Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 651 to 675 of 1795 results

John 3:1-21

Sermon

Leonard H. Budd

... in linen cloths, according to the burial custom of the Jews." Yes, the record is there. Nicodemus was born again. It may be that you today are walking with Nicodemus, and you are standing within the shadowed doorway, seeking to move from what has been your style of living to a new plane of life. It may be that you are now ready to accept the invitation to a much more personal relationship to Jesus Christ. To be "born again" has sometimes been arrogantly used, as a badge of self-righteousness. But when ...

652. The Unclean Spirit

Mark 1:21-28

Drama

Dallas A. Brauninger

... Jesus, something has gone wrong inside me. It feels as if it were controlling me at its whim." Healed now, I feel like an entirely different person. Now I have hope. Interviewing The Unclean Spirit Asker: Bear with me on this one, unclean spirit. It is not my style to think about demons as entities, let alone to talk to them. I do not know exactly who you are or what has taken over the person in this miracle. You are negative. You are destructive. However, thanks to the teachings of this story, I know you ...

653. Proper 10

Mark 6:14-29, 2 Samuel 6:1-23, Ephesians 1:1-14

Sermon Aid

Russell F. Anderson

... 6-12a.) Old Testament: Amos 7:7-15 Epistle: Ephesians 1:1-14 This is the first installment in a series of eight readings from Ephesians. The church constitutes the main theme of this epistle. Some scholars question Paul's authorship because the style and vocabulary differ and there are no personal references. I accept William Barclay's suggestion that the epistle differs because it was written under different circumstances than most of Paul's other letters; the apostle was in prison in Rome. Therefore, he ...

654. Easter 6

John 15:18--16:4, Acts 10:23b-48, 1 John 5:1-12

Sermon Aid

Russell F. Anderson

... others. In the end a crisis reconciles them. During the crisis one of the friends makes a comment to the effect: "I know one thing. I need friends." We all need friends. Yet I fear that most of us are enjoying fewer friendships. Our mobility, our style of life, our mistrust of others hinders close friendship ties. As Christians, no matter what happens to us in life, we all have at least one friend. Jesus makes the unbelievable statement: "I do not call you servants any longer.but I have called you friends ...

655. Proper 5

2 Corinthians 4:1-18, 1 Samuel 8:1-22, Mark 3:31-35, Mark 3:20-30

Sermon Aid

Russell F. Anderson

... what you pray for -- God might grant it. 5. Always seek God's will in your prayers. Sermon Title: The Changing Face Of Leadership. Sermon Angle: The request of the elders for a king came out of a realization that different times call for a different style of leadership. The Israelites were no longer a nomadic people. They were getting settled in the land and they recognized that a different kind of leadership was needed for a new day. For instance, they may have seen that they needed a more centralized form ...

656. Praise The Lord!

Psalm 148:13

Illustration

John E. Sumwalt

... . But this year the Board faced a potentially embarrassing dilemma. In the two years since the last retreat, Mae Ella Grant had joined the church. Now, Bethlehem Community Church was known for its classic, high-church liturgy. The pastor's preaching style tended to attract the intellectual, professional members of the community. The organist and music director had both taught music at a local private college for years. They had attracted many professional singers and musicians to the sixty-voice choir and ...

657. Fourth Sunday In Advent - Joy!

Luke 1:46-56, Luke 1:39-45

Bulletin Aid

David M. Oliver

... from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly." How would people characterize you? Are you the type of person who is most comfortable exercising power? Or are you willing to be a servant leader? Where is it that you need to give some consideration for change in your style of living in order that a greater measure of authentic joy might be yours? We find in verse 53, "He has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty." Many of us have the attitude that we need to take care of ourselves ...

658. The Resurrection

John 20:10-18, John 20:1-9

Drama

Jerry Eckert

... Emmaus Church in Milwaukee. There were no signs that my dramatized story sermons would work. While there were many wonderful people, there seemed little interest in doing creative things on Sunday mornings. My preaching routine was mostly thematic, occasionally going to the lectionary. My style is conversational but the pulpit was high and to one side in the front. It looked like a battlement hanging out over the slanting floor. There were seldom enough to even half fill the pews so I sat on a stool out in ...

