Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 1851 to 1875 of 4884 results

1851. Turning the Corner on the Very End

Mark 5:21-43

Sermon

James Weekley

... of the universe without believing that there is a design for all mankind and also a Designer?" Would God really go to the trouble to fabricate the wonders of this world - the stars, the intricate flowers, the unique snowflake - if he didn't have a more perfect world awaiting us? Would a God-Father allow his children to suffer at the expense of disease and accident if he didn't plan a dimension of peace after our death? Would God permit our exploitation at the hands of injustice, if he didn't offer ...

1852. Friendship Arms or Cold Shoulders

Mark 6:1-6

Sermon

James Weekley

... They gave him the cold shoulder. He had just run through an exhausting schedule. He had been in great demand as a mender of broken dreams and a recycler of human bodies. He was tired. He needed a break. Going home again, he thought, would be the perfect tonic. Just to see Nazareth. How he would recall his boyhood days and delight in that kaleidoscope of sweet memories. His brothers and sisters would be there to share old stories and update the Nazareth News Chronicle. It was not to be. His winning streak of ...

1853. The Love Of Evil

Psalm 52:1-9

Sermon

Erskine White

... . Make more clear to our consciences the ways of good and evil and put in our hearts a greater love of what is good. Lead us in the paths of reflection and renewal in the weeks ahead, that we may no longer love our estrangement from You, but love more perfectly the Lord our God with all our heart and mind and soul and strength. We ask all these things as we gather tonight at the table of our Lord, who is our Light and our Salvation. Amen

1854. Faith To The Finish

2 Timothy 3:10--4:8, Isaiah 14:24-27

Sermon

Erskine White

... emptied by our doubts, fill us again with the certain knowledge of Your love in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Teach us, Precious Lord, to live each day as it comes, in thankful remembrance of You. Teach us with heart and hands and voices to "Thank We All Our God," in perfect faith from start to finish. Cheer us with Your blessed peace and keep us in Your grace. Guide us when perplexed, 0 God, and free us from all ills ... in this world and the next. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen

1855. Jesus, The Mad Man

Mark 3:20-30

Sermon

Erskine White

... :24). But Paul was proud to call himself a "fool" for Christ (2 Corinthians 11:21). "I am talking like a madman," he said (11:26), because "The wisdom of this world is folly with God" (1 Corinthians 3:19). Paul delighted in saying things like, "My power is made perfect in weakness" (2 Corinthians 12:9), because he knew that words like these are a foolish mystery to the world, but to the Christian believer, they are the plain and simple truth. Who is mad and who is sane? It was said at the end of World War I ...

1856. A Letter From Paul

Sermon

Erskine White

... , they will pass away. As for cycles of poverty and exclusions from the economy, they will cease. As for inequitable divisions by race and sex and income, they, too, will pass away. For our knowledge is imperfect and our morality is underdeveloped, but when the perfect society comes, the imperfect will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. I believed that self-interest and greed could make a society great and I counted material progress as ...

1857. Pie in The Sky

Acts 1:1-11

Sermon

Erskine White

... foretold? Will poverty and injustice cease; will the glory of the Lord now be revealed for all flesh to see together? Will all tears be wiped away; will all mourning and crying disappear from this troubled world, now that You are raised from the dead? These are perfectly natural questions. After all, Jesus had not said a great deal to them about the Holy Spirit; He had spoken much more often about the Kingdom of God. It was quite natural to ask when Jesus would bring the kingdom to them on earth. But Jesus ...

1858. Our God Delivers!

Daniel 3:1-30

Sermon

Erskine White

... Bonhoeffer returned to Germany and joined the Christian underground against Hitler. He went back to a land filled with fiery ovens operated by the SS in Nazi extermination camps. While he was in a concentration camp awaiting his execution, Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote something which perfectly describes modern life. These are his words: We always used to think that it was one of the inalienable rights of man (sic) that he should be able to plan his life in advance. This is a thing of the past. The pressure of ...

1859. Blind Beggars All

Mark 10:46-52

Sermon

Erskine White

... better or happier lives. As often happens in our materialistic culture, we confuse quantity in life with quality of life. "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me! I've had this condition for many years; won't You make me well?" Yet even those who are in perfect health could cry out as a blind beggar did for the mercy of Jesus Christ. As there are many physical ailments which can afflict us, there are that many more spiritual ailments which likewise need healing if we are to live in the fullness of health and ...

