Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 1151 to 1175 of 3852 results

1 Samuel 15:1-35

Sermon

Arthur H. Kolsti

... C.S. Lewis I encountered in his book, Reflections On The Psalms. If the Divine call does not make us better, it will make us much worse. Of all bad people, religious bad people are the worst. Of all created beings the wickedest are those who originally stood in the presence of God. Let these words hover over our thoughts this morning. They are not comfortable words, for they remind us of some dark chapters in the history of the church, like the crusades, the inquisition, and the execution of witches. They ...

1152. Between The Parentheses

Revelation 1:4-8

Sermon

William G. Carter

... heretics. It is no wonder that many Christians are afraid of their own book. Even so, the book of Revelation may also be one of our great undiscovered treasures. It was first addressed as a letter to the church during uncertain and dangerous times. The original name of the book is the "Apocalypse," which means a disclosure. In the Bible, an apocalypse is a moment when God pulls back the curtain that hides heaven from earth. The Revelation offers glimpses of a holy reality which is normally hid from our eyes ...

1153. Clean House

John 2:12-25

Sermon

Harry N. Huxhold

... be sure, there was great commotion and excitement. One can imagine the carnival character of those festal days as travelers found relatives and old friends among the many consumers who populated the precincts of the Temple. The temple area covered some 35 acres. It had originally been built by Solomon about 950 B.C., but was burned to the ground by Nebuchadnezzar in 587 B.C. The Temple was rebuilt under Zerubbabel in 516 B.C. It was desecrated and stripped by Antiochus Epiphanes in 168 B.C. and cleansed and ...

1154. Easter 3

Luke 24:13-35

Bulletin Aid

Dennis Koch

Gospel Notes The Emmaus story may not have been a resurrection appearance in its original form, but only rendered so by Luke, for whom it becomes one more bit of testimony to the truth of the miracle. The most intriguing aspect of the story is that resurrected Jesus goes unrecognized until he breaks bread with them, whereupon, in retrospect, they realize that their hearts actually ...

1155. Easter 4

John 10:1-21

Bulletin Aid

Dennis Koch

Gospel Notes The mixture of "shepherd" and "door" images for Jesus in this passage suggests two originally separate sayings of Jesus fused and interpreted by the evangelist. The more accessible, though dated, image is that of the shepherd (vv. 1-6 and again in 8 and 10ff.), the point of which here is the intimate relationship of trust between the care-giver and the cared-for: they ...

1156. God's providence and priorities

Matthew 6:19-24

Bulletin Aid

Dennis Koch

Gospel Notes This passage probably was not originally a part of the Sermon on the Mount, since Luke locates it elsewhere. The exhortation against anxiety here has two bases, the first of which is the more developed: (1) God's providence and (2) God's priorities, namely, God's Reign and righteousness. The assurance throughout is that because ...

1157. Facing Failures With the Gospel Proclamation

Matthew 13:1-23

Bulletin Aid

Dennis Koch

Gospel Notes The main point of the original parable (vv. 1-9), rather than the almost certainly later allegorical interpretation of the Church (vv. 18ff), seems to be that, despite the fact that eventually it will find a fertile audience and yield extraordinary fruit, the gospel will initially and repeatedly fail to take root. In this regard, the ...

1158. God's Discrimination

Matthew 13:36-43, Matthew 13:24-30

Bulletin Aid

Dennis Koch

... Notes One of the most disturbing slogans to come out of America's recent war experiences was "Kill them all, and let God sort them out!" The parable of the tares (or "weeds") offers a much more positive angle on divine discrimination, both in its original form (vv. 24-30) and in its (almost certainly later) allegorical interpretation (vv. 36-43). The suggestion is that in God's Reign (and in the Church) no artificial human "weeding" is necessary: "Save them all, and let God sort them out!" Liturgical Color ...

