Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 4176 to 4200 of 4944 results

4176. Wedding: Together...Till Death Us Do Part

Sermon Aid

John M. Braaten

(Name) and (name), the word overwhelming was made for a day like today. No words will ever be able to describe how you feel. Yet the closeness you feel toward your Lord and toward each other on this day is only the beginning of a lifetime of surprises, and gifts, and joys, God has in store for you. Knowing this, we, your family, relatives, and friends, have gathered to celebrate this momentous and sacred event with you. We are here to assure you of our affection and to undergird you with our prayers. In ...

4177. Easter 2

John 20:19-23, Acts 5:12-16, Acts 5:17-42, Job 42:1-6, Revelation 1:4-8, Revelation 1:9-20, John 20:24-31, Psalm 149:1-9

Sermon Aid

George Bass

THEOLOGICAL CLUE The method of counting the Sundays between Easter Sunday and Pentecost provides the theological clue to worship and preaching during the Easter season. Easter, as a unitive event, which combines the death and resurrection of Jesus in its celebration, is the pivotal Sunday of the church year; the resurrection is imperative in the gospels and in the life of the church and the lives of its members. The resurrection assures believers of something that is entirely new, something beyond the ...

4178. Advent 3 - Witnessing

John 1:19-28, John 1:1-18

Sermon Aid

Wayne B. Keller

Liturgical Color: Blue/Purple Theme: Witnessing - Bearing witness to the light of the world. Invitation to Worship One pastor began this way: By now, this third Sunday in Advent, what does Christ's coming mean to you? More work or new hope, exhaustion or peace? Rushing around doing this and that or an opportunity to discover anew the world's savior? Continue with this, or a similar, litany between pastor and people: Pastor: God promises to make life in Christ a great adventure. People: We're not sure; ...

4179. How Does One Follow Jesus During The Threat Of War?

Matthew 5:1-12

Sermon

George Johnson

It has been difficult for me to decide what sermon I should preach today. I had planned to preach on the lectionary text in Acts which is assigned for this Sunday. That story of Peter and Cornelius has been occupying my thoughts for several days, and I had a pretty good idea of how the sermon would be developed. But the present historical crisis has been capturing the attention of us all. My sense of call as a pastor has urged me to set aside the sermon on Peter and Cornelius and speak about following ...

4180. Jesus’ First Sign

John 2:1-11

Sermon

James Garrett

A bonus in being a minister is that I get to share in a lot of weddings. Weddings are joyous and happy times. In the service of marriage are these words:… we are gathered together in the sight of God,… to join this man and this woman in holy matrimony;… which holy estate Christ adorned and beautified with his presence in Cana of Galilee. It was a wedding in Cana of Galilee that Jesus does his first “sign.” The story is told in John 2:1-11. Weddings then, as now, were great and grand occasions. Friends and ...

4181. Where To Go When You Grieve

Matthew 14:1-12

Sermon

Barbara Brokhoff

Death in Mid-life This funeral sermon was preached for a forty-year-old member of my congregation; he died after an illness of six weeks, leaving a wife and two teenage daughters. What do you do and where do you go when a loved one dies? Where do you go when you have a pain in your heart that no physician can cure? Where do you go when you feel like you've swallowed a stone? Where do you go when the heaviness of your grief is like a staggering load? Where do you go when tears run down like rain on your ...

4182. The Dreamer Within You

Joel 2:18-27, Joel 2:28-32

Sermon

Richard Hasler

The setting for the movie Dead Poet’s Society is a proper New England prep school steeped in tradition and discipline. Into this rather stiff environment comes a new English instructor played by Robin Williams. He has an unorthodox method of teaching. He stands on his desk at times to make a point. He electrifies his students. He has them reading poetry as they practice soccer so that they will see the connection between the two. He prods them to think for themselves, to get in touch with their feelings, ...

4183. Wedding: A Special Kind of Love

1 Corinthians 1:1-9

Sermon Aid

Jeffrey A. Nelson

Recently I saw a cartoon which pointed out to the reader the fact that married people live much longer than those who are single. Based on that fact, the conclusion of the cartoon character was that marriage, then, is simply a means to a slow death. If that were really true, today would not be an occasion for celebration. But our reason for gathering here today is to rejoice. Today, ____ and ____ make their commitment to each other in the presence of this gathering and in the sight of God. Today we have ...