1860. Who Do You say He Is?

Mark 8:27-30

Sermon

Erskine White

... call Jesus the Christ and to change our lives because He is the Christ. Take away the worldly distractions which make us part-time disciples. Convince us that giving up all to follow Him will gain us more than we could ever dream. Leave us unsatisfied until we are walking perfectly in His way, even as He walked in Your way for our sake. With thanks for His sacrifice and in gratitude for His love, we pray all these things in Jesus' name. Amen

1861. The Unity Of The Church

Ephesians 4:1-16

Sermon

Erskine White

... real ministry of reconciliation to a divided world so long as the church herself is so badly divided. The truth is that Christ died to make His people one and His church has squandered that precious inheritance. But here at the Lord's Table, we see visions of that perfect unity, which Christ has begun and whose fullness is yet to come. Here in the bread and the cup is the Spirit of Him who unites us in the bonds of peace. Here we are strengthened and renewed by the vision of one Body, one faith, one baptism ...

1862. When Christians Disappoint

Acts 5:1-11

Sermon

Erskine White

... to know that even the early church had problems with disappointing Christians. We might have thought otherwise - we might have thought that with the memory of Jesus still fresh and the glow of Pentecost still warm, the early church would have been a perfect model of spiritual purity and inspiration, far surpassing what the world had ever seen before or since. We might have thought that, but the Bible says it wasn't so. They had disputes within the early Christian community; indeed, Jesus found it necessary ...

1863. Wedding: Old Enough to Know

Sermon Aid

John M. Braaten

... bliss. You are both mature and wise enough to know that everlasting ecstasy does not follow on the heels of the wedding. Yet harbored deep within the heart of every bride and groom is the idea, the hope, that perhaps their marriage will be the perfect marriage - that the dissension and discord which intrude upon so many marriages will not contaminate their own. And if problems do arise, they will be very minor and infreqent. That's a good wish to have. But wishing does not accomplish anything. In order to ...

1864. Is It Time Yet?

Galatians 4:4

Children's Sermon

Wesley T. Runk

... for his own special reasons. We don't know why he chose her instead of some other woman, except that she was related to King David who had died a long time before Jesus or Mary were born. But God had his special reasons, and we think he chose the perfect mother for Jesus. I suppose that Mary would have been loved by many and a good friend to a lot of people, if she had never been chosen to be the mother of Jesus. But the thing that really made her special was the fact that she listened to God ...

1865. Searchlights

John 3:1-21

Children's Sermon

Wesley T. Runk

... gone unnoticed for months or even years. (If your students are younger, you will want to lead them on their quest.) When your students are finished exploring, have them meet back in your classroom to discuss the implications of their finds. Make the point that, like their flashlights, God's perfect knowledge will bring our own "cobwebs" into the light - no matter how well we think they are hidden. Parents: You can easily turn this lesson into a fun rainy-day adventure at home.

1866. Less Talk, More Action

1 John 3:18

Children's Sermon

... all by itself. It can't. It only moves when you move it. What the puppet was really trying to tell us is that it isn't really love unless we show love by what we do. Can anyone ever do everything right? (Let them respond.) No, no one is perfect and does everything right. God loves us anyway. But if we just talk about love like the puppet was trying to do, we aren't really showing anyone how. The puppet couldn't show you how to love, could it? (Let them respond.) No, because it only moved and talked ...

1867. Something Special From God

James 1:17

Children's Sermon

Object: a bouquet of flowers. Good morning, boys and girls. Have you ever stopped to think about all the amazing things we have in our world, things that are beautiful and perfect? Sometimes we think the world is a terrible place. We think there are a lot of wrong and ugly things going on. But sometimes we need to stop and look at things like these. (Show them the flowers.) Where would we be without flowers in our world? And summer and ...

1868. Add a Little Salt

Mark 9:50

Children's Sermon

... gift of taste. We can tell the difference between sweet and sour, bland and sharp, chocolate and vanilla, and all the other good flavors that come to us in our food. Have you ever eaten food that didn't seem to have any flavor? I have. The food may be perfectly good, but we don't like to eat it because it doesn't taste like anything. Even though it may be good for our bodies, if we can't get any taste out of it, we may just stop eating it altogether. Then we lose the good part. One of ...

