Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 2001 to 2025 of 4977 results

2001. What Does Jesus Expect of Us?

Mark 8:27-38

Sermon

Donald Macleod

... edge of burnout, because they seem to know where to put their values in life. All of them seem urged to pioneer against the tremendous odds of disease, poverty, and human ignorance of this universe. Daily they say "No" to every temptation to give up, to quit. Something within them compels them to go on, to stay on, and to out-think the mysteries of his farflung world. And what of Christianity and the servants of its faith? Jesus still says: "He who would save his life shall lose it; and whoever loses his ...

2002. Bread of Another Kind (Bread of Life II)

John 6:25-59

Sermon

Charles R. Leary

... ordinary kind, the bread you eat, that you put on your dining table, the food you live on; and not only the bread itself, but the butter and bread, meat and potatoes, fruits and vegetables, and desserts. And there’s the other kind of bread. It’s quite different. You don’t eat it. You think it, you feel it, you dream it, you imagine it. You devour it with that mysterious thing you call “you.” Put it this way. Your mind is hungry for ideas, for knowledge, always more and more, never satisfied. Your ...

2003. Bread of Unwavering Commitment (Bread of Life V)

John 6:25-59

Sermon

Charles R. Leary

... single-minded commitment to her goal. With a determined look she said, “I do workout eight hours a day. In the morning, from seven to ten, in the afternoon from four to nine, every day” 2). It works in your life and my life like this: why quit smoking? It won’t make that much difference. Shall I talk to my boss about a fellow worker who pushes drugs? Shall I attend City Council meetings and express my feelings about the issues? Or shall I take the route of being uninvolved? Or like this: I overslept ...

2004. What’s a Sunday For?

Sermon

Charles R. Leary

... ’s creation. Remaining completely committed to the disciplines of their art, they vowed that one day in the week they would not work. That vow was part of their spiritual discipline. One was a Hebrew. One was a Christian. Their message to their peers and to the world was quite direct, as if to say, “We set aside a time every week to look at and celebrate the meaning of all time and life. Only we, in commitment to our God, can protect that time. We determine to do it.” What do you do when you’re on a ...

2005. Celebrating the Marvel of Growth

Mark 4:30-34, Mark 4:26-29

Sermon

Charles R. Leary

... exciting when we graduate from one level of achievement to another. We are fortunate when we can get up each morning and go to our schools, offices, fields and factories as active participants in God’s wonderful, marvelous world. The message of the Gospel is quite simple and direct. The church of Jesus Christ had a tiny beginning in the work of an obscure teacher and a pitifully small group of ordinary people. The church has become the greatest of all shrubs, the world-wide church that welcomes people of ...

2006. Jesus: An Extension Cord

John 20:19-23

Children's Sermon

Wesley T. Runk

... who call themselves Christian are celebrating the Day of Pentecost. This is the day that the Holy Spirit was first known to all of Jesus' disciples. The Holy Spirit visited the disciples while they were staying in a room outside the city of Jerusalem. It was quite an experience, but one that Jesus promised them would happen after he left earth and went back to live with his Father. Speaking of the Father reminds me of something that Jesus said one day to his disciples. He was talking to them about what it ...

2007. A Song Sung Blue

1 Samuel 1:1-20

Sermon

Robert Noblett

Years ago, Neil Diamond wrote and recorded a song that became quite popular; it was entitled “Song Sung Blue.” The lyrics have long left me, but that title came rushing back when I began looking at David’s lament for Saul and Jonathan. That’s a good definition of a lament a song sung blue. A Medium for Grief At first this ...

2008. King By Force

John 6:1-15

Sermon

Robert Salzgeber

... person saw in Jesus, God desiring to be that person's friend and savior, Jesus would offer himself as healer. He would freely offer spiritual food. No conditions. No angels. So when Jesus asked Philip, "Where can we buy enough food to feed all these people?" quite naturally, Jesus was simply testing Philip because he already knew what he would do. Of course he knew what he would do. He was God. Jesus wanted to see if Philip trusted his kingship, his sovereignty. And then Andrew said, "There is a boy here ...

