Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 1726 to 1750 of 4997 results

John 14:5-14

Sermon

Mark Ellingsen

... of ours? I know that I have. In fact, I wager that you have, too. Competent social analysts tell us that this kind of religious individualism has all sorts of adherents in contemporary American society at the close of the century.1 Almost everybody has ... . This is the core Christian commitment: Jesus is God. Whatever he says, whatever he does, it is God doing it. What is God like? He is the kind of a God who loved you and me so much, loved us so much, that he died for us. What is God like? He must really love ...

1727. The Dreamer Within You

Joel 2:18-27, Joel 2:28-32

Sermon

Richard Hasler

... people in our community were in transition, and we began to appeal to people looking for a new start in life. Some of us were newcomers to the community. Others were beginning new families or were seeking new relationships after suffering brokenness of one kind or another. Still others were simply craving a fresh spiritual adventure. As we continued our journey we came to believe that the dream was not so much our own dream but God’s Spirit dreaming within our fellowship. Our world needs people who are ...

1728. Everything Except God

Amos 5:1-17

Sermon

Richard Hasler

... we are entertained and are inspired at worship, if we do not translate that liturgical experience into concern for the people about us, many of whom do feel oppressed in one fashion or another, we have missed the point of ethical righteousness. The kind of worship that Amos advocates has a direct impact upon establishing “justice in the gate.” The best definition of peace-making that I have run across is these words by Clarence Jordan who starkly delineated peacemaking in these terms: “It’s what God ...

1729. Improving Your Serve

Isaiah 49:1-7

Sermon

Robert Beringer

... , turned around, and eyed the words "Saint George And the Dragon." He went back and knocked again on the kitchen door. "Now what do you want?" the woman asked angrily. "Well, ma'am, if Saint George is in, may I speak with him this time?" That's the kind of resistance God's servant can expect to encounter, but the Spirit of God will, according to Isaiah, glorify the servant and use the servant's message to be "a light to the nations." 3. God's Universal Task For The Servant But now, as Isaiah completes the ...

1730. The Baby Who Changes Everything

Isaiah 7:1-25

Sermon

Robert Beringer

... consequences which have followed his life, Jesus of Nazareth is central in the human story and the most important event in the history of our world." 2. The Possibility Of Inner Change The outward changes in society are the evidences of a far more important kind of change that Emmanuel, Jesus the Christ has made possible in his coming. Because God came to be with us in that little child in the manger, our human weakness and insufficiency under the demands of life have been caught up in the all-sufficiency ...

1731. Time's Up

Matthew 24:36-51

Illustration

John Jamison

... was really getting him down. But about this thing in the backyard. At first the neighbors were intrigued. They all thought it was kind of cute to see the old guy out there climbing around with his hammers and saws, although some mornings he started hammering way ... kept yelling at him about how she knew he was going to fall off the ladder and break every bone in his body. And it was kind of fun to try and guess just what it was that he was hammering and sawing on. First, it was a deck for the yard, then ...

1732. On Being Salty

Matthew 5:13-16

Sermon

John Jamison

... impressed with some questionable looking character who lived on the river. Did I tell you Uncle Peacock lived in a houseboat? It was a homemade kind of thing, and I guess looked as homemade as it was, but it floated well enough to give him a place to sleep when he ... until his supplies were gone, and three weeks later swam to shore and got help. My Uncle Peacock was, my mother tells me, a "salty" kind of guy. Much like the two old men who used to stop by our house every so often to see my dad. I was always ...

1733. Simon the Zealot · A Man Who Changed His Mind

Mark 3:13-19

Children's Sermon

Wesley T. Runk

... . Admitting that you were wrong is one thing, but doing something about it is something else. There was a man named Simon and he was the kind of person who believed that he was always right. He did not like to give in to anyone, and he worked very hard to prove that ... them, making fun of them and scaring them. He thought of every mean thing he knew to make the Romans miserable. Simon was that kind of a man. When Simon prayed, he prayed for a leader to come to Israel whom he could follow and who would drive the ...

1734. The Ten Commandments For Today

Exodus 20:1-21

Sermon

Erskine White

... shall not even be angry or hateful toward others (Matthew 5:22), since spiritual violence and physical violence are different only in kind, not in degree. You shall not threaten others, either with a gun in your hand or a nuclear missile in your silo. ... a hostile nation halfway around the world. Even when it is to your advantage to tell a lie or just part of the truth, be kind and trustworthy in your speech. Jesus didn't stop by saying that we shouldn't swear falsely; He said we shouldn't swear at all. ...

