Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 2826 to 2850 of 4945 results

2826. Christians Die Well

Acts 7:54--8:1a

Sermon

Barbara Brokhoff

Now in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplying, there arose a murmuring against the Hebrews by the Hellenists, because their widows were neglected in the daily distribution. Then the twelve summoned the multitude of the disciples and said, "it is not desirable that we should leave the word of God, and serve tables. Therefore, brethren, seek out from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business; but we will give ...

2827. Scenes From a Marriage

Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21

Sermon

Craig Erickson

How incongruous to talk about marriage on this solemn Day of Ashes. Marriage evokes images of life and joy and growth, perhaps even of youthful, starry-eyed wonder. But this is a day about dying. It’s a day of sober realism and human limitations. It’s a day that begins a season of denial, of fasting, and repentance. How incongruous to bring up marriage on this day. But then, every marriage has its moments. There’s not one that doesn’t have its darker side, when the "union made in heaven" is all-too- ...

2828. In Debt Forever!

Romans 13:8-14

Sermon

Raymond Gibson

It seemed as though the bishop was looking straight at me "Are you in debt so much as to embarrass you in your work?" What an incongruous question to ask of a candidate for ordination. It seemed so mundane, so inappropriate for such a hallowed occasion, even if it was one of the questions asked of ordinands ever since the day when John Wesley first posed it. "Are you in debt so much as to embarrass you in your work?" "Of course, I’m in debt, Bishop! Who wouldn’t be after three years in seminary on a ...

2829. Dessert in the Desert

Deut 32:10-12 · Ez 37

Sermon

Robert Noblett

On one occasion our family went to a park for a picnic, and as my wife and I sat watching our children play, we beheld the most unsettling of sights. There was a child, perhaps eleven months of age, playing in the sand next to his mother, and he was eating handfuls of sand the way you and I consume handfuls of Planters Peanuts. One of his siblings brought this matter to the attention of his mother and her comment was, "Don’t worry about it; it won’t hurt him!" After watching him wolf down a few handfuls of ...

2830. Cheering Stones

Luke 19:28-44

Sermon

Herchel H. Sheets

It was an excited crowd that lined the road and followed Jesus into Jerusalem on his "triumphal entry." The cheers were loud and enthusiastic. Generally Jesus had sought to discourage such acclaim, but this time he voiced no opposition to it. There were others who did, however. The Pharisees in the crowd considered the conduct of his disciples to be totally inappropriate, and they called upon him to rebuke them. But he replied, "I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out." There is no ...

2831. The Wonderful "T" Word

Malachi 3:6-18

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

A small country church had a tough decision to make. Its leaders had met after the worship hour to decide whether to renovate the existing church building or construct a new one. There was only one wealthy person in the church; everybody knew that he would have the last word. Finally he stood up and declared, "I think we ought to renovate our present building. I pledge $5000 to that effort." Then he sat down. He was a large, overweight gentleman and when he sat down, he shook a piece of plaster loose from ...

2832. On the Night when He Was Betrayed

1 Corinthians 11:17-34

Sermon

T. A. Kantonen

There is a unique beauty and tenderness about the hour of sunset. The sun impresses its memory upon a darkening world by tinting the western sky with its most original and harmonious colors. The last hour of the day is its most beautiful and memorable. So it is in human relations. The tender beauty of sunset glows from the hour of farewell. We say goodbye to those who are not so intimate but reserve the last precious moments to those nearest our hearts. And after all else is forgotten we remember the ...

2833. On Loneliness

Sermon

Gregory J. Johanson

HENRY CLOSE’S (see biographical note preceding A New Perspective) sermon On Loneliness grew out of discussions with people in alcoholic rehabilitation programs. In it he deals with the subject of loneliness, an emotion the well-known American psychiatrist Harry Stack Sullivan used to say was the only motivating force in people stronger than anxiety that could move them toward facing the possibility of pain and growth. People have used many different symbols or figures of speech to express their sometimes ...

2834. Your Sins Are Remembered No More! You Are Free!

Jeremiah 30:1--31:40

Sermon

Mark Ellingsen

Have you ever felt weighed down by your sins and shortcomings? Have you ever despaired over your ability to live up to expectations — God’s expectations, society’s expectations, your own self-expectations? Do you wish that you could have a fresh start? The Prophet Jeremiah was proclaiming a Word to sinful, insecure people like us, to people whose confidence in the future had been badly shaken. Have you ever made a big mistake in your life, a mistake for which you paid for many years? Maybe you are still ...

