Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 1576 to 1600 of 4997 results

Lamentations 1:1-22

Sermon

Thomas G. Rogers

... of the story of God's people. His pain was still present, but he also experienced God's offer of comfort and hope in the midst of that pain. The next day was a Sunday. As usual, Raymond went to church. There, Raymond made another discovery. The same kind of tensions that he had found in his Bible were also present in the experience of worship. As he sat in his pew, Raymond had an awareness of the blues and yellows blending together in what was happening. At the altar the pastor prepared the table for the ...

1577. To Bow The Knee

Philippians 2:5-11

Sermon

Sandra Hefter Herrma

... lake to rescue his child from drowning; the brother who offers his own kidney for his sister. But we are all impressed when a stranger risks his life for someone else. There is no instinct to account for this, only a great, encompassing love for others. The kind of love that comes only through the Holy Spirit. As we watch the events of Holy Week unfold, we watch in amazement. Who would offer himself to such pain for us? Who would assure his disciples of the ultimate good of what was about to happen, when ...

1578. God Made My Day

Psalm 118:1-29

Sermon

Carl B. Rife

... having lost his second wife a couple of years ago, he is a very lonely man. We stopped by to see him and were sharing with him that we were on our way to McCurdy Field to see the Frederick Keys play. I am absolutely convinced that it was some kind of inspiration from God because I never thought that he would do it. I said, "Teddy, would you like to go out and eat supper and then go to the game?" And Teddy brightened up and said, "Sure I'll go." We went out to eat and then we went ...

1579. Spice It Up

Matthew 5:13

Children's Sermon

Teresa L. Major

... of foods do you like to put salt on? (Children respond. Acknowledge each response.) We really like to put salt on scrambled eggs and french fries and popcorn. Anything else? French fries without salt taste kind of different, don't they? They taste kind of plain, like something is missing. The same with popcorn. It needs something to spice it up a little. And scrambled eggs, they're just no good without a little salt. Salt spices things up. It adds flavor and taste to foods. It makes a difference to our ...

1580. What Hat Do You Wear?

Proverbs 20:11

Children's Sermon

Teresa L. Major

... us a great deal about the person. As Christians, we don't wear hats, but our behavior tells a lot about us. Preparation: Several hats (authentic or toy) if possible: fireman, policeman, football helmet, etc. Use pictures, if necessary. Look what I have this morning: all kinds of hats. What kind of job uses this hat? (Put on a hat and allow children to respond. Repeat for as many hats as you have.) The type of hat someone wears can tell us a lot about that person, can't it? What does this hat tell us? (Put ...

1581. Be Charitable In Your Judgment

1 Corinthians 4:1-21

Sermon

Richard Hasler

... Of course, we would be grateful if our house had been one of the fortunate ones in the midst of the raging fire, but how self-righteous and how insensitive to place a sign thanking Jesus when neighbors around us had lost everything. Surely, this is not the kind of judgment our Lord wants us to make in the crises we face. At the close of the Epiphany season, our last lectionary text from Paul's letter to the church at Corinth compels us to wrestle with the whole matter of judgment. Once again, the apostle's ...

1582. Pentecost -- A Wild, Weird, Wonderful Day

Sermon

John A. Stroman

... would hear the throbbing life beat of the Holy Spirit. As we consider the possibilities of new life in the Spirit, how can we define the nature of the Holy Spirit's power in our lives? Let me share with you three symbols that help clarify the kind of power the Holy Spirit brings. The Wind Of The Spirit First, the power of the Holy Spirit is like the wind, gentle yet forceful. The biblical words for "Spirit" are ruach in Hebrew and in Greek, pneuma, which are translated as breath, air or wind. Each suggests ...

1583. Good Guys And Bad Guys Alike

Genesis 37:1-11, 12-36

Sermon

Steve Burt

... ? Next Joseph worked his way up in Potiphar's household, probably whining and wheedling his way up the same way he did with Dad. He gets in a scrape with Potiphar's wife and lands in prison. But scripture says, in prison "the Lord was with Joseph" (v. 21). What kind of God is this who hangs around prisons? If the guy's a hero, why doesn't God just send out a medium-sized earthquake to knock down the prison walls so the good guys can escape? A real God, a living God, a God who solves people's problems ...