1735. One Flock, One Shepherd

John 10:1-21

Sermon

Jerry L. Schmalemberger

... Johnny. “You may know arithmetic, but you don’t know sheep.” Sheep belong together and do just that. Johnny knew it. It’s more a matter of heart and not so much of head. All sorts of disciples saw Jesus between Easter and Ascension and in all kinds of places! On the Emmaus Road, in the upper room, in the garden, along Lake Galilee. All sorts of persons worshiping in different ways still sense his presence. Let’s try in every way possible to extend our hand in fellowship to all God’s families. If ...

1736. Death of a Newborn Infant

Luke 18:15-17

Eulogy

Walter A. Schmidt

... loss of a child. I say that not to minimize the sense of loss for those who have seen spouse or parent or friend suffer and die; certainly any loss is tragic for those who are left behind. But the loss of a child seems to have its own special kind of tragedy. Our minds want to race ahead to all of the things that this lifeless child will not be able to do, to experience: those first words, first step, first birthday party, first day of school, and the list goes on.There is one day in my life that ...

1737. Walking On the Knees

2 Samuel 7:18-29

Sermon

Donald Zelle

... the capital. He had defeated the powerful and bothersome Philistines. He had made the capital city the religious center by bringing there the Ark of the Covenant. He had shown justice and fair play to a degenerate King Saul by remaining loyal to him. He had shown kindness to Saul's family by caring for a grandson of Saul, Mephibosheth, who was crippled in both his feet. Now he was beginning other plans for God. There would be a temple, a home for God, built in Jerusalem. David would see to that! The plans ...

1738. Thanksgiving

Ephesians 1:1

Sermon

Brett Blair

... killed. I will never forget that funeral. In the midst of all of that suffering he had undergone a smile still broke through on his face. Instead of sitting around wringing his hands in despair he said to me: What have I done to deserve all of the kindness that so many people are showing me? One day you and I are going to travel that last long journey. In the meantime we have life in this world. Life with its challenges and its blessings, joys and ecstasies. Life with its occasional pain, but also life with ...

1739. Rag Doll #37

Drama

Edward Long

... , I love this place and it brings all the income we'll ever need. But we're not very ... you know ... up to snuff. We're kind of out-of-date, you know what I mean? MRS. McKENZIE: Whatever you want as long as I don't have to clean all them picture ... even need a ladder. (Turns to MR. Mc and looks a little embarrassed). But Boss, I hope you understand this the way I mean it: you're kind of out of date just like the store, and I don't think you'd be happy with a dozen check-outs, pre-packaged this and that ... ...

1740. Recollections of Reuben, Uncle of a Young Bethlehem Shepherd

Matthew 2:13-18

Drama

Robert A. Morgan

... 'll wait. I'll never see him, but our people - that's a different matter. Perhaps Herod did right to feel threatened. Perhaps it was a kind of threat to him and others. I can't get out of my mind the words Nathanael told me from the angel: "Peace on earth, good ... 'll know it, but you haven't met him yet. He's being kept safe, at least for the time being, from you and from your kind. Go back to Herod. Tell him you've done what you were supposed to do. But whisper under your breath at the same time, "Glory to ...

1741. Charlie Used To Do That

John 6:25-59

Sermon

Robert Salzgeber

... , he thought about how hard they had all worked in building the house on Brady Street which they had moved into the previous year. "Yes," he considered, "my family and I are certainly blessed of God!" Every day on his way home from work Charlie would take a kind of inventory of things that needed to be done as he walked past the church where he had been a member since his baptism in 1917. Whenever he was at the church he would notice things that needed to be done. Sometimes they were just little things like ...

1742. The Robe

John 6:25-59

Sermon

Robert Salzgeber

... of the matrix of God we can claim our inheritance. We can claim the bread that comes down from heaven. The bread of such a kind that whoever eats it will not die. The bread that if anyone eats it, he/she will live forever. The bread is Jesus himself, ... his pocket. Fortunately, he was the only one in the store and David noticed Josh's anxiety. He saw that Josh was flushed and kind of nervous. He thought that maybe Josh was getting sick. "Are you all right Josh?" David questioned. "Oh, I'm okay, David. Well, ...

