Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 3776 to 3800 of 5000 results

3776. You're Going To Have A Baby!

Luke 1:26-38

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

During a pastoral call, a three-year-old boy climbed in the lap of a pastor and whispered confidentially, "I know a secret!" The pastor asked, "Will you tell me your secret?" "Yes," the little fellow giggled delightedly, "but you mustn't tell my mamma." When the pastor promised not to tell, the boy continued, "My mamma's going to the hospital to have a baby. But don't tell her. Me and Daddy want her to be surprised!" Would you be surprised if someone told you that you were going to have a baby? The men and ...

3777. Wrinkled Wrappings

Luke 2:21-40

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

On the Sunday after Christmas we were asked to come to a church to preach. The pastor of the church asked us to come early and have dinner with his family. We said we would but we urged him and his wife not to go to any trouble with the dinner. He replied, "We will not be having much, just some Christmas leftovers." On the first Sunday after Christmas that is just about the way it is in various ways. Church attendance today compared with the Christmas Eve service looks like "leftovers." Christmas leftovers ...

3778. The Advent-ure of Love

Jeremiah 33:1-26

Bulletin Aid

Dallas A. Brauninger

Call To Worship Leader: Despite our good intentions and despite our positive attitudes, you and I still endure times of darkness and uncertainty. People: We come looking for light. Leader: In spite of our strength and in spite of our faith, we still puzzle over predicaments. People: We come longing for sight. All: Come, Christ, we wait for your love. Collect We come to Advent carrying the expectation of adventure. Where our faith needs an overhaul, we come ready to receive. Where our practice of loving ...

3779. Out of Prision

Philippians 1:1-11

Bulletin Aid

Dallas A. Brauninger

Call To Worship God draws us out of ourselves to live fully in the present. Come to this place certain that God’s hope for us overflows. Know that God’s presence also comes as knowledge and insight that equip us for determining what is best. Come, let us worship our hopeful God. Collect Grace-filled God, who is our strongest defender, we trust in you. Amen. Prayer Of Confession Under the burden of what imprisons us, we forget that you, O God, began a good work in your creation of us. We overlook your ...

3780. The Advent-ure of Joy

Matthew 1:18-25

Bulletin Aid

Dallas A. Brauninger

Call To Worship Leader: When we hear the holiday tone of others through ears dulled by sadness, People: We come needing support. Leader: When we linger with suffering in times of loss, People: We come wanting relief. All: Come, Christ, we wait for your joy. Collect When we feel small in body or spirit, let us remember that the circumstances of Jesus’ birth contrast with the strength of his being. However scrambled we are with human suffering or seeming insignificance, let us gain new courage in the ...

3781. All Is Calm, All Is Bright

Luke 2:1-7

Sermon

William G. Carter

What a time for an angel to forget his lines! It was the Christmas Pageant at Gravesend, New Hampshire. The Episcopal Church was packed with worshipers, well wishers, and relatives of the cast. Attendance was up, thanks to a positive preview in the local newspaper. The drama critic had reported, “The quintessential Christmas tale, the luster of which has been dulled by its annual repetition, has been given a new sparkle.” One reason for the excitement was the presence of a small boy named Owen Meany. For ...

3782. Anything Better Than the Golden Rule?

Luke 6:27-36

Sermon

William G. Carter

A few years ago, I accepted an invitation to preach in a church in upstate New York. The sermon was based on Matthew’s version of what we have just heard from the Gospel of Luke: “Turn the other cheek. Give to everyone who begs from you. Pray for those who curse you. And love your enemies.” These are nearly impossible words to put into practice, much less hear, and I said as much in my sermon. Jesus is instructing us to take the initiative for making peace, to move beyond revenge and retaliation. We cannot ...

3783. Getting It Together

Luke 6:37-42

Sermon

William G. Carter

Hypocrisy. We know it when we see it. A newspaper recently quoted a congressman. I had to read the article twice to make sure I got it right. In the midst of a debate, an elected official stood to address the House of Representatives. Here’s what he said: “Never before have I heard such ill-informed, wimpy, back-stabbing drivel as that just uttered by my respected colleague, the distinguished gentleman from Ohio.” Hypocrisy. We know it when we see it. Maybe you heard about the leader in another church who ...

