Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 4401 to 4425 of 4937 results

4401. Epiphany 3

Jonah 3:1-10, 1 Corinthians 7:1-40, Mark 1:1-8, Mark 1:9-13, Mark 1:14-20

Bulletin Aid

Paul A. Laughlin

First Lesson: Jonah 3:1-5, 10 Theme: The universality of God’s mercy Exegetical note After some initial reluctance, and a legendary bout with the digestive system of a large fish, Jonah accedes to the will of God and delivers God’s word of warning to the Gentile city of Nineveh, which promptly repents and believes in God, who in turn mercifully forestalls the threatened judgment. The entire story shows that God’s mercy extends well beyond the boundaries of Israel. Call to Worship Leader: Give thanks, ...

4402. STRONG SON OF GOD

Luke 11:14-28

Sermon Aid

John W. Rilling

Then goeth he and taketh to him seven other spirits more wicked than himself; and they enter in, and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first. Arthur John Gossip had the Celtic gift of breathing life into words, and dramatizing scripture unforgettably. Never was he more effective than in the word-picture he paints of the haunted house in the gospel for this the third Sunday in Lent. He paints for us a little cottage on a lonesome moor where the neighbors of nights hear strange ...

4403. Candlelight Service

John 1:1-18

Bulletin Aid

Brett Blair

THE GATHER OF GOD'S PEOPLE Greeting and Worship Notes Prelude Gathering Pastor: Emmanuel: God, you are with us. Congregation: We have heard the promise of the prophets; Pastor: We have caught the notes of the angel's song; Congregation: We have seen a star in the heavens, we have believed. Pastor: Tonight we have come to be with you because you have come to be with us. Congregation: We seek an innocent, helpless baby in a crude manger; Pastor: We seek a Messiah who will reign with justice; Congregation: ...

4404. There Is Hope (A Christmas Communion Meditation)

Luke 1:67-80

Sermon

Brett Blair

The birth of John the Baptist puts a different spin on the birth of Jesus. We get to see the birth and life of Jesus through the eyes of relatives who were going through the same odd happenings that had surrounded Mary and Joseph. Zechariah and Elizabeth are the proud parent's of John, who would later be called The Baptist, new parents who are allowed to see into the future and understand that there was hope, a great hope coming to the world. Zechariah’s song reminds us that the backdrop of all this hope ...

4405. Birthing the Kingdom

Mark 13:1-31

Sermon

Cathy A. Ammlung

I for one am heartily glad that the millennium (and its attendant madness) is well behind us. I'm glad that the millennium comes only once in a, well, millennium. The major reason for my relief is that I became sick of "Millennium Fever" and the doom-saying prophecies that (mercifully) did not come to pass. End of the world prophecies are nothing new, of course. They were around for centuries before our Lord was born. They exist in most major religions and cults. And every time a new disaster -- of natural ...

4406. A Kingdom that Can Not Be Shaken

Hebrews 12:14-29

Sermon

King Duncan

Richard Slyhoff, a Pennsylvania man who lived in the late 1800s, never cared about God--at least, during his lifetime. But as he pondered his impending death, Slyhoff became convinced that he would have to face some form of eternal judgement. Did this fear cause him to repent and seek a relationship with God? No. Slyhoff had a better idea. He would hide from God instead. He dug his burial plot in the shadow of a large boulder. According to Slyhoff’s beliefs, a great earthquake would occur on the day of ...

4407. The Spread of Sin

Genesis 12:1-8

Sermon

Elizabeth Achtemeier

In order to understand this scripture lesson, it is of utmost importance that we put it in its context. Last Sunday we heard the story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, where they tried to shake off their dependence and relationship with God and to become their own deities and masters of their own lives. That attempt was symbolized by their eating of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the midst of the garden. And you remember that we said that story was the symbol of the way we ...

4408. Proper 29

Psalm 100:1-5, Ezekiel 34:1-31, Ephesians 1:15-23, Matthew 25:31-46

Sermon Aid

Marion L. Soards, Thomas B. Dozeman, Kendall McCabe

OLD TESTAMENT TEXTS Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24 is a description of God as a good shepherd. Psalm 100 is a song of praise. Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24 - "God as the Good Shepherd" Setting. There are two central images in Ezekiel 34, shepherds and sheep. The image of a shepherd is used in this chapter to refer to kings and the power of monarchs to lead the people of Israel, their sheep. The imagery of this chapter, therefore, relates well to the Reign of Christ Sunday. Structure. An overview of Ezekiel 34 is ...

