Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 3426 to 3450 of 4944 results

3426. When the Rules Change

7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23

Sermon

David Coffin

A couple who lived in separate apartments fell in love and decided to get married. However, both of their parents informed them that they would have to finance their own wedding, reception and honeymoon. In the good old days in that community, it was one of the couples’ parents who carried much of the financial burden for weddings. The couple decided it was prudent to live together in one apartment, and use the money saved for their wedding plans. For the more traditional people in their church, this is ...

3427. A Living Memorial

Exodus 12:1-30

Sermon

Douglas J. Deuel

Maundy Thursday can and should be one of the most meaningful days on the Christian calendar. It brings us face-to-face with the heart of the matter -- our sin, the estrangement from God it causes, and the cost of reconciliation. For much of the year, even faithful and good Christians can avoid facing the painful reality of sin in our lives and our need for a dramatic remedy for that sin. On this special day, we see clearly the pain and agony of what Christ faced. The suffering of Christ was essential ...

3428. When The Odds Are Against Us

1 Samuel 1:1-20

Sermon

Zan W. Holmes

I recently had the privilege of introducing Maya Angelou who addressed a luncheon honoring Cecil Williams at Perkins School of Theology. Ms. Angelou, a world renowned poet, writer, and actress, is author of the best-selling book I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings and is perhaps best remembered for her poem, "On the Pulse of the Morning," which she read at the inauguration of President William Jefferson Clinton on January 20, 1993. As I listened to her eloquent and challenging address, I was especially ...

3429. It Is Blessed To Receive

Luke 17:11-19

Sermon

William G. Carter

In the small town of Mapleville, the ecumenical Thanksgiving Eve service was poorly attended. Once it was a popular event for the whole town, gathering people from a variety of denominations and faiths. In recent years, attendance had faded to a faithful few. Most of those who came in any given year were members of the host congregation. What began as a spirited occasion that brought together a variety of clergy, choirs, and congregations had shrunk in numbers and dwindled in enthusiasm. One minister was ...

3430. Getting In Tune Again

Isaiah 40:1-31

Sermon

William L. Self

A radio station in Missouri had an interesting experience. They had a popular program that played the music that most of us like -- music middle-America could understand. The program had a very loyal following. People would stay up into the night to listen. It became their friend, especially to those people who have difficulty sleeping. One day the disc jockey got an interesting letter. It said, "Dear Sir, I am a farmer living alone on my farm. My wife is dead and my children and grandchildren have moved ...

3431. A Bad Temperament Can Kill You

2 Kings 5:1-27

Sermon

Harold Warlick

Imagine, if you will, two children walking down a hallway at school. Neither one of them is paying close attention to what he is doing. Consequently, they bump into each other. One child pushes the other down and makes a fist. "He bumped me. He bumped me," the child screams. He is ready to fight. The other child is headed toward class, realizes there is a class to attend and that the hallway is plenty big enough for both of them to pass. So he wants to go around and continue on his way. The first child is ...

3432. Week One Of Lent

Sermon

Richard Gribble

Monday Week OneLeviticus 19:1-2, 11-18Matthew 25:31-46 Be Holy As Is God We all know that God is divine. This is how we define God. But how does one define divinity? One might say that divinity means omniscience and omnipotence. These are both proper descriptions, possibly even definitions of divinity, but how can a human relate to these things? We know so many things that are more powerful than we and so many people who are more intelligent than ourselves. Maybe we can imagine the divinity of God as all ...

3433. Week Three Of Lent

Sermon

Richard Gribble

Monday Week Three2 Kings 5:1-15Luke 4:24-30 Expectations -- What Should They Be? Expectations are one of the unavoidable realities of life. Although expectations will differ from person to person and from situation to situation, everyone has certain expectations. This is true in how we view events, material things, specific situations, and especially people. If we are honest, most of the time our expectations are high, especially when it comes to results desired and the usefulness and/or effectiveness of ...

3434. Proper 19

Matthew 18:21-35, Romans 14:1--15:13, Exodus 13:17--14:31, Psalm 114:1-8

Sermon Aid

William E. Keeney

Unlimited Forgiveness The parable uses the analogy of a reverse comparison. On the one hand a huge, almost inconceivable debt is forgiven. The amount of the debt of the first character in the parable is staggering. To the person hearing the parable it would be scarcely possible to imagine a debt so monumental, perhaps as hard as to try to imagine today the size of the national debt in the United States. The second character has a relatively trivial debt. It is more the size one might run up on a credit ...

