Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 3076 to 3100 of 4935 results

3076. Idol Feasts and the Lord's Supper

1 Corinthians 10:14-22

Understanding Series

Marion L. Soards

Paul returns here to the topics he dealt with in 8:1–13. There he touched on two related items, eating meat from idol sacrifices and participating in pagan cultic banquets. At this point, however, Paul reverses the order of his discussion and takes up the Christians’ eating at the table in a pagan idol’s temple in 10:14–22 before returning to the issue of eating idol meat per se in 10:23–11:1. In the present verses Paul elaborates and makes even more explicit application of his warning to the Corinthians. ...

3077. Jesus Predicts His Betrayal

John 13:18-30

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

The common theme of sending supports the view that verses 18–20, despite their apparent reference to the traitor Judas, belong with verses 1–17, not 21–30. In a sense, they serve the same function in relation to verses 12–17 that verse 11 serves in relation to verses 6–10. But it should be noted that the reference to Judas in verses 18–20 is not explicit (in v. 11 it became explicit only as a comment of the narrator). Jesus mentions Judas neither by name nor by such an expression as “he who betrays me” (cf ...

3078. You Are God's Handiwork

Ephesians 2:10

Sermon

King Duncan

Is there anyone here who doesn’t appreciate a nice compliment from time to time? A compliment truly is oxygen for the soul. Let me tell you about a service on the web that is designed to lift you up when you are down. It is called “Emergency compliment.com.” You can go there and see brief messages to feed your ego and boost your mood. Who wouldn’t like to be told things like “Your prom date still thinks about you all the time”? Or “You are someone’s ‘the one that got away.’” (1) You’ll find it there: “ ...

3079. Lying By the Side of the Road

Luke 10:25-37

Sermon

King Duncan

In October of 2015 Reader’s Digest carried an article that featured 24 stories about what the editor called “the touching kindness of strangers.” One story was titled “The Man at the Market.” It was contributed by Leslie Wagner from Peel, Arkansas. Ms. Wagner told of being in a supermarket one time. When she checked out, the clerk tallied up her groceries. Much to Ms. Wagner’s surprise she discovered that her bill was $12 over what she had in her purse. With embarrassment she began to remove items from the ...

3080. The Interpretation of the Vision

Daniel 8:15-27

Understanding Series

William Nelson

The Vision of the Ram and the Male Goat: Here in chapter 8 the language reverts back to Hebrew. When the Aramaic section began, the narrator introduced it by saying, “The astrologers answered the king in Aramaic” (2:4). There is no explanation given in chapter 8 for the change back. The author inherited the Aramaic material (2:4b–7:28) but shaped it for his purposes. He then added chapters 1 (actually, 1:1–2:4a) and 8–12 in Hebrew. Chapter 8 is linked to chapter 7 explicitly by informing the reader that ...

3081. The Man Born Blind

John 9:1-12

Drama

Dallas A. Brauninger

WHAT'S HAPPENING? First Point Of Action As Jesus walks along, he sees a congenitally blind man. Second Point Of Action Jesus' conversation with the disciples: The disciples question him about whose sin, the parents' or the man's, caused the man's blindness. Rejecting the notion that sin causes blindness, Jesus notes God's purpose in the blindness. Jesus uses the light of the world metaphor. Third Point Of Action Jesus heals the blind man: Jesus spits on the ground, makes mud with the saliva, and spreads it ...

3082. Proper 9

Galatians 6:1-10, 2 Kings 5:1-27, Luke 10:1-24

Sermon Aid

John R. Brokhoff

COMMENTARY Old Testament: 2 Kings 5:1-14 General Naaman of Syria is healed of leprosy by obeying Elisha's order to bathe in the Jordan. The confession of faith by an unknown Jewish slave girl in the home of Syria's chief of staff results in the cure of leprosy for her master, Naaman. On the basis of the confession Naaman goes to Israel. When Elisha the prophet orders him to wash in the Jordan seven times, he goes off in a rage feeling insulted. But his aides convince him to stay. Naaman then dips himself ...

