Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 276 to 300 of 1230 results

Sermon

Robert F. Scott

Supper EtiquetteLuke 11:37-42 Worship Focus A pitcher and a wash basin. A matched set, so common in nineteenth century bedrooms, would be ideal. If that is unavailable, use any large ceramic pitcher and wide flat bowl. A Litany For The Fifth Meal Leader: Glorious are you, O God, in your holiness. People: Holy, holy, holy is our Almighty God. Leader: Spotless and without blemish, O Christ, are you in your purity. People: Holy, ...

277. The Sixth Meal

Sermon

Robert F. Scott

A Strange InvitationLuke 14:1-6 Worship Focus A toy animal and a doll. One of the fake sheep made for yard decorations would be ideal; the doll should be of comparable size. Or a challah, the large braided loaf of white bread that is often part of a Jewish Sabbath meal. A Litany For The Sixth Meal Leader: O God, we thank you for your matchless love, by which you sent Christ to be our ...

278. Epiphany 5

Matthew 5:17-20, Matthew 5:13-16

Sermon Aid

William E. Keeney

... usefulness. 10. "Good works." (v. 16) Citizens of the kingdom of heaven are presumed to do good works. They are evidence of the character of the kingdom's members. Good works should be self-evident signs of kingdom citizenship. The beatitudes are not just nice ideals; they should become operational in good works. 11. "Glory." (v. 16) The good works are not an occasion of pride or self-glorification. They reflect to the glory of the head of the kingdom who is the source of the light. Contemplation 1. Diverse ...

279. Proper 4

Matthew 7:15-23, Matthew 7:24-29

Sermon Aid

William E. Keeney

... particular context it may have been a translation of rabbi or teacher. 2. "On that day." (v. 22) This phrase was usually understood to have eschatological reference. That is, it points to the end time when God would call all people into judgment and set up the ideal and universal kingdom at the end of the age. For samples of Old Testament uses of the phrase, see Isaiah 2:11, 17 and Zechariah 14:6. 3. "In your name." (v. 22) The name of a person was understood to represent that person's nature or essence ...

280. Christ the King

Psalm 100:1-5, Ezekiel 34:1-31, Ephesians 1:15-23, Matthew 25:31-46

Sermon Aid

William E. Keeney

... to the needs of people harsh. Some of the biblical language used to communicate the severity of consequences when persons neglect to show compassion and practice charity, as this parable does, is very graphic. In an age when democracy is touted as the ideal and arbitrary royal authority is in disrepute, persons may have trouble with the portrayal of God as a king with his retinue in all their splendor. A god who holds court and dispenses summary judgment would be much more familiar to the people who ...

281. The Promise Of The Spirit

Sermon

John A. Stroman

... Spirit is driving us today to move out of our complacency and ease into the exciting stream of the Spirit's activity in our world. Is it not possible that God is driving this generation into the wilderness away from the temples and the traditions, away from the ideals which have become idols, forcing us to be a pilgrim people? It is not easy for us to grasp this, or to gain any comfort from it, because we think of security in the certain terms of institutions and temples. We like our churches to be Gothic ...

282. The Holy Spirit As The Dove Of Peace

Sermon

John A. Stroman

... intersection. They were used by the signal corps as supplementary telephone poles. I could not help but think of the incongruity between the crosses and the lethal messages that passed over the wires." In war we always make some appeal to moral idealism. We have regarded war as something of a tragic necessity, justified if fought with conscientious instincts to repel an intolerable wrong. Such reasoning has produced the classic doctrine of the "just war." Most people in most wars think of their own cause ...

283. Country Songs and Easter Hymns

Luke 24:36-49

Sermon

Thomas Long

... story about urban people: "Go out into the streets and lanes of the city and bring in the poor and the maimed, the blind and the lame" (Luke 14:15-24). Parker Palmer has remarked that the church speaks often about "community," but it is often an idealized community. We talk about the "church family" or kononia groups, but what we really mean to describe is a group of people just like us. Such images of community are, thus, idolatrous. That is why the real city -- not the make-believe city -- is the place ...

284. Behold The Man Who Taught By The Sea

Mark 4:1-20

Sermon

Thomas A. Pilgrim

... ears to hear -- listen! Would you listen to what Jesus has to say to us today? Would you receive what he says in the sense that you will let it filter through and speak to your heart and mind, your way of thinking, your way of living, your values and ideals, your way of making decisions, who you are and what you have? Would you become good soil that is fertile so a tiny seed of what he says can take root in your life, spring up and bear much fruit in the Kingdom of God? A college student named Fred ...

