Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 3551 to 3575 of 5000 results

3551. Well, What Did You Expect?

Acts 12:1-19a

Sermon

Louis H. Valbracht

I heard it just this past week from a lady in our congregation, and she said it with absolute and unshakable conviction. Her husband has just recovered from an illness which, very often, can be incurable. So she put it this way: "My husband was cured by the power of prayer. There’s no other way of explaining it. Hundreds of people I know were praying for him, and their prayers were answered. No one will ever change my mind about that." All right. That is one point of view. Let’s look at another. This week ...

3552. How Do You Like Yourself?

1 Peter 3:8-22

Sermon

Louis H. Valbracht

Tell me, what do you think of yourself? How do you feel about living with you? You know, the precedents aren’t too encouraging. A man that we call Saint Peter cried out: "O, Lord, keep away from me, for I am a sinful man." A man whom we call Saint Paul had the words wrenched out of him: "O, wretched man that I am." And the great king, David, cried out in the Psalm: "I am a worm" - I am a worm! - "and no man." Or make it more contemporary. A teenage girl in my study stated her problem honestly: "People don’ ...

3553. Well, What's for Sure?

2 Timothy 1:1-2:13

Sermon

Louis H. Valbracht

One of the favorite books in my library is a little book published recently titled Children’s Letters to God. There is in that book a letter by a fourth or fifth grader, but it might have been written by an adult. He writes: "Dear God, Our minister says that you are everywhere, but I don’t see you anywhere. How come? Your friend, Harold." I thought the closing was a nice touch: "I don’t see you anywhere. Your friend." Typical of the kind of ambiguity from which all of us suffer. Occasionally, someone will ...

3554. Perhaps Next Summer...

Acts 24:1-27

Sermon

Louis H. Valbracht

The poet said it: "The melancholy days are come, the saddest of the year." And suddenly, it came to us this past week that summer was over. Unbelievably, it was the first day of autumn. Actually, we don’t regret the passing of any other season, but, somehow, it is different with the summer. We all look sadly at each other and ask: "Where did it go to?" We all have the frightening feeling that something precious has slipped through our fingers. Somehow, the days went by and we didn’t savor them like we ...

3555. Our Father Who Art on Earth

Proverbs 1:8-19

Sermon

Louis H. Valbracht

This morning we celebrate a rather poor imitation of something that takes place on the second Sunday in May. It is the day when we pull our leftover sentiments out of the deep freeze where we stashed them on Mother’s Day, warm them up a bit to dish them out now for Father’s Day. Yes, it is Father’s Day. It always comes as a bit of a shock and surprise, doesn’t it? No one talks very much about it. About the only ones who make us aware of it are the merchants who have for sale those things, which, by some ...

3556. Carrying the Message

John 20:19-23

Children's Sermon

Wesley T. Runk

Object: Kite, with HALLELUJAH or HE IS RISEN or GOD IS LOVE, etc. written on it. (You may want to purchase enough kites for everyone and just tell them what it will mean to you when you and others see them flying) Good morning, boys and girls. How are you on this wonderful Sunday morning? Isn't it great to know that Jesus is alive and near us and that when he died a long time ago he also came back to life to be with us today just like he was once with Peter and John! This morning I have something with me ...

3557. Is It Wrong for Us to Brag?

Luke 18:14

Children's Sermon

Wesley T. Runk

Object: Two paper bags. Good morning, boys and girls, and how are you today? Isn’t it good to have the world so nice and warm? I love warm weather, because there are so many nice things that I can do when it’s warm. I like picnics and swimming and playing ball and riding bikes and going on hikes and camping out and just so many things. Anyway, it’s good to have the warm weather. Say, I brought some friends with me today. Well - at least one of them is a friend. The other is kind of a big blow-hard, if you ...

