Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 426 to 450 of 793 results

Matthew 1:18-25, Luke 2:1-7

Sermon

Lori Wagner

Animation: Youtube video of Kaa’s Song from the original Jungle Book There are so many impossibilities that become realities in the Christmas story that one hardly knows where to begin. But here’s one that you may not have thought of before. Mary is too young, and Elizabeth is too old, to have a child. The word we translate as “virgin” really means pre-pubescent maiden. So here we have a post-menopausal woman, Elizabeth, and a pre-pubescent woman, Mary, that God chooses to use to bless the world with good ...

427. The Gardener

John 20:10-18

Sermon

Lori Wagner

“Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.” (Revelation 2:7) “Now in the place where he was crucified, there was a garden.” (John 10:41) Prop: seeds This is the first Sunday after Easter. It is sometimes called “Low Sunday,” partly because of the low number of people historically attending church this day. It is sometimes celebrated as it was in the past as “Holy ...

428. Sparkle

Luke 4:31-37

Sermon

Lori Wagner

But each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.…Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you. (James 14-15; 21) “The eternal God is your dwelling place, and underneath are the everlasting arms. And he thrust out the enemy before you and said, Destroy.” (Deuteronomy ...

429. Goin' Down the Road

Luke 24:13-35

Sermon

David & Marian Plant

One of our family’s favorite films is the original Muppet Movie. It has a key song about moving down the road, being footloose and fancy free. The Emmaus road on the day of the encounter between Jesus and two disciples in our text was not a place for being footloose and fancy free. It was a road filled with people trying to make sense of the great tragedy that they witnessed in Jesus’ death. The word was everywhere. Not unlike what it must have felt several days after Pearl Harbor, after the planes crashed ...

A good scientist is a person with original ideas. A good engineer is a person who makes a design that works with as few original ideas as possible. There are no prima donnas in engineering.

Freeman Dyson

431. God’s Quality Control Crew

Matthew 21:33-46

Sermon

Lori Wagner

Self-made. That’s one of the phrases that fills people with pride, especially in this country, where for years “pulling yourself up by your bootstraps” was the primary goal to attain. A couple of weeks ago, we talked about the idea of working hard and feeling we deserve our own brand of “fairness” based on our measurement and success paradigms. Last week, we talked about the politics of authority and winning through rhetoric rather than personal identity, faithfulness, and authenticity. Today, Jesus’ ...

432. Big Boys Do Cry

Joel 2:1-2,12-17

Sermon

King Duncan

Bob Laurent, in his book, A World of Differents, tells of sitting in the living room reading when he heard a terrible scream just outside his front door. Like most parents, he could distinguish his own child’s crying, and so he flew out the door to the scene of the accident. There was his three-year-old son, Christopher, upside down and bawling, the victim of a hit-and-run collision with a Big Wheel 16 inch toy Tricycle. In one fell swoop, Laurent scooped his son up and had him in the house and up in his ...

433.

Psalm 110:1-7

Understanding Series

Craig C. Broyles

The Davidic King Promised Dominion over Enemies Psalm 110 is a royal psalm composed originally for the preexilic Davidic kings and was later applied to the Messiah, as the many NT citations make evident (the NT cites this psalm more than any other OT passage). Like Psalm 2, it refers to Yahweh’s installation of the king on Zion and to his promise of military dominion over enemies. Both of these psalms may have been sung at the king’s enthronement (implied by “sit at my right hand”) or annually “in the ...

434. Beware Of Your Piety

Matthew 6:1-4, Matthew 6:5-15, Matthew 6:16-18, Matthew 6:19-24

Sermon

Harry N. Huxhold

Whatever happened to Lent? It has been some time now since church attendance was swollen during this season. Congregations also conducted weekday services that were well attended. Lenten reading was popular, and people talked a great deal about their Lenten fasting. "What did you give up for Lent?" was a common question. Very often that was done with little thought. In the Chicago area in the '50s, where and when Lenten piety was quite prominent, a woman was shopping at the bakery. While she was waiting ...

