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Showing 1101 to 1125 of 4490 results

1101. In The Beginning

Genesis 1:1-2:3

Drama

Jerry Eckert

June 20, 1982 Comment: "Why don't you do sermons as stories?" my wife suggested. "You tell stories well and people seem to like them. Besides, you won't end up criticizing us as often!" My wife has a way about her. That was all I needed to try it out. Who wants to be preached at? I surely didn't! The first time I tried the following sermon in its current format, I served a church which had a lay person who had taken university level courses in Old Testament. How do you preach to someone with that kind of ...

1102. Proper 12

John 6:16-24, John 6:1-15, 2 Samuel 11:1-27, Ephesians 3:14-21

Sermon Aid

Russell F. Anderson

Theme: God fills us with the Bread of Life for our bodies and our spirits. COMMENTARY Lesson 1: 2 Samuel 11:1-15 (C) King David has consolidated his power and no longer personally engages in the risky task of doing battle with his enemies. Getting up from his afternoon nap, he surveys his capital from his balcony, when he spies a beautiful woman taking her bath; it is Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah, one of David's valiant fighters. He has her brought to his palace and has sex with her. When she sends word ...

1103. Advent 1

1 Corinthians 1:1-9, Isaiah 63:7--64:12, Mark 13:32-37, Mark 13:1-31

Sermon Aid

Russell F. Anderson

Theme: The return of the Lord. In Isaiah 64:1 the writer earnestly hopes that God will rend or tear the heavens and come down to restore his people and subdue their foes. In Paul's introduction to 1 Corinthians he prays that the Lord would sustain them until the revealing of the Lord Jesus. The Gospel has Jesus warning his disciples to watch closely for his return. COMMENTARY Lesson 1: Isaiah 64:1-9 (C, E); Isaiah 63:16b-17; 64:1, 3b-8 (RC) As the Israelites returned from exile in Babylon, they had high ...

1104. Proper 7

1 Kings 19:9-18, Psalm 63:1-11, Zechariah 12:1-9, Luke 8:26-39, Galatians 3:23-29

Sermon Aid

George Bass

THEOLOGICAL CLUE The preacher, who hopes to make the most of the lectionary and the church year during the long season of Pentecost, has to be cognizant of the kerygmatic accent marks that are built into the church year. Sunday is always the "little Easter," a celebration - if muted, at that - of the death and resurrection of our Lord; it is also the Ogdoad, the eighth day, or the day of new creation. Thus, the church is reminded that it and the people of God have been made new by Jesus Christ, and that a ...

1105. A Short Sermon

Luke 4:14-30

Sermon

James Garrett

During Advent and Christmas we examined Luke’s account of the birth of Jesus. The first Sunday of the new year we watched as the young parents brought the Child into the temple. There in the temple was an old man, whose name was Simeon. He takes the baby from Mary and cradles him in his own arms. Holding the baby close, he says: “Lord, now let thy servant depart in peace… mine eyes have seen thy salvation.” Only a few days old and already one has taken him into his heart and claimed his salvation. From the ...

1106. Two R-Rated Stories

John 7:45--8:11

Sermon

John M. Braaten

We are going to look at two R-rated stories from the life of Christ this morning. I use the term "R-rated" in the sense that when some people observed the behavior of Jesus in these events, they were so morally incensed that in each case they felt he should be censured. The opening scene of the first story begins with a woman who had been dragged out of her house by a couple of her pastors; they had not even given her time to comb her hair or properly dress. She had been caught red-handed, found committing ...

1107. Is Anybody There? Does Anybody Care?

Isaiah 49:8-26

Sermon

Robert Beringer

In 1976 when our nation was celebrating its bicentennial, there was a delightful musical produced about those uneasy weeks in Philadelphia more than 200 years ago when our Declaration of Independence was being written and signed. Throughout the whole production of "1776," a courier from General Washington keeps breaking in on the proceedings of the Continental Congress with increasingly disheartening news from the New Jersey encampments. The seemingly endless debate drags on ... 85 changes are made in the ...

1108. What Christmas Is About

Isaiah 9:1-7

Sermon

Robert Beringer

Charlie Brown isn't the only one who asks, "What's Christmas all about?" Real people also ask that same question. Several years ago there was an exchange student from Indonesia, spending his first December in America. The crowds of shoppers in the stores, the Santa Clauses, the bright lights, the trees, the manger scenes, the parties, and the growing sense of excitement and revelry - it was all more than a little confusing to him. Then one night as he satwatching television with his host family, the ...

