Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 1301 to 1325 of 1967 results

1301. Miscellaneous Oracles of Judgment

Ezekiel 21:1-32, Ezekiel 22:1-31

Understanding Series

Steven Tuell

In the Hebrew Bible, a new chapter starts at 20:45—appropriately, as 20:45–49 is less in continuity with the preceding judgment God pronounced on the leaders of the exilic community than with the following oracles God directed against Jerusalem (21:1–17, 18–24; 21:1–16; 22:1–16) and its leadership (21:25–27; 22:23–31; see the discussion below of the curiously-placed oracle against Ammon, 21:28–32). While it is difficult to find unity in this section, there are clear signs of intentional arrangement here: ...

1302. Here's Mud In Your Eye

John 9:1-41

Sermon

Robert Leslie Holmes

"Just the facts, ma'am!" That phrase, often attributed to Sergeant Joe Friday of Dragnet fame, even though it did not originate with him, goes straight to the point. Now here is another "just the facts personality": Julius Caesar was admired for his ability to make uncluttered summations of his great achievements. In a few words Caesar could lay bare the story of his accomplishments. Perhaps none of his statements is any better known than that famous terse tricolon that has followed Caesar since his quick ...

1303. Excuse Me!

Exodus 3:1-22

Sermon

Carl Jech

The Shadows: Low Self-Esteem Introduction One of the most popular programs in the history of old time radio was The Shadow. "The Shadow" was the alias used by fictional crime-fighter Lamont Cranston. A creaking door introduced each show, followed by the sinister and now-famous words: "Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows!" then came a sinister laugh. (The preacher might risk an imitation.) Have you noticed that the Bible does not seek to cover up the darker side of even its ...

1304. Never on Sunday

Mark 2:23-3:6

Sermon

Dean Feldmeyer

There are not ten commandments; there are only nine. That other one, the one about resting and not working on the Sabbath, that’s really just a suggestion. No one, not even the most observant Christians — with the possible exception of Hobby Lobby and Chick-fil-a — take it all that seriously, and even they simply close their businesses. Whether or not they actually rest and remember, as the commandment requires, is anyone’s guess. Business Insider lists In-and-Out Burger, Marriott, and Forever 21 as three ...

1305. Impetuous Faith

Mark 10:35-45

Sermon

Lori Wagner

Remember in school that one kid, the “kiss up,” the “butter up,” the “brown nose,” the suck up”? The kid who always raised his or her hand for every question, who always volunteered to help the teacher, who loved to be the class leader, who wanted every time to be chosen first for good behavior? Yup, that’s the one. Every class had one. Every job often has one. Throughout life, you’ll always encounter those who crave special attention, who obsess over being first at everything, who seem to need extra pets ...

1306. Have a Very Messy Christmas!

Matthew 3:1-12

Sermon

John Jamison

I’ll tell you, this had to be something to see. The Jordan River is not a big river like many that we might think of. At its widest, you could still easily thrown a stone across it, and in many other places, you could just step from one side to the other. The wide and deeper spots usually became places where people would gather to fill their water jugs, wash clothes, bathe the children… or just escape from the heat and dryness of the land around the river. Most of the land was a wilderness; narrow paths ...

1307. The Sawdust Trail

Colossians 3:1-4

Sermon

Dr. Ronald Love

Presbyterian minister Reverend Benjamin Weir, in his book Hostage Bound, Hostage Free, reveals what it was like to be held hostage. He was captured on the streets of Beirut by a group of Shiite Muslim extremists, in May, 1984. Weir was imprisoned for sixteen months. During those torturous months he was often chained and held in solitary confinement. Weir’s devout faith and trust in God sustained him during those perilous times. One routine in particular sustained Weir’s reliance on Jesus. Weir realized ...

1308. Baptized in Water

Mark 10:35-45, Psalm 104:1-35

Sermon

Thomas C. Willadsen

For the past month in our gospel readings, Jesus has been making his way to Jerusalem. He has been preparing his disciples for what awaited him there. They have rebuked him, been afraid to ask what he meant, and squabbled over who would have positions of leadership in his movement after he left them. Mixed in with his instruction and preparation to his disciples are stories of Jesus healing people seized with demons, disputing with the Pharisees, and lifting up the needs of children and “little ones,” ...

