Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 2001 to 2025 of 4963 results

2001. Simeon

Drama

Charles L. Koester

... wrong all these expectations were. They were not God’s way of coming and entry into human life. There were others of us, myself included, who in simple faith, looked for God’s Messiah to come, who did not speculate with our own expectations of Him. In quiet hope and strong faith, I looked for the "consolation of Israel" to appear. How our people, and our world needed the Christ who was to come. Your scriptures tell you little about me. You do not even know my age! Only my name, Simeon. But permit me to ...

2002. The Thief

Luke 23:26-43

Children's Sermon

Wesley T. Runk

... was awful, but it was the best thing that ever happened to me. That’s where I met Jesus and it is the day that I became a follower of Christ. [Romove the mask.] That was the way that the thief who followed Jesus wanted you to remember him. I hope that you will remember him and his story for a long time. All of us need to be forgiven for our sins and this man certainly was forgiven for his on the day he died. He loved Jesus and Jesus loved him. Amen.

2003. The Very Nearness Of Holy Week

Sermon

Leonard H. Budd

... We would like to have listened, too, but my family had wanted to see a Syrian juggler who performed by the city well and so we hurried by. The Passover holiday is an exciting time in Jerusalem. We had planned this trip for six years. Every Jewish family hopes to make at least one pilgrimage to the Holy City in their lifetime. The place is impossibly crowded, but that always helps make it more exciting. Let me see - it must have been Tuesday that we saw the young man again. Once more it was about the Temple ...

2004. OUR LORD DELIVERED UP

Sermon

E. Jerry Walker

... . The soft smiles on the faces of the others were knowing tributes to the thoroughness of the preparations of the high priest. Nicodemus left the group, stood alone with his servants, lost in thought. He wondered why he had come here. Was it that he had some small hope that others would see the man as he saw him? Like the time he had furtively sought him out at night. He was not proud of himself that he had skulked through the shadows, hiding his identity so his peers would not learn of his visit. But he ...

2005. Commanded By Example

John 13:31-38

Sermon

O. Garfield Beckstrand, II

... every right to curse the human family. Yet he still saw the marvelous possibilities within the hearts of people. He believed the weak could become strong, the deceitful could become honest, the sinner could enter God’s Kingdom, and the poor and oppressed could know hope and joy. Look at the HEIGHT of Jesus’ love. How can we describe the height of love? Only his words can depict the ultimate expression of love, the loftiest act which love can experience: "Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay ...

2006. The Passing of the Peace

John 20:24-31

Sermon

George Bass

... study, said that the studies showed that "we should be asking questions about the effects of a cold war on children, whether or not there is a nuclear war."37 He seems to imply that the same hopelessness would prevail. The resurrection of Christ does hold out hope to a dying and desperate world, not simply to a few friends of Jesus who were fortunate enough to be living in the first century. It reminds us that things can change because people can be changed by Jesus Christ. Two days after the article about ...

2007. Love - A Christian Imperative

John 15:1-17

Sermon

George Bass

... skull, yet I am softened and melted in His love; I lie without in the churchyard, yet I am within Paradise. All suffering is forgotten because of His great love when for us he bore His cross and went to Calvary."52 Such a confession of faith and hope springs only from the hearts and lips of those who believe and say, "Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!" - and abide in the resurrection gift of Christ’s amazing love. And so, abiding in Christ’s love means that we will love other Christians as friends ...

2008. Come Home!

Isaiah 60:1-22

Sermon

Richard L. Eslinger

... Israel’s darkness of waiting. Now in the midst of this darkness, the word of the Lord comes to Israel. A prophecy so divorced from the signs of the times that it sounds crazy. The Lord will rise upon you ... His glory will he seen upon you. The hope is that a light will shine in the darkness. That is what is prophetic: a brightness of God’s appearing, seeming even more intense because of the surrounding night. And this glory of the Lord will call back the exiles; they will come home. There will be signs ...

2009. Feet Of Clay

2 Samuel 11:1-27

Sermon

Roger Prescott

... to battle ... - 2 Samuel 11:1 It was also the time when romance was in the air. 2. Getting in deeper To cover up the scandal, the king sent for Uriah, who was Bathsheba’s husband and one of David’s army commanders serving under Joab. David hoped to make it seem that Uriah was the father of Bathsheba’s unborn child. But the plan didn’t succeed. Uriah refused to break the strict rules of a consecrated soldier in holy warfare and would not visit his wife. This loyal soldier believed that by visiting ...

