Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 51 to 75 of 1044 results

51. In the Darkness of Suspicion, There Is the Light of Devotion

Matthew 2:1-12

Sermon

Thomas A. Pilgrim

It was a few days after Christmas. A mother was busy cleaning up the den, putting everything away, taking the Christmas tree down. Her son came in and saw her and said, “Mama, what are you doing?” She said, “I’m putting all our Christmas stuff away.” He asked in reply, “Why are you doing that?” She answered, “So everything will be back to normal again.” His response to that was, “Mama, I don’t want things to get back to normal again.” On this second Sunday after Christmas, we have the thought in our minds ...

52. Luke 4:14-21

Luke 4:14-21

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

This is Luke's version of the opening moments of Jesus' public ministry. Having successfully weathered the long days in the wilderness and the scandalous temptations offered by the devil, Jesus turns his face and feet towards his homeland. He "returned to Galilee." The Messiah, however, is the same Jesus who had been raised there as a craftsman's son. Luke stresses how the returning Jesus is "filled with the power of the Spirit," a "power" most often linked to apostolic witnesses. By mentioning its ...

53. Overcoming Obstacles - Together

Luke 2:1-7, Psalm 107:1-9

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

There was a businessman who had five kids, his wife stayed home to care the kids. And it never failed, he'd come home from work and Mom, needing the care and advice of another adult, would begin to tell him all the things that went wrong during the day. And which of the kids needed further disciplining from Dad. One day the stress of work got to Dad, as Mom regaled him with the various trouble HIS children had gotten into and he lost it. "Honey, just once, just once couldn't you greet me at the door with ...

54. How, Then, Shall We Live?

1 Thessalonians 5:1-11

Sermon

Mary S. Lautensleger

I saw on America's Funniest Videos recently a little girl, about five or six years old, in a soft, sweet voice telling her mother how pretty she is. With childlike innocence, she follows the compliment in the same soothing voice by adding, "but you're fat." The mother looks a little surprised and hurt at that remark. The little girl reads her mother's body language and quickly qualifies the remark by saying, "But you're not too fat." Our children in their honesty do have a way of setting us straight, don't ...

55. Integrity: Words with Meaning

2 Corinthians 1:18-22

Sermon

Scott Suskovic

Integrity means that your words have meaning. Paul writes, "... am I like people of the world who say yes when they really mean no? As surely as God is true, I am not that sort of person. My yes means yes" (2 Corinthians 1:17-18b NLT). That is extremely important today because more and more we are surrounded by meaningless words. You can't turn on the radio without an announcer yelling at you that there has never been a better time to buy a car. Infomercials have products that if you act now, they will ...

56. The Word According to Superman

Genesis 15:1-18

Sermon

King Duncan

(Growing Strong in the Season of Lent, Lent 2) There is an absurd story that comes out of World War II. An American soldier in Tunisia lost his bayonet. Rather than face the consequences of admitting he had lost this important weapon, he carved an excellent facsimile out of wood and placed it in the scabbard at his side. For weeks he went about his duties carrying this fake bayonet. He was safe from getting into trouble as long as his deception went undetected. However, one day the much dreaded order came ...

57. Daniel’s Final Revelation

Daniel 10:1--11:1

Teach the Text

Ronald W. Pierce

Big Idea: God reveals the essential, though sometimes overwhelming, reality of spiritual warfare behind his purpose and plan for humanity. Understanding the Text The literary unit of Daniel 10–12 is woven into the book’s structure in several ways. First, it is the last of Daniel’s four apocalyptic visions: chapters 7 and 8 in “symbolic” form, and chapters 9 and 10–12 in “appearance” form (see “Table 1: Appearance Visions of Daniel 9 and 10–12” in the unit on 9:1–6). Second, it concludes the concentric ...

58. The Three Bs

Luke 3:1-22, Psalm 29

Sermon

Susan R. Andrews

Barbara Brown Taylor tells a story about her grandmother Lucy. Lucy would often get strange looks from others. She had lost both her legs to diabetes and had wooden stumps where limbs should be. Her weak eyes demanded that she wear dark glasses and most of the time she dressed like a bomber pilot. But to her granddaughters, Lucy was wonderful. Whenever Barbara would visit her grandmother, grace would abound. In the closet would be wrapped packages — enough for a surprise each day of the visit. The meals ...

