Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 451 to 475 of 747 results

451. First Sunday after Christmas Day

Isaiah 63:7-9, Isaiah 63:7--64:12, Matthew 2:13-23, Hebrews 2:10-18

Bulletin Aid

B. David Hostetter

... fathers and mothers and children must seek refuge from violence and bloodshed. We have learned little of the ways of peace, depending on the power of armaments to maintain governments and not sparing even children in the massacres of war. Forgive us if we have been advocates of war or indifferent to the needs of refugees. We need to learn more just ways of settling claims to govern and more equitable distribution of the good things you have created for us all to enjoy. Free us all to serve each other in ...

452. Proper 11

Genesis 29:15-30, Psalm 105:1-45, Matthew 13:31-35; 44-52, Romans 8:26-39

Bulletin Aid

B. David Hostetter

... DAY Teller of parables, we need to learn in order to teach, but teach us by your tantalizing parables, that our imaginations may be stretched, and we will tell new parables as well as old ones. Amen PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING Hearer of prayers, Giver of wisdom, Advocate of God's people, we give thanks for every human leader who has sought and received your gifts, who has known and served you by whatever name. We thank you for patriarchs and matriarches, that you are the God of Sarah as well as of Abraham, of ...

453. Proper 23

Exodus 32:1-14, Psalm 106:1-48, Matthew 22:1-14, Philippians 4:2-9

Bulletin Aid

B. David Hostetter

... COMMEMORATION Gracious God, may your grace continue to overflow for all your people with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. May our intercessions rise before you like incense, like the prayers of the saints in heaven along with the perfect prayers of our advocate with you, Jesus Christ the righteous. With him we pray that your kingdom may come and your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Strengthen your whole church to serve you faithfully in the world. May the obedience of your people in ...

454. Proper 25

Deuteronomy 34:1-12, Psalm 90:1-17, Matthew 22:34-46, 1 Thessalonians 2:1-16

Bulletin Aid

B. David Hostetter

... CONFESSION God of high places, God of low places, God of all places, we confess that we are not full of compassion as you are. We are prone to forget what it is like to be aliens, to be powerless, to be vulnerable, to be without an advocate, to be without credit. Forgive our complicity in heartless systems that make credit cheap and easy for those who need it least and prohibitive for those who need it most. Forgive indifference toward, or ill-treatment of, widows and orphans when we forget that they could ...

455. Easter 6

Psalm 66:1-20, John 14:15-21, Acts 17:16-34, 1 Peter 3:8-22

Bulletin Aid

B. David Hostetter

... us such further disclosures of the Father and the Son that we may be aware that God is with us and in us so that we may lovingly worship you and obey your commandments, even among those who do not receive you; through Jesus Christ, also our advocate with the Father. Amen PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING God everywhere, God with us, God in us, we may find you and know you anywhere. We are grateful that you give us life and breath, together with all human beings. We acknowledge your greatness in designing the world and ...

456. Bread As A Weapon

John 6:25-59

Illustration

Brett Blair

... were not careful, this whole thing of giving bread could quickly degenerate into a tool to win friends and influence people. He would become as just another demagogue. Bread can be used as a weapon. Indeed, there are those in our own government that have advocated that very thing. If nations withhold oil from us, then we withhold bread from them. On the surface feeding the world's hungry sounds like such an ideal thing, but when this whole issue is examined it becomes much more complex. In the novel The ...

457. Tinctures of Truth in the Tincture of Time

Ephesians 4:17--5:21

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... text the Body of Christ is being gently dosed (not hosed) with some healing tinctures — infusions of character, attitude, practice, and patience that will work together and synergize to create a stronger, healthier “body.” All the qualities, the “virtues” today’s text advocates, require the “tincture of time.” If you’ve ever tried out for a sports team, or vowed to “get back in shape,” you know the first couple weeks are agony! But it’s not a pain that is telling you you’re ...

458. Fish Bait

Mark 1:17, 1 Corinthians 15:2-4

Sermon

James Merritt

... think that thieves, liars and killers go after they die? To Heaven or to Hell?" Girl: "Probably not heaven. Huh?" John: "No, that is why I would like to invite you to come to church with me to our grand opening in September!" Girl: "Okay!" Though I do not advocate that as an approach you should generally take with other people, he understands the principle that the first thing a person must know if they are going to get on the road that leads to heaven, is that we are all sinners in God's eyes and separated ...

