Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 151 to 175 of 1182 results

Sermon

John R. Bodo

... in the references which mention him by name (Acts 18:24, 19:1; 1 Corinthians 1:10-13, 3:1-6, 16:12). According to Luther, he may be the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews. His Alexandrian Jewish background and his first class training in classical rhetoric give a good deal of plausibility to the Reformer's suggestion. A Great Catch. On hearing Apollos hold forth in Ephesus, Aquila and Priscilla might just as well have sounded the alarm. Here was a dynamic speaker from the rival sect of John the Baptist ...

152. The Assumption Of Discipline

Matthew 6:1-4, Matthew 6:5-15, Matthew 6:16-18, Matthew 6:19-24

Sermon

John N. Brittain

... Almsgiving also reminds us of our own vulnerability as persons. I grew up in Cleveland, Ohio. The home of the Cleveland Orchestra is "Severance Hall," named for the industrialist couple who were benefactors of many causes in Cleveland in the 1920s, including classical music. My mother would often comment on how, when the Great Depression struck, the Severances lost everything, including their home, and a small apartment was provided for them in the upper levels of the concert hall they had built. They ended ...

153. The Keys To Happiness -- Purity Of Heart

John 1:1-18

Sermon

Alex Gondola

... God all around us. The same God, who is with us here in church, with us in the bread and wine of Communion, is always around us and in us and with us. We live in a "God-drenched" world. Years ago I ran across a little classic titled The Practice of the Presence of God (Spire Books). A monk named Brother Lawrence wrote it in the seventeeth century. Brother Lawrence was a profoundly simple -- and somewhat simple-minded -- man. Yet he loved God with all of his heart. His brothers in the monastery discovered ...

154. God Knows!

2 Samuel 11:1-27

Sermon

Robert R. Kopp

... , so they gave Junior a "gimme" to assure his first birdie. "I've got bad news for you," I said, "Junior still hasn't made his first birdie." I think of President Clinton who claimed to shoot 93 during the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic in Palm Desert, California (February 15, 1995). A spectator who followed him for all eighteen holes shook his head and reported, "You could erase the deficit overnight with addition like that." No wonder former California Governor George Deukmejian noted, "The difference between ...

155. The Half Pencil Doctor

1 John 3:11-24

Sermon

David O. Bales

... to touch me when we said good-bye. Before we were married her touch gave me goose pimples. No touching now for months. Our entire relationship overturned so that I am repulsed by the one who attracted me. She was as beautiful as a statue, a face with classical lines -- more Greek than Roman. Now when I remember Diana I see her clenched teeth and tight jaw, and the sagging neck which before I never mentioned; but it pleases me greatly that her neck will be as fat as her mother's." Three days east across the ...

156. Advent 4

Luke 1:26-38, Romans 16:1-27, 2 Samuel 7:1-17

Sermon Aid

E. Carver McGriff

... a multi-million dollar sanctuary, and it will include enormous video screens which will roll down at the touch of a button. "Contemporary worship" services are standing room only in many mainline churches while traditional services (now being called "classic" around here) are losing attendance. Such things as synthesizers and computerized music are fast replacing pipe organs. I'm neither applauding nor denigrating these innovations. I'm simply visioning the future. 3. Churches must find a way to convey ...

157. Being A Good Doubter

John 20:24-31

Sermon

Glenn E. Ludwig

... seeing it cruelly shattered right before one's eyes. But it was eight days later, and Thomas was about to climb out of his valley of despair and grief. Jesus came to his followers again with his greeting, "Peace be with you." And then, in that classic scene from scripture, Jesus turned to Thomas and gave him his chance to touch the wounds. Can you imagine the pathos of that moment? Thomas, in that moment of reborn hope and rekindled faith, responded with the highest confession we find in John's gospel: "My ...

158. When Life Seems Out Of Control

2 Samuel 18:1-18

Sermon

Timothy J. Smith

... a small company in Arizona. David loved what he was doing, flying a plane. His dream would be short-lived, for soon the company filed for bankruptcy and David was without a job. David tried to get other jobs flying, but he could not find any. It was the classic example: he did not have enough experience to get the jobs he really wanted. It was impossible not to be discouraged. At a low point, David was offered a quick $5000 to fly to Mexico in a rented plane to pick up 600 pounds of marijuana. The job would ...

