Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 351 to 375 of 2331 results

351. And Then Came The Angel

Matthew 1:18-25

Sermon

William B. Kincaid, III

... or a close friend who had either been called to the Persian Gulf or was on stand-by, waiting to be called. People lived in the tension between supporting a nation's troops and holding on to their loved ones. Some questioned the wisdom and motives of Desert Shield and Desert Storm. Others just prayed. Teresa knew she wasn't going to get a red and white truck, but it was still fun to ask. It had become sort of a game between mother and daughter. "You're still getting me that truck, aren't you, Mom?" "Why ...

352. Prayer And Compassion Fatigue

Matthew 14:13-21

Sermon

Roger G. Talbott

... and his disciples were getting burned out dealing with all that human misery. So Jesus declared a holiday. "Let's go camping," he said. At least that is what I think he said. Matthew makes it sound like he said, "Let's go off alone to a deserted place." My guess is he got no arguments from his disciples. They took off their beepers, unplugged the phones and put up the "Closed for the Day" sign in the window. They got out the coolers, the tents, the sleeping bags and, of course, their fishing poles, put ...

353. Advent 2

Matthew 3:1-12, Isaiah 11:1-16, Romans 14:1--15:13

Sermon Aid

Russell F. Anderson

... , on his own turf. Jesus did the same thing after his baptism by John. Where is the wilderness today? Where is the primary arena where we have it out with Satan? I doubt whether many of us would choose the wilderness, even a desert place. No, we would probably not identify an uninhabited place as wilderness, spiritually speaking, but rather places teeming with people. Most of our cities have areas of primal chaos and lawlessness. Cities are not evil any more than rural areas are necessarily righteous. It ...

354. Corpus Christi

Jn 6:51-58 · 1 Cor 10:16-17 · Deut 8:1-20 · Ps 116

Sermon Aid

Russell F. Anderson

... . The emphasis falls on the word "daily." Jesus instructs us to pray just for our immediate needs, so that we realize that our dependence rests on God, not ourselves or our substance. God was teaching the Hebrews the very same truth through their ordeal in the desert. They needed to trust him for all their needs, to receive the Lord as daily as bread for their body and their soul. The peril of plenty. The latter part of this passage is a warning about the perils of plenitude. A life of abundance and ease ...

355. The Righteous

Sermon

John A. Terry

... today's lunch is all the food we will ever need. It is the divine discontent with an unrighteous world which leads us forever toward the promise of this blessing. "Happy are those who want God's approval as desperately as a dying man, stumbling toward a desert mirage, wants a drink, or as a starving man longs for a crust of bread. They shall receive that which they seek." (The Pulpit 12/54) "Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled." (KJV) "O the bliss of the ...

356. Come Holy Ghost, Our Hearts Inspire

Acts 10:23b-48

Sermon

E. Carver McGriff

... Holy Spirit provides us with resources beyond our own. Rabbi Kushner reminded us of an example used by the prophet Jeremiah. He pointed out that a bush growing in the desert has deep roots which gather and maintain moisture so that during dry spells the bush can survive on those deep resources. However, there are times of prolonged drought and desert heat when the bush has used all that moisture. So, it dies. But imagine a similar bush growing near a stream. Under the same conditions, those deep roots are ...

357. The Final Questions

John 6:60-71

Sermon

George W. Hoyer

... Of course, most of them were martyred. If the question is phrased, "Will you also go away?" we would have to answer, "Yes and no." Out of sad experience, we realize we have gone away. And out of confident trust we say, "Though all others become deserters.I will never desert you" (Matthew 26:43). Hear the cock crow? That is exactly what Peter said. At best we can be only cautiously confident about ourselves. But we can be confident about God, and we can say in the words of Philippians 1:6: "I am confident of ...

358. A Taste Of Life

Mark 14:12-26

Sermon

William G. Carter

... the acid test of true discipleship. Jesus ate a Passover meal with the twelve disciples, announcing that someone within that inner circle would betray him. After singing a hymn, the whole group went to the Mount of Olives, where Jesus warned that all of them would desert him. As he prayed in Gethsemane, his closest companions fell asleep. Then, while Jesus was still chastising the sleepy disciples, Judas appeared with a gang of thugs, and betrayed the Lord with a kiss. With that, says Mark, "all of them ...

