Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 3051 to 3075 of 4945 results

3051. 'Nevertheless': A Word of Faith

Luke 5:1-11

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

Conventional wisdom has it that Billy Graham got his big push toward success from newspaperman William Randolph Hearst. In 1949 Graham's first major crusade was being launched in Los Angeles, and Hearst owned both major newspapers there. Supposedly, Hearst sent a brief message to his editors, saying, “Puff Graham.” But Billy Graham has a different understanding of his launching. In his autobiography, Just As I Am, he tells about a retreat he attended just a few months before that crusade. One night he was ...

3052. When Towers Fall and People Perish

Luke 13:1-9

Sermon

Brett Blair

Once in every lifetime something happens on the world stage, which shapes the course of human events. That event occurred three year ago on the morning of Sept 11th. Consider for a moment what was set in motion by the terrorist attacks of that day: Our nations capital was attacked. Over 3000 people lost their lives (1). The Manhattan skyline was irrevocably changed. The financial trade center for 150 nations was completely destroyed. The world’s economy was greatly tested. We waged a war against the ...

3053. I Believe In Prayer

Luke 11:1-13

Sermon

Robert Allen

I don’t suppose that it comes as any surprise to you that a minister would stand in a pulpit and affirm, "I believe in prayer." You would expect this affirmation. But, belief in prayer came normally and naturally for me as a child. Even before I can remember, I was taught to pray. The first prayer I was taught was the bedtime payer that almost all children learn. It is a simple little prayer which says: Now I lay me down to sleep; I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake; I pray the ...

3054. How Can We Meet Grief?

2 Samuel 18:19--19:8

Sermon

Edward Chinn

Across thirty centuries, comes this cry of grief from David, whom God called from being a shepherd of herds to be the shepherd of His people, Israel. David had a son named Absalom. Absalom had murdered his brother because that brother had raped his sister, Tamar. After being accepted back into the family, Absalom had led a rebellion against his father, the king. That rebel son had won the Israeli army to his side. In a dramatic showdown in the woods of Ephraim, Absalom rode through the forest away from his ...

3055. THE NEIGHBORHOOD GAP

Sermon

William McKee Aber

In this pre-Lenten period we are thinking about the gaps in life - gaps between generations, between sexes, between races - in short, all of the separations that exist in our world, pulling us apart and rupturing relationships that were meant to be vital. Our thesis has been that there is in fact a God who is cncerned about gaps - who meets us in the midst of our separation, and who may enable us to bridge the gaps that exist. Today we come to one of the most difficult of all - the neighborhood gap. When, ...

3056. Christmas: A Family Service

Drama

Ruthanne Cochran

Setting: A large Christmas Lrce is placed in the chancel, or on one side of the front of the sanctuary, with wrapped gifts placed beneath it. A large manger is placed in front of the altar, or communion table, with a large candle placed nearby or on the altar. The portion of the service presented by the family takes place around the tree. Participants: A family, or six selected persons to portray: A mother A father An older son An older daughter A sniall girl (aged 9 or 10) A small boy (aged 8 or 9) Youth ...

3057. Commanded By Example

John 13:31-38

Sermon

O. Garfield Beckstrand, II

In a book titled, Life Looks Up, Charles Templeton said the history of this world has been changed by events which took place in two small upper rooms. These rooms are separated not only by thousands of miles, but by nearly thousands of years. Yet the events which took place within those walls have changed the course of human history more than any other events mankind has ever known. The first "upper room" is a drab flat over a dingy laundry in a poor district in London. Through the dirty, curtainless ...

3058. Getting Ready

Mark 13:24-37

Sermon

Brett Blair

It is hard for us to understand Jesus' delay in his coming. God's time clock is certainly out of sync with ours as Little Jimmy learned one day as he was laying on a hill in the middle of a meadow on a warm spring day. Puffy white clouds rolled by and he pondered their shape. Soon, he began to think about God. "God? Are you really there?" Jimmy said out loud. To his astonishment a voice came from the clouds. "Yes, Jimmy? What can I do for you?" Seizing the opportunity, Jimmy asked, "God? What is a million ...

