Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 926 to 950 of 3160 results

Malachi 3:1-4, Luke 3:1-20, Philippians 1:1-11

Sermon Aid

George Bass

... Direct contact with nature almost always meant scratches, bites, torn clothes, and grime that ate its way into every pore of my body. (The Temper Of Our Time, Harper and Row, p. 79f.) Hoffer ultimately found a reason to become a philosopher by living in the sort of wilderness he encountered in nature. What of John the Baptist? Undoubtedly, his parents had told him the story of his birth and the story about Mary and Jesus and this had sent him apart from other people, not to fight nature, but to ponder what ...

927. Easter 2

John 20:19-23, Acts 5:12-16, Acts 5:17-42, Job 42:1-6, Revelation 1:4-8, Revelation 1:9-20, John 20:24-31, Psalm 149:1-9

Sermon Aid

George Bass

... was no different than most of us; we might have reacted the same way to the word that Jesus was risen and had appeared to the disciples, if we had been there, no doubt about it! Without receiving the gift of faith, we can do nothing else but have all sorts of doubts about Jesus, especially about his resurrection. 3. Isn't it strange that we can accept most of the story about Jesus right up to the cross and his death? We have no problem in believing that he lived and died on a cross but to take it on ...

928. Easter 3

John 21:1-14, Acts 5:17-42, Acts 9:1-19a, Jeremiah 32:1-44, Revelation 5:1-14, Psalm 33:1-22, Psalm 30:1-12

Sermon Aid

George Bass

... to praise him for his gracious actions with their voices, with the harp, as well as with the trumpet. Harp and trumpet may be for the few, but most of the people of God can sing, or make a good attempt at praising the Lord through some sort of singing. It is not a Sunday for entertainment by a choir, organist, or orchestra, with the presentation of special music commemorating Cantate. Rather, this is a time, the psalmist declares, for all of the people to join in singing the new song - "Christ is risen! He ...

929. Pentecost Sunday

Acts 2:1-13, Psalm 104:1-35, Joel 2:28-32, Genesis 11:1-9, 1 Corinthians 12:1-11, John 16:5-16, John 20:19-23, John 15:18--16:4

Sermon Aid

George Bass

... the day of Pentecost, the Tower of Babel was blown away by the Spirit of unity and harmony and the Holy Spirit continues to create a community in Christ that lives in harmony and concord with God and other human beings. "Blow mighty wind of the Spirit, until every Babel-sort of tower topples to the earth !" 1 Corinthians 12:3b-7, 12-13 (RC); 12:4-13 (E) - "There Is A Dove Above The Font." 1. Pentecost is about the gift of the Father and the Son to the world; they sent the Holy Spirit to human beings, and ...

930. Proper 9

Galatians 6:11-18, Galatians 6:1-10, 1 Kings 21:1-29, Isaiah 66:1-24, Psalm 66:1-20, Luke 10:1-24

Sermon Aid

George Bass

... - even death - in order to tell the story of Jesus, the kerygma, to the world. They were witnesses to Christ; that's what a martyr is, a witness to someone or some cause and in this case to the death and resurrection of the Lord. And this sort of kerygmatic theology ties in with the Gospel of the Day, in which Jesus sent out the 70 on the first missionary journey. They were sent out to witness to Jesus Christ, to the "kerygmatic faith." In some of our churches today, mission festival - witnessing festivals ...

931. Proper 10

Colossians 1:15-23, Colossians 1:1-14, 2 Kings 2:1-18, Deuteronomy 30:11-20, Psalm 69:1-36, Psalm 25:1-22, Luke 10:25-37

Sermon Aid

George Bass

... story. He might have been a difficult man to deal with, from a Jewish perspective - a hard-headed business person, a shrewd politician, or maybe a priest himself! Whatever he was - and Jews and Samaritans were real enemies - he loved a helpless human being, and that sort of love is a genuine gift of God. It cannot come from any other source than God. To love God is to love his people and give them whatever practical help one can. 4. Christians "wear their hearts on their sleeves, " their hearts go out to ...

932. Advent 4

Psalm 80:1-19, Micah 5:1-4, Hebrews 10:1-18, Luke 1:39-45

Sermon Aid

George Bass

... 's response, as indicated in the Magnificat, was equally amazing: "My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.... "To Gabriel, she had said, "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word." That sort of spiritual posture is beyond the maturity of most of us, let alone teen-agers. The Scottish preacher, Ian Cowie, combined one of his poem-meditations with a bronze done by his sister, Jill Cowie Sanders. The poem and the bronze bear the same title, "Old ...

