Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 751 to 775 of 3160 results

Acts 6:8-15, Acts 6:1-7

Drama

Robert F. Crowley

... and easily understood by the members of the congregation. PETE: What about the cost? JIM: I think the really important part of my suggestion is not the cost but the personal contact that the church member has through the canvasser. JOHN: I know Jim has been interested in this sort of extended campaign for some time. JIM: I sure have. Ever since last year when I was the chairman of the campaign. I know how many thousands we were short and I just think it'll be worse this year if we don't take some action now ...

752. Creation

Psalm 148:1-14

Drama

Robert F. Crowley

... and fill the waters and the earth. SECOND: Evening came and morning came. BOTH: The fifth day. (PAUSE) God said, FIRST: Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds, cattle and creeping things and beasts of the earth. SECOND: God made all sorts of wild animals and cattle and creeping things. BOTH: And God saw that it was good. Then God said, FIRST: Let us make man in Our image, after Our own likeness to have dominion over all things and over all the earth. SECOND: So God created ...

753. Robin Hood?

Matthew 5:33-37, Matthew 5:31-32, Matthew 5:27-30, Matthew 5:21-26, Matthew 5:17-20

Drama

Robert F. Crowley

... cannot be God. I will doeth it. I will become a laborer and no longer stealeth anything. FRIAR: A noble vow, John. ROBIN: I geteth it too, but I will never till the stubborn earth. I think I will starteth an industry of some sort. JOHN: Huh? FRIAR: He speaketh in riddles. JOHN: Huh? ROBIN: I will manufactureth something. Something the populace will have need of. JOHN: Huh? FRIAR: What will you maketh, Robin? ROBIN: Money, I hopeth. JOHN: I understoodeth that! FRIAR: No, I meaneth, what will you manufacture ...

754. House On Sand

Matthew 7:24-29, Matthew 7:15-23

Drama

Robert F. Crowley

Theme: The family that fails to build its house on the Rock, Jesus, is heading for some stormy weather. Summary: Shirley, the daughter, had a bad day at school. Mom had a hard day at home, and Dad comes home tired and out of sorts. There is bound to be an explosion. Playing Time: 3 minutes Setting: Shirley's home Props: School books Costumes: Contemporary, casual Time: The present Cast SHIRLEY -- a teenager MOTHER -- her mother FATHER -- Shirley's father SHIRLEY: (ENTERS AND SLAMS HER BOOKS ON THE TABLE) ...

755. The Wicked Pie Bakers

Matthew 21:33-46

Drama

Robert F. Crowley

... off my chest. DON: Chess pie. I hope Wilma baked her delicious chess pie. SANDY: Well, anyway, go to the bake sale. It's for the Lord's work. If you're wondering what this vignette had to do with today's gospel reading, don't worry, Pastor Roger will sort it all out for us and it will be a blessing. VOICE: Amen!

756. While This House Lies In Ruins

Haggai 1:1-15

Sermon

Frank Ramirez

... . Darius was consolidating his kingdom. Two years of brushfire wars kept him busy. Anything could happen. The whole world order could collapse. How can you possibly build a temple when so much is going on? But as Jesus said, there will be wars and rumors of war. This sort of thing is always going on. You can't use the current political situation as an excuse, then or now. And that is why Haggai uses the phrase "Yahweh of Hosts." It occurs fourteen times in the 38 verses of Haggai. You'll find it 53 times in ...

757. Getting Ready for The Coming Messiah

Mark 1:1-8

Bulletin Aid

Wayne H. Keller

... blessing, for your wondrous Word, For your loving kindness, we give thanks, O Lord." Community Response Message with the Children of All Ages: If you have a "celebrity" in the congregation or community, introduce him/her with a special introduction. Tell all sorts of personal interest items, things that people may or may not know. Then, compare John the Baptist's introduction of Jesus with your "celebrity's." Describe the uniqueness of both men. If you have baptism on this Sunday, also explain what it ...

758. Jesus Prays for His Disciples

John 17:6-19

Sermon Aid

Wayne H. Keller

... be the answer." Someone else reminds us, "Pray as if everything depended on God; work as if everything depended on you." In the light of Jesus' prayer, if we are one of his disciples, we do not ask for everything and everything; we sort out the necessities from the luxuries. (Two minutes of silence.) Pastor: This statement is completely reliable and should be universally accepted: Christ Jesus entered the world to rescue sinners. If a person is in Christ, that person becomes a new person altogether -- the ...

