Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 1076 to 1100 of 1533 results

Exodus 20:1-21

Sermon

Frank H. Seilhamer

"Give weight to your father and your mother that you may live long in the land which the Lord your God is giving you." Exodus 20:12 One of the things about the Commandments is that even though there is only a handful of them they speak to nearly every area of life. Though in some instances they are only a few words or phrases long, they touch virtually every basic relationship that a man has with his fellows, as well as with God. The longer that perceptive and sensitive people study and live with them the ...

1077. Picking A Winner, Claiming A Treasure

Matthew 13:44-46

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

Bishop Ernest Fitzgerald tells about a slightly crooked Texan who was a big racer of horses. He took one of his prize thoroughbreds to London for an international race. The Texan was back in the stable area prior to the race feeding his horse some suspicious-looking little white pills. The Duke of Marlborough who also had a horse in the race, happened to see what the Texan was doing. "My good man," he said, "Don't you know that that is illegal. You cannot give a horse any performance-enhancing drugs. I ...

1078. At The Manger By Invitation

Luke 2:8-20

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

I know of a certain family which has for years spent a Saturday in mid-December finding and bringing home the right Christmas tree. They do not buy a tree off a lot. Instead, they prefer to go to a tree farm. There they spend much time selecting the tree that is just right--not too tall, not too thin, with just the right shape. Then the tree is cut down and brought home. Last year the choice was very difficult. Not because there weren't a lot of beautiful trees available. The problem was that the youngest ...

1079. A Risky Lifestyle

Matthew 25:14-30

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

The worst nightmare of every mother happened to a Memphis woman just over a year ago. A woman named Anita was stopped for a traffic light at the corner of Highland and Southern. Suddenly a stranger opened the passenger door of her car, grabbed her 2-month- old baby, and ran. Anita's instincts took over. She slammed that car into park, jumped out, and ran after the man. A terrified mother can move with lightning speed. When she got near the man he threw her baby into a ditch and kept on running. ...

1080. Called Into Covenant

Genesis 9:1-17

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

Did you see the glorious color picture of the rainbow in last Monday's Commercial Appeal? It had to do with Davis Love's victory in last week's Professional Golf Association Championship. Just as he marched triumphantly onto the 18th green, a glorious rainbow arched across the sky. Though the PGA could not have known I would be preaching on the rainbow covenant today, the Lord did. It was mighty nice of them both to provide an advertisement in living color of my sermon focus for the weekend. Genesis, ...

1081. Running a Marathon

Hebrews 12:1-13

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

Almost 20,000 runners competed in the 1986 New York Marathon. I don't know who won, but I do know who finished last. His name is Bob Wieland. While the winner completed the race in just over 2 hours, Bob Wieland finished in four days, two hours, forty-eight minutes, and seventeen seconds. Why is that remarkable? Because Bob ran with his arms. Seventeen years earlier while serving in Vietnam, Bob's legs were blown off in battle. So, when Bob competes, he sits on a 15 pound saddle, covers his fists with pads ...

1082. Service Without Witness

Isaiah 50:1-11

Sermon

Donald Macleod

Most worshiping Christians are familiar with at least that part of a wonderful prayer by St. Francis of Assisi that goes this way: Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love. Where there is injury, pardon. Where there is doubt, faith. Where there is despair, hope. Where there is darkness, light. Where there is sadness, joy.1 These words reach into the deepest meaning of service, but note this very significant feature: St. Francis combines serving with being. Many ...

1083. The Vicarious Servant

Isaiah 52:13--53:12

Sermon

Donald Macleod

The beloved English cleric, Geoffrey Studdert Kennedy, wrote a poem, titled The Unutterable Beauty, which makes appropriate hearing on Good Friday: When Jesus came to Golgotha, they hanged him to a tree; They drove great nails in hands and feet and made a Calvary. They placed on him a crown of thorns; red were his wounds and deep, For those were crude and cruel days, and human flesh was cheap. When Jesus came to Birmingham, they simply passed him by; They never hurt a hair of him; they only let him die. ...

