Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 401 to 425 of 4508 results

Bulletin Aid

B. David Hostetter

READINGS Psalter—Psalm 72:1-7, 18-19 First Lesson—A vision of the peaceable kingdom inspires hope. Isaiah 11:1-10 Second Lesson—Christ Jesus is the fulfillment of the ancient hope for unity and harmony. Romans 15:4-13 Gospel—The Elijah-like forerunner to Jesus is John the Baptist, who preaches repentance in readiness for the King's advent. Matthew 3:1-12 CALL TO WORSHIP Leader: The grace of our L...

402. Advent 2

Bulletin Aid

Amy C. Schifrin

Litany of Confession Leader: Wild animals flourish around us, All: and prowl within us. Leader: Injustice and inequity surround us, All: and hide within us. Leader: Vanity and pride divide us, All: and fester within us. A time for silent reflection Leader: O God, may your love free us, All: and may your Spirit live in us. Amen. Prayer Of The Day Leader: Come, O Lord, and pour your Spirit upon u...

403. Advent 2

Bulletin Aid

John R. Brokhoff

COMMENTARY Old Testament: Isaiah 11:1-10 Isaiah describes the character and work of the promised Messiah, the son of David. Here Judah is given the promise of a Davidic king-messiah who is the basis for hope for the future. The king-messiah possesses the sevenfold gifts of the Spirit. Accordingly, he has a government characterized by justice and righteousness. His only weapon is word of mouth. As...

404. Living in the Past

Illustration

William B. Kincaid, III

On the television show M*A*S*H, Dr. Charles Emerson Winchester III made it clear what separated him from everybody else. "I'm a Winchester," he was heard to say more than once. For him, it was his family name that made him superior to everyone else. Other people carry other burdens. One woman received her education at Harvard and found a way to work Harvard into every conversation. Congregations f...

405. Taking the Fun Out of Christmas

Illustration

We prepare for Christmas by repenting. Repenting in the Biblical sense is more than having a change of heart or a feeling of regret. It is more than a New Year's Eve resolution. Repentance is a turning away and a turning back. A turning away from sin and a turning back to God. Bishop Joe Pennel of the Virginia Conference of the United Methodist Church, once attended a Christmas worship service in...

406. Authentic Christianity

Illustration

William Faulkner, the novelist, toiled for years as an unknown, disrespected writer in rural Mississippi before he finally gained recognition. When he won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1950, his acclaim grew. When approached later about the literary people and authors he associated with, Faulkner shrugged his shoulders and said, "I don't know any literary people. The people I know are other fa...

407. Above the Noise

Illustration

John Thomas Randolph

There is so much noise in the world today. There are so many voices competing for our attention. If you want to be heard, you almost have to shout. I once read that during a typical lunch hour at the University of California at Berkeley, spokesmen for a dozen different causes can be found on the plaza, trying to outshoot one another. One day a lone figure sat down defiantly in the middle of the cr...

408. In the Quiet of the Wilderness

Illustration

Edward F. Markquart

The wilderness is silence and quiet. It is the elimination of the sounds of television, the radio, the stereo, the iPod, the cell phone. It is the elimination of the voices of mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, friends. It is the elimination of the racing tape of your own mind that absorbs your thoughts. The wilderness is quiet. It is utter stillness. It is being alone with God. It is for a mom...

409. Lay Down Your Entitlements

Illustration

Timothy Owings

Our greatest Advent challenge seems to be the need to face the truth about ourselves. Both Isaiah and John tell us some very unflattering things about who we are and what we are capable of doing. Truth be told, all of us some of the time and some of us all of the time are in radical denial about the situation of our planet, our nation, and our lives. For example, like the people who heard John, we...

410. I’m with Him

Illustration

William B. Kincaid, III

A friend tells of the Saturday she spent going to football games with his father. The boy and his dad sat in sunshine and rain, wind and snow, and cheered for their favorite team. There was nothing like it. On the way home from the ball games, prior to the era of drive-through windows, they often stopped to get a bite to eat. The boy would stand at the counter and listen to his father give the ord...

