Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 1701 to 1725 of 4997 results

Joshua 11:1-23, Matthew 8:5-13

Sermon

Erskine White

... , the clue is in the chariots. When the battle is over, God tells the Israelites to burn the chariots they have captured from the enemy. Now, why would Israel do that? At a time when wars were fought hand to hand and on the ground, the chariot was a kind of ultimate weapon, the nuclear bomb of its age, if you will. It was certainly a great leap forward in the technology of death. So why would Israel burn these chariots and voluntarily give up an important advantage in the arms race of their day? They did it ...

1702. Wedding: Love as Grace

Sermon Aid

John M. Braaten

... into your relationship. I'm talking about grace. Grace is described as a love which is given without being deserved or earned; it is love which is shared with no strings attached and with no conditions. It asks nothing in return. It is love which just loves. Now that kind of love may seem a bit far-fetched. Our society has primed us to be on the lookout for Number One and to use people for our own ends. That is why mature love (the love defined as grace) must always begin with God. As the Bible says, "We ...

1703. What Color Is Your Balloon?

Acts 2:1-13

Children's Sermon

Wesley T. Runk

... one of my favorite playthings. [Bring out the balloons.] How many of you like to play with balloons? [Let them answer.] I want you to pretend with me that these are different kinds of people, some Greek, some Italian, some American and some German. Maybe we should also pretend that some of the balloons are Chinese and some Indians. You think of a kind of person and then tell me what color of balloon you would like to have and I will give one to you. [Let them give you names for each of the balloons.] That ...

1704. Burning Brightly

2 Corinthians 4:16-18

Children's Sermon

Wesley T. Runk

... as we get older. Our backs don't bend as well, our legs are not as strong as they once were, and our muscles get sore sooner when we do hard work. But that is the way we are made, and there is nothing too wrong with it. We are kind of like the wax in the candle. But have you ever noticed how much brighter the flame gets as it burns longer? It burns brightly when it is way down inside of the candle. It burns so bright that it shines right through the wax with a very warm glow ...

1705. Making Friends For God

1 Corinthians 9:19-23

Children's Sermon

Wesley T. Runk

... have to be interested in the things that were important to them. Paul believed that teaching about Jesus was the most important thing in the world, but he knew that, if he was going to teach people, he had to be their friends first. It is like eating the same kind of hamburgers. It may not make any difference to you if I like onions and you like pickles, but if I like the same things that you like you will like me better. I want you to teach others about Jesus and tell them how good God is to you ...

1706. The Power Source

2 Corinthians 4:6

Children's Sermon

... electricity or a battery. Our lesson today from Corinthians talks about a light shining in the darkness. Paul said that people are like lights. Do I look like I'm shining like a light? (Let them respond.) No, but if you could see inside me you would see a special kind of light. My heart shines! Not like this light bulb does when we connect it to electricity. But it shines with the love of God. I know God loves me, so I can share that love with others just like we share a flashlight in the dark. God is my ...

1707. Come and See

John 1:43-51, John 1:35-42

Children's Sermon

... that Jesus did? (Let them respond.) Can you make friends with someone who doesn't have friends? Can you visit someone who lives alone and has no family or maybe who is in a nursing home or hospital? Can you tell other people what God is like? Can you be kind and friendly and loving when you are not in church? That's probably what Jesus' friends saw when Jesus said, "Come and see," and then they tried to do the same things. Use your eyes to SEE things that Jesus would see.

1708. Life Goes On

John 6:25-59

Children's Sermon

... you.) Be certain to tie your excursion into the past together with today's Gospel. Ask your children what they think Jesus meant when he said that people could live forever. Did he mean the kind of life that we are all living now? Or a different kind of life? How many of their ancestors do your children think are now living the kind of life that Jesus talked about in this lesson? What aspects of each person's life makes them think so? Can they really know the answers to these questions until they move on to ...

1709. God is Our Friend

Romans 8:15

Children's Sermon

... to go visiting somewhere else in the world. Do you know that if you travel far enough to other places in the world, you can find all kinds of ways of thinking about God? If we would go deep into the jungles of Africa or South America or Asia, we could find people who ... bolts at people. That would be one way God could come to us. But Jesus didn't do that. Instead, he came as a kind and loving friend. Another way God comes to us is as a strong and loving heavenly Father. In fact, the Bible tells us we ...

