Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 1326 to 1350 of 2561 results

1326. How To Treat Your Enemies

2 Samuel 18:1-18

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

Did you hear about the man who went into the preaching ministry, worked for seven years, then resigned to go back to medical school and become a doctor? "People," he explained, "don't want spiritual health. They just want to feel good." But after working as a physician for seven years, he again resigned, this time to go back to school. "I'm going to become a lawyer," he explained, "because, in the end, people don't want spiritual health. They don't even want physical health. They just want to get even." I ...

1327. Miracle Four: Healing A Paralytic

Mark 2:1-12

Sermon Aid

Harold H. Lentz

BACKGROUND MATERIAL When Christ began his ministry of preaching and healing, his fame spread, until he was well known throughout a large area. He intended to make clear the message of repentance and salvation from sin, but the news of his astounding miracles was something people immediately grasped, and they spread the information everywhere. As a result, throngs sought Jesus in order to have him cure the victims of ill health within their family circle. To avoid huge crowds, Jesus would sometimes go out ...

1328. The Burdens Of The Past

Haggai 2:1-9, Haggai 1:1-15

Sermon

Robert P. Hines

Recently a young man who participates in Civil War reenactments was giving a talk about his hobby. He shared with the group how a soldier in that war carried his own food supply with him. A bag of food weighed about seven pounds. The rifle he carried weighed ten pounds. The blanket and backpack weighed another forty pounds. This means the typical soldier in the Civil War carried over fifty pounds of material and weaponry with him all the time. Carrying that much weight must have been a heavy burden that ...

1329. There's More To Thanksgiving

Deuteronomy 26:1-15

Sermon

Thomas G. Rogers

As Christian people we have come together to observe a time-honored American tradition. We have gathered for worship on Thanksgiving Day. Consequently, it may surprise you a little to learn that I plan to begin this sermon by telling you a story that could be labeled as downright un-American and blatantly non-Christian. Interestingly enough, it is possible that, if I had not said anything about it, you might have listened to this story and not have noticed anything unusual. In fact, even though I've now ...

1330. Follow The Man With The Plan

Sermon

Richard Hasler

In the July 25, 1993, issue of the Cleveland Plain Dealer a fascinating article appeared about secret agent Varian Fry. He was an eccentric, bookish and shy man, one who hardly fits the picture of a secret agent. Nonetheless, this Harvard-educated writer left New York City in 1940 to begin a life of intrigue in France worthy of a Le Carre novel. His mission was to rescue artists, writers and musicians whose lives were in jeopardy because of Hitler's hatred of the Jews. Fry was successful in liberating 2, ...

1331. Week Two Of Lent

Sermon

Richard Gribble

Reflections:Week Two Of Lent Monday Week TwoDaniel 9:4-10Luke 6:36-38 The Compassion Of God Joseph Girzone, the popular author, tells the following story in his parable Joshua And The Children.1 Over a hundred years ago in France, a butler attached to a wealthy family knew where the family kept all their money, hidden in a vault underneath their chateau. The butler methodically plotted to kill everyone in the family and steal the money. One night when everyone was asleep, he crept into the house and first ...

1332. Time Out

John 12:1-11

Sermon

Robert Beringer

A woman who worked in a high level job for a major corporation experienced a grueling schedule and a lot of pressure. So when she was offered the opportunity to attend a stress reduction seminar, she quickly accepted. However, she soon realized the seminar might not be as helpful as she first thought. The instructor arrived late, out of breath, and announced, "In order to accommodate everyone's busy schedules, this five-day seminar will be speeded up and completed in two days!" In our study of turning ...

1333. Meeting Our Needs, Not Our Greeds

Exodus 16:1-36

Sermon

Steve Burt

Once upon a time there lived a farmer who raised chickens, wonderful, plump, juicy chickens that cooked up beautifully. But one summer a problem arose. It seemed that a fox had found a way to sneak into the pen where the chickens were kept, and it carried off a chicken every night. The farmer tried setting traps, but the fox was too smart to take the bait and get caught in the trap. The farmer tried staying awake and watching over the chicken pen, but he never did spot where it was that fox got in. No ...