4409. Treasure Map

Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21

Bulletin Aid

Frank Ramirez

Call To Worship Take time to still your hearts. All that was on your mind as you entered does not matter now. Come to this quiet place, come to your Heavenly Father who is waiting for you. Come. Collect Lord, with bowed heads we humbly offer up to you our brokenness, so that in our weakness your undeniable strength will shine before the world, leading others to the Savior during this season of Lent. Amen. Prayer Of Confession One: Here in this place of calm and repose the world's true treasure lies. Let us ...

4410. Doing a New Thing

Isaiah 43:18-25

Sermon

Schuyler Rhodes

Robert liked new things. He was one of those personalities who sought out new experiences and new approaches to life. He thrived on things different and new. He really couldn't help it. It was just the way he was. He was amazing. He would buy tickets to concerts by musicians he had never heard of, just so he could hear something new. If there was a new restaurant in town, particularly of an ethnic slant he hadn't experienced, he'd go there opening day for lunch. Robert was forever rearranging his apartment ...

4411. Being Good ... for Nothing

Job 23:1-9, 16-17

Sermon

Mary S. Lautensleger

If I were to ask you to complete the sentence, "You know it is going to be a bad day when ..." how would you respond? Let me give you a few examples. You know it is going to be a bad day when your car horn sticks on Interstate 75 and you are behind 32 Hell's Angels. You know it is going to be a bad day when you arrive at work and find a Sixty Minutes news team waiting in your office. You know it is going to be a bad day when your birthday cake collapses from the weight of the candles. You know it is going ...

4412. Pit and Rock

Colossians 1:11-20

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

The Bible teaches us to praise God for everything. For everything? Really everything? Yes, everything! We are to praise and thank God constantly, "in all circumstances" (1 Thessalonians 5:18), "at all times and for everything" (Ephesians 5:20), "always asking God with a thankful heart (Philippians 4:6,TEV). During the height of one of Cyprus' political crises, Sir Hugh Foot became governor of the country. He exchanged telegrams with his father, the Rt. Hon. Isaac Foot. The first, from England, read: "Foot ...

4413. Ordinary and Humble Princes

John 1:43-51

Illustration

Scott Hoezee

Most everybody has a soft spot in their hearts for fairy tales. There is just something about a fairy tale's reversal of expectations that intrigues us. There is something delicious about finding out that the frog is really a handsome prince, that the ugly duckling is the one that grows into the most resplendent of all swans. We enjoy it when the moment of truth comes for the characters in a story as they discover that the scruffy-looking character they never quite trusted is actually the true king of the ...

4414. Jesus' First Miracle

John 2:1-11

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

There’s a story about G. K. Chesterton traveling on a train, absorbed in a book. He suddenly awoke to his surroundings and discovered that he was on a train, but he had forgotten where he was going. He got out at the next station and sent a telegram from there to his wife. The telegram said, “I’m here; where ought I to be?” The reply came back from his wife; “Look at your ticket.” Now that is our predicament as Christians. We’ve not only forgotten where we are going - many of us have even forgotten that we ...

4415. Don’t Forget the Best

Luke 10:38-42

Illustration

Adrian Dieleman

There is an ancient Scottish legend that tells the story of a shepherd boy tending a few straggling sheep on the side of a mountain. One day as he cared for his sheep he saw at his feet a beautiful flower. One that was more beautiful than any he had ever seen in his life. He knelt down upon his knees and scooped the flower in his hands and held it close to his eyes, drinking in its beauty. As he held the flower close, suddenly he heard a noise and looked up. Before him was a great stone mountain opening up ...

4416. What About the Baby?

Isaiah 9:2-7

Sermon

Tony Everett

Brian had just received a major job promotion that required a 2,000-mile cross-country move during the Christmas season. As a dutiful father, Brian was very concerned about how this sudden move would affect his children, particularly his six-year-old son, Adam. When it was Adam's bedtime, Brian spent several minutes giving a carefully rehearsed presentation about the impending family relocation. He described the new city, their new house, and all the new friends Adam would meet at school. He even told Adam ...

4417. A Honeymoon at Church Camp: A Real Homecoming

Jeremiah 31:7-14

Sermon

Tony Everett

Rachael and Wally first saw each other at church camp when they attended a January orientation meeting for new counselors. Just one look into one another's eyes was all it took for these high school seniors to realize that this might be the start of something wonderful. It was. Over the next four summers at camp, Rachael and Wally's infatuation blossomed into romance. They became engaged with plans to marry during the Christmas season following college graduation. Everyone was thrilled. Here was the ...

