Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 601 to 625 of 1044 results

601. If Only We Would Be Disciplined ...

2 Kings 13:10-25

Sermon

Wallace H. Kirby

"That’s what we need for the kitchen," Mary whispered to her husband, Carl. The table, among other pieces of furniture, was to be auctioned off to the highest bidders. No one thought that anything coming out of the old farm house had much value. Like Mary, the other bidders were there to supplement the furnishings of their summer cottages in the mountains of western North Carolina. "I’ll start the bidding off and won’t go too high," she continued to whisper. Mary did not want the auctioneer or any ...

602. The Golden Gift

Drama

A Christmas play based on a scene from Les Misérables by Victor Hugo Program Notes Our play is based on an incident which comes early in one of Victor Hugo's greatest novels, Les Misérables - ("The Wretched Ones"). This book was published while Hugo was in exile in England in 1862. It was written as a social novel in which he made society itself the heavy in the piece. The novel was received with mixed reactions. One reviewer called it "his pernicious book." Another more charitably wrote: "It is ... the ...

603. Hunger, Health, and Happiness

Luke 14:1-14

Sermon

One sabbath when he went to dine at the house of a ruler who belonged to the Pharisees, they were watching him. Now he told a parable to those who were invited, when he marked how they chose the places of honor, saying to them, "When you are invited by any one to a marriage feast, do not sit down in a place of honor, lest a more eminent man than you be invited by him; and he who invited you both will come and say to you, 'Give place to this man,' and then you will begin with shame to take the lowest place ...

604. The Promise and the Task

Matthew 28:16-20

Sermon

Dean Lueking

Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him they worshiped him; but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age." (Matthew 28:16-20) Meaning ...

605. A Manger is Christ’s Cradle

Luke 2:1-7

Sermon

Christ is born! A rough manger is his cradle. We have a reason for rejoicing, even today, in a world that makes us ponder the fate of the whole human race, perhaps of all life on the earth. The story of the birth of Christ unfolds, according to St. Luke, much like a play in four acts, therein revealing our cause for celebration of Christ’s birth at his cradle in Bethlehem. The first act has to do with the journey Mary and Joseph had to make from Nazareth to Bethlehem. About all we know of the journey is it ...

606. No Weedless Garden

Matthew 13:24-30

Sermon

Richard L. Thulin

Not long ago a student of mine wrote a descriptive essay on the Church. It was one of the most celebrative and exuberant pieces that I had read in quite a while. He used the body imagery of St. Paul to draw his picture of the Church, but he could just as easily have used the positive agricultural figures of today's parable. It would be true to the spirit of his paper to call the Church a weedless and ripening field. Into rich soil good seeds have been planted and now as far as the eye can see there is ...

607. The Promise of Emmanuel

Isaiah 7:1-25

Sermon

This is a strange season in which we are now living. Children have been bugging parents about putting up the Christmas tree and decorations. Since late November we have been bombarded with jingles and signs and advertisements imploring us to buy and buy and buy gifts so we shall be ready for Christmas. Children have long lists of what Santa is to bring: dolls, race car sets, bikes, books, computers, televisions, and a thousand other wants. There is a heightened sense of anticipation present in our lives. ...

608. The Keeper of the Covenant

Exodus 31:1-11

Sermon

Moses had been gone too long from the people of Israel. He had stayed on the mountain forty days and nights, after he had given them the terms of the covenant with the Lord, their God. They thought he was dead, that he would never come back, that they would never see him again. It was time to make their future secure, thus they asked Aaron to make gods to replace the God of the Covenant - and he did that. He took up a collection, melted down their gold, and turned it into an idol, a golden calf, for them ...

609. Round Trip to Bethlehem

Ruth 1:1-22

Sermon

This story has the stuff in it for creating a modern day television soap opera. It mirrors life as it was, and is right now in this world, at its worst and at its best. The Book of Ruth begins with a refugee problem. Elimelech, a native of Bethlehem, leaves home with his wife and two sons to seek refuge in Moab (of all places); it was here Moses was buried. As a result of his sin Moses got into real trouble with God and was not allowed to enter the Promised Land. The move from Bethlehem to Moab was nothing ...

