Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 651 to 675 of 2157 results

Sermon

Charles R. Leary

... a day to Reflect. - Sunday is a day to Rejoice. - Sunday is a day to Role Search, to seek and scan your role or roles in God’s wonderful creation. First, I need to say what the Sabbath Commandment is not. The Sabbath Commandment is not an old version of the Blue Laws. Here are some of the Sunday laws our ancestors in this country endured. In Massachusetts in 1630 a man was publicly whipped for shooting a fowl on Sunday. A sea captain was put in the stoc_esermonsks for kissing his wife on the doorstep as ...

652. An Untouchable God?

1 Samuel 6:1-7:1

Sermon

Robert Noblett

... reading or litany cannot be an expression of joy and praise; they are intended to be infinitely more than liturgical droanings through which one must pass in order to get to the meat which is the sermon. The Good News Bible (Today’s English Version) is full of little pencil sketches that help capture the moods and insights of the Bible. Check out, sometime, the sketch that is attendant to this drama from the sixth chapter of 2 Samuel. It very clearly and delightfully depicts what it means for God ...

653. When Something Is About To Happen

Mark 13:32-37

Sermon

Thomas Long

... of Pentecost could have happened, even in our Sunday service. "I get the feeling here, like nowhere else, that something is about to happen." Come, Lord Jesus. And it was the Lord, himself, who said, "What I say to you I say to all. Watch" (Mark 13:37). 1. A version of this story appears in Annie Dillard, Teaching a Stone to Talk, (New York: Harper and Row, 1982), p. 41.

654. What Do You Mean, "Repent"?

Mark 1:1-8

Sermon

Thomas Long

... a new hand, but only make a few discards and rearrange the cards we have. We adjust, but do not fundamentally change. This is not the kind of repentance preached by John the Baptist. There are others for whom repentance is a larger, more profound, and more theological version of a New Year's resolution. The old year passes to the new, and we feel the extra inches around our waists, or taste the bitter nicotine on our tongues, or think of the hurtful and spiteful things we have said to one near to us, and we ...

655. Where's The Treasure?

Luke 1:5-25, Luke 1:26-38

Sermon

Thomas Long

... right person to keep the treasure. In the mind of a child, the stakes were high: your whole treasure risked on something as fragile as the trustworthiness of another human being. Now, one way to read the first chapter of the Gospel of Luke is a divine version of "Where Would You Leave the Treasure?" God was searching for some place in human life to leave the treasure. In God's case, the treasure was not gold, but the gospel. The treasure was not silver, but news ... good news. Not cold, hard cash, but the ...

656. Shepherds And Bathrobes

Luke 2:8-20

Sermon

Thomas Long

... kicking a soccer ball across the front yard, will stand on a hillside of indoor-outdoor carpet, guarding cardboard and cotton-ball sheep with makeshift staffs, their terry-cloth bathrobes almost, but not quite, hiding their worn Adidas sneakers. Suddenly a gauzily angelic version of the little girl from next door will burst onto the scene, lisping the good news through the gap where her next tooth will eventually grow. Other angels will soon join her, their foil-wrapped wings bouncing wildly to the beat of ...

657. A Service Of Light

John 1:1-18

Bulletin Aid

J. B. Quisenberry

... best played by sixth graders, as they are required to hold their places longer than the others. The readers may be junior high or high school age or adults. The King James translation of the Christmas story has been used; that is the most traditional and universal version. The only set required is a manger set up in the front of the sanctuary. The costumes may be authentic clothing or simple bathrobes. The anthem may be sung either by an adult or a children's choir. The foreign language hymns may be sung by ...

658. Mary: After The Angel

Drama

Arlys M. Winkler

... different tablecloths would signal a change of location). Programs could provide scene changes as well. Simple wooden tables and stools and costuming of the period are all that is needed. All scripture quotes are from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible. CharactersMary AnneJoseph JoachimDeborah ElizabethJudith Narrator 1Esther Narrator 2 Special Instructions For Scene IV The "moonlight" could be a spotlight or something as simple as a flashlight or candle. Mary: After The Angel NARRATOR 1: "In the ...