4418. Do You See What I See?

Exodus 14:19-31

Sermon

David J. Kalas

In 1956, director/producer Cecil B. DeMille tried to do in motion pictures what artists had attempted to do for centuries on canvas: capture this moment. It is the ancient writer of the book of Exodus who reports and describes the moment for us. And the children of Israel, in prayers and songs for centuries afterward, remembered the moment, and the God who brought it all to pass. The Hebrew people, newly freed from their slavery in Egypt, had just begun their journey toward the promised land. They would go ...

4419. The Waiting Man

Mark 1:1-8

Drama

Arley K. Fadness

Theme: Waiting for someone — really special Characters: Passerby Waiting Man Spouse Person 1 Person 2 Teen 1 Teen 2 Tone: Mysterious Setting/Props: Mall door backdrop (optional) Shopping bags Books Rollerblades Approximate time: 5 minutes (A man is waiting by a door in a shopping mall. He appears bored and is shuffling his feet and whistling. He is approached by another person. They do not know one another.) Passerby: (causally) What’s happening? Waiting Man: I’m just waiting. Passerby: Oh, yeah? Man, don’ ...

4420. Hope Lifted Up

Numbers 21:4-9

Sermon

Ken Lentz

It was a mystery. Hezekiah, the twelfth king of Judah, the father of Manasseh, asked around about the mysterious bronze snake, named Nehushtan, on display in a corner of the temple. Encouraged by the prophet Micah, Hezekiah wanted to restore and strengthen the monotheistic religion of his forefathers. The veneration of such a "graven image" was inconsistent with the worship of the one God, the God of Abraham and Moses. No one knew the origin of the thing. Hezekiah didn't research the matter. He ordered ...

4421. From Emptiness to Fullness

Ruth 3:1-5, 4:13-17

Sermon

Robert A. Hausman

Today, we learn from two women. The first is the woman we met last week, Ruth. Her story takes up a whole book of the Bible. We hear her speak, listen in on her deliberations, and follow her story. The second woman is nameless and speechless. She appears in only one short vignette in Mark and functions as an object lesson that Jesus uses in the gospel narrative. We are to learn from what she does. They are rather different stories, but they have two things in common: They are both about widows and they are ...

4422. That’s Why We Call It Good

Isaiah 52:13--53:12

Sermon

David J. Kalas

At the end of the day, God saw that it was good. Indeed, that is the recurring refrain in the story of creation. For at the end of each day, God saw that it was good. Modern minds may like to quibble about the science of the creation account in scripture, but no one can dispute the beauty of it. Phase by phase, the beauty unfolds. When the curtain opens on the mysterious pre-creation scene, it is a frightening blackness. We read of both chaos and emptiness, and all of it in the midst of an enveloping, ...

4423. A Call to Repentance

Joel 1:13-20

Understanding Series

Elizabeth Achtemeier

A Call to the Priests: This entire section, which may be divided into five strophes (vv. 13, 14, 15–16, 17–18, 19–20) is directed at the priests in the Jerusalem temple, for if communion with God has been lost in Judah, the priests are those primarily responsible. 1:13 It was the priests’ duty in biblical Israel to teach and maintain their people in the ways of the Torah. But that did not mean simply teaching the people the law. Rather, the priests were responsible for preserving and handing on to the ...

4424. If

Luke 9:18-24

Children's Sermon

King Duncan

Object: Some ashes, grease and water and a cross Good morning, boys and girls. I have some ashes with me this morning that I produced by burning some leaves. I also have some grease in this jar I collected from our kitchen. Suppose I had a lot of ashes or a lot of grease and told you to go play in the ashes or play with the grease. You would get all dirty and yucky, wouldn't you? Your parents would be very cross with me. But suppose I added some water to the ashes and grease? Did you know that this is how ...

4425. Judah and Tamar

Genesis 38:1-30

Understanding Series

John E. Hartley

Judah and Tamar: The account of Judah and Tamar is set as an interlude in the Joseph narrative. It adds to the suspense of the Joseph story, as the reader wonders what is going to happen to Joseph. The action takes place in four scenes: the failure of Judah’s sons to have an heir (vv. 1–11), Judah’s relationship with a supposed prostitute (vv. 12–23), Tamar’s vindication (vv. 24–26), and Tamar’s bearing twins (vv. 27–30). Although this account appears to interrupt the long, closely knit Joseph narrative, ...

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