3083. The Babel Disaster - You Are There

Genesis 11:1-9

Drama

Jerry Eckert

Comment: Up to this time, I had tried to handle the story sermons myself. With the encouragement shown for my dramatic efforts of the earlier weeks that summer, I decided to try to involve the congregation in a more direct way. That year, a large hotel in a major U. S. city had collapsed, killing scores and injuring hundreds. I saw the story in a periodical which, unfortunately, I did not keep. The first interview in the script, the woman's experience, comes from that. With a few bits remembered from that ...

3084. What’s Going on at Your House?

Mark 3:31-35

Sermon

Charles R. Leary

What’s going on at your house? Words like family, house, brother, sister, mother, nation, church ring special in our ears. They are bonding words, words that signify relationship, words that serve as labels for our deepest loyalties personal, familial, national, religious. What did Jesus really say? He said: A family divided into groups that fight will fall apart. A house divided into groups that fight will fall apart. A nation divided into groups that fight will fall apart. Let’s take an overview of these ...

3085. Love And Friendship

1 John 4:7-21

Sermon

Mark J. Molldrem

A boy was asked about his family, when he enrolled for church school. The teacher responded with a quizzical, "Oh," after the boy revealed that he had no brothers or sisters. To which the youngster piped, "But I've got friends!" It is so good to have friends. But, what is a friend? Satirist Ambrose Bierce defines friendship as a ship big enough to carry two in fair weather, but only one in foul. This is a rather negative portrayal compared to an Arabian explanation that characterizes a friend as "one to ...

3086. It's Performance That Counts

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

Sermon

Larry Goodpaster

Nothing aggravates me more than buying something that does not work when I get it home. Whether it is purchased at a local store or through the latest mail-order catalog, if the item does not live up to its advertised promises, I feel cheated. Most people do not mind spending money on those objects of their desiring, some of them necessary, others frivolous, provided they live up to the expectations which were made on the packaging. At one time or another, I suppose, we are all tricked by the slick ...

3087. God The Creator

Eulogy

Joe Barone

Genesis 1:1-5. Isaiah 43:1-3aColossians 1:5-20 and John 1:1-5 God does not cause suffering and death. Sometimes it seems that way. Sometimes we say things such as, “God took him or her,” or “To everything there is a season ...,” a quotation from the Scripture which we can all too quickly misinterpret. But God does not cause suffering and death. Nor does God let them happen. We say that, too, don’t we? We ask questions such as, “Why in the world would God let something like this happen?” And we’re not wrong ...

3088. Let God Be God

John 3:1-21

Sermon

Dean Lueking

What an Immense Privilege is Ours! Today it is with an especially deep sense of gratitude and humility that I preach the text chosen for this sermon. Think of it - we come together in faith, health, and freedom to worship the living God. He welcomes us. He knows us by name. He invites us to know him by name. These are all wondrous and momentous gifts. Just to be able to know God and to proclaim the truth of his being here among us and his being for us is the first privilege of life. At times we are tempted ...

3089. Proper 16 & Pentecost 14

Isaiah 22:1-25, Psalm 95:1-11, Psalm 138:1-8, Isaiah 51:1-16, Exodus 5:22--6:12, Exodus 17:1-7, Romans 11:33-36, Matthew 16:13-20

Sermon Aid

THEOLOGICAL CLUE Summer is over, and fall has begun with its return of people to the churches and their activities, and the church is now entering the last quarter of the church year. Informed people will realize that about two and a half months remain in the Pentecost Cycle/Season. They are also aware that such things as Rally Day, Installation of Church School teachers, programs and retreats involving the young, the women, and the men of the churches are getting under way. Halloween decorations and cards ...

3090. Pentecost 23

Exodus 22:16-31, Leviticus 19:1-37, Ruth 2:1-23, 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10, 1 Thessalonians 2:1-16, Matthew 22:34-40, Matthew 22:41-46, Psalm 1:1-6

Sermon Aid

THEOLOGICAL CLUE In older Lutheran Lectionaries, the readings for the last three Sundays, no matter how many Sundays there were in the Trinity/Pentecost season, all dealt with eschatological themes and the last things; they warned the church of the impending conclusion of Pentecost, as well as the Parousia. That sort of warning - that the end of the year and the end time are approaching - is not sounded in the new lectionaries (with the exception of The Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod's Lutheran Worship ...

3091. "Sneak Up On ‘Em!"

