Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 351 to 375 of 1182 results

1 Samuel 28:1-25

Sermon

R. Blaine Detrick

... , let alone when he whispers in a still, small voice. The Ignominy of "Ichabod" The word "Ichabod" conjures up, in our mind’s eye, strange and mysterious thoughts of the uncanny and the unearthly. Such ideas are possibly inspired by Washington Irving’s classic, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, with its depiction of the ungainly Ichabod Crane and a scary headless horseman. But Ichabod is a scriptural name, whose source dates back at least to the time of Samuel. The Philistines had come out in battle against ...

352. Goodness Is Not Good Enough

Mark 10:17-31

Sermon

James W. Robinson

... to lose our capacity for caring so that our eyes no longer shed tears and our heart no longer bleeds. At that point we are not fit for the kingdom. Ebenezer Scrooge, that despicable, but somehow lovable, character in Charles Dickens’ classic, A Christmas Carol, found himself in that predicament.* Dickens describes his villain as "a tight-fisted hand at the grindstone ... a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous old sinner! Hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel had ever struck ...

353. In Control

Mark 13:1-31

Sermon

James W. Robinson

... the horizon. Christ is about to return. Perhaps. Perhaps not. Christians disagree on the imminence and the particulars of the Second Coming. I. Before we go further, it may be helpful to summarize the major viewpoints on the subject.1 A. The a-millennia1 view. The classic view of the medievul church and the reformers. There is no literal millennium or reign of peace on the earth. The Second Coming will mark the time of judgment and the end of the order of existence that we know. The new heavens and the new ...

354. Will Names Never Hurt Us?

Proverbs 10:1-32

Sermon

Edward Chinn

... able to "good-mouth" ourselves in this way because God has reckoned us to be good and acceptable in company with Jesus Christ: "... to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He has made us accepted in the Beloved" (Ephesians 1:6, NKJV). The classic example of one who used the power of a good name is Christ. In the records we have about Christ, we see him using good names to build up the person’s sense of worth. For example, among his twelve apostles was a weak, vacillating, undependable man named ...

355. Transfiguration

Mark 9:2-13, 2 Corinthians 4:1-18, 2 Kings 2:1-18

Bulletin Aid

Paul A. Laughlin

... pray. Amen Gospel: Mark 9:2-9 Theme: Fumbling in the face of the fantastic Exegetical Note Mark’s description of the transfiguration of Jesus, though probably to the evangelist an eschatological sign of the Messiahship of Jesus, points to a classic hierophany, i.e., a breakthrough of the mysterious sacred into the everyday profane, and a typically human, irrelevant reaction: "This is wonderful! Let’s build something!" Call to Worship Leader: Rejoice, people! For our God breaks into our earthly reality ...

356. Proper 11

2 Samuel 11:1-27, Ephesians 2:11-22, Mark 6:30-44

Bulletin Aid

Paul A. Laughlin

First Lesson: 2 Samuel 11:1-15 Theme: The snowballing of sin Exegetical Note The well-known story of David’s seduction of Bathsheba and his subsequent complicity in the death of her husband, Uriah, is a classic study of how one sin can lead to another, even worse one. The passage is thus an intimate view into the workings of human nature, which often goes to great and imaginative lengths to make bad situations even worse, and the story’s effect is only heightened by David’s ...

357. Proper 27

1 Kings 17:7-24, Mark 12:35-40, Mark 12:41-44, Hebrews 9:11-28

Bulletin Aid

Paul A. Laughlin

First Lesson: 1 Kings 17:8-16 Theme: The miraculous power of God’s Word Exegetical Note This story of Elijah’s first miracle in a foreign land is an example of a classic biblical genre; the generation of much food from little by God’s power. Elijah had actually caused the drought and famine alluded to here (17:1), and has come to Zarephath (Phoenicia) under orders from God. The woman and her child are on the verge of starvation, yet upon the ...

358. Proper 29

Jeremiah 23:1-8, Revelation 1:4-8, John 18:28-40

Bulletin Aid

Paul A. Laughlin

... ruler of all rulers, before whom every knee will one day bow. In his name we pray. Amen Gospel: John 18:33-37 Theme: A different kind of King Exegetical Note The conversation about kingship between Pilate and Jesus reported by John is a classic case of two people "talking past one another." John’s Pilate clearly is looking for an excuse to execute Jesus, so Jesus’ admission that he is any kind of king is sufficient for his purposes. For our purposes, however, what is important is Jesus’ insistence ...

