Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 4601 to 4625 of 4934 results

4601. In the Meantime: Between the First and Second Comings

Isaiah 2:1-5

Sermon

David Busic

How he knew every day that it was time, still baffles me. Can a two year old have an internal clock? Certainly he knew instinctively when it is time to eat, and I think his body told him that it was time to nap, but how did he know it was time for Sesame Street? But every single day, he knew. “Sessy Steet; Sessy Steet.” And he was right. The songs were what got me. Here, years later, I know every word to “Elmo’s Song.” I suspect that they write these children’s songs intentionally so that they sound like ...

4602. Palm Sunday (Prologue)

Matthew 21:1-11

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

Once upon a time, before television, there was radio. You know what radio is—television without pictures. Well, before television, one of the most popular daytime radio programs was called “Queen for a Day.” If I remember it correct-ly (and it was a long time ago!), each day four or five women from the studio audience would tell the host what they would like to have and do if they could be “Queen for a Day.” And then, on the basis of applause, one woman was chosen, and insofar as they were able, the ...

4603. Two Conversations with Jesus: The Second Word

Luke 23:26-43

Sermon

Eric Ritz

Today I want to share some thoughts and reflections from what historically has been designated as the second word of the Seven Last Words of Jesus Christ from the cross on Calvary. I believe that this is the last known conversation to take place between Jesus Christ and a human being before he died. Today we will think for a few moments about the two other crosses that flanked our Savior''s cross: one cross on the left, and another on the right. Both of which held people who had been called thieves or ...

4604. Lift High the Tree

John 12:20-36

Sermon

George Bass

Suddenly, we are a week ahead of our Lenten schedule. This story belongs to the Week of the Passion of our Lord, because it occurs sometime between the days we call Palm Sunday and Maundy Thursday. It was during that interval that a group of Gentiles, who were simply called Greeks, approached Philip with the request to see Jesus. Jesus must have been in some sort of seclusion pondering, no doubt, what was about to happen to him. His retort to Philip and Andrew, when he heard the request, certainly suggests ...

4605. The Gospel Of Another Chance (choir Dedication)

Luke 13:1-9

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

Football season is going full steam. Emotions are running high, and already folks are making predictions about who is going to make it to the different bowls. Also, there are a lot of stories making the rounds. One is about the sometimes famous coach at the University of Tennessee, Johnny Majors. It seems that Mr. Majors bought a bolt of cloth thinking he would have a suit made out of it. He took the material to his tailor in Knoxville where the tailor measured Majors, examined the bolt of cloth, did some ...

4606. The Process of Love

Luke 19:1-10

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

In William Shakespeare's play, A Midsummer Night's Dream, the actors roam the stage looking for a scarce potion that can make humans fall in love. What with our church splits, divorce rate, homicides, racism, and terrorist wars, such an elixir, such a love potion, could come in handy in our own day. Jesus Christ told us in the Great Commandment to love our neighbor (Mark 12:28 ff). Then he stuck around to show us how it's done. What we have in the Gospels is not just words of love, but the deeds themselves ...

4607. The Counter Intelligence of the Cross

1 Corinthians 1:18--2:5, 1 Corinthians 1:10-17, 1 Corinthians 1:1-9

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

This week’s epistle text is a long one: 19 verses. It faithfully follows the precise, prescribed unfolding of Paul’s letter to the Corinthian church, which in turn faithfully follows the niceities of proper letter composition in the first century Greco-Roman world. The genius of Paul is to work within formulaic frameworks while finding a way to add his own unique touches in order to preach the gospel. In his salutation (vv.1-3) Paul asserts his own apostolic identity, his “call,” and identifies the source ...

4608. Lent 2

Psalm 121:1-8, Genesis 12:1-8, Romans 4:1-25, John 3:1-21

Sermon Aid

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

OLD TESTAMENT TEXTS The themes of sin and death, which have been central to the Lenten Old Testament lessons up to this point, give way to divine promise of life and blessing in Genesis 12:1-4a . Psalm 122 takes the divine promise of life and blessing into the setting of worship, where it functions both as a song of praise to God for the gift of peace and salvation, and as encouragement to the worshiper to seek the security of God's grace. Genesis 12:1-4a - "The Working Out of God's Blessing" Setting. ...

