Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 1776 to 1800 of 1967 results

1776. A Spiritual “Re-formation”

Romans 3:19-28

Sermon

Mary S. Lautensleger

Elizabeth Strout's novel, Abide with Me, is set in a small town in Maine in the 1950s, where the Reverend Tyler Caskey is on top of the world. He feels overwhelmed by the love of God, his socialite wife, Lauren, and two young daughters. Tyler appears oblivious to Lauren's unhappiness over his low salary, the absence of like-minded friends, and their dilapidated parsonage situated out in the middle of nowhere.1 As is typical of the 1950s, the church serves as a significant gathering place in the life of ...

1777. Acquired Taste

2 Timothy 1:1-2:13

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

Some of you here this morning remember when “TV dinners” were fast food. Those were the days . . . when Sara Lee sold frozen baked goods to families with the double negative promise “Nobody doesn’t like Sara Lee.” They were right. What wasn’t to like? Sweet treats like cheesecake and pies and cakes–-even frozen cubes of white dough that magically morphed in the oven into hot cubes of white bread. Check out any freezer case in the supermarket these days and what do you find? A lot more than simple Sara Lee ...

1778. Proper 4, Pentecost 2, Ordinary Time 9

Deuteronomy 11:18-21, 26-28, Psalm 31:1-5, 19-24, Matthew 7:15-23, Romans 1:16-17; 3:22b-28 (29-31)

Bulletin Aid

Amy C. Schifrin

Litany Divide the congregation into two voices. I: From the corners of the earth you gather us in. II: From the darkest corners of our lives you call us to the light. I: You bless us with your holy commandments. II: You bless us with your abundant grace. I: As we await your coming, let us live in your grace. II: As we await your coming, guide us through every storm. I and II: May our lives be living signs of your goodness. Amen. Prayer Of The Day Leader: The winds blow, the rains fall, the flood waters ...

1779. Life’s Three Guides on the Pilgrim Way

Matthew 6:25-34

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

Do you bring along a sandwich in your coat pocket when you are invited to dinner at a friend’s house? Of course not! Can you imagine inviting twenty people to a party, but only buying enough food to serve ten? Never! Would you send your child out into a snowstorm in a swimsuit? No way! As rude and self-centered and uncaring as we all can be, we still abide by some basics of good behavior. So why do we think God won’t? Jesus’ message in today’s gospel text chides his listeners for “worrying” — worrying ...

1780. Our Fair Share

Matthew 20:1-16

Illustration

Scott Hoezee

Barbara Brown Taylor says that this parable is a little like the cod liver oil that mothers used to give their kids to cure what ailed them: you know it's good for you, you trust the one who is giving it to you, but that doesn't make it very easy to swallow even so! Most of us are born into this world with a huge sense of infantile entitlement followed by, at a very early age already, a seemingly intuitive sense of fairness and unfairness. It's like Charlie Brown's little sister, Sally, in the classic " ...

1781. From Emptiness to Fullness

Ruth 3:1-5, 4:13-17

Sermon

Robert A. Hausman

Today, we learn from two women. The first is the woman we met last week, Ruth. Her story takes up a whole book of the Bible. We hear her speak, listen in on her deliberations, and follow her story. The second woman is nameless and speechless. She appears in only one short vignette in Mark and functions as an object lesson that Jesus uses in the gospel narrative. We are to learn from what she does. They are rather different stories, but they have two things in common: They are both about widows and they are ...

1782. Reword the Question

Illustration

Roger van Oech

Nothing clouds your mind like dogma. Dogma can come from an outside authority or it can be self-generated from one's past successes. Here are some examples: None other than Plato himself dictated that the circle was the perfect form for celestial movement, and for the next two thousand years, astronomers said that planetary orbits were circular even though their observations didn't quite jibe with that. Even Copernicus used circles in his heliocentric model of the universe. Only after much soul-searching ...

1783. The Negative Neighbor

Humor Illustration

The happy, optimistic farmer would see the sun coming up and shout over the roar of the tractor, "Look at that beautiful sun and the clear sky!" And with a frown, the negative neighbor would reply, "Yeah - it'll probably scorch the crops!" When clouds would gather and much-needed rain would start to fall, our positive friend would smile across the fence, "Ain't this great - God is giving our corn a drink today!" Again, the same negative response, "Uh huh...but if it doesn't stop 'fore long it'll flood and ...

