Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 1826 to 1850 of 4935 results

1826. My God, My God, ... Why?

Mark 15:33-41

Drama

Setting: There is a cross in the front center stage. Only the backlights are on. See diagram on page 50 (in printed version of this book only) which shows actors’ paths across the stage. The centurion is standing holding a spear. Mary Magdalene is the least obvious and is standing or leaning against a far wall. Joseph of Arimathea is seated under the back lights which have cast the cross and the two other witnesses in silhouette. Each character speaks in turn, but oblivious to the others. Text: Mark 15:33- ...

1827. Jeopardy, by Jeremiah

Jeremiah 23:9-32

Sermon

Richard F. Bansemer

The sermon is based on the words of the prophet Jeremiah as recorded in the 23rd chapter, beginning with the 19th verse, in the book by his name: "Behold, the storm of the Lord! Wrath has gone forth, a whirling tempest; it will burst upon the head of the wicked. The anger of the Lord will not turn back until he has executed and accomplished the intents of his mind. In the latter days you will understand it clearly." What can we do with an angry God? Occasionally on Sunday one of the many "angry God" ...

1828. Stewards of Our Money

Mark 12:41-44

Sermon

Jerry L. Schmalemberger

We "Caretakers of Creation" are in charge, being placed in that position by no less than the Almighty. We have seen from the creation story in Genesis how God brought into existence all that there is, and then put us humans in charge of it all. So far we have discovered that we are in charge of these things: • All the natural resources so that future generations have enough. • The hungry of the world so that they might be fed. This is one of the signs of the Kingdom. • Our bodies and their care, so that we ...

1829. Doubting Thomas

John 20:24-31

Sermon

Richard A. Jensen

"How can you believe in God in such a world as this, anyway?" Melvin asked. "I mean it’s crazy. Just look around you at the world. Does it look like a world that comes from the hand of a loving God? No way! No way! It looks like a world gone mad, a world gone out of control. I just can’t believe in God, I tell ya. I can’t believe in God’s so-called Son either. I’ve just got too many doubts about the way this world works. Too many doubts." Jeanie was beside herself. She did not know what to do. Sunday was ...

1830. Toward Health With Confidence

Sermon

Leonard H. Budd

Our town is midway between nowhere and nothing. It is set on the side of a hill that is not steep enough to be called a hill. The sun bakes it during the day, and the evening wind brings dust and chill to our doors. Our town has existed as long as anyone can remember - rooted here in the same way and size, and with the same bleakness. Our life was stirred only when an occasional camel caravan passed by, or when the Roman legions moved through on some unknown mission. Birth and death settled in our town and ...

1831. Paul of Tarsus

2 Corinthians 12:1-10

Drama

Michael L. Sherer

"I am content with persecutions for Christ’s sake ..." 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 Characters: Lector Announcer Antagonist Protagonist Participants enter and take their places in the chancel. As they come forward, the congregation sings the hymn "In the Cross of Christ I Glory." When the hymn is completed, the drama begins. LECTOR: I am most happy ... to be proud of any weaknesses, in order to feel the protection of Christ’s power over me. I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and ...

1832. King of Atlanta

Romans 8:28-39

Drama

Michael L. Sherer

"We are more than conquerors through Christ ..." Romans 8:35-39 Characters: Lector Announcer Antagonist Protagonist (Participants enter and take their places in the chancel. As they come forward, the congregation sings the hymn "Beneath the Cross of Jesus." When the hymn is completed, the drama begins.) LECTOR: Who can separate us from the love of Christ? Can trouble do it? Or hardship? Or persecution? Or hunger? Or poverty? Or danger? Or death? As the Scripture says, "For your sake we are in danger of ...

1833. Good News For Broken Hearts

Luke 7:36-50

Sermon

King Duncan

William Miller, in THE JOY OF FEELING GOOD, relates the story of a woman who went to a psychiatrist because she was severely depressed. As her therapist began to probe her emotions, he discovered she had never worked through the death of her husband many years before. Her husband had died one week after President Kennedy was assassinated. This woman watched with admiration how well Mrs. Kennedy handled the shock and trauma of her husband's death, and when her own husband died, she made up her mind to be ...

