Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 2851 to 2875 of 4490 results

2851. Fishers of Men

Luke 5:1-11

Children's Sermon

Brett Blair

Exegetical Aim: The evangelistic nature of Christianity. Props: A fishing pole or rod with no line. Lesson: [Two volunteers from the congregation to act like caught fish. The chairs of the evangelism committee and the outreach committee would be a good tie in. Otherwise, choose a male and female to represent the fish.] I have a question for you this morning. What do I have in my hand? (a fishing pole) What do you do with a fishing pole? (you catch fish with it) That's right. How many of you have been ...

2852. The Men

Drama

William Grimbol

SETTING: Four men gathered in a courtyard garden for conversation TIME: Christ's ministry ARNOLD: The man is a lunatic. JOHN: He is beyond that. Claiming to be God. How absurd. ARNOLD: The man is crazy to be preaching and teaching what he does. I mean, really, I am all for helping the poor, or assisting those who are widowed or alone. But ... the idea that the first shall be last? Did you hear that quote? The first will be last one? JOHN: Exactly. He is crazy. Completely. BILL: This helping the poor can be ...

2853. The Inaugural Address

Luke 4:14-30

Sermon

Brett Blair

Yesterday our great country swore in the 43rd president of these United States and George Walker Bush delivered the 54th Inaugural Address to the nation. You may not know this but every single Inaugural Address from George Washington to George Bush has been preserved. In these speeches presidents have laid out for the country their dreams, goals, and aspirations. I would like you to listen to some excerpts from a few and as I read them I would like you to guess the president that delivered it [When you ...

2854. The Shouting of the Crowd

Matthew 27:11-26

Sermon

Wallace H. Kirby

Spivey's Corner is a little town in Sampson County, North Carolina. I never heard of it until I lived in a nearby county. I passed through it numerous times on my way back and forth to Clinton and was aware of a terrible automobile accident there. A few years ago, Spivey's Corner became famous, featured on the nightly news, written about in news magazines, and visited by people who would never have thought of going there if it had not gained notoriety. That little community, really a mere crossroads, is ...

2855. Vacillation - Pontius Pilate

Sermon

Ron Lavin

"... Suffered under Pontius Pilate ..." you say in your creed each Sunday. Millions of Christians speak my name every Sabbath and connect it with the suffering of Jesus Christ. They point their finger at me and speak my name along with Judas and Herod. Let me tell you my side of the story. Let me tell you about my suffering at the hands of Jesus of Nazareth. We Romans were the conquerors of Judea, but she refused to be conquered. I was the governor, but she refused to be governed. My appointment as ...

2856. They Recognized Him

Luke 24:13-35

Children's Sermon

Brett Blair

Exegetical Aim: To teach that we need God's assistance to see. Props: Prescription eye glasses and an eye chart (the chart can be hand drawn). The ideal situation is to use the glasses that one of the children may be wearing. If you have an optometrist in your congregation ask them to participate and bring an actual eye chart. Lesson: Good Morning! (response) I want to ask child's name with glasses--we shall call her Gladys to come and sit beside me and I am going to need one other volunteer. Choose one of ...

2857. Encounters With Christ VII (Easter): Jesus & Mary Magdalene

Mark 16:1-20

Sermon

James W. Moore

Bill Bryson has written a fascinating book called… The Lost Continent: Travels in Small Town America. In the book, he tells of traveling to Hannibal, Missouri to visit the boyhood home of the noted author Mark Twain. He described the house as a “trim, white-washed house with green shutters… set incongruously in the middle of downtown.” It costs two dollars to visit Mark Twain’s home and to walk around the site. Bill Bryson said he found the home to be a disappointment. He expressed his disillusionment like ...

2858. The Butterfly Rock

Acts 10:23b-48

Sermon

Carl Jech

Introduction Do you know what your name means? Many names do have a definite historical or linguistic meaning. Jeffrey, for example, means "peaceful." Helga means "holy." Vivian means "full of life." Carl means "strong" or "manly." Michael means "one who is like God." You would be surprised at how many names have religious or biblical background. All the various forms of the name John go back to the biblical, Hebrew name Jo-nathan - the Jo refers to God (Jehovah or Yahweh) and Nathan means gift. Thus Joan ...

