Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 51 to 75 of 1795 results

Luke 13:1-9

Sermon

Wayne Brouwer

The youth pastor at one of my former congregations had a cartoon taped to his office door. It pictured a little guy standing, trembling, in front of a massive desk behind which was sitting a big, big man. The little guy wore torn jeans and a T-shirt, and had a leather loop around his neck holding a cross in front of his chest. His hair was messy and his toes peeked out the front of his sandals. A stick-on name patch read, “Hi! I’m Mike! I’m the Youth Pastor.” On the dark and imposing desk was a bronze ...

52. Reward

Matthew 6:1-4, Matthew 6:5-15, Matthew 6:16-18, Matthew 6:19-24

Drama

Pamela Urfer

Cast: Two people, Sarah and Simon Length: 5 minutes Simon and Sarah are seated on their stools. Sarah: (Pointing out over the heads of the audience) Look, Simon! There goes the Head Pharisee with his entourage. Isn't he a wonderful man? Simon: He certainly is, Sarah! I must admit I really admire him. Sarah: He gives so much of his money to the poor. Simon: Yes. I don't think there's a more generous man in the whole town. Sarah: Listen! His servants are blowing the horn. Simon: Calling the beggars to the ...

53. Scandal

Luke 22:14-23:56

Sermon

Wayne Brouwer

While Don Richardson was a student at Prairie Bible Institute in the 1950s, his heart burned in anticipation of bringing the good news about Jesus to an unreached tribe. He and Carol found their prayers answered in 1962 as they sailed out of Vancouver harbor toward Netherlands New Guinea. Before long, they were deposited by a missionary plane among the Sawi people, a group of tribes living in the trees of the interior rain forest. The jungle floor was too damp for permanent dwellings, so the Sawi helped ...

54. Last Things First

Matthew 24:36-44

Sermon

Frank Ramirez

I was given my first library card for the grown-up section of the Azusa (California) Public Library when I was in the fourth grade. It was a special moment. I felt like I’d read everything in the kids half of the library and I chafed to read new books. Holding my card out like a passport, I walked tentatively into the grownup section fearful I would be challenged, but I had my card in hand, just in case. But the doors opened. I entered. A new world beckoned. The first book I checked out that day was the ...

55. Faces at a Funeral

John 18:1-19:42

Sermon

Wayne Brouwer

During the nineteenth century, all Oxford graduates were required to translate a portion of the Greek New Testament aloud. Oscar Wilde was assigned this passage from the passion story of Jesus. His translation was fluent and accurate. Satisfied with his skill, the examiners told him he could stop. But he ignored them and continued to translate. Several times more they tried to call a halt to his reading. Finally he looked up and said, “Oh, do let me go on! I want to see how it ends!” We need to read this ...

56. Going Home ― Part Two: Then And Now

Luke 4:21-30

Sermon

John B. Jamison

Before we look at today’s passage, it will help if we take the time to remember a couple of old stories: The first story is about a time when God caused a terrible drought to cover the entire land. King Ahab and his wife Jezebel had built altars to other gods, like Baal, and had been hunting down and killing the prophets of God. The prophet Elijah was hiding in the wilderness when God told him to leave Israel and go to the town of Zarephath, near Sidon, an enemy of Israel. One day while he was there, ...

57. In Those Days: The Voice Of The Time Keeper

Matthew 3:1-12

Sermon

Frank Ramirez

A second is a second is a second, right? But if you’re at the big game it’s amazing what a difference it makes once there’s less than a minute left. Suddenly the scoreboard screams those seconds in fractions. Suddenly the clock moves maddeningly fast if you’re behind and agonizingly slow if you’re ahead. But that’s a product of our digital technology. Sundials, or solar clocks, in the time of Jesus measured time slowly, imperceptivity, even majestically. Complicating things further, the hours weren’t the ...

58. The Plague of Darkness

Exodus 10:1-20

Understanding Series

James K. Bruckner

God Hardens Pharaoh’s Heart: Locusts and Darkness: The Lord begins actively to harden Pharaoh’s heart late in the plague cycles, and more frequently in the last three plagues. God’s hardening functions alongside the choices Pharaoh himself made to “self-harden” his heart. The Hebrew has two different words, both generally translated “hardened,” that the narrative uses interchangeably (without pattern). Khazaq refers to physical or political strengthening, as in “making tough” or uncompassionate. Kabed ...

59. Seating Arrangements

Matthew 25:31-46

Sermon

John B. Jamison

Jesus and his disciples had spent the day at the temple again. As had happened every time they went to the temple, they were confronted by the temple priests, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and a lot of others, all wanting to argue and try to make Jesus and all of them look like a bunch of radical losers. On most days, Jesus just dealt with them and then left. But today, as they had left the temple, Jesus had said that God was going to come back and destroy the temple, as well as all of those people who had ...

60. Learning Our Role

Luke 3:15-17, 21-22

Sermon

John B. Jamison

He was standing out in the river. We can envision John standing out there. His clothes were soaked. His long, wet hair hung down across his face and down his back. If we didn’t know better, we might think he was someone who had wandered out of the wilderness and was having some kind of breakdown. He was standing there, surrounded by people who had come to see him. They had come from all around the country and there were even people from Sidon and Tyre: foreigners, and not even Jewish foreigners. They had ...

61. Couldn’t Be Easier

Matthew 11:2-11 · Isaiah 35:1-10

Sermon

Frank Ramirez

You’re not supposed to mess with holiday traditions, but we do. A couple of years ago a shock wave ran through the Face-book community. Peanuts specials like It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, and especially A Charlie Brown Christmas were purchased by one of those special platforms and would no longer be broadcast on network television. Even though the days are long past when the family gathered together on broadcast night and watched those specials together — nowadays it seems like there’s at least ...

