Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 376 to 400 of 538 results

376. Jesus as Isaianic Messiah and Wisdom Embodied

Matthew 11:1-19

Teach the Text

Jeannine K. Brown

Big Idea: Matthew demonstrates Jesus to be the Messiah, who signals the kingdom’s arrival by his acts of healing and preaching of good news and confounds human expectations by embodying the wisdom of God. Understanding the Text This passage begins a two-chapter account of various responses to who Jesus is and to his kingdom message among the Jewish people of Galilee. Beginning with John the Baptist’s wonderings about Jesus, the reader hears of various responses, from the very negative responses of Jewish ...

377. Eschatological Discourse: Being Prepared for Jesus’ Return

Matthew 24:36-51, Matthew 25:1-13

Teach the Text

Jeannine K. Brown

Big Idea: Jesus predicts his return (parousia), which will usher in the end of the age and the final judgment, and warns that, because the time of his return is unexpected, his followers should be always ready for his return. Understanding the Text In the latter part of chapter 24 and the first parable in chapter 25, Jesus’ teachings turn from the signs portending the temple’s imminent destruction (24:4–35) to his reappearing (his parousia at the end of the age [see 24:3]), which will occur without warning ...

378. “The Lord Looks Down . . . to See If There Are Any Who Understand”

Psalm 14:1-7

Teach the Text

C. Hassell Bullock

Big Idea: The world’s God-deniers will find, maybe to their surprise, that the God they deny is found “in the company of the righteous.” Understanding the Text The form of Psalm 14 is sometimes considered to be an individual lament, and in tone, it is, because the psalmist grieves over the vacuum of faith that he perceives in his world. But it does not follow the form of the lament. Others have suggested it is a wisdom psalm, in view of its use of wisdom language. In wisdom terms, the word “fool” stands ...

379. Higher Ground

Luke 24:36-49, Luke 24:50-53

Sermon

Lori Wagner

How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, "Your God reigns!" (Isaiah 52:7) A 2016 film called “Everest” re-captured the fascination and fear of our highest mountains. Based on the true story of a double expedition up the Himalayan slopes in 1996, the film chronicles the deaths of all but two when a fierce blizzard swirls in, thwarting their safe descent. Despite the wisdom and experience of ...

380. Prayers for Memorial Day, Election, Thanksgiving

Bulletin Aid

Rolland R. Reece

Memorial Day Today, Creator God, we remember. We remember the courage of our forefathers who decided they could no longer bow to England's crown, so they went to war to gain our country's independence. We remember the agony and blood-letting of that war that pitted American against American, the north against the south. Even to this day the wounds of that fighting are yet to be healed. We remember that many years ago we sent our troops to "fight the Kaiser" in a war that was to end all wars. Then less than ...

381. All We Like Sheep Have Gone Astray

Isaiah 52:13--53:12

Sermon

Durwood L. Buchheim

In the middle 1960s, a seminary student interned in a Lutheran congregation in Berlin, Germany. This intern was much interested in the history of World War II, since he was born about the time his father was fighting in Germany. However, he soon discovered that most of the members of that congregation did not want to talk about the war. It was too painful. But one day, an uncle of one of the intern’s friends came to see him and shared this personal story.1 He was an engineer on the train from Amsterdam to ...

382. The Art Of Borrowing And Lending A Donkey

Luke 19:28-44

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

Imagine it. You've just bought a brand new BMW. You have had it a week. It only has 200 miles on it. You are coming to church on Sunday morning and you stop by the bank to get a little bit of cash from the automatic teller. While you are there, two men walk up and tell you that their leader has told them to borrow your car because their master is going to ride in it down Poplar Avenue to the center of the city to demonstrate who he is. They tell you that they will have the car back to you in about three ...

383. Manual Labor Is Not the President of Mexico

Proverbs 6:6-8

Sermon

James Merritt

"It's true hard work never killed anybody, but I figure, why take the chance?" Ronald Reagan1 Two teenagers were talking, and one said to another, "I'm really worried. Dad slaves away at his job so I will never want for anything, pays all of my bills and sends me to college. Mom spends every day washing and ironing and cleaning up after me, and even takes care of me when I am sick." "So, what are you worried about?" He said, "I'm afraid they might try to escape!" That story reflects my belief that ...

