Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 351 to 375 of 990 results

351. A Community of Practice, Not a Community of Perfection

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

When your child is playing a musical instrument that is “rented” from the school, instead “owned” by you, there is a big decision to make at the end of the school year. Do you pay rental fees for the summer break? Or do you turn the instrument in? Paying rental fees for the summer means that the instrument will be practiced on hot summer days and during beautiful sunsets. Turning the instrument in...

352. Struggling With Sin

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

7:7–12 · Paul next describes the rule of sin. The assertion in verse 5 (and the statements in 3:19–21; 5:20) may suggest to some readers that the law itself is sin (7:7). Paul energetically rejects such a conclusion. He explains his “By no means!” (RSV, ESV; NIV “Certainly not!”) in verses 7–12: since the law condemns sinners and consigns them to death as the consequence of their sin, the law belo...

353. Elephants in the Room: Addiction

Sermon

Charley Reeb

As kids we often wondered if monsters existed. We would look under our bed to be sure there wasn’t one hiding there. Well, a monster does exist and it is often kept hidden. That monster is addiction. That’s how Hunter Thompson described it. Thompson was a writer for Rolling Stone magazine. He had a wonderful job and all the opportunities a person could ask for. The problem was that he was addicte...

354. Struggling with Sin

Understanding Series

James R. Edwards

We noted in section 14 that chapters 6–7 are something of a theological entrenchment on Paul’s part designed to defend his gospel against three objections. In 6:1–14 he contended against a misunderstanding of 5:20 (“where sin increased, grace increased all the more”), which would argue that if grace increases with sin, why not sin all the more? In 6:15–7:6 he answered a second objection that freed...

355. Where the Rubber Meets the Road

Sermon

Schuyler Rhodes

I don't need to tell you that we belong to a portion of the Christian family called the "Protestant Church." I also don't need to tell you that there's a whole lot of history behind all this, and frankly, I am going to choose to share that on another day. One part of our Protestant identity is something that we see every time we come into our church. It's something we look at every day, and don't ...

356. Captive Free!

Sermon

Steven E. Albertin

Have you ever felt "trapped between a rock and a hard place"? Have you ever experienced what we sometimes call "double jeopardy," where regardless of what you choose to do, you are "damned if you do and damned if you don't"? Perhaps you have seen a classic example of "double jeopardy." Someone is trapped high up in a burning building. They can't go back into the building because of the fire. But t...

357. Like Fighting a Giant Tuna

Sermon

King Duncan

Pastor Spencer Homan tells an exciting true story about the Great Tuna run of 1998. The story begins with tuna running only 30 miles off Cape Cod. What made that exciting was that such a run hadn’t happened in 47 years. The tuna were not only running, but they were also biting! It was a fisherman’s dream. All you needed was a sharp hook and some bait and you could haul in a bountiful catch. You c...

358. The Battle For Control

Sermon

King Duncan

Have you ever battled for control of your own life? Some of us fight that battle every day. The discouraging truth, however, is that our main adversary is not someone in our family or someone at work or someone who is angry at us. As Pogo once put it: "We have met the enemy and he is us." I was encouraged to read that the French writer, Victor Hugo, author of the book on which the Broadway hit LE...

359. Yes, But How?

Sermon

King Duncan

I believe that every one of us can identify with St. Paul when he cries out in anguish that the good that he would do, he does not; and the evil that he would not do, he does. You might even be tempted to say, "He sounds a lot like me!" We all have good intentions. But we also know where the road that's paved with good intentions leads to! One pastor tells about a man who borrowed a book from an...

360. Help!

Children's Sermon

Tim Carpenter

Exegetical Aim: Jesus Christ rescues us from our sinful selves. Props: Some candy, a soda, a piece of cake, a tray, and two adult volunteers. Lesson: I’m glad to see you. Today I want to talk to you about . . . Have one of the volunteers come inside the church at precisely this point carrying a tray with the items on it. Stare at the person as he/she places the tray down and says, “Would you all...

361. Proper 9

Bulletin Aid

First Lesson: Exodus 1:6-14, 22--2:10 Theme: Divine providence Call to Worship Pastor: Praise be to God for his presence in our past, present, and future! People: We look where we have been, and we see God's hand; we see where we are, and we know God is here. Pastor: Tomorrow is yet to be revealed, but it too, is designed by God to fulfill his plan for us. People: Praise be to God for his presen...

362. The One Right Choice

Bulletin Aid

Frank Ramirez

Call To Worship Your throne, O God, endures forever and ever. Your royal scepter is a scepter of equity; you love righteousness and hate wickedness. (Psalm 45:6-7) Collect Lord, in our distress you found us and brought us together as your family in Christ. We praise you for your loving kindness. Great is your faithfulness. Amen. Prayer Of Confession While Isaac waited, a great drama was working ...

363. The Spiritual Battle

Bulletin Aid

James Wilson

Call To Worship Leader: Let all who struggle to live for Christ gather this day! People: For there are days when our lives seem so short of God's will for us Leader: Yet the Lord sees our hearts and loves each one of us still. People: And there are times when we have turned our backs on the Lord. Leader: Yet the Lord calls each of us home with accepting, unconditional Love. All: Blessed be the nam...

