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 601 to 625 of 779 results

601. The Redemptive Side of Suffering

Hebrews 5:5-10

Sermon

Richard Gribble

“When Christ calls a person, he bids that one to come and die.” These words were written by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a well-known Lutheran pastor and theologian, in a book influential to many, The Cost of Discipleship, first published in 1937. Bonhoeffer lived his Christian call to holiness without counting the cost. He did what God asked of him; he was obedient to the call of God and the teachings of Christ. He followed Christ without qualification, reservation or question. He did not look over his shoulder ...

602. Thanks, but...

Philippians 4:10-20

Sermon

Will Willimon

Frankly, I didn't even want to be at that night's meeting. I hate meetings, even church meetings, especially church meetings. But as the representative from the Commission on Ecumenical Basketball, I felt obligated to be at the monthly meeting of the Board. We met in the Seekers Sunday School classroom, sat in rows of grey, fold-out metal chairs. The meeting began with prayer. Minutes of the last meeting were read and approved. Then the Chairman said, "I call the monthly meeting of the Board of First ...

603. Who Is The Prisoner? Who Is The Judge?

John 18:33-37

Sermon

Frank Ramirez

The Elder John Kline (1797-1864) was a doctor, a carpenter, a preacher, and an elder among the Dunkers, one of the Plain People. Kline’s home was near Linville Creek, Virginia. He, like all the Dunkers, lived peaceably with his neighbors, which is not surprising since the Dunkers believed in non-resistance to violence. For the most part his people stayed out of politics, but from their arrival in America in 1729, the group had taken an unmitigated stance against slavery. Needless to say this made them very ...

604. Christianity: A Worldly Religion That Makes Sure That Even Animals Matter

Revelation 5:11-14

Sermon

Mark Ellingsen

Christianity is all about salvation — the salvation of our souls, right? That’s why the church needs to keep its nose out of politics and all this stuff about polluting the environment. A 2016 Pew Research Center poll found that nearly 1 in 2 of us (47%) feels this way about the church keeping out of politics. And a 2017 poll by Pew found that just over 1 in 2 of us (55%) rank ecological destruction as a major problem. We have had a president who does not want Americans to do much about it (such as Trump’s ...

605. The Light from the Cliff

Matthew 5:13-20

Sermon

Lori Wagner

[Read Revelation 21:9-23] Lake Superior is known as the most dangerous body of water in the world, particularly in November when vicious storms have sunk more than 350 ships, including the infamous Edmund Fitzgerald, whose 29 crewmen have never been found.The watery waves of the lake during the tempestuous November storms feel particularly maelstrom-like to sailors in the pitch black of night on the Great Lakes.They could neither navigate nor see through the thick darkness. As waves rose high above the ...

606. Get Ready

Mark 13:24-37

Sermon

King Duncan & Angela Akers

A few years ago the Knight-Tribune News Service published a humorous column imagining how some of the leading publications in our land might headline a story on the end of the world should such an event take place. Here are the various headlines that might appear in different publications. The Wall Street Journal might announce the end of all things with this headline: “Dow Jones Plummets as World Ends.” Sports Illustrated might use this simple headline: “Game’s Over.” Discover magazine might feature a ...

607. We're On the Move Now!

Sermon

Ronald Love

The Seven-Day Adventist denomination celebrated their 150-year anniversary in May 1994. Yet, they looked upon it as a failure, for their denomination was founded upon the principle of the immediate return of Jesus. Lisa Beardsley-Hardy, the denomination’s director of education, said, “It’s almost an embarrassment to be celebrating 150 years.” Michael Ryan, a vice-president, said, “In one kind of way it really is a sad event.” Paul expected the immediate return of Jesus, and this influenced much of his ...

608. Body

2 Corinthians 4:1-18

Understanding Series

James M. Scott

In 2:14–4:6, the first step in his defense of the legitimacy of his apostolic claim, Paul repeatedly refers to heavenly realities he has known as an apostle: He has entered the heavenly throne room of God; he speaks in the presence of Christ; and he has seen the glory of God in the face of Christ (cf. 2:14, 17; 4:6). The emphasis in the previous section has thus been on the glory of Paul’s apostolic ministry. The problem is that Paul’s body does not manifest the glory of God in a tangible way. According to ...

