Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 2951 to 2975 of 4997 results

Matthew 1:18-25

Sermon

Mark Radecke

... which can be translated several ways. It can mean: "It would have been enough," or "we would have been grateful and content," or "our need would have been satisfied." Part of the Dayenu is a responsive reading that goes like this: O God, if thy only act of kindness was to deliver us from the bondage of Egypt, Dayenu! It would have been enough. If thy only act of deliverance was to divide the Red Sea waters, Dayenu! -- It would have been enough.If thy only act of mercy was to provide manna in the wilderness ...

2952. To All Those Who Have, More Will Be Given

Matthew 25:14-30

Sermon

Phyllis Faaborg Wolk

... compassion and you told me to use them. It took a while, but it finally dawned on me that you said if I hugged and felt and cried with people, they would come to know you. So I began trying to do as my instincts guided. At first I was kind of clumsy at it, and it made me feel nervous. But the more I expressed my compassion to others, the easier it got, and the better I became at being with people wherever they were." Jesus responded, "Well done, good and trustworthy disciple. The more you use your gifts of ...

2953. The Shepherd And His Flock

John 10:1-21

Sermon Aid

William E. Keeney

... seen only briefly and other personnel are the primary contact for the patient. So we need to continue to revert to the customs and practices of the shepherd and the meaning of sheep in the Near Eastern culture of Jesus' time. We need to fill it with the kind of meaning it would have had for Jesus' early companions and others who would have heard his teachings. CONTEXT Context of the Church Year This reading of the Lectionary comes in the Easter season. It is the time when the church is most conscious of the ...

2954. The King's Wedding Feast

Matthew 22:1-14

Sermon Aid

William E. Keeney

... things that will edify and strengthen them in such faithfulness. He assures them that it will bring genuine personal peace. Gospel. (Matthew 22:1-14) The kingdom of heaven is compared to a wedding feast. Many are invited but refuse the invitation. Finally all kinds of guests are gathered to celebrate the great event. Psalm. (Psalm 106:1-6, 19-23) The psalm begins with the call to praise the Lord, affirming his goodness and appealing to the Lord for deliverance and prosperity. It then goes on to acknowledge ...

2955. Two-and-a-Half Cheers For Hypocrites

Matthew 6:1-2, Matthew 6:5-6, Matthew 6:16

Sermon

Thomas Long

... the hope of being loved and cared for at home, they become show-offs in the classroom, creating spectacles of themselves for the amusement of others. Having despaired of the parental blessing, they settle for the momentary reward of the schoolroom spotlight. It is not the kind of attention they really need, but it is the attention they are sure they can get. Just so, hypocrites have lost sight of the blessing of the divine parent they have at home, lost sight of the God who sees in secret, who cherishes in ...

2956. The Way, The Truth, And The Life Style

John 14:5-14

Sermon

Thomas Long

... were younger," Jesus told Peter, "you used to fasten your own belt and to go wherever you wished." But now, Jesus said, "someone else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to go" (John 21:18). Jesus was speaking, John writes, of "the kind of death by which [Peter] would glorify God" (John 21:19). Being led captive to your own death is not to have much of a life style; offering one's all for the glory of God, though, is to have life, and to have it abundantly. In his memoir about ...

2957. Since He's In Charge, We're In Luck

Psalm 33:4-5, 8-9, 13-22

Sermon

Robert G. McCreight

... involved in his creation hold to the notion that we are in some way living in partnership with God, exercising co-creative powers to help shape the ultimate outcome of things. An intercessory prayer for the sake of another is a good example of this kind of partnership involvement with God to effect a particular outcome. There are points in between on this spectrum, to be sure. But the point is that some people resist the fatalistic notion that they are a chance collection of molecules cast out onto an empty ...

2958. Behold The Man Who Taught By The Sea

Mark 4:1-20

Sermon

Thomas A. Pilgrim

... He who has ears to hear, let him hear!' " Jesus was saying, "Listen! Have ears that will listen. And then, do something about this. Let what I say take root in your life." He was telling those people who came to hear him that they would have to decide which kind of soil they would be like. They would have to let his words live in them. A lady was talking with her doctor. He asked how things were going, and if she had any problems. She said, "Nothing medical. But, you know I live alone and sometimes I hear ...