59. Same Ol’, Same Ol’

Matthew 2:13-18

Sermon

Dean Feldmeyer

Herod I or Herod the Great was born in 73 BCE, the son of Antipater the Idumaean, a high ranking court official. Through a series of intrigues and coups more complex than we have time to unravel, here, he was declared King of Judea by the Roman Senate in 37 BCE. He would rule as “King of the Jews” for about thirty years until his death in 4 BCE. Historically, he is remembered mostly for his building projects. In 20 BCE he undertook the rebuilding of the Jerusalem temple which had fallen into disrepair from ...

60. Going and Doing

Matthew 25:31-46

Sermon

Steve Molin

Today is the end of the church year. The school year ends in June, and the calendar year ends on December 31, but the church year ends always on a Sunday in late November, and the new church year begins with the season of Advent. Next week, I’ll begin a sermon series called START HERE; appropriate for a new year, with a blank canvas standing before us. But as we today focus on the Reign of Christ, it also seemed like a good time to give you a prologue of where it all started. That’s what the START HERE ...

61. God Does The Unexpected

Luke 1:26-38

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

The title of the book is simply KARSH. If you've ever seen it, you may remember it by the eye-catching cover picture of Sophia Loren wearing a large red hat. But you probably remember more than that, because Yousuf Karsh is recognized as the premier portrait photographer of our time -- and the book that bears his name is a collection of famous faces. There are 185 of them from Franklin Roosevelt to Ronald Reagan, from Pope John the 23rd to Andy Warhol, from Betty Davis to Helen Keller. There's one portrait ...

62. Out of Control (Good Friday sermon)

John 18:1-19:42

Sermon

John Jamison

[Note to the preacher: As I write this message, my vision is that it is something more than just another sermon. It is written in four sections, each one presenting a step in the story of the events of that Friday. My personal presentation of this message would be in one of two ways, depending on the experience I am wanting to create. Option 1 would be to use this as the format for the entire Good Friday service, with each section of the story separated with music, liturgy, or any other activity desired. ...

63. A Life Above All Others

John 12:20-36

Sermon

King Duncan

It was a once in a lifetime vacation trip for Robert Daley. He and his wife were driving through parts of Europe. While in France they stopped in the village of Colombey. The little town of about 350 people has gray stone homes lining the street with a gray stone church in the center. The town itself is indistinguishable from many other French villages. Something in the village caught the Daley's attention that day, however. They noticed the church cemetery was filled with people. It was so crowded that ...

64. Poor Mary

Luke 1:39-45

Sermon

Mark Trotter

The scene in the Gospel lesson this morning is called, "The Visitation." It's about two women, cousins. They have something in common. They are both going to have babies, and both, miraculously. Elizabeth is too old, and Mary is so young, she is a virgin, betrothed, but not married. What does this mean? Mary comes to Elizabeth's house in the Judean hills. It sounds upscale, doesn't it, the "Judean Hills." Elizabeth is the city cousin. She is sophisticated, from a patrician family. Her folk are the Aarons. ...

65. Mary of Bethany and Jesus’ Mother

Drama

Jon Joyce

Setting Imagination - in the actresses and in the audience - is the only requirement for a setting for this drama. The scene is Jerusalem, a city crowded with pilgrims attending the Festival, not far from the Temple, which is the center of Festival activity. A bench or two shall be provided, stage left, for the women to sit upon during part of their conversation. You may wish to use extras to show the audience there is a crowd in the city, although the dialogue will tell them that. If you do use extras, ...

66. Why I Believe In Tithing

Malachi 3:6-18

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

Let’s pray together. Come Holy Spirit, Heavenly dove, with all your quickening powers. Come shed abroad a Savior’s love, and that will quicken ours. I believe that preaching is not so much the preparing and the delivering of sermons, as it is the preparing and the delivering of oneself. I hope you know by now that there is nothing I take more seriously than my call to preach. And there is nothing I invest more time, energy, and spirit power in than the task of preaching from Sunday to Sunday. When I ...