609. The Unlocked Heart

John 20:19-31

Sermon

Lori Wagner

“Love begins with emotional connection. If you want to love and be loved, you must release the lock on your heart.” How many of you have used a combination lock? These are little but mighty devices. They look so small and insignificant. And yet, these little locks can be powerful deterrents to everything from thieves to curious toddlers –and to you when they are locking away something vitally important that you need to access and you forget the combination to the lock! The following event I’m going to ...

610. In Pursuit Of The Promise

Acts 1:1-11

Sermon

Douglas J. Deuel

A circus came to town offering a prize of $100 to anyone who could stay in the lion's cage for a minimum of five minutes. A man of faith who had been down on his luck was in the audience that day. He was familiar with the biblical story of Daniel's deliverance from the lion's den. He also desperately needed the money. So he agreed to the challenge. Once he got inside the cage, he began to have doubts about the decision he had made. The lion quickly approached him, backing him into the corner. Frightened ...

611. Easter Understanding

Luke 24:36-49

Sermon

Harry N. Huxhold

Edward Schillebeeckx, an outstanding Roman Catholic New Testament Scholar, some twenty years ago published in Holland his work titled The Understanding of Faith. Schillebeeckx made a most incisive effort to explain how Christians can understand their faith in the modern world. In doing so, he also had to carefully delineate the function of language in general. There are definite rules for the use of language. There are rules for the interpretation of language. Not only must Christians ask how the ...

612. Called To Pull Down; Called To Rebuild

Jeremiah 1:1-19

Sermon

Robert A. Hausman

This text is a narrative of the call of Jeremiah; but before the call narrative, we have a preface by the editor of the tradition, placing the call in its historical context (1:1-3). The word of the Lord does not exist in a vacuum and it does not work only in some spiritual realm. It is rooted in our history and related to our chronology. It came in all its specificity to Jeremiah, son of Hilkiah (1:1), during the reigns of Josiah, Jehoiakim, and Zedekiah (1:2-3). In what seems to be a simple ...

613. Plain Talk

Luke 6:17-26

Sermon

Charles H. Bayer

Two men were traveling by light airplane to a business meeting in Alaska. Somewhere over the tundra the plane's motor failed and they were forced down. When they returned home each wrote an article for his favorite magazine about the resulting crisis. One was an avid outdoorsman and his article was titled, "Survival In The Frozen North." The other was very religious and his article was titled, "How Prayer Saved Me From The Wild Wolf Pack." The stories were about the same incident. The authors were ...

614. Why Bother?

Mark 10:46-52

Illustration

Pete Richards was a lonely and bitter man. His life had started out in such a promising way. Despite his growing up in a poor family in New York City, Pete Richards was a shining star on the basketball court. God had given him a gift that Pete used to get a full scholarship to a big eastern university. While in college, Pete Richards not only made his team a winner, but he established himself as a fine student with a very promising career ahead of him in business. And then came Viet Nam. Because Pete had ...

615. The Christian Journey IV: The Pool

Sermon

John N. Brittain

Psalm 114; Ezekiel 47:1-12; Acts 1:1-9; John 4:1-30 We have been thinking about the Christian Journey in terms of some biblical images for the past few weeks. The first image was the path. We saw that one of the earliest -- perhaps the earliest -- designation used to describe those who were devoted to Jesus was "followers of the way," in Greek hodos, a path, a road, a highway, but a term that soon enough came to mean a way of life. This image reminds us that commitment to Jesus Christ presupposes that we ...

616. Hard Questions!

1 Kings 17:7-24

Sermon

Barbara Brokhoff

Children sometimes ask cute questions, but often they are also incisive. In Children's Letters to God, a child inquires, "Dear God, Where does everybody come from? I hope you explain it better than my father. Ward." Another child queries, "Dear God, Did you mean for a giraffe to look like that or was it an accident? Norma." Then, there are those persons who, in the presence of larger questions, can think only of the obvious and mundane. Yellowstone Park Rangers report that, at the place where Old Faithful ...

617. At The Right Place At The Right Time

2 Samuel 11:1-27

Sermon

Timothy J. Smith

Sherry was struggling with some personal issues in her life. She would tell you that she was having a difficult time forgiving someone at work who purposely wronged her, leading to her eventual demotion. Sherry was upset with the person and could not even think of forgiving him. Her loss of income placed a financial hardship on her family. She was really struggling and trying to do what was best, but it certainly was not easy. Sherry and her family were in church one particular Sunday morning when during ...

