Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 1001 to 1025 of 4508 results

Sermon

John Jamison

I don't know what started the argument. I don't know if anyone really knows what started the argument. In all honesty, it doesn't matter. I think we all know that most arguments never end up where they end up because of where they started. It might have started over some disagreement over the children. It might have begun over something about the in-laws, or perhaps it was her cooking again. Who k...

1002. Two Schools of Thought on Divorce

Illustration

Mickey Anders

There were two schools of thought in Jesus' day concerning divorce, one liberal and one conservative. Rabbi Shammai taught that divorce was only permissible on the grounds of some sexual impropriety. His was the stricter view. Rabbi Hillel, on the other hand, had a more liberal view and taught that a man could divorce his wife for any reason. If she burned his breakfast, put too much salt on his f...

1003. Oaths

Understanding Series

Robert H. Mounce

Sermon on the Mount: Kingdom Ethics and the Law: Matthew’s Gospel has a didactic purpose. Special emphasis is given to the message of Jesus. One of the distinct features of Matthew’s Gospel is that the teaching of Jesus is collected into five sections. The Sermon on the Mount (chaps. 5–7) is the first of these blocks. The others are Instructions to the Twelve (chap. 10), Parables of the Kingdom (c...

1004. Epiphany 7

Sermon Aid

John R. Brokhoff

COMMENTARY Old Testament: Leviticus 19:1-2, 9-18 Yahweh commands the people to be holy and to love one's neighbor. Leviticus emphasized the holiness of God. What he is by nature, his followers are to be the same. To have God is to be godly. What is God like? He is holy, generous, honest, truthful, and above all, is love. Accordingly, a godly person loves his neighbor as one loves himself. Epistl...

1005. Watch Your Language!

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

A pastor was out taking a walk one evening. He looked up and saw a little boy barreling downhill on his wagon. The wagon slammed into a tree, and all four wheels fell off. The boy said, "I'll be darned." The pastor said, "son, couldn't you think of something better to say than that?" As the two of them put the wheels back on, the boy asked, "What should I have said?" The pastor thought a moment an...

1006. Your Word is Your Bond

Sermon

James Merritt

Many of you will remember the name of a one-hit wonder called Milli Vanilli. From 1988 to 1989 they sold 30 million singles and 14 million albums. In January of 1990 they won a Grammy award for the album, "Girl, You Know It's True," and were recognized as the best new artist of that year. The only problem was it wasn't true. They had lip-synced the entire recording, and had to return the Grammy aw...

1007. You Can Be Real

Sermon

Michael B. Brown

Several years ago our family spent a week as guests at a motel deep in the Appalachian Mountains. The motel manager was a nice enough sort of guy, forty-ish and very talkative. He was an intriguing fellow. The first day there he told my wife of having previously lived in Florida where he worked as a scuba diver. "I only left because I was attacked by a killer shark," he said. "It almost got me. Ot...

1008. The Primacy of Human Relationships

Sermon

Joe Pennel

People being properly related to one another was important to Jesus. He spoke with great clarity about the primacy of human relationships. He wanted good relationships to be maintained. The re-establishment of broken relationships was a central concern. According to his teaching a person who was not properly related to others could not be properly related to God. People loving God by loving each o...

1009. Going Hard against the Grain

Sermon

Phil Thrailkill

Perhaps you have heard the story of the star-thrower, first published by Loren Eiseley in his 1969 book The Unexpected Universe. He tells of walking along a beach "littered with the debris of life.... Along the strip of wet sand that marks the ebbing and flowing of the tide, death walks hugely and in many forms. In the end the sea rejects its offspring. They cannot fight their way home through the...

1010. We Must Not Lie

Illustration

Adrian Dieleman

A pastor ended one Sunday service by instructing his people, "I would like all of you to read Mark 17 before next Sunday." The following Sunday, true to his word, he asked the congregation, "How many of you actually read Mark 17 this past week?" Almost everyone in the pews raised their hands. The pastor then stunned his people by announcing, "Ladies and gentlemen, there is no 17th chapter in Mark...

1011. No Retaliation

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

What do you do when a competitor puts out a false report about your product to the customers? Do you circulate a negative report about his product? When you are not included on someone's invitation list, what do you do? Cut that person off your invitation list? If someone calls you a racist, what's your reaction? Do you shout, "You're a bigger one!"? Honest answers to these questions reveal whethe...

1012. Matthew 5:38-48

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

When the new puppy makes a mistake — piddles on the floor, dines on your Adidas, digs up the flower bed — we correct the bad behavior with our tone of voice. We let the puppy know our displeasure by the way we say “Shame on you!” uttered with great incrimination and a pointed finger. Of course, the dog doesn’t get “shame.” But the dog does eventually get the tone of voice, the displeasure, the “id...

1013. Jesus' Countercultural Sermon

Sermon

Mark Radecke

Sometimes age and experience force us to reevaluate long held beliefs about the world and the way life works. As idealistic youths in Sunday school and Luther League, for instance, my friends and I vexed and perplexed our ultra-orthodox pastor by arguing against the doctrine of original sin. We were convinced that people were innately and instinctively good. And then we grew up and were "mugged ...

