Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 1051 to 1075 of 3160 results

1051. Being Wealthy, Religious and Powerful

Micah 2:1-5

Sermon

... other occasions. Here he is addressing his own people. His people who claimed the temple of Solomon as their place of worship and continued to worship and think of themselves as the people of God but had become specialists in anti-God activity of every sort. That activity included devising wickedness; brewing up new ways to do evil even when they should have been sleeping; defrauding people simply because they had the power to do so ("My first in your face" was their motto) and not only coveting a field but ...

1052. The Sunday of the Passion

Matthew 26:14--27:66

Sermon

Kendall McCabe

... story about the entry into Jerusalem, and because of all those children shouting "Hosanna," there was a good excuse to do the baptism of infants or confirmation of youth. We could all sing "The Palms," and it was very clear what the day was about. Sort of a practice run for Easter when we would pull out all the stops. But now the Sunday of the Passion! No longer one short lesson describing the entry into Jerusalem, but practically two whole chapters of Matthew, and those not the shortest. Of course ...

1053. The Fourth Sunday of Easter

John 10:1-21

Sermon

Kendall K. McCabe

... in that succession are able to do things "validly." It becomes magical in its interpretation and understanding, even if one were able to buy the argument that such an unbroken succession actually can be proven to exist. The poet Milton clearly felt that that sort of genealogy was no protection against unworthy clergy when he wrote this about the bishops of his day. He described them: ... such as for their bellies' sake Creep and intrude and climb into the fold! Of other care they little reckoning make Than ...

1054. Wellspring for the Soul

John 4:1-26

Sermon

Dean Lueking

... the job. It is his inner listlessness of soul that gives her concern. The medieval church had a word for this ailment - accidie they called it in Latin. It means a sloth - a kind of drought of soul, sadness in the face of spiritual good, a sort of "so what?" outlook that concludes that since nothing counts, anything goes. Prayer dries up. Values are held but loosely if at all. Life grows dull. Hope seems pointless. Love is just too much work. Recovering a Buried Desire What one doesn’t even realize under ...

1055. God Cares for Us

Luke 7:11-17

Children's Sermon

... that someone else would have helped? Look what I brought with me this morning. Does anyone know what we call this box? That's right, a first aid kit. When we look inside it we will find bandages and tape and medicine for cuts and medicine for burns and all sorts of things that help people when they are hurt. A first-aid kit can help people until they can be taken to a doctor if they are really hurt seriously. It is used to take care of the problem right away without having to go home or to the hospital ...

1056. Easter 2

Acts 5:17-42, Revelation 1:4-8, Revelation 1:9-20, John 20:19-23, John 20:24-31

Sermon Aid

... forgiveness - v. 31 Lesson 1: Acts 5:12-16 Let's Get Growing! Need: The picture of the first church, following the resurrection of the Lord, is one of growth, enthusiasm and excitement. There is no reason to see this as a one-time, first-time-out-of-the-chute sort of phenomenon. The church can and must continue to grow today, and needs to recover the spirit of the first community. 1. Growth is God's plan for all life a. When we stop growing, we start to die b. Just as we expect our bodies to grow, we ought ...

1057. Easter 7

Jn 17:20-26 · Acts 7:55-60; 16:16-34 · Rev 22:12-20

Sermon Aid

Russell F. Anderson

... a need - "help us" - v. 9 Lesson 1: Acts 7:55-60 The Ugly Side of Easter. Need: This season can be glorified to the point of unreality. Easter brings new life and new begin-nings, but living in the promises of Easter can also bring the sort of tragedy which befell Stephen, one intoxicated with the empty tomb's meaning for life. We need to balance euphoria with realism as we face a hostile world with God's good news. 1. Easter can turn everything around a. Stephen was launched onto a stunning preaching ...

1058. A Call for a Change in Lifestyle

Matthew 3:1-12

Sermon

... is that members of AA more heartily embrace this theological truth than most Christians do. So John really is speaking to you and me when he says, Repent, (and be baptized), for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. If Advent contains a call to repentance (and a sort of death) on the one hand, it is also a reminder that we Christians are to live a new kind of life every day. Repentance is really changing one’s lifestyle, so the concerns and the commands of Christ come above everything else we do or think ...