359. Can Christians Dance?

Sermon

William G. Carter

... creation is at hand. The good news prompts another, more joyful response.4 According to the writer of Mark, this is the essence and invitation of the Gospel. God has begun a new age by sending Jesus Christ into our world. The dance continues, when deserts rejoice and dead flowers blossom. The music swells, as steel hearts are broken open and hardened ears begin to listen.5 The rhythm invites us to get in step with God's activity in our world, regardless of our preconceived notions and legislated limitations ...

360. The Righteous

Psalm 107:1-43

Sermon

John A. Terry

361. God's Math:Lose Life = Save It

Mark 8:31--9:1

Sermon

Robert Salzgeber

... a deeper spiritual perspective. That life is in giving, not getting. Even after his confession, "You are the Messiah," Peter continued to live in the human world of illusion. He could not yet see beyond his shadow. There is a fable about a man who lived in the desert. He would wake up every morning and follow his shadow. So as the sun moved across the sky from east to west the man essentially walked in a large oval. At sundown he ended up where he had started. This continued for years. The man walked in ...

362. Eating Living Bread

John 6:25-59

Sermon Aid

William E. Keeney

... moves the memory from the worship in the temple and makes it part of daily life. Christians are meant to partake of the life of Jesus as regularly as they eat food for the physical body. The manna was given daily to the Israelites in the desert. Jesus offers himself daily to his followers. Homily Hints 1. Partaking of Christ. (v. 53) A. Believing. The initial step one must take is to accept the life and teachings of Jesus as having authority and salvific consequences. B. Trusting. One relies on God's help ...

363. Epiphany 8

Hosea 2:2-23, Mark 2:18-22, 2 Corinthians 3:1-6

Sermon Aid

Russell F. Anderson

... be reborn when we are willing continually to renew our pledge of love to one another and to the Lord. How to green your valleys. The renewal of God's covenant with his people is tied in to the renewal of the land as well. The wilderness or desert becomes the place where God will give his people a fertile vineyard. The valley of Achor, which means "valley of contention," becomes the door of hope (v. 15). God will transform the arid place of conflict into a green valley of hope and life. God can transform our ...

364. The Pageant

Luke 2:8-20, Luke 2:1-7

Drama

Jerry Eckert

... courage, someone who can stand up to the powers that be, who is willing to speak when no one in power wants to listen. We need a prophet! (Ron seeks out a prophet and the costume is put on during the following reading.) "Make straight in the desert a highway for our God." "There shall a star come out of David." "He shall rule his people Israel." "He shall be called wonderful counselor, the mighty God, the prince of Peace." Such wonderful things did the prophets say. As our prophet comes forward, let us sing ...

365. A Wilderness Prophet · John The Baptist

Jn 1:6-8 · Mt 3:1-12

Sermon

Gordon Pratt Baker

... . For both his father, Zechariah, and his mother, Elizabeth, were priests of the order of Aaron, a lineage of no lesser distinction. At the same time, however, for reasons of his own, John had not followed in their footsteps. Instead, he had taken to the desert to prepare himself for a lifetime of witnessing and while there he had met other men who, like himself, were searching its solitude for the key to more significant lives. Strong personality that John was it did not take him long to band them together ...

366. Creative Preaching

Sermon

Michael Rogness

... know some good Christmas stories. Tell one until I get back." The speaker came forward and began telling Van Dyke's story, written a century ago. One of the wise men, Artaban, stopped to aid a dying man in the desert and thus missed the rendezvous with the others. To equip himself for the trip across the desert alone, he spent a sapphire, one of the gifts he had brought for the new-born king. The speaker paused for a moment and said, "That's all of the story I can remember," and stepped down. Another person ...

367. The Beauty Of Holiness

Psalm 96:1-13, Psalm 29:1-11

Illustration

Clement E. Lewis

... of discovery into a temple, and we worship in the beauty of holiness because we have found a relationship that truly enriches life. Worship may take place in prison, a hospital or a nursing home; in a cemetery, a forest, or in a barren desert. It was in a desert setting that Jesus dealt with his temptations and life determinations, as he recalled Deuteronomy 6:13, and declared, "You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve." To the woman at the well in Samaria, Jesus said, "Believe me ...