3059. The Shepherd Who Loved His Sheep

John 10:1-21

Sermon

George Bass

Nearly everybody who visits the Holy Land seems to buy an olivewood carving of the Shepherd with the little lamb upon his shoulder. It is one of the most beloved symbols portraying the nature of Christ to people. But that type of carving is radically different from the representation of the Good Shepherd which has graced the apses of Christian church buildings ever since they were first built. High on my tourist-agenda, when I first visited Rome, was the Church of Santa Costanza, mainly because I had heard ...

3060. A Royal Lament

2 Samuel 1:1-16

Sermon

Roger Prescott

Introduction A bearer of news can be treated especially well, or, as in the case of the Amalekite who brought David the news of the death of Saul and Jonathan, quite badly. One of David’s greatest accomplishments was breaking the Philistines’ control over Canaan once and for all and shutting them up in the coastal plain (2 Samuel 5:17-25; 21:15-22). But at the time described in today’s text they were raising havoc with the Israelites - so much so, in fact, that Saul and Jonathan were both killed. When this ...

3061. Even The Demons Believe!

Mark 1:21-28

Sermon

Daniel G. Mueller

Say the word "demon" and the first thing that might pop into your mind is the image of a child you know. Sometimes we describe an ornery child as "a little demon." But in the Bible, the word demon is never used that lightly. It is a word that is always used seriously and fearfully to describe one of the forces of evil, an unclean spirit. Saint Mark records for us the story of one demon who filled a father’s life with agony because of the way he possessed the man’s son. Shortly after the Transfiguration of ...

3062. A Fresh Start

Joel 2:28-32, Joel 2:18-27

Sermon

Mark Ellingsen

Have you ever felt that you were absolutely at the end of your rope, left without hope? Sometime during the years of 539 B.C. to 331 B.C. that is the way the people of Judah felt. It seems that their land had been ravaged by a plague of locusts which had had catastrophic consequences. Once a harvest has been destroyed, you cannot repair it. If a building has burned to the ground, you cannot repair it. In those instances you need to start from scratch with a fresh start. Have you reached the end of your ...

3063. Hypocrites

Matthew 6:1-4

Sermon

Brett Blair

It is difficult to find anyone who has a kind word to say about hypocrites. Nobody likes a hypocrite; no one wants to be around one; the last thing one would want to be called is a hypocrite. Hypocrites are, by definition, deceptive, two-faced and treacherous. If discovered, hypocritical politicians are defeated at the polls, hypocritical friends get dropped and hypocritical preachers lose the trusting ears of their congregations. It may well be that our age is particularly tough on hypocrisy. In some ways ...

3064. You Do Have A Prayer

Luke 11:1-13

Sermon

James W. Moore

Some years ago, when Leonard Griffith was pastor of the famous City Temple in London, he wrote a fascinating book entitled Barriers to Christian Belief. In that book he dealt with some problems that have over the years been real obstacles and stumbling blocks for people in their faith pilgrimage… specific problems that hinder people, that burden people, that disturb people… and keep them away from the Christian faith. One of the barriers he listed was…"unanswered prayer." It does seem to be a fact of our ...

3065. The Last Laugh

Genesis 18:1-15

Sermon

David E. Leininger

An old, old story has a fellow coming to the most famous and expensive doctor in town. From the very beginning the patient admitted that there was no way he could afford the physician's $500 fee, but he happened to catch the Doc on a generous day and the fee was reduced to $400. "But Doctor," pleaded the man, "I have a wife and six kids to feed." The fee was reduced to $250. "But Doc, that's a month's rent." Eventually, the fellow's begging and poor-mouthing got the fee down to $100 then $50 and finally to ...

3066. The Prod of the Past

Exodus 12:1-30

Sermon

David E. Leininger

"You shall observe it as a perpetual ordinance." or as the King James has it, "You shall observe it as an ordinance forever." The establishment of the Passover, one of the most important of all Jewish festivals. And they HAVE observed it forever. Every year since, and down to our own day, Jewish families have gathered at the traditional Seder meal. The patriarch of the household asks the children, "What makes this night different than all other nights?" The youngsters respond with the Exodus story of God's ...

3067. Remembering the Good Old Days

Numbers 14:1-10a

Sermon

David E. Leininger

Some of you may remember the name John Gilbert, a famous actor of silent film days, a "sexy" leading man. His career declined with the advent of "talkies" because his high, thin voice was not at all what folks had imagined of this great screen lover. Gilbert was once called on short notice to play the role of the heroine's father in a Chicago production. He learned his lines in record time, but was still struggling to remember the name of his character, Numitorius, when the play opened. A colleague ...

