Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 3776 to 3800 of 4933 results

3776. Proper 19

Lk 15:1-10 · Hos 4:1-3, 5:15--6:6 · 1 Tim 1:12-17 · Ex 32:7-14

Sermon Aid

John R. Brokhoff

COMMENTARY Hosea 4:1-3, 5:15--6:6 Yahweh calls to his wicked people to return to him. Speaking to the northern kingdom in the eighth century B.C., Hosea describes the deplorable moral conditions in Israel. Because of this, Yahweh has "a bone to pick" with his people. Until they have a change of heart, Yahweh will return to heaven. In their distress of being without God, they decide to return to him. But apparently it was superficial. In despair Yahweh asks, "What shall I do with you?" They return by ...

3777. "I appeal to Caesar!"

Acts 24:1-27, Acts 25:1-12

Sermon Aid

CSS

Two years at Caesarea! Today people might regard that as an ideal vacation - warm Mediterranean breezes, a rocky shoreline with some sandy beaches, daily pageantry with the drills of the Roman legions, plenty of sunshine and swimming. Today, only a few miles to the south, the shore is lined with the high-rise resort hotels of Tel-Aviv. Caesarea itself has become a tourist mecca, carefully excavated and restored to indicate some of the amenities of Roman civilization - paved streets, aqueducts to bring ...

3778. The Grace of Disillusionment

Matthew 26:69-75

Sermon

Robert Bachelder

And he went out and wept bitterly.- Matthew 26:75b In his famous autobiography, Henry Adams wrote of his chronic irritability. He thought it was the result of knowing too much about his neighbors and thinking too much of himself. We have in Luke’s parable of the Pharisee and the publican a man who, like the early Henry Adams, combines a low opinion of his neighbors with a high estimate of his own qualities. The Pharisee’s prayer in chapter eighteen is taken from life, for a similar prayer comes to us in ...

3779. Who Keeps Getting in My Way?

Matthew 5:1-12

Sermon

Wallace H. Kirby

Some years ago, ten doctors were appointed by the United States Government to meet together and draw up ten laws of public health, which were to be given to the American people to serve as a guide for good health. After twelve days of extensive debate, they found that they could not agree on the laws because of their diverse areas of concern: one was a cancer specialist, one a heart surgeon, one a psychiatrist, and so on. Also, they were from different sections of the country and were concerned that some ...

3780. How To Be A Saint In A Storm

Acts 27:13-26

Sermon

Barbara Brokhoff

How do you act in a storm? A friend, who is terribly afraid to fly, was invited to speak at a special gathering of the religious body of which he was a part, in Frankfurt, Germany. As he approached the airport in New York a terrific storm was taking place. He dreaded the trip, and now that the storm increased in velocity, he was sure that the flight would be cancelled. He continued to think this, even as he approached the ticket desk, and finally was ushered aboard his plane. He began to think seriously ...

3781. Peter’s Second Sermon

Acts 3:11-26

Sermon

Durwood L. Buchheim

It has been pointed out - many times! - that no aspect of worship has been so generally and ecumenically roasted as preaching!1 The many jokes about preachers and sermons rank next to, maybe slightly ahead of, jokes about mothers-in-law. Being a preacher and teacher of preachers, I have heard my share of funny stories about bad sermons. Like the one where the student preacher, who just finished preaching his masterpiece, piously asked the professor, "With what prayer should I begin my sermon?" The ...

3782. A Dead Man in a Witch’s Cave

1 Samuel 28:1-25

Sermon

R. Blaine Detrick

You will remember that, in God’s dealings with mankind, he chose one particular man, Abraham. Through that man, God intended to raise a special nation, through which he could bring his message of redemption to the whole world. God directed that nation down into the land of Egypt to preserve it during a time of world-wide famine and need. Joseph was our outstanding leader at that point. In the last chapter, God brought his chosen people back across the wilderness to the very edge of the land of promise, and ...

3783. Family Feud

Genesis 29:15-30

Sermon

David E. Leininger

An old story. A classic car lover was perusing the classifieds and saw an ad that seemed impossible to believe. A 1966 candy-apple red Corvette, a dream car, and offered for $100. What? $100...for a classic? No way, José. Was it a wreck? Or maybe the price was a misprint. Still, he had to find out, so he called. A woman answered the phone and assured him that the car was in excellent shape and that there was no mistake about the price. He dashed over. To his delight the car proved to be everything the ...

