Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 1076 to 1100 of 3160 results

Matthew 25:31-46

Sermon

... for the festival of Christ the King give us the clue we need to understand it properly and appropriate its message. This is the last Sunday of the church year. Next Sunday Advent begins and with it a new year. We stand, then, on a sort of ecclesiastical, liturgical New Year’s Eve! And year end is always a good time for looking backward, reminiscence and stocktaking. When we look back over this past twelvemonth, we recall the whole of the Christ Event: the promise of the messiah remembered and rehearsed ...

1077. The Freedom of Necessity

John 8:31-41

Sermon

... . They met another car head-on around the curve. The result was two teenagers seriously injured and a family of three dead. My enthusiasm for getting a driver’s license suffered a severe blow that night. The realization came to me in the worst sort of way that the freedom I longed for, with all its independence and personal privileges, was just the flip side of a serious responsibility. The open road of freedom was also the narrow path of obligation. A similar realization is suggested in Jesus’ words ...

1078. The Sounds at the Summit

Exodus 19:1-25

Sermon

... a communication spectacular, not to entertain the Israelites or break the monotony and hardships of their trek to the Promised Land, but to let them know that he is God and that he was still with them in the flight. But doesn’t it sound like a strange sort of way to speak to the people and Moses? Put aside the element of mystery in the conception and birth of Jesus, the Incarnation, and we are confronted with a much better way for God to speak to human beings. Jesus spoke and taught and touched people in ...

1079. The Abiding Presence

Exodus 33:12-23

Sermon

... , was unknown; 150 homes were destroyed, 600 families were left homeless, and 250 other buildings were damaged. The Pravda report said, "What shocked Arzamas residents ... ‘was not the damaged houses or destroyed cars, but the crippled people calling for help.’ " That is the sort of situation that prompts most of us to call to God for help, relief, and deliverance. But, more often than not, in all kinds of tragedies that occur in life, we are likely to ask, "Where was God when I - we - really needed him ...

1080. The Penalty for Betraying God’s Trust

Numbers 27:12-23

Sermon

... example for the rest of us of keeping God’s trust. When their churches were closed, when they were forbidden to gather for worship or do anything else in the name of their God, they remained faithful to God in the face of persecution and all sorts of hardships. They knew that God was sustaining them and blessing their efforts to keep the faith. The result is that the Christian church is stronger in China now than it was before the cultural revolution of over two decades ago. The Shanghai Community Church ...

1081. The Beginning of a New Life

Ruth 2:1-23

Sermon

... must have had some thoughts like that in conjunction with acquaintances, friends, and relatives. It was Ruth who did something about their plight. She suggested that she should glean in the fields and win the attention of Boaz; as a gleaner, she became a sort of a bag lady - but with a definite purpose in mind that went beyond gleaning what grain she could after the fields had been harvested. Gleaning the fields is a practice that has survived for centuries. Women have traditionally been the gleaners. For ...

1082. Collecting Ourselves

Illustration

Staff

... we move so fast from here to there to yonder that we sometimes run off and leave our souls behind? From time to time, I suspect, we need to give our souls a chance to catch up. We race along without giving very much attention to them, and we sort of leave them back there somewhere. Part of what we are just doesn't keep pace with the rest of us. Someone says, "I need to collect myself." Or someone says to another, "Pull yourself together." In the hurried pace of living, we pause here this morning; collect ...

1083. A Change of Direction

Illustration

Staff

We are told in the Gospel according to Matthew that when Jesus was born at Bethlehem some men of the East did a rather remarkable sort of thing. They were important men, mighty men, kings - but they had a consuming interest in seeing a tiny new-born child, a helpless, powerless infant, a mere baby recently born in a peasant family in this far-away land of Judea. We are told three important things about these ...

1084. Up And Down The Mountain

Luke 9:28-36

Sermon

Donald Dotterer

... why some suffer more than others, or why some are healed of their afflictions and others are not. I do not believe that people are punished by God for their sins by their illness; I do not think that we feel pain because God is trying to teach us some sort of painful lesson that will bring us into line. As the Bible reminds us, the rain falls upon the just and the unjust in God's world (Matthew 5:45). What we can be sure of is that our God is a God who loves us all the time. In ...

