LEO RUSHES TO HIM AND HUGS HIM QUITE INAPPROPRIATELY) LEO: No, no, don't leave me. I'll do better. I'll be a good boy. I really will. Just don't leave me. (JOEL CAN'T BELIEVE WHAT HAS JUST HAPPENED. HE EXITS. LEO BEGINS TO EXIT WITH MOMMA AND POPPA STILL CLINGING TO HIM) MOMMA: Leonard ...

2806. UR Fair IC

Mark 2:18-22

Drama

Robert F. Crowley

... once a year by his own admission. I fast twice a week by my own spotless record. Which is more holy? SCRIBE: I see. FAIRISEE: Not yet. SCRIBE: Sorry. FAIRISEE: Who is more holy? SCRIBE: Jesus. FAIRISEE: That's wrong. SCRIBE: I see. FAIRISEE: I am most holy. It's quite plain. SCRIBE: No, it isn't. FAIRISEE: What are you saying? SCRIBE: I'm saying it's not plain at all. God gave the law to Moses that states that we must fast but once a year. Why should you add anything to God's law? FAIRISEE: Because by doing ...

2807. In The Heavenly Places

Ephesians 2:1-10

Drama

Robert F. Crowley

Theme: It is best to have all the answers about how to enter heaven before you need them. Summary: It's never stated in the Bible that entrance into heaven is easy. Two candidates lining up at the pearly gates express two opposing views, one quite worldly and the other simply trusting in Jesus. But who is this third person helping the worldly-wise person? He seems to have all the answers. Are the answers any good? Playing Time: 5 1/2 minutes Setting: Just this side of Heaven's pearly gates Props: None ...

2808. Academics, Fanatics, and Other Disciples

Mark 1:14-20

Sermon

Maurice A. Fetty

... we were far more interested in racing our motorboats up and down the river and jumping the wake of the huge barges and tugboats. I was not much of a fisherman nor was I the son of a fisherman. But my daughters were a different story, especially when they were quite young. While vacationing on a lake in northern Michigan, I would take them out in the boat to a well-known spot to fish for bass. I would help them bait their hooks. They would throw in their lines, and almost before I got my line in the water ...

2809. Report of a Secret Meeting

John 3:1-21

Sermon

George Bass

... those of us who believe in him and trust him. Six months ago, a small-town newspaper in northeastern Pennsylvania carried a personal, quarter-page advertisement that caught my attention. It was from a woman, Rose Bertola Funke, who apparently had been hospitalized quite some time with a very serious illness. Beneath the headline, "From my heart," she wrote, "To just say THANK YOU to my wonderful friends and neighbors who so abundantly demonstrated their love in so many ways during my recent illness would be ...

2810. When the Guest Becomes the Host

Mark 14:12-26

Sermon

George Bass

... name or relate his fate, but merely says, "It would have been better for that man if he had not been born," or, certainly, that he had not heard of Christ and committed himself to him and his mission. And the reason for such an omission is quite clear: Mark wanted his readers - and us - to comprehend what was the climactic part of that passover meal: The institution of the Lord’s Supper, the Eucharist. Now Jesus becomes the Host for the meal. Now the ancient Passover is given new meaning. Now he becomes ...

2811. The Stranger at the Tomb

Mark 16:1-20

Sermon

George Bass

... Jim Bridwell had dreams and visions about his father, Lt. Clarence Bridwell, who had been lost in combat during World War II just before his birth (November 5, 1944); his plane went out of control on a bombing run over Germany. In 1982, Bridwell said, "I’ve been quite surprised by what has happened. The images have come when I was meditating, when I was being quiet and reflective. It wasn’t a clear picture - not like the ones I had when I was a boy of five or six. It was more like recalling someone that ...

2812. The Man Who Asked For Dinner

Luke 24:36-49

Sermon

George Bass

... although he, too, was changed, he was returning to his disciples so that they would know that his earthly story was almost complete, and that it was to be their task to go and tell the world his story. The disciples weren’t quite ready for Jesus’ reappearance - and that’s certainly understandable. And Jesus seems a bit impatient with the disciples. That’s understandable, too. No wonder he questions, "Why are you troubled, and why do questionings rise in your hearts?" They should have been overjoyed ...

2813. The Shepherd Who Loved His Sheep

John 10:1-21

Sermon

George Bass

... in Glory" mosaic in the building, opposite the first, and this one portrays Christ seated upon a throne and laying claim to the earth and everyone upon it. The combination catches and sums up the theme of this gospel for Good Shepherd Sunday, and does it quite well. But this section of John’s "Good Shepherd chapter" seems bent on taking us behind Easter to the Passion and death of our Lord. Jesus not only calls himself the Good Shepherd, but he declares, "The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep ...

2814. A Prayer for the Faithful

John 17:6-19

Sermon

George Bass

... - and then offering them forgiveness in the name of the risen Lord - they were in for more trouble than they could handle. But the kinds of persecution and punishment tradition says they experienced - including horrible deaths as martyrs for all except John - don’t seem quite real today. Even when we have one of their stories fully told, as in the case of Stephen, it sounds remote, if not a bit unreal. Many of us remember the Epistle read annually on the second Sunday before Lent (we used to call it ...

