Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 3351 to 3375 of 5000 results

Malachi 4:1-6

Sermon

Richard Hasler

... that we have something to do in the afternoon. You may be near mid-life. I say to you: What are you going to do in the afternoon? What are you going to do with the second half of your life? Will you be bored? Will you simply mark time? Will you dissipate your energies in aimlessness? What will you do with the second half of your life? Malachi speaking the word of the Lord bids us to envision living out our days leaping for joy. Celebrating, playing, adventuring -- that is the way to prepare ourselves for ...

3352. The Road To Jericho

Luke 18:35-43

Sermon

Thomas A. Pilgrim

... down the road to Jericho there was a great crowd of people who were with him. They knew who Jesus was by now and they had all gone out to meet him. As they came near the city limits of Jericho there was a blind man there by the road. Mark, in his gospel, identifies him as Bartimaeus. The blind man was not able to see but he was aware that something important was happening. He heard the noise of the crowd. He stood up, reached out and grabbed someone by the arm and said, "What is it? What is happening ...

3353. Wedding: They Became One Flesh

Genesis 3:1-24

Sermon Aid

O. Garfield Beckstrand, II

... is a commitment of love. In marrying, a man and a woman “leave and cleave.” They leave their parents* and cleave to each other (Matthew 19:5) to commit themselves to each other for life. This total commitment to each other is the changeless mark of Christian marriage. By renewing this commitment of love (not only in thought and sentiment, but in word and action) on a daily basis, and by following the principles of 1. recognizing the human-ness of each other, and 2. living in forgiveness, you can ...

3354. "Something's Coming"

Isaiah 2:1-5

Sermon

Robert Beringer

... assault on the powers of evil and sin. In that now familiar comparison, Christ's death and resurrection were God's D-Day, reminiscent of the Allied Forces landing on the Normandy beaches in the Second World War. Those forces had many battles left to fight, but D-Day marked the beginning of the end of the Nazi forces and VE-Day was assured. God's Victory Day is coming, but it will come in God's own good time because it is the Sovereign God who rules this world, not us. Today In The Light Of Tomorrow But ...

3355. Improving Your Serve

Isaiah 49:1-7

Sermon

Robert Beringer

Charles Swindoll in his popular book, Improving Your Serve, tells of how he was at first haunted and then convicted by the Bible's insistence that Jesus came not to be served, but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many (Mark 10:45)." The more he studied what the Bible says about servanthood, the more convinced Swindoll became that our task in this world, like that of Jesus, is not to be served, not to grab the spotlight, and not to become successful or famous or powerful or idolized. Our calling ...

3356. Whether We Live Or Die

Deuteronomy 34:1-12

Sermon

Sims Robert

... 8:38-39).” The man who died wanted to be right with God. Early that morning he went to quiet communion at his church. He went every Wednesday morning for quiet communion. On this day on the bulletin which contained the Order for the Confession of Sins he marked out the word “we” confess and wrote “I” confess. He wanted to be right with God. I pray that he was. I believe that he was. I believe that God in his mercy received him into his kingdom. Why do I say all of this? Because there are moments ...

3357. A Good Thing To Know

Luke 19:11-27

Sermon

Theodore F. Schneider

... 4 B.C.E., his son Archelaus went to Rome to have his succession to his father and his kingship confirmed. Though the Romans avoided the use of the title "Rex" for themselves, they did allow the use of the term in some ethnic eastern provinces. Mark Anthony, under senate authority, had given the title to Herod in 40 B.C.E. Through a codicil in Herod's will, Archelaus, as the eldest son, inherited one-half of the kingdom, including Judea, Samaria and Idumea. Now from Rome he sought affirmation and a similar ...

3358. A Lesson From Prayers Overheard

Luke 18:9-14

Sermon

Theodore F. Schneider

... , a matter of one of these two men's prayers and lives surpassing the other. Rather, the message is one that Jesus will return to over and again - the mercy of God. Hundreds of years before Christ the Psalmist understood:"If thou, O Lord, shouldst mark iniquities, Lord who could stand? But there is forgiveness with thee." Jesus understood, too. And he would tell stories about that mercy and grace, about a loving Father moved by the hopeless publican, so that he would not be helpless. He would tell about the ...