2835. Bad News from a Good Man!

1 Kings 21:1-29

Sermon

Robert Leslie Holmes

There are two facts we all need to remember before we can make any real sense out of life. The first is that God is sovereign and holy, just and loving. The second is that we are not. We are servants, unholy, self-centered, and self-seeking. This Scripture passage is a marvelous illustration of this. You would think that seeing God send fire from heaven would change a corrupt heart every time. That, however, is not the case, as we can see from the life of Ahab and his Jezebel. I. The Sliding Spiral Of ...

2836. Do You Hear What I Hear?

Luke 1:46-56, Isaiah 61:1-11

Sermon

David E. Leininger

Years ago, a wise teacher of preachers advised us to prepare our sermons with the Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other. His point was that sermons had to be relevant to the day-to-day lives of our people, and the best way to insure that would be to focus on what is going on in our people's world. Good advice, don't you think? So what has the newspaper (or the TV or radio or internet or whatever) had for us this week? Well, early on there was the story of the failed mission to Mars. After the ...

2837. The Lord's Prayer: "Thy Will Be Done"

Matthew 6:5-15

Sermon

David E. Leininger

"THY WILL BE DONE." GOD'S will. What is God's will? Do YOU know what God's will is? Lots of folks think they do, but I wonder. I hear that Pat Robertson is about to spend $1.4-million because he is convinced that President Clinton's Health Plan is NOT God's will. Randy Shilts died last week. Randy was a reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle who wrote the best-seller, And the Band Played On,(1) the story of the inception of the AIDS epidemic in America. Randy died of AIDS. He was gay. Some folks would ...

2838. Ready or Not, Here He Comes!

Luke 3:1-20

Sermon

David E. Leininger

John is an amazing character, isn't he? Not what we would expect as we come up to Christmas. What if, riding atop the last float of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade, there was not jolly old Saint Nick, but a wild-eyed John the Baptist dressed in a glorified burlap sack? Even the perpetually perky Katie Couric would wince as she offers parade commentary from her reviewing stand, not quite sure what to say. But this is not mid-town Manhattan and this is no Macy's extravaganza. It has been something of a ...

2839. Sons And Daughters Of God

Galatians 3:23-29

Sermon

King Duncan

James W. Moore in his book, SOME THINGS ARE TOO GOOD NOT TO BE TRUE, tells the story of Rapunzel from Grimm's fairy tales. Do you recall that ancient story? I'll bet some of our children do. A beautiful girl named Rapunzel lives with a wicked witch in a drab and dingy tower. The old witch is holding Rapunzel captive, and to keep the girl "in her place," the wicked witch does two things. First, she removes all the mirrors from the tower, so Rapunzel cannot see what she looks like. And then the old witch ...

2840. Be Careful Which Entree You Choose

1 Corinthians 8:1-13

Sermon

King Duncan

People are funny. Have you ever noticed that? HEALTH magazine carried a report back in 1994 on pizza consumption in the White House. It was based on a study done by Domino's Pizza. After noticing that nighttime pizza orders at the Central Intelligence Agency and the White House soared when a crisis was brewing, Domino's began keeping closer tabs on deliveries to these two addresses. Among the things they learned were these: *In the first year of Bill Clinton's administration, pizza orders to the White ...

2841. Gambling On God

Acts 1:12-26

Sermon

King Duncan

There is a ridiculous story about a hunter named Ned who bet another hunter named Fred that he could leave the cabin, go out into the woods and come back within the hour with a bearskin. They bet $10, and Ned went off into the forest. The hour passed quickly. No Ned. Two hours went by ” nothing. Three hours later, a loud pounding on the door of the cabin was heard. Fred opened the door, and there was an enormous brown bear standing there. "Your name Fred?" asked the bear. "Why . . . yes," stammered the ...

2842. The Ultimate Evidence of God

2 Peter 1:16-21

Sermon

King Duncan

A Hungarian writer once wrote an amusing, but also very thoughtful dialogue which he imagined between two babies in a mother’s womb. Obviously they were twins. One twin asked the other: “Do you believe in life after delivery?” The other replied, “Why, of course. There has to be something after delivery. Maybe we are here to prepare ourselves for what we will be later.” “Nonsense” said the first twin. “There is no life after delivery. What kind of life would that be?” The second twin said, “I don’t know, ...