1159. Limitless Forgiveness

Matthew 20:1-16

Bulletin Aid

Dennis Koch

Gospel Notes The original "punchline" to this parable was probably verse 15, which would shift the focus of the parable properly from the laborers to the vineyard owner and would underscore his generosity. The lesson, then, is about God and God's coming Reign: God will be just to all but "unfairly" gracious to ...

1160. Proper 22

Matthew 21:33-46

Bulletin Aid

Dennis Koch

Gospel Notes Form-critical analysis of this passage in light of the other versions of the parable in the Synoptics and the Gospel of Thomas reveals that the original point of the story was not Christological; nor was it primarily allegorical. Rather, it was a simple, if shocking, "Kingdom" parable, whose point was the value of the coming Reign of God and the extraordinary, even desperate measures that the lowly should take in claiming it as their own. Liturgical ...

1161. Separation of Church and State

Matthew 22:15-22

Bulletin Aid

Dennis Koch

Gospel Notes The conversation depicted here must be understood in its original setting, in which the distinction between state and religion was blurred in a number of ways, not the least being the claim of the Roman emperor to be divine (and so designated on coins)! Jesus' famous dictum about "rendering," therefore, is a cleverly "safe" way of dealing with a question ...

1162. Christian Love as Bifocal

Matthew 22:34-40

Bulletin Aid

Dennis Koch

Gospel Notes In a sense, Jesus refuses here to play along with the Pharisee's question, which called for a singular answer. Jesus' answer, advocating a "bifocal" love, was not original in the rabbinic tradition. Others had emphasized these two Old Testament injunctions before. Jesus does, however, appear to raise the second commandment to a nearly co-equal status with the first with the word "like" in v. 39, and in his citing both as the foundation for the law and ...

1163. Preserving vs. Promoting the Gospel

Matthew 25:14-30

Bulletin Aid

Dennis Koch

Gospel Notes Exactly what Jesus' original intent was for this parable is uncertain, but the fearful, "protectionist" mentality of the third servant is universal and timeless: he timidly decides to protect what he has rather than to develop it, and because of his subsequent actions he is pronounced "wicked and lazy." This story could be applied ...

1164. God's Gracious Good Will

Luke 2:8-20, Luke 2:1-7

Bulletin Aid

Dennis Koch

... details is an often misunderstood phrase, which comes as a part of the angelic multitude's hymn, namely, the declaration of peace among "men," either those "of good will" or those "with whom God is pleased." The latter probably comes closer to the original intent of the idiomatic text, and makes the sound theological point that the benefits of this whole event derive from God's gracious good will, not from human merit. Liturgical Color White Suggested Hymns He Whom Shepherds Once Come Praising Joy To The ...

1165. The Wisemen

Matthew 2:1-12

Sermon

Jerry Eckert

... began to engulf them. They were wise enough to accept the possibility that they had failed. But they were also wise enough to stick around a little longer to leave no possibility unchecked. They worked well into the night, going back over their original sources. They looked at their calculations again. This time, Balthazar went over the math carefully so that his partners could understand what he had done and so they could correct him if possible. They took a breather after several hours of concentration ...

1166. The Meek

Psalm 37:1-40

Sermon

John A. Terry

... , Lord, you better send the money through Cardinal Spellman, because last time Monsignor Sheen held back $25 on me." "Happy are they who complain, for they get their own way in the end." The word we render as "meek" is difficult to translate from the original Greek into English. We tend to link the works "meek" and "little," as in "he is a meek, little man." There are unfortunate implications with the word "meek" which imply a meek person is without courage, or self-respect, a broken-spirited person. The ...

1167. The Merciful

Matthew 18:21-35

Sermon

John A. Terry

... in what one has done, we can still offer compassion and forgiveness. This is the nature of a merciful God. The mercy to which Jesus referred is not simply our being merciful to one another, but God being merciful to us. All acts of mercy have their origin with God. God is the source, the author, the creator of mercy. There is a dual sense in which we receive mercy. We receive mercy now and in the kingdom. We know the joys of performing acts of mercy. We know the pleasure of receiving the merciful actions ...

