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Showing 551 to 575 of 2844 results

551. The Day of Atonement

Leviticus 16:1-34

Understanding Series

W. H. Bellinger, Jr.

Chapter 16 brings the reader to the Day of Atonement. We include this chapter in the Manual of Purity, since the Day of Atonement provides a way of removing the effects of uncleanness. However, this chapter was probably not originally composed along with chapters 11–15. Verse 1 indicates that chapter 16 has strong connections with Leviticus 10. This chapter was perhaps part of the Priestly narrative continuing from chapters 8–10. The ritual described here may be quite old and no doubt has a complex history ...

552. God Gives the Pharisees the Finger!

John 7:25-44, John 7:45--8:11

Sermon

Lori Wagner

Prop (Animation): Scale or coins (three types) and blackboard with the words: mene, mene, tekel, upharsin; clay pot Judging. It’s something we do almost without thinking. Judging. And justifying. And we’re so GOOD at it! We love to sit on our holy thrones (or in the case of football, cause it’s the season now –lounge in our armchairs) and cast judgments upon those people who are on tv, in the spotlight, on trial, or in any way aren’t in our circle of friends. Many of us judge our friends too! All you have ...

553. God Bless Santa!

Luke 2:1-20

Sermon

David E. Leininger

Several years ago, when Donald Trump was running for the US Presidency, he wanted to convince evangelical voters that he was one of them, so he let it be known that he was a Christian, born and raised Presbyterian even. That was a bit of a surprise to us Presbyterians, but no matter. Reporters pressed him on that and asked which he preferred, the Old Testament or the New. He said he liked them both. They asked him what was his favorite Bible verse; he said he didn’t have a favorite, he liked them all. Uh- ...

554. Dynamic Preaching January 2024 Sermons

Sermon

King Duncan

[Note: While King Duncan is enjoying a well deserved retirement we are going back to his earliest sermons and renewing them. The newly modernized sermon is shown first and below, for reference sake, is the old sermon. We will continue this updating throughout the year bringing fresh takes on King's best sermons.] Original Title: Preparing for a Royal Visit New Title: Getting Ready Mark 1:1-8 January 7, 2024 (Baptism of the Lord) A little boy attended his first symphony concert. He was excited by the ...

555. A Faith That Overcomes

Acts 9:32-43

Sermon

Douglas J. Deuel

I have always liked the children's story Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. In the story a little boy named Alexander has an absolutely rotten day. The story relates all of the traumatic experiences Alexander faces: waking up with gum in his hair, finding no prize in his box of cereal, having no dessert at lunch, going to the dentist and having a cavity, having lima beans for dinner, getting soap in his eyes from his bath, and having his pet cat choose to sleep with his brother. ...

556. The Silence Broken, The Bride Restored

Isaiah 62:1-12

Sermon

Robert A. Hausman

"For Zion's sake I will not keep silent" (v. 1). The issue here is silence, the silence of God. Our text comes from the section of Isaiah which is usually dated during the time of rebuilding after the return from exile. It is from the part of the tradition called Third Isaiah. It reflects a time of great discouragement. Israel lived and worshipped among ruins. Foreign overlords seized the harvest of the fields and the fruit of the vineyards, while the people went hungry (62:8). Enemies continually ...

557. Gifts: Rejected And Exchanged, Accepted And Shared

1 Samuel 2:12-26

Sermon

Tony Everett

So, what have you been doing since Christmas Day? If you are like most people in the community, you have been spending countless hours in shopping malls, looking for bargains and exchanging gifts. Retailers tell us that their busiest times are the days immediately after Thanksgiving and the days directly following Christmas. After Thanksgiving we begin gift buying in earnest. After Christmas, we begin the exchanging and bargain hunting frenzy. What happened with the gifts you chose to give? How were they ...

558. Sermons

Sermon

John R. Bodo

Introductory Note "Thomas the Doubter" is obviously an Easter sermon. However, for Christians every Lord's Day is Easter, because ours is a Resurrection faith. Without the Resurrection, we have nothing distinctive -- for our own comfort and growth or for a world in pain. In "Thomas the Doubter" I hazard a hypothesis about Thomas' life prior to his meeting Jesus. The hypothesis seems fairly plausible. His nickname, Didymus, appears in the biblical record (John 11:16). "Thomas the Doubter" argues for the ...