3558. He's Coming! He's Coming!

Matthew 21:5

Children's Sermon

Wesley T. Runk

Object: Trumpet or big poster (If you use the trumpet, have it blown before you start the sermon. If you use poster, have it carried across, with words "He’s Coming," once or twice) Say, boys and girls, did you hear that? Wow, what was it? (Let them respond) Maybe we should listen again. (Have trumpet play some kind of fanfare. If you use poster bring it back across again only this time not so quickly so that they can read the poster) Do you know what that was that the trumpet played? It’s called a fanfare ...

3559. Behold Your God

Isaiah 40:1-31

Sermon

Michael J. Anton

People without a country. Fathers and mothers trying to hold their frustrated families together by telling and re-telling the ancient stories of the good old days in far-off Jerusalem, now lying in ruins, the smoke of her ashes still twisting to the sky. People trying to eke out the best existence possible under the thumb of their Babylonian overlords. Those are the people to whom these glorious and triumphant words of Isaiah were first shouted. If you were ever a prisoner of war, or if you were ever ...

3560. Free to Be

Acts 4:23-31

Sermon

Michael J. Anton

INDEPENDENCE DAY For 197 years this country called America has attempted to provide the soil and the climate in which freedom and independence can grow. For almost two centuries the U. S. of A. has become a haven of refuge for immigrants seeking an escape from repression. Our country has been a mecca for persons interested in breathing the fresh air of freedom. This experiment in democracy, of course, has not yet completely succeeded. We still have the weeds of injustice. Repression and discrimination are ...

3561. Three-Dimensional Christianity

James 1:19-27

Sermon

Michael J. Anton

Most of us have probably either heard it or said it about a fellow Christian: "Boy, he really knows his Bible." Sometimes an extra line is added, "He knows the Bible better than most preachers." I suppose that extra line could make pastors a bit defensive, sort of like "them’s fightin’ words." But on this National Bible Sunday there is something much more important than arguing over who may know the Bible the best. Because there is something more important than simply knowing Bible facts or being able to ...

3562. Crossing the Great Divide

Matthew 27:11-26

Sermon

Michael J. Anton

"It’s his fault. It’s her fault. It’s their fault." "It’s not my fault. The devil made me do it." Since the first bad trip in the Eden garden, humans have made it a regular practice to pass the buck. From the man who pointed to his questionable helpmate and said, "The woman you gave me, she made me eat that fruit," to the woman who could literally say, "the devil made me do it," to Herod who could make no decision but send Jesus back to Pilate, to Pilate who thought he could absolve himself by a little ...

3563. A Reason to Hope

Lamentations 3:1-66

Sermon

Michael J. Anton

HOPE Lamentations 3:18-24 "Sometimes I feel like a motherless child." I suppose every generation could write its own book of lamentations. At least most of us seem to find enough to gripe about. Of course, many of our complains are about the people we don’t like because they don’t see life our way, or about the taxes that never seem to go down, or the noise the kids make, or the fact that they don’t make cars the way they used to. The tragedy of much of our griping is that too much of it is hot air blown ...

3564. AMBASSADOR

Isaiah 18:2; Ezekiel 17:15

Illustration

Stephen Stewart

Isaiah 18:2 - "which sends ambassadors by the Nile, in vessels of papyrus upon the waters! Go, you swift messengers, to a nation, tall and smooth, to a people feared near and far, a nation mighty and conquering, whose land the rivers divided." Ezekiel 17:15 - "But he rebelled against him, by sending ambassadors to Egypt, that they might give him horses and a large army ..." There are several ways in which we can translate the words used for "ambassador" in the Bible, but the most frequently used ...

3565. BEGGAR

Psalm 37:25

Illustration

Stephen Stewart

Psalm 37:25 - "... yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his children begging bread." A beggar is a person who lives on the charity of others; there were (and are) professional beggars, who solicited alms publicly, and even went from door to door. They are still numerous in the East; they are usually "lame, maimed, or blind" (Luke 14:13). The commonest and most pathetic form of infirmity is blindness; some of these blind beggars are led by children and have regular places to station themselves. The ...

