Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 3001 to 3025 of 4681 results

3001. What Are You Thinking?

2 Timothy 2:14-26

Bulletin Aid

Frank Ramirez

Call To Worship One: This is the day that the Lord has made All: let us rejoice and be glad in it. (Psalm 118:24) Collect Wise God, wise guide, we look to you in our worship today. Plant the seeds of peace in our hearts, that we might bear the fruit of peace in your world. Accept the offering of our willing hearts and our faltering wills, stir within the embers of our commitment a new life and a new light. Renew us, redeem us, replenish our spirits with the power of your Spirit. In your mighty name we ...

3002. Walk In Faithfulness

Hebrews 4:14-5:10

Bulletin Aid

Frank Ramirez

... the glory of stars exploding, or in the majesty of an imperial process, not with the preening feathers of a peacock, or with the roar of a lion, but in this do we find our King, Savior, Shepherd, High Priest, walking humbly, the man of sorrows, bearing our burdens, enduring our pain. This is glory! Come together, God's people, in worship and praise. Collect Lord, we seek to walk in faithfulness as did your Son, not hiding from the world, but immersing ourselves in the troubles and trials so we might offer ...

3003. Life In A Dead End

Ruth 1:1-22

Bulletin Aid

Frank Ramirez

... with sorrows. All: Yet our destiny is joy. One: Come, God's joyful people, gather as one in the joy of Christ Jesus. All: We come, to adore God. Collect Gracious Lord, giver of all joy, we pray together than you will abide in our midst. All of us bear the marks of pain, our wounds of greater or lesser severity. All of us have carried the cross for a greater or lesser distance. All of us have been wounded by life in greater or lesser measure. Yet, when we are gathered together in your name, we are offered ...

3004. Heart, Soul, Mind, Spirit

Mark 12:28-34

Bulletin Aid

Frank Ramirez

Call To Worship One: Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. All: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. One: You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, All: but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord. Collect One: Heart. The Bible says All: Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm; for love is strong as death, passion fierce as ...

3005. Rare, Yet Well Done

Hebrews 9:11-28

Bulletin Aid

Frank Ramirez

... praise. Amen. Prayer Of Confession Lord Jesus, you appeared once for all at the end of the age to remove sin by your sacrifice. It is appointed for us once to die, and after that the judgment. Thanks to your love we know that you, who were offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin, but to save those of us who are eagerly waiting for you. Come soon, Lord Jesus. Amen! Hymns When Morning Gilds The Skies What Is This Place? Here In This Upper Room

3006. Bringing In The Sheaves

Mark 13:1-8

Bulletin Aid

Frank Ramirez

Call To Worship One: May those who sow in tears reap with shouts of joy. All: Those who go out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, carrying their sheaves. (Psalm 126:5-6) Collect Lord of creation, you sustain us with your breath from birth until death. You walk beside us whatever betide us. Lord of elation, your joy is forever. The world disappoints us. ...

3007. Weaving the Spirit’s Trail

Matthew 20:1-16

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... and sedate; to perforate the “perfect.” The vineyard owner in today’s gospel text is an artist at heart. We all have an image of a “business person,” a “business man” or “business woman.” Ever watch on tv “Bulls & Bears?” or “The Forbes Journal” or “The Wall Street Report?” What words come to mind to describe a “business person:” practical, pragmatic, predictable, bottom-line, etc. The hands-on vineyard owner runs a large agricultural enterprise. In Jesus’ parable the ...

3008. Christ’s Twin

Philippians 2:1-11

Sermon

King Duncan

... after Eeyore, the gloomy, somewhat depressed donkey from Winnie the Pooh. Some of you who have read Winnie the Pooh to your children or grandchildren may remember that Eeyore lives his life with his head down and his tail bedraggled. “Good morning, Pooh Bear,” Eeyore would say. “If it is a good morning,” he would add. “Which I doubt.” Eeyore is the ultimate pessimist. And yet, in spite of his dreary attitude, Fisher‑Price came out with “Ask Me More Eeyore,” designed for children ages three ...

