Sermon and Worship Resources

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151. Our Unmanageable God (The Second Commandment)

Exodus 20:1-21, Ephesians 3:14-21

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

I saw a cartoon somewhere picturing two Army trainees standing in front of a military chapel. On the chapel bulletin board was the sermon topic for that Sunday. It read: "The Second Commandment--Thou Shalt Not Make Any Graven Images.” One soldier said to his buddy, "Now there's a commandment I haven't broken yet." Maybe you're thinking similar thoughts this morning. Surely we haven't worshipped any graven images lately. But let's take a closer look at what the Second Commandment means before deciding ...

152. Is Someone Knocking?

Luke 2:1-7

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

Have you ever been blamed for something that was not your fault? It's not pleasant. I heard about a retired Admiral who had such an experience. He was taking his six-year-old grandson on a tour of the great Plaza Hotel in Detroit. They were riding the elevator to the top when suddenly a young woman turned and slapped the Admiral sharply across the face. The Admiral, with great restraint, kept his dignity. As a true gentleman he said nothing. Up a few floors the young lady got off the elevator. Then the boy ...

153. When We Feel God Has Moved And Left No Forwarding Address

Job 23:1--24:25

Sermon

Zan W. Holmes

There are times in our lives when we have a greater awareness of God's absence than we do of God's presence. Indeed, this is the experience which confronts Job in our text. In the midst of his suffering he has tried to lay his case before God. He goes forward and backward, to the left and to the right, seeking in every place to find God. To be sure, Job wants to find God because Job knows that he is an innocent sufferer, that he is an upright person. And since God is just, Job is confident that he would ...

154. God’s Choice

1 Samuel 16:1-13

Sermon

Roger Prescott

Introduction Samuel knew that Saul’s leadership was over. It probably troubled him a great deal to have to anoint a successor. It’s never comfortable telling someone they’re going to be replaced. But Samuel listened to God speaking to him and followed his strange guidance in selecting a replacement for Saul. Samuel knew that Saul would not agree to giving up his power. In fact, Saul could probably be counted on to throw one of his famous fits and fly into a murderous rage. So the anointing would have to be ...

155. Seek Good, Not Evil (That You May Live)

Amos 5:1-17

Sermon

Adolph Hitler had a dream of a thousand-year empire. The years may make us forget too soon and too easily the terror that was Adolph Hitler. The terror was that this little man, not in stature alone, but in smallness of mind, had managed to do in an extraordinary degree what others had done before him, and what we are all capable of doing. What he did, says Kenneth Burke, was to make virtue vice, and vice virtue. When, therefore, the Nazis put six million Jews and millions of others into the ovens, they ...

156. A Word About the Right Time

Haggai 2:1-9

Sermon

It’s good to see that God gets what he wants, once in a while. The events of this text differ from those we’ve heard of the last Sundays. Here there is no rampant trampling on the poor, no idolatrous affluence, no thwarting of justice against which Micah, Zephaniah and Haggai railed. A remnant of people had returned to Israel some eighteen years before from exile, an exile imposed by Darius and then relieved by Cyrus. Eighteen years is not a long time to resettle after your country has been devastated. ...

157. Proper 8

Matthew 10:1-42

Sermon Aid

Liturgical Color: Green Gospel: Matthew 10:34-42 Theme: The cost of discipleship. Review Bonhoeffer's book by the same name. Ask the congregation to read it also. Pastoral Invitation to the Celebration One pastor began this way: "Welcome to worship, in the name of God the Creator, Liberator, Sustainer, in the name of God who is Love and who is Holy. Now, let's understand the reason we don't sell tickets to worship is because we don't want spectators. The terms 'worshiper' and 'spectator' do not belong ...

158. Jesus’s Fourth Discourse—The Community Discourse

Matthew 18:1-9

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

The messages of the Community Discourse—embedded in 16:21–20:28, with its focus on defining Messiah and discipleship—center on the need for the messianic community to renounce status concerns, care for their most vulnerable, and pursue restoration and forgiveness of those who stray. The community of disciples must deny self and live a cross-shaped existence (16:24) empowered by Jesus’s presence within the community. Though possessing a certain seamlessness, Matthew 18 may be divided into two sections, each ...

159. Caring for Each Other

2 Corinthians 8:1-15

Bulletin Aid

James Wilson

Call To Worship Leader: Let us gather this day in worship and let Christ's love be seen in us! People: The way of the world is to care for oneself and one's own interests. Leader: But in Christ we are called to care and provide for the needs of others. People: Working together, God's people can touch many by sharing God's mercy. Leader: Then let our voices be in praise as we share God's blessings with others. All: Blessed be the name of the Lord! Collect O God, in Your wisdom You have shown us that if we ...

160. Rings of Different Outcomes

Illustration

Staff

Joe Theismann enjoyed an illustrious 12-year career as quarterback of the Washington Redskins. He led the team to two Super Bowl appearances winning in 1983 before losing the following year. When a leg injury forced him out of football, he was entrenched in the record books as Washington's all-time leading passer. Still, the tail end of Theismann's career taught him a bitter lesson: I got stagnant. I thought the team revolved around me. I should have known it was time to go when I didn't care whether a ...

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