Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 1701 to 1725 of 4914 results

1701. Easter 7

Acts 1:12-26, Psalm 1:1-6

Bulletin Aid

B. David Hostetter

CALL TO WORSHIP (responsively)How awesome is God most high, great sovereign over all the earth! Christ has gone up with shouts of acclamation to the right hand of the throne of the eternal. Let us acclaim our God with shouts of joy, praising Monarch and Prince with psalms and fanfares. PRAYER OF CONFESSION God invisible in majesty, God incognito in the world, namesharing God, how could we know you more fully than as you have revealed yourself in the One who came into the world but has ascended again into ...

1702. Wedding: How God Blesses a Marriage

Sermon Aid

John M. Braaten

(Name) and (name), it is good that you are here, in this church, with relatives and friends, to take your holy vows and to begin your life as husband and wife. What a great day of celebration! Most importantly, our Lord is here to accept you both and to bless you, through his presence, and through you to each other. The opportunities of sharing the love of Christ are greater in marriage than in any other relationship. Thus we cherish for you, ______, that God has chosen you to be an instrument of his mercy ...

1703. For One Who Worked With Disturbed Children

2 Corinthians 12:11-21

Eulogy

William Luoma

Grace Enough This service was for a woman in her thirties who committed suicide. She was a wife and the mother of one child, and a church member. She had a career as a nurse, working with disturbed children. Dear friends in Christ: In God's wise providence, none of us can see very far ahead. The future is always unknown. No one could have foreseen the kind of summons that brought us here for a funeral service for Jackie today. By now, Bob, you know that you do not have to bear this grief alone. Your family ...

1704. Ascension Day

Luke 24:36-49

Sermon

Kendall McCabe

For forty days we have been celebrating the marvel and the mystery of the Easter event. Some of our number spent Lent as a time of special preparation for baptism and confirmation, while the rest of us prepared to remember our baptisms and renew our baptismal vows. We all participated in the death and resurrection of Christ through our baptism. Since then we have been exploring some of the meanings of that dying and rising for the Christian life. Now we are almost at the end of the Great Fifty Days. In a ...

1705. The Promise and the Task

Matthew 28:16-20

Sermon

Dean Lueking

Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him they worshiped him; but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age." (Matthew 28:16-20) Meaning ...

1706. Seventh Sunday of Easter

John 17:1-11, Acts 1:6-14, 1 Peter 4:12-14; 5:6-11

Bulletin Aid

First Lesson: Acts 1:6-14 Theme: Prayer Call to Worship Pastor: After Jesus' ascension, the Apostles often gathered to pray together in expectation of the Holy Spirit. People: Prayer is God's way of opening our hearts to his love and power. Pastor: We are strengthened when we pray together, because it unites us with God our Father, and binds us together as brothers and sisters in Christ. People: May God move us to be a praying congregation, open to the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Collect Heavenly ...

1707. Communion Is Real Presence

John 1:1-18

Sermon

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God; all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came for testimony, to bear witness to the light, that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear ...

1708. Proper 14 & Pentecost 12

1 Kings 19:9-18, Psalm 29:1-11, Psalm 106:1-48, Romans 9:1-29, Matthew 14:22-36, Exodus 13:17--14:31, Jonah 2:1-10, Psalm 85:1-13

Sermon Aid

THEOLOGICAL CLUE Little or no help is forthcoming from the church year as a theological clue for a worship/preaching theme for this Sunday. The title of the day - the Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost - is really the only reminder, suggesting how the church got to this point in the year and, for those in the "liturgical know," where we are going, Christ the King Sunday. On this "Pentecost pilgrimage," it is the business of the church to give thanks and to worship the Lord, to seek out the secrets of the ...

1709. A Glory Revealed as Eternal Life

John 5:16-30

Sermon

"Truly, truly, Isay to you, the one who hears my word and believes in him who sent me has eternal life; and is not coming into Judgment, but has (already)1 passed over from Death to Life." - John 5:24 Jesus is telling us in John 5:24 what he wants us to know and believe about Eternal Life. For that is why he came, to give all who believe in him life abundantly. This short verse from John 5 also comforts us whenever we are confronted by the hard reality of death. For no matter how we try to soften it, death ...

