Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 1151 to 1175 of 2844 results

1151. Foundations are Critical

Matthew 7:24-27

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

We are Christians under construction, trying to build a life that really matters. Hundreds of you are now putting God first and practicing random acts of kindness on a daily basis. I can only imagine what God might choose to do with these simple acts of devotion. I know personally the powerful impact of fervent prayers, and I continue to thank God for you each day. A first time guest at our church last week wrote me to say, “I came searching for God and discovered God was there all along searching for me. ...

1152. The Constant God in a Changing World

Psalm 48:1, 9-14

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

In Berlin, Germany, after World War II, there stood a church in the center of the city with nothing left but the Gothic arch which framed the main door. Over the arch were these words from Luke 21: “Heaven and earth will pass away but my words remain forever true." I would like to talk about that today. The author of Psalm 48 was enthralled with the strength and beauty of Jerusalem. Her towers seemed immovable; her citadels appeared immutable; her temple looked like nothing less than something immortal. ...

1153. We Believe in the Holy Spirit

John 14:15-18, 25-27

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

Let us begin this sermon with a prayer. Let us pray: “Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful And kindle in us the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit and we shall be created And you shall renew the face of the earth. O God, who by the light of the Holy Spirit Did instruct the hearts of the faithful, Grant that by the same Holy Spirit We may be truly wise and ever enjoy his consolations. Amen. We believe in the Holy Spirit. We baptize our people in the name of the Father and of the Son and ...

1154. One in Faith and One in Service

John 17:1-11

Sermon

Lee Griess

A few choice words — that's what Jesus gives us this morning — a few choice words about our lives and faith. Just hours before being arrested, just hours before being tried and condemned, Jesus gathered his disciples around him and in all sincerity bowed his head and prayed for them and for us. These words from John 17 are part of a great discourse recorded by the gospel writer John, part of a great priestly prayer that Jesus offered up to his heavenly Father. These are words that unite us to God. And in ...

1155. Why We Need the Pledge of Allegiance

Matthew 13:31-35, Matthew 13:44-46, Matthew 13:47-52

Sermon

Wayne Brouwer

When I was in high school, a new music teacher came to town. He was fresh out of college and full of ambition. But here he was, stuck in a very rural community where people didn't put up with (as they called it) "long-haired music," either from the Beatles or Beethoven. Still, he was determined to teach us good music. We were going to sing selections from Handel's Messiah for our Christmas concert. Most of us had never heard of George Frideric Handel, and when we first tried to sight-read through the ...

1156. The Names by Which He Is Known

Exodus 3:1-15

Sermon

David J. Kalas

When I was about six years old, I made friends with a boy named Danny. At the lake community where our family spent our summer vacation, the house where Danny's family stayed was right across the street from the house where we stayed. Because we were not year-round neighbors, the families did not know each other at all, but Danny and I eventually met and began to play together. One day, when we were playing catch together, the ball got away from us and rolled over near where my sister happened to be ...

1157. Caught in the Middle

1 Corinthians 1:1-9

Sermon

John N. Brittain

It has become very popular to talk about how stressed out we are because we (both individually and collectively) are caught in the middle of too many demands and stretched too thin. For some years, we have heard about the "super-mom" syndrome of trying to juggle a full professional life with the many duties of motherhood. More recently, there is a lot of talk about the increasing time demands the workplace is putting on everyone, creating conflicts not just between work and family but between work and ...

1158. Children of the Heavenly Father

Romans 8:12-25

Sermon

Steven E. Albertin

Some consider it a secret. Others consider it almost a badge of honor. Some don't want to talk about it. Others almost seem to want to brag about it. What is it? It is "adoption." Some children won't find out that they are not being raised by their biological parents but by their adoptive parents until they are in middle school or even later. Other children are aware of their adopted status from the earliest days of their childhood. It is not something of which to be ashamed. It is essential to their ...

