Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 976 to 1000 of 2844 results

976. Grace Is What Christ Has Done

Acts 15:1-21

Sermon

Barbara Brokhoff

We live in a high-gloss, fix-the-outside, cover-up-the-spots world. We believe in making good first impressions, so we are very adept at cover-ups and shining up the outside. We have cover-ups in politics, in the world of high finance, in big business, and in education. Even if you buy peaches or strawberries from a road-side fruit stand you have to watch lest they have put the smaller, maybe rotten, fruit on the bottom, and then entice you to purchace them by covering it with the larger, more beautiful ...

977. No Need For Weeping Anymore

John 20:10-18

Sermon

Erskine White

Jesus said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping?" (John 20:15) Sometimes we forget. We focus so much on the joy and celebration of this day, on the bright flowers and festive music, that sometimes we forget; the first sound heard on that first Easter Sunday was the sound of weeping. It was Mary Magdalene's weeping. Tears of hopelessness poured out of her in loud wailing and moaning; her body convulsed in grief and her sobbing pierced the quiet of the early morning stillness. We often overlook the fact that ...

978. Alpha and Omega

Revelation 1:4-8, Revelation 1:17-18

Children's Sermon

Sunday School Idea Infinity is a difficult concept for all of us to understand, but you can help your students to understand the "foreverness" of God and his promise with this simple demonstration. You will need several spools of string, depending upon the size of your church. The string should be cut info large pieces which you should then weave together as links in a long chain. You can weave several shorter lengths of chain at home, then assemble them when you arrive early for your class on Sunday. ...

979. 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

THEOLOGICAL CLUE Depending on the lectionary being followed and the calendar of this particular year, Holy Cross Day will soon be celebrated. It's a festival that is relatively new to many Protestants, but quite familiar to Roman Catholics. To celebrate the cross and the crucifixion of Christ in August or September seems like a liturgical anachronism; Jesus' passion and death are remembered annually in the spring of the year, along with Easter, of course. But Holy Cross day comes at a propitious time in ...

980. A Road Map to the Kingdom

Mark 10:13-16

Sermon

Thomas Peterson

I hope for each of you that your journey on planet earth has been a good one and will continue to be so. One of the conditions that determines the worth of a journey is its destination. I keep on my shelf an old axiom: No wind blows good to a ship which has no destined harbor. It is true of our lives; if we don’t know where we’re going the starts and stops do not make a difference. Good or bad breaks mean little, for they do not move us along to a destined goal. Life is just one big distraction. We can ...

981. How To Hear A Sermon

Micah 1:1-7

Sermon

Richard Hasler

Walter Cronkite, the former highly-regarded CBS Evening News anchor, is an avid lover of boats. Some years ago, he steered his boat into Central Harbor, Maine. As he approached land he was amazed at the greeting he received. People lined the shore waving their hands at him. He could barely make out what they were saying but their shouts sounded like: “Hello Walter, Hello Walter.” The boat sailed closer and closer to the shore and the crowd, still sending out their greeting to him, grew larger and larger. ...

982. When God’s “No” Means “Yes”

Habakkuk 1:1-4, Habakkuk 2:2-20

Sermon

Richard Hasler

Augustine in his autobiographical work Confessions tells the story of his mother Monica’s constant prayers for him. She wished that one day her vagabond son would become a committed Christian. When Augustine decided to leave North Africa and sail for Rome she was horrified. She believed that in Rome’s cosmopolitan environment he would go further astray. She pleaded with him not to sail and prayed with tears that God would intervene, but to no avail. Later, Augustine inscribed these words in the Confessions ...

983. The Road To Emmaus

Luke 24:13-35

Sermon

Thomas A. Pilgrim

A man and his little grandson were out walking down the beach one afternoon. They saw a crowd of people gathered around a man who had been overcome by the heat of the sun and had suffered a sunstroke. The grandfather was trying to explain this to the boy. The little fellow looked up at his grand father and said, "Grandpa, I hope you never suffer from a sunset." We have gathered today to celebrate the good news that even though we face many sunsets there is always a sunrise. There is a simple beauty in this ...

