Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 4851 to 4875 of 4938 results

4851. Passion Sunday

Mk 14:1 - 15:47 · Isa 50:4-9 · Phil 2:5-11 · Ps 31:9-16

Sermon Aid

Russell F. Anderson

THIS WEEK'S TEXT Revised Common: Isaiah 50:4-9a · Philippians 2:5-11 · Mark 14:1--15:47 or Mark 15:1-39 (40-47) Roman Catholic: Isaiah 50:4-7 · Philippians 2:6-11 · Mark 14:1--15:47 Episcopal: Isaiah 45:21-25 or Isaiah 52:13--53:12 · Philippians 2:5-11 · Mark (14:32-72) or 15:1-39 (40-47) COMMENTARY Lesson 1: Isaiah 50:4-9a The third servant song. The Lord gives his servant the task of comforting his beaten people. His efforts meet with rejection and abuse but his faith in Yahweh remains unwavering. Lesson ...

4852. The Resurrection Of Our Lord

John 20:1-9, John 20:10-18, Acts 10:23b-48, 1 Corinthians 15:1-11, Mark 16:1-20

Sermon Aid

Russell F. Anderson

Theme: Through Christ's resurrection we are raised to newness of life. COMMENTARY Lesson 1: Acts 10:34-43 (C, RC, E) Peter witnesses to the Roman officer Cornelius and his household concerning Jesus' earthly ministry, his crucifixion and especially his resurrection. Luke, the author of Acts, points to the Holy Spirit as the source of Jesus' power. The disciples of Jesus, those who communed with Christ, are witnesses to the resurrection. They are to proclaim that Jesus is the judge of the living and the ...

4853. Jesus In Gethsemane"Jesus -- Misunderstood And Alone"

Psalm 49:1-20, Mark 14:32-42

Sermon

R. Sheldon MacKenzie

Have you ever been terribly alone,-- even when other people were all around you? Perhaps you were walking down a street, totally absorbed in some personal crisis, and, despite people coming and going beside you it seemed there was no one to whom you could go for encouragement and counsel. The business of decision-making is often a lonely matter. Sometimes you lie awake at night, when everyone else has gone to sleep. And you go over in your mind the worries and decisions of the day past and of the one to ...

4854. Chist is King

Revelation 1:4-8, Psalm 132:1-18, 2 Samuel 23:1-7, John 18:28-40

Bulletin Aid

B. David Hostetter

CALL TO WORSHIP Holiness is the beauty of God's temple while time shall last. Worship God in the sanctity and freedom from our sins which Christ gives us through his life's blood. PRAYER OF CONFESSION Ancient in year, First-born from the dead, timeless Spirit, we confess that too often we are overawed by the wealth and power of human rulers forgetting that they are as mortal as we are, and that only Jesus Christ has won an impressive victory over death. Forgive us if political and national loyalties have ...

4855. The First Christmas Message

Luke 2:1-7

Sermon

James Garrett

The story of the birth of Jesus as told by Luke is the most familiar to most people. The familiarity of the story can be a frustrating thing for the preacher. Who is capable of rising to an occasion on which the most beautiful text of the Bible is read? It makes the preacher turn pale and stammer. However, the familiar can be the preacher’s delight. That the text and message are familiar means they already belong to you, the listeners. There is power, enjoyment, and an occasional “amen” when we hear what ...

4856. Redeeming Grief

1 Corinthians 15:35-58

Eulogy

Charles L. Koester

Death in an Auto Accident A young couple, married for about a year, joined our parish. When they purchased a new home some distance away, they faithfully drove the distance to worship each Sunday. One could see a deepening and growing commitment they possessed for the church. On the eve of New Year's they purchased a new car. New Year's day brought the beginnings of a blizzard. About noon they went out to pick up a newspaper and decided to enjoy a short drive in spite of the weather. On a slippery road the ...

4857. Fatal Subtraction

Acts 5:1-11

Sermon

Carlyle Fielding Stewart

Today I want to revisit a sermon preached some years ago titled "Fatal Subtractibn." Based on the Acts 4 and 5 scriptures of Ananias and Sapphira, it centers on the story of a husband and wife who took away things from their lives and ended up dead. Theirs was a fatal subtraction because they subtracted where they were supposed to add and added where they were supposed to subtract. It is clear they had not mastered the basic principles of Christian arithmetic and died because they held back a vital portion ...

