Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 4076 to 4100 of 4943 results

4076. The Man From Galilee VII: The Triumph Of His Defeat

Matthew 28:1-10

Sermon

Thomas A. Pilgrim

Bishop Walter L. Underwood wrote a book a few years ago called Being Human Being Hopeful. The last chapter is on the subject of death. He refers to a statement made by actor Woody Allen, who said, "I don't want immortality through my work. I want immortality through not dying."1 I read that book with great interest. Then I learned that Bishop Underwood died not long after I had read his book, and I went back and read that last chapter again. It is a great affirmation of our faith in the face of life's ...

4077. Moses' New Job

Sermon

Jerry Eckert

September 5, 1982 Comment: It was Labor Day weekend and it was also atime when I found myself involved in a bit of aconfrontation with some leaders in my Annual Conference.That led to a strange com-bination. But knowing the story ofMoses and realizing that he undertook the mission to freehis people, I found myself putting together the few bits ofdata about Moses' wife in all that and came up with afictitious correspondence. It was easy to find a reader for the Zipporah partbecause the church had a number ...

4078. The Wisemen

Sermon

Jerry Eckert

January 8, 1984 Comment: This was the first story sermon for adultsthat I wrote and dramatized during worship. I had written anumber of story sermons for children, but the breakthoughcame because an old sermon I had been revising every half-dozen years was not taking shape. I started to write.Usually, I have just outlined sermons and "talked" them tothe congregation. When I got started on this one, I found atext forming with which I decided to stay. There were two major problems that I had with this one. ...

4079. Repentance: A New Relationship

Joel 2:1-11

Sermon

E. Carver McGriff

There's a story about a convention of psychiatrists who had gathered in a large auditorium near Grand Central Station in New York City. Somehow, a pigeon got in the room and was swooping back and forth above the gathered men and women. However, no one mentioned the bird. It seemed no one wanted to be the first to ask if anyone else saw a pigeon. I mention this to remind us that we each have an inward life of thoughts and perceptions about which no one else knows. It's a private world where we pretend, ...

4080. Send Me

Isaiah 6:1-13

Sermon

Charles Curley

It was the year of the dying of the king, when Isaiah saw the Lord, high and lifted up in the incense-shrouded heights of the sanctuary. When he heard God say, "Whom shall I send?" he replied simply, "Here am I, send me!" It was the year when the priests robbed the people in the name of God, when Samuel heard the Lord, as he was waking from sleep by the ark in the temple at Shiloh. When he heard God say, "Samuel," he replied simply, "Here I am ... speak, Lord, for your servant is listening." It was the ...

4081. Easter 4

Psalm 23:1-6, Acts 4:1-22, 1 John 3:11-24, John 10:1-21

Sermon Aid

William E. Keeney

The One Shepherd The Good Shepherd parable comes on the fourth Sunday of Easter. While it is located in the Gospel before the crucifixion, it interprets the meaning of the events. The message enables the church to see them not as unrelenting tragedy and failure but as signs of victory and hope. The key interpretation is not that the enemies of Jesus were in control by their ability to take his life. Rather it is that Jesus by an act of the will of God could lay down his life for his followers and take it ...

4082. The Set Face And The Turned Head

Luke 9:51-56, Luke 9:57-62

Sermon

Larry Powell

"I know you've been sworn in and I've read your complaint." So begins Judge Wapner as another case unfolds on the popular television series, "People's Court." Repeating the phrase before each case, the implication is that the litigants have already placed their hands on the Bible and sworn to tell nothing "but the truth." However, courtroom cases do not progress far until it becomes apparent that either the plaintiff or the defendent is lying. Immediately, the whole matter of swearing-in comes into ...

4083. Is It God's Will?

Hebrews 2:5-18

Sermon

Erskine White

For because He himself has suffered and been tempted, He is able to help those who are tempted. (Hebrews 2:18) A young woman is driving her car down the highway on a bright summer's day. She's got the radio turned up and the windows turned down; her long hair is flowing freely in the wind; it's one of those days when it feels just great to be alive. Suddenly, as she rounds a bend in the road, there is another car speeding towards her in the wrong lane. She tries to turn out of the way, but her car spins ...

