Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 1251 to 1275 of 1679 results

1251. A Word For All Reasons

John 20:19-23

Sermon

John M. Braaten

Easter has happened. Jesus, crucified on Friday is risen from the dead, and from that time-shattering event he sets out. To do what? What shall be the first item on his agenda? We don't know what our Lord did between the early morning appearance to Mary Magdalene and the evening, but we do know that revealing himself to the disciples was high on his list of priorities. One question which could be asked is this one: Knowing what we do about Jesus' arrest, trial, sentencing, and the behavior of his followers ...

1252. A Farewell Gift

John 14:15-31

Sermon

John M. Braaten

I have never liked saying "goodbye," it always elicits feelings of finality. So I say other things like, "See you!" or "Hope to see you sometime." Most of the time I like quick goodbyes. However, when a loved one leaves there are no formalities. We embrace, sometimes through tears. It is not uncommon to cast out cliches, often with a bit of humor, to lighten the atmosphere. But in the end the word "goodbye" is bound to be spoken. It's a comforting thought really, because it is a shortened form of "God be ...

1253. The King Who Came To Die

Sermon

John M. Braaten

"The King of the Jews." That was the title which Pilate nailed above the cross where Jesus hung. You would have thought the Jewish priests would have been glad to see this so-called king humiliated so. But no, it must be changed, "Do not write, 'The King of the Jews,' " they said, "but, write, 'This man said, I am King of the Jews.' " Without hesitating Pilate answered, "What I have written, I have written." Perhaps Pilate's mind still burned with the memory of his encounter with the strange man whom he ...

1254. Playing By A Different Set Of Rules

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

Sermon

Larry Goodpaster

Obscenity, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. With words to that effect more than two decades ago the Supreme Court of the United States of America left the decisions regarding pornography in the hands of local communities. During the intervening years states and cities have struggled with the issue, desiring to uphold the basic rights of freedom of speech and expression, and at the same time attempting to establish and maintain what is decent and acceptable to the majority. The latest entry to ...

1255. Dim Visions And Blind Guides

Sermon

Harold Warlick

The societal limits which impinge on our world also affect our personal existence in profound ways. Nowhere is this more critical than in our own dreams and visions. Dreams and visions are important in life. Every action we take in life was designed by someone. Every piece of clothing, every building, every hymn book, every chair, every light fixture, and every automobile existed first in someone's vision. Someone had to have the idea or the dream to turn out the product. The same holds true for the way we ...

1256. Where Does That Leave Us?

Mark 13:1-31, Mark 13:32-37

Sermon

Thomas Peterson

Where does this Scripture leave us? Jesus compares the fig tree with the Day of Judgment. The fig tree’s leaves, sun s darkening, the moon giving no light, and the stars falling -- all are signs of the final day of the Lord. Then it is that the Son of man comes in clouds with great power and glory, and he sends out angels to gather in the elect. Many denominations spend a great deal of energy trying to figure out, “Is it the time yet?” Intense diligence goes into collating Scripture with wars and natural ...

1257. Lord, That I Should Receive My Sight

Mark 10:46-52

Sermon

Brett Blair

Helen Keller, so brave and inspiring to us in her deafness and blindness, once wrote a magazine article entitled: "Three days to see." In that article she outlined what things she would like to see if she were granted just three days of sight. It was a powerful, thought provoking article. On the first day she said she wanted to see friends. Day two she would spend seeing nature. The third day she would spend in her home city of New York watching the busy city and the work day of the present. She concluded ...

1258. Step Ten - Perseverance

Lk 12:35-48 · 1 Cor 10:1-13 · Ps 15:1-5

Sermon

John A. Terry

Step ten: "Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong, promptly admitted it." The 12 steps are a long journey, and the texts for today are ones that help us continue on the long journey. This passage from Corinthians is one I think should be a history teacher's delight. It is a mode of scriptural interpretation known as "typology." It is a form of historical study. This method sees events in the history of Israel as "types" of events like other events. Here the redemptive events in Israel' ...