1159. Dream Power

Matthew 2:13-18

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

One-third of our lives is spent not having any idea what we are doing. All right, admittedly many of us spend even greater percentages of our lifetimes clueless. But officially, we all have one-third of our lives basically unaccounted for. Why? Because we are sleeping. Sleeping is required by every creature with even the most rudimentary or remedial brain stem. Yet we really don’t understand why we sleep or what sleep is for. All we really know about sleep is that if deprived of it for just ten days, we’re ...

1160. St. Andrew Christians

John 1:35-42

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

Even in the most barren desert you can find an oasis or two. In the wasteland of television you can find an oasis of decency and compassion. Take the commercials sponsored by the “Foundation for a Better Life.” Here is lifted up such radically righteous behavior as, oh, some young kid giving up his bus seat to an elderly woman, or, more shockingly, a taller man kindly reaching up to grab an out-of-reach package for someone who is vertically challenged. How sad that such ordinary human activities now rate ...

1161. Understanding Bible Prophecy

Deuteronomy 18:14-22

Sermon

David E. Leininger

One of my parishioners once wrote me asking for some help in understanding the confusing imagery in the book of Daniel. He wrote, "Prophecies and the interpretation of prophecies. Could they be just a little more vague? Still, they are fascinating...." Indeed, they are, and for some, they have become immensely profitable as well. A cottage industry has grown up on Christian television presenting prophecy "experts" who are ready to interpret ambiguous passages both on the air, sustained by the financial ...

1162. He Descended Into Hell

1 Peter 3:18-22

Sermon

David E. Leininger

"I believe in God the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth; and in Jesus Christ, his only Son our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried. He descended into hell." Familiar words from the Apostles' Creed, but words that not every church recites. "He descended into hell" was not in the earliest versions of the creed. In fact, we do not run into the statement at all until about 400 years after Christ. The other ...

1163. Transitions

2 Kings 2:1-12

Sermon

David E. Leininger

This is one of those passages that has its roots deep in the mythology of ancient Israel. It is at least a little bit familiar to us because this is where the film Chariots of Fire gets its name, and this is where we find the origin of the expression, "passing on the mantle of leadership." The story also gives us one of the earliest uses of the term "Father" as a title for a religious leader (if you have ever wondered where that designation in some churches came from). The story is one of transition. ...

1164. The Serpent

John 3:14-21

Sermon

John Smylie

Growing up in the northeast, I didn't have a lot of exposure to snakes. There may have been a small garter snake or the threat of a dangerous serpent down at a local pond near our neighborhood. But honestly, there wasn't much of a threat of snakes that I was aware of to be found in northern New Jersey. Wyoming, where I presently reside, is a different story. While serving as a consultant for the Episcopal Diocese of Wyoming, I had the opportunity to visit the northeastern part of the state. There was a new ...

1165. Silence and Darkness

John 18:1-19:42

Sermon

John Smylie

Over the last 25 years, I have experienced many different Good Fridays. A few of them stand out and point out my own humanness and inability to embrace the fullness of what the Lord was offering. In answer to the hymn, my answer is, "No, I wasn't there when you were crucified, Jesus." And I have made vain attempts of entering the experience of that awful day, yet there have been glimpses of grace along the way. Today I hope to share a few of those glimpses and in the sharing perhaps you will find a glimpse ...

1166. Soul Bread!

John 6:24-35

Sermon

Robert Leslie Holmes

Someone who grew up in Europe immediately after the devastation of World War II writes about the two staples that were not on ration and that could be home produced; one was potatoes and the other was bread. "We could grow our own potatoes and we could make our own bread," he writes. "And sometimes we would even make bread out of the potatoes. So, while we may have lacked many things we always had sufficient potatoes and bread." Earlier in John chapter 6, we read about food rationing of another kind. Then ...

1167. Thanks for the Memories!

Exodus 12:1-4 (5-10) 11-14

Sermon

Ken Lentz

The dark of the night began to turn to the gray of morning. In the clouded distance could be heard the cries of mothers and fathers discovering the lifeless forms of their firstborn sons. The elders rushed from one adobe structure to another. "Quick!" they whispered, "pack the unleavened dough! Finish the lamb! Grab what you can! Now is the moment! Follow Moses to the sea while the Egyptians are preoccupied with their tragedy." Hurriedly and silently, the dark shapes of men, women, and children passed ...

