Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 3301 to 3325 of 4935 results

3301. The Source of Self Esteem

Romans 8:14-25

Sermon

Mark Trotter

About ten years ago the California Legislature funded what they called the "Task Force on Self-Esteem." I remember it received a lot of recognition, a lot of satire and criticism as well. Doonesbury, the comic strip, took after it. For instance it had Boopsy, the actress who has out of body experiences, volunteer to be a part of the task force. Of course the national press jumped on this, and had a field day. Some of the members of the task force looked like the stereotype of the California New Age type. I ...

3302. The Power of the Trust Factor

John 14:1-4, John 14:5-14

Sermon

Robert Leslie Holmes

How can we trust God when life seems to turn on us? You know what I mean, I am sure. You are going through life with ease and smoothness then all of a sudden things begin to unravel. You put your head down and try harder but it does not work. As one old saying puts it, "The harder I try the behinder I get!" No one in all human history personifies those words better than Job. Scripture speaks glowingly of this good man, describing him as "blameless and upright." It says that Job "feared God." If the ...

3303. "...Yet"

Jeremiah 4:5-31

Sermon

John W. Wurster

Some of the hardest weeks of my life were spent in an intensive eight week Hebrew course at Princeton Seminary. For those two months, Hebrew was my life. Morning, noon, and night, my time was filled with mastering vocabulary, deciphering grammar, and conjuring up English translations for this very old, very strange language that the writers of the Old Testament used to describe their experiences of God. Because biblical Hebrew is not something one really has an opportunity to speak these days, the focus of ...

3304. The God Of The Living

Luke 20:27-40

Sermon

King Duncan

Jewelry salesman Alexander Makowski was devastated. Just three weeks before, in Phoenix, his sample case had been stolen. Now he had returned to the parking lot of the San Diego hotel where he was staying to find that his car and jewelry worth $100,000 were missing. Alexander could take no more. He climbed to the balcony over the hotel atrium lobby, lifted himself over the railing, and plunged five floors. Mr. Makowski ended his life at fifty-nine years. The real tragedy was that if he had looked in the ...

3305. Out of the Box Gifts

Luke 1:26-38

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

Three days before the first big winter storm hit, the phone rang. It was “Odie,” the local plumber, volunteering to come over and do some work. He offered to drain out the hot water tanks and outside pipes ahead of the blast of arctic air headed our way. “Odie” wasn’t trying to drum up any business for himself. In fact, if all our pipes burst he would make a lot of money repairing the damages. He was simply thinking of others and offering the gift of his unique talents to help out a family with a man with ...

3306. Lent 3

Luke 13:1-9, 1 Corinthians 10:1-13, Psalm 63:1-11, Isaiah 55:1-13

Sermon Aid

William E. Keeney

The Barren Fruit Tree At first reading it may not be apparent as to why the two parts of the passage from Luke are considered together. A question about the wickedness of persons who suffer from accidents leads into a parable about a barren fig tree. A closer examination will show why the two parts belong together and the important distinction Jesus makes in terms of ethical behavior and its outcome. Jesus is faced with a question about the link between the results of disasters and wickedness. He does not ...

3307. Forsaking All Others

Joel 2:1-11

Sermon

Paul W. Kummer

Can you see the young boys running through the city of Jerusalem yelling, "Blow the trumpets!" and the people of that city yelling back, "What?" "Blow the trumpets! Grab the shofar! We need to let everyone know!" And the people still scream back, "Why? What's going on?" The adults know that the blowing of the trumpets in Jewish tradition can only mean one of three things: 1) It's time to move camp (but wait, we haven't lived in tents for decades!); 2) We need to get ready for war (but I didn't know there ...

3308. Christ the King

Psalm 100:1-5, Ezekiel 34:1-31, Ephesians 1:15-23, Matthew 25:31-46

Sermon Aid

William E. Keeney

Actions Determine Judgment The parable brings us to the end of the parables in Cycle A of the lectionary. It is also the end of the last block of teaching material in the Gospel according to Matthew. It is appropriate that the parable points to the final judgment, the outcome of all that Jesus was trying to teach and demonstrate about the meaning of the kingdom of heaven. The parable contains some rich contrasts in the imagery it uses. On the one hand is the image of the king and the hosts of heaven. It is ...