Acts 17:16-34

Sermon

Barbara Brokhoff

Then Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, "Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are very religious; for as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Therefore the One whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you: God who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands. Nor is He worshiped with men’s hands, as ...

3092. Forgive To Be Forgiven

Genesis 50:15-21

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, "It may be that Joseph will hate us and pay us back for all the evil which we did to him." So they sent a message to Joseph saying, "Your father gave this command before he died, ‘Say to Joseph, Forgive, I pray you, the transgression of your brothers and their sin, because they did evil to you.’ And now, we pray you, forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of your father." Joseph wept when they spoke to him. His brothers also ...

3093. The Joy of Being a Caring Person

Mt 25:31-46 · Lk 16:19-31

Sermon

Robert G. Tuttle

Being a Christian is really a matter of spirit, but this spirit, when acted out in life relationships, becomes a many-dimensioned thing. You are not a Christian if you are not a caring person. Jesus put the emphasis here. He shocks us a bit in Matthew when he tells those that have neglected the hungry, the thirsty, the naked, the lonely, the sick, and those in prison, that they have totally missed life. He puts it bluntly - "Depart from me." Then he turns around and says to those who had cared for the ...

3094. The State Of The Church

Matthew 28:16-20

Sermon

Robert Allen

The day after Christmas we carefully made our way out of town on the ice. We were on our way to South Padre Island for a few days of rest and fun. It is a long drive to South Texas, and we were glad to finally arrive. When we found the leasing agent for the condo we had rented, I went inside to get the key. When I went inside the office, the woman at the desk was on the phone speaking Spanish to someone. The longer I waited, the more irritated I became. I was tired after the long drive, I wanted to get ...

3095. Everyone Has a Somebody

John 15:1-17

Sermon

Charles L. Koester

"This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you." How many times have we heard in our lifetime our Lord’s Eleventh Commandment repeated? How many sermons have I preached on love, and have you heard? Yet, in spite of words and commandment, everyone has a somebody whom they cannot love. Somebody is not always the same person, at the same time, in the same place. True as well for the comedian who jested, "There are people in this world who do not love one another, and I hate people like ...

3096. The Marriage of Adam and Eve

Genesis 2:4-25

Sermon

Alton F. Wedel

This is how it started! It happened long ago and far away, in a place called Eden (Eden Prairie to the southwest of Minneapolis bears no resemblance to it), that the masculine and feminine were joined together as complement (not compliment) for each other ... that the man became a husband and the woman became a wife ... that the differences between the sexes formed a blend of unity and love. This is how it started! The ceremony was unique, performed amid the most unusual circumstances: no bridal gown, no ...

3097. Advent 3: Won't You Let Him Into Your Gift-Giving?

Matthew 2:1-12

Sermon

James W. Moore

This sermon is based on Matthew 2:7-12. Not the Luke text above. Many of you will recognize the name of Robert Fulghum. He is the author of the popular book, “All I Really Need To Know I Learned In Kindergarten.” In a later book, he told a wonderful story about his daughter Molly. When Molly was seven years old, she liked to help pack lunches each morning for her brothers, her dad, and herself. Into each bag, she would put a share of sandwiches, apples, milk money, and sometimes she would add a surprise ...

3098. Stay in the Boat!

Matthew 14:22-36

Sermon

David E. Leininger

Familiar story. Mark Twain refers to it in one of his books. He recalls a visit to the Holy Land and a stay in Capernaum. It was a moonlit night, so he decided to take his wife on a romantic boat ride on the Sea of Galilee. Twain asked a man in a rowboat how much he would charge to take them out on the water. The man saw Twain's white suit, white shoes and white hat and supposed he was a rich Texan. So he said the cost would be twenty-five dollars. Twain walked away as he said, "Now I know why Jesus walked ...

3099. What about Spiritual Healing?

John 4:43-54

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

The story is told of a Methodist and a Baptist who were once discussing the subject of infant baptism. The Baptist asked his Methodist friend, “Do you believe in Infant Baptism?” “Believe in it?” the Methodist replied, “Why, man, I’ve seen it!” The same might be said by almost any minister if the question were asked, “Do you believe in spiritual healing?” “Believe in it, why, we’ve seen it!” We may not talk much about such experiences. We may not write books about it or go on television and talk about it. ...

3100. 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 ...

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