Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 751 to 775 of 4490 results

751. Chaos and Solitude

Mark 6:30-44, 53-56

Sermon

Ron Lavin

Everywhere Jesus went, people flocked to him. They wanted what he was offering. They wanted inspiration. They wanted healing. They wanted God. Mark's gospel tells us that "so many people were coming and going they (Jesus and the apostles) did not even have a chance to eat" (Mark 6:31). That coming and going provided a chaotic atmosphere for Jesus' ministry. That chaos meant that even before Jesus got to a town, the mass of admirers and hangers-on rushed ahead of him and waited for his arrival (Mark 6:33). ...

752. A Question of Trust

Romans 5:1-5

Sermon

King Duncan

Does it seem to you that it is getting more and more difficult to trust anybody? It seems to get more and more discouraging to simply answer the telephone, for fear of being bombarded with scam telephone calls. It’s just as discouraging to turn on a cable news program for fear of being bombarded with fake news. And when it seems humanity can’t get any lower, we’re even afraid to open our email. Why? According to the Worldstart Computer Tips & Techniques Newsletter another email scam has been making its ...

753. Letting Go

Ephesians 4:26b, 31-32

Children's Sermon

B. Kathleen Fannin

Object: Several large rubber bands. Lesson: Do not let the sun go down on your anger. As the children gather in the front of the sanctuary, I extract a large rubber band from my pocket. I dangle it from my index finger and ask one of the closer children to hook a finger through the other end. Once she has done so, I gently begin to pull the rubber band taut. Just as I am about to explain the concept of tension, the rubber band snaps! It is always wise to be prepared for surprises (Divine intervention?) ...

754. The Blessing Of Bondage

Genesis 2:4-25, Genesis 3:1-24

Sermon

Barbara Brokhoff

The Bible’s story of Creation and the Fall gives rise to all sorts of stories, like this one: Adam and Eve were walking near the Garden of Eden, showing it to their son, Abel. Abel saw that it was a very beautiful place, and asked, "Daddy, why don’t we live there?" "Well, son, we once did," Adam replied, "but your mother ate us out of house and home!" It is an old story, a story of trees, a man and a woman, a garden, a serpent, rules kept and rules broken, and of God. God formed a man, Adam, of the dust, ...

755. Shepherding One Another in a Collapsing World

Romans 9:1-29

Sermon

Robert G. Tuttle

In the Scripture for this Sunday, Paul reveals an almost violent concern for his people. He is thinking about the Jews who have rejected Christ and the ultimate step in their history of being the people of God. Note Paul’s concern: "I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh." Paul was not mad at his people. He was heartbroken. He must have felt like Jesus felt when he cried out over ...

756. To Be Abased, To Abound, To Be Content

Philippians 4:11-13

Children's Sermon

King Duncan

Object: a palm branch, or a picture of palm tree Good morning, boys and girls. Do you remember how on Palm Sunday you come walking into the sanctuary waving palm branches? That's pretty neat, isn't it? Well, this morning I wanted to tell you a little about palm trees. Palm trees grow best in really hot places. Most trees have branches all along their trunk, but palm trees only have branches at the very top of the tree. The top of a palm tree is called its crown. But there's something else about palm trees ...

757. The Trance Of Non-renewal

Zechariah 9:9-13, Matthew 24:36-44

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

In John Gardiner's book on leadership, he uses a marvelous phrase: "The trance of non- renewal." He uses it in relation to institutions and organizations. He says that members of these institutions can get into what he calls "the trance of non-renewal," which means they get so accustomed to a flaw in the organization that they just stare right past it. They don't even see it. They get accustomed to living with it. That's called "the trance of non-renewal." You see it everywhere, and I've seen it in the ...

758. Unwanted Freedom

John 8:31-36

Sermon

Chris Ewing

The trouble with words is that they can mean so many different things, depending on who is using them. And the bigger and more important the word, the more this tends to be true. Take, for instance, the word "freedom," or "free." That is a very important word to North Americans — to most of the world, in fact — and it appears to have been a very important word to Jesus. But I really wonder if we're all talking about the same thing? Jesus stated in John 8:32 that the truth would make us free. In a runaway ...

759. Time’s A-Wasting

Mark 1:14-20

Sermon

Robert J. Elder

Just when everything seems as normal as can be ... in fact, just when we almost break into wide yawns from the dull normalcy of it all, that's when something outside our control can break in with a word or experience that changes everything — perhaps forever. Do you remember when the earthquake hit the San Francisco Bay area in 1989, causing the famous collapse of the double-decker Bay Bridge? Its rumbling effect was felt far beyond the Bay area, insisting itself into the consciousness of everyone ...

