Sermon and Worship Resources

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Mark 8:31--9:1

Children's Sermon

SHARING THIS WEEK'S GOSPEL THEME AT SUNDAY CHURCH SCHOOL Teachers: Jesus' rejection is the subject of the children's message. References are made to times when the children were left out of activities and their feelings about rejection. Begin your discussion by sharing a time when you were left out and how you felt. Ask each of the children to share a time when either ...

977. The Pentecost Cycle

Acts 2:1-13

Sermon Aid

George Bass

... . One may develop sermon themes that, while revealing the edifying power of the Word and Holy Spirit, also point out, and call for, the response of the people of God right now. God's call to discipleship and obedience is always a proper subject in the light of his saving grace in Jesus Christ. Above all, the gospel must not be forgotten, and the Pentecost cycle/season is "dotted" with kerygmatic "accent marks" - the various saints' days - that help to maintain the proper relationship between God's grace ...

978. Rocky

Matthew 16:13-20

Sermon

William J. Carl

... a bumbler; he was also a big talker. It’s like the vacation church school kid who came up to his pastor one day during the week and said, “You’re the guy who’s always talking in church.” That’s the way Peter was, always spouting off about this subject or that. Always mouthing off about how much he could do on his own and how he didn’t need anybody else. “I can walk on the water all by myself, thank you very much,” and then sank like a rock because that’s what rocks do in the water ...

979. Dapple Gray

Sermon

Thomas Slavens

... Gray; I lent him to a lady To ride a mile away. She whipped him, she lashed him, She rode him through the mire; I would not lend my pony now For all the lady’s hire. “Dapple Gray” is one of our finest nursery rhymes on the subject of stewardship. The lady to whom Dapple Gray was “lent” was a steward, a poor steward to be sure, but, nonetheless, a steward, one to whom had been entrusted the property of another. Dapple Gray’s rider lacked an adequate sense of her stewardship, so Dapple took the ...

980. The Strength of the Master

Sermon

Thomas Slavens

... a saccharin Christ. Some radio, television and movie producers perpetuate this idea of the Master. The voice chosen to take the part of the Master in radio dramas about his life is all too often weak and thin. In television shows and movies on the same subject the person chosen to represent the Master is all too often a weak, milk-white, manicured actor. To be sure Jesus was kind to the unfortunate, loving to the unlovely and patient with the impatient, but he was not a weakling. On laity Sunday it is ...

981. Trumpets on the Other Side

John 11:17-37

Sermon

Thomas Slavens

... of death, death will come to each person. Shakespeare was right when he wrote: Golden lads and girls all must,As chimney-sweepers, come to dust.6 Many people face death with some misgivings, as they face any new experience. Some do not want the subject mentioned. However, to refuse to face death realistically is as ridiculous as it is to refuse to face life realistically. Two views of death are common. The first view asserts that death is the end. Those with this outlook usually maintain, “There is no God ...

982. Jesus Is Baptized

Luke 3:21-38

Sermon

James Garrett

... days of our lives, continually to turn to God as children. Life is a continuous conversion. In every setting in which we are put we have to “put on the new person.” There are whole areas of our lives which have not yet been brought into subjection, and it can only be done by this continuous conversion. Frederick Buechner reminds us that God cannot be expressed but only experienced. “A Christian is one who points at Christ and says, ‘I can’t prove a thing, but there’s something about his eyes and ...

983. You Must Become As A Child

Mark 10:13-16

Sermon

Brett Blair

... in the Memphis and Tennessee conferences combined. God valued children so much that he used them to help usher in the Kingdom. He came in the form of a child. At the First Methodist church, I want us not only to be educated about this subject, but also devise a strategy to help address the issue of children in danger. Certainly we can create programs that help remove children from danger. When we get out new recreational facility, I want us to have an after school program, that is desperately needed ...