1784. Idiosyncrasies of the English Language

Humor Illustration

For those who love the philosophy of ambiguity, as well as the idiosyncrasies of English: Don’t sweat the petty things and don’t pet the sweaty things. One tequila, two tequila, three tequila, floor. Atheism is a non-prophet organization. If man evolved from monkeys and apes, why do we still have monkeys and apes? The main reason that Santa is so jolly is because he knows where all the bad girls live. I went to a bookstore and asked the saleswoman, “where’s the self- help section?”. She said if she told me ...

1785. Obedience: Our Gift to Jesus

Hebrews 10:5-10

Sermon

Richard Gribble

One day a man went to his son's bedroom and found him sitting on his bed with a whole stack of comic books around him. The father said to his son, "Matthew, where did you get the comic books?" Matthew responded, "I took them out of the library." "You took them out of the library? You mean you stole them from the library?" The boy responded, "Yes." The father called the library and said he was going to march his son immediately down with the comic books to apologize and to restore all he had stolen. After ...

1786. Solomon Builds the Temple

2 Chronicles 3:1-17

Understanding Series

Louis C. Jonker

Solomon Builds the Temple: We now enter the section in which the long-awaited process of building the temple is described. The reader’s expectations have already been focused on the actual building of the temple in Jerusalem from the narration of David’s history in 1 Chronicles 21–22 and 28–29. The Chronicler used 1 Kings 6–7 as his main source for the description of the building of the temple under Solomon. But as has become familiar to the reader, the Chronicler not only abbreviated the source account ...

1787. Aeneas and Dorcas

Acts 9:32-43

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

With Paul waiting in the wings, Peter now returns to the limelight. We last heard of him in 8:25, and this section picks up the thread of that narrative. No doubt the apostles made frequent journeys “throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria” visiting the Christian communities. The next two chapters tell of one journey in particular, which had far-reaching consequences. There is no way of telling when this happened in relation to the events of 9:1–31. 9:32–35 The story opens with Peter visiting the saints (see ...

1788. Preparations to Receive the Covenant

Exodus 19:1-25

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

19:1–24:18 Review · Covenant at Sinai:God’s revelation comes to the people in the wilderness, characteristically a place for purification and for meeting God. The covenant encompasses the whole of Israel’s life. Their community comes into existence at the gracious will of God, and they are expected to exercise appropriate societal and individual responsibilities as his people. Even though there are affinities between the covenant and the Hittite treaty pattern, this relationship between God and the entire ...

1789. Benediction

Revelation 22:1-6

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

John’s attention turns to the surroundings and landscape of the city (22:1–5). He beholds a glorious paradise of overflowing streams and fruit-bearing trees where there is no longer any curse. Like the Garden of Eden (Gen. 2:5–6) prior to the fall of Adam, this new Eden is unblemished by sin or the curse of suffering, toil, and death (Gen. 3:4–19). Yet the new Eden is much more than a return to a prefall state; it exceeds the old garden in glory and splendor. The rivers of life are not only an echo of the ...

1790. The Ordination of Aaron and His Sons

Leviticus 8:1-36

Understanding Series

W. H. Bellinger, Jr.

The Ordination of the Priests: The next portion of Leviticus is primarily a historical narrative of the ordination of the priests and the inauguration of the priestly cult of ancient Israel. These chapters pick up the story from the book of Exodus where God gives instructions for building the tabernacle and for ordaining the priests connected to the place of worship. The tabernacle is completed and accepted as a proper place of worship in Exodus 40:34–38. The ordination of the priests to offer sacrifice in ...

1791. Cleansing from Mildew

Leviticus 14:33-57

Understanding Series

W. H. Bellinger, Jr.

The remainder of this chapter concerns “leprosy in buildings,” that is, contamination in buildings which must be restrained. The verses deal with diagnosis and purification. 14:33–42 At the fore is a concern for holding a spreading infection in check. Both Moses and Aaron receive these instructions; priests continue to be central in the processes described. The contamination is called a spreading mildew in a house. Again, the condition is probably a fungal growth. The instructions anticipate ancient Israel ...

1792. Jesus Questioned About Fasting

Luke 5:33-39

Understanding Series

Craig A. Evans

Jesus’ Fellowship with Tax Collectors: The unifying theme that runs throughout the story of Levi’s call (vv. 27–31) and the discussion about eating and fasting (vv. 32–39) concerns fellowship and lifestyle. In the minds of the Pharisees, Jesus’ chief critics thus far in Luke’s Gospel, Jesus has chosen to have fellowship with the wrong kind of people. Since they were the party of “separatists” (see note on 5:17 above) who believed that redemption would come about by separating themselves from every impurity ...