1584. The King Of Hearts

Ezekiel 34:1-31

Sermon

Robert S. Crilley

... for within a matter of moments, a swat team of alert ushers had sprung up the balcony stairs like gazelles, and proceeded to escort the mysterious prophet, quickly and quietly, out the front doors of the sanctuary and into the street. Now, I suppose those kinds of disruptions take place during worship services from time to time. And in all probability, this poor fellow shouting from the church balcony was perhaps running a quart or two low on reality, so maybe it's just as well that the congregation wasn't ...

1585. Expecting the Unexpected

Judges 4:1-24

Sermon

Robert S. Crilley

... over the nearly-blind eyes of his old man Isaac. In fact, he even cons his double-crossing father-in-law Laban, by swindling him out of most of the best livestock and eventually sneaking away with both of his daughters. Now I ask you: Is this the kind of person one would expect the Almighty to choose? Hardly. And yet, according to the story, God not only chooses Jacob, God wrestles him to the ground with an angelic half nelson and blesses him! Over and over again, heaven's agenda seems to catch us off guard ...

1586. Proper 4

Matthew 7:15-23, Matthew 7:24-29

Sermon Aid

William E. Keeney

... Face. The parable suggests that the forces that assail life are external (the floods). They are in fact both outside and within a person. If persons do not prepare in advance by making commitments to real values, they will be subject to all kinds of temptations and succumb to them. They may arise from internal desires and impulses and so be within. They may also come from such external forces as persecution, peer pressures, materialism, and other false values that either attract or threaten people. While ...

1587. The Holy Spirit As The Dove Of Peace

Sermon

John A. Stroman

... us pain and shame. The reality is that the world is cruel and peace is absent. Jeremiah cried, " 'Peace, peace,' when there is no peace" (8:11). The precarious peace we do have is preserved by a balance of terror based on the might of weaponry. What kind of peace is that? Several years ago, Thomas Edison said, "What the mind of man can create, the heart of man can control." Can we? That seems to be today's question that still needs an answer. The movie, Dr. Strangelove, three decades ago reminded us that ...

1588. The Promising Invitation

Matthew 11:25-30

Sermon

Marc Kolden

... uses the word "yoke," after all, but we might think of it as a new way of carrying life, a new way of bearing responsibilities. As we learn from him, as we take his words seriously, which is what taking his yoke upon us means, we will find a new kind of peace and balance that will not be burdensome but freeing and refreshing. (And if we are not finding that peace in our church, maybe we are not hearing the gospel, the "good news," the preaching of the Christ who lived and died for us, through whom we are ...

1589. Love Without Limits

Matthew 15:21-28

Sermon

Roger G. Talbott

... impossible if called upon. The Canaanite woman decided to believe in a love that would do the impossible to save her daughter. She decided to believe in a love that would cross all barriers. Part of the reason she believed is that she loved her daughter with that kind of love. She knew it was impossible to get help from this Jewish man who had been taught from birth to ignore someone like her. Yet she refused to accept that anything was impossible when it came to her daughter's welfare. Now I know I'm on ...

1590. Wanting To Be Seen

Matthew 6:5-6

Sermon

David Belgum

... of good ecumenical relations. You may well ask, "How do you know your motive is pure, since Jesus is so concerned about motive and intention?" Frankly, I doubt if our motives, either George's or mine, are ever 100 percent pure. Even when we do a genuine kindness, we usually get a lot back in return. Maybe it is impossible to answer. If my motives were anywhere between 75 percent and 85 percent pure, I'd be quite satisfied. God knows me better than I know myself. Fortunately, he exercises a lot of grace and ...

1591. Second Sight

Matthew 17:1-13

Sermon

David Belgum

... final seconds of the game. Will it go through the goal? Hurray! She is not only a fine and bright girl now. She is going to get a big scholarship at her favorite university. Oh, yes, a ball can be seen in many ways. There is another kind of vision or viewing things that "sees" into the future. Successful Farming tells the following story in its March 1993, issue. Mr. Reeves began farming on a homestead near Garden City, Kansas, in the early 1900s. He saw the potential for a feedlot, which might well have ...

1592. Sermons

Sermon

John R. Bodo

... him by blowing Nineveh sky high! But God does not oblige. Instead, God appoints a worm to sabotage Jonah's sunshade. When the sun rises the next morning, it beats down on Jonah's skull with tropical cruelty, and once again Jonah is ready to give up. What kind of God is God, anyway? Does God not owe it to Jonah, a prophet, to keep him alive -- and comfortable? Is Jonah not a privileged man, son of a privileged race, adherent of a privileged religion? Jonah is angry, but this time it is the anger, the galling ...

