Sermon and Worship Resources

Synonyms: Levi, disciple, evangelist, tax collector, the 12, the twelve, apostle, sermon on the mount, jewish audience, beatitudes, lord's prayer, great commission, parables, olivet discourse, mount of olives, olivet, synoptic

Showing 451 to 475 of 779 results

451. Winning Isn't the Only Thing ... It's Irrelevant

Luke 13:31-35

Sermon

Carl Jech

Moses and Elijah ... appeared in glory and spoke of his departure which he was to accomplish at Jerusalem. (Luke 9:31) "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem ... How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not!" (Luke 13:34) The Green Bay Packer football coach, Vince Lombardi, is credited with the declaration: "Winning isn't everything ... It's the only thing!" Now from the very limited perspective of a professional football coach there may be an ...

452. Life in the Sunbelt

Malachi 4:1-6

Sermon

Remember the song: "That’s what I like about the South"? There appears to be something special about the southern area of our nation. People who live there seem to love it. They say its good for your health. Industry is shifting in that direction. Flocks of snowbirds flee there from winter’s drabness in the North. People like me dream of someday owning a place in Florida. The sunbelt draws us. There is promise in thoughts of it. It must have been a southerner who wrote the old song that says, "Cheer up, my ...

453. Proper 11

Exodus 3:1-22

Sermon

As Moses went about his work caring for Jethro's sheep, God confronted him. It was a strange confrontation, in part perhaps because of the intense heat of a dry, deserted land. It was an ordinary place for that part of the world and the event which attracted his attention was a common sight. A desert thorn bush set afire by the dry intense heat was nothing unusual. What caught Moses' attention was the flame continued without the bush being consumed. Whether it is intended for us to see anything miraculous ...

454. Practicing and Preaching

Acts 7:54--8:1a

Sermon

This morning's First Lesson from Acts is about a man who could have made the Bible's Guinness Book of Records twice. We remember St. Stephen as the first Christian to be martyred for his faith. He was an outgoing man whose eagerness to tell others of Christ got him in trouble with the Jewish authorities. They had him killed. Just as importantly Stephen was the first Christian deacon. Actually Stephen wasn't expected to be preaching Christ at all. His job was as an administrator, not a pastor. Of more ...

455. Proper 12 & Pentecost 10

1 Kings 3:1-15, Exodus 3:1-22, Romans 8:18-27, Romans 8:28-39, Matthew 13:44-46, Matthew 13:47-52

Sermon Aid

THEOLOGICAL CLUE Once more the eschatological framework of the church year is reinforced by the day's readings, especially the lesson from Romans 8 and verses 47-50 of the Gospel of the Day, which speak specifically of the "end of the age" and the judgment that will come with it. Matthew's Gospel also spells out the nature of realized and present eschatology in the two little parables of the treasure and the precious pearl. Without the readings, the eschatological motif of Pentecost would be virtually ...

456. The First Council

Acts 15:1-21

Sermon Aid

CSS

The elation among the Christians at Antioch lasted "no little time." We can only guess how long. But in the early church the storms and sunshine, the happy days and the dark days of controversy, the good times and the bad seemed to alternate in rapid succession. How quickly the ecstasy of the people at Lystra, in their zeal to make Paul and Barnabas into gods, changed into violence and threats! Now the same sudden storm comes to Antioch. Some men came down from Judea - from Jerusalem itself, in all ...

457. Converting the Converted

Matthew 10:1-42

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

These twelve Jesus sent out, charging them, "Go nowhere among the Gentiles, and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lest sheep of the house of Israel. And preach as you go, saying, ‘The Kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ " [Matthew 10:5-7] Have you ever wondered why, with a church on almost every corner in America, so much evil abounds? In a country with approximately 120 million church members, 98 million gamble, costing $5.1 billion per year. In a land where seventy-one percent of the ...

458. The Return to Catholicity

John 17:6-19

Sermon

Louis H. Valbracht

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen. Beloved brothers and sisters in Christ, can you possibly understand the overwhelming sense of joy that possesses my heart and soul at this moment? I have just completed a long, long journey. It has taken me 460 years to walk one block - from St. John’s to St. Ambrose - because this Year of Our Lord 1979 is the 460th Anniversary of the greatest revolution that have ever shaken this globe. This marks the beginning of that Reformation and ...