1834. A Real Solution For Real Problems

Acts 9:1-19a

Sermon

King Duncan

There is a silly story about a man who went to his doctor complaining about terrible neck pains, throbbing headaches and recurring dizzy spells. The doctor examined him and said, "I’m afraid I have some bad news for you. You have only six months to live." The doomed man decided he would spend his remaining time on earth enjoying himself. He quit his job, bought a sports car, and a closet full of new suits and shoes. Then he went to get himself a dozen tailored shirts. He went to the finest shirt shop he ...

1835. How Can I Know The Truth?

John 16:5-16

Sermon

King Duncan

Sometimes fact IS funnier than fiction. According to an article in the New York TIMES, for more than 50 years authorities in the Soviet Union have been deliberately sabotaging their own maps of the Soviet countryside. Rivers, bridges, cities and coastlines have all been shown in wrong locations on maps or deliberately drawn incorrectly. Distance scales have been an absolute joke. Soviet theory, apparently, was that these errors made these maps useless to spies, invading armies, and the navigators of enemy ...

1836. Responding To The Roadblocks Of Life

Philippians 1:1-11

Sermon

Eric Ritz

Several years ago Frank Court told the story of a student at Iowa State University who took to selling magazine subscriptions for additional income. He determined that a likely customer might be the president of the University. The student was greeted at the door by the president's wife who was able to resist his sales pitch by saying that her husband already received more magazines than he could read. The student assured her that he understood and turned to leave. It was then the president's wife saw ...

1837. It Doesn't Matter What I Do

Jeremiah 17:19-27

Sermon

King Duncan

"Five Things Christians Should Never Say," #5 A would-be burglar in Pennsauken, N.J. needed to make sure the door to the company he was looting wouldn't fully close while he was burgling the place, so he stuck a piece of paper in the door. The piece of paper was a traffic ticket he'd been issued for driving with a cracked windshield. Police found the ticket, with a name and address on it, still in the door the next day, which proved helpful in their pursuit of the burglar, who was arrested at his home in ...

1838. Taking Time To Love

Matthew 22:34-40

Sermon

King Duncan

Billy Rose once told a story about a young man and his father who had a small farm. Several times a year they would make a trip to market with their oxcart loaded with vegetables. The son was an impatient sort. He would always prod the ox with a stick to hurry it along. His father, however, believed in following a more leisurely gait. The son wanted to get to market first thing the next morning in order to beat the other vendors to the best spot. The father, however, had other priorities. At one point ...

1839. A New You in a New Year (Part X)

Philippians 3:1-11

Sermon

Eric Ritz

I think ministers must be on the mailing list of every conceivable organization and charity in the United States of America. Much of the mail I receive at the church office (about 50%) is what is commonly called "junk mail." Dr. Lyle Schaller, a church consultant, urges ministers to review their mail over an open garbage can. Check the upper left hand corner or backside of the mail and look to see where it came from. About 35% of the mail never gets opened. This week as I was thumbing through the "bulk ...

1840. Going Home for Christmas?

John 1:1-18

Sermon

Eric Ritz

It has been said that the heart turns homeward at Christmas. Being home for Christmas is a deep and powerful instinct that compels us to make every effort and expend time and resources to fulfill this longing and need. I remember once reading about a group of university ornithologists who took a rare species of bird from a remote island in the South Pacific to their laboratory here in the United States. They observed them, studied them, tagged them, and then let them go. The newspaper article then shared ...

1841. A New You or a New Year

Philippians 3:1-11

Sermon

Eric Ritz

Most of us will not have the unique opportunity of Alfred Nobel who read his own obituary. It happened because of a mistaken identity. Alfred''s brother died, but the news media had confused the name and thought Alfred had died. As he read his own obituary, he was horrified to find that he was referred to as the "dynamite king." He was pictured as someone who had spent his life gathering a great fortune from the manufacture of weapons of destruction. When he invented dynamite, he thought it would be an ...

1842. The Process of Love

Luke 19:1-10

Sermon

Stephen M. Crotts

In William Shakespeare's play, A Midsummer Night's Dream, the actors roam the stage looking for a scarce potion that can make humans fall in love. What with our church splits, divorce rate, homicides, racism, and terrorist wars, such an elixir, such a love potion, could come in handy in our own day. Jesus Christ told us in the Great Commandment to love our neighbor (Mark 12:28 ff). Then he stuck around to show us how it's done. What we have in the Gospels is not just words of love, but the deeds themselves ...

