Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 1126 to 1150 of 3099 results

Mt 26:14--27:66 · Php 2:5-11 · Isa 50:4-9 · Ps 31

Bulletin Aid

Paul A. Laughlin

... : Love God, all you saints! People: GOD PRESERVES THE FAITHFUL! Leader: Be strong! Take courage! People: WE WAIT UPON GOD, OUR ROCK AND OUR REFUGE! Collect God of extraordinary power, you made your presence felt long ago in one emptied of divinity and subject to suffering and death. Teach us the miracle of self-sacrifice: that, emulating Jesus, we may become like him redemptive agents of yours, not despite our frail humanity, but because of it. In his humble but holy name we pray. Amen Prayer of Confession ...

1127. The Resurrection of Our Lord

Mt 28:1-10 · Col 3:1-4 · Acts 10:34-43 · Ps 118

Bulletin Aid

... , we may lead new lives of purpose and peace. In the name of the Christ we pray. Amen Prayer of Confession Most merciful God, we confess that our ears and hearts are often closed to your divine affirmation of us, and that we therefore live in subjection to self-depreciation and guilt, feeling wretched and worthless. Forgive us, we pray, and set our eyes once again this Easter Day upon the empty tomb of Christ Jesus. Help us to see there your profound "Yes" to our lives and our very natures, over against ...

1128. Proper 24

1 Thessalonians 1:1-10

Bulletin Aid

... god ("idol" here) who nevertheless did not deny the reality of others. Thus he congratulates them on their having become monotheists, rejected the other gods as (mere) idols, and embraced the "living and true God." In Old Testament times even the Jews had been subject to henotheistic "lapses" into the worship of other gods (idols). Call to Worship (based on Psalm 146) Leader: Happy are those whose help is the God of Jacob! People: BLESSED ARE THOSE WHO WORSHIP THE ONE TRUE GOD! Leader: For ours is the God ...

1129. Proper 29

1 Corinthians 15:12-34

Bulletin Aid

... 's ultimate intimacy Exegetical note The "kingship" that Paul projects here for the Christ (vv. 24ff.) is for a limited time (see "until" in v. 25), during which a war is to be waged with evil. Thereafter, the Christ ("Son" here) will be subjected to God, so that God may become "all in all." This final image, like all eschatological (and especially apocalyptic) thought, is open to a wide variety of interpretation, but at least signals a heretofore unknown intimacy between the Creator and Creation. Call to ...

1130. Proper 25

Matthew 22:34-40

Sermon Aid

... you and trust you as one who possesses the qualities of Mother and Father. Act of Recognizing our Humanness and Receiving New Life Suggestion: Introduce the confession with these words by C. S. Lewis: "On the whole, God's love for us is a much safer subject to think about than our love for God." (author unknown) Have these questions printed in the order of worship for the congregation to consider silently for five minutes: 1. Is my life under and within the control of Christ? If not, what areas do I reserve ...

1131. A Glory Revealed to Faith Alone

Numbers 21:4-9

Sermon

... Jesus said, "All who sin are slaves to sin."5 In the writing of John, especially, Jesus shows us that he conceives of sin not only as an individual’s faults and moral failings. Sin is perceived also as a power that deceives, enslaves, and kills its subjects. Like the Pharaohs, sin will not let people go until one stronger than sin breaks its power and frees its prisoners. That is the first idea Jesus teaches us. Where is God’s power to save clearly revealed? It is revealed in Jesus being "lifted up" on ...

1132. The Most Beautiful Sacrifice

Mark 14:1-11

Drama

... the words of Isaiah about the coming Messiah. I was afraid evil men might try to destroy Jesus once he got into Jerusalem for the Passover. No matter what happened I wanted him to know I remembered him as my beloved King, and myself his devoted subject. And like Papa said, you do not remember without sacrifice. I was afraid, but Jesus was not. He knew what was ahead and was still confident. When some of the other guests reproached me for my extravagant gift, Jesus defended me and said something mysterious ...

1133. The Precepts of the Lord

Exodus 20:1-21, Psalm 19:7-14

Sermon

... of us routinely alters the truth in order to cast ourselves in the best light possible. Such examples illustrate the necessity for an objective, externalized summary of Natural Law, as we have in the Ten Commandments. God knows that internalized natural law can become subjective - meaning that while it is based upon reason, one can never be sure that reason is always present. The Ten Commandments, as an expression of Natural Law, are objective. That’s why God has given the them to us. God knows all too ...

