Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 4876 to 4900 of 4977 results

4876. Naaman Is My Name!

2 Kings 5:1-27

Sermon

Barbara Brokhoff

... Young University said, "One lament I cannot abide is the poor, pitiful, withered cry, 'Well, that's just the way I am.' Spare me your speeches. I've heard them from too many people who wanted to sin and call it psychology." We sinning humans keep trying something else other than the simple, humble formula of coming to God through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. Like Naaman, we say, "I thought" -- but our ideas are as useless as his. We entertain ideas like the New Age movement which suggests we ...

4877. Then There Was One

Luke 17:11-19

Sermon

J. Will Ormond

... freedom which lives not by the strict fulfilling of rules, but goes beyond obedience into joyful gratitude. He can tell them that while their bodies may be cured, their spirits can fully live only through praise, worship, and gratitude to God. For us rule-keeping, upright, churchgoing Christians this story of the ten lepers is not a simple "sweet little story." The question which haunts us is: "The other nine, where are they?" Perhaps some of us can say, "I attend church regularly. When I say the Apostles ...

4878. Good News Among The Rubble

Luke 21:5-38

Sermon

J. Will Ormond

... down upon them. "In great fear the Israelites cried out to the Lord" (Exodus 14:10). Moses reassured them: "Do not be afraid, stand firm and see the deliverance which the Lord will accomplish for you today ... The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to keep still" (Exodus 14:13, 14). The waters of the Red Sea parted at God's command and the people crossed over on dry land. When the shepherds in the field near Bethlehem were confronted by an angel and the glory of the Lord shone around them, they were ...

4879. Temptation

Luke 4:1-13

Drama

Robert F. Crowley

... care of them and it just gets to me sometimes. GUY: I can understand that. Do you have any brothers or sisters who could help you out once in a while? ANGELA: No. I'm an only child. GUY: That is difficult. What are you going to do? ANGELA: Just keep going as I have, I guess. There's not much else I can do. But, that's enough about me. What about you? It must be something pretty weighty on your mind to bring you out here and for you to give up food, for how long? GUY: I don ...

4880. Charade Parables

Luke 6:37-42

Drama

Robert F. Crowley

Theme: Jesus' Parables can speak to us -- even though we mess things up. Summary: A group of Christians are playing Parable charades but the person holding the Bible, which is referred to often by the person doing the charades, keeps closing the Bible and then opening it to another passage, so the parable becomes quite muddled. They still get some good from it. Playing Time: 8 minutes Setting: The church Props: The Bible Costumes: Contemporary, casual Time: The present Cast: 1st Player 2nd Player George ...

4881. Priorities

Luke 9:51-56

Drama

Robert F. Crowley

Theme: What are the things that keep people from following Jesus? Why don't people give themselves freely to the Son of God? Summary: The three stooges want to follow Jesus but do not know how. Playing Time: 3 minutes Setting: A church Props: Three Bibles Three hymnals Costumes: Double-breasted suits for stooges Bathrobes for stooges ...

4882. Talk Show I

Luke 10:38-42

Drama

Robert F. Crowley

... than giving time to prayer? MARTHA: No, I'm not saying that. I pray while I work. Do I have to go to church to pray? No. I can get more done if I am working along, and when the Lord brings needs to my mind, I pray and just keep on doing what I'm supposed to do. PHIL: I want to give Dr. Fitznour an opportunity to speak. Doctor, what is your opinion? Does religious duty come before religious zeal? DR. FITZNOUR: Well, yes and no. In a recent study conducted by Berkeley University it was determined that eighty ...

4883. Reward Time

Drama

Robert F. Crowley

... , then, that proves \nit. This can't be heaven. There's not supposed to be any sense \nof time in heaven. \nKAY: Definitely not heaven, then. My watch is working. It says \nit's 10:35. What time does yours say? \nRAY: Actually, it says 10:41, but I keep it five minutes fast \njust so I'll get to my appointments on time. So I imagine that \nyour watch is correct. It probably is about 10:35. \nKAY: (ASKING SOMEONE IN AUDIENCE) What time do you have, sir? \nGEORGE: (TO KAY) Will you cut that out! Here, take ...

