Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 126 to 150 of 4508 results

126. Mary, Let's Go To The Barn

Illustration

Brett Blair

I love this story: A grade school class was putting on a Christmas play which included the story of Mary and Joseph coming to the inn. In that class was one little boy who wanted very much to be Joseph. But when the parts were handed out, his biggest rival was given that part, and he was assigned to be the inn keeper instead. He was really bitter about this. So during all the rehearsals he kept p...

127. A Famous Atheist Believes In God - Sermon Starter

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Brett Blair

A British philosophy professor who had been a leading champion of atheism for more than a half-century changed his mind. He now believes in God. His name is Antony Flew. You don’t know him but you have heard of the people he hung around with in 1950. In that year Professor Flew presented a paper called Theology and Falsification to a gathering of religious men called the Socratic Club at Oxford Un...

128. The Christmas Promise: God with Us - Sermon Starter

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James W. Moore

G. K. Chesterton, the noted British poet and theologian, was a brilliant man who could think deep thoughts and express them well. However, he was also extremely absent-minded and over the years he became rather notorious for getting lost. He would just absolutely forget where he was supposed to be and what he was supposed to be doing. On one such occasion, he sent a telegram to his wife which carr...

129. For He Shall Save His People - Sermon Starter

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I have a Christmas dilemma. When I was a kid there was no Christmas dilemma. You filled out your wish list and you waited for Santa to fulfill it on the 25th. That was pretty awesome. The rest of the year didn't work like that so it made Christmas a strange and wonderful time. But you know what happens? Slowly the tables get turned on you until one day you're being handed the wish list. Such is li...

130. Advent 4

Sermon Aid

Russell F. Anderson

THIS WEEK'S TEXT Revised Common: Is 7:10-16 · Rom 1:1-7 · Mt 1:18-25 Roman Catholic: Is 7:10-14 · Rom 1:1-7 · Mt 1:18-24 Episcopal: Is 7:10-17 · Rom 1:1-7 · Mt 1:18-25 Lutheran: Is 7:10-14 (15-17) · Rom 1:1-7 · Mt 1:18-25 Seasonal Theme: Attitude of Obedience Suggested Text For Preaching: Matthew 1:24 and Romans 1:5 COMMENTARY Lesson 1: Isaiah 7:10-17 This selection contains a verse (v. 14) t...

131. O Christmas Tree

Children's Sermon

Dale Bringman

Objects: Christmas tree balls Lesson: Today I have brought some balls to put on our Christmas tree. Often the balls we use are of different colors because God's love, in different ways, is beautiful to each of us. Today, though, I have brought only red balls. Longer ago, the Christmas colors used most often were red and green. We still like to use a green holly branch with red berries as a Christ...

132. A Lowly Sinner

Illustration

In 1979 a Roman Catholic nun, Mother Teresa, was given the Nobel Peace Prize. Most of her adult life was spent ministering to the poor and diseased in Calcutta, India. She accepted the prize with the comment, "I am unworthy." The humble person receives at Christmas the greatest prize of Christ and responds likewise, "I am unworthy." Our humble God comes to humble people like the shepherds who know...

133. Beware! Angels

Sermon

Will Willimon

''Angels are big this Christmas," said the florist as he placed yet another cherub on the tree. An outburst of bestselling books testify to our current infatuation with angels. Why does the whole world seem so interested in angels, and at this time in human history? The word ''angel'' means, in the Greek, ''messenger." Angels are messengers of God. That's why artists portrayed them with wings. An...

134. Advent 4

Sermon Aid

Marion L. Soards, Thomas B. Dozeman, Kendall McCabe

OLD TESTAMENT TEXTS At the very heart of Advent is the anticipation and celebration of the incarnation—of God's being present with us. Our Old Testament lessons for the fourth week of Advent turn directly on this central theme. Isaiah 7:10-16 is a prophecy that anticipates Immanuel ("with us is God"), and Psalm 80 is a communal petition for God to be present. Isaiah 7:10-16 - "The Sign of Imman...

135. Being Different

Sermon

John Jamison

Picture it this way. The teenage daughter walks in the house. “Hey mom, dad, guess what? I was down at the gas station filling up the car when something happened. An angel walked up and told me that I was going to have a baby. Wow! Can you believe it?” I’m not trying to make light of the scripture today, but if you think about it, that’s about how this story began. According to tradition, Mary ha...

136. What We Learn from Love

Sermon

King Duncan

Do you ever have trouble falling asleep? Drew Ackerman is the host of the podcast Sleep With Me, and his goal is to tell stories that help people fall asleep. He refers to his show as “the podcast the sheep listen to when they get tired of counting themselves.” According to Ackerman, the key to the perfect bedtime story is to make it slow and boring. Ackerman, who is from New York, slows his speak...

137. Secret Swerve

Sermon

Lori Wagner

A secret is like a dance you do in the dark. It’s cautious with its steps, limber in its quiet strength, and loyal to its passion. It swerves past danger and leans into adventure, all the while sidestepping to keep safe from detection. For a time, it avoids the revealing the light it knows but cannot reveal. Yet it looks forward to the coming dawn when the beauty and force of its power breaks free...

