Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 551 to 575 of 4508 results

Children's Sermon

Wesley T. Runk

Object: Some crayons and/or scissors. Lesson: Then the Spirit led Jesus into the desert to be tempted by the Devil. Good morning, boys and girls. Today we are going to talk about a word that I am sure all of you have heard many times but you may not be sure what it means. The word is "tempted" or "temptation." How many of you have heard that word used before? (Let them answer.) How many of you k...

552. Don't Give In

Sermon

David & Marian Plant

A colleague in ministry, nearing retirement, said something startling to me. Upon looking at his time in ministry coming to an end he shared he wanted a complete break from anything church related. He stated, “After all, I’ve been preaching the lectionary for 35 years, there really isn’t anything new left to say.” His attitude was light years in another direction from mine, even though I have serv...

553. The Big Temptation

Sermon

Mark Trotter

Lent is a journey of six weeks, from Ash Wednesday to Good Friday and Easter. It is a pilgrimage for those who want to renew their lives. I have been on tours where the tour leader, at the beginning of the journey, gives an outline of what you can expect to see and how to prepare for it. That is what I want to do as we begin the Lenten journey this morning. The story of Jesus' temptations is to b...

554. Jesus Tempted In Us

Sermon

David O. Bales

It’s good to be here with you. Ten days ago my wife and I were visiting our daughter and son-in-law in central Mexico. In Mexico City they took us to the National Palace in which hangs a painting of Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla. I’m intrigued by this painting. Hidalgo was leader in the Mexican war for independence from Spain; but, by the time people wanted a portrait of him, he was dead. Half a centu...

555. God, Or the World?

Sermon

Richard Gribble

He was a man of mystery and charm; he was a man of brokenness and faith. He was hunted down like a common criminal; his only crime was seeking God's glory. The "Whiskey Priest" lived in Southern Mexico. The time was the 1920s; the Cristero Rebellion was underway. The Whiskey Priest was not perfect - far from it. He drank too much; he had fathered a child. In those days, the Mexican government said...

556. Tempted By Good

Sermon

Don M. Aycock

Have you ever noticed that almost every mountaintop experience in life is followed by a valley experience? You graduate from school with the great expectation of making your mark in the world, but you find out that the world doesn't exactly welcome you with open arms. You get married with the full expectation that your new spouse will relieve your loneliness and solve your problems, but you find o...

557. Beyond Temptation

Sermon

King Duncan

There is a silly story out of the Jewish tradition about a rabbi who went on a journey with his servant named Jacob. Their cart was drawn by a lively horse of which the rabbi was very fond. When they came to a roadside inn, the rabbi went in to rest, leaving his horse in Jacob's care. In the meantime, a horse trader passed by and, seeing Jacob, soon made friends with him. He plied him with drink a...

558. The Devil Made Me Do It

Sermon

David E. Leininger

Have you ever gone to a restaurant, hung up your coat, and noticed a sign warning that the management is not responsible if it gets lost or stolen? Ever read the small print on your airplane ticket? The airline takes no responsibility for any delays or missed connections, and if your baggage is lost, they only have to pay an amount agreed upon at a convention they held in Warsaw in 1955. Park your...

559. Strong in God’s Name

Sermon

Lee Griess

A young man was sent to Spain by his company to work in a new office they were opening there. He accepted the assignment because it would enable him to earn enough money to marry his long-time girlfriend. The plan was to pool their money and, when he returned, put a down payment on a house, and get married. As he bid his sweetheart farewell at the airport, he promised to write her every day and ke...

560. Why Doesn’t God Do Away With Evil?

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

In John Updike's novel, Rabbit Run, Harry and Janice, the parents of a newborn baby, find themselves in an argument. Harry leaves in a huff and Janice proceeds to get drunk. In her drunken stupor she tries to give the baby a bath. That's when the horrible happens. Somehow, Janice manages to drown her own child in the bathtub. Harry returns a few hours later, confronted with the unthinkable truth. ...

561. Jesus' Forty Days, and Ours

Sermon

James McCormick

Matthew, Mark, and Luke all begin their stories of the adult Jesus at the Jordan River, where he is baptized by his cousin John. In baptism, Jesus identifies with us, and with all people everywhere. And, there, at the baptism, God said, “This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased.” At the beginning of the story, the gospel writer wants to make it clear who this is he is telling about: this i...

562. Tested, for God’s Sake

Sermon

Mike Ripski

You had those teachers, who were so susceptible to their students’ feigned interest that they could be enticed to use up the whole class period on some esoteric topic and run out of time for the intended the pop quiz. There’s something about a test that makes us anxious. We may fail. Our weakness, inadequacy, ignorance will be exposed. We know that every one of us can be given a test that we will...