984. Bartolome’ de Las Casas Protector Of The Indians

Drama

Thomas A. Renquist

Reader 1: In 1992, North, Central and South Americans celebrated the 500th anniversary of Columbus’ “discovery” of America. Of course, we have been reminded that it can’t really be called a “discovery” when there were people already living here who knew this land existed all the time! So what’s a better word? “Exploration?” Perhaps most fitting is the word “conquest.” After 1492, as the Spaniards established their American empire, 20,000,000 native Americans were killed. In some areas, like Cuba, all of ...

985. At the Foot of the Cross

Sermon

Ron Lavin

"I hope this damn thing doesn't last too long. I've got things to do, people to see." These were my thoughts as I was waiting for the criminals. I am a Roman soldier and part of my job is to help with the crucifixion of criminals. My name is not important, but what happened to me is important, and I'd like to tell you about it. I remember how they walked along the road with the people watching them. Some of the people looked sorry for them. Others enjoyed the cross-carrying ceremony as much as they enjoyed ...

986. Monologue: Naomi And Ruth

Ruth 1:1-22

Drama

Lynda Pujad

Naomi I said before to the people of Bethlehem to call me Mara, meaning a bitter woman. I was not always bitter. Once, I had a wonderful husband and two fine sons. They were the pride of my life. They meant everything to me. They married two nice girls in the land of Moab where we had gone to find food. I am Naomi. (Bows) In our home in Bethlehem, there was a famine and my good husband Elimelech decided we should move to Moab where there was no famine. It was a difficult decision for him to make because we ...

987. The Bridge

John 1:1-18, Matthew 2:1-12, Luke 2:8-20, Luke 2:1-7, Luke 1:26-38, Genesis 3:1-24

Drama

H. J. Hizer

Narrator: Opening: Genesis 3:8-15 And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man and said to him "Where are you?" And he said "I heard the sound of thee in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked and I hid myself." He said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat ...

988. Never Cry Uncle - Malchus

Matthew 26:47-56

Drama

Thomas Blowers

Dramatic Monologue My name is Malchus and I'm but one of the many slaves owned by the high priest. Someone once asked me how many of us there were all told and I couldn't even make a guess, so I answered "Oh about enough to populate a small city." Could have been that many, too, counting everybody: men, women, and children. We cleaned, cooked, took care of the stables, guarded the Palace -- in fact, we did just about everything nobody really likes to do anyway unless he has to. And we had to or get whipped ...

989. The Beginning of the End

Luke 9:57-62

Sermon

As they were going along the road, a man said to him, "I will follow you wherever you go." And Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man has nowhere to lay his head." To another he said, "Follow me." But he said, "Lord, let me first go and bury my father." But he said to him, "Leave the dead to bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God." Another said, "I will follow you, Lord; but let me first say farewell to those at my home." ...

990. The Now-ness of Eternity

Zechariah 7:1-14

Sermon

Can any of you tell me what time it is? It’s all right to look at your watches now. (Just don’t start looking at them and shaking them when I get into the middle of this sermon!) How do you know what time it is, or what time itself is? There is a mystery in the concept of time that is difficult to comprehend. The one obvious fact about it is that it is related to perceptions of change. If there were no change, would the concept of time have any meaning? Actually, we cannot answer such a question because ...

991. Thanks, Lord

Luke 17:11-19

Sermon

On the way to Jerusalem he was passing along between Samaria and Galilee. And as he entered a village, he was met by ten lepers, who stood at a distance and lifted up their voices and said, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us." When he saw them he said to them, "Go and show yourselves to the priests." And as they went they were cleansed. Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back praising God with a loud voice; and he fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving him thanks. Now he was a ...

992. Let God Be God

John 3:1-21

Sermon

Dean Lueking

What an Immense Privilege is Ours! Today it is with an especially deep sense of gratitude and humility that I preach the text chosen for this sermon. Think of it - we come together in faith, health, and freedom to worship the living God. He welcomes us. He knows us by name. He invites us to know him by name. These are all wondrous and momentous gifts. Just to be able to know God and to proclaim the truth of his being here among us and his being for us is the first privilege of life. At times we are tempted ...

