Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 351 to 375 of 793 results

351. Advent 1: Won´t You Let Him Into Your Heart?

Luke 2:1-7

Sermon

James W. Moore

Anybody here old enough to remember the decade of the 60s? It was the decade of protests and demonstrations. Let me tell you about one very unusual demonstration that took place in the mid-sixties. It happened in December of 1965. It was Christmas Eve in 1965 in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. The innkeeper at the local Holiday Inn had had a busy day. It was late now… and he was at the main desk alone. Although the inn was filled up with Christmas travelers, he had graciously sent most of the workers home to be ...

352. Blessed Are The Believers

John 20:24-31

Sermon

King Duncan

Jerry Kramer was a member of a team that once dominated the National Football league-the awesome Green Bay Packers under Coach Vince Lombardi. Kramer is also an articulate man who has authored two best-selling books about his experiences. In his most recent book he reflects on his own sense of mortality. His words would be helpful for many of us. He writes, "I think a lot about death these days, which is funny, too, because I've never been healthier. I've had only one serious illness in the past ten years ...

353. On "supersizing" Our Vision

Mark 12:41-44

Sermon

Siegfried S. Johnson

"SUPERSIZE IT!" Fast food operations hear that word thousands of times a day, giving the word "SUPERSIZE" a new meaning in the ever-expanding English lexicon. Why buy a regular combo meal when, for a few cents more, you can have it SUPERSIZED? More french fries to clog your veins. So much Coke that the colossal cup won't jam into the car's console holder. Perhaps nowhere is the American SUPERSIZED appetite for soda pop better evidenced than at 7-11. Thirsty on your way to work? Stop in and buy a 64-ounce ...

354. To Hell and Back

Luke 15:1-7

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

Visitors to Michigan never fail to be amused when they discover that our state contains both a Hell and a Paradise, Michigan. Paradise is in the Upper Peninsula, and Hell is not too far from Ann Arbor. I have no idea what that means. The first week I arrived in Ann Arbor, I recall reading a startling headline in the Ann Arbor News. I kid you not, this is what it said: “Dam water recedes; Hell out of danger.” In this sermon I would suggest that, Biblically speaking, Hell is never out of danger as long as ...

355. What on Earth Is the Trinity?

John 14:15-31

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

English mystery writer Dorothy Sayers was also a lay theologian in the Church of England. In one of her books she discussed the difficulty a missionary to the Orient had in trying to explain the Trinity. As you know, one of the symbols for the Holy Spirit is a descending dove. We just sang the hymn: “Come Holy Spirit, heavenly Dove.” The Oriental gentleman, lost in the maze of theology, said: “Honorable Father I understand. Honorable Son I understand. Honorable bird I do not understand at all!” He is not ...

356. On Keeping Quiet about Easter

Mark 16:1-20

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

Is there anything more frustrating than to be reading an interesting article in the newspaper, only to find that the article is “continued on page 7, section C”.... and then turn to page 7, Section C., only to find that someone has either torn off that page or cut an article from the other side and thereby wiped out the conclusion of the story? That’s sort of the way it is with the Gospel of St. Mark. I. SCHOLARS HAVE KNOWN FOR A LONG TIME THAT MARK’S GOSPEL IS CUT SHORT AT THE END OF VERSE 8. They know ...

357. The Lord's Prayer: Deliver us from Evil

Matthew 6:5-13

Sermon

Eric Ritz

Dr. Tony Campolo is a Professor of Sociology at Eastern College and a Baptist Minister whose prophetic speaking and writing ministry is a great source of encouragement to this pastor and many others. Dr. Campolo also has a well-known mission project that works in the inner cities of Philadelphia and Camden. Last year 250 college students worked without pay to help bring the Good News to a place where days are long and full of evil and laborers are desperately needed to share the Good News. One of the ...

358. Hissing in the Garden

Genesis 3:1-24

Sermon

Eric Ritz

Today, I want to pick up and continue the series of sermons I have been sharing from the Book of James. I have preached on the Tongue from James 3:1-12, on Troubles as a part of our faith journey from James 1:3-11, and now I want to share another sermon that begins with the letter "T"--Temptation. One of my colleagues tells the story about a church in Kentucky that demonstrates the ancient but ever present power of evil and temptation. It seems a certain contractor had done some much needed repair work for ...

