Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 4576 to 4600 of 4939 results

4576. Jesus' Temptation

Luke 4:1-13

Sermon

Will Willimon

As a young man, Jesus was led into the wilderness. There, the devil met him and tempted him. It is a tradition in the church to begin the forty days of Lent with Jesus' forty days of testing in the wilderness. It is fitting that we recall this story in a university chapel because (don't you agree?) it is at the beginning of your life, when one is a young adult, that one is most preoccupied with, "Who am I?" The who-am-I identity question is behind this strange, shadowy meeting with the devil in the ...

4577. Public Sex

Mark 10:2-16

Sermon

Will Willimon

''Therefore a man leaves his father and mother and cleaves to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.'' While you were away over the summer, the Presbyterians (P.C.U.S.A ) discovered sex. They issued a big report on sex at their General Assembly, voted it down by a margin of 95 to 5, the report that is. But not before Presbyterians captured many headlines, so shocked was the media to see staid Presbyterians talking in public about a subject like sex. The report advocated ''justice-love'' for ...

4578. Scandal

Matthew 16:21-28, Matthew 17:14-23, Matthew 20:17-19, Matthew 26:1-5

Sermon

Lori Wagner

Prop (Animation): large mouse trap with “prop” piece; stone or rock; basket of river rocks People I know are hooked to two tv shows right now. One they admit right away: “Empire.” The other is more a “guilty pleasure” they admit to only when pressed: “Scandal.” Back for its fifth season, “Scandal” is the story of a president’s mistress. A married US President, Fitzgerald Grant, has fallen in love and is having an affair with crisis management professional, Olivia Pope. While her job is usually to “handle” ...

4579. The Call To Excellence

Numbers 27:12-23

Sermon

Sims Robert

The time had come for Moses to be “gathered to his people as his brother Aaron was gathered (Numbers 27:13).” Moses, knowing that the people could not go on without the one who would lead, prayed to God: “Appoint a man over the congregation… who shall lead them out and bring them in; that the congregation of the Lord shall not be as sheep who have no shepherd (Numbers 27:16-17).” God heard the prayer of Moses and appointed Joshua, “A man in whom is the spirit (Numbers 27:18).” Throughout the centuries God ...

4580. God Is Good But Not Easy

Luke 18:1-8

Sermon

And he told them a parable, to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. He said, "In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor regarded man, and there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, 'Vindicate me against my adversary.' For a while he refused; but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor regard man, yet because this widow bothers me, I will vindicate her, or she will wear me out by her continual coming.’ " And the Lord ...

4581. To Thank Is To ...

Deuteronomy 26:1-15

Sermon

This ritual of Thanksgiving is a ritual of identification. A traditional American parade ritualizes the sacredness and centeredness of money in American life. This Deuteronomic ritual identifies God as the center of thanksgiving and is our way of saying so. One does not thank anybody if self is the center. Thanks, then, may be little more than the oil of social facilitation. The thanksgiving of this text expresses a relationship of debt. It calls forth one’s history - not of one’s lifetime alone, but that ...

4582. This Is a Test

Genesis 22:1-14

Sermon

Mark Trotter

Our text for this Sunday is from the Book of Genesis, the story of Abraham's sacrifice of his son, Isaac. It is one of the most powerful, profound, and disturbing stories in all of the Bible, and all of literature, for that matter. It is the conclusion of the story of Abraham, and therefore it cannot be understood apart from the whole story of Abraham. The story of Abraham is the story of a promise. The promise was given to Abraham, and to Sarah, this childless couple, that they would be given a child, and ...

4583. For Those Who Have Received Much (Father's Day)

Matthew 10:5-8

Sermon

King Duncan

Before we begin, I want to wish all the Dads in the room, “Happy Father’s Day.” Fathers don’t get much respect anymore. Bill Cosby observed once that boys grow up spending hours and hours throwing footballs and going to games with their Dads. And when they make it big on the college scene, before the big bowl game they get interviewed, and the first thing they say is, “Hi Mom!!” No, fathers don’t get much respect anymore. But the news on Father’s Day isn’t all bad. The National Center for Fathering ...

