Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 4051 to 4075 of 4939 results

4051. Mine Eyes Have Seen The Glory!

John 11:17-37

Sermon

Steven E. Albertin

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord; He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored; He has loosed the fateful lightning of his terrible swift sword: His truth is marching on.Glory, glory! Hallelujah! Glory, glory! Hallelujah!Glory, glory! Hallelujah! Every time I hear these words of the "Battle Hymn of the Republic," I have visions of some old Civil War movie with soldiers marching off to meet their fate in the glory of the battlefield. In such a context this hymn ...

4052. How Costly Grace? Or Does Spelling Count?

Micah 6:1-8

Sermon

Paul E. Robinson

As long as men and women and boys and girls have inhabited this planet, they have sought to control their lives in whatever ways possible. In order to have a better harvest, they have experimented with different crops, different fertilizers, and different methods of planting. In order to kill more game for food, they created more and more advanced kinds of bows, more accurate arrows, more deadly traps. In order to protect themselves from neighboring tribes they produced walls and moats and castles, and ...

4053. Advent 3

James 5:7-12, Isaiah 35:1-10, Matthew 11:1-19

Sermon Aid

Russell F. Anderson

COMMENTARY Old Testament: Isaiah 35:1-10 A message of promise and hope comes to the captive children of Israel. Yahweh is going to free them from their oppression and open a road through the parched desert to the holy city of Jerusalem. The writer (not Isaiah) poetically pictures the entire creation participating in the redemption of God's people as the desert springs to luxuriant life, free of ravenous beasts. In this second exodus from the land of captivity to the promised land, the redeemed leave their ...

4054. All Saints' Sunday

Mt 5:1-12 · 1 Jn 3:1-3 · Isa 26:1-21 · Rev 7:9-17; 21:9-11, 22-27; 22:1-5 · Ps 24 · Ps 34 · Ps 149

Sermon Aid

Russell F. Anderson

COMMENTARY Epistle: Revelation 7:9-17 This is an interlude between the sixth and seventh seals. The saints are marked with the seal of God which affords protection from the plagues and coming judgment. During this period of great persecution under the Roman Emperor, Domitian, about 96 A.D., John encourages the struggling church with a heavenly vision of light and glory. A great throng of believers are gathered around the throne of God for worship and praise. They are clothed in white and are waving palm ...

4055. Proper 21

Matthew 21:23-27, Matthew 21:28-32, Exodus 17:1-7, Ezekiel 18:1-32, Philippians 2:1-11

Sermon Aid

Russell F. Anderson

Theme: God judges us not based on what we were but what we are. If a sinner turns away from his sin to the Lord, he is accounted as righteous. This is the point of Ezekiel 18. The Gospel makes a similar point, if the rebel turns to obedience, he is accounted as righteous. COMMENTARY Lesson 1: Exodus 17:1-7 (C) The Israelites complain loudly to Moses that they had no water. They question whether the Lord was really with them. In desperation, Moses cries out to the Lord, fearing that they might stone him. ...

4056. Easter 2

Acts 4:32-37, 1 John 1:5--2:14, John 20:19-23, John 20:24-31

Sermon Aid

Russell F. Anderson

Theme: The risen Christ confronts us in our doubts and fears with his living presence, fortifying our faith, so that we might withstand the doubt. COMMENTARY Epistle: Acts 4:32-35 The church in Jerusalem witnessed to the power of the risen Christ through the quality of their communal life. They were united in faith and love, freely sharing their possessions. In fact, many of those with property sold it and made the funds available to the whole community. Epistle: Acts 3:12a, 13-15, 17-26 (See Easter 3) ...

4057. Epiphany 6

1 Corinthians 10:23--11:1, 1 Corinthians 9:1-27, Leviticus 13:1-46, 2 Kings 5:1-27, Mark 1:40-45

Sermon Aid

Russell F. Anderson

Theme: God's cleansing presence and power, with or without water. In the First Lesson Elisha cleansed Namaan, the Syrian, by telling him to wash in the Jordan River. In the Gospel Jesus cleansed a leper who requested healing by touching him. COMMENTARY Old Testament: 2 Kings 5:1-15 Namaan, a general from the army of the Syrians, was sent to the king of Israel by his own king, asking that he be healed of his leprosy. An Israeli girl, absconded in war, informed her master of a prophet in Samaria who could do ...