359. In The Beginning And The End...God

Genesis 1:1-2:3

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

"A fire mist and a planet –a crystal and a cell a jellyfish and a saurian,and caves where the cave men dwell; Then a sense of law and beauty and a face turned from the clod Some call it Evolution,And others call it God. A haze on the far horizon,The infinite tender sky.The ripe, rich tint of the cornfields, and the wild geese sailing high;. And all over upland and lowland, the charm of the goldenrod,Some call it Autumn,And others call it God. Like tides on a crescent sea beach When the moon is new and thin ...

360. The Glory of Christ

Isaiah 60:1-22

Sermon

Elizabeth Achtemeier

This serves as the stated text for Epiphany in all three cycles of the lectionary. The preacher may therefore want to look at the expositions in Cycles A and B also. The church has designated this text for the celebration of Epiphany Sunday, that Sunday when it announces the fact that the gospel is intended for all peoples throughout the world. Both accompanying stated texts emphasize that fact. In the story of the wise men, who symbolize the foreign nations, Matthew shows them coming to Bethlehem to ...

361. Shalom Shattered

Genesis 37:1-4, 12-28

Sermon

Arley K. Fadness

It's art class. The student potter, under the watchful eye of the artist-instructor, carefully fashions, spins, and shapes a lump of green clay into a beautiful Grecian chalice. The clay figurine is then fired, soon to be painted and glazed. The potter and the mentor watch through the glass door of the oven as the fire heats the new creation toward a hardy sturdiness -- durable and strong. But then both apprentice and instructor notice, to their disappointment, cracks appearing in the chalice. The firing ...

362. Why Not a Christian Live 8 for the Environment?

Romans 8:18-27

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

If I say "LIVE 8," how many of you know what I'm talking about? I thought so . . . It was the biggest, hippest rock concert in the history of the world. How many of you have already signed The One Declaration? You're more than one in a million. And a million was the number that attended the Philadelphia Live 8. That doesn't include the millions more that were showed up in Moscow (20,000), Tokyo (10,000), Johannesburg (10,000, where Nelson Mandela stole the show), London (200,000, where Pink Floyd returned ...

363. To Be a Pilgrim (Thanksgiving)

Hebrews 11:1-40

Sermon

Alex Gondola

What do you think of when you hear the word "Pilgrim"? Most of us — especially around Thanksgiving — hear the word "Pilgrim" and think of the English Separatists who crossed the Atlantic on the Mayflower, landed on Cape Cod, and settled in Plymouth. We hear "Pilgrim" and think "Thanksgiving." But, when you think of that kind of Pilgrim, what do you think? Some consider the Pilgrims stained-glass saints. A church in Utica, New York, was designed as a shrine to the Pilgrims. Three tall stained-glass windows ...

364. Are You Getting Hymns Out of Your Lions?

1 Corinthians 7:1-40

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

If there were one word everyone could agree on to describe twenty-first century living, it would surely be stressful. Anyone here this morning want to deny that we face a host of stress-inducing factors in this world? How about terrorism. How about war? How about avian flu? How about global warming, or diminishing resources, vanishing species, increasing Population, or WMD's? Not to mention the Islamic Republic of Iran with a head of state who's on record wanting to nuke Israel out of existence? And that's ...

365. Christmas 1

Mt 2:13-23 · Heb 2:10-18 · Isa 63:7-9 · Ps 148

Sermon Aid

Marion L. Soards, Thomas B. Dozeman, Kendall McCabe

OLD TESTAMENT TEXTS The Old Testament lesson for the First Sunday After Christmas explores the implications of what it means when we confess that God is actually with us in this world. Isaiah 63:7-9 states how God is able to suffer with us, while Psalm 111 is an extended celebration of this fact. Isaiah 63:7-9 - "A Savior for Hard Times" Setting. The lectionary has isolated the opening verses of a more extended community lament that probably included Isaiah 63:7-64:12. The larger context underscores how ...

366. Epiphany 4

Psalm 15:1-5, Micah 6:1-8, 1 Corinthians 1:18--2:5, Matthew 5:1-12

Sermon Aid

Marion L. Soards, Thomas B. Dozeman, Kendall McCabe

OLD TESTAMENT TEXTS The Testament texts are a call for us to act in accordance with the reality that we know is true. Micah 6:1-8 makes this point through a legal confrontation between God and Israel, while Psalm 37:1-11 presents a series of wisdom sayings that are meant to bring the reality of God more clearly into focus by encouraging us to adopt the moral way of life. Micah 6:1-8 - "Controversy in the Congregation" Setting. Micah 6:1-8 uses the imagery of dispute as the setting for the prophetic oracle ...