2843. The Greatest Discovery Of All

Matthew 13:44-46, Matthew 13:31-35

Sermon

King Duncan

J. Vernon McGee once told a memorable story about a woman who lived in the deep south and had a close relationship with her childhood sweetheart. The woman fell in love with him and ultimately married him. Although their life together was not perfect there were rewards and moments of joy. Suddenly, though, her beloved husband died of a heart attack. The woman was not able to part with her late husband so she decided to have him embalmed, put in a chair, sealed up in a glass case, and placed immediately ...

2844. The Source Of Joy

John 3:22-36

Sermon

Eric Ritz

One cold, rainy morning a teenager awakened on a farm and walked out to the back of the barn where she kept her favorite pet ” her animal friend, the mule. The mule was standing outside in the rain, and as the drops of water rolled off the end of the long nose of that ugly animal, the mule seemed discouraged and depressed. She looked at her favorite friend and said, "You know, Betsy, you would make a wonderful Christian because you look like so many Christians I know! You look like you have lost your last ...

2845. Like A Tornado

Acts 2:1-13

Sermon

King Duncan

Few of us will ever have the experience that John Neidigh of Jackson, Mississippi, had many years ago. John became trapped in the eye of a tornado. Even more amazing was the fact that he lived to tell about it. By the time John learned of the tornado's presence, it was too close for him to escape. His mobile home began moving up and down, as if it were a surfboard on a killer wave. Trees and debris flew by. The wind peeled off his roof. The sound was like the howl of a freight train. Suddenly, Neidigh's ...

2846. FOR WHOM DO WE WORK?

Drama

Angela Akers

SUBJECT: Labor Day, business, work CHARACTERS: Businessman, Other''s Expectations (represented by an older man or woman), Colleague''s Approval (represented by a few people dressed in business clothes), Lifestyle (represented by a woman, richly and audily dressed), Status (represented by a pompous man in very elegant clothes) SETTING: An office PROPS: A stack of papers (representing work), Pile of fake money, Trophies, certificates, etc. (Businessman is generally discouraged. Spoken to the ...

2847. Where Is My Guest Room?

Mark 14:12-26

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

In Dostoevski’s masterpiece THE BROTHERS KARAMAZOV there is a scene in a courtroom after Dmitri has been sentenced to imprisonment in Siberia. He is so exhausted that he falls asleep on a bench. When he awakens, he finds that someone has placed a pillow under his head. He doesn’t know who has done the kind deed, but he is overjoyed. It is a sign of the goodness of life. He will go to prison, he says, and keep God’s name alive there, because he knows that God is alive in the world. The nameless, anonymous, ...

2848. Trouble: A Required Course in LIfe

James 1:1-18

Sermon

Eric Ritz

There is a story about a first year theological student who was given to napping in her Basic Theology Class. Over a period of time the professor took notice of it and was somewhat angry. One day he noticed her falling off to sleep and decided that he would catch her in the act of taking a snooze. The professor had the habit of asking questions off the top of his head during class sessions. One afternoon the professor asked the question, "Why does God permit hardships, troubles and adversity in our ...

2849. Preparing for Something Big

Mark 13:1-31

Sermon

Paul E. Flesner

How are you getting ready for Christmas? Have you gotten out your Christmas tapes or CDs yet? Have you started your gift shopping? Have you decided what Christmas cookies you are going to bake this year? Have you written your Christmas cards yet? Have you put up your Christmas tree? Over the years it seems like Christmas preparations are starting earlier and earlier. Now some stores are starting to put up their Christmas displays as early as Halloween. While that may seem out of place, I suspect they are ...

2850. The Face that Launched a Thousand Lives

2 Corinthians 4:1-18

Sermon

Fredrick R. Harm

You will recall the ancient myth that lies behind our sermon theme for today. Helen, the wife of Sparta's king Menelaus, was acclaimed the most beautiful woman of Greece. The Greeks fought the Trojan War in order to get her back from Troy, where Paris, the son of King Priam, had taken her. In Christopher Marlowe's Dr. Faustus, the question is asked concerning Helen, "Was this the face that launched a thousand ships and burned the topless towers of Ilium?" Today's text speaks of a far greater face, a face ...

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