3009. Ten Million Dollar Winners

Matthew 18:23-35

Sermon

Shirley Gupton Lynn

... for Christ's sake, and go out from here to live and forgive like the $10 million winners we are! The hymn writer says it well: My sin—O the bliss of this glorious thought— My sin—not in part but the whole, Is nailed to the cross and I bear it no more. Praise the Lord, Praise the Lord, O my soul. It is well...with my soul It is well, it is well with my soul. ("It Is Well with My Soul," Horatio G. Spafford)

3010. Floating on Your Back

1 Thessalonians 1:1-10

Sermon

King Duncan

... , became husband and wife. Not long afterwards, they moved to the U.S. It must have been hard for Maria to leave her family and homeland for her husband, but she never complained. She took as her motto the words from I Corinthians 13: “Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” When Wallace completed his medical degree and went off to serve with the Army in 1944, Maria gave up her career to stay home with the children. She cheerfully accepted the sacrifices common ...

3011. Baptism: The Common Call To Holiness

Mark 1:4-11

Sermon

Richard Gribble

... being commissioned by the Father to begin his salvific mission. In a similar way, all Christians are commissioned by baptism to do our share in building God's kingdom on earth. The methods and means will vary, but the baptized, all who bear the name Christian, are called to live holy lives, drawing themselves and others closer to God. The most overt commission that Jesus gave his followers was actually proclaimed just prior to the Ascension. "Jesus addressed his disciples, ‘All authority in heaven and ...

3012. Accepting the Unconventional in Life

Mark 2:13-22

Sermon

Richard Gribble

... But traditional church officials, the priests, ministers, and bishops, are wary of him. Joshua rocks the boat too much; he makes people nervous. Joshua's unconventional manner leads to his rejection by the very people he has come to assist. Thus, the question bears repeating -- would we recognize Jesus among us, or is he already here and because of our rootedness in convention and tradition we are blind to his presence? Blindness to Jesus, in the many forms he appears in our world, is unfortunately rampant ...

3013. A Clock or a Compass?

Mark 1:9-15

Sermon

David T. Ball

... for determining direction. Early explorers looked to the stars, especially the North Star, for guidance as they navigated their ships across the oceans. Beginning in the thirteenth century, when the magnetic compass was perfected as a navigational instrument, the explorers could take their bearings confidently and avoid shipwreck in the daytime as well. They might not know whether the time was closer to 10:25 or 10:30, but they knew very well how to avoid dangerous rocks and reefs. I’d like to take us ...

3014. Seeing and Not Being Seen

John 12:20-33

Sermon

David T. Ball

... gospel account does give us his reply: “Jesus answered them, ‘The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.’ ” And on he continued, about how those who love their life will lose it, and how those who hate their life will keep it, and serving, and following, and how whoever serves Jesus God will honor. All good stuff, but what did I miss? Didn’t ...

3015. The Quiet Day of Pentecost

John 16:5-16, John 15:18--16:4

Sermon

George Reed

... and they had been empowered with the Spirit. They now had the means to grow in the faith as the Spirit continued Jesus' ministry of teaching and guiding the little flock. All that Jesus had been unable to teach them, those things that Jesus said, "... you cannot bear ..." were now available to them in the teaching ministry of the Spirit. Jesus had given his assurance that he would declare to them all that was his and God's. That Pentecost not only was the church born, but so was the ministry of listening to ...

3016. The Cost of Being a Prophet

Mark 6:14-29

Sermon

George Reed

John the Baptist is one of the heroes of the Christian faith. More of the churches that bear the name Saint John do so in honor of John the Baptist than John the Evangelist. Perhaps it is because he is so closely linked with the birth of Jesus as Mary and Elizabethshare their pregnancies. John is the one who baptizes Jesus and it is after the death of ...