760. The Struggle for Freedom

1 Corinthians 8:1-13

Sermon

Scott Suskovic

There is a scene in Tom Hanks' movie, Forrest Gump, that came to mind when I read this text in 1 Corinthians. As a young boy, Forrest has to wear these clumsy, heavy leg braces. For the most part, he doesn't care. In fact, the braces become so much a part of his life that he doesn't even realize much how they have trapped and confined him. And then one day, some bullies chase Forrest and he has to run away but the braces slow him down. As the bullies get closer and closer and Forrest struggles to run ...

761. The Four Horsemen

Revelation 6:1-17

Teach the Text

J. Scott Duvall

Big Idea: As Christ opens the first four seals, God allows human sinfulness to run its course, resulting in warfare, violence, bloodshed, economic hardship, and death. Understanding the Text Just as the vision of the glorified Christ in Revelation 1 leads into the messages to the seven churches in chapters 2–3, so the throne-room vision of Revelation 4–5 prepares the way for God’s righteous judgments that commence in chapter 6. Jesus, the worthy one (5:2–5), now begins to open the scroll by breaking the ...

762. Writing the Law on Our Hearts

Jeremiah 31:31-34

Sermon

Charles L. Aaron

In his wonderful book, Open Secrets, Richard Lischer tells of a retired Lutheran pastor who came to visit him shortly after the elder man's wife had died. Throughout his whole ministry, he had prayed with countless people, providing a bridge between them and God. When it mattered the most though, he couldn't pray. When his wife was dying, he couldn't pray with her, as he had throughout their marriage. He didn't make a conscious decision not to pray with her, he just couldn't do it. He felt as though ...

763. “You Are My Son; Today I Have Become Your Father”

Psalm 2:1-12

Teach the Text

C. Hassell Bullock

Big Idea: God’s sovereign control of the universe establishes a touchstone for understanding God’s relationship to us and ours to him. Understanding the Text The content and form of Psalm 2 is generally identified as a royal psalm, composed for and used on the occasion of some Israelite king’s elevation to the throne. We do not know which king, but given the David collection that it prefaces, it could have been composed as a literary introduction to Book 1 (Pss. 3–41). Hilber has made a case for a ...

764. Song of the Sabbath

Genesis 1:1-2:3, Luke 5:33-39, Luke 6:1-11, Luke 7:18-35, Mark 2:18-22, Mark 2:23-3:6, Mark 3:7-12

Sermon

Lori Wagner

Props: Visuals of Hubbel Space Photos and/or eclipse photos [Begin running about 30 or more Hubbel photos as you begin your sermon. If you want to take an especially creative field trip, deliver your sermon inside of a conservatory or planetarium with stars above and the Creation story displayed.] Part of the “human” in human being is to be fascinated with space. We lie back and imagine images in the sky we call constellations. We count stars. We contemplate life on other planets. We attach astrological ...

765. Watch For The Lord

2 Peter 3:10a

Children's Sermon

Wesley T. Runk

Object: A flashlight, rope, screwdriver, bag. Text: But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. Good morning, boys and girls. I want to show you what I have in this bag. (Take out each item and hold it up.) What kind of a person would need a bag like this? (Let them guess.) Well, a thief would probably need a bag full of tools like this. Why would a thief need a flashlight? (Let them guess.) Right. A thief usually comes at night, so he needs to be able to see where he is going. What would he use this ...

766. Pentecost: From Confusion To Communion In Christ

Sermon

Alex Gondola

Genesis 11:1-9; Acts 2:1-11, 41-42 There's an old story about a man who found a pig. It seems that as this man was driving into the city in his station wagon, a stray hog suddenly ran out in front of him. The man stopped the car, jumped out, caught the pig, and put it in the back. Not knowing what to do with the animal, he flagged down the first policeman he saw, explained the situation and asked, "What should I do with this hog?" "Take him to the zoo," was the officer's response. The next day the ...