659. Maundy Thursday/Holy Thursday

John 13:1-17, Exodus 12:1-30, 1 Corinthians 11:17-34, John 13:31-38

Sermon Aid

Russell F. Anderson

... about profaning the Lord's Supper (v. 27) has been widely misunderstood. Discerning the Lord's body has to do with recognizing the Lord's presence in the more humble and lowly members of the church. Gospel: John 13:1-17, 31b-35 John's version of the Last Supper. The Words of Institution are not cited by the fourth gospel. Rather, John uses it as a springboard for Jesus washing his disciple's feet. The footwashing becomes a living parable which teaches humility. It illustrates the hymn to Christ's humility ...

660. Christmas Eve

Lk 2:1-20 · Isa 9:2-7 · Tit 2:11-14 · Ps 96

Sermon Aid

Russell F. Anderson

... to be afraid to take Mary as his wife, even though she was pregnant. When Jesus was actually born, an angel announced the good news to shepherds, according to Luke, who were soon joined by a chorus of the heavenly host, singing praises to God. In Matthew's version of the nativity, an angel warns Joseph to take Mary and the child and flee to Egypt, to escape the wrath of King Herod. After the king died, an angel told Joseph that it was safe to return home. Yes, Christmas is a story of close encounters with ...

661. Ash Wednesday

Joel 2:1-2, 12-17, Matthew 6:1-4, Matthew 6:16-18, 2 Corinthians 5:11--6:2

Bulletin Aid

Russell F. Anderson

... the Bible, he was looking for an English word to translate the Greek katallage as well as the Latin word reconciliation. He came up with the word atonement (at-one-ment), which he used in Romans 5:11. The King James Version followed Tyndale's lead but later translations reverted to reconciliation, probably to avoid confusion with the various theories of the atonement. The concept of reconciliation for the Old Testament and the New start from opposite points. The Jews believed that all unintentional ...

662. Epiphany 3

Mark 1:14-20, Jonah 3:1-10, Jeremiah 3:6-4:4, 1 Corinthians 7:1-40

Sermon Aid

Russell F. Anderson

... have little meaning. Paul's advice still hits the bull's-eye: don't get too attached to the things of this world, even the good things. Adopt the values of the coming kingdom which are eternal. Gospel: Mark 1:14-20 The appointed time. The RSV version contains this phrase in the first verse of our Second Lesson, 1 Corinthians 7:29. I like that imagery because it speaks of a special time for a special event. When John the Baptist was arrested, Jesus realized that the appointed time for him had arrived. He ...

663. The Good, The Bad, And The Justified

Luke 18:9-14

Sermon

Larry R. Kalajainen

... isn't. In fact, the Pharisees enjoyed great respect among the people of Israel because of the high standards of their morality, their ethics, and their piety. Nor is there any suggestion that the tax collector was really a good guy at heart -- something akin to the Hollywood version of the prostitute with the heart of gold or the thief who robs only from the rich in order to give to the poor. The tax collector was very likely every bit as bad as his reputation made him out to be. If he hadn't been crooked ...

664. Out On A Limb

Luke 19:1-10

Sermon

Larry R. Kalajainen

... we never saw ourselves in before. We see that we are as unworthy and sinful as we admit in the privacy of our own hearts, and that we may become better and more useful than we hardly dared to dream. I am not offering a psychologizing version of personal transformation here. This encounter with the living Christ which calls forth from us qualities of character and behavior we never knew or allowed, but perhaps always hoped, we had, is nothing less than a miracle of grace. It is, in fact, what salvation is ...

665. A New Command

John 13:31-38

Sermon

Lee Griess

... Pan first premiered on the London stage in 1904, author Sir James Barrie began to hear complaints from parents who were upset with his play. They even got together and petitioned him to make a change in the script. It seems that in the original version, Peter Pan told the Darling children that if they simply believed strongly enough, they could fly. And apparently there were children who had seen that play who tried to do just that, who took Peter Pan literally at his word, and hurt themselves attempting to ...

666. Number One Mother

Genesis 2:4-25

Drama

Dr. Raymond Bailey

... I'd share with you some of my perceptions about the very first mother on this "Mother's Day. " About a century ago, Mark Twain, I'm sure with his tongue in his cheek, claimed he found, and translated from hieroglyphics, our diaries. You may find his version in books of Twain's short stories, very simply called The Diaries of Adam and Eve. So as I could talk to you today about it, I read the biblical book of Genesis. I also read these diaries. They refreshed my memory. Perhaps you find that strange, since ...