359. What Is God Made Of?

Acts 17:16-34

Children's Sermon

Wesley T. Runk

Object: A statue in marble or bronze, a painting of some classical origin depicting God or a likeness of Him, and then maybe a rock, leaf or wood carving. A four leaf clover or a lucky penny Good morning (evening) to you boys and girls and how are you on this beautiful day? This is our third time together and so that ...

360. OUR LORD DELIVERED UP

Sermon

E. Jerry Walker

... hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven." There was an audible gasp, as if the room itself was expressing its shock. Caiaphas lurched to his feet. With a single motion, he tore his linen mantle, rending it from top to hem. It was the classic response to a pronouncement of blasphemy. Then, a slight smile of satisfaction playing at his stern mouth, he turned to the council. "Why do we still need witnesses?" he cried. "You have heard his blasphemy. What is your decision?" As one man - no, with the ...

361. FOLLOW TO THE JUDGMENT HALL

John 8:48-59

Sermon Aid

John W. Rilling

... confession "Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior." The radical critics will admit only the first word - Jesus, the rest they strike out as false claim by the church. Jesus accepts this criticism patiently and invites his critics to come and see. A famous classic scholar, religiously agnostic, at home in the cultivated Greek of Homer and Plato and Aschylus announced that he was going to make a translation of the New Testament. A fellowscholar wondered what E. V. Rieu would make out of the New Testament. The ...

362. Commanded By Example

John 13:31-38

Sermon

O. Garfield Beckstrand, II

... , she was a beautiful Christian all through it to the very end." How quick we are to judge and how slow we are to love and keep loving in spite of outward appearances. How can we have this kind of love? Years ago Henry Drummond wrote a classic sermon about love titled "The Greatest Thing In The World." He concluded by suggesting that if you put a piece of iron in the presence of an electrified body, that piece of iron becomes electrified. It is changed into a temporary magnet in the presence of a permanent ...

363. A New Kind of Teaching

Mark 1:21-28

Sermon

Maurice A. Fetty

... . Early man taught his children how to survive -- how to hunt, how to plant and harvest, how to provide shelter and protection, how to fight, how to raise his family in the tribal ways. Learning and teaching took a great stride forward in classical Greece 450 years before Christ with the arrival of Socrates and his brilliant student, Plato. The radiant light of learning was passed on from Plato to Aristotle, and the world ever since has been their beneficiary. Teaching and learning declined in the so ...

364. A Dreadful Declaration

Mark 8:31--9:1

Sermon

George Bass

... innocent Son of God is before us and is always terrible to contemplate. When he was a child, a friend and colleague of mine was taken by his parents to see Cecil B. DeMille’s epic, "The King of Kings." He must have read Richard Jeffries English classic, Bevis, the Story of a Boy, because his reaction was similar to the boy’s reaction to Jesus’ death: "The crucifixion hurt his feelings very much; the cruel nails; the unfeeling spear; he looked at the picture a long time and then turned the page saying ...

365. The Passing of the Peace

John 20:24-31

Sermon

George Bass

... forgot, and they must have lived in the tension of the cross and the empty tomb the rest of their lives. That’s where the business of a "little death" each day, through repentance and rejection of sin, comes into focus for us. In his classic lectures on Preaching the Gospel of the Resurrection, D. T. Niles reminds us that "our powerlessness in preaching the gospel stems from our failure to realize that the Christian life is lived in Lent." He might simply have said that "our powerlessness stems from our ...

366. Good News, Release, and Comfort

Isaiah 61:1-11

Sermon

Richard L. Eslinger

... away from Zion, now seemed to throb even more when they returned home. You know how it is for a heart patient? Everything seems to be going along all right, and then there is that blow. The pain down the arm, the elephant on the chest ... all the classic symptoms. And instantly, you are in exile. Maybe you are in the best medical center around, but it’s still exile. At first there is nothing but the pain and fear at the center of a whirlwind of medical personnel and technology. The monitor beeping and the ...