933. Proper 14

Hebrews 11:1-40, Jeremiah 18:1--19:15, Genesis 15:1-18, Luke 12:35-48

Sermon Aid

George Bass

... forever. 1. Faith - "the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen" - is necessary to the pilgrimage of the people of God through the world and into the everlasting kingdom. 2. The people of God are always in danger of losing their faith; hardships of all sorts tend to discourage them and cause them to doubt that God is with them if there really is a God! 3. We are so "full" of this life that it is hard to believe that there is something better in store for us, that there is a kingdom ...

934. Proper 16

Luke 13:22-30, Isaiah 28:1-29, Isaiah 66:1-24, Jeremiah 28:1-17, Hebrews 12:1-13

Sermon Aid

George Bass

... ," "the heavenly Jerusalem." That is the final destination of the faithful. 2. A host of angels and the "first-born" of the faith - the martyrs, who witnessed for Jesus - will be there to greet those who complete the journey. 3. Heaven is a haven for people who have undergone all sorts of trials on the journey; it is a "city that cannot be shaken" or destroyed. It "is" forever. It is - through Jesus Christ - our journey's end. 4. Live in faith and hope!

935. Proper 18

Luke 14:25-35, Deuteronomy 30:11-20, Proverbs 9:1-18, Ezekiel 33:1-20, Philemon 1:8-25

Sermon Aid

George Bass

... little letter, written personally by Paul to Philemon, a Christian at Colossae, whose slave, Onesimus, had run away from him and become a follower of Paul, the apostle set the stage for the modern movement to abolish slavery. Paul did not establish any sort of underground railway, as occurred in the North during the Civil War, but he sent Onesimus back to Philemon, asking him to receive his slave as a brother in Christ. Paul really puts the pressure of the gospel upon Philemon, "our beloved fellow worker ...

936. Proper 24

Luke 18:1-8, Psalm 121:1-8, Exodus 17:8-16, Genesis 32:22-32, Habakkuk 1:1-4, Habakkuk 2:2-20, 2 Timothy 3:10--4:8

Sermon Aid

George Bass

... ; it lasted all night and was, in that respect, some kind of a world-class wrestling match. But neither Jacob or the "man" won; it was a draw, purely but not so simply. It belongs in the Guiness Book of Records! 1. Jacob, in wrestling to a draw, won a sort of moral victory. Despite the fact that his thigh was injured, he kept on wrestling until the dawn, and the "man" gave him a new name, the name of God's people, Israel. 2. And for his part, Jacob was convinced that he had been wrestling with God; that, at ...

937. Proper 27

Psalm 17:1-15, Psalm 9:1-20, 2 Thessalonians 3:1-5, 2 Thessalonians 2:13-17, Zechariah 7:1-14, 1 Chronicles 29:10-20, Job 19:1-29, Luke 20:27-40

Sermon Aid

George Bass

... God. And his faith in God was so full and complete that he gave himself over to a terrible death, confident that God would raise him upon the third day. He did. 4. The Sadducees and other religious leaders must have been convinced that Jesus was some sort of a magician when they heard the story of his resurrection. It couldn't happen, but people said it did. But it really doesn't matter what they thought about Jesus and his faith in the resurrection, or in his resurrection itself. What does matter is what ...

938. The Problem With Finding The Kingdom

Matthew 13:44-46

Sermon

William J. Carl

... . (Edited by Hugh T. Kerr and John M. Mulder, “Conversions,” Grand Rapids, Michigan, William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, pp. 201-202.) Not all of us are all that happy to have been caught by God. But here we are in church anyway, still trying like Lewis to sort out how we got here in the first place: teenage conversion, a grandparent’s fervent prayers or did we just stumble into religion the way Lewis did long ago, holding God off as long as we could and then finally giving in? It’s not that it ...

939. When Will The Pain Go Away?

Matthew 24:1-35

Sermon

George Johnson

... . When he came back to share his story, he found a cold reception. He and his wife had lived in their community for nearly 60 years. They had all kinds of friends. But now it was different. People avoided them. It seemed as though they were inflicted with some sort of plague. No one argued or questioned what he shared. Their friends just didn't want to hear it. They weren't invited out to people's homes anymore. It was so different for them. It was painful. The Kansas farmer had been warned that it wouldn't ...

940. The Kingdom of God Is Like… a Joke!

Luke 10:25-37

Sermon

Steven Burt

... like a priest will surely help a pious Jew in distress. But he doesn’t; instead, the priest sees him, crosses to the other side of the road, and passes by. Next comes another person, a Levite, who was a designated lay associate of the priest. That’s sort of an unordained lay pastor. He also sees the pious Jew in the ditch, crosses the road, and passes by. It’s now that Jesus’ listeners expect to hear the master storyteller introduce a Jewish lay person, so that lay person can be a hero and help. But ...

