Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 4001 to 4025 of 4972 results

4001. We Are Driven!

Jeremiah 20:7-18

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

... blessing to all, it would be a sin not to share it. In the days of Israel, the Syrians besieged Samaria and the famine was so bad that some ate even their children. Four lepers were at the point of starvation and decided at the risk of their lives to leave the city and go to the Syrian camp for food. When they got there, they found that the Syrian army had fled and left all its food and provisions behind. They now had more than enough to eat. But one of them was conscience stricken and said, "We are not ...

4002. If You Had But One Request

1 Kings 3:1-15

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

... is a terrible way to talk about another person. I am going to send you off to school so you will learn to speak with proper language to people." He was sent off to a high-class finishing school, and some years later, they saw the very same cowboy leaving the same store. Now, the youth remarked, "My, have you ever seen a man whose legs are in parentheses?" If wisdom is not that, what is it? What are some of the component elements of wisdom? Wisdom is the ability to make good judgments and the right decisions ...

4003. Forgive To Be Forgiven

Genesis 50:15-21

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

... everyone of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart." At another time, Jesus emphasized the need of our forgiving each other when he said that if we have any ill feeling about a person and come to the altar with a gift to God, we should leave the gift at the altar, get reconciled with our brother, and then come and offer the gift which would be acceptable. Why, you ask, do we have to forgive before God will forgive us? It is not a condition that God lays down. It is not a kind of payment ...

4004. The Danger of Being Religious

Jeremiah 30:1--31:40

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

... in the short paragraphs of the creeds. For these twenty centuries, Christian people have been reciting the creeds as an adequate summary of God’s truth revealed in the Scriptures and personified in Christ. It is tragic that people by the droves are leaving the mainline churches, particularly young people, for the sects and cults that are misleading them by their false teachings. The reason for their success in attracting our people is our failure to properly teach our children and youth the truth of the ...

4005. Separation of God and State?

Isaiah 44:24--45:25

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

... God to wield the sword for the common good. They are responsible and accountable to God for governing the nation. State officials must not only answer to the people at the next election but to God. Richard Nixon, Spiro Agnew, and John Mitchell had to leave top positions in our Federal Government because of their abuse of their positions and power, but just wait until they appear before God’s Supreme Court! If the state officials rule under the authority of God and rule justly, we Christians are to respect ...

4006. As Good As God

Leviticus 19:1-37

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

... see his little daughter who was in critical condition in St. Catherine’s Children’s Hospital next to the church. A friend made her a birthday cake with decorative icing. Before going to the hospital, he stepped into the church to pray for his daughter and went off leaving the cake in a pew. When he got to the hospital, he found the child near death. Shortly after she died, he went back to the church and picked up the cake. On the front steps he paused and looked up at a statue of a cross-crowned Christ ...

4007. Your Money and Your Life

Matthew 6:19-24

Sermon

Robert Bachelder

... necessary institution. Sociologists continue to say the family is the vital unit or cell of society. We are all disturbed by the disintegration of the family as the divorce rate climbs. Many believe this phenomenon is as dangerous as running out of energy or leaving ourselves vulnerable to an enemy attack. This is why "family life" is one of two national priorities of our United Church of Christ. Here we are, then, focusing our efforts on preserving the family, and now I come along and say with Plato that ...

4008. A Book Which Reads Us

John 4:1-26

Sermon

Robert Bachelder

... other worlds. "E. T." is one of the most successful movies of all time. It is about an extra-terrestrial creature who heals cuts with the touch of his finger, raises dead flowers to life, and who himself is raised from the dead before he departs earth, his spaceship leaving a rainbow in the sky. I would guess that millions of people who never enter the door of a church have flocked to "E. T." and been moved by it. They are searching for a source of hope. They are looking for a model of themselves as people ...

4009. Out of the Darkness

John 9:1-12

Sermon

Robert Bachelder

... with thorns for very much longer. Christ is brooding over this land because too many of its people have affirmed not a Christian vision of life, hope, love, and peace, but have affirmed instead a demonic vision of legalized murder, exploitation, and war. So, as you leave this place, remember how a man of God once said to the ancient Hebrew assembly: "I am giving you this day a choice between life and death, between God’s blessing and God’s curse. And I call heaven and earth to witness the choice you ...