1084. All-Out Love

Mark 12:28-34

Sermon

James W. Robinson

Jesus is now in Jerusalem, where the death he has predicted is little more than a breath away. His enemies are closing in, firing salvos of accusations impugning his religious orthodoxy and his loyalty to Caesar. They hope to find blasphemy and treason in his responses. What pastor has not found himself in somewhat the same situation? The telephone rings in the parsonage, manse, or rectory. A caller, who prefers to remain anonymous, launches a mini-probe of the pastor’s beliefs about heaven and hell, and ...

1085. Let’s Climb a Mountain

Matthew 5:1-12

Sermon

James W. Robinson

How would you like to climb a mountain? Right now. Too tired? Completely exhausted after a week of commuting to the office or working around the house? What if you could take the hike without leaving your seat? Don’t scoff! It can be done. No leg work is required. All you need do is exercise your imagination. So, off we go, up the Sermon on the Mount, crossing the ridge to a lookout that offers us a view of the loftiest peaks of the Mount. Those peaks have a name. Collectively, they are known as the ...

1086. How Can We Meet Grief?

2 Samuel 18:19--19:8

Sermon

Edward Chinn

Across thirty centuries, comes this cry of grief from David, whom God called from being a shepherd of herds to be the shepherd of His people, Israel. David had a son named Absalom. Absalom had murdered his brother because that brother had raped his sister, Tamar. After being accepted back into the family, Absalom had led a rebellion against his father, the king. That rebel son had won the Israeli army to his side. In a dramatic showdown in the woods of Ephraim, Absalom rode through the forest away from his ...

1087. Waiting

Isaiah 63:7--64:12

Sermon

Thomas D. Peterson

We modern people hate to wait. In our busy-busy, get-ahead, world waiting is a waste of time. After all, he who hesitates is lost. We must be "firstest with the mostest"; and, if the situation is not ready for us to be firstest, then we manipulate things to make it ready. Yet, before we go farther with these attitudes we all share, let us stop to consider that there are many good reasons for waiting. Let’s look and see. We wait for paint to dry. When we do not wait, the second coat bleeds through and we ...

1088. Easter 3

Acts 3:11-26, 1 John 2:28--3:10, Luke 24:36-49

Bulletin Aid

Paul A. Laughlin

First Lesson: Acts 3:12-19 Theme: Times of restoration and refreshing repentance Exegetical note In the aftermath of his and John’s healing of a lame man, Peter delivers a sermon attributing the power behind the event to the name of Jesus, the Resurrected one, faith in which leads to the restoration of health. Peter therefore urges everyone to repent, promising them "refreshing times" as a result. Important in this entire story is the fact that neither faith nor refreshment on the part of the lame man ...

1089. Proper 9

2 Samuel 7:1-17, 2 Corinthians 12:1-10, Mark 6:1-6

Bulletin Aid

Paul A. Laughlin

First Lesson: 2 Samuel 7:1-17 Theme: Our house-plans versus God’s house-plans Exegetical Note David’s plan here is very well-intentioned and commendable: to build a very tangible "house" (i.e., temple) for the ark of the covenant. But Nathan, though initially approving the idea, has a dream in which God speaks, declaring that the real need for a "house" lies with David, but of a more spiritual kind (i.e. a royal lineage), which God promises to build for David. The incident is a reminder of how God tends to ...

1090. The Forgotten Virtue

Philippians 2:1-11

Sermon

Louis H. Valbracht

An author by the name of Vardis Fisher has written a novel, which I have not read, but I suspect that the title suggests more than all of the material that might be included in that volume. The name of the book is Forgive Us Our Virtues. Forgive us our virtues - it’s a prayer that we all might offer. It’s quite easy to pray "forgive us our trespasses"; the higher devotion allows us to say "forgive us our virtues." Benjamin Franklin is often quoted for his homely wisdom as a guide for those who search for ...

1091. THE MARRIAGE GAP

Genesis 2:4-25

Sermon

William McKee Aber

It’s interesting to me that the Christian Church, which makes a great use of symbols - both pictorial and verbal - has chosen to retain the symbol of sacrifice when describing the faith, and has rejected another symbol that is widely used throughout Scripture. I refer to marriage. Christ calls himself a "bridegroom"; the church (and also Israel) is referred to as the bride; the covenant relationship of God and Israel is allegorized in the story of Hosea and an unfaithful wife; and the very word "covenant ...