3784. A Secret Is Finally Revealed

Ephesians 1:1-14

Sermon

Harold Warlick

Picture an attractive mother, a handsome husband, and three lucky children. The little children are fortunate because they have been adopted by the mother and father. The mother can not naturally bear children. She had a bodily imperfection when she was born which resulted in her having had a colostomy, the process where you wear a bag with a tube to empty your wastes from your body. It was a most difficult and, obviously, painful condition with which to live. Consequently over the years the parents ...

3785. Old Favorite

1 Corinthians 13:1-13

Sermon

Harold Warlick

Most of us play favorites, whether we admit it or not. All parents try to love their children with equal devotion. That’s hard to do. My own parents had a favorite: it was my sister, I’m convinced. Yet from her incorrect perspective, I was the favorite. Favoritism seems to be a part of our biblical perspective. Abraham and Sarah favored Isaac over Ishmael. Then old Isaac favored Esau the country boy, but his wife Rebekah favored pompous little Jacob. There’s no doubt old Jacob himself later favored and ...

3786. The Power of Uninformed Decisions

1 Corinthians 15:35-58

Sermon

Harold Warlick

One of the most nerve-wracking experiences in life is finding a place to live and a person to live with. It’s as true for college students as it is for older adults. Everyone at some time or another has to house-hunt, roommate hunt, room hunt, or apartment hunt. In fact, one of the biggest changes in life occurs in college when you actually have a choice as to where you will live and with whom you will live. The freshman experience is an unknown experience. You either room with someone you think you know ...

3787. Even Our Business Belongs to God!

Jeremiah 32:1-44

Sermon

Mark Ellingsen

The weekend is shot (almost). Tomorrow it is back to the “real” world, back to the grind, at least for most of us. Where will God be in all that? Be honest with me: Do you feel God’s Presence on the job, as you go through the usual Monday routine? Is God directing you as you attend to your e-mail, run through your voice mail, review the reports, or check your assignment? Let us be frank with each other. The businesses which employ most of us are part of the “secular” realm, not of the “sacred” realm that ...

3788. Make Up Your Mind!

1 Kings 18:16-46

Sermon

Robert Leslie Holmes

Why hasn’t Hollywood made this into a major motion picture epic? 1 Kings 18 is surely one of the most dramatic accounts in all literature and one of the most significant historical records in the Bible. Its message and natural application are timeless. William Penn said, “Men must be governed by God or they will be ruled by tyrants.” In our Scripture reading for today the people of Israel came together to decide no less a question than who would govern their personal and national lives, who would be their ...

3789. Bad News from a Good Man!

1 Kings 21:1-29

Sermon

Robert Leslie Holmes

There are two facts we all need to remember before we can make any real sense out of life. The first is that God is sovereign and holy, just and loving. The second is that we are not. We are servants, unholy, self-centered, and self-seeking. This Scripture passage is a marvelous illustration of this. You would think that seeing God send fire from heaven would change a corrupt heart every time. That, however, is not the case, as we can see from the life of Ahab and his Jezebel. I. The Sliding Spiral Of ...

3790. The ABC Gospel

2 Kings 5:1-27

Sermon

Robert Leslie Holmes

Someone has called it ABC spirituality, meaning, “Anything But Christianity.” In the search for religious meaning, our generation seems to have a limitless imagination. Past-life regressions, out-of-body experiences, channeling, mantras — the list goes on and on. The New Age (which is truly just old Hinduism warmed over), Zen yoga, seances — anything but faith in the resurrected Lord of the cross. Today’s Scripture reading has a character like that. His name is Naaman. Of all the stories connected with the ...

3791. With All Your Heart

Joel 2:12-17, Joel 2:1-11

Sermon

Carlyle Fielding Stewart

The poignant words of the prophet Joel should have deep relevance and meaning for this Ash Wednesday, for it is a clarion call to remembrance and reflection. The prophet calls the people to repentance and urges a sincere return to God. The various passages of the prophet’s entire oracle to Judah, whose language is reminiscent of Isaiah, Obadiah, Zephaniah, Malachi, and Jeremiah in their reference to the “Day of the Lord,” “the enemy from the North,” and “judgment on foreign nations,” contains a heightened ...

