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Showing 3376 to 3400 of 5000 results

3376. Proper 22 & Pentecost 20

Matthew 21:33-46, Philippians 4:2-9, Philippians 3:12-4:1, Numbers 27:12-23, Psalm 81:1-16, Isaiah 5:1-7

Sermon Aid

THEOLOGICAL CLUE Without the readings assigned to this day - and to this part of the cycle and season - the eschatological clue of the church year would be quite indistinct. The readings, particularly the Gospel for the Day, with its setting as one of Jesus' teachings during Holy Week, point beyond Jesus' suffering and death to the last things, when God shall hold everyone accountable for his/her deeds and life-style. Veteran preachers, who have journeyed through this portion of the church year in the past ...

3377. 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 ...

3378. Pentecost 24

Mal 1:6-14, Lev 2:1-16, Mic 3:1-12, Am 5:18-27, Ru 4:1-1, 1Th 2:1-16, 4:13-5:11, Mt 23 and 25:1-13

Sermon Aid

CSS

THEOLOGICAL CLUE If a congregation happened to be following the readings listed in Lutheran Worship, the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod's revision of the Roman Ordo and the LBW lectionary, the people would have caught the eschatological clue last Sunday; the Lutheran Worship lectionary follows the older Lutheran practice of abandoning the numerical progression of the Sundays in Pentecost and assigning the same three sets of readings - always eschatological - for the last three Sundays of Pentecost. The ...

3379. All Saints' Day

Revelation 7:1-8, Isaiah 26:1-21, 1 John 2:28--3:10, Revelation 21:1-27, Matthew 5:1-12, Psalm 24:1-10, Psalm 149:1-9, Psalm 34:1-22

Sermon Aid

THEOLOGICAL CLUE All Saints' Day is one of those days in the church year calendar that many congregations ignore, simply because they don't know what to do with it. It began and developed naturally out of the annual commemoration of the deaths of individual martyrs, beginning with the apostles. Saints' days found their way into the worship of the church before the church year took much shape; many saints' days were in place by A.D. 200, preceding most elements of the church year, except Easter and the ...

3380. The Effect of Leprosy

Luke 17:11-19

Illustration

Brett Blair

Leprosy effect upon the body is devastating. Where it attacks it causes a loss of the sense of touch. That doesn't sound too bad but consider the implications. When you reach for the stove to pick up a frying pan that is hot you immediately drop it and put ice on the burn. You watch as your skin turns red and blister. Now, if you had leprosy you would grab the pan and feel nothing. You've lost your sense of touch. You carry the pan unaware of the damage it is doing to your hand. As you set the pan down and ...

3381. A Hissing Hot Coal

1 Samuel 18:1-30

Sermon

Envy is a hissing hot coal from hell’s hearth. Envy waves her wand and a prince savagely surveys a shepherd’s success. A shepherd who is also a soldier. A harpist who has become a hero. A popular peasant who has climbed the Everest of adversity. The king’s eyes are so emerald with envy that his pupils resemble shamrocks. Like a Fourth of July watermelon, he is green on the outside, while red with rage on the inside. His envious eau de cologne is as fragrant as a convention of Limburger cheese salesmen. He ...

3382. Bound for Glory

1 Samuel 25:1-44

Sermon

Beauty and the Beast. The beastly brute is Nabal. A grumpy geezer. A gentleman farmer whose grasp for gold was only exceeded by his grasp for Mogen David. His eyes gazed over the greenly robed spring fields as he saw his herds of sheep gently grazing. His ears heard the bleat of sheep as nine pounds of wool was removed from their fat lamb shoulders. His nose caught the fragrant smell of rich foods placed on his teeming table by servants forced to work for a Simon Legree whip-cracking master. A few miles ...

3383. The Singer and the Siren

2 Samuel 11:1-27

Sermon

I would rather not mention it. Centuries of rabbis have spilt gallons of ink thinking up excuses for him. The author of Chronicles doesn’t waste a jot or tittle in telling the tale. After all, who enjoys slicing another hefty chink in a hero’s armor? Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell told Sir Peter Lely to paint his portrait with the warts and all. Yet I have trouble brushstroking out the black deeds of David. Shortly after he had been convicted for throwing the 1919 World Series, the great outfielder ...