3435. Country Songs and Easter Hymns

Luke 24:36-49

Sermon

Thomas Long

As the van rolled down the interstate, Kitty Wells' hillbilly alto rattled the radio speakers; "When you're lookin' at me," she belted out, "you're lookin' at country." In the van were ten of us, all seminary seniors, heading away from our rural South Carolina campus toward the big city of Atlanta, and Kitty Wells had it right: If you were looking at us, you were looking at country. It was not that we urbanly-challenged folk actually wanted to go to the city; the faculty was forcing us to do so. Terrified ...

3436. Wedding: Faith, Hope, And Love

1 Corinthians 13:1-13

Bulletin Aid

Derl G. Keefer

Listen to these words of encouragement from Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians, chapter 13 (TEV): Love is patient and kind; it is not jealous or conceited or proud; love is not ill-mannered or selfish or irritable; love does not keep a record of wrongs; love is not happy with evil, but is happy with the truth. Love never gives up; and its faith, hope, and patience never fail. Love is eternal... What I know now is only partial; then it will be complete -- as complete as God's knowledge of me. Meanwhile ...

3437. Watchman, Tell Us Of The Night

Isaiah 21:11-12

Sermon

David O. Bales

To strangers the plains of Eastern Montana seem barren, especially in late autumn. The horizon appears endlessly flat, and only occasionally above the plain a low row of hills pushes up -- sometimes just a large bump of ground. Homesteaders built a small frame church upon one such rise, and it has stood since 1912, spared prairie fires, but not free from time's toll. For safety the steeple was removed and the roof sags six inches in the middle of the span. But every season and every week, worship is held. ...

3438. Christmas Letters

Drama

Karren Boehr

Theme: Personal Letters To The Christ Child Appropriate for both Christmas and Advent. Staging for this play is very simple and requires little space, though placing characters on different levels would enhance the effect. A spotlight is suggested to highlight each character as each one speaks. These characters may also be effectively used individually, one for each Sunday in Advent. Setting: Stage with five stools; stools should be placed in various areas in front of the sanctuary. (Mary and Young Child ...

3439. For I Have Chosen You!

Haggai 2:20-23

Sermon

Frank Ramirez

When I was a kid the night before Christmas was the longest night in the world. There were only one or two clocks in our house as a general rule, and eventually eight of us kids. To forestall endless repetition of the question "What time is it?" our parents loaned us one of the clocks, and many times we'd sleep in only one or two rooms, waiting together. Each in turn would wake, and quietly, so quietly, attempt to turn the luminescent dial towards ourselves, believing it possible that we would not rouse ...

3440. Lent 1

Lk 4:1-13 · Rom 10:8-13 · Deut 26:1-11 · Ps 91

Sermon Aid

John R. Brokhoff

COMMENTARY Old Testament: Deuteronomy 26:1-11 Upon entering the Promised Land the people are to present the first fruits and to rejoice in Yahweh's goodness. Deuteronomy deals with the time of King Josiah's reforms in 621 B.C. One of the reforms was the centralization of worship in Jerusalem's temple. One of the three compulsory pilgrimages to Jerusalem was the Feast of Weeks when a basket of first fruits was presented to the priest, placed before the altar, and the worshiper responded by re-telling the ...

3441. Proper 17

Hebrews 13:1-25, Jeremiah 2:1-3:5, Luke 14:1-14

Sermon Aid

John R. Brokhoff

COMMENTARY Old Testament: Jeremiah 2:4-13 Yahweh protests Judah's faithlessness. Jeremiah takes no credit for what he says to his nation: "Hear the word of the Lord." In this passage Yahweh asks why they have deserted him for gods that were no gods. Why did the nation desert him after he was so very good to the nation in leading them through the wilderness for a land of plenty? Priests, rulers and prophets turned against God, and therefore Jeremiah was shocked. The people of God are guilty of two sins: ...

3442. Proper 28

Lk 21:5-19 · Isa 65:17-25 · 2 Thes 3:6-13 · Ps 98

Sermon Aid

John R. Brokhoff

COMMENTARY Old Testament: Isaiah 65:17-25 A description of new heavens and earth. In this pericope we have the Old Testament description of the new heavens and earth. It is similar to the New Testament description in Revelation 21. The Hebrews coming out of bondage in Babylon return to a destroyed city and temple. They need encouragement to re-build and start anew. The conditions of life in the new age will be the opposite of what they experienced in exile. There will be a new Jerusalem in which people ...

