Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 3826 to 3850 of 4943 results

3826. Good Guys And Bad Guys Alike

Genesis 37:1-11, 12-36

Sermon

Steve Burt

Love your enemies, Jesus says in his Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5). Is he serious? Crazy? Love our enemies? We ask, "Why would we do that?" And Jesus says, "So that you may be children of your Father in heaven." Then he gets crazier. "Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect." What a tall order: Be perfect! The key to being perfect, as God is perfect, it would seem, is to understand that Jesus also says in his Sermon on the Mount that God "makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, ...

3827. The Future Of The Church!

Matthew 11:25-30

Drama

Robert F. Crowley

Theme: Sometimes the wise and learned are confounded by spiritual truths and they are revealed to those who are trusting enough to believe Jesus' words. Summary: Barney Willis, a young college student, is supposed to speak on the "Future of the Church" but can't seem to get started. The reason is revealed by his family. Playing Time: 10 minutes Setting: Your church Props: Guitar Costumes: Contemporary Time: The present Cast: BARNEY WILLIS -- a college student REV. WILLIS --his father MRS. WILLIS -- Barney' ...

3828. The Babel Disaster -- You Are There

Sermon

Jerry Eckert

July 25, 1982 Comment: Up to this time, I had tried to handle thestory sermons myself. With the encouragement shown for mydramatic efforts of the earlier weeks that summer, I decidedto try to involve the congregation in a more direct way. That year, a large hotel in a major U. S. city hadcollapsed, killing scores and injuring hundreds. I saw thestory in a periodical which, unfortunately, I did not keep.The first interview in the script, the woman's experience,comes from that. With a few bits remembered ...

3829. Jacob And The Night Wrestler

Sermon

Jerry Eckert

August 22, 1982 Comment: A good story can be done a number of ways. Astory about Jacob lent itself as a short story when I didit. Since then, I have come to see it as a radio drama, notunlike those frequently heard in the '40s and '50s in whichthe hero narrates and has some dialogue with a limitednumber of other characters. Sound effects would be nice andcould be handled by a creative team working on this story. Those who study the biblical story closely will realizeI have taken some liberties, as most ...

3830. How A Young Man Fell

Judges 16:1-22

Sermon

Erskine White

He awoke from his sleep and said, "I will go out as at other times and shake myself free. "And he did not know that the Lord had left him.(Judges 1:20) (I will be speaking directly to the children in church this morning, but the rest of you can listen if you want to.) I imagine some of you like to watch the cartoons on Saturday morning. Am I right? You watch the superheroes, as I did when I was a kid. In my day, it was Superman and Wonder Woman; of course, they're still around, but there are also some new ...

3831. Big Changes

Luke 20:27-40

Children's Sermon

Brett Blair

Exegetical Aim: As we grow in life and as we grow with God, we will always have to deal with changes. Sometimes it means letting go of the old and accepting the new. Heaven will bring about the biggest of these changes. Props: A diaper, wipes, a baby bottle (or a jar of baby food and a baby spoon), and a pacifier. Lesson: I have something this morning I think you need. Hold up the diaper. Okay, who needs his diaper changed? (response) All right, don't be shy. Who needs his diaper changed? Anyone have wet ...

3832. Lent

Sermon

Betty Lynn Schwab

Lent 1 Reader 1: God spoke to Moses saying: "You shall keep the Festival of Shavuot for the Lord your God, contributing a freewill offering in proportion to the blessing that you have received from the Lord." Reader 2: In Jesus' day, the Festival of Shavuot required every male in Israel to travel to the Temple of Jerusalem. There he offered God the first ripe fruits of this land. It was a time of thanksgiving for the goodness of the land. On Shavuot, it was said, Heaven decided the fate of the trees and ...

3833. Parable of the Crabgrass

Matthew 13:24-30, Matthew 13:36-43

Children's Sermon

Brett Blair

Exegetical Aim: Discernment of who is a good person and who is a bad person is sometimes difficult and should be left to God. Props: A tray, a strand or clump of good grass, and a patch of crabgrass (or weed). Try and pull up one whole system of each. Place the grass side by side in the tray so that they initially look like one system of grass. Lesson: I have something in this tray this morning. Can anybody tell me what it is? (grass) Is there anything strange about the grass? (response) Look at it closely ...