459. Decoding the Da Vinci Code (Part One - Exploring the Fiction)

1 Timothy 1:4

Sermon

James Merritt

... Christ. These focus on Jesus Christ being more of a human being and a great religious teacher than a divine being. It is these books that give us the real truth about Jesus Christ. Claim #2: The four Gospels in the New Testament were later products that advocated Jesus as God and they were selected at the Council of Nicaea in A.D. 325 and officially sanctioned as Holy Scripture to teach this falsehood. But, the real documents that we should believe teach that Jesus did not think He was God's son or that ...

460. How to Preach a God-Sized Message to a Media Filled World

2 Timothy 4:1-5

Sermon

James Merritt

... have heard the grass growing outside after he made that comment. After the service, President Jackson made his way to Peter Cartwright, extended his hand and said, "Sir, if I had a regiment of men like you, I could whip the world."[[3]] I would not at all advocate doing that if the President of the United States ever visits your service. At the same time, if the major concern of your ministry is to win a popularity contest and make sure that nobody ever gets angry at you, you really shouldn't be in the ...

461. The View from Michal’s Window

2 Samuel 6:1-5, 12b-19

Sermon

Stan Purdum

... anybody else is touched by what I do." Would you really want to live in relationships where the only places you intersect with others is when your individual interests happen to coincide? That does seem to be what the individualism movement advocated. To again quote Perls, whom this movement considered a kind of poet laureate: I hope to ... make you understand how much you gain by taking responsibility for every emotion [you feel], every movement you make, every thought you have — and shed responsibility ...

462. Can't We All Just Get Along?

Mark 9:38-41

Sermon

King Duncan

... I would like to say that is the way of the world, but it has often been the way of the church as well. It reminds me of a proposal made by the Mennonite Church a few years ago. The Mennonites historically have been a church that advocates peace. Here was their proposal: Can’t we agree that as Christians we at least won’t kill other Christians? Now there was a time in history when Christians quite readily killed one another. A recent example, still fresh in our minds, is that of Catholics and Protestants ...

463. So, Are You The Messiah?

John 10:22-30

Sermon

Donald Charles Lacy

... in religion. Quickly, communism and socialism appear on our radar screens. Yes, and there is the admission democracy and capitalism can be counted in much the same category. In America, we labor to keep things straight and not make our Lord an advocate of democracy and/or capitalism! It isn't always easy, is it? Sometimes we ask if he actually gave his approval to a specific political or economic philosophy. Furthermore, we are sometimes made uneasy by thoughts that the American way is not necessarily ...

464. Family Ties and Good-byes

Luke 12:49-56

Sermon

Ron Lavin

... be divided: father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law" (Luke 12:53). It seems at first glance that this fire Jesus advocates is all about destruction and division. In fact, one of the primary purposes of fire is to cleanse and purify. Divisions may come, but God's first purpose in sending fire to families is to cleanse and purify people's lives and relationships. Before ...

465. Counting the Cost of Discipleship

Luke 14:25-33

Sermon

Ron Lavin

... practice for Egypt and Palestine, both in ancient and modern times.2 We started out this sermon with an admonition not to regard the preacher as an actor on a stage and the congregation as an audience that either likes or doesn't like what he says. We began by advocating that people stop saying, "That was a good sermon," to the pastor if the sermon hits home. After all, all of us are on the stage of life. God is the audience. The pastor is just a prompter who is trying to get us to say and do those things ...

466. God Is Rock Solid

Hebrews 12:18-29

Sermon

Clayton A. Lord

... years will never end.' " It was unlike anything they had ever known and it is often lost on us. Nonetheless, it is important to us because God is still the source of our hope and our grace. As long as God is in control we know that we have an advocate in high places. We have someone who cares for us and will seek out our best interests. We can cling to the throne of God and find a precious hiding place when our world is falling apart. When Augustus Toplady penned the words of the famous hymn, "Rock of Ages ...