138. Bare Stage

Sermon

Frank Ramirez

One of the best parts of Christmas is getting out the nativity set. There’s often a family history behind the one in your home. Perhaps it belonged to your grandparents, or was given to you by a beloved aunt. Maybe there’s a chip on Mary’s arm or the leg of the baby Jesus, which tells a story about how you played with it as a child. Maybe there’s a missing Magi, who has been replaced by a super he...

139. Kneeling And Redirection

Sermon

Richard A. Wing

Three wise men come from the east bringing gifts to the infant Jesus, and in the process receive a gift worth the distance and effort they spent. After depositing their gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, they in turn receive a gift: They are redirected. That is what we all get after kneeling before Jesus: we are redirected. That different direction after kneeling before Jesus means that you...

140. A Matter Of Trust

Sermon

Charles H. Bayer

Who were they -- these travelers from the mysterious East, who sometime after the birth of the baby arrive in Bethlehem with expensive gifts? They appear for a moment and are quickly gone. The text calls them wise men. They are known variously as magi, astrologers, astronomers, philosophers, mystics or scientists whose interests stretched far beyond Israel. Tradition has assigned them names and ra...

141. The Wisemen

Sermon

Jerry Eckert

I hate it when Christmas is over. There's so much good music, such tasty foods, so much color and warmth. And presents! I love presents! I wish we celebrated all twelve days of Christmas. I could be dissuaded from that last enthusiasm if it meant that I would be given all the presents from that funny Christmas carol: 22 turtle doves 30 French hens 36 calling birds 40 gold rings 42 geese a'layin...

142. The True Story of The Magi (Old Title: Just The Facts)

Sermon

John Jamison

There is a beautiful old tradition about the star in the East. The story says that when the star had finished its task of directing the wise men to the baby, it fell from the sky and dropped down into the city well of Bethlehem. According to some legend, that star is there to this day, and can sometimes still be seen by those whose hearts are pure and clean. It's a pretty story. It kind of makes y...

143. Just Follow The Signs

Sermon

Daniel G. Mueller

"God so loved the world ..." begins one of our best-known scripture verses. God loved the world! He didn’t love only one small corner of the world. He didn’t love only one little race, one tiny tribe in the world. God loved the world! He loved Jews and Gentiles alike. He loved a man and a woman named Joseph and Mary. He loved some shepherds. He loved some Wise Men living way off in the East somepl...

144. Three Wise Gifts

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

Three gifts, if given this Christmastide, will do nothing less than heal the world. Two thousand years ago, gold, frankincense and myrrh were worth (in today's equivalents), six hundred, five hundred and four thousand dollars per pound, respectively. A similar gift today (frankincense and myrrh have declined in value, gold has increased) would set a 20th century king back six thousand dollar...

145. Matthew 2:1-12

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Leonard Sweet

The text tells of the magi, probably Zoroastrian priests, coming to visit Jesus at the time of his birth. It is distressing to note that congregations are often burnt out with Christmas and Christmas-related texts by this time. The 25th of December seems long ago, and New Year's Eve parties and New Year's Day repentances and football games happened one whole work week past. The Church has failed t...

146. Matthew 2:13-23

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Leonard Sweet

Matthew takes great care in setting the scene for Jesus' birth. The gospel writer skillfully sketches the events immediately after Jesus' arrival. Matthew's focus in both cases is on the proper fulfillment of Scripture, detailing Jesus' identity in light of all the predicted indicators of the Messiah's arrival. In Matthew 2:13-23, the writer presents three separate scenes, each scrupulously design...

147. Matthew 2:13-23

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Leonard Sweet

The journey of the Magi is recounted in Matthew 2:1-12 and demonstrates the trustworthy nature of these three powerful figures. The Magi take the signs and portents of the Lord very seriously. They go to great lengths and some risk to remain obedient to the visions they are given. First they seek the child by going on a kind of pilgrimage journey. When they find Jesus, these stately, royal persona...

148. Matthew 2:13-23

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Leonard Sweet

Matthew's gospel interjects into the birth narrative the intertwined stories of the baby Jesus' family's flight into Egypt, and the murderous rage of Herod the Great. The so-called "slaughter of the innocents" (vv.16-18) recounts a crime so heinous that it continues to confound and confuse us even after 20 centuries of similar and periodic vicious violence and conscienceless cruelty. The overall v...

149. Seeing the Light

Sermon

Mike Ripski

Two of the four Gospels tell of Jesus’ birth: Luke and Matthew. The other two begin with Jesus’ adult ministry, around age 30. We read Luke’s version on Christmas Eve. It tells of Mary and Joseph’s trip from Nazareth down to Bethlehem to register for the Roman census. While there, Jesus is born, wrapped in swaddling cloths, and laid in a manger. The heavenly chorus sings and an angel tells some s...

150. Discover the Surprise of Christmas

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

Like that Santa, some of us have been desperately trying to grasp the allusive feeling of Christmas. The feelings we remember from younger days and simpler days. Like that Santa Ornament, determined to get those cookies, we go through all sorts of gyrations and antics trying to resurrect Christmases Past because in our memories they feel perfect and unencumbered. But the past is the past, and...

Showing 126 to 150 of 4508 results