1793. The Journey of Salvation

Luke 22:39-46, 2 Corinthians 5:17-21

Sermon

King Duncan

I want to begin with a fascinating story from the Middle Ages. It is about a pope named Gregory and a king named Henry IV of Germany. In those days popes not only had ecclesiastical power but political power as well. In a dramatic move, Pope Gregory excommunicated King Henry IV when he insisted on divorcing his wife Bertha of Savoy. This was not only devastating to Henry spiritually, but politically, for this made Henry ineligible to sit on the throne of Germany. The king, who well knew what the pope ...

1794. The Problem with "Fawneys"

Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18

Sermon

King Duncan

Webb Garrison tells us about a common ruse among con artists in Ireland many years ago. These con artists would place a ring which looked expensive, but was in effect virtually worthless, in a public place where someone was sure to find it. This ring in the Irish dialect was called a “fawney.” Sure enough, sooner or later someone would come along and discover the ring thinking they had found something quite valuable. Invariably this person would look around fearing that the real owner might see their find ...

1795. Jubilaeum

Genesis 1:1-2:3, Genesis 2:4-25, Leviticus 25:8-55, Acts 2:1-13

Sermon

Lori Wagner

[If you can, sound a ram’s horn, or you can use a French Horn] [Sounding of the horn!] Hallelujah! The Lord be praised! This is the day of the Lord! And the people proclaimed…..Hallelujah! This is the day of the Lord! This is the day of the Lord! The day of Pentecost. The day we reaffirm our baptism in the power and presence of the Holy Spirit of Christ in our hearts and minds, lives and church. Praise the Lord! For you are God’s favored among God’s people. It’s a day of celebration! A day of utmost joy! I ...

1796. Movable Stone, Portable House

Matthew 16:21-28

Sermon

Lori Wagner

How adaptable are you? In today’s culture, this is a key question not just for individuals, but for businesses too! Are you able to adapt to our culture’s changing landscape? To calamities that come your way? To unplanned events and surprises? To change? When a hurricane hit Roger Hammett’s home in Florida, he had to evacuate, taking with him only some personal items. When he returned home days later, his home was gone, essentially washed away with the tide. Within a day, Roger had bought a “portable home ...

1797. An Encounter with Jesus

John 12:20-33

Sermon

Timothy W. Ayers

“We Would See Jesus” has been the title of books, songs, and most likely hundreds of sermons. It is a great phrase loaded with dozens of directions that a preacher can go with a sermon. It is a temptation for any preacher to take the phrase where he wants it to go but the truth is that staying inside this story, without leaping in countless directions is the very best way to teach and understand what is happening. Let’s look at this biblical account and try to see the real story as it unfolds. It begins ...

1798. Not Your Lips, but Your Life

Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23

Sermon

King Duncan

I’ve got a pop quiz this morning for all you history buffs. What is something that was declared illegal 100 years ago, but is perfectly legal today? I’ll give you a hint: it inspired the 18th Amendment to the Constitution. In what was termed the Noble Experiment, the United States government made it a crime to manufacture, transport or sell alcoholic beverages. From 1920 to 1933—a period referred to today as the Prohibition Era—all the bars and saloons and liquor stores in the nation shut down. Or did they ...

1799. Revolutionary Rules For Living

Luke 6:27-36

Sermon

Derl G. Keefer

Author Bob Welch observed that in Les Miserables that the uprising that Victor Hugo observed occurred in June, 1832 as a small Parisian insurrection that lasted only a short time. It was more of a street riot with a tragic outcome. Quoting Hugo, Welch said that the uprising was a defiance against the royalist government of France as a reaction to three problems of the day. First it was a defiance of man by the exploitation of his labor. Second, it was in opposition of the ruination of women by starvation ...

1800. All Dressed Up

Luke 12:32-40

Sermon

Lori Wagner

Fashion is a trillion dollar industry. It makes up 2% of the entire world’s GDP.[1] Why does apparel, the clothing we wear, play such a large part in our lives? For this we can look to art and literature, and even to scripture and the church. Unlike other animals, for as long as humans have roamed the earth, we have been concerned with clothing ourselves. From the moment of the “fall” in Genesis 1, we began a journey of finding ways to conceal our original “nakedness” and to express ourselves instead ...

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