1134. The Wizard of Yoj

Psalm 100:1-5

Sermon

Edward L. Palmer

... daily cares, their simple freshness can be a priceless gift of renewal. If one enters the kingdom as a little child, it must surely be a source of great joy. True joy could never be understood or experienced in the Land of Yoj. The wizard and his subjects had permanent blindness to some of the most basic fundamentals of joy. Yoj thought joy was to be found in power and strength. It never entered their minds that true joy could be found in weakness. Night after night, the Wizard of Yoj would walk out into ...

1135. The First Council

Acts 15:1-21

Sermon Aid

CSS

... and drinking and having conversations with non-Christian Jews, if they were to share the Lord’s Table equally with Gentiles? An orthodox Jew at that time would not enter the house of a Gentile or eat or drink with him. Was not an "orthodox Christian" subject to the same rule? Of course, Peter had done so in the case of Cornelius, but this must have been looked on as a one-time aberration. If this kind of reasoning seems out of character with present-day situations, think again. How many congregations have ...

1136. Advance into Europe

Acts 15:36-41

Sermon Aid

CSS

... rabbinical training in Jerusalem, so this operation may have been one of his little-known talents. It was, however, a most surprising action in view of Paul’s long battle against the "circumcision party" which had demanded that converts to Christianity become subject to Jewish law. Since neither Paul nor Timothy ever explained the reason for this peculiar action on Paul’s part, we can only speculate about it. Generally it is thought that Paul took this action because of Timothy’s half-Jewish parentage ...

1137. Shirking Responsibility

Illustration

L. Robert Keck

... theological point of view would have us thinking that we are being most obedient to God when we think lowly of that which God has created, namely, the human being. I don’t think that pays God any compliments! Harvey Cox, the Harvard theologian, has reflected on the subject in his book, On Not Leaving It to the Snake. Cox suggests that the major sin of humankind is not pride; it is not trying to become more than we were created for, but sloth, the unwillingness to face up to all that we are capable of. Cox ...

1138. It Isn’t Fair!

Matthew 20:1-16

Sermon

... Policemen. Prisons. Laws. The threat of punishment. Fair treatment within limits: Even judges recognize fair treatment sometimes would destroy the people whom they’re sentencing, and we approve when they make sentencing "elastic" and compassionate. And Christians - every one of us - are subject to those laws and their enforcement. None of us succeed in living up to our own code of gracious, better-than-mere-fairness, love. We’re truly citizens of two kingdoms, with a foot in each. We yield to civil law ...

1139. He treated me with dignity

Matthew 11:1-19

Illustration

William B. Kincaid, III

... first two attempts at finding someone who would listen to him didn't work out very well. Peterson tried talking to his pastor, but after about five minutes his pastor diagnosed Peterson's problem as having to do with sex and began a lengthy lecture on the subject. Peterson decided after a couple of meetings that it was his pastor who had a problem with sex, so he began to look elsewhere for someone with whom he could talk about the things he was experiencing and feeling. Then Peterson talked with a man who ...

1140. Christians Die Well

Acts 7:54--8:1a

Sermon

Barbara Brokhoff

... . A minister came to me recently and requested prayer because he was literally terrified when he thought about his own death. I know another pastor who is very insecure when he visits the sick in hospitals or is asked to conduct a funeral, because he cannot face the subject of death. This fear can haunt and intimidate us all of our living days, or we can put an end to it by our total confidence and trust in God. An old Indian fable tells about a mouse that lived in mortal fear of cats. So the old medicine ...

1141. "Sneak Up On ‘Em!"

Acts 17:16-34

Sermon

Barbara Brokhoff

... a sermon with the title, "Thou shalt not steal." At the conclusion of the service, as the people filed out the door, they all told him what a fine sermon it was, so he knew they had missed the point. The next Sunday he preached on the subject, "Thou shalt not cut the ends off of other people’s logs," and they got the point! (Of course, that preacher had to move to another church, but they got the point!) When we rid ourselves of being embarrassed, of apology, of unnecessary theological jargon, when we ...