4858. The Other Side Of The Fence

Drama

Timothy W. Ayers

Topic: Materialism, priorities, greed, shortness of life, treasures in heaven Characters: Peter and Penelope Piggie Scene: The Piggies' living room. They whine through the whole script. When they turn around the two are wearing little pig noses. (These can be found at costume shops and novelty stores) Peter: (He is miming the opening of drapes and has binoculars around his neck) Penelope dear, is that you? Penelope: Yes, dear, it is I, or is that me? Why are you by the window again? You're just torturing ...

4859. Questions

Matthew 4:18-22

Sermon

John Jamison

Have you ever had news to tell someone that you were afraid to tell them because you really didn't know how they would respond? You don't want to tell them, but you know eventually you will have to? In my mind, that is how it happened. All the way back from the well, Mary stewed. Would he be angry or sad, or say nothing at all? Would he go away, or stay here? For months he had been paying close attention to everything John had been doing. He had questioned every traveler through town for news of John, the ...

4860. Death of the Unchurched For a Recovering Alcoholic

Eulogy

Alan Bacon Bond

Using the Available Spiritual Resources The deceased was a forty-eight-year-old married man with five children in their late teens and early twenties. He was a recovering alcoholic with a twelve-year chip. He had been sick for two days with influenza, and, while having had some high blood pressure problems some years earlier, showed no signs for alarm. He simply failed to wake up one morning. The family was unchurched and seemingly bereft of spiritual resources until it became evident that most of them ...

4861. Stairways Of Heaven

Genesis 28:10-22

Sermon

Justin Tull

As I studied in depth this passage of scripture, I learned that I have long carried misconceptions about “Jacob’s ladder.” My first surprising discovery was that all the commentaries I read suggested that Jacob’s vision was not of a ladder as we know it today, but more of a “ramp” or “stair-like pavement.”9 This “ramp” was to handle traffic between heaven and earth.10 Heavenly messengers could approach thereby those dwelling below. After reading about Jacob’s ladder being a ramp-like structure, I decided ...

4862. The Sound of Weeping

Luke 19:28-44

Sermon

Wallace H. Kirby

Have you ever conducted a private survey of the human ear? It is a fascinating experience. It's an interesting way to pass the time while waiting for your appointment in a doctor's office, or for your mate to finish some shopping, or for a plane to arrive at the terminal, or if you are sitting in a meeting that begins to drag. This exercise is more a comparison than a survey. It involves looking carefully at human ears to see their differences in size and shape, and in the ways they are attached to the ...

4863. What Children Owe Their Parents

Exodus 20:1-21

Sermon

R. E. Lybrand

Then some Pharisees and teachers of the Law came from Jerusalem to Jesus and asked him, "Why is it that your disciples disobey the teaching handed down by our ancestors? They don't wash their hands in the proper way before they eat!" Jesus answered, "And why do you disobey God's command and follow your own teaching? For God said, 'Respect your father and your mother.' and 'Whoever curses his father or his mother is to be put to death.' But you teach that if a person has something he could use to help his ...

4864. Names, Not Numbers

Deuteronomy 26:1-15

Sermon

Carl Hoefler

What comes to your mind when you hear the name "Moses"? Do you think of Chariton Heston standing on a rock with his hair and his beard and his robe blowing in the wind, while at the same time, beneath his feet the Red Sea churns and rolls back as mighty walls of waves forming a path for the fleeing Israelites? Perhaps you imagine Moses as a white-haired man standing on the jagged cliffs of a mountain and holding in his sinewy arms the two stone tablets of the law. It is doubtful that any of you imagine ...

4865. The Power To Defy Evil

Exodus 3:1-22

Sermon

Carl Hoefler

Every evening the six o'clock news reminds us of the crime, the corruption, and the catastrophies of the world in which we live. It was in such troubled times and in such hopeless circumstances that a young Hebrew mother placed her baby in a basket and set it afloat among the reeds of the river Nile. Even if the baby were to live, she could only see an intolerable existence for him as he would groan under the burden of hard labor and be driven to the point of daily exhaustion by the sting of the ...

4866. A Holy Hunger

Jeremiah 30:1--31:40

Sermon

Carl Hoefler

Tonight we come to the altar-table to celebrate Holy Communion. Why do we say, "Holy Communion"? Is there such a thing as "unholy communion"? Yes, there is. When one comes to the Lord's table with a hardened heart and with a life that is turned in upon itself; when one comes with a proud and an arrogant attitude; and when one comes thinking that he or she is worthy of what is about to be received; then, that person will receive communion, but it will not be holy. Jeremiah, who speaks to us in our First ...

