Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 3726 to 3750 of 4943 results

3726. Leveling the Landscape

Luke 3:1-20

Sermon

Charles H. Bayer

... on a slippery slope we live. If leveling the mountains is the large international task, straightening the crooked places may be our justice ministry here at home. We've got some serious straightening to do of roads too crooked for Jesus to travel. The continued oppression of women is a road which gets more crooked every day. A nation, which believes that capital punishment deters crime and is the legitimate acting out of society's proper vengeance, but which only executes the poor, the feeble-minded and the ...

3727. Bowing Before The Mystery

John 1:1-18

Sermon

Charles H. Bayer

... and plastic to the farthest reaches of the solar system, penetrating the mystery of Pluto's atmosphere and Uranus' tiniest moons, but we have not learned how to love each other more. We will soon begin the construction of a work station in space, and we continue to pursue the deployment of a giant star wars shield, but we will not have learned how people with different and competing ideologies can live together peacefully on this very tiny planet of ours. We will probably soon find a cure for AIDS, but we ...

3728. Sow's Ears And Silk Purses

John 2:1-11

Sermon

Charles H. Bayer

... you are only getting small gifts from God, the problem may be your small expectations. Finally, if Jesus gave us life at its best, symbolized by turning water into wine, how dreadful it is to see a church that has gotten the trick backwards and continually manages to turn wine into water. A religion which is always solemn, ponderous, heavy, dull, full of thou-shalt-nots, and joyless violates the core of this text -- as well as practically every text in the gospels. There ought to be more joy in worship ...

3729. A Mother's Love -- A Godly Passion

Luke 13:31-35

Sermon

Glenn E. Ludwig

... 1950s that later moved to America and that many of you know only too well. It is called the Hospice Movement, and it drew its inspiration from Jesus' own passion and compassion for his children -- "as a hen gathers her brood under her wings." My prayer is that God will continually come to us in new ways and in fresh images, so that more Cicely Saunderses among us can be moved and inspired to take risks to join in God's compassion for his children. Amen. "

3730. The Hands And Arms Of Grace

Luke 15:1-7, Luke 15:8-10, Luke 15:11-32

Sermon

Glenn E. Ludwig

... . What about his ... (arms and hands outstretched on a cross)? Think about those hands for a moment. They are pierced hands, bloody hands, pained hands. And they are spread in a gesture that takes in all the world. On that cross of Golgotha, to which we continue to journey these weeks of Lent, God was saying to you and me, "I love you this much!" For, whose hands are they? God's Son, hanging pierced and bleeding from a cross, made the ultimate sacrifice for God's rebellious creation. "For God so loved the ...

3731. On The Road To The Cross

Luke 20:9-19

Sermon

Glenn E. Ludwig

... and respect for one another; even though we often want no part of the work of this vineyard -- God still loves us. God still takes the risk with us today. He still sends his son. He still calls us to be accountable for the work of his vineyard. And he continues to come to us to give us his love, so that we might learn how to risk loving one another. Someday ... someday ... perhaps the impact and the profoundness of God's grace and love and forgiveness will move us in the depths of our being to live the new ...

3732. The Tiger At The Edge

John 21:1-14

Sermon

Glenn E. Ludwig

... That's a good reminder for our community as well as for those first disciples. Don't you see? These Easter stories give the Christian community stories to share. And those stories remind us of who is our focus and what is our mission. They tell us of Jesus' continual call to his people to serve him by pulling people into community in his name. And we do that by sharing the stories of resurrection which we know and have experienced. Don't you see? We can never go back to the ordinary once we have heard that ...

3733. Getting and Giving

John 13:31-38

Sermon

Glenn E. Ludwig

... with you," they said at once. They hurried to pour some of their grain into the woman's basket, and helped her on her way. After the family had gone, the young prince said to his sister, "My heart has skipped a beat! I do not know," he continued, "if that is from its dancing, or from fear that we will not have enough grain for ourselves when we get to the marketplace." "When two people dance," the princess wisely replied, "one person leads and the other follows. If we let love lead and fear follows, then ...