1593. Meeting Jesus At The Well

John 4:1-26

Sermon

John N. Brittain

... form of worship, the place of worship, the type of worship are all important as means to the end that we worship God in spirit and truth. There is always a problem when we become so preoccupied with the means, we never get around to the end. This has been kind of a rough conversation so far. Jesus has not allowed us to "just say no" to serving him by doing everyday, manageable things; he has reminded us that we don't control things as tightly as we might think and that things aren't as secret as we may ...

1594. Blessed Hunger And Thirst

Sermon

Alex Gondola

... never be thirsty" (John 6:35, NRSV). How blessed we are to be able to feast on God's Word every day in the Scriptures. How blessed we are to be in communion with God at any instant through prayer! Francis of Assisi knew that kind of blessedness, that kind of "peace that passeth all understanding." It is said that Francis once sat at table with a group of nobles and knights. The knights and nobles dined on fine food and fine wine. Francis, on the other hand, reached into his leather pouch and brought out ...

1595. Prayers for Epiphany

Bulletin Aid

Rolland R. Reece

... captures us as no other event does. Although we can't find words to explain Christ's obedience -- especially to the cross -- nonetheless, we sense he is right. Strange as it seems we are now convinced that he alone has secured peace and joy for us. What kind of man is he who would give up all that our culture claims as joy to possess finally the joy for which we all yearn? Therefore, increase, O God, our understanding of your Son; but more than understanding, grant us the courage to follow the dictates of ...

1596. Wedding: Eternal Love

1 Corinthians 13:1-13

Bulletin Aid

Derl G. Keefer

... your morning glory and think, "Eternity? Oh my!" In those moments, it will be good to remember that eternal love is more than the sum of your feelings for each other at any particular moment. Then it would be good to remember Paul's words about the kind of love that could hold together a church of arguing Corinthians, and can hold together your marriage. That leads us to the next point: eternal love is not easy because it is not particularly natural to us. We all like to think that we are naturally patient ...

1597. Wedding: Building A Marriage (for a couple fixing up a house)

1 Corinthians 13:1-13

Bulletin Aid

Derl G. Keefer

... understood human nature very well. His love reminders are worth remembering: love is first of all patient; then kind; it doesn't rejoice when the other person makes a mistake (the old "I told you so" trap), but rejoices in the truth. Give to one another these ... gifts of love: time, kindness, forgiveness, and honesty. Do you know what makes a house into a beautiful home and a marriage into a lifelong commitment? It is ...

1598. Creation

Psalm 148:1-14

Drama

Robert F. Crowley

... God saw that it was good. God blessed them saying, FIRST: Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters and the earth. SECOND: Evening came and morning came. BOTH: The fifth day. (PAUSE) God said, FIRST: Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds, cattle and creeping things and beasts of the earth. SECOND: God made all sorts of wild animals and cattle and creeping things. BOTH: And God saw that it was good. Then God said, FIRST: Let us make man in Our image, after Our own likeness to ...

1599. The Season Of The Holy Spirit

Mark 11:1-11

Bulletin Aid

Wayne H. Keller

... on Us, Living Lord" Call to Pardon (Pastor and Ministers) God changes us, that is, gives us a new outlook, a new obedience, only when we allow the Holy Spirit into our lives. We can rationalize all we want about our inability to change; we can find all kinds of excuses not to change. We change when we acknowledge Christ as King, as Sovereign over us. That is Good News, though in the beginning, it may sound to us as bad news. P: Listen friends! Here is Good News! Jesus the Christ, the King, came into the ...

1600. No Longer Servants, but Friends

John 15:18--16:4

Sermon Aid

Wayne H. Keller

... pour out all the contents of one's heart, chaff and grain together, knowing that the gentlest of hands will take and sift it, keep what is worth keeping, and with the breath of kindness, blow the rest away." Hymn of Commitment "Called as Partners in Christ's Service: Meditation "All friendship, the unconditional kind (that is the only kind of true friendship) does not begin between persons. It begins with the gift of God's friendship toward us" (WHK). John: "You are my friend if you do what I tell you to do ...

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