159. Silly Love Songs

Sermon

Timothy J. Smith

... the gall to request specific types, such as "a Cindy Crawford look-alike." One guy doesn't want a woman with a Midwestern accent. Another guy says, "No one from New York need respond." I'm sick of reading, "I like walks on the beach, sunsets, classical music and quiet evenings at home." Nobody seems to realize that hobbies don't matter. The writer went on to describe her marriage. In this woman's opinion what mattered most in their relationship was that they loved each other. They had different likes and ...

160. You Can Be Beautiful

Hosea 14:1-9

Sermon

Michael B. Brown

... named Leo Buscaglia. He is best known as "the prophet of love" due to his many books, lecture tours and television appearances on the subject. From a physical standpoint, some would debate my thesis that Buscaglia is beautiful. He is neither statuesque nor classically handsome. His hair is rarely neatly coiffed. He has a bushy little goatee. Though all that may not sound exactly like Tom Cruise, I am convinced that Leo Buscaglia is one of the most beautiful people on planet Earth. His runaway best-selling ...

161. Corpus Christi

Lk 9:11-17 · 1 Cor 11:23-26 · Gen 14:18-20

Sermon Aid

John R. Brokhoff

... Christians, Paul wrote to them about Holy Communion because he was hopping mad. That is, he wrote because there was a problem which provoked the discussion which resulted in the letter. Had he not been so provoked, we might not have received this classic text: Paul's telling of the tradition by which the report and practice of Eucharist was handed on from one believer and believing community to another. The original disciples shared with Paul what he here shared with the Corinthians: something happened in ...

162. Trinity Sunday

John 16:5-16

Bulletin Aid

Dennis Koch

Gospel Note If the later doctrine of the Trinity is implicit here, it is difficult to see it in its classic form, as a hypostatic union of three coequal persons. Three distinct entities are indeed implied here: Father God, the Christ, and the Spirit. But the latter two appear subordinate to the first; and the Spirit appears dependent upon the Christ's temporally and soteriologically prior role. Yet the clear message ...

163. Praying To The Congregation

John 17:6-19

Sermon

Thomas Long

... did not need the geography lesson. The truth be known, this worship leader was no doubt fearful that those overhearing this prayer, behind on the news, would have missed the renaming of Yugoslavia, thus, we are given yet another example of the classic liturgical error -- praying to the congregation. Praying to the congregation is a liturgical violation all right, but before we give students a failing grade in worship for this transgression, we need to deal with the fact that Jesus himself seems to be ...

164. God Deep In The Flesh

Matthew 28:16-20

Sermon

Marc Kolden

... Jesus and the Spirit. The reformer Martin Luther once said that we should never say anything about God that we cannot say about the man Jesus Christ. He said that we should not speak about God as immortal or omnipotent or by using most of the other classical attributes of God. Why? Because even though such things may be true, they are so far above us that we cannot know for sure. What we can be sure about God is what we know in Jesus -- that God is loving, forgiving, merciful, and faithful; that God ...

165. Proper 14

Genesis 37:12-36, 1 Kings 19:9-18, Jonah 2:1-10, Matthew 14:22-36, Romans 9:1-5; 10:5-15

Sermon Aid

Russell F. Anderson

... You Give A Damn? Sermon Angle: In the next to the last scene of the movie, Gone With The Wind, Scarlet O'Hara begs Rhett Butler, her ex-husband, to come back to her. She had treated him like dirt and now she wanted him back. His response is a classic: "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn." What Rhett was trying to communicate was that he didn't care for Scarlet any more. Rhett might have more accurately stated, "I won't receive a damn for you. I won't let you take advantage of me any more ...

166. I Am Who I Am

Sermon

Ronald Lavin

... ), "the Son of God," "the Son of David," "the Son of Man," "the Lord," "the Servant," and "the I AM" (from John 8:58). One way to get at the question, "Who is this?" and the meaning of Christ's answer, "I AM," is by looking at the classic statement of Saint Paul in Philippians 2:6-7, "Though in the form of God...he emptied himself," and Martin Luther's explanation of the second article of the Apostles' Creed in the Small Catechism: "I believe that Jesus Christ, true God, begotten from eternity and true man ...