559. The Better Part

Luke 10:38-42

Children's Sermon

B. Kathleen Fannin

Visual Aid: A basket suspended by its handle from a strong rubber band; a work glove; a small bag of toys such as marbles, a doll, and a stuffed animal; a mathematics textbook; a music book; a baseball; a can of pet food; a Bible; a box to hold all this stuff. Lesson: Stress; making choices; helping one another. As the children come to the front of the sanctuary, I take the work glove and basket out of the box and ask one of the taller boys if he will help me out this morning. He agrees, so I hand him the ...

560. Gabriel: I Was There

Luke 1:5-25

Drama

Dr. Raymond Bailey

Theme: Salvation history is not a series of whimsical happenings. What happens is by design. The Biblical witness suggests not only a loving God, but cosmic evil forces in combat with the Almighty. The archangel Gabriel shares all this from the perspective of an "eyewitness." Setting for the Sermon Monologue [I have used this monologue on two occasions. The first time, I used it in slightly different form for Easter. The second time, I wrote it for Christmas. With slight modification, it could be used for ...

561. Lent 4

Luke 13:18-22 · Joel 2:12-19

Bulletin Aid

Jack Brownlee

ORDER OF SERVICE Opening Words L: Let us worship our Creator, the God of Love. P: God continually preserves and sustains us. L: We have been loved with an everlasting love. P: Through Jesus Christ we have been given complete knowledge of God's glory. Hymn "Are Ye Able" Prayer Of Confession (Unison) Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy loving kindness. According unto thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. I acknowledge my ...

562. Epiphany 7

Matthew 5:43-48, Matthew 5:38-42, 1 Corinthians 3:1-23, Leviticus 19:1-37

Sermon Aid

THEOLOGICAL CLUE As the Epiphany season nears its conclusion, the homiletical framework of the season con-tinues to thin out and the role of the readings becomes more important for the establishment of the theme for the day. Under the older church year, this would be Sexagesima Sunday, the second of the "three-to-get-ready for Lent" Sundays. They were removed from the church year's "Pre-Lent" and added to Epiphany simply because they had become part of Lent, making Lent, in effect, nine and a half weeks ...

563. Easter 2

Acts 2:14-41, Psalm 105:1-45, 1 Peter 1:1-12, John 20:19-23, John 20:24-31

Sermon Aid

THEOLOGICAL CLUE Two major changes were made in the rationale of the Easter season in virtually all of the new lectionaries: the first was dropping the Latin names for the six Sundays between Easter and Pentecost, as was done in Lent. Since these names come from the introits, the psalms, rather than the gospels, and established the theoretical and real themes of the Sundays, something of Easter was often lost in the process. For example, the Fourth Sunday after Easter was Cantate and became known as Church ...

564. The Seventh Sunday after Pentecost

Zechariah 9:9-13, Exodus 1:1-22, Exodus 2:1-10, Romans 7:7-25, Romans 8:1-17, Matthew 11:25-30

Sermon Aid

THEOLOGICAL CLUE Beyond the general and continuing eschatological framework of the church year, no distinct or additional clue is provided. Pentecost remains the "time of the church," or, the season of the "life of the church." The specific themes that support and expand the time/life concepts of Pentecost are all provided by the assigned readings of the cycle/season and Sunday. The Prayer of the Day This prayer is radically different than the classic collect it replaces. It is a prayer for peace, peace ...

565. Steadfast and Faithful

Genesis 9:1-17

Sermon

"When the (rain)bow is in the clouds, I will look upon it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth." God said to Noah, "This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth." (Genesis 9:16-17) God’s Covenant of mercy extends to all Creation. Noah’s flood was no ordinary flood. According to the Bible, its distinguishing feature was not that it rained for forty days and forty nights. ...

566. Doctor Thomas Dooley

Matthew 9:1-8

Sermon

Carroll Gunkel

From time to time people will ask, "How long does it take to write a sermon?" Generally, I cannot attach a specific time to the preparation of a particular sermon. Every sermon is a composite of everything a preacher has read and studied on a subject. In the case of this particular sermon, however, I can give at least a general response to that question: This sermon was begun more than twenty years ago. It began when I was in college, and it began under unlikely circumstances. Our professor of English ...