1710. Ghosts - 1951

Ephesians 6:10-20

Sermon

Kent Moorehead

The key idea that unlocks the haunting theme of Henrik Ibsen’s undying drama, Ghosts, is succinctly stated by Mrs. Alving when she exclaims: Ghosts! When I heard Regina and Oswald in there, I seemed to see ghosts before me. I almost think we’re all of us ghosts, Pastor Manders. It’s not only what we have inherited from our father and mother that "walks" in us. It’s all sorts of dead ideas, and lifeless old beliefs, and so forth. They have no vitality, but they cling to us just the same, and we can’t get ...

1711. Laying Hold On God's Willingness

Matthew 7:7-12

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

We who experienced the nearness of a recent tornado can appreciate the experience of a certain Kansas farmer. He heard that a tornado was coming so he went down into his cellar. It was an awful storm. Windows were knocked out of his house and roofing was snatched away. His barn was blown away and his car flipped over. After the terrible storm finally passed, a neighbor came to the cellar and called down to him: "Is anybody down there?" The farmer replied, "Nobody is down here but me and God, and we are ...

1712. Inevitabilities and the Last Days

Mark 13:1-31

Sermon

James W. Robinson

Few natural phenomena are as spectacular as the storm clouds that assemble over a mountaintop. One can hear the thunder grumble ominously among them. The tempo increases until its grumble glides into a rumble and an intermittent crash. In the forest below, one feels the quickening fresh-scented breeze turn into a hard-muscled wind that bends the creaking leafy forest giants into submission. The camper cringes in his tent as, in the now imminent storm, the thunder applauds the pyrotechnics of the lightning ...

1713. Commanded By Example

John 13:31-38

Sermon

O. Garfield Beckstrand, II

In a book titled, Life Looks Up, Charles Templeton said the history of this world has been changed by events which took place in two small upper rooms. These rooms are separated not only by thousands of miles, but by nearly thousands of years. Yet the events which took place within those walls have changed the course of human history more than any other events mankind has ever known. The first "upper room" is a drab flat over a dingy laundry in a poor district in London. Through the dirty, curtainless ...

1714. Not Far From the Kingdom

Mark 12:28-34

Sermon

Warren Thomas Smith

"You are not far from the kingdom of God." (v. 34) It was a discussion on the Great Commandment. We call it the "controversy source." An unnamed scribe, one of the straightforward individuals in the gospel narrative, came to Jesus asking a question. It was a candid inquiry, asked by a guileless person. Let us recall, first, that the man was a scribe. His business was recording the scripture. Long before the invention of printing by the Chinese, all documents were executed by hand. What a tiresome, ...

1715. Plumb Line Prophecy

Amos 7:1-9, Amos 7:10-17

Sermon

Robert Leslie Holmes

Not many tourists to Washington, D.C., look for the Federal Bureau of Standards offices. It’s the Capitol and the White House, the Supreme Court Building or the Smithsonian most of us want to see when we go there. Yet, at the Bureau of Standards offices something very important is stored, something that impacts your life and mine every single day. Have you ever bought the materials for a new project? When you did, most likely you purchased so many inches or feet or yards. Or, you stopped to buy gasoline ...

1716. Sustaining the Weary with a Word

Isaiah 50:1-11

Sermon

Carlyle Fielding Stewart

Those who are beleagured can be strengthened by the prophet, for his words sustain and encourage the weary and draw our attention not only to Israel’s sin and the servant’s obedience, but the compassion of Christ. We not only hear and take heed to the prophet’s words, but we know also that the word has been made flesh in Jesus Christ. The words of the prophet in this text can be words that Christ himself spoke as he faced his accusers and tormentors and as he prepared for his own death upon his entry into ...

1717. Is There Any Wind?

Acts 2:1-13

Sermon

King Duncan

Thomas A. Kinsey, a pastor in Salem, New Hampshire, tells about a birthday card he sent his dad. It was his father’s 75th birthday. Kinsey was looking for "that perfect card." Standing there in the card shop, his eyes kept going back to one card ” one that had a drawing of two boats tied to a dock in what appeared to be a New England town. Although Kinsey lives in New England, his parents live in the hills of West Virginia. His parents had never owned a boat or even shown any interest in boating. His dad ...

