Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 3151 to 3175 of 5000 results

1 Thessalonians 4:13--5:11, Hosea 11:1-11, Joshua 24:1-27, Matthew 25:1-13

Sermon Aid

Russell F. Anderson

... misunderstandings about it (explain) 3. Are you ignorant of the Lord's coming? 4. Let us live as those who eagerly await Christ's return 2. Sermon Title: Good Grief. Sermon Angle: Grief is integral to human existence but the grief of a believer is markedly different than that of an unbeliever. A valuable sermon on the subject could, first of all, discuss the universal aspects of human grief and how to healthfully deal with loss. This would be followed by a proclamation of how Christ's death and resurrection ...

3152. Easter Day

John 20:10-18, John 20:1-9, Colossians 3:1-17, Acts 10:23b-48

Sermon Aid

Russell F. Anderson

... to death but ... e. To fix our minds on the world that is coming through Christ leads to life Gospel: John 20:1-18 1. Sermon Title: What The Resurrection Reveals The Long Arm Of God's Love. Sermon Angle: Jesus delivered Mary Magdalene from seven demons (Mark 16:9). She was a very sick person. She experienced the love of God through Jesus' healing as she never had before. In gratitude, that love was returned. Mary Magdalene stayed close to Jesus. She was with him in Jerusalem the final week of his life; she ...

3153. Thanksgiving

Lk 17:11-19 · 1 Tim 2:1-4 · Phil 4:6-20 · 2 Cor 9:6-15 · Deut 8:1-18 · Ps 65

Sermon Aid

Russell F. Anderson

... 2 Corinthians 9:6-15 Paul encourages the Corinthian church to generously support the offering that he is taking up for the Jerusalem Christians. The apostle reminds them that those who sow sparingly will reap sparingly and vice-versa. Generosity is a prime mark of the Christian life, which will be richly rewarded by the Lord, not materially but spiritually. Their liberality will bring a rich harvest of praise and thanksgiving to God from others. This giving spirit comes from the grace of God, who favors us ...

3154. Christmas 2

Mt 2:13-23 · Jn 1:1-18 · Eph 1:3-14 · Jer 31:7-14 · Is 61:10--62:3 · Ps 147

Sermon Aid

Russell F. Anderson

... present moment and view the world as a jungle where every creature is merely struggling for survival. In love we were conceived by God for love; that is our destiny which can only be realized in the Beloved. Signed, sealed and delivered. "Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit ..." (v. 13). The Spirit is the guarantee that we are the Lord's and is a down payment on our eternal inheritance. As followers of Christ, we have truly been signed, sealed and delivered. We have ...

3155. I Am The Door

Sermon

Ronald Lavin

... of his baptismal relationship with God. In baptism, God claimed him for one of his sheep, but not until later in life -- through suffering -- did John appropriate the power of his baptism to "come in and go out" through Christ, the door. A man named Legion (Mark 5:1-20) approached Jesus one day and discovered that his inner, divided nature could be healed by this man who claimed to be the door to life. How many people are like Legion -- divided, lonely, feeling no worth, striking out at people around them ...

3156. Jesus And The Disciples

Sermon

Jerry Eckert

... a few lab schools, I decided that maybe something like that might have occurred! Since the Sunday for which I was preparing was Rally Day, I wondered what a teacher giving a report on such a lab school would say. What do you think s/he would say? Mark 10:23-31 I thank you for this chance to describe the lab school we attended at Chorazin last month. A lab school is a training session for synagogue teachers. Not all teachers at synagogue are rabbis. So the Council of Rabbis set up this workshop to train ...

3157. The Pure In Heart

Sermon

John A. Terry

... heart. Jesus was not trying to eliminate our emotion. Its purity comes with the discipline which keeps emotion from ruling our lives. The pure in heart have integrated the mind, emotion, and body to focus on a single goal. As the word "sin" literally means to miss the mark, the pure in heart are those whose aim is true. To become pure in heart requires us to focus on seeing God in our life, letting nothing else stand in our way. This might be compared to a man running a race. He is determined that more than ...