2859. Winning Isn't the Only Thing ... It's Irrelevant

Luke 13:31-35

Sermon

Carl Jech

Moses and Elijah ... appeared in glory and spoke of his departure which he was to accomplish at Jerusalem. (Luke 9:31) "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem ... How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not!" (Luke 13:34) The Green Bay Packer football coach, Vince Lombardi, is credited with the declaration: "Winning isn't everything ... It's the only thing!" Now from the very limited perspective of a professional football coach there may be an ...

2860. Will the Real Jesus Christ Arise?

John 20:1-18

Sermon

Carl Jech

"We do not know where they have laid him" ... Jesus said to her, "Do not hold me, for I am about to ascend to my Father." (John 20:2b, 17a) You may remember the television program "To Tell The Truth." Three people would come out, all claiming to be the same person. After the panel had interviewed all three and everyone had decided who the imposters were, the host would intone dramatically: "Will the real John Doe, please stand up!" Then everyone waited with baited breath as each contestant stirred as if to ...

2861. The Prodigal Son

Luke 15:11-32

Sermon

Brett Blair

This morning we are going to be talking about a story that is so familiar to you that when I read to you the first line, most of you will immediately recognize it. The first line reads: And there was a father who had two sons. Immediately we recognize it as the parable of the Prodigal Son. Is there anything new that we can squeeze out of this familiar story? You remember the story as Jesus told it. There was a certain landowner who had two sons. As these boys grew up they began to show the difference in ...

2862. After A Lost Election, Field Of Dreams

Jeremiah 8:4--9:26

Sermon

James Angell

Iowa is an Indian word meaning "beautiful land." And that's where it all began for me. I started out on a legal career and passed the Iowa bar. Long before, though, I had harbored thoughts of one day becoming a preacher. Sunday school had not been a bore as it often is for many kids. Attending summer youth conferences, then Bible classes in college - taught by Dr. Howard Legg, who looked like he belonged in the Senate rather than in a college classroom - set the stage for an invitation one August to give ...

2863. On Staying Awake

Luke 12:35-48

Sermon

Wallace H. Kirby

"Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes ..." Perhaps this sermon need not be preached. The necessity of wakefulness may already be widely recognized as we gather for worship. We arrive tired, we endure preaching that is often supernaturally dull, and the atmosphere of quietness soon dispatches even the most faithful. This is not a modern problem. Our Puritan ancestors gave a high importance to staying awake. During their long services the ushers roamed the congregation with a ...

2864. To Be Somebody

Luke 19:1-10

Sermon

A few years ago, Vance Packard wrote a book he called The Staus Seekers. From him and others like him we learn that having an office with a window and a carpet might be more important than getting a raise. So what encouragement is there for those who make sandwiches for a cafeteria? Or who fill mail orders at Wards? Or who make boxes at Hoerner Waldorf? Or who are retired - whose job history is in the past? Martin Luther King Jr. coined a word that says what we all hunger for: somebodiness. It seems to me ...

2865. Are There Any Questions?

Luke 20:27-40

Sermon

Today our good year in the company of Dr. Luke, the author of the Gospel that had been in focus through these months, begins to wind down toward the end. Are there any questions? If you have a question, and I suspect we have a few in mind, line up in the center aisle and wait your turn. Jesus has been teaching in the temple at Jerusalem, his disciples are at hand, and in the crowd his enemies as well. The question-answer period begins. One by one those who oppose him for one reason or another challenge him ...

2866. Everybody Pray!

Matthew 15:21-28

Sermon

"Jesus left that place and went off to the territory near the cities of Tyre and Sidon. A Canaanite woman who lived in that region came to him, 'Son of David, sir!' she cried. 'Have mercy on me! My daughter has a demon and is in a terrible condition.' But Jesus did not say a word to her. His disciples came to him and begged him, 'Send her away! She is following us and making all this noise!' Then Jesus replied, 'I have been sent only to the lost sheep of the people of Israel.' At this the woman came and ...

2867. Proper 6

Genesis 25:19-34

Sermon

Barrenness is not a modern phenomenon; it has plagued people from time immemorial. Everyone knows of the problem facing Abraham and Sarah. Abraham, chosen by God to be the father of a great nation, made the discovery his wife was barren. His off-spring, which were to be as numerous as the grains of sand, were not forthcoming. It was not until Abraham was 100 and Sarah was ninety that an Angel arrived to make the startling pronouncement Sarah was to give birth to a son. The whole idea seemed so ridiculous ...