4084. Trusting In The Lord

Jeremiah 16:1--17:18

Sermon

Ron Lavin

Recently I awoke from a dream with a start. I didn't know where I was or what was happening. I didn't even know who I was. I had fallen asleep in an armchair in the family room. That was quite an awakening to reality. Some time ago, I had left a message at the desk of a hotel where I was staying. I wanted to get up at 6 a.m. so that I wouldn't miss an important meeting. The phone rang and a very pleasant voice on the other side said, "Mr. Lavin, this is your wake up call." Startled, I jumped out of bed, ...

4085. Can A Nation Repent?

2 Chronicles 34:14-33

Sermon

Erskine White

Then the king gathered ... all the people great and small; and he read in their hearing all the words of the book ... (2 Chronicles 34:29-30) Oftentimes, as we move into the middle of Lent, people begin to grow weary. They begin to ask, "Why all this talk of sin and death? Why must we dwell so long on confession and repentance, "a broken and a contrite heart" (Psalm 51:17)? Who wants to be so gloomy? Let's hear something happy for a change. Of course, there's no shortage of "happytalk" preachers, and many ...

4086. When You Least Expect It...

Luke 24:13-35

Sermon

Johnny Dean

Before I went to seminary, I was an avid reader. I especially enjoyed reading novels by authors like Stephen King. Often I would literally devour a novel in one or two days. Then, a few weeks later, I would go back and read the same novel again at a slower pace to make sure I hadn’t missed anything the first time through. Seminary requires a tremendous amount of reading, much of it dry as dust and about that interesting, too. Very few of the books we had to read during seminary were less than 400 pages in ...

4087. Not Your Favorite Father's Day Scripture

Genesis 21:8-21

Sermon

Johnny Dean

Ever since the publication of the immensely popular book, Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus, there seems to have been a deluge of studies, books, and newspaper articles about the differences between men and women. I read one such article this past week. Some behavioral scientist claims to have discovered what most women probably already knew – that men get bored more easily than women. In other words, men have a shorter attention span than women. Now I know that there are some men, perhaps even some ...

4088. Peacemaking - Active, Not Passive

Sermon

Alan Bacon Bond

Scripture Psalm 34:1-3, 11-14Romans 14:13-23Jeremiah 8:8-15Matthew 5:9; 10:34-39 Prokofiev's Symphonic Tale for Children, Peter and the Wolf, tells of Peter's escapade into the meadow, mistakenly leaving the gate open behind him. While he carries on a chat with his friend, the bird, the duck, unnoticed, escapes through the open gate and goes for a swim in the pond. The little bird and duck get to arguing, "What kind of bird are you if you can't swim?" And all the while the cat is stealthily sneaking up on ...

4089. The Sower

Matthew 13:1-23

Drama

Robert A. Lehmann

Theme: A parable of unfruitfulness. Characters: Narrator Five solo voices (Solo 3 doubles as Isaiah and Solo 5 doubles as Jesus). Narrator: Jesus left the house and sat by the lakeside. Solo 1: To enjoy the peace of the waves, Solo 2: Away from the city, Solo 3: Away from the crowds, Solo 4: Peace, by the waters. Narrator: But such crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat there. The people all stood on the beach, and he told them many things in parables. Solo 4: They found him, Solo 2: ...

4090. Arise, O Church of God, Arise!

Sermon

"The eleven disciples went to the hill in Galilee where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him they worshiped him, even though some of them doubted. Jesus draw near and said to them: "I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Go, then, to all people everywhere and make them my disciples: baptize them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teach them to obey everything I have commanded you. And remember! I will be with you always, to the end of the age." ( ...

4091. Proper 4

Genesis 12:1-8

Sermon

What Abram was told, literally, was to "Go from your land and your birthplace to a land that I will show you." At this time, Abram was seventy-five years old, a successful man, established, respected, with a wife, many kinspeople, and much wealth. Yet, according to Scripture, he was asked to turn his back on all of his affluence and influence, and to plunge into what was, essentially, an unexplored, unknown wilderness land. The modern person reads this and shakes his head. It is hard for us to identify ...