767. Lent 3

John 4:1-26, Exodus 17:1-7, Romans 5:1-11, John 4:27-38, John 4:39-42, Isaiah 42:18-25

Sermon Aid

Russell F. Anderson

COMMENTARY Old Testament: Exodus 17:1-7 (C, E); Exodus 17:3-7 (RC) The people of Israel cry out against Moses and God for bringing them out into the wilderness, where there is no water. Moses, fearing for his life, takes the problem to the Lord. God commands Moses to take the staff with which he struck the Nile, when the sea parted before them, and strike a rock. Water would flow forth. This place is called both Massah and Meribah. Massah means "test" and Meribah renders "to find fault." The disobedient ...

768. No Particular Place To Go

2 Samuel 11:1-27

Sermon

Timothy J. Smith

It was the last week of summer when some boys who had spent the summer playing together became restless and bored. School would start the next week and they found themselves not knowing what to do, wearied from all the other summer activities that they had enjoyed. On a hot August afternoon the boys decided to play a round of pitch and putt at a local golf course. At least this would give them something different to do and keep them from complaining to their parents about how bored they were -- which was ...

769. Easter 6

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

Sermon Aid

Russell F. Anderson

Theme: God calls his own and chooses those who are to live as his dear friends, regardless of our human categories and distinctions. COMMENTARY Lesson 1: Acts 10:44-48 (C); Acts 10:25-26, 34-35, 44-48 (RC) The pericope for the Revised Common Lectionary features the outcome of Peter's encounter with Cornelius, the Roman Centurion. As Peter was explaining the gospel, the Holy Spirit came down on all the believers, including, for the first time, Gentiles. Since God had favored the Gentiles with the Holy ...

770. The Problem With A Promise

Genesis 15:1-18

Sermon

Barbara Brokhoff

You have all made promises; and kept them, but some you have broken. Maybe you didn't intend to break it, but when the time came to fulfill it, it simply wasn't in your power to keep it. Or, upon re-thinking it, you decided it wasn't a good promise, so you reneged upon it.And, you've had promises made to you; and they've been kept - some of them, but who has not been hurt by having a promise made, and then broken? What parents have not heard their child exclaim at some point, "But you promised me!" ...

771. Achieving An All-In Victory - 1952

1 John 5:1-12

Sermon

Kent Moorehead

We have talked so much about winning an "all-out" victory during the years of World War II that our attention has been focused and our interest centered upon mass behavior. We speak of the world as having gone mad. But madness is a malady of the human mind. The world outside cannot go mad; only the world inside is capable of sanity and insanity. We talk of the Government’s having full responsibility for making all the decisions. But the Government is not an abstraction. It is composed of individuals. And ...

772. Bad News, Good News

Luke 24:13-35

Sermon

King Duncan

"I've got some good news and some bad news to tell you. Which would you like to hear first?" the farmer asked. "Why don't you tell me the bad news first?" the banker replied. "Okay," said the farmer, "With the bad drought and inflation and all, I won't be able to pay anything on my mortgage this year, either on the principal or the interest." "Well, that is pretty bad," said the banker. "It gets worse," said the farmer. "I also won't be able to pay anything on the loan for all that machinery I bought, not ...

773. Teach Us To Pray

Luke 11:1-13

Sermon

King Duncan

A few years ago, Rabbi Wayne Dosick was at the airport when he witnessed an unusual scene. A police officer approached a mother and her small daughter. Someone had filed a missing-persons report on a little girl of the same age and appearance as the little girl in the airport. The officer was asking the mother to prove that the child was actually hers. First, the officer tried questioning the toddler, a technique that proved to be futile. He asked the name of her father. She replied, "Daddy." He asked ...

774. Listen to Him

Mark 9:2-13

Sermon

King Duncan

There aren’t very many heroes nowadays, are there? Even in sports. Steroids. Drugs. Violence. Many of today’s best-known athletes reflect some of the worst values in our culture. There was a time, however, when sports stars were a steady source of positive inspiration. Take Lou Gehrig, for example. Even today, the name stirs positive emotions among baseball fans in spite of the fact that it has been 68 years since Gehrig last played the game, long before many of us were born. For those who don’t know his ...

775. The Book that Changes Lives

Nehemiah 7:73b--8:18

Sermon

King Duncan

Every once in a while you will run across something in a secular magazine that feeds your spirit. There was an item in a recent Smithsonian magazine that speaks to our lesson for today. It was a story on the history of that legendary town of the Old West, Tombstone, Arizona. In the late 1870s, miners discovered silver in the DragoonMountains of Arizona. An area that had once been desert wasteland became the bustling mining town of Tombstone---so named because the first miner to explore the site had been ...

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