3158. The Persecuted

Sermon

John A. Terry

... blessed. Not only that, simply to suffer is not enough. As Augustine said, "The cause, not the pain, makes the martyr." Being injured for its own sake is not a virtue. There were times when Jesus was physically threatened but left to avoid being injured (Mark 8:27). When Jesus was praying in the Garden of Gethsemane knowing he faced the cross, he asked to be delivered from physical suffering: "Father, if it be possible, let this cup (of suffering) pass from me" (Matthew 26:39). Jesus accepted suffering when ...

3159. Doing The Right Thing

Acts 1:1-11

Sermon

E. Carver McGriff

... , then. Because it is God's will. Because it is the only hope for personal happiness. Because it offers our children their best hope for the future. As Christians, this is what we stand for, who we are. Tomorrow's hope lies with God, and with those who wear the mark of Christian and choose to do what we know in our hearts is the right thing.

3160. Jesus: The Only Way To God?

Acts 4:1-22

Sermon

E. Carver McGriff

... learn that God did not disappoint. And just as the final outcome is left uncertain in the movie, so it seems is the case for us as we gather here. But faith offers this promise, perhaps best expressed by Jesus with these words as recorded by Mark: "The one who endures to the end will be saved." The famous nineteenth century evangelist Dwight L. Moody once told of the time his father scolded him rather severely for some act of misconduct, though he was basically a kind parent. So Dwight was especially upset ...

3161. On Not Being First

Acts 1:12-26

Sermon

E. Carver McGriff

... of the human lot. As we have already discussed, it's through suffering that we grow, not through success. If I'm honest, my inner spiritual life grows rather shallow when things go too well. It's when disappointment of one kind or another marks my life that I find myself turning to my friend Jesus for encouragement and help. And remarkably, that encouragement seems always available. And the word always seems to come through: "Quit thinking of yourself. Think of the other person. Be a winner in the deepest ...

3162. Liberating Truth

John 8:31-41

Sermon

William G. Carter

... know the truth." That's the promise Jesus gave his disciples in today's text. It seems like an appropriate word as we remember the Protestant Reformation. Much of the Reformation began as an educational movement. The early sixteenth century was the high water mark of the Renaissance. People began thinking for themselves. The printing press made the Bible available to people on a wide scale and gave them something to think about. No longer were the clergy the sole keepers of knowledge. As lay people began to ...

3163. Flesh For Our Life

John 6:25-59

Sermon

George W. Hoyer

... course. As his Son said, "Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me." God took to himself in his Son human flesh, human nature, the better to put into words his love for his creatures, his plan to reconcile them to himself. Speech is a distinguishing mark of all of us who are of human flesh. The Word was made flesh to give us words of life. We ought to rejoice that God gave us the Word made flesh, that Jesus used his flesh to give us words of life. He said, "I am the bread of ...

3164. Water Won't Quench The Fire

Acts 2:1-13

Sermon

William G. Carter

... t know why she was there; most of the foods she eats are not very healthy. But there she was, among the racks of herbal teas and natural fibers. After thumbing through some compact disks of Celtic harp music, she spotted a book section marked "spirituality." That looked interesting, until she read the titles of the books. There were books about esoteric crystals and secret pyramids. One book offered tips on getting in touch with past lives. Another suggested ways to interpret dreams. There wasn't a Bible to ...

3165. When We Feel God Has Moved And Left No Forwarding Address

Job 23:1--24:25

Sermon

Zan W. Holmes

... ). We hear the lonesome cry of the black slaves who sang in their spiritual, "O way down yonder by myself, an' I couldn't hear nobody pray." We even hear the suffering cry of Jesus on the cross when he cried, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Mark 15:34). This is scarcely a word which anyone would have invented and put on his lips. This is his own cry, feeling God's absence, identifying with the human cry of feeling oneself shut off from the face of God at the very time when God is needed the ...