4609. Transfiguration

Psalm 2:1-12, Matthew 17:1-13, 2 Peter 1:12-21, Exodus 24:1-18

Sermon Aid

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

OLD TESTAMENT TEXTS This Sunday is a celebration of the Transfiguration. The Old Testament texts provide two perspectives on the presence of God in our midst. Exodus 24:12-18 describes the descent of God in the form of fire to the top of Mount Sinai in order to be with the people of God in worship, while Psalm 2:6-11 celebrates the messianic rule of God throughout this world. Taken together these texts provide commentary on the Transfiguration. (Note that Psalm 2:6-11 is the alternate reading, which is ...

4610. When What’s Holding You Up Lets You Down

2 Samuel 18:33-19:8

Sermon

Shirley Gupton Lynn

Once in Atlanta the relief organization CARE sponsored a No-Show Marathon. For a ten-dollar donation, participants got a race number and a Marathon T-shirt, every runner's status symbol. But the good part is, they didn't have to run the grueling 26-mile course. In fact, in the No-Show Marathon, no one ran at all; they just gathered at a local nightclub and talked about it. Sometimes we wish life were a No-Show Marathon, and we didn't have to run the race. But even when illness, disappointment, and problems ...

4611. Accepting the Lord Once Again

John 1:1-18

Sermon

Richard Gribble

He came softly, unobserved and yet, strange to say, everyone knew him. The time was the fifteenth century; the place was Seville in Spain. He came to announce peace and to proclaim the good news. He came to teach and to cure; he came to bring the light. As he walked by the cathedral, a funeral procession for a little seven-year-old girl was just beginning to form. He heard the sobs and pleas of the girl's mother. Moved with compassion he asked the bearers of the funeral bier to halt. He touched the girl; ...

4612. Proper 22

Job 1:1-5, Job 2:1-10, Hebrews 1:1-14, Hebrews 2:5-18, Mark 10:1-12, Mark 10:13-16

Sermon Aid

John R. Brokhoff

COMMENTARY Old Testament: Job 1:1; 2:1-10 This is the first of four selections from the book of Job, one of the "Writings." Job is one of three books of wisdom, written probably in the sixth century B.C. Today's pericope is a part of the Prologue (1:1 2:13). Twice God describes Job as a "blameless and upright man who fears God." He suffered the loss of his 10 children and all of his animals. Yet, he did not blame God. Then he was afflicted with sores all over his body. Still Job did not sin with his lips. ...

4613. A Blast from the Past

Deuteronomy 6:20-25

Sermon

James Merritt

I heard about a man who had retired, and he got up one morning and the first thing he did was read the obituary column to find out who had died. Well, on this particular morning he read that column and the newspaper by mistake had put his name in the column and reported that he was dead. He was not only shaken he was irate. He called the editor of the newspaper and fussed him out. Finally the editor said, "I'll tell you what we'll do. In the morning we'll put your name in the birth column and give you a ...

4614. Total Recall

Deuteronomy 6:20-25

Sermon

James Merritt

On June 24, 1826, Thomas Jefferson sent a letter to Roger C. Weightman, declining an invitation to come to Washington, D.C., to help celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. It was the last letter that Jefferson, who was gravely ill, ever wrote. In it, Jefferson says of this date celebrating America's independence: "May it be to the world, what I believe it will be...the signal of arousing men to burst the chains...and to assume the blessings and security of self-government. That ...

4615. Home at Last

Nehemiah 8:1-3, 5-6, 8-10

Sermon

Mary S. Lautensleger

One of the more colorful eras of our country's past is the old Wild West. We can visualize cowboys chasing stagecoaches over rough, barren terrain, and sheriffs swaggering down dusty main streets. Towns sprang up virtually overnight around regions rich in natural resources such as lumber, borax, silver, and especially gold, the glitter that inflamed a continent. These thriving little communities "out west" revolved around a general store, blacksmith shop, livery stable, prospectors' office, saloon, jail, ...

4616. Harmony and Humor: The Ties That Bind Christianity’s Many Christianities

Luke 4:14-30

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

Let’s begin this morning with a song. Please stand. Most of you know the song “Beneath the Cross of Jesus.” If you don’t, you are hearing our organist/pianist/keyboardist play it right now as I’m talking. On the PC-USA webpage, there was posted a hymn written a week ago by Carolyn Winfrey Gillette. It addresses in song the Haitian disaster where, according to the most recent estimates, between 100,000 and 200,000 Haitians perished. The words are sung to the tune of “Beneath the Cross of Jesus.” I invite ...