435. Life's Loose Threads and The Tie That Binds

Deuteronomy 34:1-12

Sermon

Robert S. Crilley

In 1481 Leonardo da Vinci was commissioned to paint an altarpiece for the chapel of a nearby monastery. He devoted an inordinate amount of time and energy to the depiction, compiling countless preparatory sketches and carefully attending to each intricate detail. The result was revolutionary: one of the most dramatic and innovative renderings of the Renaissance, before which succeeding generations of artists would later stand awestruck in absolute wonder. Mysteriously, though, just seven months into the ...

436. Expecting the Unexpected

Judges 4:1-24

Sermon

Robert S. Crilley

Whoever started the tradition of referring to the various documents of the Bible as "books" probably meant well. However, it seems to me, this rather generic designation often obscures an important truth: namely, that the "books" are, in fact, an extremely diverse body of literature -- containing everything from laws to letters, and poetry to prophecy. Even a casual reader soon realizes that the so-called "Good Book" is actually an eclectic collection of pieces written over the course of centuries by God ...

437. Service And Reward

Matthew 20:1-16

Sermon Aid

William E. Keeney

Social status may be determined by many factors. Some of these may be given by birth, genetics, or for reasons other than the achievement of the person. These include such things as color of skin and eyes, kind of hair, height, body build, gender, national origin, family's social position, inherited wealth, and age. Other factors may be determined by achievements through a person's efforts. These include such factors as level of education, employment, development of skills, hard work, wise investment, or ...

438. Wedding: Building A Marriage (for a couple fixing up a house)

1 Corinthians 13:1-13

Bulletin Aid

Derl G. Keefer

Listen to these words from the First Letter of Paul to the Corinthians, chapter 13 (NRSV): Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends... When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became ...

439. It's Called Forgiveness

Matthew 6:5-15

Drama

Karren Boehr

Theme: Forgiving Is A Command Based on Matthew 6:14-15: In the family of God, forgiveness is a command, not a choice. In order to be forgiven, one must forgive. There are no options. (This play is designed for easy production and special lighting is not needed. The occupation in the story may be changed to fit the church congregation best.) Scene: Kitchen of a farm house Props Table and two chairs Newspaper Coffee cup Seed corn cap Characters 1ST BROTHER: Middle-aged man who is loud and angry 2ND BROTHER: ...

440. Baptism In Three Movements

Matthew 3:13-17

Sermon

William B. Kincaid, III

There are two very different ways to think about baptism. The first approach recognizes the time of baptism as a saving moment in which the person being baptized accepts the love and forgiveness of God. The person then considers herself "saved." She may grow in the faith through the years, but nothing which she will experience after her baptism will be as important as her baptism. She always will be able to recall her baptism as the time when her life changed. The second approach wouldn't disagree with any ...

441. Seder Service: The Passover Haggadah

Bulletin Aid

Robert L. Linder and Rabbi Sol Ester

The Passover "A program of fellowship for adults and/or youth in Christian congregations desiring a better understanding of the heritage and the meaning of the institution of the Sacrament of Holy Communion." This work was inspired and initially written by Rev. Robert L. Linder while pastor of First English Lutheran Church in Toledo, Ohio. He was assisted by Jewish leaders of the community. It has since been revised by others, including Rabbi Sol Oster of Lima, Ohio. BLESSING OF THE FESTIVAL CANDLES Before ...

442. A Good Friday Vigil

Luke 22:39-46

Bulletin Aid

Alexander H. Wales

The following service is useful in a small room setting, establishing a "come and go" time frame for worshipers to contemplate the events of Good Friday in a personal, meditative manner. The brief service is intended to last approximately fifteen minutes, with worshipers choosing to stay for as long a time as their schedule and lifestyle allow for personal prayer and meditation. It originally was created for use at the end of the school/work day and prior to a family mealtime, but could also be used at a ...

443. The Meek

Sermon

John A. Terry

Psalm 37:1-11Matthew 5:1-12 This is not the beatitude of anyone claiming "I am the greatest." In fact, like all the other beatitudes, we have to wonder how practical these words are. What business could survive being meek? This is not a slogan you are likely to find above the door to the Stoc_esermonsk Exchange on Wall Street. Meekness will not win the play-off series between the New York Knicks and the Chicago Bulls. We tend to think of the meek as the casualties, not as the winners. "Miserable are the ...