1142. The Triune God

Matthew 28:16-20

Sermon

Dennis Kastens

... Athanasian Creed) In fact, every cult which denies the Trinity does so because it denies the sufficiency of what Jesus Christ has done for our eternal salvation. With this, of course, is the denial that he is indeed God! When we deny his divinity, then we are subject to the scathing verdict of the New Testament: "That all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him." (John 5:23) Again in John 3:36 we read: "... he that ...

1143. Is God Still God?

Isaiah 44:6-23

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

... them the nation was doomed to destruction. Jeremiah even told the people that Babylonia was God’s instrument in punishing the people for their disloyalty. It is a hard fact of life that God’s judgment comes to all who rebel against God. When we sin, we are subject to the wrath of God. However, because God our King is one of love and mercy, he ultimately brings order out of chaos, victory out of defeat, and good out of evil. There is the good news of the overruling providence of God. As Joseph said to ...

1144. If You Had But One Request

1 Kings 3:1-15

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

... and yet not be a graduate of grade school. On the other hand, there are college graduates, even PhD’s, who are stupid. They may not have an ounce of wisdom in their heads even though they have diplomas on their walls. They may have knowledge about many subjects and in their particular field they may be well informed. But when it comes to common sense, or even horse sense, they do not have it. One time a mother and young son saw an extremely bowlegged cowboy come out of a department store in Texas. The lad ...

1145. The Danger of Being Religious

Jeremiah 30:1--31:40

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

... truth learned by rote, nothing you get in a classroom, but an intuitive, God-disclosed truth. To know the truth is not an easy thing. Pilate asked Jesus, "What is truth?" Most of us sit in Pilate’s seat. We do not know the truth of God, and we are subject to partial views of the truth or we embrace what is not the truth. One time, two beggars were approaching a house to ask for food. In the front yard was a huge dog who, with bared teeth, growled and at the same time wagged his tail. The one beggar ...

1146. Two Bodies for Two Worlds

Isaiah 26:1-21

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

... and for Jesus to be able to eat with the Disciples. How can a body be both spiritual and apparently physical? We do not know; the resurrected body of Jesus is a mystery. But we do know that the spiritual body we are to receive will not be subject to pain or suffering or hunger or thirst or any adversity. For those who are plagued with sickness, handicaps, or pain, this is good news. Our new bodies will be free from all that now plagues the earthly body. As Jesus received a resurrection body when he rose ...

1147. As Good As God

Leviticus 19:1-37

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

... loopholes and tax shelters to the point that a minimum amount of taxes is paid? Indeed, our society is infiltrated with injustice. This is contrary to God’s nature and wishes for his people. As long as we persist in defying God in not extending justice, we will be subject to God’s wrath. As long as we fail to execute justice, we will never have the security of peace, for peace is a byproduct of righteousness. I Am Love "I am the Lord" - I am the Lord of love! In one of his letters, John writes frankly ...

1148. Christian The King

Ezekiel 34:1-31

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

... yourself as a genuine king or queen? Crowned King That you are a king or queen may surprise you. In that case, you may want to consider the meaning and implications of this good news. You may have thought of yourseif as a servant. But a king - never! As a subject maybe. As a king - no way! As a commoner, of course, but as a royal person - impossible! Yet, our texts tell us God made us kings and queens in order to serve his people. God is the one who crowns us kings or queens. In our text, God says, "My ...

1149. A Book Which Reads Us

John 4:1-26

Sermon

Robert Bachelder

... are all sorts of things in this world that offer to give it to you, but they never quite keep their promise. The longings which arise in us when we first fall in love, or first think of some foreign country, or first take up some subject that excites us, are longings which no marriage, no travel, no learning can really satisfy. I am not now speaking of what would ordinarily be called unsuccessful marriages, or holidays, or learned careers. I am speaking of the best possible ones. There was something we ...

1150. Claim Your Ministry

Matthew 20:20-28

Sermon

Robert Bachelder

... of preaching and teaching about the gospel; they delegated the ministry of Word and Sacrament to those whose calling and education prepared them for this task. But what they did abolish was the distinction between clergy rulers, on the one hand, and lay subjects on the other. When they ordained candidates to the ministry of Word and Sacrament, they did not presume to think they thereby conferred some special grace or status or power on their clergy. Instead, they understood ordination to be a rite of the ...

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