3834. Save Us From the World-Savers

Luke 15:11-32

Sermon

Carl Jech

Now his elder son ... was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him, but he answered his father. "Lo, these many years I have served you ..." (Luke 15:25a, 28-29a) Garrison Keillor likes to describe his fictional town of Lake Wobegon, Minnesota, as having been founded by "Unitarian missionaries who came to convert the Indians through the use of interpretive dance." To appreciate the subtle humor of this remark we need to be aware that Unitarian Universalists generally don't believe ...

3835. The Freedom To Be Wrong

Luke 18:9-14

Sermon

I want to begin with a situation that might happen to a young person. I hope that those of us who are older will think back to our youth and put ourselves into the same story. Let’s say you’re still living at home and going to school. On a Saturday night you take the family car. Let’s admit you’re an excellent driver and that you have the right to think of yourself as careful and prudent at the wheel. This is the image your parents have of you and you’re pleased with that. Good for you. You are with the ...

3836. Booby Trap

Luke 10:25-37

Sermon

And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, "Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" He said to him, "What is written in the law? How do you read?" And he answered, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself." And he said to him, "You have answered right; do this, and you will live." But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?" ...

3837. God's Push

Matthew 15:21-28

Sermon

Most of us, when we are pushed, will push back. When we are pushed harder, we will resist even more. A mother says to her teen-age daughter, "I'd like you to clean your room before you go away for the weekend." "Do I have to?" she groans. "Yes, you must." "I don't want to." "Do it," said the mother, "and that's final!" "No, I won't." And Slam! Bang! go the doors. Very few of us like to be pushed - and that's true of adults, not only youths. Sometimes, however, God pushes us. God nudges us toward something ...

3838. A Liturgical Drama For Advent

Drama

Tom Eberle

Advent The seasons of the church calendar are like the headings for each act of a theater production. They provide the particular setting in which one element of the divine drama of God’s revelation in Christ is presented to us. The liturgical seasons are sometimes thought of as optional observances, like a fancily-iced cake. They make worship more attractive, but are not part of the basic recipe. This collection of liturgical dramas for worship is written, not as frosting, but with the intention that the ...

3839. We Do Not Have To Stay The Way We Are!

Joel 2:1-11

Sermon

Durwood L. Buchheim

"Have I been with you so long, and yet you do not know me, Philip?" (John 14:9). So Jesus responded to Philip’s question about wanting to know and sense the presence of God. It is a good question for all of us as we once again make our Lenten journey to Easter. How would you answer if asked to share your thoughts about God? What thoughts come to mind when we think about God? Do we take the time to think about God? Do we believe there is a God? Are we more confident this year than last, that there is a God ...

3840. Where Do Sins Go?

2 Samuel 12:1-31

Sermon

Edward Chinn

On August 6, 1945, an atomic bomb was dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. The light from that explosion was brighter than 25,000 suns. John Hershey wrote a book about that day. The book, titled Hiroshima, described the permanent shadows which were caused by the blast of that bomb. The heat from that burst of energy indelibly etched the shadows of objects and human beings upon the buildings and the roads of that place. When troops later entered that devastated city, they saw the shadow of a person ...

3841. A Mountain Of Meaning

Matthew 17:1-9

Sermon

Brett Blair

A brilliant magician was performing on an ocean liner. But every time he did a trick, the Captain's parrot would yell, "It's a trick. He's a phony. That's not magic." Then one evening during a storm, the ship sank while the magician was performing. The parrot and the magician ended up in the same lifeboat. For several days they just glared at each other, neither saying a word to the other. Finally the parrot said, "OK, I give up. What did you do with the ship?" The parrot couldn’t explain that last trick! ...

3842. Called to Be Saints

Matthew 5:1-12

Sermon

Warren Thomas Smith

"Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so men persecuted the prophets who were before you." (v. 12) Who is a saint? The historic definition is one whose life is worthy of imitation by all of Christendom. Some add that a sense of humor is a prerequisite, along with having performed miracles. "She is a saint," we say. What do we mean? We usually have in mind a person whose goodness, unselfishness, love, is unmistakable. Ah, but ask that one, "Are you a saint?" The answer: "Of course ...