3309. Wedding: Building A Marriage (for a couple fixing up a house)

1 Corinthians 13:1-13

Bulletin Aid

Derl G. Keefer

Listen to these words from the First Letter of Paul to the Corinthians, chapter 13 (NRSV): Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends... When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became ...

3310. The Season Of The Holy Spirit

Mark 2:1-12

Bulletin Aid

Wayne H. Keller

CELEBRATION THROUGH PRAISE Pastoral Invitation (Pastor and Ministers) Welcome, in the power of the Holy Spirit, to the second Sunday in Pentecost, during which time we will consider the Lordship of our Sabbath/Sunday. Be ready for some surprises; for God also is the Author of Surprises. P: For what purpose have you come to worship today? M: We have come to allow the Risen Christ, through his Spirit, to challenge us intellectually, to receive his love for emotional strength, and to gain courage to choose to ...

3311. A Matter Of Trust

Matthew 2:1-12

Sermon

Charles H. Bayer

Who were they -- these travelers from the mysterious East, who sometime after the birth of the baby arrive in Bethlehem with expensive gifts? They appear for a moment and are quickly gone. The text calls them wise men. They are known variously as magi, astrologers, astronomers, philosophers, mystics or scientists whose interests stretched far beyond Israel. Tradition has assigned them names and races. The scripture identifies the three gifts they brought, leading us to assume there were three wise men. But ...

3312. Easter Sunday

Luke 24:33-41 · Psalm 23 · Acts 4:33-36

Bulletin Aid

Jack Brownlee

ORDER OF SERVICE Opening Words L: Let us worship our Creator, the God of Love. P: God continually preserves and sustains us. L: We have been forgiven with a redeeming and eternal love. P: Through the resurrection of Christ we have become witness to the full love of God. Hymn "Come, Ye Faithful Raise The Strain" All Prayer Of Confession (Unison) We are hesitant to believe that good can emerge from the depths of tragedy and sin. Our hearts wander as we look for the proof of your love, O God. Life passes us ...

3313. Delivery

Sermon

Michael Rogness

I once visited a church in which the minister delivered what seemed at the time to be an interesting sermon, but I couldn't quite grasp the real thrust of the message, because it was delivered in a monotone, most of it read with little warmth or enthusiasm. [The church secretary] agreed to mail me a copy of the sermon I'd just heard. When the sermon arrived in the mail and I read it, I realized that the structure of the message was coherent and sound and the points well made. I could hardly believe I was ...

3314. The Full Measure Of Life

Ephesians 4:1-16

Sermon Aid

Clement E. Lewis

Instrumental Meditation: "Wonderful Words Of Life" A Brief Prayer: Psalm 39:4-5 Lord, let me know my end, and what is the measure of my days; let me know how fleeting my life is. You have made my days a few handbreadths, and my lifetime is as nothing in thy sight. Surely everyone stands as a mere breath. Hymn: "I'll Live For Him" Scripture: Ephesians 4:11-15 (NRSV) The gifts that he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for ...

3315. Is Anybody There? Does Anybody Care?

Isaiah 49:8-26

Sermon

Robert Beringer

In 1976 when our nation was celebrating its bicentennial, there was a delightful musical produced about those uneasy weeks in Philadelphia more than 200 years ago when our Declaration of Independence was being written and signed. Throughout the whole production of "1776," a courier from General Washington keeps breaking in on the proceedings of the Continental Congress with increasingly disheartening news from the New Jersey encampments. The seemingly endless debate drags on ... 85 changes are made in the ...

3316. What Will He Find ... When He Comes?

Luke 18:1-8

Sermon

Theodore F. Schneider

Every pastor has been touched and troubled when there have been those in the congregation who suddenly have faced unemployment. Like an ambush from two sides, unemployment attacks us with the fear of financial insecurity on the one side and the loss of self-esteem on the other. Job searching can deepen both. In just such a moment I encountered Brian. He is a competent and creative person whose skills and personality cannot be long overlooked. "It will work out, Brian," I said. "God does provide." "I hope ...

