Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 1201 to 1225 of 4933 results

1201. Making the Mystery Work for You

John 3:1-21

Sermon

Charles R. Leary

It’s Trinity Sunday: God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. Enough said? Don’t leave me. I promise you, I won’t deliver a lecture expounding on what belongs only in the classroom for theologues. I do want to tell you a brief story. A man in a certain parish was only seen in church one Sunday a year. No, it was not Easter. It was Trinity. One leading lay person had restrained his curiosity year after year. He could not contain it any more. He approached the man and said, “I have noticed that ...

1202. Confusion Over a Questioned Book

Daniel 7:1-14

Sermon

George Paul Mocko

Were you confused by that passage read from the Book of Daniel? Don't feel bad. You are in good company. Daniel has been confusing people ever since it was written. It confused those rabbis who in the year 90 met in the coastal town of Jamnia to cast their votes on which of the historical writings were to be designated "sacred scripture." Daniel made it into the Bible by a majority vote, but many of those rabbis felt it should not have. It confused early Christians, many of whom were as unsure of its value ...

1203. The Shepherd King

Ezekiel 34:1-31

Sermon

Sims Robert

There is a wonderful story out of the 16th century about Bishop Hugh Latimer, a great leader of the church. One Sunday morning he entered his pulpit and looked out to see King Henry VIII in the congregation. He knew that what he had to say that day would not go well with King Henry. He thought for a moment and then said to himself, but out loud for all to hear, “Latimer, be careful what you say today; King Henry is here.” He thought for a moment longer and again said to himself, but aloud so others could ...

1204. Lord, Teach Us to Pray

Luke 11:1-13

Sermon

He (Jesus) was praying in a certain place, and when he ceased, one of his disciples said to him, "Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples." And he said to them, "When you pray, say: "Father, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread; and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive every one who is indebted to us; and lead us not into temptation." And he said to them, "Which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me ...

1205. Faith-Filled Living

Luke 17:1-10

Sermon

And he said to his disciples, "Temptations to sin are sure to come; but woe to him by whom they come! It would be better for him if a millstone were hung round his neck and he were cast into the sea, than that he should cause one of these little ones to sin. Take heed to yourselves; if your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him; and if he sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, and says, 'I repent,' you must forgive him." The apostles said to the Lord, " ...

1206. Maundy Thursday

John 13:1-17

Sermon

Kendall McCabe

A popular form of education in the lower grades, for many years, has been the procedure called "Show and Tell." It has invaded some pulpits as well and preachers will do object-centered sermons; they hold or employ some particular item easily seen and understood by the congregation in order to gain attention and, hopefully, make a point that will be remembered. It was something of that nature Jesus was doing on the night of the Last Supper, as it is recorded for us by the evangelist John. In some ways, it ...

1207. The Second Sunday of Easter

John 20:19-23

Sermon

Kendall K. McCabe

The Protestant probably thinks of a dimly-lit church with rows of curtain-draped boxes along the side or at the rear. The lone individual slips into one, kneels, and begins to whisper to an unknown hearer on the other side of the partition, "Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned." Then, thinks the Protestant, after mumbling through a catalog of misdemeanors, the Catholic penitent is assigned some token duty, such as saying a few prayers, and then is free to go and do those same things all over again. And, ...

1208. The Secret Story of Gabriel

Luke 1:26-38

Sermon

In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth.... (Luke 1:26) From our text in Luke you have heard the Bible’s account of how God sent the angel Gabriel to Mary. But this is not the only version of the story. There is another, unofficial, version which came to light recently when an ancient manuscript was discovered in Bethlehem. For those of us who like to stay on the cutting edge of biblical research, this new discovery is exciting and has changed forever the ...

1209. Leah

Genesis 49:29--50:14

Sermon

Warren Thomas Smith

An elderly woman of keen mind and understanding heart stood gazing at Whistler’s portrait of his mother. "It’s a remarkable painting of a lovely lady," murmured the viewer, "but there is too much peace and calm to be the likeness of a real mother." To be sure, serenity and tranquility are marked qualities of motherhood, yet there has been far more sorrow, pain, and discord in the long history of women than the pacific sweetness of "Mother Machree" would indicate. Ours is a world which traditionally has not ...