4884. Mr. Roberts Meets The Master

Drama

Robert F. Crowley

... very much. A money bag. \nMR. McDOLEY: Right. \nMR. ROBERTS: And a hand puppet. \nMR. McDOLEY: Right. \nMR. ROBERTS: This is nice. \nMR. McDOLEY: That's my plastic bag, Mr. Roberts. The hand \npuppet didn't come in a bag so I used one of mine. You may keep \nit if you wish. \nMR. ROBERTS: No. I have plenty of plastic bags, Mr. McDoley. \nYou may take it with you. \nMR. McDOLEY: All righty, Mr. Roberts. The money bag and the \nhand puppet are yours and I'll just take my plastic bag. And \nspeedy delivery off ...

4885. The Spice of Death

Sermon

Harry N. Huxhold

... with the possibility of one or two being versions of the same one. However, it is important to note that at Bethany when Mary anointed Jesus, Judas protested the gesture as a waste of money. Jesus, however, replied, "Leave her alone. She bought it that she might keep it for the day of my burial." If in good grace Jesus accepted that gift as an act of love, angels must have been rejoicing as these two brave men anointed our Lord for his burial. An Irrelevant Act At the same time that we acknowledge how ...

4886. You Are My Witnesses

Luke 24:36-49

Sermon

Harry N. Huxhold

... materials concerning the quest of the historical Jesus. There are books, journals, and popular articles which are upsetting for many good Christian folk because they challenge how much we can really know about the historical Jesus in the way that we keep historical records today. However, that should not be upsetting for us when we recognize how the writers of the scriptures themselves indicate to us that they are not writing biographies or historical records in the usual sense. They overtly indicate that ...

4887. Sent From The Mountain

Matthew 28:16-20

Sermon

William G. Carter

... unless we ourselves are committed disciples. "Go and teach people all that I have commanded you," says the Teacher of the Sermon on the Mount. We cannot do that if our only study of the Bible is a little bit of verse-surfing before breakfast to keep us healthy, wealthy, and wise. Any church that takes the Great Commission seriously must move into deeper waters, and not merely throw a wider net into the shallows. It is striking that Matthew seems to know this. He begins this triumphant story of Easter with a ...

4888. Look How You Listen

Mark 6:14-29

Sermon

George W. Hoyer

... body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell" (Matthew 10:28), this John went headless to heaven. Herod, who liked to listen but was satisfied with being perplexed, went head-long to hell. But keep remembering, this is about our hearing, our listening, our understanding. May I say your hearing, your listening, your understanding? May I say to you, all you who consider yourselves to be average Christians, who fill these pews Sunday after Sunday: Remember how easy ...

4889. Himself The Real Presence

John 6:25-59

Sermon

George W. Hoyer

... among them, he started a supper, with eating and drinking. He could, no doubt, have stayed on once he had risen from the dead and not ascended after the forty days. He could have made Jerusalem his headquarters and let pilgrimages develop as the way we could keep in touch with him. He could have instituted a ceremonial touching of his garment as the way to receive power from him. Instead he decided on a meal. (Of course, we are conjecturing -- so Saint Paul once said -- as fools.) A meal, then. Yes. We can ...

4890. Cheers For The Healed

Mark 7:31-37

Sermon

George W. Hoyer

... the walking, leaping, praising healed lame man. It is, perhaps, a smaller miracle when we manage to bridle our tongues, when we push aside self-centeredness and "care for orphans and widows in their distress," when we remember who we are, whose we are, and "keep ourselves unstained by the world" (James 1:27). Let's hear it for us, hearers, proclaimers, beholders, doers! The crowd said about Jesus, "He has done everything well." Our Lord says of us, "With you I have done fairly well, if I do say so myself ...

4891. The Taught Can

Mark 8:31--9:1

Sermon

George W. Hoyer

... methods. And we use them. We set up shelters and call them Good Samaritan houses; we invite the hungry to sit at tables in places we call "Loaves and Fishes." And we invest heavy money for clothing the poor. That is much more than saying merely, "Keep warm and eat your fill," while doing nothing to supply bodily needs. Speaking of taking up your cross, you also fill out your income tax forms, and you vote for and help pay for governmental programs for the poor and needy. Eat your heart out, Abraham ...

