Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 3201 to 3225 of 4914 results

3201. Gunda

John 6:60-71

Sermon

Robert Salzgeber

In the movie, Days of Thunder, Cole Thunder (Tom Cruise) when asked by his girlfriend why he races 200 miles per hour NASCAR stock cars, haughtily answers, "I want to be able to control that which is out of control." Our text for today raises the question: Are we unable to control anything? "What gives life is God's Spirit; man's power is of no use at all." A little while later in the film, while in the middle of a heated argument because Cole has just previously chased a taxi cab, recklessly and violently ...

3202. Deformed, Disfigured, and Despised: A Marred but Magnificent Messiah

Isaiah 52:13--53:12

Sermon

Carlyle Fielding Stewart

The prophet gives the report, but who will believe it? The servant will act wisely. He will be lifted up and exalted. The problem is the new Messiah does not fit the description of the Holy One of Israel, the gallant one, the defiant and courageous who shall lift God’s people out of the dregs of despair. He shall not come as one standing upright, but one who is disfigured and deformed, despised and rejected; a man of sorrows acquainted with grief. Who would believe such a report? That God would choose a ...

3203. Easter 4

1 John 3:11-24, Acts 4:1-22, John 10:1-21

Sermon Aid

John R. Brokhoff

COMMENTARY Epistle: Acts 4:5-12 Peter and John are standing before the Sanhedrin to give an explanation of the healing of the crippled man at the beautiful gate of the temple. Peter and John do not speak in their own defense, but witness to God's deed of healing. The healing focuses on Jesus' name. The miracle done in Jesus' name implied that Jesus was alive and at work. Epistle: 1 John 3:16-24 If we love in deed, we know we have the truth. Even if our consciences condemn us, God is greater than our ...

3204. Poem: In Memoriam

Eulogy

Alfred Lord Tennyson

Preface Strong Son of God, immortal Love, Whom we, that have not seen thy face, By faith, and faith alone, embrace, Believing where we cannot prove; Thine are these orbs of light and shade; Thou madest Life in man and brute; Thou madest Death; and lo, thy foot Is on the skull which thou hast made. Thou wilt not leave us in the dust: Thou madest man, he knows not why, He thinks he was not made to die; And thou hast made him: thou art just. Thou seemest human and divine, The highest, holiest manhood, thou. ...

3205. Thankful Living

Joel 2:18-27

Sermon

John A. Stroman

Joel informs the people of Judah that God has willed that humankind should have abundant life. This abundant life is characterized by good relationships with others, with all of God's creation, as well as the land and all its creatures. He points out that this abundant life of relationships is possible by first having a harmonious relationship with God. The prophet warns Judah if they desert God, making God unnecessary, and turn to other sources for life, then Judah is faced with hopelessness and the ...

3206. Miracle Four: Healing A Paralytic

Mark 2:1-12

Sermon Aid

Harold H. Lentz

BACKGROUND MATERIAL When Christ began his ministry of preaching and healing, his fame spread, until he was well known throughout a large area. He intended to make clear the message of repentance and salvation from sin, but the news of his astounding miracles was something people immediately grasped, and they spread the information everywhere. As a result, throngs sought Jesus in order to have him cure the victims of ill health within their family circle. To avoid huge crowds, Jesus would sometimes go out ...

3207. Have I Got News For You!

Isaiah 9:1-7

Sermon

William L. Self

My favorite Christmas story is about the young boy who was given a very important role in the church Christmas play. He was to be the angel and announce the birth of Jesus. For weeks he rehearsed the line that had been given to him, "Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy." The grandparents got in on it and any time the family was together and the boy was there, they would dress him up in his costume and he would rehearse his part for them, "Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy." They were ...

3208. Arc Of The Covenant

Genesis 9:1-17

Sermon

Paul W. Kummer

James Gilmour was a missionary to Mongolia and was asked to treat some wounded soldiers. He was not a doctor, but he did know how to give first aid. He dressed the wounds of two of the men, but the third had a badly broken thigh bone. Gilmour didn't know what to do, so he knelt by the man and prayed for help, knowing that God would answer. As he pondered what to do next, a crowd of beggars came by asking for money. Though preoccupied with the wounded men, his heart went out to the needy paupers. Hurriedly ...