1092. Everyone Has a Somebody

John 15:1-17

Sermon

Charles L. Koester

"This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you." How many times have we heard in our lifetime our Lord’s Eleventh Commandment repeated? How many sermons have I preached on love, and have you heard? Yet, in spite of words and commandment, everyone has a somebody whom they cannot love. Somebody is not always the same person, at the same time, in the same place. True as well for the comedian who jested, "There are people in this world who do not love one another, and I hate people like ...

1093. The Overlooked

Luke 1:26-38

Sermon

Theodore L. Yewey

Most of us have had the experience of being overlooked. Perhaps it was at a Christmas gift exchange where packages with everyone’s name on them were placed under the tree, but when they were distributed, it was discovered that one name was missing. Yours! Or maybe you have been overlooked when a group was being recognized. Everyone is named and praised for their accomplishments except one you are certain did the most work. You! You are overlooked. Or it is possible that you have been overlooked at a party ...

1094. Advent 4: Let Us Go Over To Bethlehem And Find The Christ of Christmas

Luke 2:1-7

Sermon

James W. Moore

This sermon is based on Luke 2:1-7: The Taj Mahal is one of the most beautiful and costly tombs in the world. The colorful legends which surround the building of the Taj Mahal are all fascinating. But, there is one that haunts and disturbs. Shah-Jahan, the powerful Mogul emperor, was in grief. His favorite wife had died. He loved her deeply and he was devastated by her loss. He decided to honor her in a signal way. He would construct an incredible temple, the likes of which the world had never seen. The ...

1095. Luther of Wittenberg

Drama

Michael L. Sherer

"All I want is to know Christ and to experience the power of his resurrection, to share in his sufferings and become like him in his death ..." Philippians 3:8-11 Participants enter and take their places in the chancel. As they come forward, the congregation sings the hymn, "In the Hour of Trial." When the hymn is completed, the drama begins. LECTOR: I reckon everything as complete loss for the sake of what is so much more valuable, the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have thrown ...

1096. Then He Went Home

Mark 3:20-30

Sermon

Ron Lavin

Sometimes when we go home, things seem strange. For example, if we have been away a long time, things aren’t the same when we get home. Sometimes home looks better when we arrive after being away a long time; sometimes things look worse; usually things look different. We gain a different perspective, having moved to a new area, or just having taken a vacation. Sometimes the relatives back home don’t understand us. That happened to Jesus in his town of Nazareth.1 Jesus had launched his ministry from ...

1097. Let Us Cross To The Other Side

Mark 4:35-41

Sermon

Ron Lavin

The sea - the turbulent, unpredictable, wild, stormy sea. Our story begins with Jesus, standing on the edge of the Sea of Galilee, saying to the apostles, "Let us cross to the other side." As they crossed, the wind began to blow, the waves began to rise, and Jesus began to sleep. Have you ever been in a storm at sea or on a wind-tossed lake? One sea captain describes a storm at Cape Horn at the tip of South America like this: This mighty swell of waters that giant forces seem to be pressing upon us, this ...

1098. And It Came To Pass

Mark 13:1-31

Sermon

Warren Thomas Smith

"Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away." (v. 31) Here is the existential consummation of history. This is the frame of reference within which the early church lived and breathed. In the end it was the parousia, the event of Christ coming in glory. Things of earth would pass away. This would be the final reckoning, the ultimate judgment. I always thought, as have most Anglo-Saxons, that the powerful Spiritual ran, "My Lord, what a morning, when the stars begin to fall." It was not ...

1099. The Friends of Jesus

John 15:1-17

Sermon

Brett Blair

Already there is talk about the next Presidential election, even though the old one finished barely 6 months ago. Pollsters, political pundits, and newscasters are already trying to figure out the candidate for the party out of power, which means dividing the population up according to gender, race, age, sociological standing, religion and a half dozen other categories. While this sort of information may have some strategic significance in terms of strategizing a political campaign, to many of us it ...

1100. Easter People

Colossians 3:1-17

Sermon

T. A. Kantonen

Easter is the greatest of all holidays because it commemorates the greatest event that ever happened, Christ’s triumph over death. The resurrection of Christ is a glorious fact to be known and remembered, and indeed every Sunday is to Christ’s people a reminder that on the first day of the week our Lord brought us life out of death. But the Easter message which the apostle proclaims calls us to do more than celebrate a great event and remember a great fact. It invites us to be not merely spectators of the ...

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