Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 1351 to 1375 of 2844 results

1351. Life After Life

Sermon

Robert G. Tuttle

An author writing in Vogue magazine says that he believes America’s loss of values, and her moral and ethical breakdown, arise from the fact that for the first time in history most of the people of America do not believe in life after death. When we lose our faith we lose our focus on a dependable structure of life. If life has no meaning, if it is going nowhere, then we can summarize history and the future, - "So What?" Eat, drink, and be merry - if you can! If life after death is not, I don’t want to ...

1352. The Reality Of The Resurrection

Luke 24:36-49

Sermon

Brett Blair

Here we are in the year 2003. It still fills me with a bit of awe that I witnessed the turn of the millennium. We are looking back this year and celebrating some amazing things that happened, things that seemed impossible in their day. There are three major celebrations. Perhaps you are aware of them: We are celebrating a centennial: 100 years ago few people thought it possible that man could fly. No one except the two sons of Rev. Milton Wright who at 10:35 on the morning of Dec. 17, 1903 made their first ...

1353. The Way It Works

Mark 6:1-6

Drama

Robert F. Crowley

Theme: How is our forgiveness related to Jesus? Summary: Three people discuss Jesus and the fact that he is telling people their sins are forgiven. How can anyone forgive sins? Who is Jesus and what right does he have to say these things? Playing Time: 3 minutes Setting: Your church Props: None Costumes: Peasant, of first century, Christian Time: The Time of Jesus Cast: Joel Nathan Daniel JOEL: (ENTERS ALONG WITH NATHAN AND DANIEL) Where did this man get these things? NATHAN: Jesus? DANIEL: You know who we ...

1354. The Fulfilled Promise

Acts 2:14-41

Sermon

T. A. Kantonen

These words, spoken by the Apostle Peter on the first Christian Pentecost, reveal the lasting significance of the pivotal event which had just taken place, the coming of the Holy Spirit and the beginning of the world mission of the church. As Christians throughout the world unite to celebrate Pentecost, the birthday of the church, these simple words still carry a message of vital importance concerning the nature, the purpose, the outreach, and the impelling power of the community of the Spirit which came ...

1355. Smart, Wise, and Foolish

1 Corinthians 1:18--2:5

Sermon

Gregory J. Johanson

The current President of the American Association of Pastoral Counselors is DONALD C. HOUTS. Formerly a local pastor, a chaplain-supervisor, and professor of pastoral care and counseling at St. Paul School of Theology, Kansas City, Missouri, he is presently Director of Pastoral Care and Counseling for the Illinois Area of the United Methodist Church. His sermons offered here were directed to the congregation of Wesley United Methodist Church in Champaign, Illinois, where he sometimes is asked to preach for ...

1356. A Lack of Feeding in the American Dream

Romans 6:1-14

Sermon

Gregory J. Johanson

I would like us to consider a subject which becomes important to us all from time to time, but which is generally confusing and threatening so that we normally try to pass on from it as quickly as possible. The subject is suicide. There are a number of reasons why I am concerned with talking about it. I am continually involved as a minister in suicide cases, both accomplished and contemplated. The other day, our ministerial association met with the staff of the mental health clinic, and they told us that ...

1357. Splashed with the Spirit

Luke 3:21-38, Luke 3:1-20

Sermon

William G. Carter

One Saturday when I was seventeen or eighteen, I had an unusual religious experience. I was serving on my church’s board of deacons, and one of the middle-aged members of the board was driving me around so we could drop in and visit some older members of our church. This was during the late seventies, at a time when our congregation was going through some turmoil. A number of people had been caught up in the charismatic movement that was going through a number of churches. They started a Sunday night ...

1358. The Healing of Jairus' Daughter and the Hemorrhaging Woman

Mark 5:21-43

Sermon

James W. Moore

A business executive became depressed. Things were not going well at work, and he was bringing his problems home with him every night. Every evening he would eat his dinner in silence, shutting out his wife and five-year-old daughter. Then he would go into the den and read the paper using the newspaper to wall his family out of his life. After several nights of this, one evening his daughter took her little hand and pushed the newspaper down. She then jumped into her father’s lap, wrapped her arms around ...