4617. What Matters In the Light of Eternity: “God Matters”

Acts 17:16-34

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, It was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, It was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity. What Charles Dickens said of Europe in the eighteenth century could be said of religion in the twenty-first century. In short, the world is polarizing over religion. It is getting both more and less religious at the same time and that’s what I would like to talk about today. When the Apostle Paul walked among the idols on Mars Hill in ...

4618. Come Forward to God's Throne Where There Is Grace (Relief for Guilt)

Hebrews 4:1-13

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

I met him in a restaurant. We were both leaving, so we both stopped on the sidewalk outside for a visit. What began as a casual exchange flowed into the sharing of deep feeling. A question about his family triggered a brief convulsion of distress and pain. He was estranged from his son. He’s done everything he could, so he thought, to bring about reconciliation, but there was still the tension, the strain, the cold, formal relating without genuine warmth. The fellow told me he dreamed about his son, and ...

4619. Checking Out the Scene

John 1:35-42

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

It is the mission of the Church to make disciples of Jesus Christ. Jesus said it plainly: “Go and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you.” By the waters of baptism we are claimed and cleansed. Along the river of discipleship we are shaped and formed into Christ-likeness. Salvation is God’s free gift to us. The best we can do is to receive it with grateful hearts. Discipleship is a life long ...

4620. Why Are You Here?

1 Corinthians 11:17-34

Sermon

King Duncan

Dr. William P. Barker once told a beautiful story about the isle of Iona. Iona is off the west coast of Scotland. It seems that in the sixth century A.D. St. Columba sailed from Ireland to the Isle of Iona. Ever since then Iona has been considered a holy place by many Christians. The focal point of Iona, says Barker, is the magnificent Abbey Church. The foundation of this gem of early Christian architecture is over 1,400 years old. The church has been lovingly rebuilt, stone by stone. Once the exterior ...

4621. The Great Inescapable Question of Eternity

Mark 8:27-38

Sermon

Robert Leslie Holmes

Jeremy Bowen could not be more wrong and Bono could not be more right! Bowen, the presenter of a British Broadcasting Corporation documentary on Jesus Christ, said, "The important thing is not what Jesus was or what he wasn't — the important thing is what people believe him to have been. A massive world wide religion, numbering more than two billion people follows his memory — that's pretty remarkable, 2,000 years on."1 On the opposite end of the spectrum, Bono, lead singer of the rock group U2, asked if ...

4622. A Grandmother’s Touch

Acts 19:1-7

Sermon

Scott Suskovic

It's texts like this one from Acts 19 that create so many misunderstandings and downright disagreements about baptism for all ages. There was a story about a mom who glanced out through her kitchen window at her children playing across the yard. It was one of those games children play that looks complicated to the outside eye but for them it makes perfect sense. They had brought out a shovel and dug a hole in the soft dirt of the garden, dragged over the garden hose, and had an array of dolls lying on the ...

4623. The Perfect Sacrifice

Hebrews 10:11-25

Sermon

Patrick J. Rooney

They came day after day in a steady stream, entering the temple with a mixture of excitement and anticipation. They came bearing their gifts, animals of various kinds to be presented to the priests. They came bringing their sacrifice for purification of sins and to make reparation to God. They came to make their offerings to the priests, who would take such offerings to the altar of the Lord and burn them in the sacrificial rite. The people of God came to make such offerings to God through the priests who ...

4624. The Great Thanksgiving

1 Timothy 2:1-7

Sermon

Patrick J. Rooney

It is not only Thanksgiving Day, but a day of thanksgiving. It is a day set apart in the life of this nation in which we offer thanks for all the blessings bestowed upon us. I was not raised in this land and therefore I am not a native here. Thanksgiving Day as a special day set apart was not something that I grew up with for the first thirty years of my life. Even though I have now lived in the United States for almost as long, I still find it strange at times to celebrate this holiday of thanksgiving. It ...

4625. “Love Your Enemies” Doesn’t Mean Don’t Make Any

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

Mike Rowe has made a career out of doing disgusting stuff. As the host of the Discovery Channel series “Dirty Jobs,” Rowe has mucked-out, dug under, flushed, slogged, and slid through some of the most filthy and foul places on the planet. But whether he has been hanging from rafters or slipping through sewers, Rowe has consistently shown his viewers how even the most grungy, grimy, gross job still has its own dirty dignity. Rowe always offers respect to those who are “showing him the ropes,” whether they ...

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