1014. Forgiving the Bully

Sermon

John Jamison

I like the first part of this story about Jesus. All those blessings, and that neat parable about the salt of the earth, and the light of the world. It makes me feel good inside. But now it gets difficult. Let me put this in terms that I can understand. The first time I ever remember hating anyone was in the third grade. The kid's name was Les. Les moved into town part way through the year and fro...

1015. Love for Enemies not Eye for and Eye

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

In its original context, “eye for eye” (the Old Testament lex talionis, or law of retribution; Exod. 21:24; Matt. 5:38) was likely a means of limiting personal revenge, leaving the exacting of fair retribution to a court. Once again, Jesus further limits an Old Testament prescription, this time disallowing all forms of retaliation to various insults to honor: a backhanded blow as an act to dishono...

1016. An Eye for an Eye

Understanding Series

Robert H. Mounce

1017. Seventh Sunday after the Epiphany

Bulletin Aid

B. David Hostetter

READINGS Psalter--Psalms 119:33-40 First Lesson--The holiness God requires is not piety alone but justice and compassion for one's neighbors. Leviticus 19:1-2, 9-18 Second Lesson--Only what is built on the foundation of Christ will endure. 1 Corinthians 3:10-11, 16-23 Gospel--Jesus updates the commandments with startling changes to nonviolent behavior. Matthew 5:38-48 CALL TO WORSHIP Leader: The ...

1018. The Holiness Of The Christian Walk

Bulletin Aid

James Wilson

Call To Worship Leader: Let us come together all who seek the mercy of the Lord! People: For we have all sinned and come short of the glory of God. Leader: Let us come not as ones greater or lesser, but all humbly before God. People: For only in God's mercy and grace do we find favor before the Lord. Leader: Then let us give praise for in Christ we have known God's Love. All: Blessed be the name o...

1019. Epiphany 8

Bulletin Aid

First Lesson: Leviticus 19:1-2, 9-18 Theme: Love your neighbor as yourself Call to Worship Pastor: We are the children of God; and as his children we are to love one another. People: We deny God as our Father when we are unkind or unfair to each other. Pastor: Therefore we are commanded by God to love our neighbors as ourselves. People: May our attitude in society prove we are children of God. ...

1020. Epiphany 8

Bulletin Aid

Theme: Emulating God's love Exegetical note These last two of Jesus's so-called antitheses ("You have heard it said..., but I say ...") continue Jesus' radicalization of the righteousness of (in the first instance) the Old Testament statutes and (in the second) conventional wisdom. The closing demand for perfection (v. 48) should not be taken literally or our of context, but in light of vv. 43ff....

1021. Emulating God's Love

Bulletin Aid

Dennis Koch

Gospel Notes These last two of Jesus' so-called antitheses ("You have heard it said ..., but I say ...") continue Jesus' radicalization of the righteousness of (in the first instance) the Old Testament statutes and (in the second) conventional wisdom. The closing demand for perfection (v. 48) should not be taken literally or out of context, but in light of vv. 43ff., as an exhortation to emulate G...

1022. Epiphany 7

Sermon Aid

THEOLOGICAL CLUE As the Epiphany season nears its conclusion, the homiletical framework of the season con-tinues to thin out and the role of the readings becomes more important for the establishment of the theme for the day. Under the older church year, this would be Sexagesima Sunday, the second of the "three-to-get-ready for Lent" Sundays. They were removed from the church year's "Pre-Lent" and...

1023. Teaching About Revenge And About Loving Enemies

Drama

Dallas A. Brauninger

Suggestions: Use in ordinary sequence with the scripture reading. Characters: 10 speakers - men and women of all ages (Speakers read from a sitting position in usual places in the pews. If voices do not carry well in your sanctuary, invite speakers to sit near the center aisle and let the minister carry a portable microphone to each in an interviewing manner.) Key: 1-10 = readers 1: "You have h...

1024. The Inmate

Drama

Robert F. Crowley

Theme: Turn the other cheek? It sounds good when you read it in the Bible, but is it possible today? Summary: An inmate in prison is trying to turn the other cheek and is being questioned by the guard commander. Playing Time: 3 minutes Setting: A prison office Props File containing reports Homemade knife Costumes Guard, commander -- officer uniform, white shirt, black trousers, black tie. Sti...

1025. “Your Honor:” Jesus’ Honor Code of Turning the Other Cheek

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

Honor Bound. Those words “honor bound” have deep resonance. *Cub Scouts declare, “On my honor as a Scout...” *Soldiers pledge themselves to “Duty. Honor. Country.” *The fifth commandment (depending on how you count) says “Honor thy father and thy mother.” *Husbands and wives promise to “Love. Honor. Cherish.” A point of honor is a good thing. Honor points us beyond ourselves and our little orbi...

Showing 1001 to 1025 of 4508 results