1359. Neighbors Who Never Met

Luke 16:19-31

Sermon

Brett Blair

What parable would make a man with three doctoral degrees (one in medicine, one in theology, one in philosophy) leave civilization with all of its culture and amenities and depart for the jungles of darkest Africa? What parable could induce a man, who was recognized as one of the best concert organists in all of Europe, go to a place where there were no organs to play. What parable would so intensely motivate a man that he would give up a teaching position in Vienna, Austria to go and deal with people who ...

1360. Year-Round Christmas

1 Kings 17:1-24

Sermon

David E. Leininger

"When elephants fight, the grass suffers." So goes an old African proverb.(1) The elephants in question here, Yahweh and Baal - gods competing for a nation's allegiance with the original weapons of mass destruction: drought and disaster; the grass, this widow and her son, caught in this cosmic struggle between fertility and famine. We meet one of faith's greatest heroes as this story begins. Elijah - no question whose side he is on; his name means YAHWEH IS MY GOD. He gets no introduction other than the ...

1361. A New Look at an Old Treasure

Psalm 23:1-6

Sermon

David E. Leininger

"The Lord is my shepherd..." Probably as well-known and well-loved as any phrase of scripture: the twenty-third psalm. Generations have memorized it, in Sunday School or at the knee of parents or grandparents. It is one of the first Bible passages we learn, and, as often as we hear it funerals, it is among the last words said over us when we die. A wonderful affirmation of our faith in God's ability to protect. "The Lord is my shepherd..." There is an old story out there of the man who, in the midst of a ...

1362. Of Rubble and Trouble

Luke 21:5-38

Sermon

David E. Leininger

Hmmm. "Wars and insurrections, nation against nation, kingdom against kingdom, earthquakes, famines and plagues...arrests, persecution, some put to death...days of vengeance...great distress on the earth...People will faint from fear and foreboding..." Whoa! What season are we in? What about "Peace on earth and mercy mild?" Actually, BOTH images are at play this morning. Yes, Christmas is coming - a beautiful time. But juxtaposed against that is a life of great uncertainty for all of us, a time when our ...

1363. The Best Birthday Ever

Psalm 90:1-17

Sermon

David E. Leininger

St. Paul's 40th Birthday. And some of you here in 1998 were here in 1958. Things are different now, of course. Churches change and neighborhoods change and even whole societies change. We know that WE change as we get older. I remember the days when it seemed that Christmas or a birthday would NEVER get here; and now I think, "Is it here again ALREADY?" You too? LOTS of things change with age. Not long ago, someone noted some of the more obvious adjustments.(1) It was entitled, "YOU'RE NOT A KID ANYMORE ...

1364. The Lord's Prayer: "Our Daily Bread"

Matthew 6:5-15

Sermon

David E. Leininger

"Give us this day our daily bread." Is that really a concern of yours? Are you truly worried about whether or not there will be food for you to eat today...or tomorrow or the next day? Probably not. We who live in America know very well that there is MORE than sufficient food for all OUR citizens - TOO much for many of us. Granted, we have a problem in getting the food properly distributed (as in Bosnia), but the food IS there. That would make it sound as though our prayer for daily bread is irrelevant. ...

1365. The Lord's Prayer: Please Forgive Us as We Forgive

Matthew 6:5-15

Sermon

David E. Leininger

In the book written by the widow of Robert Louis Stevenson called Prayers Written at Vailima, there is an unusual incident recalled. As you may know, Stevenson was an exceptionally religious man who insisted on family worship every evening... Scripture, hymns, prayers - all were included. But this one particular evening, Stevenson suddenly left the group before the worship was over. He had not been well, so his wife was concerned and went after him to see if he was all right. As Mrs. Stevenson recounted it ...

1366. The Incomparable Christ

Matthew 11:1-19

Sermon

David E. Leininger

Life was difficult. It always was for prisoners. Meager rations. Hard labor. Sometimes restrained and tortured by the stocks or collar. Left with festering wounds in damp, abandoned cisterns converted to maximum security dungeons. Why was he here? His only crime was criticizing the king for stealing his own brother's wife, Herodias. Herodias wanted John killed, but Herod Antipas was reluctant - he knew the people thought highly of John. John's ministry had begun in the wilderness where he subsisted on an ...