4892. Can You See Where We're Going

Mark 10:46-52

Sermon

William G. Carter

... "6...all the way to the cross. 1. In Mark 1:21-28, a synogogue crowd misinterprets the healing of a demoniac as a "new teaching" by the preacher Jesus. 2. At least twice, in Mark 1:44-45 and 7:36-37, a healed person disobeys Jesus' request to keep quiet about the miracle. 3. Jesus healed a person with a withered arm on the "wrong" day of the week, and immediately his opponents conspired against him (Mark 3:1-6). 4. For instance, see Mark 2:12 and 5:15. 5. Ched Myers, Who Will Roll Away the Stone ...

4893. It's OK To Stir Up God

Luke 11:1-13

Sermon

Richard Patt

... much of life doesn't seem worth the effort. Some are not only resigned to the future, but they have also resigned from the future. Their forward thrust is gone. Faith has petered out. Prayer appears to be an anachronism. But this parable encourages us to keep stirring up God until he gives us an ear. Bil Keane, who draws the popular Family Circus cartoons, portrays a father who is fast asleep on the living room couch, his back facing outward and his face buried in the pillows. Anticipating being bothered by ...

4894. Rich In God's Sight

Luke 12:13-21

Sermon

Richard Patt

... soul is required of you ..." (v. 20). Hearing that dramatic warning, maybe you have surmised, "Will I ever get caught in a situation where those stern words are addressed to me?" Generally we tend to feel we have our lives on the right track. We try to keep a pleasing balance between material things and the things of the spirit. But when we look objectively, we are concerned about our own security -- both for the present and the future. Frankly, we have money on our minds more than we'd like to admit. Often ...

4895. The Fear Of Taking The Plunge

Luke 12:35-48

Sermon

Richard Patt

... of physical illness. Nobody welcomes physical illness; there is usually a jolting feeling connected with finding out we're ill. But I have come to discover that the person who has a regular pattern of daily commending life and limb to the Lord and his keeping is correspondingly able to handle illness well. In fact part of getting well is handling our illnesses well -- handling all of life well, really, by allowing God to handle it: letting go and letting God. Of course, I'm not saying here that faith ...

4896. A Ministry Of Hospitality

Luke 14:1-14

Sermon

Richard Patt

... as the people of God, we ought to give place to one another. We ought to be hospitable. The reading from Proverbs says, "Do not exalt yourself ... do not claim a place...." In the Second Reading, the writer to the Hebrews encourages us, "Keep on loving each other as brothers. Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it." Finally, today's Gospel reading brings us the parable about the wedding guests. Jesus warns us that if you immediately ...

4897. The Crux Of Being A Christian

Luke 14:25-35

Sermon

Richard Patt

... up in the great city of Rome; somehow he became acquainted there with the apostle Paul, who was serving a sentence in the Roman prison. Being the missionary he was, Paul converted Onesimus to the Christian faith. But Paul realized that he couldn't keep Onesimus under his wing indefinitely. So he convinces Onesimus that the wisest course for him would be to return to his former master, Philemon. But to soften the blow, Paul writes a letter to Philemon, exhorting him to receive his runaway slave, Onesimus ...

4898. God's Passionate Concern

Luke 14:25-35

Sermon

Richard Patt

4899. Clever Christians

Luke 16:1-15

Sermon

Richard Patt

... is using a criminal as an example of the type of person Christians should be. Look at the parable. There is this rich man, probably a successful farmer. He was so successful that he could afford to be an absentee landlord. He hired a manager to run the farm and keep the books. The manager in turn hired workers to do the actual farming. Most of the crops the workers raised were given back to the owner of the land as rent. The workers kept a small portion and that was the way they made a living. One day the ...

4900. How to Rise above Discouragement

Luke 7:11-17

Sermon

Maurice A. Fetty

... because they want the future to be just like the past. They are afraid of adjustment or change. They have forgotten the words to James Russell Lowell's famous hymn: New occasions teach new duties, Time makes ancient good uncouth. He must always up and onward, Who would keep abreast of truth. But long before Lowell it was Jesus who told the sick, "Have faith, stand up and walk." It was Jesus who said to the blind man, "Do you want to see?" and he did. It was Jesus who said, "Take up your cross and follow ...

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