3384. A Ewe Turn

2 Samuel 12:1-31

Sermon

He made an abrupt U-turn on Easy Street. His applecart of greed was overturned. Max Factor makeup could not mask the portrait of guilt sketched on his face. His gut growled with the gruff voice of self-loathing. Shame squeezed his body with the smothering grip of a boa constrictor. Portrait of a robber baron. Portrait of a bad shepherd whose blackest sheep was his own soul. Portrait of a thief who had discovered his own hand caught in the cookie jar. His Rip Van Winkle soul had been awakened by the still ...

3385. Faces of the Nation

2 Samuel 19:9-43

Sermon

You see their smiling faces everywhere. They have their own birth certificates. Their birthdays are cause for celebration. Legend has it that they are orphans who have been found in a cabbage patch. Each toddler who clutches one of the Cabbage Patch dolls in her arms feels as if she were a mommy. Cabbage Patch dolls sell out quickly and, in some cities, near riots have occurred in stores where they have become available. Cabbage Patch dolls became as popular as an airconditioner salesman in the Mohave ...

3386. Strong Words

1 Kings 2:1-12

Sermon

Words are like men and women. Some are as weak as a scarecrow’s handshake. Other words are as strong as Mr. Skunk’s fragrant odor after he munches down a bermuda onion. Words are important. David knew the importance of words. The words of his poetry will shine in the firmament of faith’s blue skies forever. David’s joys and sorrows, mountain tops and valleys were best expressed in words. David also knew fathers were important. He who had been raised by a simple father in a burg called Bethlehem. He who had ...

3387. The Visit To Elizabeth

Drama

It was the first of many roads I was to travel after the angel appeared to me. Before departing, the angel told me that my relative, Elizabeth, was going to have a child. I was shocked by this news because the sorrow of her life was that she was old and barren. I needed to get away for a while to think and pray. As I walked toward Judea to visit Elizabeth my mind whirled. I now understood that I was to be the mother of the promised Messiah. Father spoke so much about the teachings of the religious leaders ...

3388. A Most Amazing Night

Luke 2:1-7

Sermon

"But Mary kept all these things, pondering them in her heart. (Luke 2:19) The shadows are getting long in late afternoon as Joseph comes running into the house bursting with news: Caesar Augustus has ordered a census for the whole Roman Empire. Everyone will have to go to their family’s hometown to be counted and to pay a tax. For Joseph and Mary, this means travelling to Bethlehem. Mary wants to know more, but Joseph can’t answer her questions. The Romans are not in the habit of explaining themselves to ...

3389. Some Assembly Required

Malachi 2:17--3:5

Sermon

But who can endure the day of His coming, and who can stand when He appears? (Malachi 3:2) Some of you might know from your own experience that there are three words which can give a parent serious nightmares. Three words can drive real fear into a parent’s heart. I’m talking about mothers and fathers cringing in abject terror at the mere sound of three simple words: "Some Assembly Required." How well I learned this on Christmas Eve when I engaged in fierce hand-to-hand combat with a hobby horse! It came ...

3390. What Will He Find… When He Comes? - Shorter Version

Luke 18:1-8

Sermon

Theodore F. Schneider

In Paul’s great letter to the Corinthians he addresses many issues: conflicts, divisions and hardships abound on every side. The crowning achievement of that letter is the 13th chapter. The chapter on love. At the end of that chapter Paul says that of all the qualities of our faith there are three most important: Faith, hope and love. I would like to spend our time this morning on hope. In difficult times we must have hope. But hardship is relentless and can come in many ways. I am reminded of Lucy's ...

3391. The Biggest Reunion Picnic of Them All

Matthew 8:11

Children's Sermon

Object: a compass. Who knows how to use a compass? (If you have volunteers willing to explain its use, have them point to the four directions: north, south, east, and west; or do it yourself. Be ready to name one place in each direction and ask in which direction it is from where you are.) Do any of you attend family reunions? (Look for a response.) If you do, do other people come here or do you go somewhere else? (If you are not sure in advance that there are families with such experience, you may want to ...

3392. Epiphany 2

Psalm 40:1-17, Isaiah 49:1-7

Bulletin Aid

Theme: Called from the womb for the world Exegetical Note In this second Servant Song of Isaiah II, the Servant makes a public announcement of his divine, prenatal call directed to all nations. Noteworthy is the fact that after the prophet declares his inability to carry out his call, God not only repeats it, but expands it to include the 'end of the earth," i.e., the entire world. The womb and the world here represent the bifocal nature of God's providence: the particular and the universal. Call to ...