2010. An Unusual Legacy

2 Samuel 23:1-7

Sermon

Roger Prescott

... David) David’s "good words" did (and do) what Job’s words did (and do) - at least according to Job’s friend, Eliphaz: Your words have kept people on their feet. - Job 4:4 - my paraphrasing David left a legacy of good words that encouraged and brought hope and life to people. He also left a legacy of ... 2. Leadership In a poetic and beautiful way, the writer of "David’s Legacy" gives us a glimpse of what perfect leadership might achieve. When one rules justly over men, ruling in the fear of God, he ...

2011. Francis of Assisi

1 Corinthians 1:18--2:5

Drama

Michael L. Sherer

... you. I wrote to you no differently than I have preached to those I’ve met these many years. I find to cover up the truth with soft and inoffensive language makes the gospel weak and ineffectual. I am still convinced that sharing and compassion are the hope of all mankind. I hope my life has illustrated that. I told you once that I had sores at places on my body similar to where Christ’s wounds were located. The sores are with me still. In fact, they pain me now in ways they never have before. I count it ...

2012. Divine Alka-Seltzer

Mark 8:31--9:1

Sermon

... evasive, hidden, superficial, though genuine response, the preacher then moves to instances of his own and his parishioners’ sufferings which will not budge, unless. Concreteness of language and example - the specifics will not let the listener escape. Suffering can shrink a vision and a hope. How to expand the vision in the midst of pain? Even to the point of rejoicing? Well, read on. There are times in my life when I just want to run and hide. I remember an incident when I was nine years old. My father ...

2013. My Soul Is Glad - Because of God

Luke 1:46-56

Sermon

... decision to leave him after his release from the institute, but it has also given him a sense of a divine hand in it all." What an irony! A divine hand in all of that? "Perhaps, he said, it is his lot, after having fallen, to be a symbol of hope." No one could have convinced him of that. Only he could have reached that conclusion, as faith by the power of the Holy Spirit sought its own knowledge. "We have to experience hunger and want to know that only God can help us." "How can he exalt before he makes ...

2014. Strong Faith For Tough Times

Mark 5:1-20

Sermon

James W. Moore

... to pray especially for her grandson who is a jet pilot stationed somewhere in Kuwait because she said, “If war breaks out, he will be one of the first to see action.” · The image of a little pre-school girl saying on television, “I hope we don’t have war because people might get hurt.” · The image of world leaders and congressional leaders and people in the streets agreeing that something should be done, but strongly disagreeing over how to do it. · The image of television newscasters suddenly ...

2015. And It Came To Pass

Mark 13:1-31

Sermon

Warren Thomas Smith

... , though all my ships at sea Come drifting home with broken masts and sails; I shall believe the Hand which never fails, From seeming evil worketh good to me; And, though I weep because those sails are battered, Still will I cry, while my best hopes lie shattered, "I trust in Thee."3 Resilience E. Stanley Jones told us about the need to bounce back. We all experience blows which bring us down; or, if not down, very low. Disappointments, defeats, hurts, griefs - these are part of human subsistence. No one ...

2016. The Father Who Wanted His Son To Succeed

1 Kings 2:1-12

Sermon

Alton F. Wedel

... , to mold, to love, and to enjoy the child who has been given as a heritage from God. He entertains great hopes and visions for the future, when his child will follow in his footsteps, perhaps pursue the same profession, and succeed him in ... , to counteract the schemes of Adonijah’s self-will and ambition. Then there was Solomon, his fourth-born by Bathsheba, and the King’s last hope among his sons for one who would succeed him on the throne of Israel. When his time to die drew near, when he was "about to ...

2017. Calming Of The Tempest

Mark 4:35-41

Sermon

Brett Blair

... was in the boat. Their real problem is not the storm outside but the storm of doubt and unbelief inside. Unfortunately storms that rage within us cannot be cured by ourselves. It takes the power of God's love, as revealed in Jesus Christ. He is our only hope of stilling the tempest of doubt that can harm our souls and cripple our lives. That’s what the disciples learned this day on the Sea of Galilee. They thought the danger lie outside the boat. They would soon learn the real danger lie within the boat ...