444. Separation of Church and State

Matthew 22:15-22

Bulletin Aid

Dennis Koch

Gospel Notes The conversation depicted here must be understood in its original setting, in which the distinction between state and religion was blurred in a number of ways, not the least being the claim of the Roman emperor to be divine (and so designated on coins)! Jesus' famous dictum about "rendering," therefore, is a cleverly "safe" way of dealing with a question meant to entrap him, but also a profound statement about the appropriate separation between the secular and the sacred provinces, and thus ...

445. The Meek

Psalm 37:1-40

Sermon

John A. Terry

This is not the beatitude of anyone claiming "I am the greatest." In fact, like all the other beatitudes, we have to wonder how practical these words are. What business could survive being meek? This is not a slogan you are likely to find above the door to the Stock Exchange on Wall Street. Meekness will not win the play-off series between the New York Knicks and the Chicago Bulls. We tend to think of the meek as the casualties, not as the winners. "Miserable are the meek, because they get trampled upon." ...

446. Learning The Basics

Mark 10:1-12

Sermon

Robert Salzgeber

The Pharisees came up "to trap Jesus" and they asked him, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?" Jesus in response asked them what Moses had taught, and they replied correctly that Moses had said a man could simply give his wife a certificate of divorce and that was all there was to it. (Deuteronomy 24:1-4, was designed originally to protect the wife and guarantee her a certain amount of freedom.) Jesus was between a "rock and a hard place." If he answered "yes" to the question he would be promoting ...

447. Wisdom In A Proverb

Sermon

Sue Anne Steffey Morrow

What is a proverb? It is a short, popular saying, usually of unknown or ancient origin, that expresses some commonplace truth or useful thought. What is a proverb? It is a pithy saying characterized by "its shortness, its sense, its salt." What is a proverb? It is an adage, easily remembered, that forms either an observation or a judgment. What is a proverb? It is a maxim that expresses simply and concretely a truth based on common sense and human experience. Many of our grandmothers had more proverbs up ...

448. A Service Of Light

John 1:1-18

Bulletin Aid

J. B. Quisenberry

A Celebration Of Christian Brotherhood For The Entire Congregation With An Old-fashioned Christmas Pageant Production Notes This service may be done by either a large or small number of people. It is designed to involve children of all ages as well as adults. Children three years of age and older may be used as angels and shepherds as long as there is an older child to guide them. There may be as few as three angels or a whole "heavenly host." There are traditionally at least two shepherds, but there can ...

449. Managing Disappointment

Romans 5:1-11

Sermon

Clement E. Lewis

Paul wrote to the Romans, "Endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us." (Romans 5:4-5) Of this we can be sure, even though we feel that God has also forgotten us, he hasn't. Some things are not fully understood until we have felt entirely bereft of all comfort. Disappointment may give us the feeling that no one loves us anymore, and that there is no one who ...

450. Confusion Over a Questioned Book

Daniel 7:1-14

Sermon

George Paul Mocko

Were you confused by that passage read from the Book of Daniel? Don't feel bad. You are in good company. Daniel has been confusing people ever since it was written. It confused those rabbis who in the year 90 met in the coastal town of Jamnia to cast their votes on which of the historical writings were to be designated "sacred scripture." Daniel made it into the Bible by a majority vote, but many of those rabbis felt it should not have. It confused early Christians, many of whom were as unsure of its value ...

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Antonyms: deficient, imperfect

Showing 426 to 450 of 793 results

426. Trust in Me

Matthew 1:18-25, Luke 2:1-7

Sermon

Lori Wagner

427. The Gardener

John 20:10-18

Sermon

Lori Wagner

428. Sparkle

Luke 4:31-37

Sermon

Lori Wagner

429. Goin' Down the Road

Luke 24:13-35

Sermon

David & Marian Plant

A good scientist is a person with original ideas. A good engineer is a person who makes a design that works with as few original ideas as possible. There are no prima donnas in engineering.

Freeman Dyson

431. God’s Quality Control Crew

Matthew 21:33-46

Sermon

Lori Wagner

432. Big Boys Do Cry

Joel 2:1-2,12-17

Sermon

King Duncan

433.

Psalm 110:1-7

Understanding Series