Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 1026 to 1050 of 3160 results

Luke 15:16

Children's Sermon

Wesley T. Runk

... to see him so unhappy." Later Ebeneezer found out that this young man had asked his father for his share of the family's riches so that he could go on his own. What a time he had for a very short while. He ate and drank and bought all sorts of rich clothes and spent everything that he had. He didn't sit and talk or listen to anybody. He just wanted to have fun. Pretty soon they told Ebeneezer he had spent all of his money and he was a long way from home. Besides, the sad young man ...

1027. The Box

Drama

Cynthia Mercati Prigge

... don't know what else to do. FIRST PERSON: [Quietly] We ask this in the name of thy dear son ... SECOND PERSON: What? FIRST PERSON: ... Jesus Christ our Lord. You prayed in Jesus' name. SECOND PERSON: Oh, we just put that at the end of our prayers as a sort of safety valve. You know, so God will listen. FIRST PERSON: You pray in Jesus' name - so God will listen? SECOND PERSON: That's right. FIRST PERSON: So God listens to our prayers not because of what we've done - but because of what Jesus has done. SECOND ...

1028. 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

... betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin's name was Mary. And he came to her and said, "Hail, O favored one the Lord is with you." But she was greatly troubled at the saying and considered in her mind what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold you will conceive in your womb and bear a son and you shall call his name Jesus." Narrator: Before Scene 6 Luke 2:1, 4 ...

1029. Living Passionately

Luke 4:14-30

Sermon

Louis H. Valbracht

... sad.' For John the Baptist doesn't even drink wine, and often goes without food, and you say of him, 'He's crazy.' And I, the Messiah, feast and drink and you complain that I am a glutton and a drinking man, and hand around with the worst sort of sinners! But brilliant men like you can always justify your every inconsistency!" Brilliant men like you can always justify your inconsistency! So we might say of any of those who one day in the past stood before this altar and confessed in the presence of God and ...

1030. Filled With God's Spirit

Acts 2:4

Children's Sermon

Wesley T. Runk

... , that in due time he may exalt you. Object: Clay or crazy putty. You may find some in your Sunday School nursery. Good morning, boys and girls. How are you on this lovely God's day? Isn't it wonderful the way God made the world and then put all sorts of things in it? Do you know when I was a little boy I used to love to make things out of a special material called clay? How many of you have ever worked with clay? Isn't it fun? I think so, too. But have you ever really looked ...

1031. Hos We Use Our Tongues

1 Peter 3:10

Children's Sermon

Wesley T. Runk

... it keeps your shoe laces from hurting your feet. These tongues are very important. There is another tongue that you know a lot about, don't you? Where is your tongue? In your mouth, that's right. And, oh, how important it is. That tongue can help you do all sorts of things. If you are not careful it can get you into trouble. Sometimes we say things that we are sorry for and wish that we had not said, and then we kind of get angry at our tongues. But our tongues also help us to pray and sing and ...

1032. Denominational Unity

John 17:20-26

Illustration

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 doctrinal 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 ...

1033. Seeking What Matters

Matthew 13:44-46

Sermon

... aged wife said, "I don't see what all the fuss is about; this man never did anything in his life except grow old, and it took him a hundred years to do that!" Apparently here was a fellow who had never gone for much of anything - he had just sort of ... gone! But most people, going, do go for something. There is a lot of seeking in the world, much of it with passion, much of it frantic, some of it desperate. In all our seeking, the most important consideration is this: What do we seek? The use of life ...

1034. Learning to Walk on the Water

Matthew 14:22-36

Sermon

... "circum" means around. Circumstance is that which stands around us. In all our living, we are always in the presence of circumstances, sometimes pleasant, easy, and agreeable - and sometimes not so. Often we hear the phrase "under the circumstances." These words frequently precede some sort of excuse for not doing some thing which we know we really ought to do: "I wanted to help you, but I was busy, and so, under the circumstances, I couldn't do it." The circumstances are there - all about us, always. The ...

