Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 3476 to 3500 of 4944 results

3476. To See Your Face Is Like Seeing The Face Of God

2 Corinthians 4:1-18

Sermon

James Angell

If you could deliver one sermon, what would you speak about? Though the question sounds trite, it has sometimes been asked of most preachers - usually in a half-serious way. What text, truth, or character has come to fill your heart's imagination, changed your life, or made you eager to use one big chance to share it with others? For me, the answer is in the story of the reconciliation in the desert between Esau and Jacob, years after the stealing of the birthright, where, comforted by Esau's forgiveness, ...

3477. The Call of the Disciples - James, A Fisher of Men

Matthew 4:23-25, Matthew 4:18-22, Matthew 4:12-17

Drama

Thomas Blowers

A Dramatic Monologue My name is James and I was one of the twelve selected by Jesus to follow him. I still remember the first time I saw him. I looked down the shore of the lake down to where Simon and Andrew were fishing and I saw a stranger approach. Usually Dad, my younger brother, and I were first to reach the shore of the lake to begin a day of fishing, but for some reason that morning Simon and Andrew had a head start. So while we were still mending our nets, they were already off shore casting for ...

3478. Is The Gospel Only For Women?

Luke 6:17-26

Sermon

My theme for this All Saints’ Sunday is the question, "Is the Gospel only for women?" Let me explain why I put it that way. Recently I attended a theological conference at which one of the lecturers was a woman, a professor at a church college. She observed that although there are more women in the church than men, we men are still in control, that theology - the study of God - has always been a man’s world and that all the definitions of God are usually in terms of experiences that pertain to men. She ...

3479. Time to Get Ready

Luke 12:32-40

Sermon

Jesus said: "Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions, and give alms; provide yourselves with purses that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. "Let your loins be girded and your lamps burning, and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the marriage feast, so that they’ may open to ...

3480. Saving Sinners

Matthew 9:9-13

Sermon

"Jesus left that place, and as he walked along he saw a tax collector, named Matthew, sitting in his office. He said to him, 'Follow me.' And Matthew got up and followed him. While Jesus was having dinner at his house, many tax collectors and outcasts came and joined him and his disciples at the table. Some Pharisees saw this and said to his disciples, 'Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and outcasts?' Jesus heard them and answered: 'People who are well do not need a doctor, but only those who ...

3481. If Only We could Be Loyal ...

Hosea 4:1-19, Hosea 6:1--7:16

Sermon

Wallace H. Kirby

Jackie had been at our worship service on only two occasions, and when she came to me for counseling, I began by saying, "Tell me who you are." We spent over an hour talking about her, for my sole contact with her had been from the pulpit to the pew, an introduction, and a handshake. Jackie felt that her whole life was deteriorating. It began when her father abandoned his family and she watched her mother struggle for years to provide a home for her and her sister. Endowed with a brilliant mind, Jackie did ...

3482. A Sermon for Passion Sunday

Matthew 27:45-56

Sermon

Dean Lueking

On this Passion Sunday, we stand again at the threshold of the Great Seven Days, this week of time that takes us to the inmost heart of the work that God has done for us through Christ his Son. As we prepare to hear the passion story of Jesus’ suffering as proclaimed by St. Matthew, I invite you to hear one sentence in particular. It is that word of our Lord from the Cross that is at once the most anguished account and the Gospel which comes to us from it: "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" ( ...

3483. Easter 5

Jn 13:31-35 · Acts 13:44-52; 14:8-18; 21-27 · Rev 21:1-5

Sermon Aid

Russell F. Anderson

COMMENTARY Acts 14:8-18 After a miracle of healing, the people consider Paul and Barnabas to be gods. In this pericope we have Paul's first miracle and his first sermon to pagans. It is very unlike Paul because no mention is made of Jesus and the resurrection, nor the name of Jesus as the power of healing. The account does not say that the faith of the cripple was faith in Jesus, the Healer. Moreover, a miracle usually ends in the people's glorifying God, but here the people give the credit to Paul and ...