459. Saints With Crooked Haloes

2 Samuel 12:1-31

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

Most of you know that great country comedian from McComb, Mississippi, named Jerry Clower. He is a former fertilizer salesman and a devoted Baptist layman. Jerry tells about a lady he knew down in Amite County. She lived near a construction site where workers were putting a tar roof on a building. This lady had sixteen children--or "young'uns," as Jerry called them. One day she lost one of her children. She hunted around and found that he had fallen into a fifty-gallon drum of black roofing tar at the ...

460. Even The Bosses Wash Feet!

John 13:1-17

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

About two years ago Michael Jordon, the world's greatest basketball player, announced his retirement. Later he repented and returned to the hardwood. But at the time of his retirement the owner of his Chicago Bulls team said this: "Michael is living the American dream. This American Dream is to reach a point in your life where you don't have to do anything you don't want to do and can do everything you do want to do." That is the American Dream, isn't it? Even we Christians yearn for a situation in which ...

461. The Seeds of Social Conflict

Genesis 4:1-26

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

One day a little boy just got out of bed on the wrong side. He was having a very bad day. He disobeyed his mother several times, and then had a violent argument with his playmate. So, his mother told him he would have to have some time alone. She turned on the light in her large clothes closest, put a little chair in it, and told her son to sit there for thirty minutes. Thirty minutes later, she returned to find the closet was a real mess. All her clothes were in a pile. “What have you been doing?” She ...

462. Beginning with Easter - Then What?

Acts 4:32-37

Sermon

Donald Macleod

How often have we heard this remark: "What can you do for an encore?" Or, "That’s a hard act to follow!" Easter Day is now behind us: we’ve sung the great Alleluias, chanted hymns of victory, and put the blossoms and lilies on a sunny windowsill. But what of it all? Is it now a closed event? Or, more appropriately: Is it just the beginning? Charles Wesley in his Easter hymn sang: "Love’s redeeming work is done." How can we follow that act? Can there be an encore? This is exactly where you and I come in. ...

463. Comfort

Isaiah 40:1-31

Sermon

Frederick C. Edwards

"Comfort! Comfort my people, says your God." How wonderful those words sound to us. How many times we feel the need for comfort. How often we need an assuring and tender word to ease the hurt we feel. Every year about this time we hear those wonderful prophetic words sung in Handel’s Messiah, or read in our churches from the portion of scripture that biblical scholars call "Second Isaiah," to distinguish it from the writings of the eighth-century prophet. They were written for a people for whom things had ...

464. It Might Have Been ...

Luke 22:1-6, Matthew 26:14-16, Matthew 27:1-10, Matthew 26:47-56

Sermon

He was born in Judea, in the town of Kerioth. His parents were devout; they probably spent more time in the temple (if only because of proximity) than the parents of any other disciple. They must have been acquainted with Scripture ... and I’ve often wondered if they mused over the Proverbs as they chose a name for their young son: "A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches." In any case, they chose a good name. They chose a name that had been held by one of the twelve sons of Jacob, and as such ...

465. The Sheep And The Goats

Matthew 25:31-46

Sermon

Brett Blair

Like it or not, judgment is a fact of life. That is true whether we are talking about the histories of nations or the events of our own personal life. If we break the law, then society will judge us. If we live immorally drink too much, engage in sexual promiscuity, live a lifestyle of constant stress then our bodies will judge us. We simply cannot escape judgment in life. Jesus rarely spoke about the final judgment, but on one occasion he did paint a picture for us in one of his stories. The parable that ...

466. Advent 2: Let Us Go Over To Bethlehem And Find The Promise of Christmas

Matthew 1:18-25

Sermon

James W. Moore

This sermon is based on Matthew 1:18-25: Perhaps you have heard the one about the attractive young woman who boarded a plane in Los Angeles heading toward New York. The young woman was tired. She knew it would be a long flight, so immediately she asked the flight attendant for a pillow and a blanket. She hoped to be able to sleep most of the way to New York. Her head had just nestled into the pillow when an obnoxious man with a loud, booming voice boarded the plane… and sat down beside her. He tapped her ...

