Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 2976 to 3000 of 4933 results

2976. The Road To The Wilderness

Mark 1:9-13

Sermon

Thomas A. Pilgrim

I have always enjoyed that CBS News segment, "On The Road With Charles Kuralt." He takes us to out-of-the-way places like Bethlehem, Georgia; Farmington, Iowa; and Old Town, Maine. He shows us a piece of Americana, and helps us understand ourselves. So, on the Sundays between now and Easter I want us to go on the road with Jesus of Nazareth be on the roads Jesus traveled in order that we would see him more clearly and understand more nearly what it is we are to do. The first road I want us to travel is the ...

2977. Giving Away the Store

Luke 22:7-38, John 13:1-17

Sermon

Carl Jech

He will show you a large upper room furnished. (Luke 22:12) If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. (John 13:14) A friend of mine once had a job briefly at a car rental agency. The job didn't last for long because the owner of the agency complained that my friend was too nice, too diplomatic with the customers. He felt that if my friend were left alone he would probably end up giving the cars away - "giving away the store!" The idea behind this ...

2978. Trouble on the Mountain

Exodus 32:1-33:6

Sermon

A man was riding on a train. He was pacing back and forth and one of his kids was yelling, "Papa, Papa, I want a glass of water. I want a glass of water." The harried man just kept walking back and forth, and the kid kept yelling. Finally, the man smacked the kid on the seat and told her to shut up. A nice old lady across the aisle stopped him and said, "Mister, I'm going to call the conductor and make trouble for you!" The guy said, "Lady, you're gonna make trouble for me? That kid there is my Becky; she ...

2979. THE FINAL TRIUMPH

Drama

THE FINAL TRIUMPH A Service For Easter A Chancel Drama In One Act PLAY CAST Annas: Priest of the Temple old, wise Caiaphas: Priest, hot tempered Mary Magdalene: Follower of Jesus, young, angry Mary, Mother of Jesus: Old, wise, serene Guard 1 Guard 2 SETTING The temple in Jerusalem on Easter morning. As the play begins, Annas sits in a chair center stage reading a scroll. Caiaphas enters from the back of the sanctuary, very upset, and proceeds up the center aisle toward Annas. The two priests should be ...

2980. Midnight Turned Into High Noon

Isaiah 42:10-17, Isaiah 42:18-25

Sermon

Barbara Brokhoff

"... I will turn the darkness before them into light ..." David Hume, the philospher, once wrote an essay on the sufficiency of the light of nature for man’s spiritual matters. About the same time, F. W. Robertson, a noted minister, published a sermon upholding the opposite thesis, pointing out that the light of nature needs to be supplemented by the light of a revelation from God. Mutual friends of the philosopher and preacher decided to bring the two together to debate the matter. When the evening ended ...

2981. The Racial Gap

Psalm 53:1-6

Sermon

William McKee Aber

We’ve been thinking, during this pre-Lenten season, of some of the gaps that exist between us - gaps of generations, or sex, between neighbors, and so on. It has been our contention that God has a word for the gaps, and in Jesus Christ has provided a means to bridge them - from the little ones to the big ones. Today - Race Relations Sunday - we stop to look at the racial gap, and as we do we find ourselves enmeshed in confusion! There once was a time when I knew what to say on Race Relations Sunday, when ...

2982. Mark Twain's Briefcase And A Great Mental Attitude

2 Corinthians 4:1-18

Sermon

King Duncan

Mark Twain was taking a train trip. He didn't want to carry his briefcase with him, so he asked a baggage handler if he thought the briefcase was strong enough to be checked and placed in the baggage compartment. The baggage handler shrugged, took Twain's case, and promptly hurled it to the pavement. "That, sir," he said, "is what she'll get in Philadelphia." Then he picked it up and struck it five or six times against the side of the train car. "And that," he continued, "is what she'll get in Chicago." ...

2983. Do We Know What We've Got?

Matthew 18:15-20

Sermon

King Duncan

Our lesson from Matthew’s Gospel for today reminds me of a story of a pastor in a drought-stricken part of Alabama last summer who implored his people to pray for rain. In fact, he asked each member of the church to join in a prayer vigil that would continue day and night until God granted their request. Never had there been a greater sense of urgency in that church than was revealed over the next few days. At any hour, one might pass that small rural church and find the lights on and someone at the altar ...