1059. A Manger is Christ’s Cradle

Luke 2:1-7

Sermon

... the men know of that sky long ago, The gleam of a star was there.16 If it were a single star putting on the spectacular show that night, it must have been so bright it lighted up the entire sky. The shepherds, who were used to seeing all sorts of strange things at night, had never seen anything like it. And, with good reason, th1ey were afraid. Who wouldn’t be? It must have seemed to them that something terrible was about to happen. They soon found out they had nothing to fear, because they were the first ...

1060. Deliverance by a Dream

Matthew 2:13-18

Sermon

... to be about the most significant enterprise that I could have (been involved in) ... I’m scared (because) ... there’s a lot of risk involved in terms of what you can accomplish, but I believe it’s worth the try." There’s no question in my mind that’s the sort of thing God wants done in this world, in order to save the little children, and you and I are the ones he wants to do it. Where was God, the God who warned Joseph in a dream to get out of Bethlehem and take refuge in Egypt, when the ...

1061. Death by Water

Matthew 3:13-17

Sermon

... there is not much evident concern. A man who seems rather remote from his neighbors, said, "I’ll pray for her." A Roman Catholic woman wrote on the card, "I’ll pray for you, Kathy." Nearly everyone on the street made some comment, or wrote something of that sort on the card. For a time, there was a bit of a community in Christ existing in the midst of a life-threatening crisis. People seemed to believe it would do some good to pray to God for the woman with cancer, and Jesus would hear and answer ...

1062. The Lamb of God

John 1:29-34

Sermon

... being mad. People would have listened if he had claimed the title of Messiah, and would have followed his teachings. Confusion, at best, would have resulted. If John had been mentally ill or otherwise convinced he was the Messiah, he might even have made the sort of attempt on Jesus’ life that Agca made on the pope. And he might have succeeded, much as did Bryan Stanley, who lived in a small town in Wisconsin, believed himself to be Elijah, and actually killed Father John Rossiter, Ferdinand L. Roth, Sr ...

1063. Training Session

Matthew 5:1-12

Sermon

... the knowledge they have done something of consequence by entering into the suffering of these people, and that will never be taken away from them. Who can predict what additional good will come out of their experience with that terrible tragedy.40 That’s the sort of thing Jesus was talking about in the Sermon on the Mount - never-ending joys that cannot be diminished or destroyed by anything that happens in this life, because God has given us entrance into the kingdom and the work of the kingdom here on ...

1064. Second Lesson

Matthew 5:13-16

Sermon

... our negligence and spiritual failures. Years ago, a pastor began his ministry in spectacular fashion in a city where I was serving. He was constantly making headlines and seemed to be attracting many people to the congregation he served. He had all sorts of ideas and innovations, and people were constantly talking about him. His outdoor bulletin board not only announced his sermons with striking titles, but it carried news of each event this pastor had planned. Someone asked the assistant to the bishop of ...

1065. The Importance of Forgiving Others

Matthew 5:17-20

Sermon

... of such people, "They don’t deserve to belong to the human race." And we refuse to forgive them. And, too, we place ourselves in jeopardy of losing God’s precious gift in Christ - forgiveness and reconciliation and heaven itself - when we do this sort of thing. Stanley Spencer, the Scottish painter who died a quarter of a century ago, makes us realize that we would rather judge and condemn other persons rather than forgive them. Despite the fact that he could hardly be numbered among those who confess ...

1066. Magic Mountain

Matthew 17:1-13

Sermon

... doesn’t tell us the answer to that. It was Jesus who spoke to the three disciples, saying, "Don’t be afraid ... Rise, and have no fear." They did just that, still, trembling a bit from the voice that had spoken to them and, in a way, affected a sort of coronation for Christ as King of Kings and Lord of Lords, on that very mountain. They knew they had seen the glory of the Lord and heard God’s voice, and as glorious as the experience had been, it completely overwhelmed them. But Jesus knew Peter, and ...

1067. The Choice

Matthew 16:13-20

Sermon

... ." In this kind of world, you'd think Jesus would simply have asked his disciples. "Are you for me or against me?" Not this time. Instead he asked, "Who do you say I am?" Who? I propose that is still the question: Who do you say Jesus is? All sorts of people were "for" Jesus. The crowds were for him. He was their miracle-worker. The hungry were for him. He was their next meal. The political revolutionaries were for him. He was trouble for the Romans. The sick were for him. He was their chance to feel good ...