2815. The Technicolor Sign

Genesis 9:1-17

Sermon

Larry Powell

... Ash Wednesday, it includes the forty days, excluding Sundays, preceding Easter and is also symbolic of the forty days Christ fasted in the wilderness. Consequently, we have come today not to the first Sunday "of" Lent, but the first Sunday "in" Lent. The word "Lent" is quite beyond the Hebrew or Greek vocabulary, which is to say, it is not a biblical word. It is a derivation of the Saxon name for the month of March, "Lencten-Monath," indicating that at this time of year days begin to exceed nights in length ...

2816. A Thimble Full Of Ocean

Jeremiah 30:1--31:40

Sermon

Larry Powell

... said, "Sin is strong and fleet of foot, outrunning everything." Thoreau said, "We cannot do well without our sins; they are the highway of our virtue." Someone else has compared sin to dandelions, saying, "They are a lifetime fight that you never quite win." But we are transported now into another dimension, transcending our memory fibers and emotional fumblings, into a dimension occupied by an eternally self-purifying presence which says, "I will forgive their iniquity and I will remember their sin no more ...

2817. On His Way

Matthew 21:1-11

Sermon

Larry Powell

... 9:9 come to life: "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Lo, your king comes to you; triumphant and victorious is he, humble and riding on an ass, on a colt the foal of an ass." But something did not quite fit. Where was the royal purple? Why did the religious authorities not bow down and worship him? Why did the sun still reflect off Roman shields? After all the screaming and shouting and palm waving, had anything REALLY changed? There was a certain element of tragedy ...

2818. Behold the Blood of the Covenant

Exodus 24:1-18

Sermon

Larry Powell

... our parsonage and when the new minister moved in, I went over to meet him. He was a large man, soft-spoken, articulate, friendly, and blessed with a lovely family. But already, a hidden agenda was being pursued by one of his own members, an agenda quite unknown to him. His member was so bent upon carrying out his own intentions that nothing could stop him. The new minister lasted six months, despite the fact that he was a good preacher and "mixed" even sooner than they had anticipated. However, one man, a ...

2819. Man Of Sorrows

Isaiah 52:13--53:12

Sermon

Larry Powell

... went there with lanterns and torches and weapons" (John 18:3). The net was down now, and Judas had inscribed his name at the top of the first page in the book titled "Traitors." More had been betrayed there than simply the whereabouts of Jesus. Quite frankly, the authorities probably already knew where to find Jesus anyway. Numerous times they could have laid hold of him beforehand if it had suited their purposes. He had certainly been visible enough on Sunday and again early in the week at the Temple. Let ...

2820. Advent: Lament, Repent

Isaiah 63:7--64:12

Sermon

Richard L. Eslinger

... call down God’s wrath on our enemies. Our prayer changes from a lament to a plea, a demand - "God, make yourself known to your enemies." "Act, God, as you did of old." "O that thou wouldst rend the heavens and come down." And honestly, now, there is quite a collection of oppressors who deserve the wrath of the Lord. Those ungodly, who daily mock God. Finally, we get fed up and ask for God to act. It used to be that pious Christians prayed every day for the conversion of Russia. Theirs were fervent prayers ...

2821. Good News, Release, and Comfort

Isaiah 61:1-11

Sermon

Richard L. Eslinger

... are now more last-minute things that need to be done before Christmas. The first of these "additional" items is that we bring good news to the afflicted. One of our Christmas chores is to bind up the brokenhearted. It is a challenging order and has a quite specific meaning. You see, this last part of the book of Isaiah was written after the people returned from exile. They could come home now, but they discovered that, in many ways, they were still hurting. This restoration was not all it was cracked up to ...

2822. House-Building Time

2 Samuel 7:1-17

Sermon

Richard L. Eslinger

The angel was quite clear to Mary. There was no mistaking the meaning of Gabriel’s words. Mary had found favor with God and would conceive a child. She was to have a son and call his name Jesus. But this thing which would come to pass became incredibly significant when the angel announced ...

2823. We May Have to Change Our Name

Isaiah 61:1-11

Sermon

Richard L. Eslinger

... of salvation," he proclaimed. He anticipated a time of being covered with the robe of righteousness. That’s a good way to describe this Christmas season. Clothed with the garments of salvation! Joyful garments; no longer sackcloth and ashes. We see these garments quite immediately in the way the [Table, altar] is clothed in white. The stoles and banners and hangings are all signs of being clothed with salvation in Jesus Christ. The festival of Messiah’s birth is at hand. But it is important for Christ ...

2824. Mary Ann Was Born Again

Genesis 1:1-2:3

Sermon

Richard L. Eslinger

... Ann, on this tenth anniversary of her baptism? Well, later on she experienced God’s call to ordained ministry and went off to seminary for her preparation. She was ordained after graduation and is serving a congregation now. And today, this Sunday of the Baptism of Our Lord, it is quite likely that she is holding an infant in her arms and proclaiming before the community of faith, "I baptize you in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen."

2825. "Job" Is Our Name Too

Job 6:1-7:21

Sermon

Richard L. Eslinger

... as inevitable as the suffering of Job is what happens next. Job’s friends come to him to interpret the meaning of his distress. "You have sinned," they announce, "and the sooner you repent, the sooner your fortunes will change." Job’s friends are quite orthodox in their diagnosis of the suffering they see. All this "ill-fortune" is really curse, God’s judgment for wrong-doing. Only some awful sin could result in such awful suffering. Therefore, Job is a sinner. His suffering gives him away. God is ...

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