3792. Not Your Leftovers But Your First Fruits

Deuteronomy 26:1-15

Sermon

Carlyle Fielding Stewart

In the text, Moses exhorts the people to offer unto God their first fruits in remembrance and thanksgiving for their inheritance of the new land. They have toiled and struggled in the wilderness for many years and have come at long last to the place of divine promise. God has been good to them. God has kept his promises and has brought them to a place of great wealth and prosperity. The soil is ripe for planting and harvesting. The hills and valleys are rich with minerals. The water flows like milk and ...

3793. Reproached Rolled Away

Joshua 5:1-12

Sermon

Carlyle Fielding Stewart

After wandering in the wilderness 39 years, braving many dangers, toils, and snares, and after watching a generation of their mothers and fathers perish in the wilderness, the Hebrews celebrate the first Passover in the Promised Land. This is the third Passover since their last at the foot of Mount Sinai. The first Passover they hovered in fear as they ate their unleavened bread, roasted lamb, and bitter herbs and prayed to God in hope that the blood of sacrifice which marked the door frames of their homes ...

3794. When God Does A New Thing

Isaiah 43:14-28

Sermon

Carlyle Fielding Stewart

The woman whose heart is broken because her husband cheated on her cannot get past that experience and has vowed never to love again. Two brothers have not spoken to each other in years because a business they built together failed due to the skimming of profits by the older brother. The young man who has not visited or spoken to his mother and father in ten years because of an abusive childhood cannot bring himself to forget the past, forgive his parents, and move on with his life. These are just a few ...

3795. Obeying God Rather Than Men

Acts 5:17-42

Sermon

Carlyle Fielding Stewart

How many times have we borne witness to this scene? Men and women of the Gospel attacked by their enemies for preaching the resurrected Christ? How many times have we seen this inevitable and inimitable skirmish between the horizontal and the vertical, the spiritual and the carnal, the things of man and the things of God? How many times have we seen this scene within and without the church, where servants of the Lord who have confessed with their mouths that Jesus is Lord and believe in their hearts that ...

3796. Light from the Word

Nehemiah 7:73b--8:18

Sermon

Harry N. Huxhold

In the Sundays of the Epiphany we are reminded in our worship how God continually reveals God’s Person. That, of course, is done most clearly in the Person of our Lord Jesus Christ, who came to be one of us. Today the emphasis of the Lessons is on how God is revealed in the Word. In the Holy Gospel, Jesus himself points out how he is revealed in the word, or the word is revealed in him, but the people do not seem to understand. That is always a problem in communication. The words can be ever so clear, but ...

3797. Kingdoms in Conflict

John 18:28-40

Sermon

Brett Blair

Perhaps you have heard this story. It's a great story: Many years ago, when Hitler's forces occupied Denmark, the order came that all Jews in Denmark were to identify themselves by wearing armbands with yellow stars of David. The Danes had seen the extermination of Jews in other countries and guessed that this was the first step in that process in their countries. The King did not defy the orders. He had every Jew wear the star and he himself wore the Star of David. He told his people that he expected ...

3798. Lift Up Your Heads!

Luke 21:5-38

Sermon

Brett Blair

A.J. Gordon was the great Baptist pastor of the Clarendon Church in Boston, Massachusetts. One day he met a young boy in front of the sanctuary carrying a rusty cage in which several birds fluttered nervously. Gordon inquired, "Son, where did you get those birds?" The boy replied, "I trapped them out in the field." "What are you going to do with them?" "I'm going to play with them, and then I guess I'll just feed them to an old cat we have at home." When Gordon offered to buy them, the lad exclaimed, " ...

3799. Lift Up Your Heads! - Sermon Starter

Luke 21:5-38

Illustration

Brett Blair

3800. The Attic

James 5:13-20

Drama

Dave Marsh

Director's Notes: Some of my dramas feature characters that are a bit over the top. In fact, they carry a particular subject to the extreme. The Attic is one of those dramas - no one really has a box of 'miracle stuff' but it's these extremes that provide an awesome contrast to the real answer: If we want miracles to happen, we need to pray. James 5:16 tells us the the 'effective prayer of a righteous man accomplishes much.' Indeed. Cast: John: Needs a miracle Katie: John's wife Props: A number of ...

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