2984. When Jiggling Wires Is Not Good Enough

John 4:1-26

Sermon

King Duncan

David McCasland tells about a woman whose car was stalled at an intersection. The hood was up, and she flagged McCasland down to help. "I can't get it started," she said. "but if you jiggle the wire on the battery, I think it will work." McCasland grabbed the positive battery cable and it came off in his hand. Definitely the cable was too loose. "The terminal needs to be tightened up," he told her. "I can fix it if you have some tools." "My husband says to just jiggle the wire," she replied. "It always ...

2985. Don't Forget Your Ticket

2 Corinthians 5:11--6:2, Luke 14:15-24

Sermon

King Duncan

The Little League coach looked down at his eager second baseman with desperation in his eye. "Bobby," he said, "You know the principles of good sportsmanship that the Little League practices. You know we don't tolerate temper tantrums, shouting at the umpire, or abusive language. Do I make myself clear?" "Yes, sir," replied the Little Leaguer. "Well, then," said the coach, "would you please explain that to your mother?" Some of you baseball fans are looking forward with anticipation to the coming season. A ...

2986. That Would Be Some Miracle!

John 6:1-15

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

The Feeding of the Five Thousand may well be the most difficult miracle in the Gospels with which we have to deal. And yet it is the one miracle that is most firmly anchored in the Gospels. Of all the miracles which Jesus performed, only this one appears in all four of the Gospels! There must be some strong tradition behind it. The least one can say is that Jesus was the kind of Man about whom His friends could hardly talk except in terms of miracles. Presbyterian Kenneth Foreman, commenting on this ...

2987. Wining and Dining with Jesus

Mark 2:18-22

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

Doesn’t it seem sometimes that the people who are NOT religious are a whole lot more fun than the people who are? At times the church suffers more at the hands of its friends than at the hands of its enemies. It suffers more from the rigidly righteous than from the blatantly irreligious. There are those who in their self-righteous zeal appoint themselves as monitors of other people’s morals and delight in pointing their fingers at the failings of everybody but themselves. Let’s face it: there have been a ...

2988. Look Inside and Discover Life

Numbers 21:4-9

Sermon

Richard Gribble

Oscar Wilde's short novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, written in the early part of the twentieth century, describes the life of a tortured man who is unable to look honestly at his life. He refuses to look inside and accept who he truly is. Dorian is a physically handsome young man who possesses power, wealth, and prestige, the three great assets and temptations of contemporary life. An artist, Basil Hallward, who is enamored at Dorian's presence, paints a portrait of him, which is indeed a master work. ...

2989. Star Witness

John 1:35-51

Sermon

James Merritt

One of my favorite movies is "The Untouchables." Elliott Ness is the hero, Al Capone is the villain. The entire picture is a portrayal of how Ness is trying to nail Capone and send him to prison. Capone seems to thwart him at every turn until Ness discovers the one person who can put him away—his bookkeeper. The climatic scene in the train station is one of the most exciting I have ever seen, as the mob is trying to get the bookkeeper out of town while Ness is trying to stop them; and he succeeds only ...

2990. I Don’t Like My Options

2 Kings 5:1-17

Sermon

James Merritt

Think about two words: options and decisions. One gives rise to the other. Options are diverse, decisions are difficult. An option only has power when it becomes a decision. The reason why I want you to understand these two words is because basically that is what life is all about. It is amazing to see how one decision can change a life, a family, a nation, and a world. Some unknown people through the years made a decision choosing among options that have radically changed your life to this very present ...

2991. Do You Believe In Miracles?

Matthew 15:29-39

Sermon

James Merritt

It is not only one of the most famous broadcasting calls in sports history, it is probably the only one that asked a theological question and for sure the only one that gave the correct theological answer, “Do you believe in miracles? Yes!” To be honest, that unbelievable upset of the United States beating Russia for the Gold Medal in Hockey in 1980 was as close to a miracle in the sports world as you might ever get. But it really wasn’t a miracle. Anybody that knows anything about sports knows that ...