3166. A Moment Of Decision

Mark 1:9-13

Sermon

John A. Stroman

In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. -- Mark 1:9 Experiences have the effect of changing the direction of our lives. These experiences are so casual they are frightening. They are critical experiences because they are life-changing. Albert Schweitzer casually walked into a library and sat down at a table to study. He picked up a magazine ...

3167. What Shall We Do With The New Wine?

Mark 2:18-22

Sermon

John A. Stroman

... but one puts new wine into fresh wineskins. -- Mark 2:22 Jesus knew that his message was different. In a sense it was startlingly new. He knew that his life was drastically different from that of the orthodox rabbinic teacher. He also knew that it was difficult for his hearers to entertain such new truth. Therefore, he gave them ...

3168. With Our Heads In The Clouds

Mark 9:2-13

Sermon

John A. Stroman

Then a cloud overshadowed them... -- Mark 9:7 The crowds were gone. Jesus was alone with his disciples. They sat around the campfire enjoying its warmth as the evening lengthened. They were gazing at the fire in silence, occasionally poking a stick at the logs in order to turn them over, causing the flames to shoot ...

3169. The Highest In The Lowest

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

Sermon

John A. Stroman

... the office again. The same is true for us. Christ comes to us right where we are, amid all of our human entanglements. It is hard for us to think of God in such ordinary terms. God -- So Near And So Ordinary This is exactly why the hometown folks in Mark 6 had such difficulty in accepting Jesus as Messiah. He was too much like them. If this was God, then God was too ordinary. They spoke up and said, "We know who he is. He is not fooling us. That's the carpenter's son. That's Joseph's boy ...

3170. He Shepherds Us!

John 10:1-21

Sermon

Harry N. Huxhold

... power for effecting change. We may imagine that we give or confer power equally. However, the one who moves into the seat of power may understand how that power is to be used in a completely different way from the predecessors in the same office. The marks of power are different for the variety of people on whom the power is conferred. Most generally, the people in power do not reveal openly their strategies for dealing with power. They just act. In direct contrast to that, in the Holy Gospel for today, we ...

3171. He Abides In Us

John 15:1-17

Sermon

Harry N. Huxhold

... discover that they not only live in him by love and grace and he in them, but also they are able to live in one another through love and grace. The restless lives of the likes of Updike's Tristao and Isabel do not have to be filled with question marks and end in dry rot. We can and do live in him who is the Vine and glorifies the Father in us.

3172. God's Reliable Unpredictability

Matthew 24:36-51

Bulletin Aid

Dennis Koch

Gospel Notes This passage comes toward the end of Matthew's version of the "Little Apocalypse" in Mark 13 and, like its source, emphasizes the unpredictability of the expected and desired parousia, and the consequent need for watchfulness and readiness. For Advent, the passage provides an excellent reminder that, despite the reliability of God's promises, God acts in God's own good time, and therefore predictions and ...

3173. Baptism of the Lord

Matthew 3:13-17

Bulletin Aid

Dennis Koch

Gospel Notes Whereas Mark's earlier version of Jesus' baptism makes the theophany more subjective (with the voice from heaven addressing Jesus as a "Thou"), Matthew (with Luke) makes it more objective, with the divine declaration from above addressed to the bystanders. By making this personal event, in effect, public, Matthew may be declaring ...

3174. Passion Sunday

Matthew 26:57-68

Bulletin Aid

Dennis Koch

Gospel Notes Matthew follows his source Mark very closely here, especially in preserving the drama of Jesus' anguished quotation of Psalm 22 in v. 27:46 as his last word and the climax of the Passion account. Although some interpreters would argue that that Psalm, taken in its entirety, bespeaks faith rather than a feeling of abandonment, ...

3175. Proper 14

Matthew 14:22-36

Bulletin Aid

Dennis Koch

Gospel Notes Matthew's reworking of Mark's earlier story shows embellishment of detail and a special "spin" that makes it an allegory of the Church (i.e., boat) in his day, which was being "beaten" by the "stormy seas" of persecution. The story is both a testimony to the power of faith to permit believers to " ...

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