3359. The Signs Of Salvation

Luke 19:1-10

Sermon

Theodore F. Schneider

... and Co., Ltd., 1975), p. 4. 2. John Baillie, Our Knowledge of God, (New York, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1939), p. 1. 3. Paul J. Achtemeier, Proclamation 3, Pentecost 3, Series C, (Philadelphia, Fortress Press, 1986), p. 42. 4. Dag Hammerskjold, Markings, Translated from the Swedish by Leif Sjoberg and W. H. Auden, (New York, Alfred A. Knopf, 1988), p. 165. 5. Martin Luther, "The Large Catechism," The Book of Concord, Translated and edited by Theodore G. Tappert, (Philadelphia, Fortress Press, 1959), p ...

3360. The Glorious Company

Luke 6:17-26

Sermon

Theodore F. Schneider

... hands, no one worries about the "tricks" that are threatened. Halloween takes its name from All Hallows Eve, though its origins are pre-Christian and probably go back to the ancient Druids who, with ceremonial fires and legendary visits of ghosts and gremlins, marked the first day of winter on November 1. Others hold that people in the Middle Ages believed that the souls came back and celebrated through the town on the night before the mass for all saints. No matter. Whatever we think about our Halloween ...

3361. Our Living Hope

Luke 20:27-40

Sermon

Theodore F. Schneider

... and not of the next. Since there is no more death, there is no needed arrangement for our human sexuality to preserve the race, to express intimacy, or to create new life. Much we do not know about the "new age," much we do know. It will be a time marked with all the blessings and joys of being together in the presence of our Lord. It will be entirely different from what we now know. It will not be a continuation of "business as usual." Simply put, the question is not Plato's question: "If a man died, is he ...

3362. A Plan For Difficult Times

Luke 21:5-38

Sermon

Theodore F. Schneider

Appropriately Impressed! They were impressed! Mark's gospel quotes the comment Jesus overhead in the opening of today's lesson: "Look Teacher, what large stones and what large buildings!" The contemporary Roman/Jewish historian Josephus writes that the temple "appeared from a distance like a snow-clad mountain, for all that was not overlaid with gold ...

3363. Dust And Ashes

Genesis 18:16-33

Sermon

Erskine White

... I am but dust and ashes." The great King David confessed, "For I know my transgressions, and my sin is everywhere before me" (Psalm 51:3). The apostle Paul, one of history's most towering Christians, cried out, "Wretched man that I am!" (Romans 7:24). In marked contrast, the spirit of this present age wants to say, "I'm okay and you're okay." But which is the more honest, more spiritual assessment of who we are in this fallen world? Yes, the spirituality we find in scripture requires honesty in oneself. In ...

3364. The Significance Of An Insignificant Man

Luke 23:26-43

Sermon

Erskine White

... it behind Jesus." It is worth noting that Simon was an African, from the city of Cyrene in what is now northern Libya. He was probably a Jew, since there was a large Jewish community in Cyrene, and he had two sons who later became well-known Christians (cf. Mark 15:21). That's all we know about him, a rather insignificant man. But this insignificant man happened to be in Jerusalem on the day Jesus was crucified. Against his will, Simon of Cyrene became a part of Jesus' life, and Jesus a part of his. What do ...

3365. The Ten Commandments For Today

Exodus 20:1-21

Sermon

Erskine White

... to us. From fast food chains to football games, when businesses make employees work on the Sabbath, they are saying that the claims of commerce matter more than the claims of God. Jesus said that the Sabbath was made for people, not people for the Sabbath (Mark 2:27). This means the Sabbath is meant to help us as a day of rest, not burden us with rigid rules which defy common sense. For example, some businesses and services must certainly remain open on Sunday to cover emergency needs. Also, if the mother ...

3366. Can A Nation Repent?

2 Chronicles 34:14-33

Sermon

Erskine White

... : "In God We Trust." Can a nation repent? A nation which cannot say, "Forgive us, Lord, for cheapening Your Name with our love of money," is not a nation ready to repent. Can a nation repent? More recently, just a few years ago, in fact, Senator Mark Hatfield stood up in the Senate to propose a National Day of Prayer. Now, everyone in Congress love to vote for national days of prayer, so this resolution passed without opposition. But no one had read what Senator Hatfield's bill actually said. Hatfield had ...