563. Take On Something for Lent

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

An increasing number of responsible pet owners have now “micro-chipped” their dogs and cats. A small “chip” is injected under the skin and when a special scanner is run over the chip, the creature’s whole history is made available—-pet’s name, owner’s name, home address, home phone, vet’s name, vet’s phone, medications taken. It’s all there. Most animal shelters now have these scanners. When a los...

564. The First Sunday In Lent

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 read...

565. Jesus or Niccolo?

Sermon

Robert Leslie Holmes

This world's kingdoms have never been presented in a more Machiavellian fashion or more compellingly. And never before and never again have they been nor will they be targeted to one with more reason to succumb. Surely one of the great strengthening comforts of taking Jesus Christ as our Lord is that he, more than anyone else, understands our temptations. Scripture tells us, "He himself was tested...

566. Hitting the Boss Key

Sermon

King Duncan

“Lead me not into temptation,” sang country artist Lari White a few years back, “I already know the road all too well; Lead me not into temptation / I can find it all by myself.” It’s a chorus that makes us silently chuckle, but after a few moments of reflection, we understand that this is, at heart, a sobering statement of the human condition: “Lead me not into temptation; I can find it all by m...

567. Facing Up To Temptation

Sermon

Thomas Long

Searching the aisles of the hardware store the other day for a tube of "Super Glue," I couldn't find it, so I went up to the customer service desk to ask for help from the young man standing at the cash register. He was on the telephone and, when he saw me coming his direction, he turned his back toward me. I could tell he was making a personal call, but I just waited. The call went on and on ... ...

568. The Wild Within

Sermon

Lori Wagner

“Then as the Lord our God commanded us, we set out…through all that vast and dreadful desert that you have seen…” (Deuteronomy 1:19) When writing and thinking, your imagination is your “wild place.” It’s that disorderly place of imaginative dreaming in which we let our mind roam the wilderness of images, a wide open range teeming with randomness of thoughts, synthesis of uncommon ideas, mines of r...

569. Passing The Test!

Children's Sermon

King Duncan

Object: a few test papers, with the letter grade in bright red ink Good morning, boys and girls. Are any of you in kindergarten or preschool? It's fun, isn't it? You learn all sorts of new things. And once you get to kindergarten or preschool, you have to start taking tests to see if you're learning everything you should. If you do well on the test, if you answer all the questions right, you get ...

570. First Sunday in Lent

Bulletin Aid

B. David Hostetter

READINGS Psalter--Psalms 32 First Lesson--The freedom to know good and evil is also the opportunity for temptation and disobedience by our first parents. Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7 Second Lesson--As we share in the disobedience of the first Adam, we may also share in the self-sacrificing obedience of the second Adam, Jesus Christ. Romans 5:12-19 Gospel--Human temptations for Jesus and for us include s...

571. Lent 1

Bulletin Aid

Amy C. Schifrin

Order For Confession Leader: In the name of the Father, and of the Son, + and of the Holy Spirit. All: Amen. Leader: The tempter comes with a seductive sweetness in his voice. The tempter comes promising us the world. The tempter comes, and without you, dear Jesus, we are defenseless. How has the tempter come to you in these days? Let us remember now, that his deadly spell might be broken and lif...

572. Tutu's Tolerance

Illustration

Thomas Long

Years ago in the midst of South Africa's struggle against apartheid, one of the most respected voices for racial harmony and human dignity was that of Bishop Desmond Tutu. But even the closest colleagues of Tutu are sometimes distressed by the bishop's tolerance and moderation. They wish he would be more aggressive with his opponents. One of them said, "At his age you'd think he would have learned...

573. We Want Freedom

Illustration

Barbara Brokhoff

Humans are always declaring their freedom, wishing for more "space," announcing that they belong only to "themselves." We want to be free from the enslavement of the kitchen, or from confinement of a job we don't like. Airplane companies claim to set us free, and medical companies says the same. There are deodorant companies which promise to set us free from the worry of underarm wetness and odor;...

574. IN THE HOUR OF TRIAL

Sermon Aid

John W. Rilling

Among the ancient Norse legends one tells of the visit of Thor, the mighty thunder god, to the land of the giants where he found them playing games of skill and strength. Eagerly he accepted their invitation to try his own prowess. His first test was to empty a great two-handed drinking bowl filled with a strange green liquid. But hard as he tried he succeeded in making it recede only a little bit...

575. It Is Your Choice

Illustration

Robert Bachelder

In Huxley's Brave New World, Savage is contending with Mustapha Mond, the world controller. Savage's sensibility has been shaped by the Bible and Shakespeare, readings no longer allowed to be read. He complains to Mond about the antiseptic quality of life in the new society. The controller says to him: "We prefer to do things comfortably." Savage rejoins: "But I don't want comfort. I want God, I w...

Showing 551 to 575 of 4508 results