Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 601 to 625 of 1533 results

James 3:1-12, Proverbs 1:20-33, Mark 8:31--9:1, Mark 8:27-30

Sermon Aid

Russell F. Anderson

Theme: Seek true wisdom; follow Christ. COMMENTARY Lesson 1: Proverbs 1:20-33 (C) Wisdom personified warns the fool to heed its words of wisdom and instruction or face dire consequences. The foolish will be destroyed by their own devices; when they call for help on the day of trouble, it will not be granted to them. However, those who listen to the voice of wisdom will dwell secure. Lesson 1: Isaiah 50:5-9a (RC); Isaiah 50:4-9 (E) (See Sunday Of The Passion) Lesson 2: James 3:1-12 (C) Chapter 3 revolves ...

602. Proper 9

2 Samuel 5:1-5, 9-10, Mark 6:1-13, 2 Corinthians 12:1-10

Sermon Aid

Russell F. Anderson

Theme: God gives us the authority to bring in his kingdom through our strengths and our weaknesses. COMMENTARY Old Testament: 2 Samuel 5:1-5, 9-10 David first serves as king of Judah, with his capital at Hebron, for a period of seven years. The leaders of the northern tribes of Israel come to him at Hebron and they agree to make him king over the northern tribes. David's army captures the city of Jerusalem from its inhabitants and it becomes the capital of the united kingdom. David reigns as king of Israel ...

603. Sight And Insight

John 9:1-12, John 9:13-34, John 9:35-41

Sermon Aid

John R. Brokhoff

How dark is dark? I did not realize how dark darkness can be until recently. We were conducting a teaching-preaching mission in Prestonburg, Kentucky. A member of the congregation was president of a local coal mining company which sold its coal to North Carolina's Duke Power Company for the production of electric power. He invited us to inspect his mine. After donning mining clothes and equipment, we were taken one mile into a mountain where we observed the mining operation. There were no lights except the ...

604. Paradoxes Of The Christian Faith

Matthew 10:1-42

Sermon

Carlyle Fielding Stewart

There is something strange and paradoxical about the faith of Christians, and many people struggle to understand how we can celebrate the life of someone who died on a cross; someone who didn't fit the conventional criteria of success; someone who brought good and joy to the world, yet was executed by the very people to whom he brought goodness. How could God take someone who was penniless and make us wealthy; someone who was homeless and provide us with a many-roomed mansion in our Father's house? What a ...

605. Dim Visions And Blind Guides

Sermon

Harold Warlick

The societal limits which impinge on our world also affect our personal existence in profound ways. Nowhere is this more critical than in our own dreams and visions. Dreams and visions are important in life. Every action we take in life was designed by someone. Every piece of clothing, every building, every hymn book, every chair, every light fixture, and every automobile existed first in someone's vision. Someone had to have the idea or the dream to turn out the product. The same holds true for the way we ...

606. Spirit Full Or Foul?

Isaiah 44:1-5

Sermon

Justin Tull

Today is Pentecost, the celebration of the gift of God’s Spirit to the church and to us. And the question we must ask ourselves and the church is this: Are we Spirit full or Spirit foul? In other words, is God’s gift to the Hebrews and to the early Christian church a gift we have received or rejected, nurtured or ignored? Is the Spirit of God in us? In many ways the gift of the Spirit at Pentecost is not an entirely new act of God. The gift of the Spirit is not exclusively a New Testament occurrence. In ...

607. Use It or Lose It

Matthew 25:14-30

Sermon

Johnny Dean

In the window of a restaurant in a small West Texas town there was a sign that read: "Wanted: man to wash dishes and two waitresses." Now, the longer the men of that town thought about that sign, the more they thought, "That just might be an interesting job! The advancement opportunities might be limited, and the pay is probably not much, but..." Then there was an ad in a local newspaper that read: "Bargain Basement Sale on shirts for men with flaws." The department store that ran the ad couldn’t ...

608. Some Assembly Required

Luke 2:21-40

Sermon

Johnny Dean

Some of you - especially those of you who have now, or have had in years passed, small children - may know from first-had experience that there are three words which strike fear into the heart of a parent on Christmas Eve, three words which inspire nightmares on the night before Christmas. They sound innocent enough, these three simple words. But if you’ve had prior experience with them, you know what it means to encounter the words: SOME ASSEMBLY REQUIRED. How well I remember one close encounter with ...