610. At Table With The Lord

Drama

Production Notes The drama may be presented either as a reader's theater presentation, with all parts read, or as a dramatic presentation with parts memorized. If produced as reader's theater, be certain that all parts are read with animation, in a mood appropriate in each case to capture the character of the person and the part. If offered as a dramatic presentation, characters may want to consider costumes and some simple props and staging. At those places where action is suggested (such as Jesus washing ...

611. Come, Learn Your Worth

2 Corinthians 5:11--6:2

Sermon

Various Authors

Therefore, if any [are] in Christ, [they are] new creation[s]; the old has passed away, behold, the new has come. (v. 17) John Bishop tells of a London slum child whose major refuge was his Roman Catholic day school. In the course of things, his school was visited by a physician who did medical examinations for the students. As the skinny little fellow left the doctor’s room, one of the nuns asked, "Well, Jimmy, what did the doctor say to you?" Jimmy answered, "He took one look at me and said, ‘What a ...

612. The Gathering, The Scattering

Hebrews 10:19-39

Sermon

Various Authors

Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean ... (v. 22a) ... Stir up one another to love and good works. (v. 24b) It’s right there, in the name itself: communion - that which makes for unity, oneness. But if this Christian sacrament of unity has been anything through twenty centuries, it has been a sacrament of division. Let’s move backward quickly through those centuries, taking snapshots as we go. Frame 1. Christians visit in the parish of a sister ...

613. Never Stop Praying

Ephesians 1:16

Children's Sermon

Objects: A prayer list (an index card with names written on it.) Some blank index cards for the children. Good morning, boys and girls. How many of you like your friends and family to remember you? (Let them answer.) Do you think that when you are not with your friends or some of your family they remember your name and think about the good times that you have had together? (Let them answer.) I want people to remember me. I want them to remember the gifts that I gave them or the places that we visited ...

614. Where Are the Lilies Now?

John 20:24-31

Sermon

Gary W. Houston

Two years ago our family was on vacation. We drove up into the countryside near Bedford, Indiana to a small white church named the Mundel Christian Church. This is the place where I was baptized as a youth. At this pilgrimage spot of mine are fond memories of pitch-in dinners and all-day meetings as my father once held the pulpit there. But what remains with me more than anything is the fact that so many of my family members are buried there behind the church. The graveyard is big because the church has ...

615. A Glory Revealed to Faith Alone

Numbers 21:4-9

Sermon

And the people became impatient on the way. And the people spoke against God and against Moses, saying, "Why did you bring us out of Egypt to kill us in the wilderness? There is neither bread nor water, and we’ve had it with this stupid manna."1 And the Lord sent deadly serpents among the people, and they began biting the people, and many of the sons of Israel died. And the people came to Moses and said to him, "We have sinned because we spoke against the Lord and against you. So now, pray to the Lord that ...

616. Success: Ultimate and Unlimited

Revelation 7:9-17

Sermon

Christian unity believes in immortality and the promise of heaven. The victorious stories of the saints in the early centuries of the church can hold anyone spellbound. The heroism and total commitment to the faith of their resurrected Lord have provided permanent images in the Body of Christ for all time. In a sense, they are very much our brothers and sisters in Christ, even at this moment. Their flesh and blood left an aroma which rose above all the crudities, bestialities, and horrors that animal-like ...

617. Mugwumps

Luke 6:1-11

Sermon

Mugwumps ... elusive ... unforgettable. An experience everyone should have at least once. As a TV ad might say, it’s something you’ll return to many times in your mind. But how do we know Mugwumps? What do they look like? Where do they live? How do they spend their leisure time? These are questions we could expect from someone like Sherlock Holmes if we asked him and friend Watson to track them down for us, so let’s work up a description. Mugwumps come in several shapes and sizes. They seem to thrive in ...