4058. Proper 25

Hebrews 7:11-28, Job 42:7-17, Job 42:1-6, Mark 10:46-52

Sermon Aid

Russell F. Anderson

Theme: God in Christ is ever available to hear and heed our cries for mercy. COMMENTARY Old Testament: Job 42:1-6, 10-17 The story of Job comes to completion as the sufferer comes to acknowledge his own finitude and God's power. Job does not receive a direct answer to his questions but receives something better, the very presence of God. "I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you" (v. 6). This verse contrasts knowledge of God from tradition with a more direct relationship of God ...

4059. Words As Images

Sermon

Michael Rogness

... we are addressing a generation accustomed to acting primarily on visual stimuli ... In our modern age the preacher must therefore translate the biblical message into one that awakens all the senses, into words that cause a congregation also to see and feel and smell and taste. Otherwise the people listening may never hear the words in which the gospel is framed.15 -- Elizabeth Achtemeier The printed word communicates by a line of thought. Television communicates by images. Clearly we must use language ...

4060. Hostage Crisis

1 Kings 19:1-8

Sermon

Carlyle Fielding Stewart

Sweat swarmed and beaded the palms of his hands as his heart thumped and pulse escalated. Bulging eyes blinked rapidly as his face twitched. His brown, swollen hands rumbled nervously through the inside pocket of his urine-stained tweed overcoat. "I got to find a match," he said to himself. "I got to find a match." Again he jerked through every pocket of his pants, jacket, and shirt. Still no match. Wildly flailing his arms more frantically now, he began overturning chairs and tables in the room. Yellow ...

4061. “Lucky” Is The Saddest Word

Jeremiah 20:7-18

Sermon

Keith Hammer

I race off to the convenience mart a few blocks from my home to pick up some milk for cereal for breakfast. I hurriedly go to the dairy case and snatch two plastic gallon jugs and turn for the checkout to pay for them. Suddenly I am confronted by “The Machine.” “The Machine” in this case isn’t a machine at all. It’s a huge display which overpowers everything else near the checkout, telling me that I can get all of the tickets for all of the state lottery games now at this store. All I have to do is hand ...

4062. No One Enters The Kingdom… Save With Empty Hands

2 Samuel 5:1-5

Sermon

Richard Hasler

The black man standing in the arena was an affront to Der Fuehrer’s authority. The scene was the 1936 Olympic Games held in Berlin, Germany. The black man was Jesse Owens of The Ohio State University representing the U.S.A. He was aptly called “the fastest human alive.” Der Fuehrer was Chancellor Adolph Hitler who had recently risen to power championing an arrogant theory that his “Aryan race” of “supermen” would conquer the world. In implementing his theory he began systematically to stamp out the Jews in ...

4063. Wounded Glory

John 20:24-31

Sermon

Erskine White

When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side. (John 20:20) Have you ever wondered what Jesus really looked like? The Bible is no help whatsoever in telling us, since it doesn't say a thing about the physical appearance of Jesus. Not a single word. We don't know if He was tall or short, skinny or fat. We don't know if He had a straight nose, crooked teeth, long hair or a beard. Everyone has a portrait of Jesus somewhere in their home, but no one knows what He looked like in the flesh. Have ...

4064. Monologues: Disciples Redeemed

John 20:10-18, John 20:19-23, John 20:24-31

Drama

Raymond I. Keffer

Saul Of Tarsus "I am Saul of Tarsus. Like my fellow Jews, I am a true believer in the God of Abraham, Issac, and Jacob. I have a commission from the leaders of the one true church to eliminate a troublesome group known as Christians, the followers of Jesus of Nazareth; the same Jesus who was crucified for His false teachings. I intend to give these Christians the same punishment for blasphemy Stephen got: death by stoning. This threat to the one true religion and to the one true God, Jehovah, cannot be ...

4065. Advancers Over Decliners

Luke 19:11-27

Sermon

The parable of Jesus that Luke shares with us today does not rate highly in the polls. If, indeed, we did a survey among Christians with regard to parables, not only favorite ones, but parables in general, it is likely that this story would be missing from the list entirely. With slight variations, it appears in Matthew and in Luke, in Matthew as the Parable of the Talents and in Luke as the Parable of the Pounds, but while each writer has his own unique elaborations, in substance both of them are writing ...

4066. Where Easter Begins

John 20:1-9

Sermon

Dean Lueking

Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. So she ran, and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him." Peter then came out with the other disciple, and they went toward the tomb. They both ran, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first; and ...