4184. Ludwig Nommensen Missionary To The Bataks

Drama

Thomas A. Renquist

Reader 1: In the Pacific Ocean of southeastern Asia lies the country known as Indonesia. You may remember some of the Indonesian islands from your geography class back in grade school: Borneo, Java, Sumatra. It is on the island of Sumatra, specifically the northern part, where the Batak people live. For centuries the Bataks lived in isolation from the world; not too many foreigners wanted to penetrate that mountainous tropical jungle region. As far back as Marco Polo, the Batak people were characterized as ...

4185. The Benefits of Christianity for Nonbelievers

2 Samuel 6:1-23

Sermon

Donald Zelle

"Oh, I don't believe in all of this religious stuff," said a young woman, planning her wedding with a pastor. "I just want to be married!" How many brides are like that, we don't know. If the estimate is correct, that 90 percent of all weddings take place within churches with a clergyperson officiating, then there must be many such brides, because 90 percent is far greater than the percent of Americans who belong to churches, to say nothing of those who practice Christianity regularly. This bride is one of ...

4186. Giving

Mark 12:41-44

Sermon

Brett Blair

Robert Fulghum, who wrote All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten, says that he placed alongside the mirror in his bathroom a picture of a woman who is not his wife. That's risky business! Every morning as he stood there shaving, he looked at the picture of that woman. The picture? The picture is of a small humped-over woman wearing sandals and a blue eastern robe and head dress (sari). She is surrounded by important-looking people in tuxedos, evening gowns, and the regalia of royalty. It is ...

4187. Finish What You Started

Luke 9:51-56

Children's Sermon

Brett Blair

Exegetical Aim: Jesus has "set his face to Jerusalem" and is determined to fulfill the will of God. The Disciples are asked to put their hand to the plow and not look back, i.e., to finish what has been started. Props: An ability to sing the ABC song. Lesson: I need your help this morning. Would you teach me the ABC song? (response) For some reason I just can't seem to learn it. How does it start? (response) When they start it, join in and when you get to "G" make it the interjection not the letter of the ...

4188. Beasts, Saints and Chaos

Daniel 7:15-28, Daniel 7:1-14

Sermon

Paul W. F. Harms

"But the saints of the Most High shall receive the kingly power and shall retain it for ever, for ever and ever." But we are not there yet; neither were the people of the text. Because they were not yet there and we are not yet there, we gather here to reflect that some are already there but the rest of us are not yet there. We have enough trouble without the troublesome word "saint" - "the saints of the Most High shall receive the kingly power and shall retain it for ever, for ever and ever." "But I'm no ...

4189. Step Three - Faith

Mt 8:5-13 · Heb 11:1-7 · Is 55:6-9

Sermon

John A. Terry

Step three: Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to God as we understood him. In seminary I was preparing to take the final exam for my course in Theology 101. In any survey course there is always far more to study than is possible to cover. I tried to study the entire field of theological thought. I reviewed all my class notes. I even resorted to prayer. But neither the study nor the prayer prepared me for the only question on that final exam. The question went something like this: A man ...

4190. No Room In The Inn

Luke 2:1-7

Sermon

Brett Blair

Wally was big for his age--seven years old. Everyone wondered what role the teacher would give him in the annual Christmas play. Especially considering the fact that he was also a slow learner. Perhaps he could pull the curtain. To everyone’s surprise the teacher gave Wally the role of the innkeeper. The boy of course was delighted. After all, all he had to learn was one line: “There is no room in the inn.” He had that down in no time. Then came the night for the program. The parents took their places. ...

4191. No Tears for Me, Please

Luke 23:26-43

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

And there followed him a great multitude of the people, and of women who bewailed and lamented him. But Jesus turning to them said, "Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and your children. For behold, the days are coming when they will say, 'Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never gave suck!' Then they will begin to say to the mountains, 'Fall on us'; and to the hills 'Cover us.' For if they do this when the wood is green, what will ...