3784. Remember Your Baptism

Romans 6:1-14, Colossians 2:6-23

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

In his book, The Gospel For The Person Who Has Everything, William Willimon tells of a young friend, age 4, who was asked on the occasion of his 5th birthday what kind of party he wanted to have. I want everybody to be a king and queen, Clayton said. So, he and his mother went to work, fashioning a score of silver crowns – cardboard and aluminum foil, purple robes – crepe paper, and royal scepters – sticks painted gold. On the day of the party, as the guests arrived, they were each given a royal crown, a ...

3785. Remember Your Baptism

Luke 3:1-20

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

3786. Last Words Are Important

Matthew 28:16-20

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

Last words are important. Let that truth sink in. Last words are important. East Side Baptist Church is a little country church down in Perry County, Mississippi. It is the church in which I was converted under the preaching of Brother Wiley Grissom, a fifth-grade educated pastor who preached the Gospel with power. The church is about 200 yards up the hill from our old home place. Behind it is a cemetery where I’ll be buried someday. Mom and Dad—whom in my adult life I affectionately called, “Mutt” and “Co ...

3787. When Saying No Means Yes

Luke 4:1-13

Sermon

Mark Trotter

Traditionally the lesson that is to be read on this Sunday, the first Sunday in the season of Lent, is the story of Jesus' Temptation. There is a reason. Lent begins forty days before Easter, excluding the Sundays. Forty days were chosen as the length of the season because Jesus was in the wilderness during his temptation for forty days. The number has an even more ancient significance. Israel spent forty years in the wilderness, in what is called the Exodus. The Exodus and the Temptation are tied together ...

3788. Do You Get It?

Matthew 16:21-28

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

"Is that really necessary?" It's a question that we may ask when something unpleasant or disturbing has been said or done. If someone brings up a topic like capital punishment or abortion at the dinner table, you might ask rhetorically, "Is that really necessary?" In that situation it probably isn't, but there are times when such issues do have to be discussed. We can't always insist on keeping things light and comfortable. When somebody does refuse to face some of the tough realities of the world, we ...

3789. Be Kind

Ephesians 4:17--5:21

Sermon

James McCormick

Since before I can remember, I went to Vacation Bible School every summer. I loved Vacation Bible School and I have many fond memories of my experiences there. I remember rousing games of “Red Rover” in which the boys tried to impress the girls. I remember making first century houses out of clay. There were times when we dressed up in bath robes and re-enacted Biblical dramas. I remember spatter painting – I loved spatter painting! We would get a leaf or a flower or some other object and put it on a piece ...

3790. Against All Hope

Romans 4:1-25

Sermon

King Duncan

A little boy was taken to the dentist. He had a cavity that needed to be filled. “Now, young man,” asked the dentist, “what kind of filling would you like for that tooth?” The youngster thought for a moment and replied, “Chocolate.” That young man is a positive thinker. It seems to me that we don’t hear as much about positive thinking as we used to. Some of you will remember when, under the influence of the late, great Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, positive thinking was the rage. “If you can think it, you can ...

3791. The Death That Ends All Death

1 Peter 3:18

Sermon

James Merritt

Jesus Christ died when he was about thirty-three years old. Other than the fact that he died as a relatively young man, on the surface there seems to be nothing unusual about that statement. The reason why that seems to be a routine statement is because death comes to everyone. When the Irish writer, George Bernard Shaw, completed a statistical study on the subject of death, he said he came to this firm conclusion: "One out of one people dies." Normally that is why biographers seldom spend much time on the ...

3792. Make the Most of God’s Gifts

Ephesians 5:15-20

Sermon

Richard Gribble

John Harding had it all; his credentials were impeccable. He had a wonderful family. His wife, Sally, was one of those people everyone enjoys meeting. His eight-year-old son, Rick, was a good student, enjoyed athletics, and obeyed his parents. John himself had moved up the corporate ladder. After graduating from Arizona State University, where he played baseball well enough to be offered a professional contract, he moved to California's "Silicon Valley" and signed on with one of the many software companies ...