411. Delicate Repentance

Illustration

Henry Ward Beecher

When a man undertakes to repent toward his fellowmen, it is repenting straight up a precipice; when he repents toward law, it is repenting into the crocodile's jaws; when he repents toward public sentiment, it is throwing himself into a thicket of brambles and thorns; but when he repents toward God, he repents toward all love and delicacy. God receives the soul as the sea the bather, to return it ...

412. If Your Face Is Towards Me

Illustration

James W. Moore

Do you feel insecure as we enter this Advent season? You do if your marriage is less than solid. You do if your job is at risk. You might if you have medical problems. If you have lost a loved-one in the last year, insecurity could be part of your grief. Pastor James Moore of Houston Texas tells a story about a young man whose wife had died, leaving him with a small son. Back home from the cemete...

413. Who Is That with John?

Illustration

Jim Kerner

Larry was sick and tired of his friend Stan's constant name-dropping and boasting of how famous he was. The day finally came when Larry could take it no more. He told Stan, "If you're so famous and know so many important people phone the White House and get the President on the line." Stan shrugged and walked to the phone. He punched in a number and handed the phone to Larry. The familiar voice g...

414. Juicy Spiritual Fruit

Illustration

Scott Hoezee

Of course, like all preachers, John didn't get through to everybody. Some who came to the Jordan with no intention of getting taken in by this man stuck to that determination pretty fiercely. The religious leaders provided John the opportunity to cut loose with his strongest language."Sneaky snakes!" John fairly howled! "Somebody set the field on fire and out slithered you all! Well, I'm here to t...

415. An Introduction to John the Baptist

Illustration

Thomas Long

As the door to a new era swings open, John the Baptist is the ideal hinge. He is dressed like the old age, but he points to the new. His preaching style is vintage Old Israel; his message paves the way for New Israel. He appears to have wandered out of some retirement home for old prophets, but he announces the arrival of one who is even greater than the prophets. He baptizes with the water of the...

416. It Was a Dark and Stormy Night

Illustration

Richard Hasler

Snoopy of Charlie Brown comic strip fame is typing a novel. He begins his story, "It was a dark and stormy night ..." Snoopy always starts his stories in this manner. Lucy looks at what Snoopy has written. She goes into a tirade, putting down Snoopy for such a silly beginning. Doesn't Snoopy know that any good story starts with the words, "Once upon a time ..." The last frame of the comic strip h...

417. Reconciliation and Communication

Illustration

Billy D. Strayhorn

A husband and wife were having some problems at home. They had argued and now they were giving each other the silent treatment. It lasted all weekend long, it was miserable. On Monday, the husband had an important appointment and had to be at the airport on time to catch a flight. However, he didn't want to be the first to break the silence. He was just too stubborn to do that. But he needed his w...

418. Look Into Your Father's Eyes

Illustration

James W. Moore

Carl Michalson, a brilliant young theologian who died in a plane crash some years ago, once told about playing with his young son one afternoon. They were tussling playfully on their front lawn when Michalson accidentally hit the young boy in the face with his elbow. It was a sharp blow full to his son's face. The little boy was stunned by the impact of the elbow. It hurt, and he was just about to...

419. Repent and Keep the Dream Alive!

Illustration

Joel D. Kline

African American poet Langston Hughes questions in one of his poems, "What happens to a dream deferred?…Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?…Or does it explode?" Dreams long squelched by injustice may well explode in anger and rage, but I suspect that, for most of us, the far greater danger is of our dreams drying up like raisins in the sun. Is there any greater tragedy than those whose lives ...