1168. The Adventure Of The Empty Tomb

Mark 16:1-20

Sermon

Jerry Eckert

... hymn sing. I already had a sermon started for Easter Sunday. As I began to write, I heard the voices and literally let the story flow from what I was hearing. After working two hours I had two problems. One, the story was already a page longer than my original goal for length, and I wasn't halfway through the story. Two, I didn't have the foggiest idea how the story was going to come out! It was a restless night, though no story elements worked their way to the surface as I tossed and turned. I was ...

1169. Feeding the 5000

Mark 6:30-44

Sermon Aid

Richard A. Jensen

... of the five thousand. The opening verses assigned for today indicate that Jesus had great compassion on the crowd. Jesus, that is, acted like a shepherd to people who were "like sheep without a shepherd." Israel had great traditions of the shepherd. In all three stories of the origin of David he is depicted as a shepherd boy: 1 Samuel 16:6-13 (v. 11); 14-23 (v. 19); 17:1-58 (v. 15). Psalm 23 and Ezekiel 34 present God as the Great Shepherd of Israel. The assigned text then omits the story of Jesus feeding ...

1170. Christmas Eve / Christmas Day

Luke 2:1-7, Luke 2:8-20

Bulletin Aid

RobertT D. Ingram

... the Lord our God. Cng: It is right to give our thanks and praise. Ldr: Lord, it is good to take time to thank you for the gift of life. In the beginning, you and the one John calls "the Word" called all life into being. Our lives have their origin in that act of divine will, and that beginning moment reveals our purpose and direction for every moment since then, as well as every moment yet to come. And so, with your people on earth and all the company of heaven we praise your name and join their unending ...

1171. Celebrating the Marvel of Growth

Mark 4:30-34, Mark 4:26-29

Sermon

Charles R. Leary

... . Jesus addressed a community that was so immobilized by fear, hostility and negativity that they couldn’t see the genuine excitement. The secular community was divided. Shall we be loyal to Rome? Shall we be loyal to the nations of our origins? They were pluralistic, too. And the religious community fed upon the divisiveness this fear and hostility bred. The religious community fostered more fear because they kept telling the people the world was coming to an end. Doesn’t that sound familiar! Jesus ...

1172. God’s Flowing and Our Ebbing

Isaiah 6:1-13

Sermon

Robert Noblett

... And I said. “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” (Isaiah 6:5) That’s Isaiah ebbing. In the original Broadway version of Carousel there was a song that for some reason never made it into the film version. The main character, a barker who has led a less than savory life, asks in a fist-shaking manner, “Take me before the highest throne and let me be judged by ...

1173. God’s Kind of King

Jeremiah 23:1-8

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

... sin to pollute us so that now we are “lost and condemned creatures.” As slaves of sin, we are nobodies and without any merit. But Christ the King took mercy on us and gave his blood as a sacrifice on the Cross to purify and restore us to our original condition. As a result, as Paul says, we are a new creation in Christ, a new people in a new covenant. Therefore, we have status, dignity and honor. We are persons of value, for “God made no junk.” During the era of slavery in this country, a visitor ...

1174. Read the Directions

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

... . Another piece in the assembly of a fulfilling life is equality regarding all others as of equal worth in the sight of God. Proverbs says, “The rich and the poor meet together; the Lord is the maker of them all.” God made both rich and poor. Our common origin is in him. Therefore one is not to be exalted over another. The letter of James in the New Testament insists on treating the poor like the rich. “Show no partiality ...” we read. “Has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich ...

1175. OK, God You Win!

Job 42:1-6

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

... our stupidity. Now God is asking us questions to show how ignorant we are. What are some of the questions God asks us? Do you know the mind of the Lord? Where were you when I created the universe? Do you understand my ways? Do you know the origin of evil? Can you explain why bad things happen to good people? When will the world come to an end? How long is eternity? “What?” God exclaims, “You don’t know the answers to these simple questions?” In contrast to the omniscience of God, we are abominably ...

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