2959. The Mark Upon Us

Sermon

Lee Griess

... , intended just that image -- the "X" to stand as a symbol of the terrible acts those persons committed. That "X" stands opposite Jesus' words in the Gospel reading -- that we allow no mark of our piety to separate us from those around us, that our faith not be a visible kind of mark we wear on our foreheads, but rather that it be the deep, heartfelt expression of our love of God that is visible in the lives we live, not the acts of piety that we perform for others to see. I can't help but think of that "X ...

2960. Yes, But How?

Sermon

Lee Griess

... and prayer, but how?" "I know I ought to be more sensitive to others, more loving of my spouse, more understanding of the weaknesses of others, but how?" These are all good qualities and we know that, but how can we acquire them? As Christian people we know the kind of life we ought to live, and most of us have the best of intentions to do so, but how? We are afraid because we know where the road paved with only good intentions leads! This morning we hear Jesus' parable of the fig tree, telling us to repent ...

2961. A New Command

Sermon

Lee Griess

... personal freedom and a move toward a godless society would bring about the perfect world that humanity was seeking. For the key to the kind of life that you and I desire had already been given us. It was there in the words of Jesus in that upper ... have given anything if only he had put a good pair of shoes on his father's feet for the last hour of his life. That's the kind of love that God has for us in Christ Jesus. Love that sacrifices itself for us. Love that bends down in service and reaches out in love. ...

2962. The One Thing That Would Make The Biggest Difference

Matthew 18:15-20

Sermon

Roger G. Talbott

... something else and are taking it out on me, but when several people confirm that, indeed, I am the one who is being insensitive, I find it harder to rationalize. It forces me to face things in myself that I might not face otherwise. In fact, this kind of intervention is one of the most effective ways of helping people who are seriously destroying their own lives and the lives of people around them. It is used especially in the treatment of alcoholism and drug abuse in which an addict is surrounded in love ...

2963. The Man Born Blind

John 9:1-12

Drama

Dallas A. Brauninger

... closed-up world? What darkness of your world does God light? What blindness of spirit do you participate in? Beneath what dark shadows of outmoded ways do you crouch? Interviewing Jesus Asker: Jesus, you bring all sorts of light into this interplay between sight and different kinds of blindness. Into the eyes of the man blind from birth, you bring the light of sight. You open the eyes of the Pharisees to their own unseeing hearts. You tell your disciples that for as long as you are in the world, you are the ...

2964. I Saw The Risen Christ Last Week -- And It Wasn't Even Easter

John 20:10-31

Sermon

Wallace H. Kirby

... the disciples found more than an empty tomb. What they found again was that experience of God. They found the same kind of experience they had known before his death. Therefore, they knew he was alive. And the Gospel writers tried to express the ... would be all right. I felt Christ in their hands as we expressed thanksgiving for their son's birth. I saw Christ in the smile of a kind and gentle lady who had pins removed from her hip, knowing that now she will be able to walk without pain. I heard him in the ...

2965. Affirming The Ash Heap

Job 2:1-10, Mark 8:31--9:1

Sermon

Wallace H. Kirby

... mishaps or misfortunes? Do I pray that God will keep me safe? And on the other hand, what do I do if disaster strikes? What kind of person would I be if all that is important to me were taken away? In a case of any terrible loss, what would I ... portrait of perfection. This person's whole life is a personification of perfection. And let's imagine this perfect person going through all kinds of trouble. If this person wants to continue living in the midst of all this trouble, then there may be some hope. But ...

2966. The Backside Of God

Sermon

John N. Brittain

... that they not only know God's will on a whole range of issues -- economics, sexual ethics, and politics (all of which get intertwined) -- but feel quite assured that God must validate their positions. In a recent discussion group a student gave a 1990s kind of definition of religious dialogue: tell me what you think, so I can explain to you how wrong you are. Unfortunately, many of us seem to mistake hard language and hard-heartedness with being tough-minded and committed. The Pharisees who confronted Jesus ...

2967. The Christian Journey I: The Path

Mark 1:14-20

Sermon

John N. Brittain

... to hush up. Or maybe you've been one of the hushers and mistaken a heart-felt plea for God's mercy for doubt or disrespect. I am sure that at least some of those who chastised Bartimaeus were trying to shield Jesus from this nuisance; but this kind of nuisance was precisely the center of Jesus' ministry. God does not need to be shielded from our pain and hurt. "Immediately he regained his sight and followed him on the way." Both of these stories, the call by the seashore and blind Bartimaeus calling out to ...