2009. The Robe

John 6:25-59

Sermon

Robert Salzgeber

... , Josh!"Moments later Josh was standing in the elevator waiting while it climbed the 25 floors to his office lobby. Josh thought about how much he loved his new suit but even in his vivacious and exuberant state there was a tinge of anxiety. He wasn't quite sure what his dread was all about. And then it kind of surfaced from his subconscious being. Josh remembered that some guy had called him from First National Bank early last evening telling him that if he did not make a $250 payment on his credit card ...

2010. The Banquet

John 6:25-59

Sermon

Robert Salzgeber

... flesh ... I give it so the world may live ... whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood lives in me, and I live in himwhoever eats me will live ..." In order to make his point of how close his Father desires to be to the people Jesus says quite literally, "Eat me. Consume me. Put me on. Wear me. Take me into yourself. Participate with me in my Father's kingdom work. Lose yourself. Lose your life for my sake. Let go of established ways. Take me into yourself. Receive eternal life." A story: Mark's schedule ...

2011. Gunda

John 6:60-71

Sermon

Robert Salzgeber

... have full-time jobs." "That's not true," said Gunda. "You know it's not true. It is not hard for anyone in this church, for anyone in this neighborhood, to put food on the table. There are people in this town for whom putting food on the table is quite a challenge, but I haven't heard any talk about them. If we are talking about ministry to them, then I'm in favor of the idea. No, what we're talking about is ministry to those for whom it has become harder every day to have two cars, a ...

2012. Changing The Rules

Mark 7:1-23

Sermon

Robert Salzgeber

... buried it on the other side of the fence. The next morning the small rag-tag army walked over to the church cemetery to check the grave of their friend to make sure it hadn't been disturbed. They were all startled and disturbed when, after looking for quite some time, they could not find the fresh grave. Just as they were about to give up in utter frustration the pastor approached them and said, "You cannot find the grave because it is not there where you are looking for it. Yesterday, I felt really guilty ...

2013. The Spiritual Organ Of Corti

Mark 7:31-37

Sermon

Robert Salzgeber

... seat and ran into the arena. He held high the cross of Christ and threw himself between the two combatants. "In the name of our Master," he cried, "Stop fighting!" The two men hesitated. Nothing like this had ever happened before. They did not quite know what to do. But the spectators were furious. Telemachus had robbed them of their anticipated entertainment! They yelled wildly and stampeded toward the center of the arena. They became a mob. With sticks and stones they beat Telemachus to death. Far down ...

2014. A Formula For Greatness

Mark 9:33-37

Sermon

Robert Salzgeber

... student here I told you my father was a steel worker all of his life? In fact, he was the first black person to be promoted to supervisor in his department. He worked darn hard to put me and my brother and two sisters through college. But there was never quite enough money so we all had to be on work study programs in order to make it through school. For a while I thought I was going to have to drop out my junior year because my classes and my job didn't integrate together. Remember I came to you ...

2015. Who Can Find A Virtuous Woman?

Sermon

Sue Anne Steffey Morrow

... to ready us for the description of virtue in Proverbs, so that we might understand what the sages of Israel held as good, true, worthy of report. For some of us, we might agree with the characteristics in this passage. We might respond quite readily, "Yes, yes." Those are characteristics that I cherish." Others might respond, "Mmmm, interesting, but more a curiosity than anything I think about." At the very least this passage from Proverbs provides for us an occasion to consider what virtues we do value ...

2016. The Presence Of The Spirit

Acts 2:1-13

Sermon

Charles Curley

... time allotted for his sermon (though sermons were considerably longer in those days). He was a quiet man, a gentle and loving man. The other was a very different person. He had the Spirit. We knew he had the Spirit because he himself told us he did, and that quite often. He preached fiery sermons, with nary a note. He said he preached what the Spirit wanted him to say. He was an angry man. He was a competitive, bitter, driven man. I have to admit that every time I hear someone say you have to get the Spirit ...

2017. As Mortals See

1 Samuel 15:1-35

Sermon

Charles Curley

... : to listen and obey, in spite of all other pressing considerations of the moment. Do you get frustrated as I do by politicians who are always turning in the wind? One day they say one thing when they are speaking to this group, and something quite different when speaking to that one. They change their positions constantly in response to: polls or special interest groups or their handlers. One of the most refreshing moments in a recent campaign came when a candidate became so angry at a heckler that he left ...