1168. God Never Gives Up on Us

1 Samuel 8:4-11 (12-15) 16-20, (11:14-15)

Sermon

William J. Carl, III

Have you noticed that no matter how much of a mess we make of our lives, God never gives up on us? We try to do the right thing, but fail over and over again. Paul talks openly about the fact that he knows the right thing to do, but just keeps doing the wrong thing. He can't seem to help himself. I guess it all started with the first Adam who got to work early one morning and parked on the line between two parking places so that everyone who came after him has parked on the line ever since. What a mess we ...

1169. Excess Bolts

Illustration

One day E.H. Harriman, the railroad magnate, was walking along the tracks with an assistant. Looking at a track bolt, he turned to the other man and asked, "Why does so much of the bolt protrude beyond the nut?" "I don't really know," said the assistant. "Except that it is the size we've always used." "Why should we use a bolt of such length that a part of it is utterly useless?" asked Harriman. "Well, when you come right down to it, there is no reason." The two continued walking along the track for a ...

1170. Don’t Get Into Things!

Luke 24:50-53

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

“Don’t get into things!” How many times did you hear that directive as a kid. Mom had to run to the store for a minute or Dad was tied up on a project in the garage. Knowing what children will do when left to their own devices, the last ditch effort of “out‑of‑sight” parenting is the generic and ultimately unenforceable order — “Don’t get into things!” Like that ever stopped kids from burrowing into the back of closets as Christmas closed in. Like that ever kept the curious chemist from testing things like ...

1171. The Sound of a Mighty Wind

Acts 2:1-13

Sermon

King Duncan

On April 27, 2011 the largest tornado outbreak ever recorded hit parts of the southern U. S. causing catastrophic destruction in five states Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Virginia. Four of the tornadoes which swept through the South on that terrible day were destructive enough to be rated EF5 tornadoes, which is the highest ranking possible. EF5 tornadoes are extremely rare and yet on this day alone there were four EF5 tornadoes killing an estimated 346 people. Tornadoes, ...

1172. Jesus Makes All the Difference

Matthew 2:1-12

Sermon

Cynthia Cowen

Our gospel reading for this Epiphany Sunday is a marvelous story about confrontation. The wise men — more commonly known as the three kings today — were teachers of science and truth. They had been watching the heavens, searching for a sign of God's activity in the world, when they were confronted by a star. The poet, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, was confronted while reading their story in the gospel of Matthew. The result was his poem, The Three Kings. And the Three Kings rode through the gate and the ...

1173. No More Tears

John 11:17-37

Sermon

King Duncan

You may have noticed that our lessons for today from Revelation and from the Gospel of John both involve tears. In one passage Jesus weeps. In the other, God wipes away tears from His children’s eyes. All of us can relate to the idea of crying. We’ve all done it at some time in our lives. Of course some people cry easier than others and people cry for different reasons. “You don’t love me anymore,” said one poor guy’s wife as she turned on the waterworks. “When you see me crying, you never ask why.” “I am ...

1174. Responsibility Comes with Privilege

Acts 8:4-8

Sermon

Richard Gribble

Once upon a time there was a good king who ruled wisely and well over his people, who loved him very much. This king had four beautiful daughters who were all well respected by the people. One day he called them together and told them, "I am going to a far-off monastery to spend time in prayer with God. Therefore, I am leaving you in charge of the kingdom." While all the girls, one after the other, told their father not to leave, he insisted that it was necessary. Before he left on his journey, however, he ...

1175. But First...

Luke 9:57-62

Sermon

King Duncan

A lady was taking her time browsing through everything at a yard sale. In a conversation with the homeowner she said, “My husband is going to be very angry when he finds out I stopped at a yard sale.” “I’m sure he’ll understand when you tell him about all the bargains,” the homeowner replied. “Normally, yes,” the lady said. “But he just broke his leg, and he’s waiting for me to take him to the hospital to have it set.” (1) Some things in life cannot be delayed. But we do delay them. Not for any sinister ...

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