2868. The Violence Within, The Violence Without

Zephaniah 3:1-20

Sermon

I will utterly sweep away everything from the face of the earth. I will sweep away man and beast. I will sweep away the birds of the air and the fish of the sea. I will overthrow the wicked. I will cut off mankind from the face of the earth. I will stretch out my hand against Judah and against all the inhabitants of Jerusalem. I will punish the officials and the kings’ sons. And I will punish those who fill their master’s house with violence and fraud. That’s hardly the kind of talk our children hear in ...

2869. Christ's Passion Portraits

Isaiah 50:1-11

Sermon

Paul Hegele

The task before us that afternoon was simple enough. The newly remodeled church lounge had a wall which needed a picture; everyone agreed it should be a portrait of Christ. The question was - what should Jesus look like? Five hundred years before Christ's birth, Isaiah had predicted he would have "no form or comeliness that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him." Except for the unnerving remark, the Bible never mentions Jesus' appearance. So, which of the scores of paintings ...

2870. Proper 8

Lk 9:51-62 · Gal 5:1, 13-25 · 1 Ki 19:15-21

Sermon Aid

COMMENTARY 1 Kings 19:15-21 Elijah obeys Yahweh's command to anoint two kings and a prophet. This and the previous two lections deal with the problem of depression as Elijah experienced it. A preacher might use these three Lessons for a series on overcoming depression. The way out: (1) Elijah is physically restored by rest and food provided by an angel; (2) Elijah had an experience with God on top of Mount Horeb where he heard the still, small voice of God; (3) in today's Lesson the final step in ...

2871. No Weedless Garden

Matthew 13:24-30

Sermon

Richard L. Thulin

Not long ago a student of mine wrote a descriptive essay on the Church. It was one of the most celebrative and exuberant pieces that I had read in quite a while. He used the body imagery of St. Paul to draw his picture of the Church, but he could just as easily have used the positive agricultural figures of today's parable. It would be true to the spirit of his paper to call the Church a weedless and ripening field. Into rich soil good seeds have been planted and now as far as the eye can see there is ...

2872. Promise or Threat?

Matthew 24:1-35

Sermon

"Wars and rumors of wars," Jesus said. Nation against nation, kingdom against kingdom, famines, earthquakes, tribulation, even death sentences for the faithful, wickedness multiplied, and all the while the Gospel is preached around the world - these are some of the signs of Christ’s second coming and the end of the age. Tell me, would you consider his words a promise or a threat? My first recollection of any mention of Christ’s second coming goes back to when I was six or seven years old. My grandfather ...

2873. The Sounds at the Summit

Exodus 19:1-25

Sermon

Shortly before dawn one morning a couple years ago, a gasoline pipeline erupted and a terrible fire flared up right down the middle of a suburban St. Paul, Minnesota, street. A woman delivering newspapers was caught in the flames; her car ignited and she was severely burned, but survived. People were awakened to discover flames shooting higher than telegraph poles. "The whole neighborhood is on fire," was one person’s description. In one home, a father woke up his wife, told her to get her daughter while ...

2874. The Penalty for Betraying God’s Trust

Numbers 27:12-23

Sermon

It was when the people of Israel were almost within sight of the Promised Land that Moses received the biggest disappointment of his life. He had been their prophet and leader from the beginning of their departure from Egypt right up to the very border of the land God had given them. It had been a difficult time, forty years of dealing with the fear and faithlessness of the people. There were so many crises during that time that he probably had forgotten, at least the incident must have been tucked away in ...

2875. Proper 4

Deuteronomy 11:1-32, Genesis 12:1-8, Matthew 7:15-23, Matthew 7:24-29, Romans 3:21-31, Psalm 31:1-24, Psalm 33:1-22

Sermon Aid

THEOLOGICAL CLUE From this point until late in the Pentecost season, on Sundays there is only the general theological framework of the church year to provide biblical/theological clues for worship and preaching themes. Pentecost, as "the time of the church," is eschatological; the church worships and waits, learns and grows, and witnesses and works for the coming of the fullness of the kingdom in Jesus' promised return. On the Sundays of Pentecost, the church is counting time, not marking time, until the ...

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