285. Yes, But How?

Sermon

Lee Griess

... . Allow God to enable us to live as we ought. Let Jesus take possession of us and live in him. Fritz Kreisler, the great violinist, expresses it this way. He says, "I have not the slightest consciousness of what my fingers are doing when I play. I concentrate on the ideal of the music that I hear in my head and I try to come as near to that as I can. I don't think of the mechanics at all. You might say that a musician who has to think of the mechanics is not ready for public performance yet ...

286. Details

Matthew 9:35-38, Matthew 10:1-42

Sermon

Marc Kolden

... how to read a text closely? I hope not. The great German-American architect of this century, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, is known for his exhaustively planned buildings. In his skyscrapers every aspect of the interior and exterior is coordinated into a single ideal. Nothing essential is omitted; nothing that is included is out of place. The statement is attributed to Mies van der Rohe that "God is in the details." The perfection of the whole depends on the perfection of the details. The meaning of the whole ...

287. Seeing The Whole Person

John 4:1-26

Sermon

David Belgum

... ... [Jesus replied] she has shown great love. But the one to whom little is forgiven, [or who has not been accepted] loves little.-- Luke 7:39, 47 It's a challenge. Every time we can react like Jesus did with the Samaritan woman and others who deviated from normal and ideal, that is another time we are blessing someone and growing in grace a little more ourselves. It is a good feeling when it happens, when grace happens within us by the help of the Holy Spirit.

288. Sermons

Sermon

John R. Bodo

... accident." But I believe that the Coroner employed by God's Supreme Court changes many of these verdicts to "suicide" or "murder." But we, well-churched Christians, are not trying to escape from responsibility! On the contrary: we are usually the people with ideals, with get-up-and-go, with challenges clearly perceived and squarely met. Is it not strange, then, how often we feel like shouting, "Help! I am snowed under!"? Of course, no one intends to disparage your willingness to assume responsibility in any ...

289. Yearning For A Loyal Friend

Job 6:14-30 · Matthew 26:69-75

Sermon

Wallace H. Kirby

... do right. Thank you for trying to understand me and helping me understand myself. Most of all, Mr. Adams, thank you for being you." Any healing in life comes through warm, accepting concern. Whenever someone accepts us as we are, then we begin to accept ourselves. Ideally, this is what the church is for. It is supposed to be a fellowship filled with compassion and the understanding love of Jesus. How we witness and relate to one another in the church is as important as how we witness and relate to the world ...

290. The Assumption Of Discipline

Matthew 6:1-4, Matthew 6:5-15, Matthew 6:16-18, Matthew 6:19-24

Sermon

John N. Brittain

... recognize these words as the two Great Commandments but are uncomfortable with the traditional spiritual disciplines of almsgiving, prayer, and fasting shows the extent to which our Christian faith has become very superficial. We think that we can assent to the Christian ideal without living it; that we can affirm the need to be in a right relationship with God, our fellows, and ourselves and not do anything about it. Not so, says Jesus. "Whenever you give alms, whenever you pray, whenever you fast." Life ...

291. Wedding: Second Marriage With Children

Bulletin Aid

Derl G. Keefer

... Couple(as a reading from Sonnets from the Portugese by Elizabeth Barrett Browning is read): How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. I love thee to the depth and breadth and height my soul can reach, when feeling out of sight for the end of being and ideal grace. I love thee to the level of every day's most quiet need, by sun and candlelight. I love thee freely, as they turn from praise. I love thee with passion put to use in my old griefs, and with my childhood faith. I love thee with a love ...

292. The Spirit Of The Lord Is Upon Us

Drama

Karren Boehr

... : THE PROPHET EZEKIEL: A man who speaks with conviction and vision, very learned, gifted, with a powerful intellectTHE PROPHET JOEL: A man who is soft-spoken, yet deeply committed to the message of GodSEVEN SAINTS: Can be assorted ages (ideal for baptismal candidate involvement) Note: Though dialogue is taken directly from Scripture, it may be made personal, where appropriate, for effect Costumes: Biblical dress for prophets, white robes or Sunday modern dress for Saints. Saints carry Bibles Props: Bones ...

