Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 1926 to 1950 of 4914 results

1926. Easter 5

Psalm 148:1-14, John 13:31-35, Acts 11:1-18, Revelation 21:1-6

Bulletin Aid

B. David Hostetter

READINGS Psalter—Psalm 148 First Lesson—A mysterious vision opens Peter’s heart to include Gentiles in the church. Acts 11:1-18 Second Lesson—John describes a vision of the new heaven and earth: the New Jerusalem. Revelation 21:1-6 Gospel—Jesus says that the distinguishing feature of his disciples should be their love for one another. John 13:31-35 CALL TO WORSHIP Leader: The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. People: And also with you. Leader: Praise the name of the Eternal One, People: for ...

1927. Second Sunday of Advent

Psalm 72:1-7, 18-19, Isaiah 11:1-10, Matthew 3:1-12, Romans 15:4-13

Bulletin Aid

B. David Hostetter

READINGS Psalter—Psalm 72:1-7, 18-19 First Lesson—A vision of the peaceable kingdom inspires hope. Isaiah 11:1-10 Second Lesson—Christ Jesus is the fulfillment of the ancient hope for unity and harmony. Romans 15:4-13 Gospel—The Elijah-like forerunner to Jesus is John the Baptist, who preaches repentance in readiness for the King's advent. Matthew 3:1-12 CALL TO WORSHIP Leader: The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. People: And also with you. Pastor: With one mind and one voice, praise God, ...

1928. A Little Town of Great Renown

Micah 5:2-5a

Sermon

Mary S. Lautensleger

The name Johann Sebastian Bach has been familiar in church music circles for many years. Bach inscribed all his compositions with the phrase, "To God Alone the Glory." Professor Peter Schickele of the fictitious University of Southern North Dakota discovered an obscure relative, P.D.Q. Bach, known as the most bent twig on the Bach family tree. The name Bach had always been associated with fine music until P.D.Q. appeared on the scene. This fabled genius, P.D.Q. Bach, was referred to as "the worst musician ...

1929. The Character Of Christmas; Mary: Faith Filled

Luke 1:39-56

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

An eight-year-old girl was showing her preschool sister a picture of Mary and the baby Jesus. The younger girl examined the picture closely and then she asked, "Where's Joseph?" The older sister thought for a moment and then replied, "He's taking the picture." (1) This is sort of the season for questions isn't it? Especially questions about the Christmas Story. There are so many elements that are just barely touched on. We get the smallest glimpse of what they really were. Yet we read them with the ...

1930. Why Should I Read The Bible? (Series: Real Faith for Real People)

2 Timothy 3:10--4:8

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

A cartoon in the New Yorker magazine portrays a man making an inquiry at a large metropolitan bookstore. The clerk begins tapping on her computer, spelling out the word B-I-B-L-E. “Yes,” said the clerk, “we have it. You will find it in the self-help section of the store.” Sometimes I wonder if that cartoon is all too true. Have we who read the Bible reduced the Bible to nothing more than another book in the self-help section? When we ask new members to affirm their faith in the scriptures as found in the ...

1931. Let Everything That Breathes Praise the Lord

Psalm 150:1-6

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

When his faith was at its lowest point, G. K. Chesterton said that he maintained it by gratitude toward God. He said, “I hung onto my religion by the thinnest thread of thanks.” Praise and thanksgiving belong not to a particular day or a particular season. They belong to the whole of life. As I’ve lived with this psalm during the last few weeks, getting ready for the sermon today, have been inspired to ask four questions this morning. Where is God to be praised? Why is God to be praised? How is God to be ...

1932. Barriers to Grace

Exodus 6:28--7:7

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

Winston Churchill once described the Soviet Union as “an enigma wrapped in riddle.” Chapters 7-12 of Exodus is that an enigma wrapped in a riddle. It’s the story of God through Moses dealing with Pharaoh, seeking to convince Pharaoh to let the people go. It’s a graphic presentation of the plagues. The Nile River turns to blood and becomes foul; the fish of the river die; swarms of frogs overrun the land filling the houses, even the bedchambers (how would you like to go to bed with a hundred bullfrogs under ...

1933. Soaring with Christ

Matthew 28:1-8

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

What an absolute joy to worship here, to be your pastor, to celebrate this Easter Sunday. Thank you for giving me the privilege to do that. What does Easter mean to you? I posed that with a preschooler yesterday and he said, “The Easter bunny is coming to bring me some candy." I asked a teenager, “What does Easter mean to you?" With a twinkle in her eye she said, “Fun in the sun. I'm on my way to spring break." If you happen to be employed with the church, Easter week is the busiest week of the entire ...