759. Advent 3

John 1:1-18, John 1:19-28, Isaiah 61:1-11, Isaiah 65:17-25, 1 Thessalonians 5:12-28

Sermon Aid

E. Carver McGriff

... time concerning John the Baptist. He had won many adherents and there were some who were more impressed with John's teaching than that of Jesus. Bible scholar Raymond E. Brown makes this point, explaining that the several statements in John's Gospel of a negative sort (1:9, 1:15, 30, 1:19-24, 3:28, 29, etc.) are designed to deal with this problem. Writing in The Community Of The Beloved Disciple, he says, "We are led to suspect that Johannine Christians had to deal with such disciples and that the negations ...

760. Gifts of Lent II: Mary Gives Her Perfume

Matthew 26:6-13

Drama

Donald Neidigk

... his feet listening to him teach. No more would Martha be scolding me. My friend Jesus would soon be dead. Not knowing exactly why, I had brought to the dinner that night a bottle of perfumed ointment, pure nard, a rare and costly oil. It wasn't the lesser sort from Syria or Arabia that's often mixed with balsam, but the very best from far-off India. For years the alabaster jar had lain undisturbed, wrapped in silk in the corner of a wooden chest in my room. I had been saving it for just the right occasion ...

761. Gifts of Lent IV: Simon Gives His Strength

Mark 15:1-15

Drama

Donald Neidigk

... a smattering of Greek. And whatever barriers there were disappeared when we sang the Psalms together in Hebrew. "Have you heard about the rebellion growing in Jerusalem?" one of the travelers asked me. "No," I answered, becoming very concerned. A rebellion was not the sort of thing I wanted to get in the middle of. "The news I hear is that the Zealots are organizing against Rome. And there's no shortage of leaders. Be careful whom you associate with," he warned. I needed no warning. Cyrene had suffered ...

762. Gifts of Lent VII: Joseph Gives His Tomb

John 19:38-42

Drama

Donald Neidigk

... on the ruling council, Nicodemus, who was the bold one. He's the one you may think was cowardly because he came to see Jesus at night. But let me assure you he was no coward. If anyone was cowardly, I was the one. At a time when all sorts of rumors were flying around about Jesus, it was Nicodemus who took action, not me. Some were calling Jesus the Messiah, the son of David. Others, my colleagues on the ruling council, the Sanhedrin, were saying Jesus was a charlatan and a liar. In the midst of this ...

763. On Getting Out Of The Way

Luke 3:1-20, Luke 3:21-38

Sermon

Charles H. Bayer

... our worship generates, how good it makes its members feel, how comfortable everybody is and how nobody unpleasant, poorly dressed or peculiar ever passes through out doors. No, we're not number one. Christ is number one. Our task is to get out of the way so people of every sort can see him, follow him and know that he is Prince of princes, Lord of lords and the hope of the world.

764. Be Patient

James 5:7-12

Sermon

Frank Luchsinger

... . Now their marriage is beginning to suffer under the strain. Sometimes it's hard to be patient. A family with several children sits in a fast food restaurant, Happy Meals don't bring happiness. Children's meals are mixed up among them and while a haggard dad tries to sort out whose meal is whose, the littlest one eats part of a meal which does not belong to him. Tempers flare. Sometimes it's hard to be patient. I've heard it said, although I'm not sure it's true -- it's hard to be patient with your ...

765. Finding Faith In Unlikely People

Luke 7:1-10

Sermon

Maurice A. Fetty

... stand on his own two feet without psychological crutches and canes. But where do you find a man like that, one who lives without support of any kind? In the '60s it was popular to write of man come-of-age, the secular man, a sort of deified playboy, sophisticated, cool, worldly-wise, self-contained, self-sufficient, reserved, independent, a connoisseur of wines and women, a distinguished man among men who had his head together, who was never fooled or taken. This '60s man come-of-age never sinned, though he ...

766. Not Yet Quitting Time

Luke 21:5-38

Sermon

Larry R. Kalajainen

... moment the earliest Christians became convinced that Jesus had been raised from the dead by the power of God, they began looking for him to return to earth in power and glory to establish the eternal kingdom of God. Much of the attractiveness of doing this sort of calculation arises from feelings that the world is getting worse instead of better, and that wickedness is increasing, and a conviction that there's no hope of things getting better when the bad people seem to outnumber God's people. That sense of ...