364. Proper 9

Sermon Aid

John R. Brokhoff

COMMENTARY Old Testament: Genesis 24:34-38, 42-49, 58-67 Isaac marries Rebecca. Abraham, being very old, was anxious to get Isaac a wife before he died, a wife from his own people. He sent a trusted servant to go back to his homeland to look for a wife. The servant succeeded in getting Rebecca, daughter of Bethuel, who was the son of Abraham's brother, Nahor. When Rebecca arrived, it was love at ...

365. Proper 9

Sermon Aid

Russell F. Anderson

Theme: Freedom from oppression. In the First Lesson (Zechariah 9:9-12), it is freedom from political oppression. In the Second Lesson, it is freedom from our sinful human nature and in the Gospel, we are offered freedom from the oppression of the law and of man-made religious regulations. COMMENTARY Lesson 1: Genesis 24:34-38, 42-49, 58-67 (C) In his old age, Abraham sends his trusted servant ba...

366. Proper 9

Bulletin Aid

Theme: The overwhelming power of sin Exegetical note Paul's personal confession of his own powerlessness in the face of sin contains a deep psychological insight about the overwhelming power of sin and every human's inevitable struggle with it. For sin is a problem not just for the malicious evildoers "out there somewhere." On the contrary, even the godly with the best of intentions find themselv...

367. The Seventh Sunday after Pentecost

Sermon Aid

THEOLOGICAL CLUE Beyond the general and continuing eschatological framework of the church year, no distinct or additional clue is provided. Pentecost remains the "time of the church," or, the season of the "life of the church." The specific themes that support and expand the time/life concepts of Pentecost are all provided by the assigned readings of the cycle/season and Sunday. The Prayer of th...

368. The Frustration Of Being Human

Drama

Dallas A. Brauninger

Suggestions: Use in ordinary sequence with the scripture reading. Speakers read in a thoughtful manner from a sitting position in their usual places in the pews. Readers: 9 people - a variety of folk Key: 1-9 = speakers 1: I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. 2: Now if I do what I do not want, I agree that the law is good. 3: But in ...

369. The Battle for Control

Children's Sermon

King Duncan

Object: A small piece of chocolate candy for each child Good morning, boys and girls. How would you like to live where candy bars grow on trees? That would be great, wouldn't it? If you could travel to South America to the hot, tropical lands falling 10 degrees on either side of the equator, you would find football-shaped pods hanging from trees. These pods are hacked from cacao trees and split o...

370. Missing the Bull's Eye

Children's Sermon

Wesley T. Runk

Object: Some darts and a dart board. Good morning, boys and girls. I brought along a game today that I played a lot when I was about your age. I always enjoyed the game, but I think that it was one of the hardest things I ever did. (Show them the dart game.) How many of you know what this game is called? (Let them answer.) That's right, darts. Have you ever played it? (Let them answer.) What do y...

371. I Can't Say No

Children's Sermon

Wesley T. Runk

Object: A big plate of chocolate chip cookies Ä one for each child Good morning, boys and girls. Look at what I brought with me today. Can you guess what these are? (Let them answer.) Right. These are chocolate chip cookies. They are my very favorite kind of cookies. Do you like them, too? (Let them answer.) Once I start eating these cookies I just can't seem to stop. One time I ate about twenty ...

372. Appetites and Desires

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

A mother was preparing breakfast for her two-year-old daughter. She asked the toddler, “What would you like for breakfast a bagel or a bowl of cereal?” The little girl answered, “Chocolate.” “No,” her mother replied, “You can’t have chocolate for breakfast. Do you want a bagel or cereal?” Again the little girl said, “Chocolate.” Slightly exasperated, the mother said, “No, honey. You can’t have...

373. Poison Control

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

It's every parent's nightmare. You walk into the room only to see your toddler happily playing with open bottles of pills. The contents of several bottles spilled across the floor. This was the sight we took in one suspiciously quiet morning when our daughter was about eighteen months old. Somehow she had created a climbing wall for herself that had enabled her to reach a high-shelf basket contai...

374. Why Did I Do That?

Sermon

King Duncan

Do you ever wonder why people do some of the crazy things they do? People are amazing! Ask Dr. Tucker Montgomery. Dr. Montgomery spent fifteen years as an Emergency Room doctor at the University of Tennessee Hospital in Knoxville, Tennessee. Dr. Montgomery has seen a multitude of injuries that resulted from simple stupidity. He tells the story of one man who was brought in to the ER with serious ...

375. At War with Myself

Sermon

William G. Carter

In a certain church, a woman was leading the congregation in the prayer of confession. She called the people to confess, reminding them of the sin within their hearts, and then all joined in reading the prayer of confession. She paused for the silent confession, and she kept pausing for a good long while. So long, in fact, that the people began to rustle as they waited for the next part of the ser...

Showing 351 to 375 of 990 results