1109. So You Want To Go To Bethlehem, Do You?

Luke 3:1-20

Sermon

Johnny Dean

Not too long ago, our family made a journey. It was a long journey, and it took the better part of a day to get there and the better part of another day to get back. It was a tiring journey, but it was well worth everything we had to endure to get there. "There" was home, and "there" was a place where we were surrounded by the love of family members, some of whom we had not seen in more years than we care to count. And when we came back, we were not the same people we were before the journey. We felt ...

1110. So You Want to go to Bethlehem, Do You?

Mark 1:1-8

Sermon

Johnny Dean

1111. If Only We Could Remember ...

Genesis 32:22-32

Sermon

Wallace H. Kirby

On the back page of our capitol city’s daily newspaper there are two columns headed "Divorces Filed" and "Divorces Granted." Sometimes when I glance at that back page and see the lists, I read through the names, and I wonder what kind of stories lie behind them. What happened to John and Cathy, to Bill and Sue, to Joe and Betty? I can almost picture the high moments in their lives as they made plans for their weddings, almost sense all the expectations that they carried into their marriages. Now, because ...

1112. Let the Journey Begin

Matthew 6:1-4

Sermon

Dean Lueking

Another Lenten journey begins this Ash Wednesday. A Tradition to Cherish I say, another, because for many the keeping of Lent is a treasured tradition, and these mid-week hours set aside for worship and prayer are a blessing year after year. We journey toward Easter. The purpose of these forty days of spiritual preparation is to hail again the decisive deed of God for the redemption of the world and the renewal of our lives in Christ's grace. May it be so for you, and for countless others of the Christian ...

1113. Trouble on the Mountain

Exodus 32:1-33:6

Sermon

A man was riding on a train. He was pacing back and forth and one of his kids was yelling, "Papa, Papa, I want a glass of water. I want a glass of water." The harried man just kept walking back and forth, and the kid kept yelling. Finally, the man smacked the kid on the seat and told her to shut up. A nice old lady across the aisle stopped him and said, "Mister, I'm going to call the conductor and make trouble for you!" The guy said, "Lady, you're gonna make trouble for me? That kid there is my Becky; she ...

1114. Proper 24 & Pentecost 22

Matthew 22:15-22, 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10, Ruth 1:1-22, Psalm 96:1-13, Isaiah 44:24--45:25

Sermon Aid

THEOLOGICAL CLUE Since this Sunday will fall on the first Sunday in November in 1990 - and it doesn't really matter whether it is celebrated as the Twenty-second Sunday after Pentecost or All Saints Sunday, or even as one of the Sundays in the annual stewardship campaign in many congregations - the eschatological framework of the church year will be obvious for those who are liturgically informed. The climax of the church year - Christ the King Sunday - is only three weeks away; on that Sunday and on into ...

1115. Gold, The Color of Wealth and Riches

Matthew 2:1-12

Sermon

As we face a new year, it is customary in America to greet one another with the phrase, "Happy New Year!" But, New Year’s Day may not be that happy for some. On New Year’s morning, many, many people across our land are not happy with their headaches and hangovers because of the previous evening’s excessive dining, drinking, and dancing. And how can we be happy if the new year is just more of the same old things ... the same poverty, unemployment, inflation, nuclear arms race, sickness, war, and failure? ...

1116. This God’s For Real!

Matthew 16:13-20

Sermon

Is there a God? Can you be sure of it? Couldn’t we just put the whole idea of God into mothballs? Haven’t most people by now? If there is God, he hasn’t shown his face enough to keep us thinking of him, has he? Wouldn’t - shouldn’t - he keep a high profile if he wanted us to know he is for real? In spite of the fact that secularity seems to be taking over in America the way it did some years ago in Europe, surveys still turn up the same conclusions: People by an overwhelming number, even in the high- ...

1117. Clouds and Son-Shine

Ephesians 3:1-13

Sermon

Hubert Beck

Motivation is the key to life. It is not only the key to getting work done, but it is the key to living itself! Once a person loses the will to live, health suffers and death is never more than a step or two away. Motivation is hard to sustain at times, though. The cloudy moments of life cause us to say, "What’s the use of it all?" We want to chuck everything and let come what may without care or concern. That’s when we need to see again the glory of the Lord revealed, for in God’s presence among us we ...