1085. Healing And Forgiveness

Luke 5:17-26

Sermon

... I made in the past? I thought you had forgiven me?" The wife replied, "I have forgiven you; I just wanted to make certain that you don't forget that I have forgiven you." This is not the kind of forgiveness that Jesus was talking about, for this sort of forgiveness, which keeps a file on past trespasses, will not bring healing, either to an interpersonal relationship or to a physical body. God's grace forgives us completely; we are called to do the same so that we might be set free from the encumbrances and ...

1086. For Those On The Outside

Luke 8:40-56

Sermon

... purpose for being on earth. Like the minister who reprimands his congregation for coming to church only on Christmas or Easter, Jesus could have asked this woman: "Why are you here now? Don't you have a good reason for coming to see me?" But Jesus did nothing of the sort, because Jesus knew that God's love is extended to all people, and that no one is rejected if they come to him. It was for this reason that this woman was not lost in the crowd. For you see, Jesus doesn't set conditions, or ask a person to ...

1087. The Necessity Of Forgiveness

Luke 7:36-50

Sermon

Harold Warlick

... people, especially our enemies. The greatness of Christianity lies not in its development of small pockets of congenial intimacies. The greatness of Christianity is in its expansive spirit that overthrows resentments, takes in enemies, embraces rivals and seeks the good in all sorts of people across all barriers that class and race can erect. Everyone in this room belongs to a group - whether the Board of Stewards, a sorority, a faculty, a church, a club, a class. What can your group do that other groups ...

1088. The Master Has Come - And Is Moved With Compassion

Matthew 8:1-4, Mark 1:40-45

Sermon

... to Easter you have to go through the Cross. It was true for Jesus. It is true for us. III Third, we feel the pain of love in imitation. This compassion God has for his creation - this pain of love we find in Jesus Christ, which he had for all sorts of people - is not only something to be seen and heard by us. We are called to feel this pain in our hearts. We are called to be people of compassion. Saint Paul said, "Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children." Much of our world today is unfeeling ...

1089. The Woman at the Well

John 4:1-26

Sermon

Thomas D. Peterson

... a symbol which radiated its meaning from the beginning of the story to the end. We are all aware that water is heavily laden with symbolic meaning. It signifies to us that which is life-giving, cleansing, life-growth in plants and human beings, and all sorts of personal renewal. When touched by Jesus this drink of water became a sacramental event, communicating back to her the indwelling spirit of God which is what Jesus had to give to the woman. If the transaction had been direct, we could see the offering ...

1090. The Ministry of Refreshing

2 Timothy 1:1-2:13

Sermon

Various Authors

... know, however, that he "often refreshed" Paul in Rome. Paul is one of the great men of history. Yet the less known man could and did minister to the greater man, refreshed him, helped restore his soul, gave him renewed strength for the struggle. What sort of person was Onesiphorus? He had a record for service. His friendship wasn’t put off by the socially embarrassing, or perhaps even personally dangerous fact that Paul was in prison. Instead, he went out of his way eagerly to find his friend. What they ...

1091. Do It the Right Way

Philemon 1:8-9

Children's Sermon

... 's great disciples, Paul. He was put into prison for teaching about Jesus in a part of the world that thought it was wrong to talk about your God, when the people had a different god. Prison is not a good place to be, but because Paul was a special sort of person, he was allowed to have someone stay with him and take care of him. They did not punish Paul in this prison the way that they had punished him in other places, but they also did not allow him to go free and preach about Jesus the way ...

1092. Getting Back To Work

Luke 17:1-10

Sermon

Brett Blair

... live. Give it up; come join us in an atmosphere where we all share and love each other." The young man had completed four years at a competitive high school to get into Stanford, plus two years of pre-med courses at the university. He was ripe for this sort of approach. He called his parents from Tokyo and told them he would not be coming home. He was dropping out of school to live in an ashram (a spiritual retreat). "Six months later, his parents got a letter from him: "Dear Mom and Dad, I know you weren ...