3843. A Match Made In Heaven

Hosea 1:1-2:1

Sermon

John W. Wurster

I have a friend who wanted me to preach on this passage at his wedding. A good friend, a minister friend, someone I love and trust, wanted me to read and preach from Hosea before some 300 people, his own parishioners, at his own wedding: “Go take for yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the Lord” (1:2). I protested loudly, not wanting to stand up and in any way imply that my friend was marrying a woman of dubious character. It’s just ...

3844. The Prod of the Past

Exodus 12:1-30

Sermon

David E. Leininger

"You shall observe it as a perpetual ordinance." or as the King James has it, "You shall observe it as an ordinance forever." The establishment of the Passover, one of the most important of all Jewish festivals. And they HAVE observed it forever. Every year since, and down to our own day, Jewish families have gathered at the traditional Seder meal. The patriarch of the household asks the children, "What makes this night different than all other nights?" The youngsters respond with the Exodus story of God's ...

3845. A Tale of Two Sisters

Luke 10:38-42

Sermon

David E. Leininger

With a title like "A Tale of Two Sisters," I guess this should open with something like "It was the best of times; it was the worst of times." But it was neither. Unusual, to be sure. Even a little exciting. After all, these were the days of an itinerant rabbi called Jesus of Nazareth who was attracting quite a bit of attention. At some point previous - we are never told when, where or how - these two sisters, Mary and Martha, along with their brother Lazarus, had been introduced to Jesus. They must have ...

3846. Two Parades

Luke 22:66--23:25

Sermon

King Duncan

Have you ever really failed at anything? Perhaps in your work or in your marriage or in school or some other endeavor? Do you lie awake at night and recount the things you wish you had not said and had not done? You are not alone. Did you know that the great American patriot, Paul Revere, was once courtmartialed for cowardice? In 1778 Paul Revere commanded a garrison of soldiers who attempted to take over a British stronghold in Maine. The invasion was a complete failure, costing lives and ships. Revere ...

3847. Last Words

Luke 24:36-49

Sermon

King Duncan

[While King Duncan is enjoying a well deserved retirement we are going back to his earliest sermons and renewing them. The newly modernized sermon is shown first and below, for reference sake, is the old sermon. We will continue this updating throughout the year bringing fresh takes on King's best sermons.] Original Title: Last Words New Title: Before It's Too Late, Turn Around A lawyer was trying to console a weeping widow. Her husband had passed away without a will. "Did the deceased have any last words ...

3848. Light For Our Lives

John 1:1-18

Sermon

King Duncan

Dr. Maxwell Maltz has gained quite notable fame through his popular self-help book entitled "Psycho-Cybernetics." The theory of psycho-cybernetics is based on Dr. Maltz's work as a plastic surgeon. Listen as he describes how he became interested in the human personality: "One day many years ago a woman in her mid-twenties came to my offices. She had a deep indented scar on her left cheek, a constant reminder of an automobile accident she'd been in. She looked unhappy, with herself and her life." "'Who ...

3849. Are You Dressed For The Banquet?

Matthew 22:1-14

Sermon

King Duncan

Television journalist Hugh Downs and his wife once attended a function in Washington. When the time came to return to New York, they discovered that their flight had been cancelled due to bad weather. Downs immediately called the front desk and was informed that they could catch a five o'clock train, which was leaving in 45 minutes. Mrs. Downs was showering, and to save time, Hugh hurriedly packed all their belongings, called the bell captain and asked that the bags be rushed right over to the station and ...

3850. Someone Is Calling In The Night

1 Samuel 3:1--4:1

Sermon

King Duncan

One summer while Max Lucado was in high school he worked laying pipe in a West Texas oil field. At lunch time the workers in the oil field would tell jokes and play cards. "For thirty minutes in the heat of the day," Max says, "the oil patch became Las Vegas ” replete with foul language, dirty stories, blackjack, and barstools that doubled as lunch pails." One day during lunch a supervisor walked toward the workers. Did he have a job for them that couldn't wait? They wondered. "Uh, fellows," he said. The ...

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