2992. New Dominion as a Blessing of the New Covenant: Dead to Sin

Romans 6:1-14

Teach the Text

C. Marvin Pate

Big Idea: In chapter 6 Paul presents another blessing: new dominion. The first Adam forfeited his dominion over the earth. But Christ, the last Adam, inaugurated a new age and new covenant, restoring the lost dominion. Believers enter that new dominion by uniting with Christ’s death and resurrection: they become dead to sin and alive to God. Understanding the Text While Romans 3:21–5:21 developed the theme of justification, Romans 6:1–8:16 is devoted to the topic of sanctification.1On the one hand, ...

2993. Hearts / Repentance

2 Corinthians 7:2-16

Understanding Series

James M. Scott

7:2–4 Here, Paul resumes his train of thought from 6:13, that the Corinthians should open wide their hearts to him just as he has done to them. This incidently shows that 6:14–7:1 must be integral to the present context, for otherwise 7:2 would sound redundant coming directly after 6:13. The intervening exhortation in 6:14–7:1 explains how they are to open their heart. As was shown above, 6:14–7:1 exhorts the Corinthians to put into practice the implications of the new covenant for their sanctification, ...

2994. We've Got a Friend in High Places

1 Corinthians 15:20-26, 28, Ephesians 1:15-23

Sermon

King Duncan

It was one of those events that you can never forget witnessing. A skyscraper was going up. Hundreds of people paused daily to glance up at it. One day they watched as a giant metal beam was raised to be placed high on the enormous steel skeleton of the skyscraper. And then something terrifying occurred. As the girder came near, a workman leaned out from the sixteenth floor to seize it. The spectators gasped as he lost his balance and fell. Fortunately, he was able to clutch the end of the giant beam that ...

2995. Everything You Need to Know about Love

John 15:9-17

Sermon

King Duncan

Our theme for today is love. Of course, ultimately every one of our messages is about love: God’s love for us and our love for one another, and the love we are called to have for the world for which Christ died. However we are going to focus a little more intently than normal on the meaning of love today. In our lesson from John’s Gospel we read these words: “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my ...

2996. A Living Sacrifice

Romans 12:1-8

Eulogy

Lawrence Ruegg

For a seventy-year-old woman This funeral sermon was for a woman who had been a faithful member of the church most of her life - a person who put her faith into practice at every hour and situation. "Therefore, I appeal to you, brethren, by the mercies of God to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God; which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may prove what is the will of God, what is good and ...

2997. Sabotaging The Sabath

Luke 13:10-17

Sermon

Richard Patt

We wish the story here would have ended another way. Yes, it was the sabbath (always meant to be a beautiful day for God's people!). And even on the sabbath people become sick or continue to be sick. Jesus notices a woman, all hunched over, obviously one who had been ill for a long time. He is a merciful Lord, so he takes the initiative to call her over and lay his hands on her. In these gracious acts, the woman is healed on the spot. Her body is straightened again, and she praises God for God's goodness. ...

2998. Proper 8

Luke 9:57-62, Galatians 5:16-26, 1 Kings 19:9-18, Psalm 16:1-11, Luke 9:51-56

Sermon Aid

George Bass

THEOLOGICAL CLUE Three days from the Sixth Sunday after Pentecost, in 1992, the minor festival of Mary Magdalene will be observed in many churches around the world. Some people will remember her as a woman who was converted from a sinful life of prostitution to a faithful and devout disciple of Jesus Christ. (Most Lutheran churches in the United States did not celebrate her "day" until the appearance of The Lutheran Book Of Worship, with a revised calendar, in 1978.) Others will remember her for her ...

2999. Some Assembly Required

Luke 2:21-40

Sermon

Johnny Dean

Some of you - especially those of you who have now, or have had in years passed, small children - may know from first-had experience that there are three words which strike fear into the heart of a parent on Christmas Eve, three words which inspire nightmares on the night before Christmas. They sound innocent enough, these three simple words. But if you’ve had prior experience with them, you know what it means to encounter the words: SOME ASSEMBLY REQUIRED. How well I remember one close encounter with ...

3000. Don't Just Stand There! - Get Involved!

Luke 3:1-20, Matthew 6:19-24

Sermon

Dr. John Thompson Peters

G.K. Chesterton one time said, "Christianity has not been tried and found wanting. Rather it has been found difficult and not tried." It would seem strange that after almost two thousand years of history there should still be confusion about the real nature of the Christian religion, and yet there can be no question but that it is widely misunderstood and hence misinterpreted. Some men reduce Christianity to something easy, while others make it impossible. With our contemporary situation bringing ...

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