3793. Convening A Construction Crew: Nobody Builds Alone

Acts 2:42-47

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

A cartoon in a Saturday Evening Review features a young boy sitting under a tree taking inventory of his relationships. So far, I have fourteen people who love me, twenty-two people who like me, six people who tolerate me, and I have only three enemies. When it comes to relationships, how are you doing? John Donne said over 400 years ago, “No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. Any man’s death diminishes me...therefore, never ask for whom the bell ...

3794. Being Open to the Impossible

Mark 6:30-44

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

There is an old story about Albert Einstein. He was going around the country from university to university on the lecture circuit, giving lectures on his theory of relativity. He traveled by chauffer-driven limousine. One day, after they had been on the road for awhile, Einstein’s chauffeur said to him, “Dr. Einstein, I’ve heard you deliver that lecture on relativity so many times that I’ll bet that I could deliver it myself.” “Very well,” the good Doctor responded, “I’ll give you that opportunity tonight ...

3795. Kissing Cousins (Father's Day)

2 Corinthians 13:11-14

Sermon

King Duncan

If you happened to look at a church calendar for today, the first Sunday after Pentecost, you may have seen that today is called Trinity Sunday. That might have given you cause for alarm. You may have thought to yourself, “Oh, no, a deep, dull sermon is coming on the mystery of the Trinity.” That would be a perfectly natural reaction. So, to keep you awake, I’m going to address an entirely different subject that of kissing. And I’m going to begin with the worst joke about kissing that I know. It seems a ...

3796. Disintegration and Reintegration

Mark 14:1-15:47

Sermon

John Smylie

Today's reading is the longest assigned reading that we have the entire year. Many churches break the reading up into several parts, assigning individuals and groups to particular lines and sections. Perhaps we do this so we can keep the interest of the listener. Perhaps we do this so we can engage the drama of the reading. It seems to me the reason we have such a long reading today is because we have come to the heart and center of our faith. We need to hear the whole story. We need to be reminded not in ...

3797. Admitting the Real Truth

Romans 3:21-31

Sermon

Patrick J. Rooney

It does seem a bit unfair, putting me in the same category as Hitler, Stalin, or some of our more recent bad boys such as Osama bin Laden and his cronies. It does seem unfair to equate my own few failings with the level of their crimes against humanity. It is unfair to say that my sins can in any way be compared to theirs. They are evil and I am just a simple, frail human being, hardly worthy of being lumped with them into the same category. Yet, it is the apostle Paul, a man who knew a few things about ...

3798. Finding Our Roots in God and Country

2 Samuel 5:1-5, 6-10

Sermon

William J. Carl, III

It's a scary thing to go back and explore your roots. You never know what you might find — some errant ancestor who was a brigand or a pirate. Maybe one of them spent a fortnight in the stocks or was strung up on the gallows. Nevertheless, Alex Haley and genealogists around the world encourage us to book a ticket and take our chances traveling back in time. In a way, that's exactly what we do every Sunday when we open the Bible and step carefully like Alice into a biblical wonderland or the children making ...

3799. Prophesy Your Way Forward

Matthew 2:1-12

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

The worst thing about January 1? Not that it marks the “official” end of the holiday season. Not that it means school starts the next day. Not even that it signals we all just got a year older. The worst thing about January 1 is that we are immediately inundated with two of the most depressing messages imaginable. First, we are barraged and berated online, on tv, on buses, with the fact that it is high time to lose weight. Second, we begin to get reminded that it’s time to do our taxes. As if January weren ...

3800. Remember!

Deuteronomy 26:1-11

Sermon

David E. Leininger

Oft in the stilly night, Ere slumber's chain has bound me, Fond memory brings the light Of other days around me.[1] Memories ... we like them ... and we need them. As those words of Thomas Moore remind us, we are comforted and instructed by them. That is why a day such as this is a good day. Our text from Deuteronomy is Moses' instruction to the people of Israel on the establishment of a Thanksgiving tradition once they enter into the promised land. Get in there, work the land, plant, water, harvest, then ...

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