1367. Jesus and Divorce

Mark 10:1-12

Sermon

David E. Leininger

Jesus and Divorce. Tough text. In generations past, this would have provided no problem for the preacher - Jesus says No Divorce, the church says Amen (along with most polite society); case closed. Easy sermon. But these days, things are different. Jesus still says No divorce, but only part of the church says Amen while other parts say we are not so sure (and polite society says mind your own business); case NOT closed at all. I recall a conversation at our dinner table one evening about ten years ago that ...

1368. Sunday's Coming

Mark 11:1-11

Sermon

David E. Leininger

The six-year-old came home from Palm Sunday services proudly carrying his palm. Mom and Dad quizzed him on his Sunday School lesson for the day. He responded enthusiastically, "Jesus came to Jerusalem on a donkey. And the happy people waved their palm branches and sang, O Suzanna..."(1) Happy people singing. What a special day! Jerusalem was going to be Camelot, and Jesus was going to be King Arthur. The crowds were dreaming of trumpets and towers, capes and sashes, flowing robes and sparkling scepters. ...

1369. When Your Church Provokes You

Matthew 13:1-23, Hebrews 10:19-39

Sermon

David E. Leininger

...And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching. And now you know where the strange sermon title comes from. True enough, the church often DOES provoke us in the wrong way. You may have heard me tell of my father's response when, years ago, I asked him what the hardest part of being a minister was. I had posed the question just after he had ...

1370. Fish Bait

Luke 5:1-11

Sermon

David E. Leininger

Two guys go on a fishing trip. They rent all the equipment: the reels, the rods, the wading suits, the rowboat, the car, and even a cabin in the woods. They spend a fortune. The first day they go fishing they don't catch a thing. The same thing happens on the second day, and on the third day. It goes on like this until finally, on the last day of their vacation, one of the men finally catches a fish. As they drive home, they are both really depressed. One turns to the other and says, "Do you realize that ...

1371. A Fool and his Money

Luke 12:13-21

Sermon

David E. Leininger

A fool and his money. Are soon parted, right? Someone has rewritten it to suggest that "A fool and his money are some party!" OK. Some of us are old enough to remember Adlai Stevenson, Governor of Illinois, UN Ambassador, two-time Democratic candidate for President, and rare wit. Stevenson once said, "There was a time when a fool and his money were soon parted, but now it happens to everybody."(1) Amen? Amen! Of course, this link between a fool and money (or possessions) goes back along way, all the way to ...

1372. Role Models

Mark 14:12-26

Sermon

King Duncan

When the play Peter Pan first premiered in London in 1904, the author, Sir James Barrie began to hear from parents upset with the play. They asked him to make a change. In the original version, Peter Pan told the Darling children that if they believed strongly enough that they could fly, they would fly. Apparently, children who had seen the play had taken Peter's word literally and hurt themselves attempting to fly. Without hesitation, Barrie altered the script to include a cautionary statement that the ...

1373. Comfort My People

Isaiah 40:1-31

Sermon

King Duncan

Have you ever noticed that people are funny? It makes no difference what time of the year, people are funny. Maybe you read the story in the newspapers this time last year about a young Romeo in France who was trying to woo his girlfriend Santa Claus-style. Attempting a surprise visit to his girlfriend while her parents were away, the youth climbed down the chimney of the girl's home. On his way down, he became trapped in the narrow flue and called for help. Firemen, alerted by the girlfriend, said they ...

1374. Marriages That Last

Ephesians 5:22-33

Sermon

King Duncan

Liz was sure her boyfriend Martin would make a great husband, especially when she met Martin's parents. "They're so nice to each other," Liz remarked. "It's great how your dad brings your mom coffee in bed every morning." Eventually, Martin and Liz got married. As they were heading for their honeymoon destination, Liz spoke of the loving home they would have, and mentioned once again Martin's father's habit of bringing his wife coffee in bed each morning. Liz asked jokingly, "And does this trait run in the ...

1375. Good Taste Or Good Religion?

Mark 7:1-23

Sermon

King Duncan

You may remember reading several years ago about a pair of polite gunmen with British or Australian accents who were robbing homeowners in moneyed neighborhoods of suburban Montgomery County, Md. The masked duo struck several times, usually entering the homes through the garage or unlocked doors. The intruders were unfailingly polite and as far as we know, no one was hurt. One homeowner in Potomac, Md., was robbed after letting his dogs outside at about 5:30 a.m. and leaving a sliding glass door unlocked. ...

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