1718. The Autobiography of God

John 14:5-14

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

Halford Luccock once told of a woman in a certain American city, who called a local minister on the telephone a week or so before Christmas. She was in much agitation, and explained that she was in charge of the community Christmas tree lighting ceremony. What disturbed her was the limited selection of carols to be sung. She could not, she said, find just the right songs for such an occasion. “Most of the Christmas songs,” she said, “are so distressingly theological.” “Well, replied the minister, “ ...

1719. Good Friday

1 Corinthians 1:18--2:5

Sermon

Donald B. Strobe

A clerk in a gift shop in California was responding to an inquiry from a customer about purchasing a gold cross. The clerk said, “Yes, madam, we do have gold crosses. Do you want a plain one or one with a little man on it?” To an outsider, the cross must seem like a very strange thing to have at the center of our worship. It was a particularly gruesome instrument of torture and death. It is sort of like having an electric chair or a hangman’s noose at the center of our attention. Outsiders may wonder at ...

1720. Proper 16

Matthew 16:13-20, Romans 11:33-36, Romans 12:1-8, Isaiah 51:1-16, Exodus 2:1-10, Exodus 1:1-22

Sermon Aid

John R. Brokhoff

COMMENTARY Old Testament: Exodus 1:8-2:10 The birth of Moses. The story of the Patriarchs ended with Joseph's bringing the Hebrews to Egypt. In due time they multiplied until they became a threat to the Egyptians. The story of the Exodus begins with the birth of Moses who was adopted by Pharaoh's daughter. The next ten readings will take us from Moses' birth, to the release from Egypt, to the wilderness wanderings for forty years, to Moses' death. Old Testament: Isaiah 22:19-23 Worthy and unworthy leaders ...

1721. Learning the Three Step Faith Walk

Luke 5:1-11

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

The January 2004 edition of Trail magazine has got some 'splaining to do. Trail is a British publication that provides maps and suggests particularly beautiful or challenging hiking trials to the growing number of devoted hill-walkers throughout Great Britain. Unfortunately if anyone had followed the seemingly precise, detailed directions given by the magazine to reach the summit of Britain's largest mountain, Ben Nevis, they would have hiked straight off a sheer cliff and ended up in a broken heap at the ...

1722. Proper 9

Psalm 45:1-17, Romans 7:7-25, Matthew 11:25-30, Matthew 11:1-19, Genesis 24:1-67

Sermon Aid

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

OLD TESTAMENT TEXTS Genesis 24 is the story of how the servant of Abraham searches for a wife for Isaac in Mesopotamia and finds Rebekah. Psalm 45:10-17 is the second half of a Marriage Song that focuses on the bride. Genesis 24:34-38, 42-49, 58-67 - "A Story with Many Heroes" Setting. In many ways the testing of Abraham in Genesis 22 (the lectionary lesson for last week) concludes the Abrahamic cycle of stories in Genesis even though his death is not recorded until Genesis 25. The story of Abraham began ...

1723. Good Christian Men Rejoice

2 Corinthians 8:9

Sermon

James Merritt

Seven centuries ago a Christmas carol, often sung today, was written in Latin, with a Latin title that meant "With Sweet Shouting." The great composer, Johann Sabastian Bach, liked it so much he arranged it for the organ, and John Mason Neale later standardized the hymn in English. In English the title was changed to "Good Christian Men Rejoice." The first stanza tells us what every Christian understands about the season called Christmas. Good Christian men, rejoice, With heart and soul and voice; Give ye ...

1724. The Grasshopper Mentality

Numbers 13:26-33

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

Bob Biehl, in his book “Masterplanning,” tells about a conversation he had with a man who trains animals for Hollywood movies. He asked him, “How is it that you can stake down a ten-ton elephant with the same size stake that you use to restrain this baby elephant?” “It’s easy,” said the trainer. “When they are babies, we stake them down. They try to tug away from the stake countless times before they realize that they can’t get away. At that point the elephant memory takes over and for the remainder of ...

1725. The Acceptable Time

2 Corinthians 6:1-2

Sermon

Maurice A. Fetty

When Paul arrived at the city of Corinth, Greece, the middle of the first century A.D., he knew he had a challenge on his hands. Located on the isthmus between the Gulf of Corinth and the Saronic Gulf, Corinth was a prosperous port city where boats were transported overland from the Aegean to the Adriatic, thereby cutting many dangerous miles off their voyage. The marketplace abounded with goods and traders from many lands. Though never known as a center of learning, traveling philosophers and teachers ...

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