3367. God Forsaken

Mark 15:21-32

Sermon

Erskine White

And at the ninth hour, Jesus cried out with a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, la'ma sabach-tha'ni?" which means, "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" (Mark 15:34) Many churches today read from the Revised Standard Version or the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, but it wasn't always that way. In fact, the first RSV translation was printed in 1952. There were great arguments within many congregations between those who wanted to accept ...

3368. The Victory Of The Cross

Sermon

Erskine White

... , the future belongs to God! Now we know that when brute force and worldly power have spoken, God's love and justice will have the final Word. This is also the victory of the cross. The victory of the cross is so complete that it even marks victory over death, that final darkness and common denominator, that one inescapable reality. Here we find our greatest fears, yet even here, God has the final Word! The cross is an instrument of death. It is also the ultimate proof of life. If we could just grasp ...

3369. Don’t Be Alarmed

Mark 16:1-20

Sermon

Jerry L. Schmalemberger

... man, dressed in a white robe, sitting on the right side; and they were alarmed. But he said to them, “Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Look, this is the place they laid him (Mark 16:5, 6a).” One thing is certain. If Jesus had not risen from the dead, we would never have heard of him! The attitude of the women was that they had come to pay their last tribute to a dead body. The attitude of the disciples was that everything had ...

3370. Deaths, Our Teacher

Psalm 90:1-17

Eulogy

Allen Puffenberger

... your own death and lived accordingly? "Teach us to number our days" - that's a lesson we all need. And, the psalmist indicates that in this subject, the best teacher is death itself. How does death instruct us about life? In several ways. First, death punctuates life. It marks the end of life. It underscores our time limitations. We arrive at one point in time and depart at another. Eve was born April 9, 1903, and died August 16, 1987. We do not have forever here. What we are going to do with life must be ...

3371. Death Following Lung Cancer

Psalm 55:1-23

Eulogy

Alan Bacon Bond

If I Take the Wings of the Morning Barbara's first hint of trouble came with coughing and pain in the chest. The X-rays and following biopsy confirmed the worst fears and marked the beginning of her long slide toward death. "Lung cancer," said the doctor. "We'll remove the lobe immediately and follow with radiation." But it was not to be that easy. The surgeon found a fibrous tissue intertwined through the chest cavity making removal of the lung impossible. The tumor ...

3372. Lord, That I Should Receive My Sight

Mark 10:46-52

Sermon

Brett Blair

... this morning of the healing of blind Bartimaeus would suggest to us that there are three kinds of blindness. For a few moments this morning let's examine each. I The first kind of blindness is represented by the beggar sitting by the road leading to Jericho. Mark tells us that his name was Bartimaeus. We don’t know much about him. We don’t know his age, length of blindness or what caused his infirmity. We know nothing about his family, his friends, his past life. We know him only because of the impact ...

3373. Called in From Off-stage

1 Samuel 16:1-13

Sermon

Donald Zelle

... tells us that we have yet to understand the words of Jesus about the importance of children. Jesus put a child on center stage for the disciples, in order to tell the disciples of all time that he who receives a child, receives God (Mark 9:37)! We have not sufficiently learned that children are not commodities that can bear the brunt of our anger, hostility, and frustration. God has an important place for seemingly insignificant children. It was the apostle Paul who reminded the early Christians of Corinth ...

3374. Walking On the Knees

2 Samuel 7:18-29

Sermon

Donald Zelle

... has spoken! Ten times, in this prayer, David speaks the Divine name, Yahweh. Ten times he calls himself a servant. Here is a proper relationship between a believer and God. This is to walk on one's knees, not only at prayer time, but all the time. It illustrates the mark of true religion. In a proper relationship with God, it is not what we do for him that matters, but what he has done for us. We are not self-made or independent people. We owe our existence to God. We owe our salvation to God. We owe the ...

3375. What Can God Do?

Luke 1:39-45

Children's Sermon

Brett Blair

... this through:] Okay. If God is bigger than an elephant and he is bigger than a tree, if he is even bigger than the world and the stars and the whole universe, then how can God be a baby and fit inside Mary's tummy? (response) Have the appropriate text marked:] It says right here in Luke chapter 1 verse 43 that Mary was the mother of our Lord. How can that be? How can God who is bigger than all things be a baby? In Mary's tummy? (response) That's the amazing thing about God. He is so big ...

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