984. Good News From A Graveyard

John 20:1-9

Sermon

John M. Braaten

... and recapture the Easter ecstasy. For one thing, if Jesus had really come back to life it would mean that they could never get away from God, even in death. That thought is more than a little frightening for it means that one's life is always subject to God's judgment; there is no forgetting; no escape. If a person wanted to evade God, if they wanted to declare their independence from God, one of the first things they would need to do is eliminate the whole idea of resurrection. Indeed, our difficulties in ...

985. A Strange Kind Of Glory

John 13:31-38

Sermon

John M. Braaten

... disciples and says, "Now the Son of Man's glory is revealed; now God's glory is revealed through him and he will do it at once," and from there he goes out to be arrested like a common felon, to be publicly flogged and ridiculed, and finally to be subjected to utter humiliation, as they hang him stark naked on a cross. Some glory! Some glory. Now that's more than enough to blow our minds because to our way of thinking, what Jesus experienced is about as far from glory as you can get. In fact, the whole ...

986. Portrait Of A Powerful Servant

John 13:1-17

Sermon

John M. Braaten

... in all of history. We as a nation have more opportunities to serve this world in bringing peace and security than ever before, but we must constantly fight the urges of self-interest which, lording it over others, would alienate them from us. The church is subject to the same uses of power. Basically there are two options. The first is to divide up into interest groups and bring the church to its knees, demanding that it submit to our ideas, utilize our language, conform to our concepts of what we want the ...

987. Living As A Christian

1 Peter 3:8-22

Drama

Dallas A. Brauninger

... , which this prefigured, now saves you - not as a removal of dirt from the body, but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers made subject to him.

988. The Marked Man

Sermon

George Bass

... by Jesus Christ, and that we don’t have to worry about death anymore. Decades before people began to be concerned about “death and dying,” and started to discuss death, write books and articles about the process, and teach courses on the subject in colleges, seminaries and hospitals, Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote, in his Letters and Papers From Prison: “Do we not attach more importance nowadays to the act of dying than to death itself? We are much more concerned with getting over the act of dying ...

989. Are Greatness and Christianity Compatible?

Mark 9:33-37

Sermon

Donald Macleod

... to his instruction of his disciples. On an itinerant mission to Capernaum, Jesus overheard the disciples carrying on a rather heady and stealthy discussion of their own. When they arrived at the house (presumably Peter's), he asked them what was the subject of their tete-a-tete out on the highway. Obviously they were somewhat ashamed of themselves, for they met Jesus' question with an embarrassed silence. Apparently Jesus suspected what had been the thrust of their clandestine debate and he broke the ...

990. Is It Really Worth It?

Drama

Timothy W. Ayers

... to pay my Visa bill as well? Wife: OK, I've had it. I'm going to church Easter with or without you. Husband: You sure are touchy lately. I think that Jane Fonda exercise tape has rattled your brains. You better switch to low-impact aerobics. This whole subject isn't worth us arguing over. Wife: Ugh! Husband: (Reads paper) Hey, babe, listen to this. There is going to be a funny car race at the (local auditorium or drag strip) tomorrow. Now this is worth the effort to get there. I love to see those guys go ...

991. Trial-and-Error or Grace

Matthew 5:1-12

Sermon

Thomas Peterson

... . Look at the proud spirits in our day who have refused to change: President Nixon, Marcos, Noriega, and a host of fallen TV evangelists, movie stars and politicians. F. Scott Peck in People of the Lie (New York; Simon & Shuster, 1983) writes this on the subject: All adults who are mentally healthy submit themselves one way or another to something higher than themselves, be it God or truth or love or some other ideal. They do what God wants them to do rather than what they would desire…. They believe in ...

992. Enter God

Mark 9:33-37

Sermon

Thomas Peterson

... , having seen him face-to-face, offering my self, my soul, my all. In recognition of his majesty, justice, and mercy, I stand before his judgment. God is present, and when God is present God is in control. I wait. I wait for him to receive me. Subject to him, I have no further stubborn insistence on my own control. I surrender to him, in petition for his love, knowing that it will come with forgiveness and acceptance. When I receive Jesus into my life, I may feel more comfortable with him, but a meeting ...