3443. Death In The Midst Of Birth

1 Corinthians 15:12-34

Eulogy

Barbara G. Schmitz

Canticle: Nunc Dimittis There is probably no more difficult a time to mourn the loss of a loved one and join in the burial prayers than this. The twelve days of Christmas are for celebration, festivity, lightheartedness, merriment; a time to celebrate birth and God's love in sending Jesus to us. But for us this year, the twelve days of Christmas mean sorrow, loss, grief, and death. In the season of birth, we are in the season of death. I'd like to share two personal memories with you, because they both ...

3444. Going Through The Waters

Exodus 13:17--14:31

Sermon

I suppose when we hear this passage about the parting of the Reed Sea, many of us cannot help but recall that scene in the movie The Ten Commandments. There is Moses, played by Charlton Heston, in a flowing black robe, long hair blowing in the wind, and his arms lifted up with one hand holding the staff that God had given him. The sea suddenly heaves and parts, creating a path with rolling walls of water on either side. Then, Israel marches through on dry land, barely ahead of the pursuing Egyptian army. I ...

3445. Easter 3

1 Peter 1:13-2:3, Acts 2:42-47, Luke 24:13-35

Sermon Aid

Russell F. Anderson

Theme: The risen Christ is revealed as believers gather together and break bread. The First Lesson describes the resurrection community in Jerusalem as having everything in common. They broke bread with glad and generous hearts, praising God. The Gospel tells how Christ was revealed to the two strollers on the way to Emmaus, when Christ blessed and broke bread with them. COMMENTARY Epistle: Acts 2:14a, 36-47 This is the ending of Peter's Pentecost sermon. He confronts his listeners head-on with their ...

3446. End times

Mt 24:1-14 · 1 Thess 3:7-13 · Jer 26:1-6 · Ps 105:1-7

Sermon Aid

Russell F. Anderson

COMMENTARY Lesson 1: Jeremiah 26:1-6 Jeremiah is commanded by God to stand in the court of the temple and warn the nation to repent of their sins or be destroyed. This is at the onset of the reign of King Johoiakim, placed in power by the Egyptians. It is possible that the prophet chose this time because of the crowds flooding into Jerusalem for the coronation ceremonies. A fuller rendition of Jeremiah's temple sermon is found in Jeremiah 7:1-7. Lesson 2: 1 Thessalonians 3:7-13 Paul gives thanks to God for ...

3447. The Poor In Spirit

Sermon

John A. Terry

Matthew 5:1-12 When Jesus spoke these words, he had sat down with his disciples. These are not generic "words to live by" that get published in the Sunday magazine section. These are words Jesus spoke particularly to the disciples. That is why they went up the mountain to be alone. The word translated as "blessed" is commonly translated today as "happy." Robert Schuller wrote a book titled The Be Happy Attitudes. There is a joy the word implies. The problem with the word "happy" is that it is rooted in the ...

3448. The Righteous

Sermon

John A. Terry

I have never been to the Holy Land, but I have heard the land described. The "desert" in Palestine is not made up of sand dunes, but of parched, rock-filled crusty soil. It quickly turns to dust in the long dry seasons. This is an arid land where water was used only for the most essential needs. When the rain falls, the thirsty land is satisfied and in a few days the land rejoices with blossoms shooting up everywhere in beautiful array. Soon again the dry season returns, the harvest ends, and the problems ...

3449. It Is Blessed To Receive

Sermon

William G. Carter

Matthew 6:25-33 (C) Thanksgiving DayLuke 17:11-19 (L) In the small town of Mapleville, the ecumenical Thanksgiving Eve service was poorly attended. Once it was a popular event for the whole town, gathering people from a variety of denominations and faiths. In recent years, attendance had faded to a faithful few. Most of those who came in any given year were members of the host congregation. What began as a spirited occasion that brought together a variety of clergy, choirs, and congregations had shrunk in ...

3450. Discovering The Unexpected

Luke 2:21-40

Sermon

John A. Stroman

Have you ever looked forward to something and when it happened, it was so much more than you anticipated? Maybe this was your experience at the time of your marriage or the birth of your first child. This was somewhat like the experience of David Livingstone, the explorer and missionary to central Africa in the mid-1800s. In his journal he tells about his discovery of the great falls, which he named the Victoria Falls, and what that experience meant to him. He had heard from the natives that there was ...

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