Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 2976 to 3000 of 5000 results

2976. A Lesson From Paper

Children's Sermon

Kenneth Mortonson

Purpose: To help the children understand that as we grow older, we change; and we need to watch how we change. Materials: A candle and several sheets of paper. On one piece of paper, write a word like Hello. Lesson: A piece of paper is a very interesting object. You can fold it and it becomes a toy airplane that can fly. (Do so.) If you touch it to a flame, it turns into smoke and black ashes. (Do so, carefully. You might want a metal container nearby into which you can drop the paper.) You can write or ...

2977. If The Shoe Fits

Children's Sermon

Kenneth Mortonson

Purpose: To stress the importance of accepting help when it is needed. Materials: Two shoes of obviously different sizes. Lesson: This morning, before you came to church, you did something very important. I can see that you all did this important thing just by looking at you. You all put on a pair of shoes. But as I look at your shoes and at my shoes, I see that there are all sizes and kinds of shoes. One of the most important things about a pair of shoes is that they should fit. I could not wear your ...

2978. Advent 3

John 1:19-28, John 1:1-18, Psalm 126:1-6, Luke 1:46-56

Bulletin Aid

B. David Hostetter

Call to Worship Tell out the greatness of the Lord. Rejoice in God your Savior. Prayer of Confession Infinite Parent, Incarnate Offspring, Inclusive Spirit, in Jesus Christ you have experienced our humanity. We admit that we are not yet holy in spirit, soul and body. Our worship is not always wholehearted. Our hearts and minds are often arrogant, prejudiced, unchangeable. Our bodies are too prone to rule us, and bad habits jeopardize our health. Forgive our faults and fulfill your promise through the ...

2979. Lent 2

Mark 8:31--9:1

Bulletin Aid

B. David Hostetter

CALL TO WORSHIP Let all who see God be joyful in heart and exult in the hallowed name. Live in the divine presence always as a source of your strength. PRAYER OF CONFESSION Divine Thinker, Messianic Sufferer, Loving Spirit, we confess that we long for glory but avoid suffering. To be recognized and praised pleases us, but we turn back from the cross of unpleasant truth-telling and the defense of unpopular causes. Forgive our unwillingness to follow Christ in carrying our own crosses and living the truth as ...

2980. Thanksgiving Day

Psalm 126:1-6, Joel 2:21-27, Matthew 6:25-34, 1 Timothy 2:1-7

Bulletin Aid

B. David Hostetter

Call to Worship You have eaten in plenty and been satisfied. Praise the name of God our creator and provider, who has dealt wondrously with us. Prayer of Confession Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer of all life, we often complain about the weather wishing we were somewhere else where the weather was more to our liking. We fuss about food not entirely to our taste however nutritious. We are annoyed if we need medicine even if it improves our health and well being. Forgive our thanklessness and our anxieties ...

2981. Fleshing Out The Word

Luke 10:1-24

Sermon

Larry Powell

In the summer of 1983, I participated in a ministerial exchange program sponsored by my denomination. My assignment was to a circuit of churches on the Isle of Man, a tiny island located in the Irish Sea. The months preceding the exchange included considerable correspondence with the minister on the island with whom I would exchange pastoral duties for six weeks. Additionally, there were all kinds of other preparations to be seen after: passports, financial arrangements, reading everything available about ...

2982. Receive The Holy Spirit

John 20:19-23

Sermon

Larry Powell

"It is my heart-warming and world-embracing hope," said Mark Twain, "that all of us - the high, the low, the rich, the poor, the admired, the despised, the loved, the hated, the civilized, and the savage - may eventually be gathered in a heaven of everlasting rest and peace and bliss, except the inventor of the telephone." Mark Twain obviously held a great dislike for the telephone, probably because, among other things, it renders a person to be easily accessible, even when they prefer to be inaccessible. ...

2983. What "They" Say

Luke 9:18-27

Sermon

Larry Powell

"They" say that the next President of the United States is going to be a woman. "They" say that the next winter will be one of the coldest on record. "They" say that two heads are better than one. "They" say that if a rooster crows late in the day, rain is on the way. Surely you have heard of "They." It is almost certain that at one time or another you have referred to "They" when relating some bit of information in the course of a conversation. "They" say! "They" are always saying something. And it is not ...