941. The Still Small Voice

1 Kings 19:1-8

Sermon

Steven Burt

... Canaanite or Phoenician fertility gods). The battle is worsened when Ahab, the wimpy king of lsrael (and a Yahweh-worshiper), takes Jezebel as his queen. (She is a shrewish Canaanite woman and a Baal-worshiper). Jezebel becomes the patron -- and sort of the patron saint and protector -- of the Baal-worshipers. She works hard to promote Baal worship as the official religion. In the midst of this conflict stands the great prophet Elijah, faithful servant of Yahweh. Whenever people are tempted -- particularly ...

942. The Proof Is In The Fruit

Luke 6:39-49

Sermon

James Garrett

... !” He is holding his hands the way he’s been told. His fingering is exceptional. He has memorized the piece perfectly. He has hit all the proper notes with deadly accuracy. But his heart’s not in it, only his fingers. What he’s playing is a sort of music but nothing that will start voices singing or feet tapping. He has succeeded in boring everybody to death including himself. Righteousness is getting it all right! If you play it the way it’s supposed to be played, there won’t be a still foot in ...

943. Beyond Togetherness

John 17:20-26

Sermon

John M. Braaten

... we have been brought up on a diet of theological ingredients which are not only palatable for us but have come highly recommended by God; at least that's what our clergy tell us. So we are suspect of those who indulge in denominational dishes of a different sort. It is important to realize, however, that God's docrtinal tastes are not so narrow. According to Jesus, all who love the name of the Lord are welcomed. Notice, that while he wants us all to be one with him and the Father, he doesn't suggest that ...

944. Finding Our Roots

Luke 9:28-36

Sermon

John M. Braaten

... to leave father and mother and family. They would be required to leave their occupations behind, and all their possessions. They would have to endure persecution and hardship; they would grow old before their time. How could Jesus ask his disciples to do that sort of thing? To give up everything which formed the foundations of their lives? And if they accepted that challenge, where would they find the motivation for living? Where would their roots need to dig in so that they could be sustained, and draw ...

945. A Living Sacrifice

Romans 12:1-8

Eulogy

Lawrence Ruegg

... a note or card to someone in trouble, ill, or perhaps full of joy. Again, it lets them know you want to share God's love with them and that you care. "Then, I find prayer takes much of my time; not long, formal, memorized prayers, but a sort of lengthy conversation with my Lord, thanking him for my many blessings, asking him for guidance in what I say and do; asking him for hope and comfort for others; asking him for forgiveness; praying that with his help I may be able to fulfill his purpose for each ...

946. The Marked Man

Sermon

George Bass

... of money, which could have gone on for years, dried up. That, plus some poor investments, saw him ruined financially. How different his life, and that of our family, would have been, if the coal mine had not been flooded. Floods usually bring tombs of one sort or another, but when, in baptism, the tomb of Christ is flooded with water and, in effect, becomes a baptismal font, it means life to those who sink beneath the water and surface again with the “Easter Christ.” So, we go up to Jerusalem because we ...

947. Marked By The Cross

Romans 6:2-4

Sermon

George Bass

... Jesus is dead.” She realized, after awhile, that he was making a “request,” and was really seeking information, so she told him, “Yes, Jesus did die on a cross, but he rose from the dead. He is alive and with us still.” This “sort of exchange went on for some time” and, then, one day he saw “a large outdoor crucifix” and said, ‘That Jesus is dead.’ ” Schmich continues, “Not knowing what to say any more and feeling a certain embarrassment at the poverty of our representations of ...

948. On the Art Of Listening To Sermons

Matthew 13:1-23

Sermon

Larry Goodpaster

... , moving us to action in response to what we have heard. Guideline Number 3: Do not be distracted by the surroundings. We often fail to hear because there is so much coming at us and there is so much activity swirling around us that it is difficult to sort through the noises, to hear the Word. Distractions divert our attention from what is to be the focus of the moment, and we turn off our hearing to think about what has just happened. We lose our place when a physician’s pager sounds, a hymnal is dropped ...

949. Doing Our Homework

Matthew 9:9-13

Sermon

Larry Goodpaster

... imagine that Jesus’ disciples must have looked at each otherwith shrugging shoulders as the party of the Pharisees shuffled off down the street. I suspect that Peter, James, John and certainly Matthew now that he had joined the group, sat up into the night trying to sort through the meaning of that text. “What if he gives us a pop test tomorrow?” Peter would have mused. “We, too, better give this some thought.” And so had we. Taking Jesus at his word in this text, I decided to do some homework as ...

950. Redrawing The Landscape

Multiple Scriptures

Sermon

Harold Warlick

... people, especially our enemies. The greatness of Christianity lies not in its development of small pockets of congenial intimacies. The greatness of Christianity is in its expansive spirit that overthrows resentments, takes in enemies, embraces rivals and seeks the good in all sorts of people across all barriers that class and race can erect. In our kind of world forgiveness is such a healthy ingredient. We do not live in a world that is politically correct. People become angry and resentful. You and I ...

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