3734. A Promise Is Given

Luke 24:36-49

Sermon

Glenn E. Ludwig

... his promise of the Spirit, who would "clothe them with power from above." And when that Spirit came, they could be about the work of the kingdom, which is, of course, what all of us should be about until he comes again. As followers of this King today, we continue to get power and comfort from the promise he made. Through the Spirit's action in word and sacrament, Jesus is with us. While we still long for his return and the fullness of the kingdom we so need, we know that we can experience glimpses of it as ...

3735. Taking The Good With The Bad

Job 1:1-5

Sermon

John A. Stroman

... to scrape himself. He could not get any respite from his pain, and he finally went and sat on a ruubbish pile amid the ashes seeking relief. In his misery and pain his wife came to him and said, "After all that has happened to you are you going to continue in this foolish integrity? If you had any wit about you you would curse God and die." Slowly but deliberately Job responded, "Woman, you are foolish to speak like that. We need to take the good days that God has given to us, along with the bad." I have ...

3736. Thankful Living

Joel 2:18-27

Sermon

John A. Stroman

... for a creation that is good. We begin by remembering that the biblical view of creation is that it is good, simply because it is the work of God. The goodness of creation is underscored in Genesis 1. God saw that it was "good." The words are continually repeated. After the appearance of water, land, plants, and light, God said, "It is good." After the appearance of fish, birds, and land animals again God said, "It is good." After the creation of man and woman God said, "It is very good." Frances Alexander's ...

3737. Take Up Your Ministry

Mark 9:38-41

Sermon

Steven E. Albertin

... I had not planned on. I was having great difficulty finding another pastor to fill the pulpit. It was the summer. Many pastors are already on vacation and those who are available for pulpit supply were already booked. I suggested to the council that, if we continued to have a problem, we could call on one of several very capable lay people in the congregation, perhaps even one of them, to handle the preaching in my absence. At first I think they thought I was joking, as a nervous laughter circulated around ...

3738. Do You See What I See?

Mark 10:46-52

Sermon

Steven E. Albertin

... nothing is absolute. Everyone has a point-of-view, an ax to grind, a bias to promote. For example, Indiana University and Purdue fans may watch the same basketball game but have two very different interpretations of what went on. Today we are continually reminded that affluent suburban whites and poor urban minorities see this society and its opportunities in two very different ways. The same could be said for the residents of the developed countries of the first world and the residents of the undeveloped ...

3739. Baptism And Self-Esteem

Mark 12:28-34

Sermon

Steven E. Albertin

... time to try to slip away unnoticed. You are the crown of God's creation. You are his beloved sons and daughters. Given the flaws of which we are all too aware, given the blemishes of which we are perpetually embarrassed, given the sins of which we are continually ashamed, this seems to be an incredible and outrageous claim for the church to make. It would be were it not for the one who is making this incredible claim on our behalf. He comes with the highest authorization. He is Jesus. He is God's very own ...

3740. When The Fat Lady Sings

Mark 13:1-31

Sermon

Steven E. Albertin

... message remains "hidden" in the simple words, humble sacraments, and ordinary deeds of compassion carried out in the church. That message is promised now to be believed by faith against the appearances of a world where it seems that the endless cycle of sin and death will continue forever. What now remains hidden, what now is believed by faith and not by sight, will one day, on the Last Day, be revealed to all. Then it will be clear to all, even to those who have chosen not to believe, that Jesus was who he ...

3741. Miracle Three: Healing A Leper

Mark 1:40-45

Sermon Aid

Harold H. Lentz

... that can be inflicted upon us. It is so silent that often the first one hears about it is when the awful words of possible doom are pronounced: "You have about six months to live." In Christ's day the horror of horrors was leprosy. It continued to strike terror into human hearts across the centuries until fairly recent times. Finally, a cure was discovered which is effective in most cases. Because it was so terrible, leprosy totally isolated the one afflicted from all of society. The leper was to live apart ...

3742. Miracle Four: Healing A Paralytic

Mark 2:1-12

Sermon Aid

Harold H. Lentz

... by farmers who want their taxes lowered after a year of failed crops. The same means is used when they wish to appeal against the actions of a tyrannical governor. It is said that crowds will gather outside the Shah's palace and there set up a continual howling. They refuse to be silent, or to leave when threatened by guards, until they have had the opportunity to air their grievances. They are known even to surround the Shah's car when he is out driving. Often it works, for the Shah will grant their ...