1843. To Be a Pilgrim (Thanksgiving)

Hebrews 11:1-40

Sermon

Alex Gondola

What do you think of when you hear the word "Pilgrim"? Most of us — especially around Thanksgiving — hear the word "Pilgrim" and think of the English Separatists who crossed the Atlantic on the Mayflower, landed on Cape Cod, and settled in Plymouth. We hear "Pilgrim" and think "Thanksgiving." But, when you think of that kind of Pilgrim, what do you think? Some consider the Pilgrims stained-glass saints. A church in Utica, New York, was designed as a shrine to the Pilgrims. Three tall stained-glass windows ...

1844. Grace to You, and Peace

Revelation 1:4b-8

Sermon

Lee Ann Dunlap

The weeklong pastor's training event was about halfway through its course and the pastor coordinating the event was enjoying her break with a leisurely stroll across the grounds. But what began as a beautiful leisurely spring day soon turned somewhat anxious when she returned to her room and found a message taped to her door, "Call the bishop's assistant as soon as possible." She spent part of the afternoon playing phone tag between class sessions. "Whatever could it be?" she pondered. The week was flowing ...

1845. Shame on You

1 Timothy 1:12-17

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

A sense of guilt and shame can sometimes be spiritually healthy. Dogs are great at guilt. The moment you walk into the house, a dog will telegraph to you with its whole body the sin it has committed. The eyes squint and dart this way and that. The ears are flattened. The head is lowered. The tail trails. Pathetically ingratiating behavior usually accompanies all this - desperate little hand licks, half-hearted tail wags, general obeisance. When you discover the actual crime - a mistake on the rug, a broken ...

1846. Armageddon Anxiety

John 6:56-69

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

Our "Post-Age Culture" is coping with Armageddon anxiety and catching millennial fever. Satan's six-pack (666) has us under the influence of easy answers, easy solutions and easy excuses. What to do? This week's biblical text is "brought to life" as much by the number it bears as by what it says. Read this text of rejection, John 6:66, one more time: "Because of this many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him." The devastating nature of this message, coupled with the doomsday ...

1847. Said the Night Wind….

Sermon

Mike Ripski

After receiving world-wide acclaim as a literary genius, H.G. Wells grew more and more cynical in his later years. His state of mind is reflected in this confession: “I go out now and look up at the stars in the same way I look at the pattern of wallpaper in the railway station waiting room.” Life can do that to us, can’t it? Occasionally we hear a still small voice ask, “Is this all there is?” We have this sense that we were created for more. How do we get this way? How do our senses get dulled? What ...

1848. The Possible Dream

Genesis 45:3-11, 15

Sermon

Mary S. Lautensleger

Sibling rivalry. It's the pits. It has been around as long as there have been siblings around. Beginning with Cain and Abel, we see one brother disgruntled because God likes the other brother's sacrificial offering better. We remember, too, Isaac and Ishmael, Jacob and Esau, Rachel and Leah, the prodigal son and his older brother. Life is not fair. Sibling rivalry, and there's a fight. For every kid who is doing a lot of hitting, there is usually a kid who is doing a lot of provoking. There's no such thing ...

1849. A Father's Heart Cry

Hosea 11:1-11

Sermon

Lee Ann Dunlap

Steven and LaDonna had been married nearly ten years before they were finally able to conceive a much-desired child. To their surprise and concern, little James arrived prematurely, weighing a scant four pounds. He required several weeks in the hospital's incubator and lots of prayers before he could finally go home. In the years since then, Steven has often shared how his firstborn, and only child, changed his life forever. Having that little life depend on him made him a better man and better husband. ...

1850. The Unsuspected Trojan Horse

Psalm 139:1-24

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

Most of you remember the story of the Trojan horse. The Greeks, under Odysseus, sailed over to Troy and made a huge wooden horse. They then climbed into the horse and were hidden away there. Cassandra warned the Trojans not to take the horse into the city. However, a Greek prisoner, Simon, persuaded them that the horse was sacred and would bring the protection of the gods so the pulled the horse into the city walls of Troy. That night as they slept, Odysseus and his companions crept out of the horse and ...

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