618. Proper 9

Galatians 6:1-10, 2 Kings 5:1-27, Luke 10:1-24

Sermon Aid

John R. Brokhoff

COMMENTARY Old Testament: 2 Kings 5:1-14 General Naaman of Syria is healed of leprosy by obeying Elisha's order to bathe in the Jordan. The confession of faith by an unknown Jewish slave girl in the home of Syria's chief of staff results in the cure of leprosy for her master, Naaman. On the basis of the confession Naaman goes to Israel. When Elisha the prophet orders him to wash in the Jordan seven times, he goes off in a rage feeling insulted. But his aides convince him to stay. Naaman then dips himself ...

619. Forgiven and Healed

Mark 2:1-12

Bulletin Aid

RobertT D. Ingram

Note: To be forgiven and have our guilt lifted from our shoulders is about as great as a gift can be. No wonder such crowds gathered around Jesus. Greeting Leader: Men and women, children and youth, young and old, we are looking for people who have sinned. People: I have sinned, many times. My life has been crippled by sin. Leader: Then you have come to the right place. We are here so that you may know that the Son of Man, our Lord Jesus Christ, has authority on earth to forgive sins. People: Lord, have ...

620. Feeding The 5000

John 6:1-15, John 6:16-24

Bulletin Aid

RobertT D. Ingram

Theme: If the miracles are only signs pointing to Christ, how much greater he must be than these astounding miracles. Truly, the one before whom we bow is beyond human comprehension. GREETING Leader: With just five barley loaves and two fish, Jesus fed the crowd of five thousand people. Congregation: O God, feeding five thousand was nothing. Every day Jesus feeds millions with the living bread of his body. Leader: After the five thousand ate, the disciples gathered up more fragments than there were loaves ...

621. Taking Christ's Side

Mark 9:38-41

Bulletin Aid

RobertT D. Ingram

Greeting Leader: Jesus said, "You are the salt of the earth." Congregation: Lord, put the taste of Christ's love in our mouths and in our deeds. Leader: Jesus said, "For everyone will be salted with fire." Congregtion: Lord, as our love is tested, preserve us with your strength. Leader: Jesus said, "If salt has lost it saltiness, how can you season it?" Congregation: Lord, if love does not flavor our actions; then what value are we to anyone? Leader: Jesus said, "Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace ...

622. Loving God with Our Whole Being

Mark 12:28-34

Bulletin Aid

RobertT D. Ingram

Greeting (The congregational response is the hymn "God of the Sparrow, God of the Whale") Leader: Children of God and disciples of Christ, listen. "The Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength." People: (Sing verses 1 through 3.) Leader: The second greatest commandment is this, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." People: (Sing verses 4 through 6.) Prayer Let us bow in prayer before ...

623. Plan Your Leisure - Jesus Did His!

Mark 6:30-44

Sermon

Charles R. Leary

Our son who has a two-engine plane took his wife and two children on a three day out-of-state trip during the Fourth of July week-end. I called, expecting to hear a relaxed voice. Instead, I heard a tense and anxious voice. I said, “How was your little trip?” “Oh, it was fine. The weather was good. [Weather is a primary concern to a pilot.] We saw the people we wanted to see. I took Dave and Jim on an air tour over the mountains with an occasional swoop into the valley. We took pictures of the farm and ...

624. Uzziah is Dead!

Isaiah 6:1-13

Sermon

Donald Zelle

Those who look to this well-known Old Testament lesson for some new insight on the interrelatedness of the Persons of the Godhead, look in vain. There is nothing here that especially commends this text for Trinity Sunday. However, there is much for our consideration. "In the year that King Uzziah died ..." These opening words may seem incidental to the rest of this autobiographical account, but they are not. They fix the time of this spiritual experience. In this, they give us a particular historical ...

625. David's Turn From Wisdom

2 Samuel 11:1-27

Sermon

Sue Anne Steffey Morrow

Above my desk at home is a single pine shelf that holds a row of books, books which through the years have meant a whole world to me. You may have such a collection of such treasures, too, volumes by favorite writers of poetry, prose, narrative, non-fiction. Some of my books are so old that the covers are frayed and the pages yellowing. There is a volume I read for the first time last summer that is crisp and clean. Some have markers to note a beloved section or a poem I'd like to find with dispatch. Some ...

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