4092. The Confessions of a Younger Brother

Luke 16:19-31

Sermon

"There was a rich man, who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, full of sores, who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man’s table; moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's bosom. The rich man also died and was buried; and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes, and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus in his bosom. And he called out, ‘Father ...

4093. Wellspring for the Soul

John 4:1-26

Sermon

Dean Lueking

When Water is Scarce Some time ago I had an experience unique in my life - living in a place for several weeks where no drinking water was piped in. On the western edge of Kenya I learned what it is to go to the village well, draw water for two buckets, and carry them back to the small house where our family was living. The African women at the well always wanted me to do it their way - carry the bucket on my head. I have neither the balance that takes, nor enough hair to give a water bucket much support. ...

4094. A Call for a Change in Lifestyle

Matthew 3:1-12

Sermon

At the mention of the name, John the Baptizer, I immediately think of two churches that are thousands of miles apart. One is only eighty-five miles from my home, the Benedictine abbey church of St. John the Baptist on the campus of St. John’s University, Collegeville, Minnesota. The other church is thousands of miles away, just outside of Florence, Italy, at the confluence of two superhighways. Each features visual images of John the Baptizer. The church in Italy pictures the life and death of John on ...

4095. Beyond the Ordinary

Matthew 5:38-42

Sermon

Joe Pennel

At 7:00 a.m. every Monday, I teach Bible study. About twenty of us meet from 7:00-7:15 a.m. for coffee, juice, and a light breakfast. Each week, a different member of the group brings the food for the rest of the crowd. The fare consists of biscuits, muffins, bagels, and various breads complete with the appropriate condiments. For fifteen minutes, we sip hot coffee and nibble on high-calorie homemade delights. After breaking our fast, we settle in for the Monday morning Bible study. When we studied Matthew ...

4096. Reach Out and Touch Someone

Acts 2:1-13

Sermon

Peter Rudowski

I doubt there is a person in this sanctuary who doesn’t know the AT&T ad which says, "Reach out and touch someone." Cincinnati Bell plays it for us all the time. It is on the television and on our car radios. We are bound to run into it at one of the commercial breaks. If we do not watch television or listen to the radio but we go to the ballgame, there it is on the big scoreboard in centerfield between the innings. In great big letters comes this great big sign, "Reach out and touch someone." The music ...

4097. 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 ...

4098. Who Has Everything?

Matthew 5:5

Sermon

Wallace H. Kirby

Some years ago the News and Observer of Raleigh, North Carolina, published an article entitled, "Do You Measure Up As a Man?" The article stated that some extensive research had been conducted on the twentieth century standards for measuring a man. The eight criteria are quite interesting: his ability to make, conserve, and amass money; the cost, style, and age of his car; how much hair he has or has not; his size and strength; the job he holds and how successful he is at it; what sports he likes; how many ...

4099. Journey To The Cross V: Jesus and Simon Peter

Mark 14:66-72

Sermon

James W. Moore

One day some years ago, I was with a group of people when suddenly they began to gossip. They were attacking a friend of mine. They were spreading ugly, vicious rumors about him. They were crucifying my friend with harsh, cruel words. I started to say something to defend my friend. I wanted to say something to stop the verbal abuse but I didn’t know those people very well… so I kept my silence. But, later as I walked to my car, I was kicking myself. I was feeling sad and ashamed that I hadn’t seized the ...

4100. The Miracle of Christ

Ephesians 3:14-21

Sermon

Robert G. Tuttle

I cannot close this discussion on "What It Is to Be a Christian," without going one step further. In the previous six chapters we have been thinking about the necessary ingredients of the Christian Life: Faith, Obedience, Moral Commitment, Caring, The Abundant Life, and The Assurance of Life After Death. But now it comes to me that I did not in my own life discover and work out these great qualities of living mathematically, mechanically, or by a sheer intellectual approach. Something happened to me! Then ...

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