609. Talk! Talk! Talk!

Jeremiah 1:1-19

Sermon

Louis H. Valbracht

Text: Jeremiah 1:6 - Then, I said, "Ah, Lord God! Behold, I do not know how to speak ..." Jeremiah was expressing a common need of most of us. One of the miraculous abilities of the human being is his ability to speak to another human being and be understood, that the mind can communicate its thought to another mind or minds by way of speech. But how tragic it is that we misuse and waste this God-given ability. It was in the early years of my ministry that I was one Sunday preaching my sermon, and I had ...

610. Cross Purposes

1 Corinthians 1:18--2:5

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

"In the cross of Christ I glory towering o'er ..." Is the cross today towering over the world? Atlanta is presently boasting of its newest hotel, seventy stories high, the highest hotel in the entire world. Just a couple of blocks from this hotel are a Methodist church and a Catholic church, each with a tower and a cross on top. There was a time when the highest point in a town was the church spire with a cross on its pinnacle. Now city skyscrapers dwarf the church with its cross. The cross is over-towered ...

611. A Good Picture of Bad People

Luke 16:1-15

Sermon

He also said to the disciples, "There was a rich man who had a steward, and charges were brought to him that this man was wasting his goods. And he called him and said to him, ‘What is this that I hear about you? Turn in the account of your stewardship, for you can no longer be a steward.’ And the steward said to himself, ‘What shall I do, since my master is taking the stewardship away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. I have decided what to do, so that people may receive me ...

612. Monday in Holy Week

Isaiah 42:1-9, Hebrews 9:11-28, John 12:1-11

Bulletin Aid

First Lesson: Isaiah 42:1-9 Theme: First Servant Song: A compassionate Servant Call to Worship Pastor: Sinners such as you and I make it necessary for God to send his Servant to redeem us. People: We are guilty of sin, and suffer the consequence of our sins. Pastor: God has sent his Servant, Jesus, to have compassion on us, and deliver us from the power of sin. People: Bless the Lord, O my soul, for his compassionate love in Christ Jesus his Son! Collect O God of compassion, who has sent your Son to ...

613. Cross Work

Matthew 5:27-30

Sermon

George Bass

Jesus might have been loving, kind, and good, but he wasn’t very practical. As he closes out this first section of the Sermon on the Mount, it is pure Gospel we hear today that supercedes the law of last week. And Jesus shows us just how impractical the Gospel actually is. He instructs the disciples and us, to... ...offer no resistance to wicked people who might hurt or offend you; ...turn the other cheek if someone hits you on one side of the face; ...give your coat as well as your shirt to anyone who ...

614. Communion Is Real Presence

John 1:1-18

Sermon

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God; all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came for testimony, to bear witness to the light, that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear ...

615. Proper 13 & Pentecost 11

Matthew 14:13-21, Nehemiah 9:1-37, Exodus 12:1-30, Romans 8:28-39, Isaiah 55:1-13

Sermon Aid

THEOLOGICAL CLUE With one more Sunday remaining in August, the preacher may find more of a practical preaching clue in the approach of the fall season than a theological theme in the church year. For now, the latter part of August emphasizes a kind of homiletical eschatology; in many congregations, one has been preaching primarily to the faithful few during the summer months, and soon summer will be over. Attendance will increase in the next few weeks and one's preaching may have to be somewhat different ...

616. Proper 17 & Pentecost 15

Matthew 16:21-28, Romans 12:1-8, Exodus 19:1-25, Jeremiah 14:1--15:21, Jeremiah 20:7-18, Psalm 114:1-8, Psalm 63:1-11

Sermon Aid

THEOLOGICAL CLUE Had the plan of the Joint Liturgical Group in Great Britain, which set an agenda for reforming the church year, been followed in the American churches, the Advent prayers might have come at a very propitious time in the life of the churches, the beginning of September. The Joint Liturgical Group had suggested extending the Sundays before Christmas back far enough that the holy history of the faith might be read annually. While there is something to be said for such a plan, something would ...