1743. Wonder Bread

Luke 4:1-13

Children's Sermon

Brett Blair

... else we need besides food, water, clothes, and a home? (response) It will be great if you get something spiritually related but, if not, then suggest something. Do we need our parent's love in order to live? (response) What about the lessons they teach us? (response) What kind of lessons do they teach you? (response) Do your parents teach you what an A and a B and a C look like? (response) What else do they teach you? (response) Do they tell you not to hit and not to tell any fibs? (response) You know we ...

1744. Washed By Water: The Jordan

Matthew 3:13-17

Sermon

Steve Swanson

... " The Lord's Supper uses bread and wine. The Sacrament of Baptism uses water. Somehow water doesn't hold the same kind of mystery because no one expects water to become anything different. Water doesn't represent anything. The bread of communion both ... on that cross - yet he did die. On that rugged cross the blood of Jesus was shed and, in that blood, we see still another kind of washing. Some of the old hymns portrayed that washing very vividly: "Washed in the blood of the Lamb," we used to sing. Or how ...

1745. The Time Is Coming

Jeremiah 30:1--31:40

Sermon

Paul W. F. Harms

... as a hero some five hundred years later. How many of us would have been happy to have lived at his time or to have lived with him, I'm not sure. Prophets are a driven people, driven by none other than God himself. We are not used to their kind of certainty, nor an accountability which answers to God alone and is beholden to none among people. But today's text lets it be known that the prophet is not always talking tough. Yet the fulfillment of today's splendid text seems no nearer realization than did the ...

1746. A Faith, A Farm And A Family

Ruth 1:1-22

Sermon

John P. Rossing

... holy communion in the little church in the center of town. The scene suggests the heavenly banquet to which God invites us all, and shows that the lives of the characters have been directed by God's love toward a final deliverance. Now, fate might never deal you the kind of blows it dealt Naomi and Ruth and Edna Spalding, but whatever comes your way in life you can depend on God, as Naomi did, to see you through. God takes care of his people: he blesses us with the things we need to live from day to day ...

1747. What Do We Hope For?

Isaiah 25:1-12

Sermon

John P. Rossing

... reminder that what he wanted wasn't necessarily what God wanted. Today's lesson in Isaiah 25 is about hope, but it's a different kind of hope. Job's hope was for himself, for an end to his own troubles. It was also limited to solutions in this life. Job ... waited for him, so that he might save us.' " The life of God's people is a life of waiting, but it's a unique kind of waiting, because we're waiting for a future we have already seen. We've seen the future fulfillment in Isaiah's vision of the heavenly ...

1748. Ask Nicely

Philemon 1:8-9

Children's Sermon

Tim Carpenter

... , a jar of jelly, and a packet of Kool-Aid. Lesson: Today I want to take a survey to see what kind of things you like, okay? Hold up the jar of vinegar. How many know what this is? (response) Now, how many ... deep voice lower your voice, and a mean face make a mean face, and point at you point, and order you to get the jelly? Or would you rather I speak kindly and ask you to please get me the jelly? Which would you rather I do? (ask nicely) Why? (response) Oh, I see. It is a nicer and sweeter way to ask ...

1749. It Just Doesn't Work That Way

Matthew 13:24-30, Matthew 13:36-43

Sermon

Johnny Dean

... safe time to separate the weeds from the wheat would be at the harvest. At least, that’s what the farmer said. But what kind of farmer is this? Is this the same farmer we talked about last week, the one who recklessly wasted his seed, throwing it ... the harvest? What if the bad people win? We won’t know until the harvest. But isn’t that wasteful? Isn’t that risky? What kind of way is this to run a farm? We want things to be neater, black and white, cut and dried, infinitely more predictable. We don’ ...

1750. I Hate To Rain On Your Parade, But

Matthew 21:1-11

Sermon

Johnny Dean

... – well, they called him a glutton and a wine-bibber, but in modern language, that’s a party animal. You don’t get that kind of reputation because you have the ability to walk into a room and suck the life out of it! Jesus loved life! When he ... to read at your funeral? Do you have a favorite poem you want someone to read at your funeral?" I feel the need to ask those kind of questions sometimes. But I usually don’t ask them. It just seems that it would spoil the visit, it’s just too heavy, too dark ...

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