1118. Journey To The Cross III: Jesus And The Extravagant Woman

Mark 14:1-11

Sermon

James W. Moore

A few years ago Mark Trotter told a true story about a man in New York City who was kidnapped. His kidnappers called his wife and asked for $100,000 ransom. She talked them down to $30,000. The story had a happy ending: the man returned home unharmed, the money was recovered, and the kidnappers were caught and sent to jail. But, don’t you wonder what happened when the man got home and found that his wife got him back for a discount? Calvin Trillin wrote about this incident. He imagined out loud what the ...

1119. Defended By the Divine

Mark 14:1-11

Sermon

Barbara Brokhoff

Women have sometimes had the reputation for doing some pretty dumb things. My preacher-husband, John, and I drove to a preaching mission in Mississippi recently. Three different times, the same day, we found ourselves behind a woman (a different one each time) who signaled to make a turn, then turned the opposite direction from her signal. It reminded me of the person who said "When a woman sticks out her arm, and indicates a left turn, the only thing you can be absolutely sure of is that the window is ...

1120. Being Set Free

John 8:31-41

Sermon

Jerry L. Schmalemberger

Today’s Gospel promises us freedom, if we will truly be disciples of Christ. In fact, Jesus promises that if we will learn, know, and follow the truth, we will be set free. Remember, however, first we must become disciples. Jesus tells us that to be a real disciple is to accept what he says about how great God is and how terrible sin is, and what the real meaning of life is. When we do this, we are starting to take the role of discipleship. In order to be a disciple, we are told to remain in the word. The ...

1121. Ghosts - 1951

Ephesians 6:10-20

Sermon

Kent Moorehead

The key idea that unlocks the haunting theme of Henrik Ibsen’s undying drama, Ghosts, is succinctly stated by Mrs. Alving when she exclaims: Ghosts! When I heard Regina and Oswald in there, I seemed to see ghosts before me. I almost think we’re all of us ghosts, Pastor Manders. It’s not only what we have inherited from our father and mother that "walks" in us. It’s all sorts of dead ideas, and lifeless old beliefs, and so forth. They have no vitality, but they cling to us just the same, and we can’t get ...

1122. How Do You Like Yourself?

1 Peter 3:8-22

Sermon

Louis H. Valbracht

Tell me, what do you think of yourself? How do you feel about living with you? You know, the precedents aren’t too encouraging. A man that we call Saint Peter cried out: "O, Lord, keep away from me, for I am a sinful man." A man whom we call Saint Paul had the words wrenched out of him: "O, wretched man that I am." And the great king, David, cried out in the Psalm: "I am a worm" - I am a worm! - "and no man." Or make it more contemporary. A teenage girl in my study stated her problem honestly: "People don’ ...

1123. The Church Reaches Out!

Acts 8:26-40

Sermon

Durwood L. Buchheim

The growth of the early Christian Church has been compared to the way people grow up. Growing up is a difficult process. As we have heard these past Sundays, that was also the way it was with the young church. Growing up produced pain, misunderstandings and controversies. Some of these struggles came about because Christianity was born in a Jewish home. We Christians sometimes forget that Christ was a Jew. We owe much to the Jewish people. The debt should create a spirit of gratitude instead of suspicion, ...

1124. The Ten Commandments - Part 2

Exodus 20:1-21

Sermon

Brett Blair

A little boy was once asked by his Sunday school teacher if he knew the Ten Commandments. "No ma'am," came the reply, "my dad said that I don't have to know them since they are doing away with them anyway." It is one thing to be ignorant of the Ten Commandments; it quite another to mock them with impunity. Millions dismiss them as mere platitudes fit for nothing more than a dusty old bookshelf. They disdain them because they are "religious." There are still others who want to do away with the Ten ...

1125. Light of the World

John 1:1-18

Sermon

William G. Carter

One of the striking features of the Gospel of John is the way it depicts the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. The other gospels usually tell us stories about Jesus. Then, like the disciples, we are left to ask, “Who is this, that wind and sea obey him? Who is this who feeds the multitude on a couple of loaves and a few fish?” But in the Gospel of John, there’s never a doubt who Jesus is, because he tells us. Usually he does so with a statement that begins with the words, “I am.” Put him in a situation ...

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