1309. Can You See Where We're Going

Mark 10:46-52

Sermon

William G. Carter

A cigar-chomping realtor was driving around a young couple to search for their first dream house. After listening to their concerns about mortgage points, maintenance costs, and school systems, he decided to give them a bit of advice. "I've been selling homes for 23 years," he said, "and I've discovered only three things matter when you're buying a home: location, location, location." To prove his point, he drove the couple to see two homes. The paint was peeling on the first house, and the driveway was ...

1310. Proper 17

Psalm 81:1-16, Hebrews 13:1-25, Jeremiah 2:1-3:5, Luke 14:1-14

Sermon Aid

William E. Keeney

Honor Or Humility Emily Post was a well-known expert on etiquette. She would tell you the proper table manners to observe. Her advice helped a person to be gracious in polite society. She told you not to put your elbows on the table -- and so did your mother probably -- and not to talk with your mouth full. She also told you which knife, fork, or spoon to use. Jesus also had some words about table etiquette. They had less to do with how to behave in polite society. They had to do with the proper ...

1311. Arc Of The Covenant

Genesis 9:1-17

Sermon

Paul W. Kummer

James Gilmour was a missionary to Mongolia and was asked to treat some wounded soldiers. He was not a doctor, but he did know how to give first aid. He dressed the wounds of two of the men, but the third had a badly broken thigh bone. Gilmour didn't know what to do, so he knelt by the man and prayed for help, knowing that God would answer. As he pondered what to do next, a crowd of beggars came by asking for money. Though preoccupied with the wounded men, his heart went out to the needy paupers. Hurriedly ...

1312. Living Our Lives On The Edge

Leviticus 19:1-37

Sermon

Paul E. Robinson

In the course of my growing up I was in a great variety of clubs and groups. But no club had as stringent and compelling rules, and no club demanded daily attention to its guidelines for behavior and action quite as much as a particular club which met in our home. It met usually three times a day, and the meetings were always at meal time. I'm talking about The Clean Plate Club! Now just in case there is someone here who missed out on membership in this exclusive club and therefore is uninformed as to its ...

1313. Watchman, Tell Us Of The Night

Isaiah 21:11-12

Sermon

David O. Bales

To strangers the plains of Eastern Montana seem barren, especially in late autumn. The horizon appears endlessly flat, and only occasionally above the plain a low row of hills pushes up -- sometimes just a large bump of ground. Homesteaders built a small frame church upon one such rise, and it has stood since 1912, spared prairie fires, but not free from time's toll. For safety the steeple was removed and the roof sags six inches in the middle of the span. But every season and every week, worship is held. ...

1314. Lent 4

Luke 13:18-22 · Joel 2:12-19

Bulletin Aid

Jack Brownlee

ORDER OF SERVICE Opening Words L: Let us worship our Creator, the God of Love. P: God continually preserves and sustains us. L: We have been loved with an everlasting love. P: Through Jesus Christ we have been given complete knowledge of God's glory. Hymn "Are Ye Able" Prayer Of Confession (Unison) Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy loving kindness. According unto thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. I acknowledge my ...

1315. Liking the New and Improving the Old

Isaiah 43:14-28

Sermon

Barbara Brokhoff

Next to "love," the word "new" is one of the most overworked words in our world. If it isn't new, we immediately consign it to ancient history. A minister friend, tells of speaking to a group of seventh grade confirmands. They were at a rather rustic retreat center. One boy came up to him, saying, "Boy! Is this place old! In the bathroom you have to turn on two faucets to get hot and cold water!" New and old is always relative, of course, but we quickly tire of the old and readily embrace the new as better ...

1316. The Prodigal Nation

Luke 15:11-32

Sermon

Erskine White

Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son. (Luke 15:21) I once knew a young couple, a husband and wife, who won the grand prize on a TV show called "The One Hundred Thousand Dollar Pyramid." One night, they showed me a videotape of the show and I saw them there on television, jumping up and down and screaming like people do on game shows. They won more money than they had ever imagined, an American dream come true. But winning all that money really ...