384. Won't You Be My Neighbor?

Luke 10:25-37

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

“Mister Rogers,” anyone? With his zippered cardigans, canvas sneakers, and handmade puppets (before there were cool “Muppets”), “Mister Rogers” was a pioneer in the early days of educational television for young children. Fred Rogers, a Presbyterian minister from Pittsburgh, started developing the characters and themes of his program in the mid-1950’s. But it wasn’t until 1967 that “Mister Roger’s Neighborhood” took its final form and appeared on PBS stations across the country. This sweet, sappy, smart ...

385. Dust in the Wind

Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21

Sermon

Timothy Cargal

Sometimes a song gets so deep inside your head that it can never be uprooted. Maybe it is the melody or the mood evoked by its musical qualities. Maybe it is the themes and ideas that find expression in its lyrics. If it happens to be both the music and the lyrics perfectly matched to each other, then the effect is particularly strong. Such songs have the ability to become a recurring soundtrack to our lives. One such song for me is Kerry Livgren’s “Dust In The Wind.” Since I first heard this song more ...

386. Boaz Marries Ruth

Ruth 4:1-12

Understanding Series

Michael S. Moore

Boaz’s Transaction: 4:1 Boaz does not go directly to Elimelech’s kinsman’s house, nor does he summon him to his own. Instead, he goes to the town gate. When the kinsman-redeemer he had mentioned came along (lit. “wandered by,” ’abar), Boaz says, Come over here, my friend, and sit down. The narrator portrays this all-important meeting like the chance meeting of Ruth and Boaz in 2:3, but events only seem to happen by chance in Ruth. Boaz’s patient anticipation at Bethlehem’s gate contrasts sharply with the ...

387. Jesus Is the Example of Service for His Followers

Matthew 20:17-19, Matthew 20:20-28

Teach the Text

Jeannine K. Brown

Big Idea: Jesus’ disciples are exhorted to renounce their concern for status, following the example of Jesus himself, who willingly suffers and dies to ransom people. Understanding the Text This passage narrates a final teaching opportunity for Jesus’ disciples before arriving in Jerusalem (20:29–21:11). The passage begins with a third passion prediction by Jesus (20:17–19; cf. 16:21; 17:22–23) and ends with the first explicit purpose statement that Jesus provides for his coming death: to be “a ransom for ...

388. Hearing and Responding

Luke 8:19-21, Luke 8:16-18, Luke 8:1-15

Teach the Text

R.T. France

Big Idea: When God’s word is proclaimed, there are different levels of response, ranging from those who take no notice to those whose lives are transformed. Understanding the Text At the heart of Jesus’s mission as announced in 4:14–21 is teaching and the proclamation of good news. We have had an important section of his teaching in 6:20–49, which concluded with trenchant comments on the importance of putting into practice what is heard—a theme that runs through this whole section. Since then, Jesus has ...

389. The River of Life

Revelation 22:1-6

Understanding Series

Robert W. Wall

22:1–5 The phrase, Then the angel showed me, seems to indicate John’s decision to add a separate “paradise tradition” into his vision of the new Jerusalem. The reasons for this are clearly theological: he thereby indicates that God’s redemption returns the new creation—the community of overcomers—to the Garden of Eden and to the creator’s intentions for humanity (Caird, Revelation, p. 280; Boring, Revelation, p. 218). These intentions, already indicated by the “new song” at the Lamb’s exaltation, are ...

390. When the Way Means Staying Home

John 11:1-45

Sermon

April Yamasaki

A fellow pastor once remarked that a church in our city would need to grow by ten to fifteen percent a year just to stay the same size. His evidence was clearly anecdotal without any survey data or other numbers to back up his comment, but I understood his point. People move from church to church and across denominations. Some people fall ill and become unable to attend as regularly. Some pass from this life to the next. There’s movement in and out of our busy urban and suburban area. One family from our ...

391. Ash Wednesday

Matthew 6:1-4, Matthew 6:16-18, Joel 2:12-17, 2 Corinthians 5:11--6:2

Sermon Aid

George Bass

THEOLOGICAL CLUE The very title of the first day of Lent - Ash Wednesday, with its opening word, "Remember, you are dust, and unto dust you shall return" - has the theological clue for its observation embedded in it; Lent has to do with the human predicament of sin and death and points to the action God takes in the death and resurrection of his Son, Jesus Christ, to resolve this situation. The cross announces forgiveness of sin, reconciles God and his children, and the resurrection completes the ...

