Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 3551 to 3575 of 4935 results

3551. A Joyful New Beginning

John 20:1-9

Sermon

Let us pray: Gracious and everliving Father, on this day which is greater than all the days, we come seeking to understand the eternal message of the gospel and how it may transform our lives. May we in these moments not only come to know that Jesus lives, but may we come to know him as brother and friend. In Christ's holy name we pray, Amen. The philosopher Sidney Hook writes in an article titled "In Defense of Voluntary Euthanasia" about how at one point in his life he was near death. The treatment for ...

3552. Shaped by the Future

Matthew 24:36-51

Sermon

Joe Pennel

For our children, Christmas is in the distant future; for adults, Christmas is just over the fence. For youngsters Christmas is a long journey; for grown-ups, it is just around the corner. When I was a child, I thought December was the longest month of the entire year. I would get a commercial calendar and "X" off the days, hoping that such "X's" would somehow hasten the coming of Christmas. The closer I got to Christmas, the farther away it seemed. Christmas Eve felt like the longest day of the entire ...

3553. Is God Still God?

Isaiah 44:6-23

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts: "I am the first and the last; besides me there is no god. Who is like me? Let him proclaim it, let him declare and set it forth before me. Who has announced from of old the things to come? Let them tell us what is yet to be. Fear not, nor be afraid; have I not told you from of old and declared it? And you are my witnesses! Is there a God besides me? There is no Rock; I know not any." In the good times of life, it is easy to believe ...

3554. Hiltgunt Margaret Zassenhaus

Deuteronomy 31:1-8

Sermon

Carroll Gunkel

One of the members of our congregation recently underwent eye surgery. When I visited her, she commented favorably on the gentleness, the compassion, and the concern of the surgeon who had performed the operation. She commented further on the number of people he helped and yet, at the same time, was never too busy to carefully explain what he would do in the course of surgery. Furthermore, the parishioner continued, every other month the surgeon went to Puerto Rico to work for one week in a free clinic. ...

3555. Eternal Echo Of Easter - Part 2

Matthew 28:1-10

Drama

Esther R. Russ

PROVIDING MUSICAL BACKGROUND This program is most effective if all the narrations, dialogues, readings, and drama are given with background music. We used a combination of two types of musical background: (1) various record selections, which we recorded on a high-quality tape, and (2) live organ music. Taped Background In this area of the production, creativity can be unlimited. Simple music from records may be taped, or more complicated music that requires timing of appropriate words. For example, the ...

3556. Decisive Battles With Temptation

Matthew 4:1-11

Sermon

Robert Allen

It happens so often that it seems almost routine in our modern world. We read or listen to certain stories with interest and then make little jokes about how public figures shoot themselves in the foot when they yield to temptation and it becomes public knowledge. In recent years, we have become privy to the temptations which have seduced several public figures. Not long ago, Gary Hart was the leading candidate in the Democratic Party for the nomination for President of the United States. But, when he took ...

3557. Simon Peter: Strong Stone or Crumbling Clay?

Luke 22:54-62

Sermon

Carl E. Zahrte

Were you there? Were you singing that song again? Were you wondering, when you heard my name, how I could do what I did on that dreadful night when I denied vehemently that I even knew Jesus? Oh yes, I was there, all right, and it still pains me to think about it. My name is Simon, the son of John. Most of you may know me better by another name - Peter. That’s what Jesus himself called me when my brother Andrew brought me to Jesus for the first time. Do you know that the name Peter means "stone," or "piece ...

3558. Resurrection: From Slave to Child

Galatians 3:26--4:7

Sermon

Leonard H. Budd

So often a road is built upon the back of an earlier pathway - one upon the other, built up and strengthened by what went before. The busy Detroit Avenue before our church (Lakewood, Ohio) was once a Pony Express route, carrying mail toward Detroit City in Michigan. That route was earlier an Indian trail through forest lands. So it was with the road that came from Bethany, climbed across to the Mount of Olives, snaked down into the Kidron Valley, moved through the region of the Garden of Gethsemane and ...