4067. Epiphany 7

Matthew 5:43-48, Matthew 5:38-42, 1 Corinthians 3:1-23, Leviticus 19:1-37

Sermon Aid

THEOLOGICAL CLUE As the Epiphany season nears its conclusion, the homiletical framework of the season con-tinues to thin out and the role of the readings becomes more important for the establishment of the theme for the day. Under the older church year, this would be Sexagesima Sunday, the second of the "three-to-get-ready for Lent" Sundays. They were removed from the church year's "Pre-Lent" and added to Epiphany simply because they had become part of Lent, making Lent, in effect, nine and a half weeks ...

4068. Pentecost 24

Mal 1:6-14, Lev 2:1-16, Mic 3:1-12, Am 5:18-27, Ru 4:1-1, 1Th 2:1-16, 4:13-5:11, Mt 23 and 25:1-13

Sermon Aid

CSS

THEOLOGICAL CLUE If a congregation happened to be following the readings listed in Lutheran Worship, the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod's revision of the Roman Ordo and the LBW lectionary, the people would have caught the eschatological clue last Sunday; the Lutheran Worship lectionary follows the older Lutheran practice of abandoning the numerical progression of the Sundays in Pentecost and assigning the same three sets of readings - always eschatological - for the last three Sundays of Pentecost. The ...

4069. Turn Out the Lights! The Party's Over!

Daniel 5:1-31

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

Many of you sports fans will remember Dandy Don Meredith, former great quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys, and later an announcer for Monday Night football. At that moment in a game when Don felt that one team was too far ahead for the other teach to catch, he would sing a little ditty with these words, "Turn out the Lights! The party’s over." Never was that song more appropriate than in the scene depicted in the fifth chapter of Daniel. Let me give you the historical setting. Old King Nebuchadnezzar, whom ...

4070. What Do You Think You’re Worth?

Matthew 10:1-42

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

"Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground without your Father’s will. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered." [Matthew 10:29, 30] What do you think you’re worth? It is not likely you are worth the billions of a Paul Getty or a Howard Hughes. Do you go to the other extreme when you would sell yourself for a nickel and give three cents change? Are you like the young lad who wore a football t-shirt with the letters 00, a double cipher? Was this the way he ...

4071. Herod and Jesus

Drama

Jon Joyce

Setting The private sitting room in the palace in which Herod is staying in Jerusalem. A throne-like chair, perhaps with a gold or violet throw covering it, should be provided for Herod; this chair should face the audience. A simple chair or stool should be placed in front of the chair so that Jesus, when he sits down, may face Herod but not the audience. Other appointments to the room may be added for effect: potted palms, a small table with a wine carafe and fresh fruits, and anything else appropriate to ...

4072. Loved People, Love People

John 15:1-17

Sermon

Richard A. Jensen

"Remember who you are, Dick," my Dad would say. "You are a Jensen. You have a family name to live up to." I did not get that speech too often when I was young. I got it often enough, however. It usually came at very strategic times like when I went out on my first date, or got the family car, or left home for the first time. "Remember who you are." My Dad believed, and I think he was right, that he and Mom had instilled certain values in me. Most families have such values. When I went out on my own I was ...

4073. The Forgotten Virtue

Philippians 2:1-11

Sermon

Louis H. Valbracht

An author by the name of Vardis Fisher has written a novel, which I have not read, but I suspect that the title suggests more than all of the material that might be included in that volume. The name of the book is Forgive Us Our Virtues. Forgive us our virtues - it’s a prayer that we all might offer. It’s quite easy to pray "forgive us our trespasses"; the higher devotion allows us to say "forgive us our virtues." Benjamin Franklin is often quoted for his homely wisdom as a guide for those who search for ...

4074. Mission Accomplished!

Luke 24:50-53

Sermon

Charles L. Koester

"Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands he blessed them. While he blessed them, he parted from them." Possibly the most awesome and fantastic picture I have ever seen is the earth-moon shot taken by the Apollo astronauts. Emerging from behind the moon for the first time after entering lunar orbit, there in the foreground is the moon landscape. In the background, emerging from the blackness of space is the earth, 230,000 miles away. How insignificant we as individuals appear from ...

4075. The Trouble with Stables

Luke 2:1-7

Sermon

David E. Leininger

Are you ready for Christmas? Foolish question. We still have 2½ weeks to go. I was visiting with Mary Knapp in the hospital yesterday and we got on the subject of Christmas - she said, "Why are you thinking about this now. You're a MAN. You've got LOTS of time." Good point. For what it's worth, if you ARE thinking about it, and you are wondering what you might get for that special someone who is difficult to buy for, I may be able to help. This week on the internet was news you can use.(1) Now available: ...

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