1259. Step Four - Courage

Mt 26:69-75 · Acts 9:1-9 · Ps 139:1-6

Sermon

John A. Terry

Step four: Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves. The psalmist talks of the God before whom such a searching and fearless moral inventory is both possible and necessary. Ours is a God who, in traditional language, is omniscience and omnipresent, a God who knows all and is everywhere. This Psalm is sometimes called the Psalm of the unavoidable God. We believe that before our God there are no secret thoughts or actions. All is known by our God. I remember hearing a lecture one time where ...

1260. Life is Messy

John 1:29-34

Sermon

Johnny Dean

Back during the Christmas shopping season I was at the Wal-Mart Super store over in Martinsville, trying to weave my way from one side of the store to the other, from the automotive center where I had been checking out tire prices to the food section to pick up something for dinner (a modern-day marvel, those superstores). I had gone about half a mile when I passed through the sporting goods department. They had a TV hooked up to a VCR and they were showing a demo tape on deer hunting. A child had gotten ...

1261. What You See Is What You Get

John 14:5-14, John 14:1-4

Sermon

Johnny Dean

This past week I began doing something I’ve been putting off for a long time now. In an attempt to lose some of the extra pounds I’ve been carrying around, and at my doctor’s urging, I enrolled in a water aerobics class at the YMCA in Rocky Mount. Three days a week, from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m., you will find me there, exercising with my new friends in the heated swimming pool. The major reason for doing this is to improve my overall general health. I suffer from high blood pressure and a couple of other minor ...

1262. Monologue: Mary Magdalene - Liberated Woman

John 20:1-9, John 20:10-18

Drama

Robert F. Scott

John 20:1-2, 10-18 Medieval legends confused three women: the sinful "woman of the city" in Luke 7, Mary of Bethany, and Mary Magdalene. In time, "Magdalene" became a synonym for a prostitute. The plain text of the Bible treats each of these three women separately. Mary Magdalene is mentioned by name 12 times in the Gospels, but not once is there a whisper to connect her with the harlot of Luke 7. In recent decades there has been fanciful speculation that Mary was Jesus' wife or mistress. Again, there is ...

1263. Six Nails of the Cross I: The Nail of Pride

Mark 12:35-40

Sermon

Wesley T. Runk

One Sunday morning following the divine worship, the pastor greeted his parishioners at the door and accepted comments on his sermon. He had preached a searching sermon on the sin of pride. One particular woman had obviously hung back in order to confess her sin. When all the others had left, she told him that because of his sermon she realized what a sin she had committed during the past week. The minister asked her what the sin was. She replied, "My sin is pride. I sat in front of the mirror for one hour ...

1264. Names, Not Numbers

Deuteronomy 26:1-15

Sermon

Carl Hoefler

What comes to your mind when you hear the name "Moses"? Do you think of Chariton Heston standing on a rock with his hair and his beard and his robe blowing in the wind, while at the same time, beneath his feet the Red Sea churns and rolls back as mighty walls of waves forming a path for the fleeing Israelites? Perhaps you imagine Moses as a white-haired man standing on the jagged cliffs of a mountain and holding in his sinewy arms the two stone tablets of the law. It is doubtful that any of you imagine ...

1265. No Grey Area

Acts 15:1-21

Sermon

Carl Hoefler

Our text this morning is about one of the greatest spiritual and theological events in the history of the Christian church. Interestingly enough, it was not a dramatic martyrdom, nor a mass miracle, or even a crusade. It was not a worship service, a great sermon preached, or a crowd conversion. It was a church convention - a convention held about fifty years after the death of our Lord. For those of you who have ever attended a convention of the church, it may sound unbelievable that it could be a ...

1266. Our Conduct Must Prove We Are Citizens of Heaven

Philippians 3:1-11

Bulletin Aid

Carl Hoefler

Call to Worship Pastor: The life we live reflects our true nature, regardless of the beliefs we profess. People: We profess the Christian faith, and we want to live the Christian life. Pastor: As Christians we are not free to live by the desires of the flesh. Our lives must prove we are citizens of God's Kingdom. People: We affirm our faith in Christ; and witness to our desire to stand firm in the Christian Life. Collect Eternal God, source of our existence, and strength of our being, whose Kingdom is ...