1035. Full Barns and Empty Hearts

Luke 12:13-21

Sermon

Wallace H. Kirby

... will secure full barns by private initiative. It would be true to say that neither system functions in a pure form. Each has elements of the other system within it, though the "orthodox" in both systems would deny this contention. The real contention is over what sort of mix we want - how much state control and how much private initiative. The point is that full barns are the goal of both systems. On the personal level, our efforts toward a full barn are approved by the New Testament gospel. Even under the ...

1036. Tomb for Sale

Luke 7:11-17

Sermon

George Bass

... in the face of death. We may dare to live and look death in the eye - if not with defiance, certainly with assurance and comfort and hope. Wouldn’t you like to know the rest of the story? What happened after son and mother were reunited? What sort of life did they have after that encounter with Christ? They certainly had something to talk about, and one wonders if they became evangelists, telling the good news about Jesus the Christ to anyone who would listen. And I suppose some people laughed, as the ...

1037. Lord, Teach Us to Pray

Luke 11:1-13

Sermon

... forgive our sins, to give us the strength to resist temptation, and to support us in body and spirit as long as we live. And even when we pray freely, we often model our prayers after the model prayer that he taught long ago. But for most of us, this sort of disciplined prayer is like the tide that comes and goes; we pray - in obedience - in an "on again - off again" - and a "now-and-then" manner. With the disciples, we "go to sleep" when we ought to be praying obediently. It isn’t that we don’t want to ...

1038. Time to Get Ready

Luke 12:32-40

Sermon

... was titled "Deadline," and speaks for itself. Warnings over these four decades to the contrary, it is only now that the threat is obvious to sufficient numbers of people around the world that mass protests are being staged so that The Bomb might be banned. What sort of chance, in the light of such a well-publicized threat to life on earth that has gone virtually unheeded for almost half a century, does Jesus’ promise have, "the Son of man is coming at an unexpected hour?" In her article, "Aboard the Magic ...

1039. The Man, the Message, and the Mission

Luke 12:49-53

Sermon

George Bass

... city of Rome. Fittingly, it replaced - and was built on the ruins of - an ancient temple dedicated to the art and science of medicine, the Temple of Aesculapius, which stood there at least three centuries before Christ was born. People visited that temple, a sort of spa, to seek cures for various illnesses as well as relief from pain; the temple was elaborate. The church that replaced the temple was named San Bartolomeo all’ Isola - St. Batholomew of the Island. After it was built, a hospital was added ...

1040. Are There Any Questions?

Luke 20:27-40

Sermon

... his duty as another brother died without a child. In the resurrection, whose wife will the woman be, for each of the seven had her as his wife." Luke 20:27-33 (Paraphrased) It was a question filled with interesting implications for the curious, the sort of question prurient interests love to dwell on, and it was certain to attract the audience. But sweeping all those implications out the door, "I’m glad you asked that question." Even though it had been asked in ridicule, it sets the scene in which ...

1041. One Nation, Under Mercy

Sermon

... like water from a sponge, and who together with a company of other Spirit-born assumed the sponsorship in this new homeland for these desperate refugees. As the candidates for baptism stepped forward one by one. Mary stood beside me at the font and sorted out for me those thirty-five strange-sounding names that were then being written in the Book of Life and given their inheritance as children of the heavenly Father. Mary and the others had themselves experienced mercy. Could that be the reason? There had ...

1042. Weed-Pulling

Matthew 13:24-30

Sermon

Richard Patt

... of us. The complaint that all Jews are out to make a financial killing. Or the claim that black people don't know how to take care of their homes and allow their neighborhoods to go to ruin. That kind of over-generalizing is weed-pulling of the worst sort. For what are we really doing? We're pulling up all the wheat as well. We're saying that there are no well-motivated Jews and that respectable black home-owners don't exist. Each nationality and race of people has been the victim of over-generalizing, I ...