4010. Claim Your Ministry

Matthew 20:20-28

Sermon

Robert Bachelder

... and by his word to the sons of Zebedee: "I am among you as one who serves." The Reformers grasped that Jesus was a king who had turned this world’s understanding of kingship on its head by emptying himself, taking the form of a servant and leaving the royal robes in the closet. To this they drew a corollary, that their king’s royal priesthood must share his qualities, that servanthood must define the shape of the Christian community, and that its leaders must be servants of the servants of God. It is ...

4011. Victim or Visionary

John 19:28-37

Sermon

Robert Bachelder

... assistant, a boy named Jesus Ortiz, joins a gang of hoodlums. The gang comes to the shop to rob the old man. Unexpectedly, one of the boys draws a gun and starts to shoot him. Jesus, though, throws himself on the gun and is killed. The other boys run off, leaving the pawnbroker to hold the head of the dying Jesus. Then, as one critic put it, the man’s "humanity returns in a torrent." With his eyes blinded by tears, he goes back into the shop, and we see what he is going to do. There is a paperspike before ...

4012. Jesus' Consecration

Matthew 3:13-17

Illustration

Brett Blair

... the Pastor articulated the number of sermons preached and the prominent pulpits occupied. But Saint Peter said no one had heard them in heaven. The discouraged servant enumerated his community involvement. He was told they were not recorded. Sorrowfully, the pastor turned to leave, when Peter said, "Stay a moment, and tell me, are you the man who fed the sparrows?" "Yes," the Scotsman replied, "but what does that have to do with it?" "Come in," said Saint Peter, "the Master of the sparrows wants to thank ...

4013. Solomon’s Search

2 Chronicles 1:1-17

Sermon

Richard F. Bansemer

... ? Did you have somebody in? You should have called me if you weren’t feeling well. Darling, whatever you do, don’t tell anyone else about this. I knew I shouldn’t have gone off. I knew it." That ends our episode of a person at prayer with God. It leaves some questions to ask, like, if you had that experience, what would you do next? Would you get back in touch with God, and make up your mind what you wanted? Would you mention it again to your husband or wife? Would you share it with a friend, tell it ...

4014. Job’s Joy

Job 38:1--41:34

Sermon

Richard F. Bansemer

... Let me afflict his body. And God, for reasons unknown to Job, and often unknown to us, gives Satan permission to do anything short of death. Sores now cover Job from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head, and he has to leave his house and go to a pile of dung ashes, and there amid rubbish, rotting carcasses, homeless beggars, village idiots, and homeless dogs, the respected prince becomes an outcast, awaiting death, tormented by pain and mental anguish. It is important to remember, Job did not know ...

4015. Doctor Thomas Dooley

Matthew 9:1-8

Sermon

Carroll Gunkel

... the refugees met the Master in Thomas Dooley. Together they learned that the Master was - and is - love, and they shared love with one another. The wise men ask, "What language did Christ speak?" They cavil, argue, search, and little prove. O sages, leave your Syriac and your Greek! Each heart contains the knowledge that you seek; Christ spoke the universal language - love.7 Thomas Dooley spoke in Christ’s universal language to the refugees of Viet Nam. In recognition of his loving ministry he was feted ...

4016. General William Booth

Matthew 25:31-46

Sermon

Carroll Gunkel

... . That anti alcohol position, plus the Army’s omnipresent need for money provides an example of Booth’s lofty dedication to principle. In the city of Newcastle-on-Tyne, two "Hallelujah Lasses," as they were then called, were offered three hundred pounds to leave town ... by the town’s gin-seller ... because they were ruining his business. Although the work of the Salvation Army could have used the money, the offer was summarily refused, and the Army redoubled its efforts against alcohol.4 While I have ...

4017. "Lite Beer by Miller"

1 Corinthians 8:1-13

Sermon

Peter Rudowski

... after a while the prayer began to change. No longer did I pray that God show him his errors; rather, I prayed that God bless him in the gifts that God had given to him. After a week of such prayer, I began to feel different. The anger began to leave me. The ocean became a river and then a creek. Now we are comfortable in the same room. The God who created me created my estranged friend who once again had become a friend. It seems to me that in the human condition we will disagree with each other, and ...