2018. Planting People

2 Samuel 7:1-17

Bulletin Aid

Dallas A. Brauninger

... , to become grounded, to become planted in my own place? Leader: I mean, have plans and dare to pursue them because God is with you. All: We give thanks to God who knows our hopes and is with us. Collect We remember, O God, that while we have hopes in mind, your presence and your promises to humankind encourage and sustain us. We are grateful. Amen. Prayer of Confession When we move on in our lives, we sometimes think, dear God, that we have left you behind as we have left behind everything else. Everything ...

2019. Clear and Clean and Good

Titus 2:1-15

Sermon

T. A. Kantonen

... be bygones, from now on I shall do better." The creditors too have something to say. The mistakes and failures of the past must be rectified. The "good news" of the gospel is that God has done just that for us. He has wiped the slate clean. We have hope for the future because the sins of the past are forgiven. We have a genuinely fresh start and power for a genuinely new life. Thus our Lord says, "Go and sin no more," only after he has said, "Your sins are forgiven." First the Gabe, as the Germans express ...

2020. On the Night when He Was Betrayed

1 Corinthians 11:17-34

Sermon

T. A. Kantonen

... "the love of Jesus, what it is, none but his loved ones know." Those who have experienced time and again the presence of the Savior in this sacrament, who have there again and again had a holy rendezvous with him, who know what courage and joy and hope he so often gave there, they know what communion means. They long for these contacts with him and they pray with Paul that they may know him ever better and better as the days of their pilgrimage lengthen and eternity draws nearer. The sacrament is communion ...

2021. In Praise of Feeling Guilty

Psalm 51:1-19

Sermon

Gregory J. Johanson

... the capacity to destroy it fifty times over! So our well-being is dependent on our serving the social good. When we do not, we suffer the pangs of guilt - and hopefully take corrective measures. So feeling guilty, then, is a guardian of our goodness. It serves justice and love and righteousness. It gives hope - hope for a better world, for the coming of the Kingdom of God. Also necessary is the relief of guilt through repentence, forgiveness, atonement, reconciliation. That is the good news of the gospel ...

2022. One Little Child

Mark 9:30-37

Bulletin Aid

Dallas A. Brauninger

... what is right, by feeding the child's whole being. Collect Compassionate God, we come as a church who wants to convey to children that this church home is a place that accepts thems, loves them, and welcomes them, one by one. Help us to bolster this hope by entrusting creative energy, our money, and the programs of the church for the nurture of children. Amen. Prayer of Confession We like to think in terms of numbers, God, but numbers overlook that people count one by one. One by one is how you think of ...

2023. Counting On God

Job 2:1-10, Job 1:1-5

Bulletin Aid

Dallas A. Brauninger

... Confession Sometimes, God, we wonder if being the best person we can be is worth it all. Then we realize that our focus has gone askew. You are the object of our trust and faithfulness. Because you made us and because we are connected to you, we can engage in hopeful living, surmount what we need to, and come out on the side of faith. Amen. Hymns "All My Hope Is Firmly Grounded" "My Hope Is Built On Nothing Less" "In The Very Midst Of Life" "In The Midst Of New Dimensions" "I Trust, O Christ, In You Alone"

2024. Where On Earth Are You?

Job 23:1--24:25

Bulletin Aid

Dallas A. Brauninger

... you, God. Leader: Where are you, God, when we are in such turmoil that all we want to do is run away or worse? People: When our lives are ripped apart, all we can do is hope in you, God. All: Where on earth are you, God? Collect We trust in you, O Sustainer, to help us to move through the awful times toward healing. Amen. Prayer of Confession When the burdens we carry overwhelm us, we speak nothing but complaint. When pain swallows us, we think ...

2025. Mary's Acceptance

Luke 1:26-38

Bulletin Aid

Dallas A. Brauninger

... I am, God," the angel knew she would be all right and departed. We come to this place filled with questions of "How can this be?" We leave mysteriously heartened that it is all right to give ourselves over to God's plans for a future and a hope. Collect Lead us, Holy Parent, from questions to acceptance. Move us forward beyond fear to expectation as it dawns upon us that we are an important part of your plan. Guide us in the right way our lives should go. For the sake of Jesus. Amen. Prayer of Confession ...

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