1934. Let the Living Begin

John 10:1-10

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

Once upon a time a man fell in love with his sports car. He drove it everywhere he went. He paid more attention to the car than he did to his family. When time came to make funeral arrangements he asked to be buried in it. Since money was not an issue, the man’s unusual request was granted. On a bright sunshiny day a crane lowered the sports car with the deceased man at the wheel into a gigantic grave. A crowd gathered to witness the strange event. As the car and corpse slipped out of sight, one bystander ...

1935. The Door of Prayer

1 Timothy 2:1-8

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

During my seminary days, I pastored two small churches near Bardstown, Kentucky. One of those churches had Sunday night services. Since it has always been a challenge for me to produce one sermon a week worth hearing, the thought of two sermons a Sunday seemed overwhelming. So we had a lot of hymn sings for Sunday night service. At a hymn sing the people present call out their favorite tunes and everybody sort of sings along. Mrs. Stora Barlow was a public school teacher in that congregation. Every time I ...

1936. Good and Mad

Luke 4:21-30

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

Before we start the message this morning I need you to do something for me. I want everybody on this side (point to the right side) to move over here (point to the left side). I want everybody in the center to move there (point to the right side). And I want everybody on this side (point to the left side) to move to the center. OK, let's go. After everyone has moved, and is uncomfortable, mad and grumbling. Did that make you mad? Of course it did. It probably made you "Good and Mad" We don't like change. ...

1937. Doing Christ’s Work

Ephesians 1:15-23

Sermon

Nancy Kraft

My mom's hands were never idle. She was always doing some kind of needlework or craft. She would go from painting Christmas ornaments to crocheting an afghan to knitting baby booties to embroidering a pillowcase. She did it all. Whenever we sat down to watch television together, I was always amazed that she could pay attention to the program and count stitches at the same time. When I was a young girl, my mom taught me how to do all the basics: knitting, crocheting, and cross-stitching. I never really got ...

1938. Distracted by Disappointment

Luke 24:13-35

Sermon

King Duncan

Karl Barth, one of the twentieth century’s most famous theologians, was on a streetcar one day in Basel, Switzerland, where he lived and lectured. A tourist to the city climbed on the streetcar and sat down next to Barth. The two men started chatting with each other. “Are you new to the city?” Barth inquired. “Yes,” said the tourist. “Is there anything you would particularly like to see in this city?” asked Barth. “Yes,” he said, “I’d love to meet the famous theologian Karl Barth. Do you know him?” Barth ...

1939. Life by the Spirit

Galatians 5:16-26

Understanding Series

L. Ann Jervis

5:16 Paul directs his readers to live by the Spirit. The Greek word translated “live” (peripateite) is literally “walk.” Paul uses this word elsewhere when speaking of living the new life in Christ (Rom. 6:4), a life that is conducted by means of the Spirit (Rom. 8:4). The word suggests continuance, progress, and daily attention. Paul commands his readers to avoid gratifying the desires of the sinful nature by means not of law observance but of living by the Spirit. The Greek for “sinful nature” is ...

1940. David on the Run

1 Sam 21:1–22:5

Teach the Text

Robert B. Chisholm Jr.

Big Idea: Even when faith wavers, the Lord confronts his chosen servants with their divinely appointed destiny. Understanding the Text As David left Jonathan, he knew that Saul was now fully committed to murdering him. The king tried to kill him in a variety of ways, but each time David escaped (chaps. 18–19), once through the Lord’s direct intervention (19:23–24). Apparently unaware of Saul’s latest attempts to kill David (19:9–24), Jonathan was confident that his father would not harm David (cf. 19:6–7 ...

1941. Daniel in the Den of Lions

Daniel 6:1-28

Understanding Series

William Nelson

The Lion's Pit: In this familiar chapter, Daniel’s enemies conspire to get him thrown into the lions’ pit for making petitions to his God. Just as we wonder where Daniel is in chapter 3, so we wonder where Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah (Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego) are in chapter 6, for there is no mention of them. We can be sure that they, like Daniel, would have continued their daily prayers in spite of the threat of being devoured by wild animals, yet there is no explanation for their absence. This ...