3559. Movin’ Around Room

Isaiah 43:14-28

Sermon

Thomas D. Peterson

We know that if an arm is tied down to the body for a long period of time, when the binding is removed, the arm is unusable. The muscles have begun to waste away until the arm is in a state of atrophy. A recent event in our community attracted wide news coverage. Someone had tied a young dog to a tree by a ten-inch leash. The act outraged people. With ten inches for movin’ around, the dog was doomed to death in a short period. To stay alive, the body with all its parts needs movin’ around room. Yet, there ...

3560. Advent 1: Let Us Go Over To Bethlehem And Find The Faith of Christmas

Luke 2:15-20

Sermon

James W. Moore

This sermon is based on Luke 2:15-20: You may not remember Tom Southerland but you know his story. Several years ago Shiite Muslims in the Middle East held Tom Sutherland captive for four years… much of his time was spent solitary confinement. In his speech after his captivity he asked an unforgettable question. He asked, “Do you know what it’s like to be in prison? To be held hostage? To be a captive? It’s very lonely and you worry that people will forget you. I felt abandoned. I didn’t think anybody even ...

3561. The Courage to Be Me

Sermon

Gregory J. Johanson

"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." There is a certain courage to be who we are built into the dynamics of Christian faith and grace. DONALD C. HOUTS (see biographical note preceding Smart, Wise, and Foolish) relates this courage to three common debilitating fears in his sermon The Courage to Be Me: The fears of doubt, self-disclosure, and failure. There is a sense in which vitality in human life is a product of the tension between fear and faith. If all were certain, then our concept ...

3562. Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand

John 6:1-15

Sermon

Brett Blair

Lance Armstrong. Going for his eighth Tour de France. His heart is nearly one-third larger than that of the average man. At resting, it beats an average of 32 times per minute, during peak performance, 200. He burns up about 6,500 calories every day for three weeks while in the race. One of the stages of the race is 120 miles long-that day he will burn 10,000 calories. You and I burn 3,500 and that’s on a good day. His lungs can take in twice the oxygen. His body fat level is 4 percent. Yours is 16. He has ...

3563. Same Question, Same Answer

Luke 3:1-20

Sermon

William G. Carter

“Preacher, why don’t you tell me what you want me to do?” She stood with a frown on her face, while the rest of the churchgoers shuffled out the door. The preacher was taken aback. The sermon had seemed to go well. For once, he hadn’t tripped over his tongue or turned down an obscure alley. Yet the woman wouldn’t let him off the hook. “I’ve wanted to ask that question for some time,” she said. “As you know, I come to church just about every week. I have heard a lot of interesting sermons, and learned some ...

3564. Nicodemus

John 3:1-21

Sermon

David E. Leininger

They say, "There is no fool like an old fool." And I am afraid that is exactly what I have been. I have been so busy protecting our religion that I have been missing our God. I should explain. My name is Nicodemus. I am a member of the Sanhedrin, one of the seventy men charged with the oversight and defense of our historic and honorable faith, the faith of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the faith of our fathers for hundreds and hundreds of years. Our task - one handed down from generation to generation since ...

3565. The Ten Commandments #2: No Idols!

Exodus 20:1-21

Sermon

David E. Leininger

Back to Basics. Commandment # 2 - No Idols. Listen to what Isaiah has to say on the subject: All who make idols are nothing, and the things they delight in do not profit; their witnesses neither see nor know. And so they will be put to shame. Who would fashion a god or cast an image that can do no good? Look, all its devotees shall be put to shame; the artisans too are merely human. Let them all assemble, let them stand up; they shall be terrified, they shall all be put to shame. The ironsmith fashions it ...

3566. The Nightmare before Christmas

Matthew 1:18-25

Sermon

David E. Leininger

What a week! The confluences of history have flowed together as never before. On the one hand, bombshells in Baghdad; on the other, bombast in Washington. For someone who is as much of a history buff as I am, these would seem to be exciting times, but instead they are just sickening. As one congressman noted in the impeachment debate on Friday, this is "The Nightmare before Christmas." Under normal circumstances, you would have found me glued to the tube on Friday and Saturday. After all, this was history ...

3567. Be Joyful

1 Thessalonians 5:12-28

Sermon

King Duncan

Bill Adler wrote a book once that consisted of children's letters to Santa Claus. Here are some of the letters: "Dear Santa: Last year you didn't leave me anything good. The year before last year, you didn't leave me anything good. This year is your last chance. Alfred Dear Santa: My baby brother would like a cowboy suit. Do you have one with diapers? --Andy Dear Santa: In my house there are three boys. Richard is two. Jeffrey is four. Norman is seven. Richard is good sometimes. Jeffrey is good sometimes. ...