3484. Easter 7

Jn 17:20-26 · Acts 7:55-60; 16:16-34 · Rev 22:12-20

Sermon Aid

Russell F. Anderson

COMMENTARY Acts 16:16-34 The experience of Paul and Silas in the Philippian jail. Paul's exorcizing a demon from a slave girl leads to a riot formented by her owners because their business was threatened. Paul and Silas had their clothes torn from them, were beaten, and then thrown into solitary confinement with their feet in the stocks in the Philippian jail. While singing hymns at midnight, an earthquake occurred and the jailer, scared to death, asked how he could be saved. He and his family were ...

3485. Lent 1

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

Sermon Aid

John R. Brokhoff

COMMENTARY 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 account of the ...

3486. Never Forgotten

Isaiah 49:8-26

Sermon

At the same time Luther was lecturing to the seminary students in Wittenburg on the meaning of the prophet Isaiah in their personal lives, a marriage took place in France that was to have far-reaching impact on the future of the Protestant Reformation. Margaret of Angouleme, sister of King Francis I, married Duke Henry of Navarre, whose family name was Bourbon. Navarre today lies in Spain in the Pyrenees, where the Basques live. I’ve been there to visit Basque friends of mine. Touring their churches and ...

3487. God of the Ordinary

Exodus 13:17--14:31

Sermon

Some folks can look at something extraordinary, and write it off as commonplace. Ring Lardner was an avid baseball fan, but every other sport to him was just a bore. One afternoon, when a friend took him to see a football game, Lardner watched the action on the field with total disinterest. Suddenly, in the second half of the game, the crowd came to its feet when a punt receiver ran the ball almost the entire length of the gridiron. "Did you see that?" the humorist's friend screamed. "He carried the ball ...

3488. Repairing Your Broken Dreams

Luke 24:13-35

Sermon

Harold Warlick

Dreams and visions are important in life. Every action we take in life was designed by someone. Every piece of clothing, every building, every hymn book, every chair, every light fixture, and every automobile existed first in someone's vision. Someone had to have the idea or the dream to turn out the product. The same holds true for the way we act. As Jesus said, "The eye is the seat of the body." If you cannot dream it, cannot envision it, then you simply cannot do it. Dreams and visions can also be very ...

3489. The Nativity of Our Lord

Isaiah 9:1-7, Psalm 96:1-13, Titus 2:1-15, Luke 2:1-7, Luke 2:8-20

Sermon Aid

THEOLOGICAL CLUE As one of the major festivals of the Christian church - and probably the most popular - Christmas liturgies were shaped by gospel tradition and worship practices in the early church. In Jerusalem, by the fourth century, there were three masses of Christmas: the first was at midnight in the Grotto of the Nativity at Bethlehem, the second took place at dawn, after the faithful had walked back to Jerusalem, in the Church of the Resurrection, and, later in the day, a third and solemn mass was ...

3490. Ash Wednesday

Joel 2:12-17, 2 Corinthians 5:11--6:2, Matthew 6:1-4, Matthew 6:16-18, Matthew 6:19-24

Sermon Aid

THEOLOGICAL CLUE The title of this day, Ash Wednesday - the rite for the imposition of ashes on the foreheads of the penitents and the central proclamation of the day, "You are dust, and unto dust you will return" provide the theological clue for preaching during Lent and Easter. Every person who is born here on the earth will, sooner or later, be claimed by death. The Genesis 3 story is certainly true in this respect; no one is exempt from death - even Jesus, the very Son of God, had to die, partly ...

3491. Proper 10 & Pentecost 8

Isaiah 55:1-13, Psalm 65:1-13, Romans 8:1-17, Romans 8:18-27, Exodus 2:11-25, Matthew 13:1-23

Sermon Aid

THEOLOGICAL CLUE As the first third of the Pentecost cycle/season approaches its conclusion, the preacher must keep in mind that the theological framework of the season continues to be eschatological; the church continues to wait and work in anticipation of the Parousia. The Gospel for the Day, supported by the first reading, continues to provide the primary theme for worship and preaching, depending on whether or not one reads the shorter or longer lection, while the second reading continues to go its own ...

3492. 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 ...