1334. Veiled Glimpses of God's Glory

Exodus 33:12-23

Sermon

Robert S. Crilley

I've read that in one of Von Schlegel's avant-garde plays, the curtain rises to show the dimly-lit interior of a theater. There on the stage sit a group of people waiting for a curtain to rise. A ripple of amused laughter washes across the auditorium at the obvious irony of watching actors engage in the very activity which had occupied the audience only moments earlier. However, when this second curtain is lifted, it displays still another group sitting in front of yet another curtain. People begin to grow ...

1335. Recalling, Remembering, And Rejoicing

Deuteronomy 8:1-20

Sermon

Robert S. Crilley

For all of his charisma as a leader, his skills as a diplomat, his savvy as a politician, Moses was not the sort for whom making speeches ever came easily. Rhetoric simply wasn't included on his resume, public speaking never being one of his fortes. And of course, back at Sinai before this improbable pilgrimage began, he had admitted as much to Yahweh: "O my Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor now that you have spoken to your servant; but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue" ( ...

1336. Epiphany 5

Matthew 5:17-20, Matthew 5:13-16

Sermon Aid

William E. Keeney

Salt is very important to life. If a person lacks salt, the hunger for it is one of the strongest desires we have. Any farmer knows how cattle will find a salt block and lick it to maintain the proper balance in its body. Salt is so valuable that in some societies it has been used as a medium of exchange, a substitute for money. In the scripture, light is often used as a symbol for the existence of God. It is frequently used in a variety of ways throughout the Bible. In some cultures the sun was worshiped ...

1337. Toward A More Sensuous Christianity

Sermon

John A. Stroman

In using the word "sensuous," I am not using the word in a carnal or bestial sense, but rather in a sensory sense. The experience of the Holy Spirit is sensuous in the sense that it is stimulating, inspiring, exciting and at times emotional. The apostle reminds us, "For the kingdom of God is ... joy in the Holy Spirit" (Romans 14:17). When electricity was first introduced some Frenchmen wanted to know how fast electricity moves, so the abbot of a large monastery volunteered his monks for an experiment. ...

1338. Words, Words, Words

John 4:1-26

Sermon

Thomas Long

One doesn't have to search very far in our culture to realize that we live in an age that doesn't trust words very much. We use words by the bushel, in fact we are the age that does "word processing." Even so, we don't trust words; we build scaffolding out of them, but we don't put our weight on it. We know that words can be slippery, weasel things, used to conceal, to deceive, to distort. Words are cheap; people can hide behind words. When a politician gives a speech, what do we say? Promises, promises. ...

1339. A Faith I Could No Longer Count On

Psalm 73:1-7, 13-18

Sermon

Robert G. McCreight

Introduction The seventy-third psalm mirrors the life of faith for everyone who is honest enough to allow his or her faith to be pushed to the limit. It begins with a simple, Sunday School outlook which lifts up the clear virtue of a good God who is good to good people. We all like that sort of thing, and quickly say "Amen" to that. It doesn't take long at all for the psalmist to "grow up" and realize that the simple theology of a good God smiling on good people doesn't hold much water. Just because that's ...

1340. Life Beside The Falls

Ezekiel 47:1-12

Sermon

David O. Bales

The first storm of autumn clamped down with unseasonable cold -- lows at night in the teens -- which turned the shores of the falls in the middle of town to parallel strips of white lace. Despite the frozen ground the season's last football game would be played, swirls of snow sometimes making the players invisible from the stands. The teams warmed up on the field, stretching and shouting numbers to the rhythm of their exercises. The band members tuned their instruments, the public address announcer ...

1341. Balaam, The Donkey And The Angel

Numbers 22:1-20, Numbers 22:21-41

Drama

Peter C. Garrison

At first glance, Balaam, the donkey and the angel don't have a problem. They tried to do exactly what God wanted them to do. But God seemed to change his mind about what he wanted Balaam to do for him. The following fiction is about how Balaam, the donkey and the angel puzzle out God's apparent change of mind. Have you ever tried to figure out God? (This chapter finds its "confusion" in the uncertainty of one ancient Hebrew word concerning the motivation of the angel of the Lord, in Numbers 22:32b.) ( ...

1342. Welcoming Christ

Romans 14:1--15:13

Sermon

Frank Luchsinger

For his sixth grade year his family moved to the new community. They made careful preparations for the husky, freckle-faced redhead to fit in smoothly. They had meetings with teachers and principal, and practiced the route to the very school doors he would enter on the first day. "Right here will be lists of the classes with the teachers' names and students. Come to these doors and find your name on a list and go to that class." On the big day, all went as planned. Many students had gathered by the time he ...