1267. Dollar Signs and Life Symbols

1 Timothy 6:3-10

Sermon

Rev. Donald R. Shank

Today is Stewardship Sunday. It marks the beginning of our Every Member Canvas campaign for financial support of our church's ministry. It will culminate next week on Loyalty Sunday with our members affirming their loyalty to Christ through their membership vows and their support of His Church. I am well aware that for the pastor to speak about stewardship, especially as it may relate to money, makes some members a little up tight, nervous and uneasy. Uneasy, perhaps because things are getting a bit too ...

1268. God, The Enemy

Luke 12:1-12

Sermon

This week began with the execution of Timothy McVeigh, the man responsible for the worst act of domestic terrorism in U.S. history. A USA Today poll taken in April of this year showed that 81 percent of Americans wanted McVeigh to be executed -- and 28 percent of that support was from people who are normally against the death penalty. No matter where you stand on the issue of capital punishment, this particular execution has forced itself on our consciousness. One thing that particularly caught my ...

1269. Full Barns and Empty Hearts

Luke 12:13-21

Sermon

Wallace H. Kirby

When I went away to college I took along my recording of Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto in C Minor. The quiet second movement provided a helpful background by which to study. It had a sense of peace that stilled the confusions and stresses of university life. Two melodic themes from this concerto became popular ballads. One of them was, "Full Moon and Empty Arms," and in it the crooner bewailed his having all the setting for romance, except his beloved. I often wondered if Rachmaninoff approved of this use ...

1270. Barefoot in the Palace

Luke 13:22-30

Sermon

Wallace H. Kirby

The late J. Wallace Hamilton preached a sermon titled, "Bare Feet in the Palace." Borrowing an image from the author, Agnes Newton Keith, he suggested that this illustrates our times. The palace has undergone a radical change. The privileged who used to live there are gone: in their place have come the have-nots of the earth. They are now "barefoot in the palace." They have taken over the privileges of the few, and they do not intend to return to their former places of misery and destitution. If you want a ...

1271. Christ Has Set Us Free

John 8:31-41

Sermon

In 1493 a history of the world was published in Germany, just a year after Columbus discovered America. The book didn’t end with that; in fact it didn’t even mention it. It did end with a drawing of the Last Day, showing Christ as Judge sitting upon a rainbow. There was a lily in his right ear to symbolize the redeemed whom the angels were ushering into paradise. There was a sword in his left ear to represent the doom of the damned whom the devils were dragging by the hair from their graves and throwing ...

1272. Is The Gospel Only For Women?

Luke 6:17-26

Sermon

My theme for this All Saints’ Sunday is the question, "Is the Gospel only for women?" Let me explain why I put it that way. Recently I attended a theological conference at which one of the lecturers was a woman, a professor at a church college. She observed that although there are more women in the church than men, we men are still in control, that theology - the study of God - has always been a man’s world and that all the definitions of God are usually in terms of experiences that pertain to men. She ...

1273. The Man Who Came to Dinner

Luke 14:1-14

Sermon

Carveth Mitchell

To the thoughtful reader of this Gospel two questions jump out at once: Why was Jesus invited to a dinner with the Pharisees on the Sabbath? And why did he accept? In answer to that, there are three key sentences in this Gospel, and all three come across the centuries and speak Jesus’ word to us. I "They were watching him." (verse 1) Lo! Our two questions are answered. He was invited so they could watch him. What further evidence could they gather to feed the fire of their animosity toward him? Obviously ...

1274. Prayer

Matthew 14:13-21

Bulletin Aid

I'm lost! Wandering in the wilderness! I can't find my way out I don't know where I'm going. There are no roads No landmarks No tracks. I succumb to despair I have nowhere to turn Nobody understands Nobody can help. I'm out of control Everything goes wrong I'm surrounded by hostile darkness Wild beasts Demons! I thought I knew my way I thought I was safe Strong Self-sufficient But tragedy Loss Fear Have taken me And I don't know how to escape. Lord, forgive me for losing sight of you For being so proud of ...

1275. God in a Glimpse

Acts 17:16-34

Sermon

Two nuns were returning to the hospital where they worked when they ran out of gas. They hailed a passing driver who said he would be happy to give them some - he could siphon it from his tank. The only problem was he had nothing to put the gas in. The nuns looked in their car but they found no container except a bedpan. This will have to do, they decided. So they filled it with gas from the man's car and waved goodbye as he drove away. As the nuns were emptying the bedpan into their gas tank, a trucker ...

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