2018. What Kind Of King Is This?

2 Samuel 6:1-23

Sermon

Charles Curley

... Michal, who was embarrassed when David showed such vulnerability and such an outpouring of emotion in public? Michal clearly believed this was neither the time nor the place for such a display. Is our spiritual life - our relationship with God - a personal, private matter, quite apart and separate from the crazy, crowded, hectic activity of everyday life? I suspect that for many of us, maybe for most of us, our spiritual life is something we have put "on hold." In the midst of the craziness of our everyday ...

2019. What's Coming Out?

Mark 7:20

Children's Sermon

... to us in other ways instead. We need to remember how fortunate we are to have the ability to use our mouths to talk. And there is singing - or playing a musical instrument that takes wind. both of these things happen with use of our mouths too. There's nothing quite like beautiful music that someone can sing - or whistle - or play on a wind instrument. Now for the bad part. We can also use our mouths to let a lot of bad things come out of us. Jesus warned us about that. He once said that what comes out of ...

2020. Shepherds And Bathrobes

Luke 2:8-20

Sermon

Thomas Long

... of neighborhood boys, the very ones we have seen kicking a soccer ball across the front yard, will stand on a hillside of indoor-outdoor carpet, guarding cardboard and cotton-ball sheep with makeshift staffs, their terry-cloth bathrobes almost, but not quite, hiding their worn Adidas sneakers. Suddenly a gauzily angelic version of the little girl from next door will burst onto the scene, lisping the good news through the gap where her next tooth will eventually grow. Other angels will soon join her, their ...

2021. The Healing Of Simon Peter's Mother-In-Law

Mark 1:29-34

Drama

Dallas A. Brauninger

... wounds. God lifts up the downtrodden and casts the wicked to the ground. So it is with Jesus. His understanding is beyond measure. So it is with my savior. (See today's pericope, Psalm 147:1-11.) Asker: You were sick in bed with a fever. You must have been quite ill to go to bed because the woman had to work all day to keep the household going. This role must have been foremost on your mind. The first thing you did upon rising was to get back to your work, your duty, of serving those who had come into ...

2022. A Service Of Light

John 1:1-18

Bulletin Aid

J. B. Quisenberry

... the local Judean shepherds, but also to three kings from the east. These three kings were not at all like the people Mary and Joseph were used to. Their dress, their language, their culture, perhaps even the color of their skin must have seemed quite strange to the people of Bethlehem. None of these things mattered to Jesus. It was their hearts that he was interested in. So, like the familiar shepherds, the three foreign kings were welcomed by the Holy Family. Like the shepherds before them, these powerful ...

2023. Let Every Heart Prepare Him Room

Drama

Suzanne Fisher

... will see. Narrator: Carrie and Claude shushed them: Carrie & Claude: Be quiet, we hear a sound. Narrator: They all hushed and listened. Wide-eyed, they turned around. Narrator: In the lady's arms, lay a precious bundle, cooing and gurgling. The creatures were quite humbled. ALL sing first verse "Away In The Manger" Narrator: Inching closer, Moose took a peek and then he smiled wide. This was no usual man-child. He was filled with love inside. ALL sing first verse "What Child Is This?" Narrator: Leo looked ...

2024. Lent 4

John 3:1-21, Numbers 21:4-9, Ephesians 2:1-10

Sermon Aid

Russell F. Anderson

... Sermon Angle: God's purpose is to save the world, not condemn it (vv. 17-18). Why then was Christ pictured in ancient and medieval art as an implacable judge? Could it be that the church literally wanted to scare the hell out of people? It seems that for quite some time the church lost contact with the grace of God and reverted to legalism. The law condemns and kills but God's mercy in Jesus Christ gives us life. There is condemnation for those who refuse to come to God's light, but it is self-condemnation ...

2025. Passion Sunday

Mk 14:1 - 15:47 · Isa 50:4-9 · Phil 2:5-11 · Ps 31:9-16

Sermon Aid

Russell F. Anderson

... to stand together against the dark force but they refuse to put themselves at risk. The sheriff is left to face the outlaws by himself, though a few do get around to lending a hand at the last minute. The sheriff's wife tries to convince him to quit the conflict; the town isn't worth the effort. The sheriff does manage to destroy the band of desperados and he becomes a hero. However, the cowardice of the town's folk so disgusts him that he takes off his badge and rides into the sunset. To the casual ...

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