2984. Preaching the Miracles of Jesus

Sermon Aid

John R. Brokhoff

Despite our scientific and technological generation, we live in an age of miracles. They are so many, and they occur so often, that we tend to take miracles for granted. When one gets well from a serious illness, we say, "His recovery was a miracle!" When we see pictures of a car wreck, we say, "It was a miracle all were not killed." A wife sent a friendship card to her husband with the message, "You love me! Will miracles never cease?" Every day we experience miracles. They are miracles because we cannot ...

2985. Learning to Forgive a Lot

Luke 7:47

Children's Sermon

Wesley T. Runk

Object: A small bag of potatoes and a twenty-pound bag of potatoes Good morning, boys and girls. Today we are going to have a little experiment that I hope will prove something about the way that God loves and takes care of us. I need two volunteers to help me this morning. (Choose two, one of them a lot smaller than the other if possible. We want to give the larger sack of potatoes to the smaller child.) Now the only thing that you must do to help in this experiment is to each hold a sack of potatoes. ( ...

2986. The Funnel of God

John 16:13

Children's Sermon

Wesley T. Runk

Object: A funnel. Good morning, boys and girls. Have you ever tried to pour something from one bottle into another bottle? (Let them answer.) Do you usually spill some of it when you try to do this? (Let them answer.) Do you know how to keep from spilling whatever you have in the bottle? (Let them answer.) You can be extra careful, but I have a better way. How many of you have ever used a funnel? (Let them answer.) Tell me how you use one of these things that we call a funnel. (Allow someone to give an ...

2987. Be Prepared

Matthew 25:1-13

Bulletin Aid

James Wilson

Call to Worship Leader: We are each one messengers sent to tell the world of God's love. People: We are each one called to share the news of God's mercy and grace. Leader: For indeed each of us has fallen short and chosen our own ways. People: Yet Christ will return one day and we are each called to be prepared. Leader: Then let us proclaim to all the world, the glory of God is at hand. All: Blessed be the name of the Lord! Collect O God, eternal and everlasting Lord, You have set before us the promise of ...

2988. Taking Life Seriously

Luke 16:19-31

Sermon

W. Robert McClelland

This parable reminds me of the time I attended an evangelism workshop offered by my denomination and which was intended to demonstrate the latest techniques for saving souls. A team of experts had come to town intent on training us to make cold calls in the community - door to door - seeking converts for Christ. I was assigned to one of the experts as an observer. I was to watch and, thereby, learn the technique. We were armed with two memorized questions which sooner or later were to be introduced into ...

2989. Sharing Shalom

Luke 12:13-21

Sermon

W. Robert McClelland

The Bible has a great deal to say about wealth and the people who own it. This parable of Jesus for example: The usual interpretation speaks of it as a teaching concerning the folly of a life devoted to the accumulation of wealth. It is ridiculous to seek security through riches. The foolishness becomes obvious, so the interpretation goes, when suddenly one night the man dies and must stand before God. Then he sees with tragic clarity the utter folly of it all. It was stupid, if not sinful, to amass riches ...

2990. Exile

1 Peter 1:17

Children's Sermon

Wesley T. Runk

Object: A large suitcase - packed with clothes and other articles that indicate a long stay away from home. Good morning, boys and girls. Today I want to talk about a word that the Bible uses to describe what we are doing here on earth when we all hope to spend the rest of our lives in heaven. The word the Bible uses is a good one. The word is exile. The Bible says that we are living in exile. Does anyone know what that means? (Let them answer.) It is a hard word and not one that we use very much, but it ...

2991. Groceries In The Grocery Cart

Acts 10:38

Children's Sermon

Wesley T. Runk

Object: A grocery cart. Good morning, boys and girls. How many of you have ever been shopping with your mother or father when they bought a large number of groceries? (Let them answer.) Do you like to go to the grocery? (Let them answer.) What part is the most fun? (Let them answer.) Some boys and girls like to go shopping because their parents buy them a pack of gum or a special candy bar. But the real reason that you like to go is because it is something that you can do with your parents, and it's fun to ...

2992. Dolly!

Romans 4:19

Children's Sermon

Wesley T. Runk

Object: A hand dolly and some heavy boxes of books or papers. Good morning, boys and girls. Today I am going to show you what faith is and how you use it. How many of you have ever heard of the word "faith?" (Let them answer.) All of you have heard of the word "faith," but what does faith mean? (Let them answer.) That is a pretty hard word to understand, isn't it? All of us think that we have faith, but we don't know exactly what it is. Let me tell you about a man called Abraham and his wife Sarah. They ...