767. The Unveiled Truth

Exodus 34:29-35

Sermon

Robert A. Hausman

... , are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit (3:18). The spirit gives us the freedom to be transformed into the likeness of Christ, but we need to understand just what sort of glory that is. We do well to consider the gospel of the transfiguration (Luke 9:28-36). Here Moses appears in glory again, accompanied by Elijah. Jesus is also transformed and speaks to them. "They appeared in glory and were speaking of his departure, which ...

768. You Can Be Happy

1 Chronicles 13:1-14

Sermon

Michael B. Brown

... him." He also loved a widow who had only a single mite to leave on the altar. The workers in the vineyard who had labored from dawn and those who came at an hour before quitting time were all objects of his grace. Jesus loved people -- all sorts and shapes and sizes -- and told us that we will find joy when we learn to love people, too: tall people and short people and young people and old people and rich people and poor people and Black people and White people and Republican people and Democrat people ...

769. You Can Be Well Fed

1 Corinthians 11:17-34

Sermon

Michael B. Brown

... is what it means to "hunger and thirst for righteousness." Maybe it simply means that we will remember Jesus ... the life he lived, the values he embraced, the impact he made, the way He treated other people ... and we will yearn ("hunger and thirst") to be that sort of person ourselves. "To be well fed," my friend told me, "Means feasting on those things that enhance your life." We learn what those things are when we remember Jesus. How can I be well fed? The answer is by feasting on the diet that made ...

770. You Can Be In Heaven Or Hell

Psalm 139:1-24

Sermon

Michael B. Brown

... learned that ours is not just a God of the mountaintop. Ours is also a God who stands beside us in the valley. Ultimately that young woman learned that every time we walk through hell, God walks with us and makes that hell a roadway to a new sort of Paradise. "You Can be in Heaven or Hell" and frequently journey through both. Sometimes the joys we experience or the pains we suffer are of our own making. Sometimes they are more or less thrust upon us. Either way, a crucial lesson our faith teaches is that ...

771. The Christmas Sign

Isaiah 7:1-25

Sermon

Paul E. Robinson

... of town where pushcarts full of toys were lined up for late Christmas shoppers. Mr. Hart knew his dad was going to buy him a Christmas present, but he also knew that his dad had very little money. As they walked by these carts, Hart said he saw all sorts of toys he wanted. But after his father asked the price, the two of them would move quietly to the next cart, his father putting his hands in his pocket and fingering the coins. So it went from one cart to the other. Nothing the youngster wanted could be ...

772. Easter 2

Acts 5:17-42, Revelation 1:4-8, John 20:19-23, John 20:24-31

Sermon Aid

John R. Brokhoff

... have forgiveness v. 31. Epistle: Acts 5:12-16 Let's get growing! Need: The picture of the first church, following the resurrection of the Lord, is one of growth, enthusiasm and excitement. There is no reason to see this as a one-time, first-time-out-of-the-chute sort of phenomenon. The church can and must continue to grow today, and needs to recover the spirit of the first community. 1. Growth is God's plan for all life. a. When we stop growing, we start to die. b. Just as we expect our bodies to grow, we ...

773. Proper 11

Luke 10:38-42, Psalm 52:1-9

Bulletin Aid

B. David Hostetter

... Call to Worship (responsively) Hear the proclamation of Christ, In whom the word of God is fully known. Hear and be warned. Hear and be wise. Hear and become mature in Christ. Prayer of Confession Patient God, you still wait for us to sort out our priorities. We are often busy with trivialities avoiding confrontation of the essentials. We are bemused with the incidental and not attentive to the eternal. Forgive such preoccupation with what distracts us from your presence and does not prepare us for ultimate ...

774. Doubting Thomas

John 20:19-23

Illustration

Richard A. Jensen

... different. They didn't attend church and they didn't make their kids attend either. At this point in their marriage, therefore, Tommy and Sophia Russo faced a real dilemma. Tommy had promised he'd give church a try. And he did. But the whole thing left him sort of cold. He just couldn't buy it all. There was just too much there that was unbelievable! Tommy tried talking to Sophia about it one Sunday after they had been to church. "Can't we find some kind of compromise on this religion thing?" Tommy asked ...

775. Tenders Of The Sacred Fire

Acts 2:1-13

Sermon

R. Robert Cueni

... in America. In his book, The Culture Of Indifference, Stephen Carter builds an outstanding case for the fact that religious belief and practice are excluded from serious public discourse in America; that we treat religious faith as if it is nothing more than some sort of optional hobby; that, as a nation, we seem to have forgotten that strong religious institutions are mandatory safeguards against the intrusive power of state into our lives.3 A case can be made that the flames of the Sacred Fire do not burn ...

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