4584. Here I Am To Worship

John 4:24

Sermon

James Merritt

There is nothing that I enjoy more than a good debate. I don't mean an argument or a disagreement or a quarrel. I am talking about an honest debate where give and take or given and taken in the right spirit with each person trying to learn. At the same time, I would never ever want to debate anything with anybody who knows everything. Yet, that is exactly what we continue to read in the four gospels. Sometimes it was the Pharisees and sometime it was the Disciples. Here in John 4 there is a woman who is ...

4585. A Fresh Start

Romans 3:23-24

Children's Sermon

Teresa L. Major

Object: A clean sheet of white paper, and a sheet of white paper with crayon scribbles on it. Lesson: When we make mistakes, God will give us a fresh start if we ask him. If you were trying to draw a picture and messed up, you would want to start over, wouldn't you? (Hold up paper with scribbles.) Looks like someone made some mistakes here. Looks like he messed up a little bit. Do you think whoever started drawing this picture would like to start over? Do you think he would like to try again? If this was ...

4586. Sleepers, Wake!

Matthew 25:1-13

Eulogy

Barbara G. Schmitz

Part 2 Homilies Canticle: Benedictus Dominus DeusMusic: Sleepers, Wake! One of the most powerful hymns I have ever experienced is the Advent hymn, "Sleepers, Wake!" It was written and composed by a pastor in Westphalia during an epidemic rage in which over 1,300 of his parishioners took ill and died. As he stood by his flock, watching them collapse to the epidemic one after the other, he wrote "Sleepers, Wake!" It is nothing short of a wake-up call in the face of death: a summons to prepare for our death, ...

4587. Fish Miracle

1 Corinthians 15:1-11, Isaiah 6:1-13, Luke 5:1-11

Sermon Aid

John R. Brokhoff

While the people pressed upon him to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret. 2 And he saw two boats by the lake; but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. 3 Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon's, he asked him to put out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the people from the boat. 4 And when he had ceased speaking, he said to Simon, "Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch." 5 And Simon answered, "Master, we ...

4588. Trusting In The Lord

Jeremiah 16:1--17:18

Sermon

Ron Lavin

Recently I awoke from a dream with a start. I didn't know where I was or what was happening. I didn't even know who I was. I had fallen asleep in an armchair in the family room. That was quite an awakening to reality. Some time ago, I had left a message at the desk of a hotel where I was staying. I wanted to get up at 6 a.m. so that I wouldn't miss an important meeting. The phone rang and a very pleasant voice on the other side said, "Mr. Lavin, this is your wake up call." Startled, I jumped out of bed, ...

4589. What Will He Find ... When He Comes?

Luke 18:1-8

Sermon

Theodore F. Schneider

Every pastor has been touched and troubled when there have been those in the congregation who suddenly have faced unemployment. Like an ambush from two sides, unemployment attacks us with the fear of financial insecurity on the one side and the loss of self-esteem on the other. Job searching can deepen both. In just such a moment I encountered Brian. He is a competent and creative person whose skills and personality cannot be long overlooked. "It will work out, Brian," I said. "God does provide." "I hope ...

4590. Saved By Water: The Well

John 4:1-26

Sermon

Steve Swanson

The legend of Noah and the flood, and Jesus' miraculous stilling of the storm, are both stories of fear of water and fear of drowning. We are indeed afraid of drowning; most of us would admit it. Too much water scares us. But go to the opposite extreme, too little water, and hardly anyone is afraid. Who ever thinks of dying of thirst? I guess you'd have to live on the desert or maybe back in the old sailing days of dead calms and thirst-crazed sailors. I don't suppose many of us have ever thought of dying ...

4591. Step Two - Hope

Mk 10:46-52 · 2 Cor 12:7-10 · Is 12:1-6

Sermon

John A. Terry

Step two. "Came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity." One word sometimes used to summarize this step is the word hope. We are going to look at today's texts as they relate to believing God restores us as we turn our lives over to that Power greater than ourselves. In the Old Testament reading, Isaiah sings a song of deliverance. The words might sound like a call for personal deliverance, but it is really a song for the deliverance of the nation and a call for a ...