618. I ... Oh ... U

Luke 18:9-14

Sermon

It all started with Ol’ Zeke in some prehistoric dinosaur patch, foraging for food, having things pretty much his own way, and feeling a bit superior when his ape family relatives dropped in to visit on weekends. Then we are told mythically that the Lord God said, "It is not good that the man should be alone. I will make him a helper fit for him." And by whatever early beginning story you subscribe, the end-product was very much the same. Ol’ Zeke was no longer the only dude in the dinosaur patch, and man ...

619. The First Council

Acts 15:1-21

Sermon Aid

CSS

The elation among the Christians at Antioch lasted "no little time." We can only guess how long. But in the early church the storms and sunshine, the happy days and the dark days of controversy, the good times and the bad seemed to alternate in rapid succession. How quickly the ecstasy of the people at Lystra, in their zeal to make Paul and Barnabas into gods, changed into violence and threats! Now the same sudden storm comes to Antioch. Some men came down from Judea - from Jerusalem itself, in all ...

620. Shipwrecked on Malta

Acts 27:1-12, Acts 27:13-26, Acts 27:27-44

Sermon Aid

CSS

Festus was a good administrator. Once the decision had been made to send Paul to Rome, he acted quickly. Yet it was a peculiar transferral. Agrippa and Festus are reported to have concluded that Paul had done nothing that was likely to undermine the security of the Roman Empire or otherwise be of interest to the high courts at Rome. They must have attached some bill of complaint to the military orders under which Paul was transported, but its contents are not known. The official charges against Paul never ...

621. God Can’t Keep a Good Secret!

Ezekiel 37:1-14

Sermon

Barbara Brokhoff

The hand of the Lord was upon me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord, and he set me down in the midst of the valley; it was full of bones. And he led me round among them; and behold, there were very many upon the valley; and lo, they were very dry. And he said to me, "Son of man, can these bones live?" And I answered, "O Lord God, thou knowest." Again he said to me, "Prophesy to these bones, and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God to these bones: Behold ...

622. Echoes of Eternity

Matthew 10:24-32

Sermon

Dennis Kastens

"A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master; it is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household. "So have no fear of them; for nothing is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. What I tell you in the dark, utter in the light; and what you hear whispered, proclaim upon the housetops. And do not fear those who ...

623. Christian The King

Ezekiel 34:1-31

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

"And I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them and be their shepherd. And I, the Lord, will be their God, and my servant David shall be prince among them; I, the Lord, have spoken." "And he made us kings and priests unto God and his Father." (Revelation 1:6a [KJV]) A four-year-old boy was about to have a birthday. His mother told him he could have any kind of party he wanted. He asked for a party where everyone would be a king or queen. In preparation for his big day, ...

624. "It’s Time to Send Christmas Cards"

2 Samuel 7:1-17

Sermon

Peter Rudowski

By now I would suspect that all of us have received a good number of Christmas cards. They come with regularity in these last days before the great holidays. All of us have a traditional way of dealing with those Christmas cards. In our family we put the cards in a decorative bowl. The cards are there for us to go through whenever we want. There are other traditions as well. As I visit in your homes, I notice some of you tape your cards around doors in order to frame them. Others put cards on mantels. ...

625. A Week of Prayer for Christian Unity

Acts 9:1-19a

Sermon

George Bass

This week, falling as it does between two minor festivals - the Confession of St. Peter and the Conversion of St. Paul - might best be observed by a pilgrimage to one of the ancient "station" churches common to the liturgical heritage of Rome, the Church of St. Sebastian. It is located south of Rome on the Appian Way, not too far from where the Apostle Paul was supposed to have been beheaded, and it is situated over an ancient catacomb which bears Sebastian’s name. Tradition has it that both Peter and Paul ...

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