993. Parable of the Road Map

1 Samuel 15:1-35

Illustration

"Mother, what is this?" said Ralph holding up the road map. "That is a map of our state," said his mother. "What is a map? What is it for?" "Well a map shows where we live and these road numbers are marked on the map and on the roads as you drive along and if people follow the right numbers, they can get where they want to go." "How does it work?" asked Ralph. "Our town is on this route number 14 and if you are in another town, you watch for that number as you drive along the road and it brings you safely ...

994. Walk in Light

Isaiah 2:1-5

Sermon

Far above the cool, clear waters of New York State’s Lake George, looms Black Mountain, the highest of the mountains guarding that deep, clear lake. I spent five summers on that lake as a seminarian, traveling many times, as the Iroquois once traveled, under the shadow of that awe-inspiring peak. The winding trail from the lakeshore to its summit has felt the rough leather boots of hikers of a century ago and the soft deerskin moccasins centuries before that. Along the trail runs a brook filled with ...

995. Treasure's Tug

Matthew 13:44-46

Sermon

There you are, standing in the check-out line at the grocery store, shifting your weight from one foot to the other while the people ahead of you seem to be going on like a movie in slow-motion. You are already late. You consider switching lanes but quickly dismiss the idea, knowing that at that precise moment, everyone in the lane you just left will go through in an instant. Then you discover the problem. The third person ahead of you just bought an Iowa lottery ticket. That's okay, but she doesn't just ...

996. Who is Greatest Among You ...

Matthew 23:1-39

Sermon

How quickly we learn the desire to be great. The quest to become "number one" is a given in our competitive society. To some degree it is what fosters achievement and causes people to strive for excellence. Few people succeed without a fairly strong motivation to be foremost in their field. That’s the positive side. The negative side has to do with the absence of compassion and the undue pride that can go along with ambition. We can feel sorry for losers, but we prefer to associate with winners. Nothing ...

997. The Beginning of a New Life

Ruth 2:1-23

Sermon

It had been over a decade since Elimelech, Naomi, and their two sons had left Bethlehem during a severe famine, but Naomi had not changed very much in that time. "The whole town was stirred" because Naomi had returned after this long absence and had a young woman with her. The women of Bethlehem, who had known her before she left, called her by name; "Do not call me Naomi," she told them. "Call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. I went away full, and the Lord has brought me back ...

998. Fog-Clearing Moments

Matthew 17:1-13

Sermon

Remember that fog we had last November? I had to venture into it early that Sunday morning. I left home about 6:00 a.m., long before most people even thought about getting up. The fog was dense. My automobile headlights would not cut it. Visibility was reduced to about ten feet. I turned on my dimmer lights and hoped that on-coming traffic would do the same. As I drove, I felt like my car was pushing through a tunnel of smoke. I was able to drive from my house to the church because I had driven along that ...

999. The Doubting Sum

Matthew 28:16-20

Sermon

The Holy Trinity When the eleven disciples, minus Judas, came to the mountain previously chosen by Jesus to meet him, some doubted. We would like to speak concerning the sum of doubt. Doubt adds up to zero. It is not a negative number; it is nothing! When we think of the word doubt we associate words like: indecision, uncertainty, hopelessness and powerlessness. People with convictions act. The opposite of doubt is faith and only faith has power. Imagine the eleven, with the doubters included, hearing ...

1000. A Dynasty of Destiny

2 Samuel 7:1-17

Sermon

Dynasty and Dallas sit atop the slippery pole of the tube ratings. Catty Alexis and crafty J.R. pursue their juggernaut pace for the plums of power, prestige, and pelf. In Los Angeles, fervid fans still hoot and holler for a Bruin roundball dynasty built by Goliaths of the goalpost named Jabbar and Walton. The Windsor dynasty is assured of a successor, as Prince William toddles along a London street under the watchful supervision of an attendant nanny. The Kennedy dynasty gathers in sorrow around the grave ...

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