3209. Proper 14

Luke 12:35-48, Isaiah 1:1-31, Hebrews 11:1-40

Sermon Aid

John R. Brokhoff

COMMENTARY Old Testament: Isaiah 1:1, 10-20 Through Isaiah God condemns the religious practices of his day and promises forgiveness if the people will repent. The prophet Isaiah served under four kings of Judah from 792 to 686 B.C. He finds the country in a horrible moral condition equal to Sodom and Gomorrah, sin cities that God destroyed by fire and brimstone. The people are religious but immoral. Yahweh hates their condition. Through Isaiah he calls upon the people to repent. If they turn to God, they ...

3210. Transfiguration

2 Corinthians 3:7-18, Exodus 34:29-35, Luke 9:28-36

Sermon Aid

John R. Brokhoff

COMMENTARY Old Testament: Exodus 34:29-35 After 40 days on the mountain with Yahweh, Moses' face shone. In this passage Moses makes his final descent from Mount Sinai where in communing with God he receives the Decalogue on two tablets of stone. When Moses came back to his people, his face was still reflecting the glory of Yahweh to such an extent that Aaron and others were afraid of him. Moses had to urge the people to come near him. To reduce the brilliance, he put on a veil which he removed when he went ...

3211. The Rock Of Faith

Matthew 16:13-20

Sermon

Roger G. Talbott

Most libraries divide popular novels into categories: westerns, mysteries, romance, spy novels and science fiction. The novels in those categories follow a certain formula. I'm watching to see if a library will someday have a shelf for the threat-to-Christianity novel. The threat-to-Christianity novel is one in which the hero has discovered a document that proves that Christianity is false. Sometimes it's a fifth gospel or a letter from Jesus written in his old age or some incontrovertible evidence that ...

3212. Christmas Eve

Lk 2:1-20 · Isa 9:2-7 · Tit 2:11-14 · Ps 96

Sermon Aid

Russell F. Anderson

THIS WEEK'S TEXT Revised Common: Isaiah 9:2-7 · Titus 2:11-14 · Luke 2:1-20 Roman Catholic: Isaiah 9:1-7 · Titus 2:11-14 · Luke 2:1-14 Episcopal: Isaiah 9:2-4, 6-7 · Titus 2:11-14 · Luke 2:1-14 (15-20) COMMENTARY Lesson 1: Isaiah 9:2-7 This lovely poem was composed at a time of historical darkness. The Assyrians had defeated Zebulon and Naphtali, taking them captive in 734 B.C. The threat of national annihilation was very real. Nevertheless, Isaiah holds high the light of hope, anchored not in humans but ...

3213. 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 ...

3214. When You Can't See The Rainbow for the Storm

Mark 4:35-41

Sermon

James Weekley

Following the battle of Guadalcanal, Barney Ross recalls himself petitioning a Jewish God. Adkins, in the next foxhole, was praying to a Baptist God. A kid with a hole in his side was praying to a Catholic God. It hit him that there was no difference between himself and his friends beneath a hell of gunfire. He confessed, "I couldn't help but wonder if people have to come that close to death to realize that we are all on the same side and trying to get to the same place." The face of death has bad breath. ...

3215. Lent 1

Romans 9:30--10:21, Deuteronomy 26:1-15, Luke 4:1-13, Psalm 91:1-16

Sermon Aid

George Bass

THEOLOGICAL CLUE The church year combines the two seasons of Lent and Easter within a cycle, the Easter Cycle, which puts the observation of Lent, as well as Easter, in proper perspective. The church keeps the Lenten pilgrimage as a journey to the to and beyond the cross to the tomb of the risen Christ, and the annual celebration of the Feast of Feasts, Easter. When Lent began as the quadrigesima, this was quite clear, because Quadrigesima announced that there were now 40 days until Easter. The same thing ...

3216. When Will The Pain Go Away?

Matthew 24:1-35

Sermon

George Johnson

A young mother in her 30s with three children came to her pastor to talk about her husband's impending death. He was dying of cancer. "I'm afraid," she said. The pastor listened and asked a few questions to help her express her fear. One of the questions he asked was, "Are you afraid of losing your faith?" There was silence. "Yes," she said. And then there were more tears. There are times when one feels abandoned by God. If God really loved me would this be happening? Prayers don't seem to be answered. All ...