667. The Politics Of The Saints

Luke 6:17-26

Sermon

Larry R. Kalajainen

... the word holy doesn't mean especially pious or religious or heroic. The word holy means "set apart." It means "called out from." It means "distinctive." We are God's distinctive people. We are God's called out ones. Or as the older English versions translated it, "God's peculiar people." Well, it is pretty peculiar to practice the politics of Jesus -- to return good for evil, blessing for curse, generosity for selfishness, liberality for greed, mercy for ruthlessness. The words of the song that many of us ...

668. Remembering The Saints

Matthew 5:1-12

Sermon

Larry R. Kalajainen

... to make sure he was able to hold the empire together, large and unwieldy as it was, he instituted a kind of pledge of allegiance, similar in intent to our own pledge of allegiance to the flag, but with more serious repercussions. In Domitian's version, however, subject people as well as Roman citizens were required to offer, once a year in one of the temples of the state religion, a sacrifice to the divine genius of the emperor. Failure to do so constituted treason, and was punishable by imprisonment, exile ...

669. Wedding Sermon: The First Marriage

Genesis 2:4-25

Sermon

James McKarns

... the first time and shouted in joy that he had found someone similar to himself. She too had been feeling lonely and they ran to meet each other and embraced. Then both felt very happy and complete. They were no longer strangers in paradise. That's one version of the story we read in Genesis -- the oldest book of the Bible. The Bible points out this was all arranged according to God's own personal plan. Until this meeting took place, creation was not complete and God was still at work. Now the divine plan ...

670. When The Heart Is Right Before God

Acts 8:9-25

Sermon Aid

Clement E. Lewis

... you. For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and the chains of wickedness." Simon answered, "Pray for me to the Lord, that nothing of what you have said may happen to me." Sermon: "When The Heart Is Right Before God" In the Revised Standard Version, the notation is made that Psalm 51 is a prayer offered by David after Nathan the prophet had rebuked him for his illicit relationship with Bathsheba. David also caused the death of Uriah whom he ordered put in the front lines of battle. He knew that his ...

671. Take Up Your Cross And Follow Me

Matthew 16:21-28

Sermon Aid

Clement E. Lewis

... them deny themselves, and take up their cross daily, and follow me." (Luke 9:23) "Whoever does not take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me." (Matthew 10:38) Older persons are likely to best remember Matthew 16:24 as found in the King James Version: "For what is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" Certainly, Jesus challenged people to discipleship, when he said, "Take up your cross and follow me." He did not ...

672. Prayer for the Baptism of the Lord

Mark 1:9-13, Mark 1:1-8

Bulletin Aid

Dennis Koch

Gospel Note Unlike the description of Jesus' baptism delivered by Matthew and Luke, Mark's earlier version describes the opening of the heavens, the descent of the Spirit, and the voice of God as a private, inner experience of Jesus alone, rather than a public event observable by the baptizer or onlookers. Liturgical Color White Suggested Hymns From God The Father, Virgin Born The Only Son From ...

673. Epiphany 3

Mark 1:14-20

Bulletin Aid

Dennis Koch

Gospel Note Mark's version of how Peter and Andrew became Jesus' disciples implies that a positive response to the Gospel of the Kingdom, and its demand for repentance and belief, will necessitate a radical break with one's past (pre)occupations and a reorientation of one's life in light of a new profession ( ...

674. Lent 1

Mark 1:9-15

Bulletin Aid

Dennis Koch

Gospel Note Of particular interest in Mark's very succinct version of Jesus' desert temptation is the literary "hinge" between it and the divine pronouncement of Sonship at Jesus' baptism that precedes it; for the idea that one blessed with heavenly approval might be "driven" at once by God's Spirit into a wilderness (or desert) inhabited by a tempting Satan ...

675. Old Temple, New Body

John 2:12-25

Sermon Aid

Dennis Koch

Gospel Note: John's version of the cleansing of the temple is distinctive in many details, but most especially in its theological perspective. Here the cleansing is most clearly (1) a critique of the old temple and its cultic practice (specifically sacrifice), (2) a reference to the temple's destruction, and (3) a suggestion of ...

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