1210. The Perfect Gift

Galatians 3:26--4:7

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

Someone told me about a man who got tired of the Christmas hoopla. All the frantic haste and the crass commercialism disgusted him. So, he decided not to go along with the crowd. Among other things, he decided not to send Christmas cards, feeling that the expense and effort were non-productive. For the first ten days of December he felt good about his decision. But then, as the mail brought him greetings from friends near and far, he began to feel more and more guilty about sending no cards. Finally, four ...

1211. Oh, How The Mighty Have Fallen

Luke 1:39-45, Luke 1:46-56

Sermon

Brett Blair

I am holding in my hands a copy of one of the world’s most revolutionary documents. In it are found these immortal words: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal. . .” Of course, that document, the Declaration of Independence, is the charter of the American Revolution. Though we have not yet lived up to it, it has been the vision that inspires us. The only document I know that is more revolutionary is in our Bible. It is called the Magnificat and is found in Luke, chapter 1 ...

1212. Doing Battle with Demons

Luke 8:26-39

Sermon

David E. Leininger

A familiar story. One wag says it is the only one in scripture that deals with "deviled ham." Yuck, yuck. The narrative builds around the sensitivities of Jewish piety. Pigs were the personification of uncleanness.(1) They were easily associated with Gentile uncleanness. Tombs were also a source of uncleanness, and in Jewish areas they were whitewashed so that one might not come in contact with a tomb accidentally.(2) A man with no clothes on would be an outcast since nakedness was shameful.(3) Unclean! ...

1213. Been There, Done That, No Thanks!

Philippians 3:1-11

Sermon

King Duncan

"There have been a lot of changes around here," said the old man proudly, "and I want you to know I've been against every one of them." Have you ever noticed that some people have a difficult time with change? Some people would rather fight than switch. Their motto seems to be "Don't rock the boat even if it's the Titanic!" Of course, some changes are difficult to accept. As someone has said, "It just doesn't seem right to go over the river and through the woods to Grandmother's condo." And not all change ...

1214. When Someone Else Gets The Honor

Matthew 20:1-16

Sermon

King Duncan

We have been dealing the past couple of weeks with some of the most basic human emotions--anger, hatred, resentment. This morning we want to deal with another--envy. A popular form of humor recently has been light bulb jokes. For example, "How many Wall Street brokers does it take to screw in a light bulb?" The answer: "One, The broker holds the light bulb and the universe revolves around him." Or, "how many Exxon officials does it take to change a light bulb. Ten. One to turn the bulb and nine to handle ...

1215. The King Of Ifs

Luke 23:26-43

Sermon

Richard Andersen

His throne room was the top of a small hill named Golgatha. His throne was not gilded and set with precious stones; it was a cross of rough-hewn timbers. Though He wore a crown, it was of thorns. Albeit He had been cloaked in a robe of royal color, it was but a discarded rag and even that was taken from Him. Once He held a scepter, but it was only a reed from a creek bed, stuffed derisively in His hand by jeering guards. Yet Jesus, upon Calvary's cross, was more a King than any other sovereign; certainly ...

1216. I Wish Life Came With An Eraser!

2 Corinthians 5:11--6:2

Sermon

Siegfried S. Johnson

Co-Winner in the best Sermon Contest In a Dennis the Menace cartoon, Dennis' wrongdoing, for which he is being punished, is made abundantly clear. You might say, "The handwriting is on the wall." With the evidence of his misdeed, spent Crayolas, scattered on the floor behind him, Dennis sits in the corner staring at the once pristine walls which are now decorated with his artwork"”a dinosaur, a house, a cowboy, the sky with sun and clouds. Evidently, mom didn't much appreciate his drawing skills, so there ...

1217. A Rainbow And A Cross

Genesis 9:1-17

Sermon

King Duncan

If you have more than one child in your family, you have probably faced a familiar dilemma. A mother was telling about her three boys. "My boys are very loyal to each other," she said. When one of them misbehaves, the others will not tell on him." Her friend asked, "How do you know which one to punish?" "It's not too hard," she replied. "When one of them does something wrong, we send all three to bed without supper or TV. The next morning we spank the one with the black eye." Every parent wishes it were ...