67. God Shaves With A Borrowed Razor

Isaiah 7:1-25

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

For weeks before Columbus discovered the new world, some members of his crew kept telling him, "Turn back before we run out of food and perish! Turn back before we are attacked by sea monsters! Turn back before we sail off the edge of the earth!" There was a name for those people -- we would call them today "Consultants." Now, obviously, I am in for making a little fun as we begin today -- but all for a purpose. I hope you will see it. Recently I came across a report of a Consultant. The title of the ...

68. Encounters With Christ II: Jesus and Mary and Martha

Luke 10:38-42

Sermon

James W. Moore

Some years ago, The Archbishop of Canterbury was rushing to catch a train in London. In his haste, he accidentally jumped on the wrong passenger car and found himself on a car full of inmates from a mental hospital. They were all dressed in mental hospital clothing. Just as the train pulled out of the station, an orderly came in and began to count the inmates, “1-2-3-4…”… when suddenly he saw this distinguished looking gentleman there wearing a business suit and a clerical collar and he said: “Who are you ...

69. What Jesus Saw In Martha

Luke 10:38-42

Sermon

James W. Moore

70. Going Hard against the Grain

Matthew 5:33-37

Sermon

Phil Thrailkill

Perhaps you have heard the story of the star-thrower, first published by Loren Eiseley in his 1969 book The Unexpected Universe. He tells of walking along a beach "littered with the debris of life.... Along the strip of wet sand that marks the ebbing and flowing of the tide, death walks hugely and in many forms. In the end the sea rejects its offspring. They cannot fight their way home through the surf which casts them repeatedly back upon the shore. The tiny breathing spores of starfish are stuffed with ...

71. The Lost and Found Celebration

Luke 15:15-24

Sermon

James W. Moore

There is a fascinating story that comes out of World War II. U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt, Great Britain’s Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, and Soviet Union Premier, Joseph Stalin, met together in The Teheran Conference to shape a common policy to work together to win the war. The discussion went well and the three great nations for the most part reached cordial agreement on their strategy to end the war and to create a lasting peace. However, there was one point that Roosevelt and Churchill could ...

72. Job's Second Reply to Zophar

Job 21:1-34

Understanding Series

Gerald H. Wilson

The Inexplicable Prosperity of the Wicked In chapter 21, Job responds to Zophar’s accusations by thoroughly deconstructing the foundation on which they rest. Zophar has claimed that the wicked perish both in an ultimate sense and in their relentless quest for that which does not satisfy—the gnawing greed that consumes the wicked from the inside out. Job assesses Zophar’s claims as so much “nonsense” and “falsehood” (v. 34) when held up to the mirror of real life as Job both knows and describes it. Far from ...

73. A Living Memorial

Exodus 12:1-30

Sermon

Douglas J. Deuel

Maundy Thursday can and should be one of the most meaningful days on the Christian calendar. It brings us face-to-face with the heart of the matter -- our sin, the estrangement from God it causes, and the cost of reconciliation. For much of the year, even faithful and good Christians can avoid facing the painful reality of sin in our lives and our need for a dramatic remedy for that sin. On this special day, we see clearly the pain and agony of what Christ faced. The suffering of Christ was essential ...

74. How Does One Prepare For The Unknown?

Matthew 25:1-13

Sermon

George Johnson

What is one of the most foolish things you have ever done? Pay good money for a suit or dress that you never wore? Buy a car that turned out to be a lemon? Invest your savings based on good advice, but end up losing it all? Have an affair that you thought would be brief and secret, but turned out to bring havoc on everything? But who likes to be reminded of one's foolishness? What is one of the wisest things you have ever done? Saying "yes" to the one you married, or "no" to the one you almost married? Was ...

75. Act III, Scene 2

John 21:1-14

Sermon

John M. Braaten

Each year we in the church are involved in a great drama. Although the script is ancient, thousands of years old, its message is as new as today and as hopeful as tomorrow. It has been played out on countless stages throughout the world, and the story is so incredible that in spite of its constant retelling, it never grows stale, is never irrelevant. It is always fresh, always worth hearing and it always brings healing and strength. Act I, Scene 1 of this churchwide drama began with the season of Advent as ...

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