1710. Proper 27

Psalm 17:1-15, Psalm 9:1-20, 2 Thessalonians 3:1-5, 2 Thessalonians 2:13-17, Zechariah 7:1-14, 1 Chronicles 29:10-20, Job 19:1-29, Luke 20:27-40

Sermon Aid

George Bass

... relationship with God. The psalmist almost sounds too sure of himself, and it appears that works righteousness has reared its ugly head once more. But the person has to ask God to hear the prayer that is raised, calling for a demonstration of God's "marvelous loving kindness, O Savior of those who take refuge at your right hand from those who rise up against them." Verse 8 sums up the psalmist's plea: "Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me under the shadow of your wings, ..." Psalm 148 (L) - The spirit ...

1711. The Faith Of Outsiders

Matthew 15:21-28

Sermon

William J. Carl

... the girl’s mother was ready to try anything, even religion, which is the way most of us work. When all else fails, we turn to God. In this case, the woman had heard that a holy man was in town. One who had great powers to overcome all kinds of problems. Since nothing else had worked, she figured she’d better risk even talking to this Jew, even though she basically despised Jews. Canaanites and Jews had had it in for each other for a very long time. But the stories about this one were so remarkable, she ...

1712. When Will The Pain Go Away?

Matthew 24:1-35

Sermon

George Johnson

... didn't want to hear it. They weren't invited out to people's homes anymore. It was so different for them. It was painful. The Kansas farmer had been warned that it wouldn't be easy to assimilate or articulate his experiences. But he didn't expect this kind of response from his friends and fellow Christians, those he had worshiped with for decades. He wondered if he had been duped and his hunches were all wrong. Could it be that he was brainwashed on the trip? Should he go back to the way he always thought ...

1713. The Still Small Voice

1 Kings 19:1-8

Sermon

Steven Burt

... ’ to express the glory of being alone.” That’s elegant. And it rings true. Haven’t we all, at some time in our lives, remarked at the difference between being lonely and being alone? And haven’t we all felt the need to be alone? One Thursday I was feeling kind of exhausted. It had been a week of list-making, a week of too many things to do, too many loose ends to tie up on too many different projects. Besides that, my back was killing me. But there was so much to do that I couldn’t really slow ...

1714. Christ Is Coming…

Luke 21:5-38

Sermon

James Garrett

... and transformed in their relationship with him. He was indeed the long-expected One, the Christ, Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. In this child there is a power of God to bring light into our darkness, to make us whole, to give a new kind of life to anybody who turns toward him in faith. Even to such as you and me… he is salvation. He is the gospel of God. Apart from him there is no gospel. This is the only truth that really matters. The truth of the story is found ...

1715. A Short Sermon

Luke 4:14-30

Sermon

James Garrett

... is in many ways one of the most powerful ones ever given. He was reminding us we are called not to mere piety but to genuine morality. We are called to action, not to fancy words. Jesus preached a short sermon. But what a sermon. He clearly denotes the kind of ministry he came to pursue. It is to be a ministry to the poor and outcast, the blind and unaffirmed. Jesus made a bold claim that day. I am the Christ! Salvation has become real, visible today. This was not what they expected to hear. The Scripture ...

1716. That's Our God For You!

Luke 19:28-44

Sermon

John M. Braaten

... eight gifts. One for him and one for each of his seven friends. The soldier looked at the eight presents and, with tears rolling down his cheeks, exclaimed, "That's my wife for you! Yes sir, that's my wife!" The wife was revealed by her actions. That was the kind of thing she would do. That was her nature. That's what she was like. Today, as we pause at the doorway of Holy Week, we look at the cross and we recall the whole story of pain, suffering, darkness and death. And as we gaze upon our King, arms ...

1717. Marked For Ministry

Sermon

George Bass

... saving the people who live on it. God not only calls us to work in the kingdom, but he gives us gifts for service, all kinds of gifts, so that the work of the kingdom can be done here on earth. The church is made of ministers, many of them, ... of years ago who resigns his parish every 10 years and engages in a different type of ministry for a year as a kind of educational sabbatical leave. He worked in our contextual education department, which supervises students as they do field work in parishes and in ...