659. The Disciples' Tenebrae

Mark 12:13-17

Sermon

Jerry Eckert

... to the former pastor, Rev. Owen Miller, who generously sent what he had done. The concept was to say something about each disciple and extinguish a candle to bring about the tenebrae "shadows." I liked Owen's idea very much but wanted to do it more in narrative style. He was a pastor who wore a clerical collar much of the time. I didn't even wear a robe in the pulpit. The following is the text we used, not only that year, but each year I was Emmanuel's pastor. The best part was involving different people ...

660. Number One Mother

Genesis 2:4-25

Drama

Dr. Raymond Bailey

... have anything to say. As time went on, however, I realized she was not so much sharing content -- that is, information, with me as she was just attempting to relate. She was that way. Gender communication research in your time indicates that that's the usual style of womankind. She was very sociable. Some of what she said was based on her "woman's intuition" -- rather than facts and logic. She was a rather intuitive person. She, however, also thought I was stupid, at times, because I didn't have much to say ...

661. Poolside Blessing: Monologue of a Paralytic

John 5:2-16

Drama

Dr. Raymond Bailey

Theme: We sometimes follow routines that are a substitute for a living. Instead of having a life of our own, we give up and become passive. In fact, that passivity can be a deceptive and manipulative style of control. Jesus' question to the paralytic by the pool was, "Do you want to be healed?" Do you want to get a life, or is life as you now live it a means of avoidance and control that you find too comfortable to give up? Setting for the Sermon ...

662. Remembering The Saints

Matthew 5:1-12

Sermon

Larry R. Kalajainen

... illegitimate demands upon them. And so, to these Christians who were living through a time of great ordeal, John, one of their pastors who had been exiled to a penal colony in the Aegean Sea, wrote this visionary letter to them. By adopting this visionary style of literature, he invites them to use their imaginations to glimpse a different reality above and beyond the grim time of testing which confronts them on an almost daily basis. He lets them see what's really going on, if only they could eavesdrop on ...

663. Of Thimbles And Thread

Ecclesiastes 3:1-22

Eulogy

Lawrence H. Craig

... those of a homemaker. ____________ wasn't one for buying cloth, cutting out patterns, or creating clothing to wear. Instead, she was one who took clothing that was already sewn. Clothing that needed to be changed when the sizes and styles in people's lives changed. Simply put, ____________ altered fashions, which didn't fit. ____________ repaired articles and items that were torn and tattered, thus giving them new life. Removing the stitching, she took clothing apart. Snipping and clipping its material ...

664. Praying To Win

John 14:5-14

Illustration

John E. Sumwalt

... on some of those teams in the late 1960s when Steve Waterman was our coach. Steve encouraged us to give our best for the school and the team, but he also made it very clear that church, family and relationships with friends came first. His supportive style of coaching and his caring personality fostered a team spirit that, for many of us, resulted in great individual achievements. We knew that he cared about us more than he cared about winning, and that made all the difference. There were many of us in ...

665. The Infinite Becomes An Infant

Matthew 1:18-25

Sermon Aid

John R. Brokhoff

... Dr. Al Lindgren of Garrett Seminary tells of taking his junior high school son fishing. While waiting for the fish to bite, they got to talking. The son asked, "Dad, what was the toughest thing God ever tried to do?" His father answered with a question, teacher style! His father asked, "What do you think was the toughest job God tried to do?" The son replied, "In science class, I thought that creation was God's toughest job. Later in Sunday School we were talking about miracles and I thought that maybe the ...

666. A Seeking Savior

Luke 10:1-24

Sermon

W. Robert McClelland

... were on everyone's mind as they conversed in the market place. Those days when Jewish zealots (that is, terrorists) were plotting the overthrow of the government and hijacking caravans. Those days when life was cheap and public executions - crucifixion-style - were hardly noticed. In those days when the lame and the blind had resigned themselves to their careers of begging, like blind Bartimaeus sitting beside the dusty road going up from Jericho to Jerusalem; when tax collectors like Matthew and Zacchaeus ...

667. Taking Life Seriously

Luke 16:19-31

Sermon

W. Robert McClelland

... landing, something on the order of a controlled crash, I commented ruefully to my instructor, "That was a terrible landing." His reply contained the wisdom of the ages. "It's a good landing if you can walk away from it." God is not interested in the style of our landings. Onlookers may cluck and comment and roll their eyes. But not God. When we stand before our Creator to render an accounting of our lives, God's concern will not be with our sins and shortcomings. They are foregone conclusions. They are ...