4018. Reach Out and Touch Someone

Acts 2:1-13

Sermon

Peter Rudowski

... your anniversary. It’s not the length of the call, but the thought behind it that brings the words, "Oh, you shouldn’t have." Inside, the heart jumps for joy because the person didn’t forget. The day didn’t come with anticipation and leave with disappointment. It was fulfilled. Someone reached out and touched another person. How beautifully the Bell Telephone Company puts it in a little jingle and makes caring happen. Although I am sure that Bell Telephone wrote that ad with the idea that we would ...

4019. An Almost Anonymous Apostle

Acts 1:12-26

Sermon

George Bass

... also because he was faithful and died a martyr’s death for the sake of Christ. That’s why we can thank God for his life, his apostolic succession in place of Judas, and his witnessing for Christ. Who can object if tradition takes over where the text leaves off? He was enrolled to a preaching ministry, not merely an honorary office, when he was elected an apostle, and it is not too much to believe that the tradition - Matthias is to be remembered as an apostle and martyr - is true, is it? So many church ...

4020. Gabriel Speaks to Mary

Luke 1:26-38

Sermon

George Bass

... -inspiring. It poses the question: Who among us - man or woman, boy or girl - would be willing today to lay down his/her life, literally, for Christ? The few people who have totally committed their lives to Christ for the gospel’s sake - and become modern martyrs - leave us speechless. If asked, "Do you love God enough to die for the Christian faith?" we might answer with a ready "yes" - as long as we know that our lives are not really in jeopardy. It was much different in the early years and centuries of ...

4021. Telling the Right Story

2 Timothy 3:10--4:8

Sermon

George Bass

... ? No one could have been more qualified to write such a biography, could he, with the possible exception of Luke himself, the beloved physician and companion of Paul. Why didn’t Mark write a biography - the first and a complete one - about Paul, instead of leaving it to Luke to incorporate Paul’s story into the larger story of the beginning of the Christian Church? Inasmuch as John Mark wrote only one story, the gospel that bears his name, he certainly made the right choice. He chose the right story to ...

4022. A Glimpse of God

John 14:5-14

Sermon

George Bass

... ’s Charles I, Cicily Veronica Wedgwood describes the king’s last night and dawn on earth. She says, "The King spent what was left of the evening in further prayer and meditation with Bishop Juxon (his chaplain), and some hours after dark gave him leave to go, saying that he would want him early on the following morning. He himself sat up reading and praying until nearly midnight before going to bed ... He slept peacefully for several hours." He awakened between five and six o’clock the next morning ...

4023. Born to Play Second Fiddle

Luke 1:57-66

Sermon

George Bass

... difficult to believe when we live in another time and a different kind of world. It has been given us to believe without seeing - and that’s a large order for faith to accomplish; it takes lots of grace. A young neighbor was about to leave for a prestigious medical school in another part of the country. He was showing his butterfly collection to some children and their mothers before he shipped it to his new school. The children soon lost interest but one woman admired one particular rare and beautiful ...

4024. Lift High the Christ!

John 12:20-36

Sermon

George Bass

... pulled up behind and the driver suggested, "You fellows get on the bus behind me and just tell them you’ve already paid." A passenger said, "That driver ain’t gonna believe those boys." The driver said, "Now you folks know that I’m not supposed to leave this bus." A customer answered, "It’s all right, lady; we’ll take care of the bus." So the driver got off the bus, went back to the next bus, obtained some transfers, and the problem was solved. And a customer announced, "She’s new, but she’s ...

4025. Call Him a Story Teller

Luke 1:1-4

Sermon

George Bass

... a voice from the pillow (quoting Hamlet and) saying, ‘Rest, perturbed spirit.’ " Shortly thereafter he went to that final rest - death. And Coffin adds: "During the days following his death, Uncle Henry remained such a presence in the house that when it was time to leave for the funeral no one really was surprised to hear Aunt Dorothy call, ‘Come on, Henry, time to go.’ His life had been so full that the service inevitably became one of gratitude more than grief. I have never known a man who found ...

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