467. Kingdoms in Conflict

John 18:28-40

Sermon

Brett Blair

Perhaps you have heard this story. It's a great story: Many years ago, when Hitler's forces occupied Denmark, the order came that all Jews in Denmark were to identify themselves by wearing armbands with yellow stars of David. The Danes had seen the extermination of Jews in other countries and guessed that this was the first step in that process in their countries. The King did not defy the orders. He had every Jew wear the star and he himself wore the Star of David. He told his people that he expected ...

468. Building a World

Acts 2:1-21

Sermon

King Duncan

Geoff Burch is a sales trainer in England. He tells about a man named Fred he met in the course of his research into sales methods. Back in the 1950s Fred had been a traveling salesman hawking washing machines. This job was on commission only, but included a valuable and unusual perk: the then almost unheard of luxury of a vehicle. At the beginning of each week Fred was sent off in his van with five washing machines; so long as all five were sold each week, Fred could keep the van. This he succeeded in ...

469. Reality Maps And Rolling Stones

John 20:1-9

Sermon

King Duncan

I am happy to see each of you-particularly those of you I don't see too often. I heard about a woman who confronted her minister at the door after worship. She complained, "Why is it every time I come to church you're always singing that same hymn, `Christ the Lord Is Risen Today'?" It's clear how often she made it to church. I want to give you a question to think about. The question is, What map did you bring with you? All of us are familiar with maps, but we may not associate them with Easter. Before ...

470. God Believes In Us, Too

Luke 19:1-10

Sermon

Dr. Chane M. Hutton

There is a well-known and widely practiced tactic in sports and in life known as "messing with your opponent's mind." They tell us that one of the most adept practitioners of this art was Dizzy Dean, the great St. Louis Cardinals pitcher of years ago. One day the New York Giants put runners on first and second with two out, and Dean intentionally walked Hughie Critz to load the bases. It seemed like a dumb move as the dreaded Bill Terry, the last National Leaguer ever to hit .400, was next up. But Dean ...

471. Good News For Tough Times

Luke 2:1-7

Sermon

Eric Ritz

Recently, three men were nervously waiting in the Father's room at the Good Samaritan Hospital as their wives prepared to give births to their first children. The men were too scared to go in. Soon the head nurse arrived with good news from the birthing rooms. She said to the first father-to-be, "Sir, you are a father of twins!" "That's great," he said. "I'm a baseball player and I am going to sign a contract with the Minnesota Twins. This will be good press." Soon, the nurse arrived and said to the second ...

472. Why Jesus Likes Sinners

Luke 18:9-14

Sermon

King Duncan

Jesus continually shocks us. No wonder the people of his own day crucified him. He wouldn't be too popular in our community. At least not among the better people in town. It is almost as if he preferred to associate with the disreputable, the rejects, the rubble of humanity. "Two men went up to pray," he said on one occasion, "a Pharisee and a tax collector." Now the audience was suppose to hiss and boo when the tax collector's title was given. The IRS is not too popular with us, but at least most of the ...

473. On Knowing What's Best For Your Kids

Luke 11:1-13

Sermon

King Duncan

A small boy, sitting on his grandfather's knee, noticed that Grandpa had a red mark on each side of his nose. After looking for some time, he asked, "What gave you those red marks on your nose?" "Glasses," was the reply. After further reflection, the little boy asked, "Glasses of what?" (1) Children can keep us off balance, can't they? One mother, writing about her toddler, was mystified that a child who can swallow three bottle caps and a paper clip can choke on a mouthful of mashed potatoes. (2) It doesn ...

474. Fishing Stories

John 21:1-14

Sermon

King Duncan

One day many years ago, a fisherman's wife blessed her husband with twin sons. They loved the children very much, but couldn't think of what to name them. Finally, after several days, the fisherman said, "Let's not decide on names right now. If we wait a little while, the names will simply occur to us." After several weeks had passed, the fisherman and his wife noticed a peculiar fact. When left alone, one of the boys would turn toward the sea, while the other boy would face inland. It didn't matter which ...

475. Did He Dance?

Mark 10:46-52

Sermon

King Duncan

Mary Hollingsworth in her book, Fireside Stories, tells a wonderful story about a devoted follower of Christ in Romania named Richard Rumbren. Rumbren was arrested by the Communists many years ago for believing in Jesus. For fourteen years, he and some other Christians were kept in one little room some thirty feet below the ground. And in all those years all they had was one little light bulb. It was a horrible life. When he was finally released, Richard wrote a book titled Tortured for Christ to relate ...

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