3393. Lent 6

Mt 26:14--27:66 · Php 2:5-11 · Isa 50:4-9 · Ps 31

Bulletin Aid

Paul A. Laughlin

First Lesson: Isaiah 50:4-9a Theme: The prophet's perilous profession Exegetical Note This so-called Third Servant Song of Second Isaiah expresses the author's constant confidence in God despite the anger and abuse that he has had to endure, ostensibly at the hands of his fellow exiled Israelites, to whom his message of faith and hope sounds ridiculous. Yet, the Servant expresses both his determination to convey the message and his certainty of God's sustenance and eventual vindication. Call to Worship ( ...

3394. The Day of Pentecost

John 20:19-23

Bulletin Aid

Theme: God's Spirit of life and forgiveness Exegetical note The fact that John here places the giving of the Holy spirit on Easter evening rather than on Pentecost proper should not detract from the central facts that (1) the bestowal of the Spirit as breath recalls God's life-giving creation of Adam in Genesis 2; and (2) the bestowal of the Spirit thus on the apostles is the basis of their mission, which here can be summarized as preaching and baptizing (which is the context for the forgiveness and ...

3395. Trinity Sunday

Matthew 28:16-20

Bulletin Aid

Theme: The threefold name of God Exegetical note: Matthew's version of the great commission contained here provides the clearest scriptural statement of the trinitarian formula that would later become the Trinitarian doctrine of orthodox Christianity. Important here is the context given by Jesus for this charge: it is a matter of authority, which has been given to him, and which he, in turn, is passing along to those who will be in mission in the threefold name of God. Call to Worship (based on Psalm 33) ...

3396. Proper 18

Romans 13:1-7

Bulletin Aid

Theme: The challenge of Christian citizenship Exegetical note The exhortation in the first seven verses of this selection would seem to mitigate against any sort of civil disobedience in the name of Christian conscience. But it must be read in the light of the fact that Christianity itself was an illegal sect (or "cult"!) in Paul's time (or soon after). It also must be balanced (as it has been throughout the history of Christian political ethics) by Acts 5:28 as a kind of "bottom line": "We must obey God ...

3397. Proper 28

Matthew 25:14-30

Bulletin Aid

Theme: Preserving vs. promoting the gospel Exegetical note Exactly what Jesus' original intent was for this parable is uncertain, but the fearful, "protectionist" mentality of the third servant is universal and timeless: he timidly decides to protect what he has rather than to develop it, and because of his subsequent actions he is pronounced "wicked and lazy." This story could be applied to a myriad of cases, but its most likely referrent here is to those who would be preservers of the Gospel rather than ...

3398. Christmas 2

John 1:1-18

Sermon Aid

Liturgical Color: White Gospel: John 1:1-18 Theme: "God became human in order that man and woman, in their effort to be God, may not become monsters" (author unknown, revised) Pastoral Invitation to the Christmastide Celebration Suggestion: Begin with the statement which appears as the theme. You may want to add your own thoughts. Continue with this response between pastor and ministers: Pastor: At the beginning, God expressed self. That personal expression, that word was with God, and was God ... ...

3399. Palm Sunday

Matthew 21:1-11

Sermon Aid

Liturgical Color: Purple/Red Gospel: Matthew 21:1-11; Matthew 26:14-27, 66 Theme: Jesus' triumphal entry - Jesus' betrayal and sharing of the communion. Pastoral Invitation to the Celebration One pastor did this: "Here he comes! Let's make him welcome! Enter into the Mardi Gras spirit! Laugh and dance and sing and rejoice! Our King is coming! Then, as the choir and children enter during the singing of the hymn of triumphal entry, have them wave palm branches and intermingle with the congregation. At the ...

3400. Proper 13 - The Feeding of 5,000

Matthew 14:13-21

Sermon Aid

Liturgical Color: Green Theme: The feeding of the 5,000 men, plus women and children. Pastoral Invitation to the Congregation Suggestion: "When we worship, we celebrate our personal relationship with God - Creator, Liberator, Sustainer - with God who is both loving and holy, and our world-wide relationship with each other, God's people and with God's world, even that part of the world opposed to God and Christ's church." You may want to follow with this litany between pastor and ministers: Pastor: Good ...

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