367. The Jamie Farr Connection

Joshua 24:1-27

Sermon

... Many communities take pride in a local boy or girl who rises to fame and fortune. Among Ohio cities, Columbus has Jack Nicklaus, Cleveland has Bob Hope, New Concord has John Glenn. Toledo’s hometown hero is Jamie Farr, one of the stars of the classic TV show M*A*S*H. As Corporal Klinger, the company clerk, Farr is the one with the outlandish dress, the indomitable spirit, and the undying devotion to his hometown. When preached in Toledo, this sermon built upon that well-known devotion to explore an ...

368. Butterflies and Jesus

Mark 9:2-13

Sermon

Daniel G. Mueller

... wonder how well we know what is good for us. From some of the things we do to ourselves one can get the distinct impression that we do not know what is good. Just recently I heard from a psychologist that the formula for success in our society is the classical formula for a nervous breakdown as described by psychiatry. We complain about our lives but we do nothing about them. We keep on spending and rushing and moving and doing. We keep on looking for what is good for us but we never seem to find it or to ...

369. And It Came To Pass

Mark 13:1-31

Sermon

Warren Thomas Smith

... debased, licentious. Those false Roman deities, worshiped with obscene rites, should have been discarded centuries ago. It was time for Rome to go, to make room for a fresh new city - the City of God. This literary masterpiece, City of God, stands as a classic in western culture. It is a philosophy of history unequalled in beauty and profound insight. Rome is the city of earth which lasts for but a season. City of God will endure forever - a majestic theme which established the Middle Ages and became chart ...

370. A King - A Kingdom

John 18:28-40

Sermon

Warren Thomas Smith

... Chinese, and an absolute necessity on the itineraries of people from abroad. Modern jets fly over it daily and Astronauts gaze down on it as it slowly crumbles into dust. It is a pity Shih Huang Ti could not have embodied the philosophy taken from The Chinese Classics in Shu Ching, The Book of History: The people should be cherished, And not looked down upon. The people are the root of a country; The root firm, the country is tranquil ... When the palace is wild of lust, And the country is wild for hunting ...

371. True Freedom

John 8:31-41

Sermon

T. A. Kantonen

... great civilizations that have collapsed. He points out that only three of them were conquered by enemies from without. The other sixteen crumbled because of weaknesses within, idleness, drunkenness, immorality. The same kind of conclusion was reached by Edward Gibbon in his classic The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. He stated the reasons for the downfall of mighty Rome: the rapid increase of divorce, belittling the sanctity of the home, higher and higher taxes while the public money was wasted, a mad ...

372. Dying to Become

2 Corinthians 5:17

Sermon

Gregory J. Johanson

... Watergate scandal and the Nixon resignation in disgrace is attributed to the philosophy of killing off one’s opponents in order to survive. The national policy that resulted in Vietnam is evidence of this level of consciousness that says "kill and survive." The classic tragic statement that came out of that conflict was the report of the officer: "We had to destroy the village in order to protect it." The dilemma posed by this way of looking at things is dramatically presented by Andre Gide’s account ...

373. The Shadow Ascending

John 21:15-25

Sermon

Gregory J. Johanson

... someone who seems ill and in need. All of this is very difficult for everyone concerned. It does not happen often. The merry-go-round continues to spin. Conclusion: What Can We All Learn? I would like to end by briefly summarizing the alcoholic predicament in classical Christian terms and relating it to our common or universal predicament. Number 1: The alcoholic, like all of us, is part of God’s creation and therefore good. In this sense, we’re okay - he is okay. We all have in us what it takes. Number ...

374. A Little Child Shall Lead Them

Isaiah 11:1-16

Sermon

Gregory J. Johanson

... designation in particular reflects the intense interest Kelsey has sparked by reintroducing and reintegrating the spiritual-meditative-mystical tradition of the church into modern life in general and professional pastoral practice in particular. Isaiah 11 contains the classic passage of the wolf dwelling with the lamb through the leadership of the little child. Kelsey uses the often-neglected spiritual level of interpretation of the text and addresses himself to the issue of personal healing and wholeness ...

375. When You Reach Wit’s End

Psalm 107:1-43

Sermon

Gregory J. Johanson

Ray Balcomb's Ph.D. is in New Testament studies. He is the author of many books and until his recent appointment as a District Superintendent, his weekly sermons were distributed nationally where they were well-known for their classical three point construction and supportive illustrations. His sermon included here was preached to the congregation of the First United Methodist Church in Portland, Oregon, where he had been senior pastor from 1963 to 1982. Balcomb concludes the volume, dealing with the ...

Showing results