1218. Only Sex? (New)

1 Corinthians 6:12-20

Sermon

King Duncan

The young girl was asked in Sunday school, “would you rather be good or would you rather be beautiful?” “I’d rather be beautiful,” she declared, “and repent!” You probably know someone with that philosophy. A teenage boy and his grandfather were out fishing. The grandfather began talking about how times have changed. The teenager, who had a close relationship with his grandfather, asked, “Grandad, they didn’t have much trouble with sexually transmitted diseases when you were young, did they?” The ...

1219. Following Summons

Acts 9:32-43

Sermon

Elizabeth Achtemeier

A number of subsidiary themes emerge in this reading from Acts, and we probably should take note of them, although they do not form the main thrust of the text. We have here a brief story of a Hebrew woman given the Aramaic name of Tabitha, which means "gazelle," or called Dorcas in the Greek. This is the only mention that we have of Dorcas in the scripture, but over the centuries, her reputation as a person of good works and charity toward the poor has been preserved. It is now not unusual to find "Dorcas ...

1220. Healed By The Great Physician

2 Kings 5:1-27

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

If I mention the word “healing” here in church, what comes to your mind? Oral Roberts? Professional healers on TV? The Christian Scientists? A place in France where lame people seem to have been made well? Jesus giving sight to a blind man? Perhaps none of the above. If you are at the grocery store and you glance at one of those tabloid magazines and see the word “healing” on the front page, what do you think of? New-fangled diets? Miracle drugs? Perhaps. We tend to compartmentalize healing. If something ...

1221. Haiti

Job 1:6-22

Sermon

Brett Blair

On Tuesday of this week just before sunset a powerful 7 magnitude earthquake rocked the island country of Haiti. You have seen the images of suffering and the aftermath on the internet and TV. There horrible irony is that this is considered by many to be the poorest country in the western hemisphere. They had no direction to go but up. And now this. Already at the bottom economically and now they have been shoved through the floor. As I watched TV, listened to radio, listened to people in our community, ...

1222. No Instant Maturity

Matthew 7:15-23

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

A man went into a department store, picked up a game of chess took it to a salesman and said, “Tell me how to play it as you wrap the package.” That’s descriptive of our situation. We want to know how to do it quickly. We don’t want to take the time to follow each necessary step. No fascination is keener than our fascination with short-cuts. We want to be “saints suddenly”. We dream long for instant maturity. And that’s what I want to talk about today as we continue our consideration of Christian growth. ...

1223. Being the Lord's Instrument

Exodus 17:1-7

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

It’s a terrible thing to believe that nobody needs you. Have you ever had that feeling? That you’ve been put on the shelf and all that is left now is for you to just sit there - to be present, but not to mean anything? It’s also a terrible thing to believe that you’ve lost your influence; nobody pays any attention to you anymore. Unlike E. F. Hutton - when you speak, nobody seems to listen, Moses must have been plagued with that thought throughout the Exodus journey. Over and over again, the Israelites ...

1224. A Glimpse of God

Exodus 33:19-23

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

What would you feel like if you had an appointment with God at 9 A.M. tomorrow? Would you be able to eat for the rest of the day? How much sleep do you think you’d get tonight? You’ve got an appointment with God at 9 A.M. in the morning. He has given you instructions as to where to meet him and what to bring with you. That was the case with Moses. “Come up in the morning to Mount Sinai,” God said, “and present yourself there to me on the top of the mountain.” Moses was to bring with tables of stones like ...

1225. In the House of the Lord

Psalm 23:1-6

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

If you saw the “Places in the Heart,” starring Sally Field, you will probably never forget the closing scene. Many in the audience and most critics could not believe what they were seeing. The scene is set in a small and simple sanctuary lit Texas. Everyone who figures in the movie drama is seated there in the pews. The camera moves in on the preacher at the pulpit, and he reads the moving cadences of the apostle Paul’s great hymn on love from 1 Corinthians 13.-We hear again how faith, hope and love ...

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