367. Body Building at Its Best

1 Corinthians 12:13-27, Ephesians 4:1-6

Sermon

James Merritt

Take a moment and just think about your body. It represents a state of engineering that IBM, Mercedes, and Lockheed combined, could not ever match. Listen to this eloquent description of the magnificence of the human body: The body is a temple, warehouse, laboratory, pharmacy (the brain alone produces more than 50 cycle-active drugs), electric company, farm, mass-transit system, library (the brain stores the equivalent information of 500 sets of the Encyclopedia Britannia, utility company, hospital, and ...

368. The True Feng Shui Life

Matthew 14:22-36

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

Our world has been shaped by one image. It may be the most powerful image to come out of the 20th century. If you were asked about the most important image of the 20th century, what would you pick? Here is my pick . . . [if you use screens]. The one picture that did the most to transform our perception of this world was that look-back at Earth from the tiny port-hole window in the first Apollo mission to the moon. Dangling in the bleak blackness of space was this beautiful blue-ball planet — with swirling ...

369. 2 Kings 4:8-17

2 Kings 4:8-17

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

The Old Testament is so filled with intriguing people and enticing stories that it does us good every now and again to make their acquaintance and hear their voices. The Shunammite woman is one of these. While she may not be completely unknown, she has rarely been the focus of attention. In fact, the few times in history when she and her story have been singled out, she has still sometimes lost her identity. Rembrandt painted a stunning portrait of a haunted-looking woman obviously embarking on a long ...

370. 1 Peter 2:2-10

1 Peter 2:2-10

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

Community and Commitment are the two chief challenges facing the new, struggling church here in 1 Peter. The widely scattered Christian churches of Asia Minor had to learn how to live apart from the greater pagan society they existed in while living as part of that same culture. The author of 1 Peter knew that this was a balancing act not easy for anyone but even less so for such new and inexperienced Christians. Chapter 2 begins with a list of vices. This may be a recounting of some of the attitudes these ...

371. Luke 1:26-38

Luke 1:26-38

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

For most of us, it just wouldn't be Christmas without reading Luke's eloquent words foretelling Jesus' birth. Tampa's James A. Harnish says that the difference between Luke's account of the Christmas story and Matthew's account is the difference between a Norman Rockwell painting in Saturday Evening Post and a tax collector's report. "If Luke reads like the Saturday Evening Post," Harnish writes, "then Matthew reads like the Wall Street Journal." In Luke's account, all the facets of this expertly crafted ...

372. Holiness of Heart and Life

Romans 2:21-23

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

At Stanford University there is a psychologist named Festinger who has a theory which he calls “cognitive dissonance.’ If you teach at a university like Stanford, you are supposed to use big words like that. As strange and new as it may sound, it’s very simple. It means that there is a big gap between my ideals and my actions, what I believe and what I do, my goals and my deeds. There is a difference between the image I have of myself and the image I try to project for other people and that discrepancy is ...

373. A Double Portion

2 Kings 2:1-2, 6-14

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

At a recent church luncheon buffet line, next to the apples was a sign that read: "Apples: please only take one per person. Remember, God is watching." A little further down the line next to the cookies, someone had scrawled with a crayon: "Cookies: take all you want. God is watching the apples." (1) Or how about the guy who stopped at the bakery right at closing time and ordered a batch of sugar cookies. The young clerk politely said she couldn't sell them because they were frozen. "Frozen?" "Yes," she ...

374. The Golf Shot That Destroyed an Airforce

Mark 9:42-50

Sermon

King Duncan

A little girl had been naughty, so she was sent to her room for a quiet time. Afterward, all smiles, she returned to her family, saying, “I prayed to God.” “That’s good,” said her mother. “Did you pray that God would help you be a good girl?” “No,” she replied. “I prayed that God would help you put up with me.” Many of us are like that little girl. We do wrong, but rather than repenting of our sins, we pray that God will put up with us. And why not? It’s our nature to sin; it’s God’s nature to forgive. ...

375. Solomon Asks for Wisdom

2 Chronicles 1:1-17

Understanding Series

Louis C. Jonker

Solomon, the Man of Peace and Rest: The reign of Solomon is the focus of 2 Chronicles 1–9. The Chronicler has already prepared the reader to expect that the next chapters contain the climax of the royal history that culminates in the accession of Solomon and his building of the temple in Jerusalem. Solomon is explicitly called “a man of peace and rest” in 1 Chronicles 22:8–10, and Yahweh promises to give David’s son “rest from all his enemies on every side.” It therefore comes as no surprise that 2 ...

Showing results