1942. Dancing in the Wind

Mark 4:35-41

Sermon

Lori Wagner

More than anything else in our lives, stress causes us the most serious hazards to our health, our peace, our relationships, and our ability to live life to the fullest. Stress inhibits our ability to handle the unexpected and closes us off in our interactions with others. It can keep us in a state of “fight or flight,” which means what it sounds like. Instead of engaging in life and loving, we will either “fight” it or we will “flee” from it. In doing so, we will make every situation worse, and will ...

1943. Bare Stage

Matthew 1:18-25

Sermon

Frank Ramirez

One of the best parts of Christmas is getting out the nativity set. There’s often a family history behind the one in your home. Perhaps it belonged to your grandparents, or was given to you by a beloved aunt. Maybe there’s a chip on Mary’s arm or the leg of the baby Jesus, which tells a story about how you played with it as a child. Maybe there’s a missing Magi, who has been replaced by a super hero action figure, by the kid who accidentally broke it, in the hopes you won’t notice. If our nativity sets ...

1944. Seven Habits Of Highly Effective Christians

2 Kings 5:1-27

Sermon

William L. Self

Naaman was a mighty man of valor, but he was a leper. What a shock it must have been to this great man, the leader of the Syrian army, when the unaccountable lethargy and the terrible pain in the joints attacked his body. Then he discovered, especially on his back, the discolored patches and on them the little nodules which were pink at first and then turned brown. He knew that he had it, the dreaded leprosy. It was the scourge of the ancient world -- the AIDS of his day. In crystal clear and cryptic ...

1945. He Shepherds Us!

John 10:1-21

Sermon

Harry N. Huxhold

Andrew Young, former delegate to the United Nations and former mayor of Atlanta, finally published the book he claims he should have written ten years ago. The book, The Way Out of No Way, contains Young's observations about how real change occurs. He notes that changes for the better do not happen simply because we teach people how to work better or harder. Reforms take place when people exert their spirituality to achieve change. In his aristoc_esermonsratic and very intelligent manner, Mr. Young uses ...

1946. Aaron and Hur Hold Up the Hands of Moses

Exodus 17:8-16

Bulletin Aid

Carl Hoefler

Call to Worship Pastor: God is a powerful God, but much of his power is released only when his people work together. People: When we work alone, it seems there is not nearly as much accomplished as when we help each other in our Lord's work. Pastor: Moses was a mighty man, but he still needed the help of Aaron and Hur to make God's power available to the Israelites. People: We commit ourselves to work cooperatively as our Lord's church, that his redemptive power may be released to our world. Collect ...

1947. Nightline

Matthew 2:1-12

Sermon

Eric Ritz

The famous United Methodist Bishop of California named Gerald Kennedy once sent a pastoral letter to all the churches and pastors under his care. He told the story of seeing a very poorly dressed woman and her young daughter looking into one of the beautiful department store windows in the downtown area of a large city. In it was the manger scene, but here Mary was dressed as the Queen of Heaven with rich diamonds and other jewels in her dazzling crown. The little girl gazed for a while, and then turned to ...

1948. Security Concerns

Ephesians 6:10-20

Sermon

Harold Warlick

Security has become big business in our world. Burglar and smoke alarms are wired directly from private homes to police and fire stations. Automobiles give forth major noises in the parking lots of shopping malls because some owner has inadvertently pushed the wrong button on a key pad. High school students walk through metal detectors to enter their school buildings. Even business phones and credit cards are "protected" by a user's password or "PIN" number. So pervasive is the concern for security that a ...

1949. A Passion for Christ (New)

Acts 3:11-26

Sermon

King Duncan

A man was sitting in a psychiatrist’s office. He was complaining about an obsession that was ruining his life. “It’s baseball, Doctor,” he said. “Please help me. Baseball is destroying me. I can’t even get away from it in my sleep. As soon as I close my eyes, I’m out there chasing a fly ball or running around the bases. When I wake up, I’m more tired than I was when I went to bed. What am I going to do? The psychiatrist sat back and folded her hands. “First of all,” she said, “you have to make a conscious ...

1950. Jesus the Iconoclast

Matthew 22:15-22

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

In 725 AD Leo III, the Syrian emperor of Constantinople, toppled the huge statue of Christ that loomed over his palace’s front gate. What Leo wanted to do was to prove his independence from church authority. What Leo DID was to create a new term, "iconoclast," which means "the destroyer of an icon." A more contemporary image, one that we all share, is of Iraqi citizens toppling the huge statue of Saddam Hussein in Baghdad after the arrival of US troops. That was an act of "iconoclasm." But things we target ...

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