3068. Ephphatha...Be Opened

Mark 7:31-37

Sermon

David E. Leininger

More than a generation of preachers at Princeton Seminary were schooled in their homiletical skills by Dr. Donald Macleod. Among the points Dr. Macleod would make during the semester was the importance of choosing a compelling sermon title. In fact, he asked students to give their sermon title before beginning each sermon. He used to tell of Mrs. O'Leary who would hop on the Fifth Avenue bus on Sunday morning in Manhattan and pass the great churches along that thoroughfare. As the bus would approach each ...

3069. Happy Birthday, Dear Church

Acts 2:14-41, Acts 2:1-13

Sermon

David E. Leininger

I do it for all of you, so I guess I ought to do it for the church, right? Happy birthday to you, Happy birthday to you, Happy birthday, Dear Chur-urch, Happy birthday to you. Amen. OK, let's do it up right. If this is the church's birthday, there ought to be a party, true? One would think that an observance of this magnitude would be noticed around town, just like Christmas or Easter. But this week I have had occasion to shop in several stores, and amazingly, not one of them indicated that there were so ...

3070. Jesus Says, 'Just Do It'

Luke 17:1-10

Sermon

Dr. Chane M. Hutton

The sales manager of a large real estate firm was interviewing an applicant for a sales job. "Why have you chosen this career?" he asked. "I dream of making a million dollars in real estate, like my father," the young man replied. "Your father made a million dollars in real estate?" asked the impressed sales manager. "No," replied the young man. "but he always dreamed of it." Have you ever noticed that the Bible never mentions the dreams of the apostles? It doesn't even mention the ideas of the apostles. ...

3071. What Makes A Family?

Mark 3:31-35

Sermon

King Duncan

It was shocking and hard to believe when one of Hollywood's most handsome and athletic stars, Christopher Reeve, suffered an accident that paralyzed him from the neck down. In one tragic moment, a single centimeter in the wrong direction, he was left a quadriplegic. Ironically, during those years when he was living in a wheelchair, most of us still associated him with his most famous role, that of SUPERMAN. In an interview years after the accident, Christopher Reeve and his wife, Dana, talked about the ...

3072. A Pre-christmas Faith

Jeremiah 33:1-26

Sermon

King Duncan

We have scarcely had time to savor Thanksgiving . . . .the delicious turkey and dressing . . . .the football contest on television . . . .reunion with family and friends . . . .the brisk cold of an autumn afternoon and the glow and warmth of a fire. For the children the coming of Christmas has always signaled a flood of expectation. Santa Claus is already setting up his listening post at shopping centers across our town. Some may complain about the over-commercialization of Christmas, but not me. I love to ...

3073. Making It Last

Luke 3:1-20

Sermon

Timothy J. Smith

The excitement is mounting on this the third Sunday in Advent. That long awaited day will soon be here. Jesus will soon be reborn into our lives. We have looked forward to Christmas Day for two weeks. Children count down the days, waiting as patiently as they can for Christmas Day. But what do we do the day after Christmas? Are there ways to make Christmas last longer than one day? Once there was a little girl who loved Christmas so much that she wanted it to be Christmas every day of the year. This little ...

3074. What If The Lord Really Did Come Today?

Amos 5:18-27

Sermon

King Duncan

There is a piece of church humor that has been around for some time now in the form of a good news ”bad news type joke. The scene is the Vatican in Rome. A cardinal rushes in to see the Pope. "Your holiness," says the cardinal excitedly, "I have some good news and some bad news." The Pope replies, "Well, give me the good news first." The cardinal responds, "I have just received word that Christ has returned to earth." "That's wonderful," replies the Pope, "but what is the bad news?" The cardinal answers ...

3075. A Most Successful Sermon

Acts 2:14a, 36-41

Sermon

King Duncan

Every pastor would like to have the kind of response to a sermon that Peter had on the Day of Pentecost. Three thousand people were added to the church after Peter had finished. Even more importantly, three thousand people had their lives profoundly changed. For most of them it was a change that would make them a pariah in their community and even in their own family. Some would go on to die for their faith. Their faith was no surface affair. It involved a complete commitment to the work of God. There is a ...

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