1068. No Telltale Clues

Matthew 9:9-13

Sermon

... that Matthew was not what could be called a model recipient of Jesus' invitation. The man to whom Jesus gave his authoritative command was not exactly an ideal applicant. Matthew was one of the publicans and sinners that the text talks about. He was the sort of person that neither Jesus nor any good person should have anything to do with. One need not be overly pious to understand why. According to some accounts, Matthew was a type of person that was regularly excommunicated from synagogues as a traitor and ...

1069. Ready or Not

Matthew 10:1-42

Sermon

... , L-shaped cell in his native Argentina. For two days he was kept in total darkness. On the third day a guard opened the door and Esquivel could see what he had not seen before. The walls of the confining room were covered with all sorts of scribblings. There were some names, some insults, some prayers. What affected him most, however, was a huge bloodstain. Below the stain, sketched by someone's finger dipped in blood, were the words: "God doesn't kill." Esquivel later writes about hope and about grace ...

1070. The Call to Servanthood

Isaiah 42:1-9

Sermon

... his up. In the matter of choosing, the world is not much different today. Always we seek the best, the brightest, the richest, the strongest, the fastest, the largest. All of us here in this Seminary community are here after some sort of screening process, faculty and student alike. Our credentials have been checked. Our grades, interviews, publications, possibilities, potentialities, and worth have been weighed and measured. And after a rigorous screening process, still we are checked to see that we were ...

1071. The Call for Proper Fasting

Isaiah 58:1-14

Sermon

... human beings. Effectual fasting is directing our lives and sacrificial action towards our neighbors, who need our lives and our love. In the list of fasts pleasing to God, the primary place in the list is action on our part that releases people from any sort of bondage which imprisons or enslaves. If the bondage is economic, political, drug, judicial, or whatever, we are to become the instruments of freedom for all who are bound up. For Judah/Israel, they had been slaves in Egypt and God had set them free ...

1072. And You Thought God Didn't Care!

Exodus 3:1-22

Sermon

... is Jesus. J. B. Phillips has said a man may find difficulty in writing a poem, but if he cries, "Oh, William Shakespeare, help me!" nothing whatever happens. A man may be terribly afraid, but if he cries, "Oh, Horatio Nelson, help me!" there is no sort of reply. But if he is at the end of his moral resources or cannot, by effort of will, muster up sufficient positive love and goodness, and he cries, "Oh, Christ, help me!" something happens at once. Christ comes to us, sees our dilemma, our affliction ...

1073. So Soon We Forget!

Exodus 16:1-36

Sermon

... for washing clothes: 1. Build a fire in the backyard to heat a kettle of rain water. 2. Set the tubs so that the smoke won't blow in the eyes if the wind is pert. 3. Shave one whole cake of homemade lye soap in the boiling water. 4. Sort things and make three piles: one for white clothes, one for colored, and one for britches and rags. 5. Rub the dirty spots on the washboard; scrub hard, then boil, rench, and starch. 6. Take white things out of kettle with broomstick. 7. Spread tea towels on the lawn to ...

1074. Mi Casa, Su Casa

Matthew 21:33-46

Sermon

Mark Radecke

... has rented from a half-dozen different landlords over the years. They’ve ranged from the deft to the daft, from the efficient to the effete. And, as a group, tenants are an even more mixed lot. Given human nature and this sort of relationship, the potential for mutual mistrust, fear, suspicion and resentment runs exceptionally high. States have had to enact lengthy legislation to govern the relationship, protecting the rights of both parties. And so the setting for St. Matthew’s parable or allegory ...

1075. Talents and Trust

Matthew 25:14-30

Sermon

... the enormity of the task that we will imitate the one talent man, retreat into self-defensive non-action, and let things go to rack and ruin. Therefore, as Redeemer, God breaks into our lives with forgiveness. Forgiveness both for wrong action and for inaction. That sort of forgiveness is precisely what it takes to shake the living daylights into us, and shock us into living - really living, to take the risks God empowers and enables us to take, to make use of the talents and gifts he has entrusted to us ...

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