3217. Moving Words

Matthew 10:1-42

Sermon

Larry Goodpaster

On the surface, this reading from Matthew’s gospel is a strange sounding, and somewhat puzzling passage. It is one we could easily dismiss since it is specifically addressed to the original 12 disciples. The text is part of a lengthy chapter detailing the instructions Jesus gives to those 12 prior to that first “missionary” effort. Since this appears to be a private tutoring lesson for Jesus’ small class of first century followers, we excuse ourselves from paying attention to the words. What could they ...

3218. The Vine And The Branches

John 15:1-17

Sermon

Jerry L. Schmalemberger

Just outside Nazareth where Jesus grew up you can see them on both sides of the road. They grow everywhere out of that dry, rocky soil. They are the grapevines mentioned in John 15. When I stepped off the tourist bus to take pictures, I was amazed to see these short stumps of vines lying over close to the ground and propped up with a rock to keep them off the hot red soil. I had pictured in my mind all these years, grape arbors like grandpa’s that ran from the house to the garage in the backyard and which ...

3219. Water Without Price

Revelation 20:1-7

Eulogy

Richard F. Bansemer

Death of a non-church goer The meditation text is Revelation 21:6: "To the thirsty I will give water without price from the fountain of the water of life." The good news of God's gospel seems too good to be true, doesn't it? God says, "To the thirsty I will give water without price." By contrast, the world says, "everything has a price tag."You know how true this is. Order a cup of water in some fast-food restaurants, and they will charge you for it. They say that it's for the container. Everything in life ...

3220. When a Member of the Family Dies

John 11:17-37

Sermon

R. E. Lybrand

When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had been buried four days before. Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem, and many Judeans had come to see Martha and Mary to comfort them about their brother's death. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed in the house. Martha said to Jesus, "If you had been here, Lord, my brother would not have died! But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask him for." "Your brother will rise to life," Jesus ...

3221. Full Barns and Empty Hearts

Luke 12:13-21

Sermon

Wallace H. Kirby

When I went away to college I took along my recording of Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto in C Minor. The quiet second movement provided a helpful background by which to study. It had a sense of peace that stilled the confusions and stresses of university life. Two melodic themes from this concerto became popular ballads. One of them was, "Full Moon and Empty Arms," and in it the crooner bewailed his having all the setting for romance, except his beloved. I often wondered if Rachmaninoff approved of this use ...

3222. Tomb for Sale

Luke 7:11-17

Sermon

George Bass

Some time ago, a strange classified ad appeared in the newspaper of one of our cities. It began: "Tombstone for sale," and continued, "Didn’t die; don’t need it." The details that followed in the ad caused a reporter to investigate and to interview Art Kranz, the man who had taken the advertisement in the classified section of the paper. Kranz told him that the tombstone had been in his living room for several months, but it was not his; it had been ordered by his sister after she was told that she was ...

3223. The First Sunday In Lent

Matthew 4:1-11

Sermon

Kendall McCabe

The old songs may be the best songs, but you can't always believe them. I have in mind, particularly, that mountain spiritual, "Jesus Walked This Lonesome Valley." The first part of it is true enough. Jesus walked this lonesome valley, Had to walk it by himself. Oh, nobody else could walk it for him; He had to walk it by himself. Those lines could almost describe what we heard in the Gospel reading for today - the story of Jesus alone in the wilderness, enduring the temptations of the devil. It is with the ...

3224. God's Passion

Acts 2:42-47

Sermon

There is a short ditty, hardly good enough to be called a poem, but fun nevertheless. Death reigns; With furrowed brows and sad eyes, All men live under darkened skies. Cold and lonely the days crawl by; In depression and doubt we all lie. Then the wind picks up, the sun breaks out; Come laughter and joy of which all men shout. In only days Winter dies, And in its wake Spring arrives. Such a flirtation with spring is upon us now. And with it comes an amazing transformation of spirits - spring fever. The ...

3225. Why Look To Heaven?

Acts 1:1-11

Sermon

"A touch of Paradise" was her favorite expression and, in many ways, that romance with her was. It was a classic case of first love - for me, at least. She was an older woman - eighteen, I think, to my seventeen - and her emotions were sturdier since she had endured several romances before me. Maybe my rockie heart was why the touch of heaven I felt with her, so often felt like a strangle hold. She was outgoing and popular; I was insecure and shy. She coyly commanded; I awkwardly obeyed. My worth was as a ...

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