3568. All Dressed Up

Ephesians 6:10-20

Sermon

King Duncan

When Edgar Allen Poe was a young man, he was a cadet at West Point. But he didn't really like it there. He didn't like all the rules, and all the training he had to go through, so one day, when all the cadets were supposed to turn out in formation on the parade grounds, and march before the generals, Edgar Allan Poe checked his rule book to find out what the dress code was for the occasion. It said that he was supposed to wear white gloves and a white belt. So that's what he put on: white gloves and a ...

3569. God And The Irs

Matthew 22:15-22

Sermon

King Duncan

This morning I want to talk about God and the IRS. I know that it is a long time until April 15 and I don't want to spread a lot of gloom this morning. Someone has noted,however, that besides being income tax day, April 15 is also the day the Titanic sunk and the day that Lincon was shot. Someone else has said, "You may not agree with every department of the government, but you really have to hand it to the IRS." Another cynic has said, "Death and taxes may always be with us, but at least death doesn't get ...

3570. When The Recession Reaches Your House

1 Kings 17:7-24

Sermon

King Duncan

Someone has defined the difference between prosperity, recession, and depression like this: During prosperity you are annoyed because the dog and cat won't eat the expensive canned food you buy for them. In a recession you are delighted that the dog and cat won't eat the expensive canned food. You hope they remain finicky until things get better. In a depression you begin to look thoughtfully at the dog and cat. The recession is officially over according to experts in Washington. A lot of Americans are ...

3571. The Majesty And The Misery

Jeremiah 1:1-19

Sermon

King Duncan

Have you ever noticed that there is a very fine line between pain and laughter? Sometimes we laugh at a joke because we can breathe a sigh of relief that it happened to someone else and not to us. I read recently about a born loser. I doubt that the story is true. Strange things do happen in life, however. A young man knocked on the door of an expensive home seeking odd jobs to earn money. The owner suggested he should paint the porch using the green paint in the garage. A few hours later, the young man, ...

3572. Winning When It Really Counts

Philippians 3:12-4:1

Sermon

King Duncan

Some people will do anything to win. The early days of baseball provide many notable examples. Before stadiums had permanent seats in the outfield, for example, teams were permitted to erect temporary bleachers or simply put up a rope if a large crowd was expected, and any ball hit into that area was ruled a ground-rule double. When Ty Cobb was managing the Tigers and a power-hitting team was visiting, he would have the grounds crew set up temporary bleachers, turning balls that might otherwise have been ...

3573. I Should Have Written That "Thank You Note"

Luke 17:11-19

Sermon

King Duncan

There you are with nine other lepers. What a terrible disease. First the loss of feeling, then the loss of hair, feet, hands, nose, eyes, etc. Your own family treats you like some grotesque monster. You subsist on alms given by strangers. From time to time you cry out, “Unclean, unclean,” to warn away the unsuspecting. What a dread, dread disease this leprosy. Misery loves company, though. Thank God for these fellow lepers. Deep in your heart you long for the company of whole persons, persons who have not ...

3574. Whatever Became of Sin?

Romans 6:23

Sermon

Lowell D. Streiker

On a sunny day in September, 1972, a stern-face, plainly dressed man could be seen standing still on a street corner in the busy Chicago Loop. As pedestrians hurried by on their way to lunch or business, he would solemnly lift his right arm, and pointing to the person nearest him, intone loudly the single word "GUILTY!" Then, without any change of expression, he would resume his stiff stance for a few moments before repeating the gesture. Then, again, the inexorable raising of the arm, the pointing, and ...

3575. Walking Into The Heart Of God

1 John 2:28--3:10

Sermon

King Duncan

A Sunday School teacher once asked her students to talk about how they felt about their church. The students responded in the usual ways: some said something silly to get the rest of the class to laugh, while others tried to be more serious. One of the girls was new to the class, and she felt uncomfortable about entering into class discussions, so she never raised her hand, or volunteered an answer. That Sunday, however, she did have an answer for her Sunday School teacher, and it was unforgettable. She ...

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