4592. Peter. Rock. Follower of Jesus.

Matthew 16:13-20

Drama

Thomas Blowers

Dramatic Monologue My name is Simon Bar-Jona. And for years I carried that name with pride. Simon-- a strong name, said my mother-- a dependable name, said my father-- a name you can be proud of, said friends and neighbors. "Your great-grandfather's name," everyone reminded me. And I was proud to carry his name as my own. Then one day Jesus began calling me "Peter" and the name stuck. Soon that's what everyone was calling me: Peter. Funny how nicknames get started. We called the old man down on the corner ...

4593. The Way He Taught

Matthew 7:24-29

Sermon

"Jesus finished saying these things, and the crowds were amazed at the way he taught. He wasn't like their teachers of the Law; instead, he taught with buthority." (St. Matthew 7:28, 29 TEV) Our precious Christian faith is first of all and foremost the good news that God loves us and forgives us in Chrst, his son. It is the story of our salvation, the story of the cross and the open tomb. But along with that also goes the challenge of Christianity - the scintilating invitation to carry out God's will in ...

4594. God Is a Mystery

Luke 19:1-10

Sermon

He entered Jericho and was passing through. And there was a man named Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector, and rich. And he sought to see who Jesus was, but could not, on account of the crowd; because he was small of stature. So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was to pass that way. And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, "Zacchaeus, make haste and come down for I must stay at your house today." So he made haste and came down, and received ...

4595. A Call for a Change in Lifestyle

Matthew 3:1-12

Sermon

At the mention of the name, John the Baptizer, I immediately think of two churches that are thousands of miles apart. One is only eighty-five miles from my home, the Benedictine abbey church of St. John the Baptist on the campus of St. John’s University, Collegeville, Minnesota. The other church is thousands of miles away, just outside of Florence, Italy, at the confluence of two superhighways. Each features visual images of John the Baptizer. The church in Italy pictures the life and death of John on ...

4596. Proper 18 & Pentecost 16

Ezekiel 33:1-20, Psalm 119:1-176, Psalm 95:1-11, Psalm 115:1-18, Exodus 19:1-25, Romans 13:1-7, Romans 13:8-14, Romans 12:9-21, Matthew 18:15-20

Bulletin Aid

THEOLOGICAL CLUE The eschatological framework of the church year remains in place, but it does little or nothing to reveal any theological clue for worship and preaching or any specific theme for this Sunday. The church year does exert biblical and homiletical influence, however, in continuing to set aside September 21 as St. Matthew's Day. Those who have been preaching on the Gospel of St. Matthew may wish to take advantage of the opportunity to connect the man and his message in a sermon. It might be ...

4597. No Longer Spectators - But Participants!

Acts 2:14-41

Sermon

Barbara Brokhoff

But Peter, standing up with the eleven, raised his voice and said to them, "Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves also know--Him being delivered by the determined counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death;whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that He should be held by it. ...

4598. Your Money and Your Life

Matthew 6:19-24

Sermon

Robert Bachelder

In his classic treatise on politics, The Republic, Plato observed that the greatest enemy of justice is the family. Yes, the family! I daresay his claim will strike you as being rather silly. After all, most everyone agrees the family is a good and necessary institution. Sociologists continue to say the family is the vital unit or cell of society. We are all disturbed by the disintegration of the family as the divorce rate climbs. Many believe this phenomenon is as dangerous as running out of energy or ...

4599. Who Has Everything?

Matthew 5:5

Sermon

Wallace H. Kirby

Some years ago the News and Observer of Raleigh, North Carolina, published an article entitled, "Do You Measure Up As a Man?" The article stated that some extensive research had been conducted on the twentieth century standards for measuring a man. The eight criteria are quite interesting: his ability to make, conserve, and amass money; the cost, style, and age of his car; how much hair he has or has not; his size and strength; the job he holds and how successful he is at it; what sports he likes; how many ...

4600. Will My Ship Sink or Float?

Romans 8:28-39

Sermon

Robert G. Tuttle

For the key verse in this Scripture reading, like best the King James Version: "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God." No! Not everything that happens in life is good (much of it is very bad). But when you add all the happenings of life together and look at the whole of life, for the person who has faith in God, for the person who loves God and shares the love of God, that life is good. The whole of life, its ups and downs, are good when we see them interrelated in a ...

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