617. Some Assembly Required

Malachi 2:17--3:5

Sermon

But who can endure the day of His coming, and who can stand when He appears? (Malachi 3:2) Some of you might know from your own experience that there are three words which can give a parent serious nightmares. Three words can drive real fear into a parent’s heart. I’m talking about mothers and fathers cringing in abject terror at the mere sound of three simple words: "Some Assembly Required." How well I learned this on Christmas Eve when I engaged in fierce hand-to-hand combat with a hobby horse! It came ...

618. What Do You See?

Isaiah 52:13--53:12

Sermon

Barbara Brokhoff

Behold, My Servant shall deal prudently, He shall be exalted and extolled and be very high. Just as many were astonished at you, so His visage was marred more than any man. And His form more than the sons of men; So shall He sprinkle many nations. Kings shall shut their mouths at Him; For what had not been told them they shall see, And what they had not heard they shall consider. Who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For He shall grow up before Him as a tender ...

619. Recovering From the Blahs

1 Kings 19:9-18

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

There he came to a cave, and lodged there; and, behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and he said to him, "What are you doing here, Elijah?" He said, "I have been very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the people of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thy altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away." And he said, "Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the Lord." And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great ...

620. Faith Opens the Door

Genesis 12:1-8

Sermon

Robert G. Tuttle

Faith opens the door in the human spirit that allows an individual to step from one dimension of living into a higher dimension of living. Dr. Charles Allen tells of a desperate layman who called him one morning over the phone and urgently requested him to come to his office. The businessman continued, "Would you tell me what it means to be a Christian? I have got to know." We ministers are challenged by such a request, but how do we answer the question? It all begins with faith. Faith is a personal ...

621. In Debt Forever!

Romans 13:8-14

Sermon

Raymond Gibson

It seemed as though the bishop was looking straight at me "Are you in debt so much as to embarrass you in your work?" What an incongruous question to ask of a candidate for ordination. It seemed so mundane, so inappropriate for such a hallowed occasion, even if it was one of the questions asked of ordinands ever since the day when John Wesley first posed it. "Are you in debt so much as to embarrass you in your work?" "Of course, I’m in debt, Bishop! Who wouldn’t be after three years in seminary on a ...

622. One Thing

Sermon

Raymond Gibson

If you could accomplish but one significant deed in your life, what would you want it to be? If you wanted to be remembered for one act of your life more than all others, what would that act be? All want to be remembered, all of us. No one wants to be forgotten. Even our Lord Jesus wanted to be remembered. Surely that was one of the reasons he shared bread and wine with his closest friends on the night of his betrayal, saying, "Do this in remembrance of me." That certainly was a beautiful and memorable ...

623. Fingertip Embalming

John 20:24-31

Sermon

Louis H. Valbracht

Have you ever noticed? It seems that there is always one at every party. No matter how carefully you select the guests, there is always one - the wet blanket, the killjoy, the party pooper, the spoilsport, the kind of person to whom you’d like to say: "I never forget a face, but in your case, I’m going to make an exception." I am reminded of the mother whom I was visiting in a home and, as we visited, the sounds of the children’s hilarity was coming up from the family room below. Finally, the mother got up ...

624. Parents, Tend Those Lambs!

John 21:15-25

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

Two children, a four-year-old and a six-year-old, gave their mother a houseplant for Mother's Day. They had used their own money, and she was thrilled. The older child said with a sad face, "There was a bouquet at the flower shop that we wanted to give you, but it was too expensive. It had a ribbon on it that said, 'Rest in peace."' A parent, particularly a mother, gets little chance to rest in peace this side of heaven. Parenting is intensive leadership, 24 hours per day. The Bible describes parental ...

625. The Garden: All Things New

John 20:1-9

Sermon

J. Ellsworth Kalas

I want to tell you the story, on this Easter Sunday, of two gardens. With apologies to Charles Dickens, let me say that the first garden started as the best of gardens and became the worst of gardens. The second was, for a little while, the worst of gardens, but it became the best of gardens. And so it is, to this very day. The first garden is the place known as the Garden of Eden. It was a perfect place. Those who lived there had everything they needed, every beauty, every dream. It was the best of ...

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