2993. The Key Ring That Unites Us

Romans 6:5

Children's Sermon

Wesley T. Runk

Object: A round key ring with a lot of keys and one large key. Good morning, boys and girls. Today is a wonderful day to share with one another and to thank God for being so good to us. I have been thinking about a lot of things recently and one of them is the idea that we are sharing a promise that was given to Jesus. Do you remember when Jesus died? (Let them answer.) I remember that also. You and I will also die. We hope that we will not have to die in the same way that Jesus did, but we know that we ...

2994. Hard Hats and God

Romans 8:28

Children's Sermon

Wesley T. Runk

Object: Hard hats. Good morning, boys and girls. Today we want to talk about how God knows best and always does what is good for us even though we may not think so at the time. That is a long sentence but I think I can show you what I mean with this object. A couple of years ago people who work in factories or outside, where they do a lot of building, were told that they had to start wearing hats like these. (Show them some hard hats.) They are not really comfortable and they don't look really sharp, but ...

2995. Bringing Love Close

Deuteronomy 6:1-25

Sermon

George Paul Mocko

What John 3:16 is to Christianity, Deuteronomy 6:4-5 is to Judaism. "Hear O Israel: the Lord our God is one Lord; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might." These are the words of the Shema, and as the words that follow indicate, the first words committed to memory by a Jewish child; the words that appear on the mezuza on a Jewish doorpost; the words that appear in the phylacteries worn by the pious on wrist and forehead. The Shema is the ...

2996. Reformation Sunday

Jeremiah 30:1--31:40

Sermon

George Paul Mocko

That Reformation Theme of How You Can't Find God in Head, Heart, or Hands: Something Jeremiah, Paul and Luther Agree on; Our Arrogance; How God Has to Find Us and WhatFaith is All About. How do you find out what God is like? What he is supposed to be doing in this world? What he wants from it and us? How do you find out what God is like? Reason, said the ancient Greeks. Apply logic and the only possible logical conclusion is that God exists. So convinced were the ancient Greeks of the unassailable nature ...

2997. The Conversion of Saul

Acts 9:1-19a

Sermon

Barbara Brokhoff

Saul's conversion is important to us because we are always wanting detailed accounts of the journey of those people who have become great or famous. They always fascinate us. We avidly consume all the minute specifics we can find about them, sometimes even stooping to seek out tidbits of gossip. We are titillated by the trivial. Why was Sir Winston Churchill buried in a small country cemetery rather than in Westminster Abbey? Why was Churchill born in the servant's quarters of Blenheim Palace rather than ...

2998. Beware! Caution! Danger!

Acts 14:8-20

Sermon

Barbara Brokhoff

We may not always heed warning signs, but we still like to feel we have been told of approaching danger. We see signs everywhere that read: "Beware of the Dog," "Watch Your Step," "Danger! Thin Ice," "No Smoking. Oxygen in Use," "Watch for Wet Paint," "Dangerous Crossing," "Caution! No Lifeguard on Duty," and on and on they go. One cannot help but recall the story of the preacher who stood and announced his text. He began to read with increasing fervor, "Behold, I come quickly!" Then, for added emphasis, ...

2999. Grace Is What Christ Has Done

Acts 15:1-21

Sermon

Barbara Brokhoff

We live in a high-gloss, fix-the-outside, cover-up-the-spots world. We believe in making good first impressions, so we are very adept at cover-ups and shining up the outside. We have cover-ups in politics, in the world of high finance, in big business, and in education. Even if you buy peaches or strawberries from a road-side fruit stand you have to watch lest they have put the smaller, maybe rotten, fruit on the bottom, and then entice you to purchace them by covering it with the larger, more beautiful ...

3000. The Ascension Announces a Triumph

Acts 1:1-11

Sermon

Barbara Brokhoff

Introduction Roller coasters are becoming more and more popular in America; they are being built taller, and longer, and faster - and nearly every major theme and play park seems to have one. In a world that keeps us as dizzy as being on a roller coaster, or at best we have a suspicion that we are being used as a yo-yo, trying to meet the demands of all the strident voices about us. So, when a church event that has its anniversary on a certain Thursday every year - not even a Sunday - we find it a bit ...

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