1043. Everybody Pray!

Matthew 15:21-28

Sermon

... elderly man in our congregation who lives in one of the downtown hotels in our city. His course is run. In a way, his life has finished. Most of his relatives are gone, and he lives in the late afternoon hours of his life. His little room is a somber sort of place. He is filled with pride about a job and career long ended, but still vivid in his memory. When I visit him he says, "I pray a lot. It does me good. I come to the Lord with my life each day, and I know he surrounds me ...

1044. The Way He Taught

Matthew 7:24-29

Sermon

... question. "I'm a Christian because that's the way I was taught!" To me that was a sad answer. Apparently he regarded his mind in earlier years like some kind of computer. It was fed particular religious data, which happened to be Christian data. Now the material is sort of locked in, like other influences from his cultural background. And that's why he's a Christian! Why are we Christians? I hope it's because daily we're overwhelmed by God's love for us in Christ. I hope it's because we are living under the ...

1045. If Only We could Be Loyal ...

Hosea 4:1-19, Hosea 6:1--7:16

Sermon

Wallace H. Kirby

... people about it. (7:8-11; 7:13-16) He also looked carefully at the present situation, telling the Hebrews what they were doing wrong and why they should change their ways. (4:1-2; 7:1-2) Finally, like those other prophetic spokesmen for God, Hosea proclaimed a sort of conditional future: If the people of Israel will return to the Lord, he will bandage their wounds. He will come to them as surely as the day dawns, as surely as the spring rains upon the earth. (6:1-3) If there were no repentance and return ...

1046. Making the Most of Time

Ephesians 5:16

Children's Sermon

... for a couple of hours and that is a good use of your time. You don't have to wait until Sunday to use some of your time to pray and do kind things for your friends and help your mother. You can do these things anytime. There are all sorts of ways that boys and girls can plan their time and make good use of it so that you are pleasing to God. By the way, you should plan some play time, because God thinks that every boy and girl should have some play time. But learn to use your ...

1047. The Bells Of Christmas Eve

Drama

... you can see, I am preparing for Christmas Eve mass - SOPHIA: It's - it's - FRANCO: It's a problem, I know. Why must you always have problems at the most inconvenient times? SOPHIA: It's more than a problem, Padre. It's - an emergency. FRANCO: Emergency? What sort of emergency? SOPHIA: Well - uh - FRANCO: Come come, Sister Sophia. How can I respond to this emergency of yours if I don't know what it is? SOPHIA: The bells are not ringing. FRANCO: That is not an emergency. There is a reason for it. Guido, the ...

1048. Prayer

Matthew 15:21-28

Bulletin Aid

A little humor can sometimes help To relieve a difficult situation. Here, Jesus seems out of character "Out of sorts", we might say. - Maybe he'd had a bad day! He not only refused to help the woman (Strange, even with a foreigner A non-Jew), He insulted her! Called her a dog! (Translate that into the vernacular if you will!) But she didn't get mad. She didn't ( ...

1049. Proper 5

Genesis 22:1-19

Sermon

... old age. Therefore, what Abraham was being commanded to do was nothing less than to destroy the one human through whom fulfillment of the great future, which God had promised Abraham and his descendants, could be accomplished. The story is done beautifully, in a macabre sort of way. We see Abraham in the early morning cutting the wood for the fire, telling his son they have a sacrifice to make. They start off on the journey. Three days they travel, and Abraham must have been nearly overcome with the terror ...

1050. Dirty Hands

Psalm 24:4

Children's Sermon

... what may appear. What is this? What do you do with it? Of course! We wash with it. Sometimes Mom needs to remind us to wash before we come to the dinner table. It's not good to eat our food with dirty hands. There could be germs and all sorts of things that would not go well with our food. Tonight, I am going to talk to you and your moms and dads about being clean as we come before God. Our spiritual hands can be dirty. God doesn't want that. He wants us clean of wrongdoing, evil thinking ...

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