Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 4176 to 4200 of 4936 results

4176. The Bread We Daily Need

Luke 11:1-10

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

At a small dinner party in the home of a member, a pastor was invited to ask the blessing for the meal. Turning to the talkative six year old in the house, the pastor suggested she might like to do the blessing instead. The outgoing youngster now suddenly shy replied, “I wouldn’t know what to say!” “Just say what you hear your Mommy say,” said the pastor assuredly. With that the little girl folded her hands, bowed her head and said, “Lord, why on earth did I invite all these people to dinner?” Give us this ...

4177. Hobbled by the Past

Luke 9:57-62

Illustration

King Duncan

William Goodin in his book God Laughs, Too tells a hilarious story that he heard from a seminary president. At this president's seminary, when candidates are ordained into the ministry, they have one thing to do in the service. At the conclusion of the worship, the candidate stands, walks up the steps into the chancel, turns and gives the benediction. That is their first official act as an ordained pastor. One candidate stood, approached the steps, and ascended the steps. But on the first step, he got ...

4178. Power Sharing

Ephesians 1:15-23

Sermon

David O. Bales

Modern people are fascinated with power. We fiddle with a switch on the wall and it delivers the results from dynamos in dams and atomic reactors. We domesticate nature's powers in order to light the den, vacuum the carpet, and brew the coffee. Power is at our fingertips. Technology has opened endless possibilities, chugging along from wood and coal fired steam, converting to petroleum, accelerating to internal combustion engines, and expanding to jets and rockets. We, this living generation, have most ...

4179. A Levite and His Concubine

Judges 19:1-30

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

19:1–21:25 · Areas of Social Norms and Political Decisions:How appropriate, then, that as the first extended narrative ends and the second begins, the refrain “In those days Israel had no king” appears again in 19:1, bridging the two stories and subtly reminding the readers that those were days when “everyone did as they saw fit” (17:6; 21:25). 19:1–29 · The second extended narrative begins with the attempt of another Levite to woo back a concubine who has left him to return to her father’s house (19:2–10 ...

4180. Samuel's Farewell Speech

1 Samuel 12:1-25

Understanding Series

Mary J. Evans

Samuel Addresses the People: Using speeches like this one of Samuel’s to indicate important staging points, such as the end of the age of the judges, is common in the so-called Deuteronomic History. There are particular parallels here with the way in which Moses hands over power to Joshua and with Joshua’s final speech (Deut. 31; Josh. 23). This speech is included because it makes points of which the reader is expected to take note. Whether it records Samuel’s words or is a later composition does not ...

4181. The Fog Lifted

Illustration

Editor James S. Hewett

It was June 18, 1815, the Battle of Waterloo. The French under the command of Napoleon were fighting the Allies (British, Dutch, and Germans) under the command of Wellington. The people of England depended on a system of semaphore signals to find out how the battle was going. One of these signal stations was on the tower of Winchester Cathedral. Late in the day it flashed the signal: "W-E-L-L-I-N-G-T-O-N- - -D-E-F-E-A-T-E-D- -." Just at that moment one of those sudden English fog clouds made it impossible ...

4182. The Legend of the Touchstone

John 20:1-18

Illustration

James W. Moore

Do you remember the Legend of the Touchstone? It's a great story to recall on Easter Sunday morning. According to that ancient legend, if you could find the touchstone on the coast of the Black Sea and hold it in your hand, everything you touched would turn to gold. You could recognize the touchstone by its warmth. The other stones would feel cold, but when you picked up the touchstone, it would turn warm in your hand. Once a man sold everything he had and went to the coast of the Black Sea in search of ...

4183. Why Be Good?

Luke 6:37-42

Sermon

Charles H. Bayer

There are a few things religion -- almost any religion -- can be counted on to affirm. There are standards of conduct and piety, differences between right and wrong, obligations and responsibilities which are so clearly stated nothing is left to chance. Religion will always find a way to define what the deity requires, and to cite the rewards and the punishments for right or wrong conduct. The penalties for violating religious commands vary, from a slap on the wrist to eternal damnation. The rewards also ...

4184. Promises Kept In Unusual Way

Jeremiah 23:1-8

Sermon

Robert P. Hines

General Douglas MacArthur was one of the great heroes of World War II. He was greatly admired by many people, and well loved by the people of the Philippines. One reason for the admiration and love was that he kept an important promise. When the Japanese invasion forced MacArthur to retreat from the Philippines, he promised he would return. Standing in the water in March 1942, before he embarked on a voyage to the safety of Australia, the general promised, "I shall return." And he did. In October 1944, ...