668. Liking the New and Improving the Old

Isaiah 43:14-28

Sermon

Barbara Brokhoff

... , a new iron, a new razor, a new hair dryer, or whatever, than to have it repaired. Besides, new is shinier, is maybe more trouble-free, is more popular, smells good, feels good, tastes good and is usually more attractive. We love new homes, new cards, new jobs, new styles, new foods, new clothes, new cosmetics, new diets, new lovers - if it's new, it gets our attention. And if a product is one that we've been using, and we are contented with it, we are all the happier if we see it advertised as "new and ...

669. Epiphany 2

John 2:1-11, Isaiah 62:1-12, 1 Corinthians 12:1-11

Sermon Aid

John R. Brokhoff

... - v. 5 B. Sound like nonsense - "Fill the jars with water - v. 7 C. Result in success - "the good wine" - v. 10. 5. Would You Invite Jesus? (2:2). Not everyone would invite Jesus. He may make us uncomfortable and feel guilty. Would he cramp our style? Be offended at our language? Approve our antics? The couple of Cana wanted Jesus to be at their wedding. Jesus and his disciples were invited. Would you invite Jesus: A. Into your family - courtship, marriage? B. Into your work? C. Into your personal life? 6 ...

670. Friendship Arms or Cold Shoulders

Mark 6:1-6

Sermon

James Weekley

... pranks. Perhaps they didn't want to forget. Then he comes on with this open arms I'm-here-to-be-your-friend policy. "Life's just not that way," they were thinking. "The Romans and the Pharisees have seen to that." Still Jesus, in his warm and personable style, would not let up. Time was always too short. Jesus would continue to come across as a caring human being in spite of sister sour and brother gloom's I-told-you-it-won't-work mentality. For most of us it comes across a shade presumptuous for Jesus ...

671. Who Short-Circuited the Good News?

Mark 6:7-13

Sermon

James Weekley

... thinking, your loving, your working, simply the total "you" in these days? Philip's entire being had been transformed by the renewing grace of the Galilean sunrise, a spiritual emergence that would never set. The presence of the Christ simply overshadowed the cadence of his life-style. Do we believe that his words of life can still bring the world to its knees and confess him as Lord? Surely, they are not the words from Lincoln's Gettyburg Address which number only 266. They are not the words of the Bill of ...

672. Keeping God First in the Polls

John 3:1-21

Sermon

James Weekley

... of the Spirit, he discovered the truth about Truth. The question also resounds in our mind's ear. What is this rare commodity which generally falls between the cracks of culture? Does the discovery of Nicodemus hold water for us today? Does this Jesus-styled truth out it amid the knowledge crisis of our time? Actually, is there any other option available? Poetically, Fredrick B. Speakman writes, Lilies don't argue, they bloom. Springtime doesn't argue; it comes. Music doesn't argue; it sings. Beauty doesn't ...

673. Even God Called Time Out

Mark 2:23-3:6

Sermon

James Weekley

... , then which fewer ones will make a difference? His Word for this day points to a definite alternative. It proposes several truths which can address our moral confusion. It focuses on one who faced an identical problem. Jesus ran head-on into the pretzel-styled laws of Judaism. In an effort to regulate every minute kind of moral behavior, the Jewish mind was programmed. The law did the thinking for you. Simply match "X" with "Y" and you have your answer ... neat ... packaged ... simple. PROBLEM: What if a ...

674. Pie in The Sky

Acts 1:1-11

Sermon

Erskine White

... to Egypt, Moses; take us back to the 'good old days' " (cf. Exodus 16:1-3). In ancient Israel as in modern America, nations periodically enter a phase of longing for "the good old days." Old movies and old music and "old time religion" come back in style; a wave of nostalgia sets in. A conservative climate takes over the nation's politics and tries to turn back the clock, back to the days when businesses had no regulations and workers had no unions, when we could throw our weight around in the world and ...

675. You Are There

Mark 1:21-28

Children's Sermon

... the people involved. The focus is not only on the facts of the story, but on the feelings of the characters and on seeing the story from different points of view. The children may not have had practice in acting in an ad lib style, so practice in exploring feelings and lots of suggestions from the teacher will probably be necessary depending on the ages of the children. Parents: When you watch news reports with your children, discuss how news is gathered, accuracy, sources, and peoples' feelings that are ...

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