1343. Just In Time

Ephesians 1:1-14

Sermon

Frank Luchsinger

A plane flies through the night. A winter storm howls as the pilot radios for meteorological information, trying to steer clear of the worst of it. All has gone well apart from the weather. The news that a heart was coming had reached the airport in plenty of time for the pilot to ready her plane for take off. By the time the ambulance arrived with sheriff escort, the engines were warm and ready to taxi onto the runway. The controller held air traffic as the two-engine craft sped down the runway and lifted ...

1344. Finding Faith In Unlikely People

Luke 7:1-10

Sermon

Maurice A. Fetty

One of the continuing delights of life is the joy of the unexpected. Highly scheduled as we are, and rigorously regimented, occasionally we are extraordinarily pleased with interruption and variation. When out-of-town friends turn up unannounced, rather than having scheduled themselves weeks in advance, we experience a certain excitement. How pleasant to have a business deal grow into undreamed proportions. What joy in having a surprise verdict from judge and jury. What a thrill to see surgery and ...

1345. Life's Final Flight

2 Kings 2:1-18

Sermon

Barbara Brokhoff

Some of the largest ads in newspapers, and some of the best commercials on television, deal with flying. Some people think that flying is "the only way to go," others fly only because they must and "white-knuckle" it all the way, and some simply refuse to fly at all, claiming that "if God intended us to fly he would have given us wings." Some delightful stories come out of airplane experiences. One such tale deals with the time when the passengers in a large jet plane were already anxious because of bad ...

1346. The Mechanics Of Prayer

Matthew 6:5-15, Luke 11:1-13

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

Note: This isn't a sermon but it's a good primer if you are preaching on the subject. Our goal is to pray like Jesus. We want to improve the effectiveness of our prayers. That is our objective, but what are the means of reaching the goal? We have come to the time when we need to consider the nuts and bolts of Christlike prayer. What do we say? When do we say it? Where do we say it? How long should we pray? How often? These are some of the mechanics of prayer. They are important as means to the end. The ...

1347. You Can Be Beautiful

Hosea 14:1-9

Sermon

Michael B. Brown

Following a morning as guest preacher at a large suburban church, I was approached by a member whom I had spotted during the second morning service. He had been sitting on the very front pew. A large man, he left hardly any room for other persons on the short pew near the chancel. He was not poorly dressed but did present a generally disheveled look, as if appearance were at the bottom of his list of personal priorities. All smiles, he approached me with a hug and the following greeting: "Hey brother! All ...

1348. Lent 2

Philippians 3:12-4:1, Genesis 15:1-18, Luke 13:31-35, Jeremiah 26:1-24

Sermon Aid

John R. Brokhoff

COMMENTARY Old Testament: Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18 Yahweh makes a covenant with Abraham who is promised a son and a land. This passage is one of several accounts of Yahweh's covenant with Abraham. It is noteworthy that Yahweh came to Abraham with a covenant proposal. Yahweh comes to Abraham as a shield (v. 1) and thus Abraham has no need to fear being in Yahweh's holy presence. In this account, Yahweh promises Abraham three tremendous blessings: a son, a nation, and a country. The covenant is made legal and ...

1349. Christmas 1

Hebrews 2:5-18, Colossians 3:1-17, 1 Samuel 2:12-26, Luke 2:41-52

Sermon Aid

John R. Brokhoff

COMMENTARY Old Testament: 1 Samuel 2:18-20, 26 Hannah gives her first child, Samuel, to the service of Yahweh under the high priest, Eli, at Shiloh where Samuel grew physically and spiritually. Samuel was the answer to Hannah's prayer for a child. When she weaned him, she took him to Eli at Shiloh to serve Yahweh permanently. Each year when Hannah came to worship, she brought Samuel a handmade robe. The little lad, wearing a linen apron-like vestment, an ephod, ministered to Yahweh. In this service Samuel ...

1350. Praying To The Congregation

John 17:6-19

Sermon

Thomas Long

According to legend, a certain West Coast radio evangelist would customarily close his broadcasts by praying over the air, "O God, we ask that today you would touch the hearts of those in 'Radioland' to support this worldwide ministry. We pray that you would move them mightily to send offerings of love, and to send them to Post Office Box 345, Pasadena, California." Though he was particularly crass about it, this minister was actually committing a fairly common mistake in worship leadership -- praying to ...

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