368. Lent 1

Mark 1:9-15

Bulletin Aid

Dennis Koch

... temptation is the literary "hinge" between it and the divine pronouncement of Sonship at Jesus' baptism that precedes it; for the idea that one blessed with heavenly approval might be "driven" at once by God's Spirit into a wilderness (or desert) inhabited by a tempting Satan and wild beasts (and some helpful angels, to be sure) might well shatter any notion that the Christian calling is an easy path. Liturgical Color Purple Suggested Hymns Who Trusts In God, A Strong Abode Rise, O Children Of Salvation ...

369. A Fireside Chat

Exodus 3:1-22

Sermon

Barbara Brokhoff

... , sitting on a thorn bush, singing like a lark, that is a phemonemon! But what Moses sees is no joke. It is actually a miracle. God grabs Moses' attention with a burning bush. Moses must have thought:"Odd, how did that bush catch fire out here in the desert?" But even more strange, as he continues to gaze at the bush he noted it was not burned up! Things that burn are ordinarily consumed by the flames, or they melt down, or are blackened, or turn to ashes. Why is this bush different? So, curious, he thought ...

370. Sight And Insight

John 9:1-12, John 9:13-34, John 9:35-41

Sermon Aid

John R. Brokhoff

... . By this space telescope humankind will see things not ever seen before. The telescope cost the government 1 1/2billion dollars. What do you see? Both the hummingbird and the vulture fly over our deserts. The vultures see only rotten meat and thrive on it. But the hummingbirds look for the colorful blossoms of desert plants. The vultures live on the past, the dead. The hummingbirds live on what is now and fill themselves with freshness of new life. Each bird finds what it is looking for. Seeing the ...

371. Preaching The Miracles

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

... believes in you." A Second Chance. A young man, Rosewell McIntyre, was a soldier in the Civil War. Like other men, green as he could be, he became frightened in the midst of a battle and ran away. He was caught and the Army wanted to shoot him as a deserter. But his mother appealed to President Lincoln. He thought long and hard and then sent this message to the generals, "I understand your problem, but I've noticed it never did a hog much good to shoot him!" Then he wrote on a piece of paper, "This is to ...

372. Faith To The Finish

2 Timothy 3:10--4:8, Isaiah 14:24-27

Sermon

Erskine White

... , my fellow workers" (1:24). Then, in Colossians 4:14, Paul again says that "Luke the beloved physician and Demas greet you." But later on, in 2 Timothy, Paul says, "Demas, [who is] in love with this present world, has deserted me ..." (4:10) From "fellow worker" to "Demas has deserted me." Demas had "starting power" but no "staying power." Measured on the scales of eternity, the result was Demas' loss. You know, we worry a great deal about getting a good start, when we ought to worry about how we finish ...

373. The Kindergarten Kingdom

Mark 10:13-16

Sermon

Erskine White

... mother asked him what he had learned in class. "We learned about Moses and the Pharaoh," the boy said. "Oh, that's nice," his mother said, "will you tell me about it?" "OK," the boy said. "You see, Pharaoh's army was chasing Moses and the Israelites all over the desert. It looked real bad. In fact, the Israelites ran right up to the edge of this big sea and it looked like they were trapped for sure." "Pharaoh's army was coming at them and Moses knew he had to do something. So, he got on his walkie-talkie ...

374. Blind Beggars All

Mark 10:46-52

Sermon

Erskine White

... of the old Negro spiritual), Joshus's men blew their trumpets "and the walls came tumbling down." Then the Israelites looted the city and burned it to the ground (Joshua 6) - their first conquest in the Promised Land. The area surrounding Jericho is a dry and forbidding desert, looking more like a lunar landscape than a place for people to live and work. But the town itself is lush and rich like an oasis, because it has been fed through the centuries by the cool, clear waters of Elisha's Spring (cf. 2 Kings ...

375. Saved

2 Corinthians 6:2b

Children's Sermon

... read the Bible, the more I hear that number 40. Do you remember the story of Noah and all the rain? (Let them respond.) I remember it rained 40 days and 40 nights. I remember another story about Jesus going into the desert to be by himself and to think and pray. Guess how long he was in the desert? (Let them guess.) It was 40 days. Now we begin the season before Easter and it's 40 days again! Our verse tonight from a letter from Paul to the people in the city of Corinth says that "today is the day ...

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