293. Epiphany 8

Mark 2:18-22, Mark 2:13-17

Sermon Aid

Wayne H. Keller

... know about Jesus' response. He had to live with their trying to "nail" him his whole life. (Again, I remind us that we need not "nail down" every message with some kind of a moral; leave it to the Spirit.) Reading of the Scripture This passage is ideal for two easy dramas. For number one, set a table in the chancel. For number two, have another group in another part of the sanctuary. Proclamation of the Good News Follow up with similar ideas suggested in the children's message. Conclude with ways that we ...

294. Advent 4

Luke 1:26-38, Romans 16:1-27, 2 Samuel 7:1-17

Sermon Aid

E. Carver McGriff

... , the viewer saw Miles a bit younger, a bit more admirable, until the final scene showed him in his college days, at his college commencement when he was class valedictorian. At the very end, he said this: "Lastly, this I have learned: I have learned to value ideals above all else. Let them be our heritage, our guiding force." This article appeared in a worthy publication: You probably don't know the name Joe Schernikau. Not many people do. Oh, most of the folks in the neighborhood know Joe, but it's a run ...

295. All Creation Yawns

Romans 13:8-14

Sermon

Frank Luchsinger

... returned to his home country, Norway, after years abroad. His fame and success have brought him no happiness. His greatest artistic triumph was a modeled self- portrait titled Remorse for a Ruined Life. He has sacrificed everything for his art -- the love of his youth and his idealism. In the end his art has been betrayed by the relinquishing of these as well. The studio model who posed for him in his youth and with whom he fell in love appears to him in his moment of destiny. She brings to him the truth ...

296. A House of Prayer

Illustration

John R. Brokhoff

... only a burning bush? In a hymn Tersteegen sings, "God himself is present; let us now adore him and with awe appear before him." What applies to worship, applies also to prayer. When we pray, we are talking to a real person, not to an idea, or ideal, or ideology, or a theological concept. In prayer we are not talking to ourselves or to the ceiling. In spirit God is there to hear our prayer. We need to realize this and pray accordingly. The next room is for the thanksgiving and praise. We have been blessed ...

297. Making A Difference

Sermon

Timothy J. Smith

... All those years of showing love and concern will have paid off, when you can see it reflected in your grown children's eyes. Parents can be proud of their children. The capable wife is no ordinary woman but rather an extraordinary one who lives by following the ideals of wisdom combined with the fear of the Lord. Proverbs gives us words to live by. "Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised." Jane Fagan lives with her husband and four children in a simple ranch ...

298. Easter 2

Acts 5:17-42, Revelation 1:4-8, John 20:19-23, John 20:24-31

Sermon Aid

John R. Brokhoff

... no reason to believe. When we cannot see, when the future is unknown, we have faith that the unseen and unknown truly exist. Epistle: Acts 5:27-32 1. Rather (v. 29). Christians have a twofold responsibility to obey: God and State. Which would we "rather" obey? Ideally there should never be a time when a choice was necessary. The State should require only what God commands. In the event that the State orders us to do or not to do what opposes God's commands, the Christian takes a stand with the Apostles and ...

299. Easter 6

Jn 14:15-31; Acts 15:22-29, 16:6-15; Rev 21:22--22:5

Sermon Aid

John R. Brokhoff

... Ascension Day to celebrate this major festival, there is no problem in the use of the lectionary for Easter 6 and 7. A number of options face each pastor at this Ascension time. 1. Observe the "Ascension of our Lord" on Thursday. This is the ideal, but few churches have this service because, they claim, people will not attend on a weekday in sufficient numbers to justify the service. 2. Observe Easter 6 and 7 and ignore the Ascension festival. To do this means we deny our people the privilege of celebrating ...

300. Epiphany 4

Lk 4:21-30 · 1 Cor 13:1-13 · Jer 1:4-10 · Ps 71

Sermon Aid

John R. Brokhoff

... part of God, for God is love. It is agape love. People need to experience this love and to share this love with others. Consequently, love is life's top value. Outline: Love is life's top value, because a. Love makes everything worthwhile vv. 1-3. b. Love has ideal qualities vv. 4-7. c. Love outlives all other values vv. 8-13. 2. Basic factors of a good life (13:13). Need: Every person wants a good life and to make the most of life. After all, life is temporal. So while we live, we want to live it ...

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