4185. Epiphany 5

Matthew 5:17-20, Matthew 5:13-16

Sermon Aid

William E. Keeney

Salt is very important to life. If a person lacks salt, the hunger for it is one of the strongest desires we have. Any farmer knows how cattle will find a salt block and lick it to maintain the proper balance in its body. Salt is so valuable that in some societies it has been used as a medium of exchange, a substitute for money. In the scripture, light is often used as a symbol for the existence of God. It is frequently used in a variety of ways throughout the Bible. In some cultures the sun was worshiped ...

4186. Table Manners

Luke 14:1-14

Sermon

Alex Gondola

Ethel Barrymore, the great stage and screen actress, was a stickler for good manners. She once invited a younger actress to a dinner party at her home. But the young lady never appeared. She didn't even bother to offer an excuse or make an apology. She just didn't show up. Several days later Ethel Barrymore and the young lady met by chance at a museum. Embarrassed, the younger actress began, "Miss Barrymore, I believe I was invited to your house last Thursday evening for dinner." To which Ethel Barrymore ...

4187. Wedding: Gift Of God (for a couple with a baby)

1 John 4:7-21

Bulletin Aid

Derl G. Keefer

Listen to these words of Scripture from the First Letter of John, chapter 4, verses 7-12 (TEV): Dear friends, let us love one another, because love comes from God. Whoever loves is a child of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. And God showed his love for us by sending his only Son into the world, so that we might have life through him. This is what love is: it is not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the means by which our sins are ...

4188. Easter 2

Acts 5:17-42, Revelation 1:4-8, John 20:19-23, John 20:24-31

Sermon Aid

John R. Brokhoff

COMMENTARY Epistle: Acts 5:27-32 In order to obey God, the Apostles disobey the order not to preach. Regardless of the cost, the Apostles are determined to witness to the resurrection. They defy the governmental order to stop preaching the Gospel because they recognize a higher law than the State. They must obey God who in Christ ordered them to witness. In defense of this position, Peter accuses the officials of having crucified Jesus who was later raised and exalted by God to be Leader and Savior so that ...

4189. Whispering The Lyrics

John 14:15-31

Sermon

Thomas Long

Stashed away in a drawer somewhere around my house, now nearly forgotten, is a batch of old 45 rpm records from the '50s and early '60s. Worn and scratchy, long since outmoded by the flashy digital technology of compact discs, these primitive vinyls were once the jewels of a great treasure trove. Elvis' grinding out "Hound Dog," Buddy Holly and the Crickets' hiccuping "Peggy Sue," Chuck Berry's joyful hot licks in "Maybellene," the Coasters' slapstick tour de force "Charlie Brown," the mournful "Tears On ...

4190. Outsiders and Insiders: A Gospel Surprise

Mark 9:38-41

Sermon Aid

Richard A. Jensen

Mary Ann Tolbert sets this week's text in its larger context: In good rhetorical fashion, the last two Passion prediction units (9:30--10:31 and 10:32-52) reiterate and expand this depiction of the disciples by constantly contrasting their actions and words with Jesus' teachings.1 We observe that following Jesus' second "passion/resurrection" prediction it is noted that the disciples did not understand; they were afraid to ask (Mark 9:32). In the next verses the disciples are thinking about glory even ...

4191. Giving with Open Hands

Mark 12:41-44

Sermon

Thomas Peterson

A couple stands before the pastor in the midday service. He asks, “Who gives this woman to be married to this man?” The father says, “I do.” Then the father takes the right hand of the bride in his right hand and places it into the right hand of the pastor who, in turn, places it in the right hand of the groom. The vows are given, and the groom, having taken the right hand of the bride, says, “I, John, take thee, Mary, to be my wedded wife.” Dropping hands, the bride offers her right hand to the groom and ...

4192. Shepherds And Bathrobes

Luke 2:8-20

Sermon

Thomas Long

Sometimes the events described in the Bible bowl us over with their sheer size. The picture in Genesis of God commanding light and darkness to go their separate ways, summoning the seven seas like charters, and, with a word, drawing up the massive continents from the primordial ooze of the formless earth. That's scale! Or, hundreds of thundering Egyptian chariots dashing headlong after fleeing Hebrew slaves. Suddenly the once dry gap in the sea is invaded by a violent wall of water, foam filling the ...