1869. Epiphany 2

John 2:1-11, Isaiah 62:1-12, 1 Corinthians 12:1-11, Psalm 96:1-13, Psalm 36:1-12

Sermon Aid

George Bass

... the season, but it, too, has little to do with John 2. It reads: "Lord God, you showed your glory and led many to faith by the works of your Son. As he brought gladness and healing to his people, grant us these same gifts and lead us also to perfect faith in him, Jesus Christ our Lord." Once more, three prayers, one that speaks to each of the gospels in the three-year lectionary would better explicate and reinforce the manifestation/epiphany theme of the day. The Psalm Of The Day Psalm 96:1-3, 7-9; 96:1-10 ...

1870. Epiphany 5

Psalm 138:1-8, 1 Corinthians 15:1-11, Judges 6:1-40, Isaiah 6:1-13, Luke 5:1-11

Sermon Aid

George Bass

... all that he does in the name of the Lord, and that God will help him to be faithful to his high calling. Psalm Prayer "Lord God, you keep the proud at a distance and look upon the lowly with favor. Stretch out your hand to us in our suffering, perfect in us the work of your love, and bring us to life in Jesus Christ our Lord." THE READINGS Isaiah 6:1-8 (RC); 6:1-8 (9-13) (L, C) This familiar reading relates Isaiah's wondrous vision in the temple of the Lord God, where he "saw the ...

1871. Ash Wednesday

Matthew 6:1-4, Matthew 6:16-18, Joel 2:12-17, 2 Corinthians 5:11--6:2

Sermon Aid

George Bass

... God, you hate nothing you have made and forgive the sins of all who are penitent: create and make in us new and contrite hearts, that we, worthily lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness, may obtain of you, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen." It should be remembered that some liturgies suggest that this prayer be said first at every worship occasion "on ...

1872. Lent 5

John 7:45--8:11, Psalm 126:1-6, Isaiah 43:14-28, Philippians 3:1-11, Luke 20:9-19, John 12:1-11

Sermon Aid

George Bass

... full and complete because they had been baptized in Jesus Christ; in a way, they could "take their ease in Zion." Paul reminded them that there is always a "not yet" element in our salvation ("Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect."), and that Christians, who have been baptized into the death of Christ, must participate in his sufferings in this life, if they are fully to appreciate the reality of his resurrection. So, he is telling them that they must join him in his pilgrimage: "I ...

1873. Maundy Thursday

John 13:1-17, Psalm 116:1-19, Exodus 12:1-30, 1 Corinthians 11:17-34, Mark 14:12-26, Jeremiah 30:1--31:40, Hebrews 10:19-39, Luke 22:7-38

Sermon Aid

George Bass

... 10: 1 1-18). This reading picks up the "new covenant" theme, which has been established between God and his people "by the blood of Jesus." Faithful and repentant Christians may approach the "table of grace" and receive the body and blood of Jesus with perfect confidence, knowing that their presence is acceptable to the Lord and their final entrance into the everlasting kingdom of the Lord is assured. Those who "enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus" should know that this is as close as human beings can ...

1874. Easter Sunday

John 20:1-9, Acts 10:23b-48, Isaiah 51:1-16, Exodus 15:1-21, Colossians 3:1-17, 1 Corinthians 5:1-13, 1 Corinthians 15:1-11, Luke 24:1-12

Sermon Aid

George Bass

... couldn't believe it was happening; but they saw it with their own eyes. They knew that Jesus was dead. Now, suppose that the parking meter - while no one was looking - raised itself and set itself back in its original position, looking all new and perfect. And suppose this was reported to Molly, the parking lot attendant, the police officer, and the meter superintendent. "That's utter nonsense," all would declare. "It just couldn't happen." They might even say, "I don't believe my eyes! This just isn't real ...

1875. Easter 4

John 10:22-42, Acts 13:13-52, Numbers 27:12-23, Revelation 7:9-17

Sermon Aid

George Bass

... the Year, Year B. Psalm 100 (RC, E) - Commentary was made on this psalm in the Lectionary Preaching Workbook III, Cycle B, and may be found there. It should also be pointed out that this was probably the entire introit-psalm originally. It "fit" Good Shepherd Sunday perfectly, even in modern translation: Be joyful in the Lord, all you lands; serve the Lord with gladness and come before his presence with a song. Know this: The Lord himself is God; he himself has made us, and we are his; we are his people and ...

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