2968. Eighteen Years Is Long Enough

Jeremiah 1:1-19

Sermon

John N. Brittain

... : the nation was facing new challenges for which old solutions were inadequate; and many people were putting the wrong kind of emphasis on the truth they had received from previous generations. Many Israelites erroneously believed that because they were ... it coming because of who she was or where she was from or something she had done! Many of the persons who have presented the kind of situations I mentioned a moment ago have gone to a parent or a counselor or a minister only to be told, in effect, "It must ...

2969. How Not To Throw A Party

Luke 14:1-14

Sermon

Alex Gondola

... will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous" (Luke 14:12b-14, NRSV). We can imagine the twitter around the table at Jesus' cutting comments: "Who does he think he is, Rabbi Nobody from Nowhere Nazareth? Anyone can clearly see he's N.O.K.D. (Not Our Kind, Dear). Who died and made him King?" You see, the guests at that table were comfortable in a world that many of us live in: a world where rank has its privileges; where the first will always be first, and the last will always be last; a world where ...

2970. Wedding: With Communion

Bulletin Aid

Derl G. Keefer

... discovered that the many-faceted dimensions of love include the spiritual dimension. Love's power can transform the world. Many times we find the level of love that is so emotional and social, but there is a loftier dimension. God is in the midst of this kind of love. He is the weaver with the thread of gold. Through marriage we invite the highest spiritual experience in the eternal joy of love. (Bride) and (Groom) desire to embody the highest values of life in their relationship as God is brought into this ...

2971. Wedding: Unity Candle

1 Corinthians 13:1-13

Bulletin Aid

Derl G. Keefer

... one relationship. But I think it is healthy for you to keep all the candles lit, as a reminder that you are still two strong individuals who will need to choose daily to put your energy into this new creation called "marriage." That is where the patience, kindness, unselfishness, and honesty of which Paul speaks come in. You will need all those things and more to keep your love and your marriage strong. I hope you don't see your marriage as a desperate necessity or a losing of self-identity. A good marriage ...

2972. Wedding Growing A Marriage (outdoor setting)

Ephesians 3:14-21

Bulletin Aid

Derl G. Keefer

... , parent. Of course, if a lawn tries to send its roots into dry ground, it won't have much chance of growing, no matter how deep those roots try to go. It needs a constant, reliable source of water for steady growth. Paul talks about God's love being that kind of constant source of nourishment for our lives. On our own, all of us at one time or another have a tendency to run dry as far as love goes. We lose our patience, we get hurt and then we try to get even, we get all caught up in ...

2973. Wedding: Rooted In Love (for a blended family)

Ephesians 3:14-21

Bulletin Aid

Derl G. Keefer

... parent. Of course, if a tree tries to sink its roots into dry ground, it won't have much chance of growing, no matter how deep those roots try to go. It needs a constant, reliable source of water for steady growth. Paul talks about God's love being that kind of constant source of nourishment for our spirits. On our own, all of us at one time or another run out of the ability to love. Our hearts seem to run dry. We lose our patience; we get hurt and then we try to get even; we get all caught ...

2974. Wedding: Leaving, Uniting, Becoming One

Genesis 2:4-25

Bulletin Aid

Derl G. Keefer

... a woman out of the rib and brought her to him. Then the man said, "At last [or loosely translated, "Wow!"], here is one of my own kind -- Bone taken from my bone, and flesh from my flesh. 'Woman' is her name because she was taken out of man." That is why a man leaves his ... the future, your individual strengths and weaknesses -- your lives. As with the process of leaving the past behind, that kind of uniting does not happen overnight. Some days you will feel downright selfish, maybe even threatened -- as if you ...

2975. The Upside Of The Practice - Performance Equation

Galatians 6:1-10

Sermon

Robert R. Kopp

... waiting for? Will you still be waiting when it's too late? Now! You may have heard about the man who always complained about the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in his lunch box. A friend asked, "Why don't you just ask your wife to make a different kind of sandwich every now and then?" The man replied, "I make my own lunches." We make our own lunches. The point is we can't reach our goals without working to reach them. Ben Hogan often said, "Every day you miss playing or practicing is one day longer it ...

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