4193. Tying Up A Strong Man

Mark 3:20-30, 1 Samuel 8:1-22, 2 Corinthians 4:1-18, Mark 3:31-35, Psalm 138:1-8

Sermon Aid

William E. Keeney

Mark's gospel account very quickly gets into the conflict that will eventually culminate in the death of Jesus. Despite, or because of, Jesus' works which aroused wonder and amazement in the multitudes, opposition also arose. Any activity so extraordinary upset the status quo. His popularity threatened the authority and leadership of the official religion. They had to try to put it down before it got out of hand. Even the friends and family of Jesus were concerned about him. How often do people try to ...

4194. Easter 5

John 15:1-17, Acts 8:26-40, Acts 9:19b-31, 1 John 4:7-21

Sermon Aid

Russell F. Anderson

Theme: The life of faith, begun in baptism, remains alive if we stay close to Christ. Christ is the vine and we are the branches. COMMENTARY Epistle: Acts 8:26-40 Philip is instructed by an angel to go to the road that leads from Jerusalem past Gaza down to Egypt. On the road he encounters an Ethiopian official, the steward of the queen's treasury. He is traveling along in a chariot and reading the Old Testament, Isaiah 53. He was either a proselyte of the Jewish faith, one who was circumcised and accepted ...

4195. The Disciples' Tenebrae

Mark 12:13-17

Sermon

Jerry Eckert

Comment: Emmanuel Church in Horicon had accepted the Christmas Eve "Pageant" very well (see page 25) but had showed no signs of interest in such drama for sermons. However, when we began planning the Maundy Thursday service, there was a fond remembrance of a tenebrae service, a service of candles, that had been done six years before. I wrote to the former pastor, Rev. Owen Miller, who generously sent what he had done. The concept was to say something about each disciple and extinguish a candle to bring ...

4196. The Ascension Announces a Triumph

Acts 1:1-11

Sermon

Barbara Brokhoff

Introduction Roller coasters are becoming more and more popular in America; they are being built taller, and longer, and faster - and nearly every major theme and play park seems to have one. In a world that keeps us as dizzy as being on a roller coaster, or at best we have a suspicion that we are being used as a yo-yo, trying to meet the demands of all the strident voices about us. So, when a church event that has its anniversary on a certain Thursday every year - not even a Sunday - we find it a bit ...

4197. Blind Beggars All

Mark 10:46-52

Sermon

Erskine White

... he began to cry out and say, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!" (Luke 21:28) The town of Jericho was already 8,000 years old by the time Jesus and John the Baptist walked its streets. Think of it! Here in America, we were all excited a few years ago about our nation's bicentennial, our two hundredth birthday. Jericho was already 8,000 years old by the time of Jesus Christ. It remains today the oldest continually-inhabited city in the world. Jericho was built by the Canaanites as a fortified city ...

4198. Proper 21

Luke 16:19-31, Psalm 146:1-10, Amos 6:1-7, Joel 2:18-27, 1 Timothy 6:11-21

Sermon Aid

George Bass

THEOLOGICAL CLUE Depending on the lectionary followed and the calendar year, the Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost occurs near St. Luke's Day (October 18th). St. Luke's Day is a celebration of the gospel, as well as a day of remembrance for the evangelist. As such, it reinforces the theology of the church year which has been shaped by the gospel of the Lord. It is the second half of the church year, in particular, which needs reinforcement by the gospel of the risen Lord, inasmuch as there are fewer ...

4199. Finding Our Roots

Luke 9:28-36

Sermon

John M. Braaten

Ever since Alex Haley’s novel, Roots, hit the bookstands in the mid-70s, there has been an increasing number of people interested in their heritage. Many people buy computers and get on the internet primarily to keep track of their family tree. Parish secretaries are often called upon to do research for people investigating their family heritage. It is clear that many persons have been motivated to search through history in an attempt to find their roots. As one newspaper columnist wrote, "The once fabled ...

4200. Previews Of Coming Attractions

Jeremiah 33:1-26

Sermon

Ron Lavin

What comes to your mind when I say the word "forecasting"? The weather man? The predictor of tomorrow's heat, cold, rain, humidity? Probably so. In the Bible, the forecaster is God's prophet. He tells us what is going to happen in the future based on the reality of the present. True prophecy involves both forth-telling and foretelling. Jeremiah tells forth and foretells by giving us previews of coming attractions. What comes to your mind when I say, "previews of coming attractions"? Perhaps you think of ...

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