62. God’s Chosen People Among the Nations

1 Chronicles 1:1-54

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

Let’s Start at the Beginning: When the Chronicler started writing his version of the history of God’s people, he started at the very beginning: Adam! It is surprising that this history, unlike the Deuteronomistic version, situates the history of God’s people within the history of humankind. On the one hand, this is already an indication of the Chronicler’s universalist or inclusivist approach (which is also echoed in the closing of the book in 2 Chron. 36:22–23, where Cyrus, the Persian emperor, is ...

63. To Noah's Sons

1 Chronicles 1:1-4

Understanding Series

Louis C. Jonker

64. The Japhethites

1 Chronicles 1:5-7

Understanding Series

Louis C. Jonker

From Adam to Abraham: The Chronicler’s family lists start with Adam (1:1) and swiftly continue from there to Abram (1:27). If there was ever an abridged version of some Pentateuchal genealogical traditions, this is it! These twenty-seven verses quickly run through at least three genealogies contained in Genesis 5, 10, and 11. This first of the Chronicler’s genealogies utilizes both linear and segmented forms in its summary of the Genesis traditions. The intention of the Chronicler’s construction is clear, ...

65. The Hamites

1 Chronicles 1:8-16

Understanding Series

Louis C. Jonker

66. The Semites

1 Chronicles 1:17-27

Understanding Series

Louis C. Jonker

67. Mountaintop Experience

Luke 9:28-36 (37-43a)

Sermon

Wayne Brouwer

Some years ago, the History Network created a strange new hit series. It began as “Ice Road Truckers,” monitoring the dangerous winter haulage north of Yellowknife on the frozen Canadian tundra. Then, after several seasons of gaining familiarity with the top tonnage truckers, the network displaced them to northern Alaska and introduced new challenges and new road masters. Finally, in a thrilling new twist, three of these rig lords and ladies were transported to the Himalayan heights of upper India. There ...

68. Will You Sing With Me?

Romans 15:4-13

Sermon

Heather Sugden

My congregation has a wonderful institutional history of Christmas caroling. As the story has been passed on down to me, there was a time when every Christmas Eve worship service was packed with families, and every moment in between Christmas Eve worship services was an opportunity for community caroling. We might not be certain when exactly this time was in our history, but we know it happened, we know that it was fantastic, and we profess our desire to return to such a time. In these Christmas days of ...

69. A Gift With YOUR Name On It

Romans 1:1-7

Sermon

Heather Sugden

As Christmas inches closer, the excitement level seems to reach higher and higher each day. In a household with young children, the excitement level seems to inch higher and higher every minute! I grew up in a large family, as one of six children. Having six children in a house during the days leading up to Christmas meant an ever-growing level of chaos that seemed nearly impossible to contain! I remember lying awake in my bed at night, too excited to sleep, imagining what particular joys the upcoming ...

70. An Up-Close Nativity

Titus 2:11-14

Sermon

Heather Sugden

One of my favorite childhood memories of Christmas is the decorations. Growing up, about mid-December, all these special decorations would come out of boxes and appear around the house. Ornaments for the trees, stockings for the mantle above the fireplace, pretty snow globes that sat on top of the book-shelves, and my mother’s nativity scenes. My mother owns several nativity scenes. They come in different sizes, are made of different materials, and show different interpretations of what the holy family ...

71. In the Mirror

Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32

Sermon

Wayne Brouwer

The first birth is extraordinarily exciting, isn’t it? My wife and I were married less than a year when our firstborn came along. We knew right away that she was the most beautiful, most intelligent, most promising human being that had ever come into this world! Parenting the firstborn is an experiment in everything new. First smile, first coo, first steps, first words… One first we did not anticipate, however, was the first time our little Kristyn recognized herself in the mirror. We had often held her up ...

72. Terms Of Endearment

John 12:1-8

Sermon

Wayne Brouwer

In his short story, “The Capital of the World,” Ernest Heming- way reported an event they talk about in Madrid. A young man named Francisco, lovingly called Paco by his parents, grew to be a teen at odds with his father. No matter how a day began, it was sure to end with angry words and heated arguments. Paco and his father became enemies living under the same roof. Finally the young man ran away, drifting eventually to the large metropolis of Madrid, where anyone could get lost and create a new identity. ...

73. The Art and Agony of Patience

James 5:7-10

Sermon

Heather Sugden

... suddenly changed. It was as if a warning bell went off in her mind, and her own experience as a mother compelled her to tell me some difficult truths. As gently as she could, she tried to lower my expectations for a Norman Rockwell-style Thanksgiving celebration, with a happy crowd and even happier newborn baby. She talked about the need for peace and rest. But probably the most disconcerting advice she gave me was concerning the due date itself. “You know,” I can remember her saying, “Children are ...

74. David's Officials

2 Samuel 8:15-18

Understanding Series

Mary J. Evans

War and Peace – Enemies and Friends: 8:1–14 In contrast to the relaxed narrative style of the surrounding chapters, this is a terse summary of David’s military successes against the surrounding tribes. These verse fill in the background and explain how the LORD gave him rest from all his enemies (7:1). David’s victories eventually led to the stage where the Philistines no ...

75. The Divine Mission

John 17:20-26

Sermon

Wayne Brouwer

A friend of mine taught ethics at a Christian college. Several years ago, there was a scare on campus because a student had been raped. Since my friend wanted his students to deal with actual ethical situations, he began the next class session with a question: “If a friend came to your room in tears, telling how her date had just raped her, what is the first thing you would do to help her?” After a moment’s reflective silence one student raised her hand and asked, tentatively, “Pray?” The whole class ...

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