3493. Labor Day

Gen 2:2-3 · Ex 20:8-11

Children's Sermon

Materials to have on hand: Four or five hats used by different occupations, such as: Baker Construction Worker Police Officer Nurse Farmer Firefighter Good morning, boys and girls. Today we celebrate those people who are in the labor force of our country. I have some hats here which represent several occupations. Can you tell what the people who wear these hats do? (Hold up each one in turn. Allow time for conversation after each one.) There are many different kinds of jobs in the world. Can you name a few ...

3494. The Yestermorrow Eclipse

John 10:1-21

Sermon

It was a fearsome sight ... striking terror to the hearts of city dwellers and country-folk alike. Mysterious, unexplainable, frightening. Surely the wrath of the gods had come upon them, and perhaps the end of the world was at hand. Few events in history have penetrated human lives with such universal mystery and fear. As the Greek writer Archilochus described it, "sore fear came upon men," and Theoclymenus notes that "an evil mist has spread over all." People would hide, tribes would dance feverishly, ...

3495. Shipwrecked on Malta

Acts 27:1-12, Acts 27:13-26, Acts 27:27-44

Sermon Aid

CSS

Festus was a good administrator. Once the decision had been made to send Paul to Rome, he acted quickly. Yet it was a peculiar transferral. Agrippa and Festus are reported to have concluded that Paul had done nothing that was likely to undermine the security of the Roman Empire or otherwise be of interest to the high courts at Rome. They must have attached some bill of complaint to the military orders under which Paul was transported, but its contents are not known. The official charges against Paul never ...

3496. Which Jesus? This Jesus!

Acts 17:1-9

Sermon

Barbara Brokhoff

"... This Jesus whom I preach to you is the Christ." A conductor said to the Lt. Governor of the State of Pennsylvania, as he was boarding a train, "Go right up the steps, sir, turn left, and take a seat." But the Lt. Governor turned right instead of left and found himself in an empty car. He had just settled himself down when some twenty people, all dressed exactly alike, came in the car. The conductor said, "Sir, I think you’ll want to move into the other car. You see, these people are all from the ...

3497. He Bore Our Sins

2 Corinthians 5:11--6:2

Sermon

Dennis Kastens

Every year during Lent, the role of Christ bearing his cross to Calvary is re-enacted in the village of Sartene, Corsica. This has been going on ever since the Middle Ages, and it always draws a big crowd of villagers and thousands of tourists who come for the occasion. Time magazine, when reporting on one of the more recent episodes, called it "one of the world’s most brutally powerful Holy Week processions." And the report was a graphic description of what happened: A grotesque lump of a man ... barefoot ...

3498. No Condemnation!

Romans 8:1-17

Sermon

Dennis Kastens

The prophet Micah, who lived 700 years B.C., was surrounded by people who worshiped many false gods and idols. One scholar has established that the Greeks alone worshiped thirty thousand; and we know the Hindus claim thirty-three million gods. In Mesopotamia every household had its own god. Micah beheld the Canaanites who worshiped Baal and Astarte, the Moabites who worshiped Chemosh, the Philistines who worshiped Dagon, the Amorites who worshiped Moloch, the Nabateans who worshiped Dusares, and the ...

3499. WHAT HAS EVER HAPPENED TO HONOR?

Illustration

John H. Krahn

"Wilt thou have this woman to be thy wedded wife ... wilt thou love her, comfort her, honor and keep her in sickness and in health, and, forsaking all others, keep thee only unto her, so long as ye both shall live?" And all of us who are married said, "I will." Tucked away inside this vow is a promise to honor our spouses, to respect them, stand up for them, and hold them in high esteem. High esteem does not permit fooling around. Because of the high divorce rate and other statistics we read on marital ...

3500. What It Takes to Stay Christian

1 Thessalonians 1:1-10

Sermon

Raymond Gibson

Eleven months ago when I first arrived in Versailles as your new pastor, it was my custom to arise at 5:30 A.M. every morning and run four or five miles before breakfast. I weighed 147 pounds, and for a man of my age, I was in good condition. I was five pounds under my ideal weight, I felt fresh and trim, had a great deal of energy, and slept like a newborn baby. My muscles were firm and tough, I was in excellent health and knew it. As the months passed, changes have taken place. Partly because of my ...

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