392. Maundy Thursday

John 13:1-17, 1 Corinthians 11:17-34, Exodus 12:1-30

Sermon Aid

THEOLOGICAL CLUE Thursday of Holy Week originally was celebrated as a feast of reconciliation, long ago when sin was taken seriously by the church; the penitents, who were excluded from the congregation during Lent were brought back and joined the congregation in the sacrament. They would come to the closed door of the church, knock and seek entrance, only to be turned away by an official of the congregation. They returned a second time, knocked and were turned away again. The third time, the bishop went ...

393. Security: Deeply Personal

Ezekiel 34:1-31

Sermon

Christian unity proclaims security in a personal King, Jesus the Christ! The whole concept of security has taken on new connotations since the Second World War and especially with the news other nations besides the United States have the atomic bomb. Relatively speaking, it has not been too many years that individuals or even nations could cross mountains and/or oceans to gain security from enemies. Our own nation, for generations, was free from direct interference of the ongoing wars and intrigues of ...

394. Why Must We Carry A Cross?

Mark 8:31-38

Sermon

Brett Blair

You might remember comedian Yakov Smirnoff. When he first came to the United States from Russia he was not prepared for the incredible variety of instant products available in American grocery stores. He says, "On my first shopping trip, I saw powdered milk you just add water, and you get milk. Then I saw powdered orange juice you just add water, and you get orange juice. And then I saw baby powder, and I thought to my self, What a country!" Smirnoff is joking but we make these assumptions about Christian ...

395. A Friend in Low Places

Mark 1:9-13

Sermon

Mark Trotter

I've just returned from a study break, which I spent in a cabin in northern California, back in the woods, all by myself. It was a wonderful time. Some of you have asked me, "Did you do any fishing?" I am really shocked that you would even ask that question. I was there for study, not for fishing. Besides, the river was too muddy to fish. Up there I listened to country western music, because in that part of the state, that is about all you can get on the radio. I am not a great student of country western ...

396. The Joyful Provider

John 2:1-11

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

The season of Lent has arrived. It's time to repent and believe the Gospel. We are encouraged to remember that we are mortal, as if our bodies would ever let us forget. Lent is a 40-day period of self-examination and self-denial — except for Sundays. Tucked into these forty days are six “little Easters" — days to remember that God in Jesus Christ gives us the victory over sin, over death, over all that destroys our relationship with Him. So this First Sunday of Lent, I invite you not to the wilderness of ...

397. Those Kissing Christians

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

How many of you remember your “first kiss?” Wow. Now I need some “first kiss” stories. [This would make a great EPIC [Experiential, Participatory, Image-rich, Connective] moment. Take a mike into the congregation and ask for details.) I hate to burst your bubble so early in the sermon. But all those “first kisses” you remember . . .whether it was a stolen smooch in the schoolyard, or a braces-locking embrace and teenage embarrassment: whatever you call your “first kiss” . . . was not. Your “first kiss” was ...

398. A New Name

Isaiah 62:1-5

Sermon

Derl G. Keefer

Let's play a game. I am going to say a name and you think about that person. What emotions does the name bring to mind? What nostalgic feature? What accomplishments do you remember about them or what negatives have they produced in your thinking? Abraham Lincoln Eve Tommy Dorsey Joan of Arc Paul the apostle Amelia Earhart Mohammad Ali Albert Einstein Mary the Mother of Jesus Osama bin Laden Mother Teresa Now think of the names of people in your life who have influenced you parents grandparents other ...

399. Parables Discourse: Importance of Response to the Kingdom Message

Matthew 13:1-23

Teach the Text

Jeannine K. Brown

Big Idea: Though the kingdom has a hidden quality so that some do not see or understand it, Jesus teaches his disciples the importance of receiving the kingdom message and bearing fruit. Understanding the Text The third major Matthean discourse, the Parables Discourse (chap. 13), explores through teachings and parables the varied responses that have been narrated in chapters 11–12. Matthew’s two previous discourses have introduced the kingdom—its covenantal nature (chaps. 5–7) and its mission (chap. 10). ...

400. The King and the Maiden Banter

Song of Songs 1:1-17

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

1:1–3:5 Review · The Shulammite Maiden: The title of the book, both English and Hebrew, is taken from the first verse. Literally translated, the verse reads, “the song of songs, which is of Solomon.” The expression “song of songs” is an idiom for the superlative in Hebrew—“the best song.” The word “song” is a generic term for any happy, festival song (cf. Isa. 24:9; 30:29). The possessive pronoun attributing the work to Solomon, if original, is ambiguous at best. The opening sections of the poem find the ...

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