4192. Sealed by God

1 Corinthians 1:10-17

Children's Sermon

Brett Blair

Props: A warranty for a small appliance, the small appliance, an electric receptacle if possible. For purposes of the children's sermon, I will refer to a hand mixer. You may adapt the children's sermon to the type of appliance you can bring. Lesson: Good morning. Do any of you know what this is? (Hold up the mixer) Yes, it's an electric mixer. Have you ever seen your Mommy or Daddy use this? (Responses) What sort of things do they use the mixer for? (Responses) Do you know how it works? Plug it in, if ...

4193. Monologue: Silent Silas

Acts 15:22-35

Drama

Robert F. Scott

There was a man named Silas. We read of him in Acts and in several of the Epistles. Yet in the whole of the New Testament there is not one word from Silas himself: not a word that he said, not a scrap of a letter in his own name. Was he silent? We know he was not. He was a prophet for Christ; he exhorted, taught, preached, prayed, and sang. Of all that Silas said, what was it and what was it worth? The First Epistle of Peter was written by the hand of Silas. If we were to ask Peter, what might he say? ...

4194. An Easter-Life

Acts 10:23b-48

Sermon

Carl Hoefler

What does Easter mean to you? In the secular world, it means fluffy bunnies, brightly colored eggs, hidden baskets, and lots of lush chocolate candy. If you are a child, there is nothing wrong with this. Easter is a happy day, and God loves to hear the laughter of little children; but, if you are an adult and this is all that Easter means to you, then there is something tragically missing in your faith-life. Interestingly enough, the word "Easter" appears nowhere in the Bible. The word "Easter" was ...

4195. Confessional Services

1 Corinthians 11:17-34

Bulletin Aid

G. William Genszler

Sample bulletin for special confessional service for Ash Wednesday, based on the Ten Commandments Note: St. Paul says that a person ought to examine himself before he comes to the Lord's Table. St. John instructs that if we confess our sins, God is faithful and will forgive us all of our iniquities. Martin Luther, in the Catechism, suggests that we examine our lives in the light of the Ten Commandments. In view of the instructions listed above we will use the following confessional service, following the ...

4196. Museum or Mission?

Luke 15:1-7, Luke 15:8-10

Sermon

Wallace H. Kirby

An inner city church, located in an area of the downtown where there were few residents, was forced to a decision. A large corporation was offering them a great deal of money for their site, on which the corporation wanted to put a parking lot. The money would enable the church to move to another part of the inner city where they would find many more people to serve. Even though this was exciting to some of the congregation, other members were resistant to the idea. They pointed out that the church was the ...

4197. Christ the King A King Worth Having

John 12:12-19

Sermon

Henry VIII was on the throne of England when Luther was reforming the church in Germany. Henry had six wives. His first one was Catherine, who gave him four children in a row who were either born dead or died shortly after birth. Her fifth child did survive but it was frail - and it was a girl. Her sixth was stillborn. Henry wanted a son to succeed him on the throne. It was obvious to him he needed a new wife, but the Pope wouldn’t grant him a divorce, so King Henry VIII simply said, "From now on I’m the ...

4198. How Was Jesus' Death Different?

John 19:28-37, John 19:17-27

Sermon

So they took Jesus, and he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called the place of a skull, which is called in Hebrew Golgotha. There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, and Jesus between them. (John 19:17-18) Death is a common experience of life. All who lived in the past died. Every one of us now living will die sooner or later. Approximately five thousand Americans die every twenty-four hours. Almost two million deaths occur in our country every year. There are ...

4199. Proper 10

Exodus 2:11-25

Sermon

Life began for Moses when he decided to take sides. Of course, that's when life begins for anyone. We dare not oversimplify the complex issues of life and society to the point where we see everything as black and white, because this is too easy a solution. The fact that it is a delusion which has often beset reformers and crusaders does not make it right. Having acknowledged this caution, however, we still need to recognize life began for Moses when he stopped being a neutral observer and willingly became ...

4200. A Word About the Right Time

Haggai 2:1-9

Sermon

It’s good to see that God gets what he wants, once in a while. The events of this text differ from those we’ve heard of the last Sundays. Here there is no rampant trampling on the poor, no idolatrous affluence, no thwarting of justice against which Micah, Zephaniah and Haggai railed. A remnant of people had returned to Israel some eighteen years before from exile, an exile imposed by Darius and then relieved by Cyrus. Eighteen years is not a long time to resettle after your country has been devastated. ...

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