3566. BRICKMAKER

Exodus 5:7, 16

Illustration

Stephen Stewart

Exodus 5:7 - "You shall no longer give the people straw to make bricks, as heretofore; let them go and gather straw for themselves." Exodus 5:16 - "No straw is given to your servants, yet they say to us; ‘Make bricks!’ " We take bricks so much for granted in our modern world - we live in brick houses, we have brick patios and barbecue pits - that we seldom stop to think about them. In fact, I would seriously wonder if many of you would be really aware of the impact that is implicit in our text. The Pharaoh ...

3567. CARPENTER

Isaiah 44:13; Mark 6:3

Illustration

Stephen Stewart

Isaiah 44:13 - "The carpenter stretches a line, he makes it out with a pencil; he fashions it with planes, and marks it with a compass; he shapes it into the figure of a man, with the beauty of a man, to dwell in a house." Mark 6:3 - "Is not this the carpenter, the son ot Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us?" 2 Samuel 5:11 - "And Hiram king of Tyre sent messengers to David, and cedar trees, also carpenters and masons who built David a house." ...

3568. DANCER

Judges 21:23; Psalm 87:7

Illustration

Stephen Stewart

Judges 21:23 - "And the Benjamites did so, and took their wives according to their number, from the dancers whom they carried off; then they went and returned to their inheritance, and rebuilt the towns, and dwelt in them." Psalm 87:7 - "Singers and dancers alike will say, ‘All my springs are in you.’ " Dancing has formed a part of religious rites and has been associated with war and hunting, with marriage, birth, and other occasions, since the recorded history of man. It grew out of three basic human ...

3569. FULLER

Mark 9:3

Illustration

Stephen Stewart

Mark 9:3 - "And his garments became glistening, intensely white, as no fuller on earth could bleach them." We are so used to seeing laundry trucks going up and down our streets and taking dirty laundry away and bringing back clean clothing; we are properly impressed with the enterprise of the young GI’s of World War II who thought up the diaper services; we take automatic washers and dryers so much for granted; perhaps we would do well to stop for a moment and think about those who used to be sent out of ...

3570. HERDSMAN

Genesis 13:7; Luke 8:34

Illustration

Stephen Stewart

Genesis 13:7 - "and there was strife between the herdsmen of Abram’s cattle and the herdsmen of Lot’s cattle ..." Luke 8:34 - "When the herdsmen saw what had happened, they fled, and told it in the city and in the country." The biblical herdsman was one who supervised and cared for groups of cattle, pigs, oxen, horses, camels, or asses. The patriarchs, of course, were great herdsmen. Although we might think of this as being a relatively lowly occupation, it was not inconsistent with state honors. For ...

3571. JEWELER

Exodus 28:11

Illustration

Stephen Stewart

Exodus 28:11 - "As a jeweler engraves signets, so shall you engrave the two stones with the names of the sons of Israel; you shall enclose them in settings of gold filigree." In Palestine, the use of jewelry seems to have been common as long as 10,000 years ago. These ancient peoples wore ornaments of shell, bone, and fish vertebrae. In all times, both men and women wore jewelry, although in later times, aside from the very wealthy and the royalty, the men became more subdued in their ornamentation. Men ...

3572. MASON

2 Sam. 5:11; 1 Chron. 22:14

Illustration

Stephen Stewart

2 Samuel 5:11 - "And Hiram king of Tyre sent messengers to David, and cedar trees, also carpenters and masons who built David a house." 1 Chronicles 22:14 - "You have an abundance of workmen: stonecutters, masons, carpenters, and all kinds of craftsmen without number, skilled in working." Many of the most marvelous antiquities of the East were due to the work of the mason, and certain villages were famous for their masons. The farmers were usually skillful in building low terrace walls of undressed stone ...