167. I Want To Go South, Lord

Sermon

Jerry Eckert

... that in mind,I got to wondering how Abraham might have handled hisanxiety over how his obedience to God was paying off. Ichose a time early in his career when that anxiety wouldhave been high. The first time I did this story sermon, a friend let meuse a classic old black telephone that dated from the early'40s. With it, I conducted a one-sided conversation withGod, much on the order of Bob Newhart's technique, that is,repeating much of what God had said. This time, I did the same thing, but wished I had ...

168. Paul, The Great Missionary

Sermon

Jerry Eckert

... part of everyday news for all of the decade of the 1980s. It seemed appropriate to look back into the scriptures to see if there were any materials that might have meaning in that kind of historical context. While Paul was not a hostage in the classic sense, he was under house arrest a number of times, thus separated from his family and friends, and from his task as ambassador for Christ. I decided to drop the hostage notion and just concentrate on the way things were for the story line. Storytelling can ...

169. The Poor In Spirit

Sermon

John A. Terry

... strength, he had no strength when it was needed. Better the faith of the hymn which says, "When other helpers fail, and comforts flee, help of the helpless, O abide with me." In contrast to the poor in spirit are the proud in spirit. In classical Christian theology, pride is the chief sin. There is the account in The Divine Comedy of Virgil and Dante meeting the Angel of Humility. The angel struck Dante's forehead with his wings, and thus erased the pride-mark, while angel choirs sang, "Beati pauperers ...

170. Those Who Mourn

Sermon

John A. Terry

Isaiah 40:1-5Matthew 5:1-12 I believe we have developed a greater understanding of the meaning and means of mourning. In 1969, Elizabeth Kubler-Ross published her classic book titled On Death and Dying. In it she identified five basic stages in the grieving process: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. Personally and professionally, I have found these helpful categories in recognizing where I am in my grieving and where others are in theirs. I have also found ...

171. The Persecuted

Sermon

John A. Terry

... the brand name. For the contemporary branch of the Roman Catholic Church, "the one that features hip priests, guitar playing, hand shaking, hugging, and other manifestations of universal niceness," he offers "R.C. Light"; for the conservative tradition, "R.C. Classic"; for the group most interested in liberation theology, "R.C. Free." As for the Protestants, he says, "Many of the Protestant churches (PC's) have maintained a standback style since the Reformation and have been watching their market share ...

172. Turning A Minus Into A Plus

Isaiah 40:1-31

Sermon

Harold Warlick

... . If we listened to contemporary music we might have realized that three of the eight most popular artists are blind. If we grabbed a quick bite to eat in a fast-food place or in a supermarket we most likely enjoyed a symphony written by a classical composer who was stone deaf at the time he wrote it. Finally, if we rushed to class or the library to continue this grand pursuit called education, few of us acknowledged that the greatest achievement in higher education was made by a woman born unable to ...

173. Death Shall Be No More

Isaiah 25:1-12

Sermon

E. Carver McGriff

... the true person. Death may at last reveal the finished product. One author used the analogy of two men who attend the symphony. One has learned to understand and appreciate good music. The other has pedestrian tastes, caring nothing for the beauty of the classics. So at the concert, the former sits transfixed by beauty, time racing past, while the other fellow fidgits in misery, wondering if this will ever end. So, in the presence of sheer perfect love, those who have learned to give and receive love will ...

174. Persevering In The Faith

Numbers 21:4-9

Sermon

E. Carver McGriff

... be allowed to grow up thinking his or her every wish is to be immediately answered. Part of maturity is to learn to do without, to live with many a "no" in life. So the impatience of childhood is part of the growth process. One of literature's classic novels is Aldous Huxley's Brave New World. It depicts a man from our own era cast forward in time to a world in which all problems have been solved. Drugs have done it, mainly. Not the street drugs we first think about, but sophisticated drugs, much advanced ...

175. It Is Blessed To Receive

Sermon

William G. Carter

... . See Leviticus 13 and 14 for a description of the process by which lepers were restored to community life. 3. David Owen, "No Thanks," The New Yorker 18 December 1995: p. 128. 4. Edgar Lee Masters, Spoon River Anthology (New York: Signet Classic, 1992), p. 10. 5. Craddock, 121. 6. Curiously, this saying does not appear in the four gospels, causing some scholars to doubt its authenticity. 7. As quoted by B. A. Gerrish, Grace and Gratitude: The Eucharistic Theology of John Calvin (Minneapolis: Fortress Press ...

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