1718. Marked At The Table

Sermon

George Bass

... ’ feet. He took a towelThat night before the Passover was to begin,Stripped off his clothing, filled a basin with water -- And washed his disciples’ feet before their last supper; A towel…ensign of the servant,symbol of the slave doomed to a life of menial service,a kind of living death. A towel… so out of character for the Son of Man, the King of kings -- A towel…such a humble act; a step toward the cross. A towel…such a lesson -- “Not my feet only, but also my hands and my head.”14 Peter ...

1719. The Gift That Keeps On Giving

2 Kings 5:1-27

Sermon

Keith Hammer

... offer without having to be asked, it is a special pleasure. Yet, often many of these people overextend themselves or have various kinds of problems relating to the persons with whom they work so that their helping becomes more of a burden than a sharing in ... church, too. She became a gift that kept on giving even as she received a gift that kept on giving. We can be that kind of a congregation, too. I hope that seeing Naaman’s story from another perspective this morning will help you as members of our ...

1720. Endorsing The Future

Sermon

Harold Warlick

... and vegetables. She'd put them on a shelf and they'd eat until they ran out. When it came to values and living, they lived a kind of pickled lifestyle, too. Ole Pickle's daddy was a patriot; everybody knew that. He'd fought in World War II: "The Big One," he called ... The key to survival, with deadly ultraviolet light reaching the waters of earth, was sunbiock Stramatolite micro-organisms secrete a kind of extracellular glue that helps them stick together and adhere to the ocean floor. At an optimum depth in ...

1721. Enter God

Mark 9:33-37

Sermon

Thomas Peterson

... we know we have nothing to fear (after all, he loves us and will forgive us seventy times seven) still, we have much to learn. So, with Jesus in mind, we are careful to be gentler and kinder, knowing that no matter what, he is as gentle and kind to us -- and more so. In a subtle way, however, are we not still condescending to the children? But, Jesus goes on: “Whoever receives me receives not me but him who sent me.” Enter God. Now the Scripture opens wider to me, prompting deep stirrings in my heart ...

1722. Ouch! Those Thistles!

Matthew 13:1-23

Children's Sermon

Wesley T. Runk

... of weeds. They grow so fast and are so tough that you have to dig many of them instead of just pulling them. Jesus tells us a story that helps us look out for sin that is just like this kind of weed. Some people learn about God and know how he loves them, but they never get rid of the things that cause them trouble. Let's suppose that your sins are like weeks with thorns. You go to church, learn about Jesus and how he loves you, but you ...

1723. The Good Fight

Eulogy

Joe Barone

... credit, even for Paul’s will to suffer for the church he loves, is to go to God, Paul says. And I guess that’s one reason I chose these words today. The real issue isn’t how we suffer, it’s for whom we suffer. All kinds of people have died all kinds of agonizing deaths, but faithful people, people who have spent their lives in God and Jesus, somehow turn even their suffering into a testimony to the love and faithfulness of God. “To thee, O Lord, I lift up my soul,” the psalmist says in Psalm 25 ...

1724. God Works Through Opposites

Matthew 21:1-11

Sermon

Mark Ellingsen

... of the cross. What does it mean? What does all this imply for our Monday through Saturday lives? Palm Sunday and the theology of the cross explain the problems that I was talking about at the beginning of this sermon. They speak to the question of what kind of a God we really have. The theology of the cross (God's disposition to work through contrasts in order to achieve his aims) helps explain why God often seems so far away, so powerless, and sometimes seems irrelevant to us and to our needs. For God ...

1725. Why Did Jesus Have To Die?

Sermon

Mark Ellingsen

... salvation is not really God's work. Jesus is seen to be placating God. In a way, God is the enemy. That is not the kind of God whom we want or know. In addition, to understand Jesus' work on this day as a sacrifice paid to God seems to ... in every respect has been tempted as we are ... Let us then with confidence draw near the throne of grace." Christ's death reminds us of the kind of God whom we love. He is not a God "out there," untouched by human suffering. He is a God who is Jesus Christ, and who as ...

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