3573. MERCHANT

Matthew 13:45 ; Nehemiah 3:32

Illustration

Stephen Stewart

Matthew 13:45 - "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls." Nehemiah 3:32 - "And between the upper chamber of the corner and the Sheep Gate the goldsmiths and the merchants repair." The distribution and sale of goods is probably the oldest and most wide-spread phase of trading, and the market place was very important in the lives of the people. Here it was that the merchants plied their trade. Their places were usually near the gate (as we see in our second text), or in the ...

3574. PHYSICIAN

Luke 5:31; Colos. 4:14

Illustration

Stephen Stewart

Luke 5:31 - "And Jesus answered them, ‘Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick;’ " Colossians 4:14 - "Luke the beloved physician and Demas greet you." In ancient Egypt, from which the Hebrews acquired many of their ideas, medicine was mainly magical in nature and doctors were so highly regarded that they were sometimes deified. These doctors had some knowledge of surgical skill; for example, brain surgery is known to have been accomplished by them. Among the drugs which these ...

3575. SERGEANT

Acts 16:35

Illustration

Stephen Stewart

Acts 16:35 - "And when it was day, the magistrates sent the sergeants, saying, ‘Let those men go’ " (KJV). The sergeants were the Roman lichtors or officers who attended the chief magistrates when they appeared in public, and who inflicted the punishment that had been pronounced. They were literally "rod-carriers" because they carried a bundle of rods tied together around an ax.

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Showing 3551 to 3575 of 5000 results

3551. Well, What Did You Expect?

Acts 12:1-19a

Sermon

Louis H. Valbracht

3552. How Do You Like Yourself?

1 Peter 3:8-22

Sermon

Louis H. Valbracht

3553. Well, What's for Sure?

2 Timothy 1:1-2:13

Sermon

Louis H. Valbracht

3554. Perhaps Next Summer...

Acts 24:1-27

Sermon

Louis H. Valbracht

3555. Our Father Who Art on Earth

Proverbs 1:8-19

Sermon

Louis H. Valbracht

3556. Carrying the Message

John 20:19-23

Children's Sermon

Wesley T. Runk

3557. Is It Wrong for Us to Brag?

Luke 18:14

Children's Sermon

Wesley T. Runk

3558. He's Coming! He's Coming!

Matthew 21:5

Children's Sermon

Wesley T. Runk

3559. Behold Your God

Isaiah 40:1-31

Sermon

Michael J. Anton

3560. Free to Be

Acts 4:23-31

Sermon

Michael J. Anton

3561. Three-Dimensional Christianity

James 1:19-27

Sermon

Michael J. Anton

3562. Crossing the Great Divide

Matthew 27:11-26

Sermon

Michael J. Anton

3563. A Reason to Hope

Lamentations 3:1-66

Sermon

Michael J. Anton

3564. AMBASSADOR

Isaiah 18:2; Ezekiel 17:15

Illustration

Stephen Stewart

3565. BEGGAR

Psalm 37:25

Illustration

Stephen Stewart

3566. BRICKMAKER

Exodus 5:7, 16

Illustration

Stephen Stewart

3567. CARPENTER

Isaiah 44:13; Mark 6:3

Illustration

Stephen Stewart

3568. DANCER

Judges 21:23; Psalm 87:7

Illustration

Stephen Stewart

3569. FULLER

Mark 9:3

Illustration

Stephen Stewart

3570. HERDSMAN

Genesis 13:7; Luke 8:34

Illustration

Stephen Stewart

3571. JEWELER

Exodus 28:11

Illustration

Stephen Stewart

3572. MASON

2 Sam. 5:11; 1 Chron. 22:14

Illustration

Stephen Stewart

3573. MERCHANT

Matthew 13:45 ; Nehemiah 3:32

Illustration

Stephen Stewart

3574. PHYSICIAN

Luke 5:31; Colos. 4:14

Illustration

Stephen Stewart

3575. SERGEANT

Acts 16:35

Illustration

Stephen Stewart

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