1317. Paradoxes Of The Christian Faith

Matthew 10:1-42

Sermon

Carlyle Fielding Stewart

There is something strange and paradoxical about the faith of Christians, and many people struggle to understand how we can celebrate the life of someone who died on a cross; someone who didn't fit the conventional criteria of success; someone who brought good and joy to the world, yet was executed by the very people to whom he brought goodness. How could God take someone who was penniless and make us wealthy; someone who was homeless and provide us with a many-roomed mansion in our Father's house? What a ...

1318. Lent

Sermon

Betty Lynn Schwab

Lent 1 Reader 1: God spoke to Moses saying: "You shall keep the Festival of Shavuot for the Lord your God, contributing a freewill offering in proportion to the blessing that you have received from the Lord." Reader 2: In Jesus' day, the Festival of Shavuot required every male in Israel to travel to the Temple of Jerusalem. There he offered God the first ripe fruits of this land. It was a time of thanksgiving for the goodness of the land. On Shavuot, it was said, Heaven decided the fate of the trees and ...

1319. Do You Love Me?

John 21:15-25

Sermon

Robert Allen

There is a very tender and moving scene in the play, Fiddler On The Roof. Tevyev and his wife Golda are being forced to move from their home in Russia. One day Tevyev comes into the house and asks his wife, "Golda, do you love me?" "Do I what?" "Do you love me?" Golda looks at him and then responds: "Do I love you? With our daughters getting married and this trouble in the town, you're upset, you're worn out, go inside, go lie down, maybe it's indigestion." Tevyev interrupts and asks the question, "Golda, ...

1320. Is Christianity Practical?

Jeremiah 17:19-27

Sermon

Louis H. Valbracht

Text: Jeremiah 17:5 - Thus says the Lord: "Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his arm, whose heart turns away from the Lord." Let's face it, we are paradoxical, a people who, while expressing our trust in Almighty God, are motivated by the apparent conviction that humanity is more to be trusted. That which is real is that which is pragmatically, empirically proved to be of value to humanity, and it is almost without exception something that humanity has produced. We have closed our ears to ...

1321. 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 ...

1322. When the Poor Become Rich

Matthew 5:1-12

Sermon

"Blessed are the poor in spirit; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Bumper sticker philosophy would have us believe that there are many sources of happiness. Some say, "Happiness is surfing," or "Happiness is a glass of cold milk," or even, "Money can’t buy happiness, but happiness can’t pay the bills." Unfortunately, bumper stickers seldom capture the whole truth. Nobody can say for certain what formula of circumstances guarantees happiness. If we could, given the market for such a product, we could ...

1323. More Real Than Food

John 6:25-59

Sermon

Carl Jech

The Jews ... disputed among themselves, saying, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" So Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you." (vv. 52-53) There are many who frown upon the celebration of Christmas because of its historical association with the pagan festival of Saternalia. It is true that the early Christian church decided to celebrate the birth of Christ on December 25 not because of any concrete ...

1324. Proper 4

Deuteronomy 11:1-32, Genesis 12:1-8, Matthew 7:15-23, Matthew 7:24-29, Romans 3:21-31, Psalm 31:1-24, Psalm 33:1-22

Sermon Aid

THEOLOGICAL CLUE From this point until late in the Pentecost season, on Sundays there is only the general theological framework of the church year to provide biblical/theological clues for worship and preaching themes. Pentecost, as "the time of the church," is eschatological; the church worships and waits, learns and grows, and witnesses and works for the coming of the fullness of the kingdom in Jesus' promised return. On the Sundays of Pentecost, the church is counting time, not marking time, until the ...

1325. The Most Beautiful Sacrifice

Mark 14:1-11

Drama

Setting: Lights dim, except for center area of the stage. A woman appears, wearing shawl or head covering, carrying an opaque flask or vase and a towel. Throughout the drama, she should be busy, or talk as she works. Perhaps other props might include table and water basin, food and utensils. Text: Mark 14:1-16 Cast: A woman from Bethany A man in the congregation who will sit among the people in a place where he can stand and be heard. Time: Her testimony is timeless, although the events she describes ...

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