467. Weary in Well Doing

2 Thessalonians 3:6-13

Sermon

Donna Schaper

... very small ways — the handwritten note, the flowers or jar of jelly, the invite to our son's soccer game. We get close after conflict — as well as fighting and flighting. When we get close again, after conflict, weariness ends. Joy sometimes begins. The epistle advocates a style of conflict management that is more than biological. It is fundamentally spiritual. It is the strategy of humility. Humility is not so much a strategy as a bent, not even so much a bent as a posture, not even so much a posture ...

468. A Servant in Saigon

Illustration

Keith Wagner

... Philippines. Because her husband was dedicated to helping his wife he used $21,000 of his own money to charter a United Airlines plane to take the children to the states. Within a month all 219 children were adopted and placed in homes in the US. When Jesus advocates a life of self denial, he is not talking about being a martyr, nor is he wanting us all to be Mother Teresa or a Betty Tisdale. He is talking about denying ourselves the demand for power, honor and status and being servants. Faith is a paradox ...

469. Abraham Believed God

Genesis 15:1-18

Sermon

Frank Ramirez

... covenant but a disfigurement of a body they considered beautiful. While worship of one God was attractive, the complex food laws made no sense when consumption of meat was a social practice that involved, at least technically, the worship of a pagan god. Paul was advocating for the acceptance of new converts who would follow Jesus but not shed their own cultural and ethnic backgrounds. In today's terms, it was as if everyone had to become Irish or Italian or Ukrainian in order to become a follower of Jesus ...

470. The Hard Task of Truth-telling

Jeremiah 1:4-10

Sermon

Lee Ann Dunlap

... -peace" instead of "anti-war," to practice what we believe to be right rather than merely condemn those we think are wrong. We are called to model "the more excellent way" of mercy and compassion. In a world where "money is power," we are called to advocate for the poor and disabled, whose concerns and needs are usually the first to get erased from our public budgets and consciousness. In a world of "better living through science" the church is required to point to realities beyond that which can be seen or ...

471. Letters from a Loving Prophet

Jeremiah 29:1, 4-7

Sermon

John Wayne Clarke

... to continue to be God's prophet. And it was in this same spirit that he tried to communicate the importance of the individual person learning to rely on God, especially when all around, the world seemed to be in ruins. But he never advocated individualism detached from the traditions of the people who were separated from the larger community. Jeremiah knew, as should we all, that we are strongest when we are within a community of the faithful. It is within that family that we individually and collectively ...

472. Let Us Show Thanks in Our Example

Matthew 28:16-20

Illustration

Brett Blair

... all the books, speeches, and videos in the world." The truly important things in life are generally the intangibles, like the way we present ourselves to others. When we least expect it, we are witnessing. It is in our simple day to day living that we are the strongest advocates for our Lord. These simple intangibles that people notice will open the door for you to speak. You don't need to be a seminary professor to win people to Christ. Be you and tell your story. That's will fulfill the Great Commission.

473. Altar Your Prayers

Mark 1:29-37

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... refuel B. Personally, I think I'm a little ADD and if I don't spend time in prayer I can easily get distracted. I don't feel like my day is focused unless I begin with prayer. You see, in prayer I find my best friend and my greatest advocate. In prayer I find my true self. In prayer I'm reminded that no matter what the world says, God says my true identity is a child of God, a brother and sister with Christ, an heir of the Kingdom and a servant set aside for ministry. If I don ...

474. Altar Your Witness

Matthew 5:13-16

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... are called to share the Good News of Jesus Christ for the Transformation of The World. Our faith is not our own, it has been given to us to share with others. Just like love, the more you give away, the more you have. In this area I'm an advocate of what I call "Non-Confrontational Evangelism." I've found that most people don't like to talk about their faith because they're afraid they are going to be verbally accosted by the person with whom they're talking for not having the same beliefs the have. Or we ...

475. Close Enough For Comfort

Psalm 23:4, John 14:15-18

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... 're going through. Jesus couldn't have been more plainly. Listen to what He says to the Disciples at the Last Supper. John 14:15-18 (NRSV) [15] "If you love me, you will keep my commandments. [16] And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. [17] This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you. [18] "I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to ...

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