993. A Road Map to the Kingdom

Mark 10:13-16

Sermon

Thomas Peterson

... have come within and between us? 2. Children trust. They are therefore able to find and enjoy new opportunities with new people. To have this trust taken away is a life-scarring event. 3. Children are adaptable. I learned this well when reading on the subject of adult education. Adults are more sensitive to correction than children. A child, when he says he cannot do it, is told quite firmly “Oh, yes, you can.” Pressure is applied to make the child keep trying. An adult, when spoken to this way, may ...

994. A Name To Be Remembered

Exodus 3:1-22

Sermon

Walter Kimbrough

... us in the human condition as the liberator of the poor and the weak, empowering them to fight for freedom because they were made for it.” God is where we are in the struggle of the world to be free. All over the world where persons are subjected to poverty, racism, sexism, economic despair and social injustices, God is always present and intervenes on their behalf. God came to the world in human form to set free the least of these. Luke chapter four reminds us of an experience of Jesus in the synagogue on ...

995. God’s Ultimate Concern

Exodus 20:1-21

Sermon

Walter Kimbrough

... .” All of these commandments bring us into right relationship with the people around. For how can we authentically love God and possess a warped relationship with those persons around us? The answer is obvious, we cannot. These commandments become more objective than subjective. If we were being graded, the method would be mathematical and scientific because we would be right or wrong. The gray area has been eliminated, and so the verdict can be a clear and concise, guilty or innocent. The people of God ...

996. Saved By Grace

Exodus 32:1-33:6

Sermon

Walter Kimbrough

This subject causes one to focus on two significant theological expressions having a direct bearing on the quality of human life: salvation and grace. The apostle Paul adds a third expression that he calls faith; “For it is by grace that you have been saved through faith -- and this is not from ...

997. The Majesty Of God's Love

Matthew 28:16-20

Sermon

Mark Ellingsen

... reformers expressed the Catholic faith very well at this point. Here is what he said: "For while my enemies stand before my very door and plan to slay me, my faith reasons thus: Christ is ascended into heaven and became Lord over all creatures, hence my enemies, too, must be subject to him and thus it is not in their power to do me harm."3 With Jesus in heaven, a sure sign that he is Lord of all, those of us who are in him can be assured that nothing ultimately can harm us. Are you in the midst of ...

998. The Road To The Cross

Matthew 27:11-26

Sermon

Mark Ellingsen

... about finding a place or protecting our place in these institutions. How can the church remain silent about such social sin? Our text forbids such silence. It condemns such social sin insofar as social sin nails Christ to the cross. One more word on the subject (a word of freedom and responsibility) is proclaimed by our gospel story. It is interesting to note the kind of man who is released by the crowd's decision. It is Barabbas, a "notable [notorious] prisoner (Matthew 27:15.)" Jesus' death set a criminal ...

999. Everything Except God

Amos 5:1-17

Sermon

Richard Hasler

... story with lots of humor and light moments. These two people have a difficult time understanding each other and communicating with each other. Eventually, they learn that they have much in common though from radically different backgrounds. Both of them have been subject to prejudice and discrimination. Gradually, they come to see each other in a different light. What about women? Have we been aware of the oppression that many women have suffered, and some continue to suffer? In the latter part of the 19th ...

1000. How To Hear A Sermon

Micah 1:1-7

Sermon

Richard Hasler

... , not on magic or music, and so technology burst forward into publishing…”2 Yes, Christians are distinctly a people of “the Book.” If that is the case should we not be familiar with the contents of the Scriptures? We would not approach another subject or an important assignment of work without adequate preparation, and yet we will come to worship without consulting the primary source of the Christian faith. Would it not be more advisable for us to read the Scriptures throughout the week so that the ...

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