3743. Miracle Five: Healing A Withered Hand

Mark 3:1-6

Sermon Aid

Harold H. Lentz

... The man with the withered hand had to respond to Christ's invitation and approach him in order to have his hand restored. Remaining at a distance, refusing to act on the Lord's invitation, would have left him a cripple. Christ, in various ways, is continually calling us with the invitation, "Come here." To receive his inspiration and blessing we need to act on the invitation. A pastor once said that in calling on some of his members who did not attend church, he was appalled at the variety of their excuses ...

3744. Miracle Nine: Healing A Deaf-Mute

Mark 7:31-37, Mark 7:24-30

Sermon Aid

Harold H. Lentz

... . Looking Up To God · Jesus looked up before performing this miracle of healing. We may tend to forget that the power which Christ possessed was not of himself, but came from God. Christ kept vigorously alive this contact with his source of power by continually looking to God and seeking his gifts. It was this relationship with his heavenly Father that produced a flow of power through Christ, enabling him to work his miracles. So closely and so constantly did Christ maintain this contact that he could say ...

3745. The Waiting Place

Isaiah 63:7--64:12

Sermon

William L. Self

... the year Christ died until the year 1900, the fund of available information for people to know doubled one time. From 1900 to 1950, it doubled again. From 1950 to 1960, it doubled, and it has doubled every two years from 1960 to 1990. It will continue to double every six months until the end of this century. This has created an instant culture that is impatient with having to wait for anything or ever being out of control. Each bombardment has made our culture impatient as well as insensitive. Process, wait ...

3746. Getting In Tune Again

Isaiah 40:1-31

Sermon

William L. Self

... of mind or cultivation of their own spirits. There can be emphasis upon worship and ceremony, with a priesthood and a valued ritual. In a real sense people who participate in such a religion tend to their own business and do not bother others. They can continue in this vein, devoid of mission, and maintain good relations even with an atheistic or dictatorial governmental rÈgime."1 The church of Jesus Christ does not have a mission; its very life is mission. As a fire does not have heat, its life is heat ...

3747. Have I Got News For You!

Isaiah 9:1-7

Sermon

William L. Self

... provincialism, resurgent fundamentalism, and anything else future generations can throw at his reign. It has also been victimized by unprepared preachers, tone-deaf musicians, manipulative members, argumentative deacons, demanding denominations, unloving reformers, and greedy politicians, and still he continues to reign. He provides community in the face of alienation and love and affirmation in a hostile world. His reign is not a porcelain teacup that is easily broken. His reign is an oak tree with deep ...

3748. Praying With Bloody Knuckles

Isaiah 62:1-12, Isaiah 61:1-11

Sermon

William L. Self

... is joining her demand with the divine desire. In this system of personal life which makes up the moral universe, she is taking her place alongside God in an urgent, creative outpouring of sacrificial love."6 Exodus 28:29 gives us an insight into continual intercession and our need for it as practiced by Israel. Every part of the elaborately prescribed dress of the high priest was significant. The breastplate was composed of folded cloth in which there were lodged twelve precious stones in four rows of three ...

3749. When God Steps Out Of Shadows

Jeremiah 30:1--31:40

Sermon

William L. Self

... get it from him, causing a large commotion. The helpless tourists were aghast. "We need to help the innocent turtle," they cried. Hearing this, the guide said the rules would not permit them to go to the rescue -- nature had to take its course. The tourists continued to demand that the guide "do something." This was so disturbing that the guide, in order to placate them, relented and went onto the beach and rescued the helpless and half-dead baby turtle. He placed the turtle in the surf. The birds went back ...

3750. A Bad Temperament Can Kill You

2 Kings 5:1-27

Sermon

Harold Warlick

... me. He bumped me," the child screams. He is ready to fight. The other child is headed toward class, realizes there is a class to attend and that the hallway is plenty big enough for both of them to pass. So he wants to go around and continue on his way. The first child is still screaming, "He hit me," and wanting to fight. Now, we commonly think of the first child as ill-tempered, hyperactive, and incorrigible. Consequently, we are tempted to believe that the difference between the two children is that one ...

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