567. Hiltgunt Margaret Zassenhaus

Deuteronomy 31:1-8

Sermon

Carroll Gunkel

One of the members of our congregation recently underwent eye surgery. When I visited her, she commented favorably on the gentleness, the compassion, and the concern of the surgeon who had performed the operation. She commented further on the number of people he helped and yet, at the same time, was never too busy to carefully explain what he would do in the course of surgery. Furthermore, the parishioner continued, every other month the surgeon went to Puerto Rico to work for one week in a free clinic. ...

568. What Are You Going to Do About Death?

Mt 10:28 · Lk 12:4

Sermon

Robert G. Tuttle

Emerson once wrote words that sound almost like an invitation to death: And now my chains are to be broken; I shall mount above these clouds and opaque airs in which I live ... Life will no more be a noise; this day shall be better than my birthday; for then I became an animal; now I am invited into the (experience) of the real. - The Poet Recently a college student wrote me, "I think it is probable that the death of the body implies the total cessation of being." This fear is not only a problem for ...

569. Salvation as Personal Experience

Romans 9:30--10:21

Sermon Aid

T. A. Kantonen

Thus far we have studied Paul’s doctrine of salvation in objective terms. Salvation is the work of divine grace, centering in the atoning death of Christ on the cross and bringing about a change in the relation of mankind to God, a change described as redemption, justification, and reconciliation. We turn now to the subjective and personal aspect of salvation, to Paul’s answer to the question, "What must I do to be saved?" Faith When this question was asked by the Philippian jailer, Paul replied, "Believe ...

570. Resurrection: From Brokenness to Wholeness

Matthew 15:29-39

Sermon

Leonard H. Budd

His name was Jahmai. In the ancient lineage of his people Jahmai was one of the sons of Tola (1 Chronicles 7:2), a worthy man and father of a great tribe by the days of King David. But the Jahmai of our story lived much, much later in the Hebrew lineage and his grand namesake was long forgotten. The Jahmai of our story was a youth, and this day he walked behind the crowds that followed Jesus. His walking was slowed because of his left leg being bent, never going straight. It meant that he would step-slide ...

571. A Way Back In

Isaiah 40:1-31

Sermon

Thomas D. Peterson

A wise man once said to me that he tried never to let people get so far out on a limb that they could not get back in. He was the head-master of a preparatory school. As an administrator he did everything he could to enable the staff to make meaningful contributions to the school. He positively reinforced good performance; and, when a staff member got out on a limb, he not only initiated efforts to help the person back in, he also avoided putting undue stress on mistakes or attitudes which made it ...

572. Lifting the Burden of Guilt

Mark 2:1-12

Sermon

Robert G. Tuttle

"There is a cancerous strain eating away at the average American," writes C. Neil Strait.1 He continues, "It is a strain brought on by too much work and too little play; too much hatred and too little love; too much fear and too little faith. The overbalance has infected life with a strain that eats away at the energies of life like a dreadful disease. The strain that besets a lot of people is more a strain of conscience than any other single factor. Because there is a war with conscience, there is a war ...

573. Overcoming Loneliness

Sermon

Robert G. Tuttle

In the overcrowded conditions of our modern world loneliness has possessed us: "He’s a real Nowhere Man, Sitting in his Nowhere Land, Making all his Nowhere Plans for nobody." Such emptiness, such frustration, such loneliness depresses us. What’s to be done about it? This feeling of hopelessness has been around a long time. The ancient writer of Psalm 22 cried out: Dear God, right now I feel like a worm, not a person. I feel so used by other people. And to make it worse, I feel resented by the very same ...

574. Faith As Healing Energy

Sermon

Robert G. Tuttle

Most doctors would agree with Norman Cousins, who wrote recently in a national magazine, "The belief system is often activator of the healing system."1 Faith actually affects the chemistry of the body. It can be so specific that it has been called "Spiritual energy injection." Faith makes a difference in health. Through faith (trust), energy channels are opened between the Creator and the created and our bodies begin to function as they are designed to. Even when we feel as though we’re cornered, we are ...

575. Signposts A Commencement Address

Sermon

Gregory J. Johanson

In Signposts BRUCE HARTUNG (see biographical note preceding The Big Snow) uses the occasion of a junior high school commencement address to lift up the definite changes that are occurring in both parental and child responsibilities as the family grows together through this particular maturational phase of its life together. Signposts, regardless of how small, always have functions. This signpost is no different. Graduating from eighth grade may or may not rank highly with other events in your life. But ...

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