1093. Getting Back to Work

Luke 17:1-10

Illustration

Brett Blair

1094. Advent 2

Isaiah 11:1-16, Psalm 72:1-20, Romans 14:1--15:13, Matthew 3:1-12

Sermon Aid

... water for repentance, as John did. And John declares that he will come in judgment and "gather the wheat into the granary, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire." Christ, as John perceives him on the basis of his knowledge of Scripture, is a stern, severe sort of Savior, who doesn't seem to have empathy and compassion for a hurting humanity. There is little or nothing of Isaiah's "Suffering Servant" in John's Messiah, but there is no doubt that, in John's mind, he is the unique and holy one sent ...

1095. Advent 4

Isaiah 7:1-25, Romans 1:1-17, Matthew 1:18-25, Psalm 24:1-10

Sermon Aid

CSS

... "has come into the world" and calls upon us to "lift up our hearts" as we celebrate his coming again. 4. Tell the story so that the entire world may be filled with his glory! He will come again! That's a promise - from God himself. (Note: This is the sort of personal story I like to use in the sermons that I write and preach: A couple of decades ago, my son and I made a Saturday afternoon trip into Barcelona, Spain, from the Costa Brava, where we were staying for a few days. The most memorable sight for me ...

1096. Epiphany 4

Micah 6:1-8, 1 Corinthians 1:18--2:5, Matthew 5:1-12, Psalm 1:1-6

Sermon Aid

... rest. But she knew spiritual need, and was in church at least once every week. She was "mother" to many, comforter to the bereaved, counselor to countless children, and willing worker whenever anything had to be done in her neighborhood, her church, or her town. She was the sort of person about whom Jesus was talking in the Sermon on the Mount, a true believer and genuine disciple of the Lord. 4. Listen to, and live by, the Word of the Lord, as he first taught it on a mountain. A Sermon on the First Lesson ...

1097. Lent 2

Genesis 12:1-8, Psalm 105:1-45, Matthew 17:1-13, John 3:1-21; 4:5-42, Romans 4:1-25

Sermon Aid

George Bass

... the living water that he had to give to spiritually thirsty people. She didn't know what her real thirst was, because she requested, "Sir, give me this water that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw." She thought Jesus was going to provide her with some sort of an artesian well that would never run out and would eliminate some of her daily labor. She was partly right; she wouldn't thirst if she drank the water he offered. He is the living water, and he offers it to people through the gift of himself in ...

1098. Palm · Passion Sunday

Isaiah 50:1-11, Psalm 31:1-24, Matthew 27:11-26, Matthew 27:32-44, Matthew 27:45-56, Matthew 21:1-11

Sermon Aid

... who observe Holy Week in anticipation of the Easter celebration. Simply tell the passion week story. Tell it simply! Matthew 21:1-11 - "The Triumph and the Terrible Tree." 1. Jesus entered the Holy City in triumph, seated on a lowly beast of burden - a strange sort of entry for royalty; five days later he left the city, became a beast of burden himself who carried his own cross - and the sins of the world - to Calvary. 2. He deserved every accolade he received - the shouts of Hosanna, the palm branches, the ...

1099. Easter 2

Acts 2:14-41, Psalm 105:1-45, 1 Peter 1:1-12, John 20:19-23, John 20:24-31

Sermon Aid

... is common to all people. Who can believe the word of witnesses who lived nearly twenty centuries ago? After all, this part of Jesus' story - about his rising from the dead - is an incredible tale, even in an age that has known all sorts of medical marvels connected to death and resurrection. But the first part of the story tends to be overlooked by the natural appeal that Thomas' honest difficulty in believing the incredible news of Jesus; resurrection has for most people. Jesus greeted the disciples ...

1100. Easter 5

Acts 17:1-9, Psalm 33:1-22, Acts 17:10-15, 1 Peter 2:4-12, John 14:1-4, John 14:5-14

Sermon Aid

... should praise him for his gracious actions with their voices, with the harp, as well as with the trumpet. Harp and trumpet may be for the few, but most of the people of God can sing, or make a good attempt at praising the Lord through some sort of singing. It is not a Sunday for entertainment by a choir, organist, or orchestra, with the presentation of special music commemorating Cantate. Rather, this is a time, the psalmist declares, for all of the people to join in singing the new song - "Christ is risen ...

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