3317. John Christian Frederick Heyer First American Lutheran Missi

Drama

Thomas A. Renquist

Reader 1: The year is 1869. A group of Lutheran pastors and laypersons had come together for a convention in Reading, Pennsylvania. A 77-year-old man, his long white hair curling up at the ends, rises to speak to the assembly. He argues passionately for the Lutheran church to resume its missionary work in India. The speaker is John Christian Frederick Heyer, who 27 years earlier had been Americans s first Lutheran foreign missionary. He had been sent twice as a missionary to India, so he definitely knew ...

3318. Service -- Rahab and Mary of Bethany

John 12:1-11

Drama

Martha L. Leach

Characters: Narrator Rahab Mary Narrator: Tonight Rahab, the Canaanite, meets Mary of Bethany. Their means of "service" were quite different, but each served in her own way. Each of us has some way or ways we share our faith through service. In his description of the last judgment, the Master said the righteous will ask, "When did we see you hungry and feed you or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you as a stranger and welcome you or naked and give you clothing? And when did we see you sick ...

3319. Getting The Facts

1 Corinthians 15:3

Children's Sermon

Wesley T. Runk

Object: A scale and some packages of different sizes and weights. Good morning, children. How are you on this beautiful day? Have you ever played the game called "Telephone"? Someone whispers to you and you whisper it to someone else and by the time it gets to the end of the line it sounds very funny because it is different from when it was first said. That's the way rumors begin and what you hear may not always be true. When St. Paul preached he hardly ever whispered and his preaching was always based on ...

3320. God Is a Mystery

Luke 19:1-10

Sermon

He entered Jericho and was passing through. And there was a man named Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector, and rich. And he sought to see who Jesus was, but could not, on account of the crowd; because he was small of stature. So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was to pass that way. And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, "Zacchaeus, make haste and come down for I must stay at your house today." So he made haste and came down, and received ...

3321. The Promise and the Task

Matthew 28:16-20

Sermon

Dean Lueking

Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him they worshiped him; but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age." (Matthew 28:16-20) Meaning ...

3322. A Call for a Change in Lifestyle

Matthew 3:1-12

Sermon

At the mention of the name, John the Baptizer, I immediately think of two churches that are thousands of miles apart. One is only eighty-five miles from my home, the Benedictine abbey church of St. John the Baptist on the campus of St. John’s University, Collegeville, Minnesota. The other church is thousands of miles away, just outside of Florence, Italy, at the confluence of two superhighways. Each features visual images of John the Baptizer. The church in Italy pictures the life and death of John on ...

3323. To Touch The Untouchable

Luke 5:12-16

Sermon

Let us pray: Gracious and eternal God, we pause now to hear your word as we worship together in this holy season of Lent. Today we continue to explore the powers of prayer, faith and healing which you have granted to us. In these times together O God, we pray that you would open our hearts and our minds so that we may have faith and understanding. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen. You may have heard the expression, "He has an Atlas complex." This usually refers to an individual who seems to have an exaggerated ...

3324. Proper 21 & Pentecost 19

Ezekiel 18:1-32, Psalm 25:1-22, Psalm 99:1-9, Exodus 32:1-33:6, Philippians 2:1-11, Philippians 2:12-18, Matthew 21:28-32

Sermon Aid

THEOLOGICAL CLUE As the church enters the last week of Sundays in the church year, the theological framework - eschatology - is renewed by the readings, particularly by the Gospel for the Day with its emphasis upon divine authority and repentance. The Gospel-context for this week's worship and preaching is the events that occurred after Jesus entered the Holy City to the day now called the Sunday of the Passion, or Palm Sunday. But the theme of today's worship takes the church all the way back to the ...

3325. Epiphany 6

Matthew 5:17-20

Sermon Aid

Liturgical Color: Green Gospel: Matthew 5:17-37 Theme: Beyond the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees - killing, adultery, divorce, and swearing. Pastoral Invitation in the Celebration One pastor began this way: "God in Christ, not only offers us a new way to think about life; God in Christ offers us a brand new way to live life. So, I invite us to find out how to do that today, in the name of God the Creator, God the Liberator, God the Sustainer." You may want to use this litany: Pastor: Jesus, ...

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