3017. Chocolate Cake, Flooded Waters, and Baptism

Genesis 9:8-17

Sermon

Ron Lavin

... news of a means of escape. Even if we sin, God provides the means of escape called repentance. Saint Paul puts it this way: "No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful: he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it" (1 Corinthians 10:12-13). What is this "way out"? Martin Luther says that when depressions and temptations come, the best way to handle them is to say, "I am ...

3018. What Part of “You Shall Not” Don’t You Understand?

Exodus 20:1-17

Sermon

Ron Lavin

... stealing another person's answers on a quiz? How about stealing by cheating on a business report? How about stealing someone's good name with gossip or unfair criticism? The eighth commandment deals with unfair criticism and false judgments. "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor" (Exodus 20:16). Of all the commandments in the second table of the law, this is the one we observe being broken most often. Daily, someone in our hearing says something unkind about another. Too often we fall ...

3019. Remarkable Vision

Mark 13:24-37

Illustration

Harrell Davis

... outside of the trail. Their feet land very close to the edge. On the way down the left side is close to danger; on the way up it is the right. But their remarkable vision enables them to walk safely. If every church had that kind of vision we could bear the Christ triumphantly into tomorrow.

3020. Wild Beasts

Genesis 9:8-17

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... plants before God had a relationship with them. The creation story in Genesis 1 portrays God delightedly weaving together the various fabrics of God's imagination into the complex network of a living, breathing planet. Each and every phase of this creative activity bears the personal fingerprints of God. The human beings God creates on the sixth day of the Genesis 1 story reside in the same relationship to God as does the rest of creation: complete dependence upon God for their very existence, and continued ...

3021. LightWorks

Deuteronomy 6:1-9

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... spark present in each and every person, which through proper care and nurture could be fanned into a bright light of spiritual power. Observing the commandments and the ceremonies and symbols associated with them was the primary aid in bringing this light to bear on the life of the believer and the whole community of faith. Kuk maintained that: "All practices, commandments and customs are nothing but so many vessels, containing a few sparks of this great light from above, and in proportion to the spiritual ...

3022. The Crime of Christmas

Luke 2:8-20, Luke 2:1-7

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... a radically life-altering experience for a nation, a people, a world, a cosmos. But the simplicity of that first Christmas has become dangerously complicated by modern theology, cosmology, technology and economy. The problem goes beyond the over-bearing "commercialization of Christmas." Our inability to deal with Christmas simplicity reaches far beyond our pocketbooks, delving directly into the depths of our souls’ fascination with the convoluted and complex. Reaching back to try and recapture the simple ...

3023. The First Christmas Card

Philippians 4:4-9

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... demanding that we respond with equal excessiveness: "Rejoice in the Lord always, again I will say rejoice!" Fourth, does it promote love? After John the Baptist denounces the milling crowd as "vipers" he proceeds to give them counsel. He encourages them to "bear fruits worthy of repentance"(vs.8). He gives them specific examples of actions they must take and attitudes they must cultivate in order to promote the new age introduced by the Messiah. These acts and attitudes are love made tangible. Essentially ...

3024. Wake Up

John 20:1-18

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... 's fantasy world come to life is empty. But its very emptiness is full of meaning. For that is precisely the function of Disney World - to empty us of the harsh realities of life and render us unconscious to those things which are too hard to bear. That is part of the experience of Disney - to become "unconscious" of the real world and to enter a never-never land of fantasy and fakery. Fittingly Sleeping Beauty's Castle - a monument to a trance-like sleep - serves as the portal to this plane. If Disney ...

3025. The Compleat Christian

Romans 5:1-5

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... revenge against those who abused and rejected him. Christian endurance meant Paul merely preached while in jail, returned to those who rejected him to try again and wrote letters again and again to some of the most churlish churches ever to bear the name of Christ. Like the Old Testament concept of hesed - God's steadfast love - Christian endurance means sticking by our faith, sticking to our grace and demonstrating our faithfulness even when the odds are overwhelming. Do you have a recognizably Christian ...

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