420. Possibilities of Grace

Illustration

Joel D. Kline

The story is told of a youngster learning to play the piano whose mother, to encourage a love for music in him, took him to a Paderewski concert. Soon after the mother and son were seated, the mother spotted a friend a little distance away and walked down the aisle to greet her. The time got a little too long for the youngster, and he wandered off, exploring the wonders of the concert hall, eventu...

421. What the Future Holds

Illustration

Leonard Mann

Have you seen ancient maps of unexplored portions of the world? Maps that portrayed the prevailing ideas of what lay beyond, the unexplored lands and the uncrossed seas? Maps from before the adventures of Marco Polo and Christopher Columbus and Ferdinand Magellan? How grotesquely inaccurate those maps were! How vastly they differed from what the explorer eventually found! How fantastic were the no...

422. Above the Noise

Illustration

John Thomas Randolph

There is so much noise in the world today. There are so many voices competing for our attention. If you want to be heard, you almost have to shout. During a typical lunch hour at the University of California at Berkeley, spokesmen for a dozen different causes can be found on the plaza, trying to outshout one another. One day a lone figure sat down defiantly in the middle of the crowd and held up ...

423. John Had an Outlook

Illustration

Leonard Mann

In the story of Adam Bede, George Eliot describes a certain conceited person as being "like the cock who thought the sun had risen to hear him crow." I've known, as you probably have, a few persons along the way who were just about as vain as this. Remember that line by Tennyson: "One far-off divine event to which the whole creation moves?" I knew one fellow once who apparently believed himself to...

424. The King Is Coming

Illustration

Steve Weaver

Can you imagine complete silence? It's hard to in our culture today in which televisions, radios, etc. are constantly blaring. But in this morning's text a silence of 400 years is broken. Don't misunderstand, not everyone was silent during this period. Women and men were talking.. Boys and girls were talking. But there was no prophet speaking the Word of the LORD. No one was truthfully saying, "Th...

425. The Restaurant in Downtown Jericho

Illustration

John Jamison

The way it happened in my mind is that he walked into this little restaurant in downtown Jericho, took a deep breath and hollered, "Repent!" Folks stopped eating mid-bite. It got so quiet you could hear the motor running in that tall machine over in the corner that kept slices of pie turning around behind the glass all day. Every eye in the place was on him, and that was what he was waiting for. H...

Showing 401 to 425 of 4508 results

401. Second Sunday of Advent

Bulletin Aid

B. David Hostetter

402. Advent 2

Bulletin Aid

Amy C. Schifrin

403. Advent 2

Bulletin Aid

John R. Brokhoff

404. Living in the Past

Illustration

William B. Kincaid, III

405. Taking the Fun Out of Christmas

Illustration

406. Authentic Christianity

Illustration

407. Above the Noise

Illustration

John Thomas Randolph

408. In the Quiet of the Wilderness

Illustration

Edward F. Markquart

409. Lay Down Your Entitlements

Illustration

Timothy Owings

410. I’m with Him

Illustration

William B. Kincaid, III

411. Delicate Repentance

Illustration

Henry Ward Beecher

412. If Your Face Is Towards Me

Illustration

James W. Moore

413. Who Is That with John?

Illustration

Jim Kerner

414. Juicy Spiritual Fruit

Illustration

Scott Hoezee

415. An Introduction to John the Baptist

Illustration

Thomas Long

416. It Was a Dark and Stormy Night

Illustration

Richard Hasler

417. Reconciliation and Communication

Illustration

Billy D. Strayhorn

418. Look Into Your Father's Eyes

Illustration

James W. Moore

419. Repent and Keep the Dream Alive!

Illustration

Joel D. Kline

420. Possibilities of Grace

Illustration

Joel D. Kline

421. What the Future Holds

Illustration

Leonard Mann

422. Above the Noise

Illustration

John Thomas Randolph

423. John Had an Outlook

Illustration

Leonard Mann

424. The King Is Coming

Illustration

Steve Weaver

425. The Restaurant in Downtown Jericho

Illustration

John Jamison

Showing 401 to 425 of 4508 results