4867. A Baptism of Blood

Isaiah 52:13--53:12

Sermon

Carl Hoefler

We cannot go back to Calvary. The cross was an event in history. It happened, never to be repeated. It was a deed of God determined, dared, and done. Our emotions may run high when we hear the words of the familiar spiritual, "Were you there when they crucified my Lord?" But, there is only one honest answer. No! We were not there. We are here, with two thousand years separating us from the cross on which our Lord died. The cross is dated; but, it is not out-dated. What happened then affects us now. Why? ...

4868. Never Cry Uncle - Malchus

Matthew 26:47-56

Drama

Thomas Blowers

Dramatic Monologue My name is Malchus and I'm but one of the many slaves owned by the high priest. Someone once asked me how many of us there were all told and I couldn't even make a guess, so I answered "Oh about enough to populate a small city." Could have been that many, too, counting everybody: men, women, and children. We cleaned, cooked, took care of the stables, guarded the Palace -- in fact, we did just about everything nobody really likes to do anyway unless he has to. And we had to or get whipped ...

4869. Booby Trap

Luke 10:25-37

Sermon

And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, "Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" He said to him, "What is written in the law? How do you read?" And he answered, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself." And he said to him, "You have answered right; do this, and you will live." But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?" ...

4870. If Only We Would Hold On ...

Jeremiah 20:7-18

Sermon

Wallace H. Kirby

"Staying in school is too much for me right now," Evelyn began. As her supervising pastor, I could understand the pressures she was under. She and her husband were both in their first year of seminary, and, on top of classes, he had just been appointed to serve a two-point charge. Bill and Evelyn were conscientious young people and wanted to give their best to their studies and to their church members. "I need some time to back away and get a new perspective on my life," she continued. "I still feel a call ...

4871. The First Sunday In Lent

Matthew 4:1-11

Sermon

Kendall McCabe

The old songs may be the best songs, but you can't always believe them. I have in mind, particularly, that mountain spiritual, "Jesus Walked This Lonesome Valley." The first part of it is true enough. Jesus walked this lonesome valley, Had to walk it by himself. Oh, nobody else could walk it for him; He had to walk it by himself. Those lines could almost describe what we heard in the Gospel reading for today - the story of Jesus alone in the wilderness, enduring the temptations of the devil. It is with the ...

4872. The Source of Power

Acts 1:1-11

Sermon

There are two important assurances Jesus gave to his followers, which are repeated and reconfirmed in this lesson. First, Jesus told his followers that, being fully human, he would die but that they should not let their hearts be troubled. God would raise him from the dead and he would ascend to the Father from Whom he had come. There, Jesus said, he would prepare for each of us a place in the eternal habitation of God. Second, he told his followers that, even though he would no longer walk on the earth ...

4873. Studying under the Greatest Teacher

Matthew 10:1-42

Sermon

Gary W. Houston

Robert Frost’s first assignment for a class of teachers was to read "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County." This was Mark Twain’s famous story about a frog that lost a jumping contest because he had been pumped full of quail shot. When the class next assembled they were mystified because they did not understand what this story had to do with a course in education. Frost patiently explained to them that this particular story was about teachers. He said that there were two kinds of teachers. There ...

4874. Lent 2

Genesis 12:1-8, Psalm 105:1-45, Matthew 17:1-13, John 3:1-21; 4:5-42, Romans 4:1-25

Sermon Aid

George Bass

THEOLOGICAL CLUE Lent is structured so that those who keep it will go through devotional exercises designed to bring about conversion of the penitent to the life in Christ. Lent is really the altar (font) call of the church, at which the believers will find forgiveness of their sins and renewal of the gifts God gives in baptism to those who will have him as their God in Jesus Christ. Sunday is seen in the Roman Church, as always, from a sacramental perspective; some pastors in other churches approach Lent ...

4875. Palm · Passion Sunday

Isaiah 50:1-11, Psalm 31:1-24, Matthew 27:11-26, Matthew 27:32-44, Matthew 27:45-56, Matthew 21:1-11

Sermon Aid

THEOLOGICAL CLUE By shortening Passiontide from two weeks to one and shifting Passion Sunday from the Fifth to the Sixth Sunday in Lent, several significant liturgical changes have been made. First, the Sixth Sunday in Lent can no longer be Palm Sunday, as it could when the period of passion stretched over two weeks and Palm Sunday was in the middle of it; Palm Sunday has to be a part, really the beginning, of the liturgy of Passion Sunday. Second, there is an attempt to return to the earlier practice of ...

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