Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 2026 to 2050 of 2157 results

2026. Joseph, When Did You Know?

Matthew 1:18-25

Sermon

King Duncan

... they did that. All the children would be involved. Great! On the morning of the pageant, however, the mothers decided to make one more change—one that caused a little more excitement. They decided to take the script for the pageant not from the King James Version, but from the Good News translation of the Bible so the young kids would understand it better. So there was no more quaint and beautiful language about Mary “being great with child.” As Mary and Joseph walked up the aisle of the church, the ...

2027. Less Fear; More Fruit

Matthew 3:1-12

Sermon

Dean Feldmeyer

... , after more than twenty years, that one line from a fairly pedestrian pop culture movie has become part of our cultural vocabulary, usually just shortened to, “Be afraid.” Of course, David Cronenberg, the head writer for the movie knew what he was doing. Versions of that line or lines very like it had been used before by other writers aiming for high drama. Shelley wrote, in his sonnet, Ozymandias: My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings: Look upon my works, ye Mighty, and despair! Isaiah wrote in chapter ...

2028. The New Moses

Matthew 1:18-25

Sermon

Dean Feldmeyer

... full of teaching scenes and not nearly as many healings and miracles. As we might expect from two writers telling the same story from different traditions at different times in different parts of the world, they disagree on some of the details. In Luke’s version of the Christmas story Joseph and Mary live in Nazareth. They journey to Bethlehem to be counted for the census, then they return to Nazareth after Jesus is born. In Matthew they start out living in Bethlehem where Jesus is born with no mention of ...

2029. What Might Have Been

Luke 2:1-7

Children's Sermon

King Duncan

... , “Right now, I understand she is cutting hair.” Linda Ellerbee thought somewhat condescendingly, “What would I have in common with a hair dresser?” And she never pursued the relationship. Somewhat later in her career she was in a theater seeing the motion picture version of the hit Broadway musical, Hair. At the end of the motion picture the credits rolled by and where the movie says, “Edited by...” was the name of the young lady her landlady wanted her to meet. When she said she was cutting ...

2030. Speaking with Prophetic Authority

Mark 1:21-28

Sermon

Richard Gribble

... be so today. For Christians the preeminent prophet was obviously Jesus of Nazareth, for he had personal knowledge of the Father, and through word and action spoke with the absolute authority granted him by God. Today's Gospel Reading presents Saint Mark's version of the beginning of Jesus' public ministry in Capernaum, a town Jesus obviously chose as the center for his prophetic mission due to its strategic location as a crossroads for trade and center of activity in Galilee. Mark (1:22) reports that Jesus ...

2031. How Would You Introduce Jesus?

John 1:(1-9), 10-18

Sermon

King Duncan

... end of the age.’” That’s the task of every follower of Christ. There is a delightful story about a young Asian girl named Yi (pronounced “Yee”). Yi first heard this verse at a Vacation Bible School, but she heard it in the King James Version, which begins like this, “Go YE therefore, and teach all nations.” Yi didn’t understand that in King James English, the word “ye” just means “you.” This young Asian girl thought her name was in the Bible! She became truly excited that Jesus was ...

2032. Aha! I See It Now!

John 1:29-42

Sermon

King Duncan

... look so terribly dead when they’re dead.” It’s a horrible line! But that’s our problem. We don’t see the true nature of sin. We don’t see how terribly dead we are. Jesus didn’t just come to clean us up and make us better, shinier version of our selves. He came to raise us up from the grave. Here’s something interesting. One of the most popular cell phone apps in the Health & Fitness category is an app called WeCroak. WeCroak costs 99 cents. Its only purpose is to pop a reminder on your phone ...

2033. No Longer Home Alone

John 15:13-17

Sermon

Arley K. Fadness

... , Recently, we heard the news of a Chicago couple who left their two little girls home alone for nine days -- unsupervised and uncared for. And the Chicago couple seemed surprised to be arrested upon their return from a vacation in Mexico. This story was a disturbing version of the hit movie Home Alone. We laughed at the box office hit, but the movie failed to portray the frightening side of it. It's not very fun to be left home alone, or isolated, ignored, or forgotten.1 Now we come to the second sermon ...

2034. When Christ Calls

John 11:28

Illustration

Jon L. Joyce

In the King James version the text reads: "The Master has come, and calleth for you." This has been used as a funeral text, reminding the mourners that death for a Christian is simply the call of Christ to come up higher, that he who is the resurrection and the life is leading a loved ...

2035. Same Ol’, Same Ol’

Matthew 2:13-18

Sermon

Dean Feldmeyer

... so the number of male children under the age of two would have been between seven and twenty, horrible enough but fewer than were killed by either side in the Iraq war, and hardly the 14,000 or 140,000 that have been claimed in some versions of this story. Within a year, Herod was dead and his kingdom divided between his three sons, none of whom would even begin to approach either the greatness or the depravity of their father. Their reigns would be filled with petty squabbling, back stabbing, accusations ...

2036. Nicodemus Came By Night

John 3:1-21

Sermon

David & Marian Plant

... Christians. Leave the darkness, leave the night; do Jesus’ work in full sight and full light. Amen 1.. Barbara Brown Taylor, Learning to Walk in the Dark (New York: HarperOne, 2014), p 43. 2. The Jewish Annotated New Testament, New Revised Standard Version, Amy-Jill Levine and Marc Zvi Brettler, eds. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2011), p. 163. 3. For the conceptualization of “familiar and trusted truths simply are too small for the new reality breaking in,” I am grateful to Norman Wirzba in ...

2037. Lord of the Sabbath

Luke 5:33-39, Luke 6:1-11, Luke 7:18-35

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... scrolling on screen during your sermon / Psalm 92 may be spoken with a musical background or sung You may also opt during or after your sermon to have people sing the psalm (you can find tunes with words on youtube) https://youtu.be/1I_X2bxfAq8 (This version by James Block is particular beautiful.) Props: a pair of old patched jeans and a pair of brand new jeans “When God reigns supreme in the consciousness of humankind, the tiniest blade of grass speaks of God's beauty.” –Frater Achad [You could also ...

2038. The Sweet Fragrance of Brokenness

Luke 7:36-50

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... chief evangelist for the troublesome rabbi, and many were following him because of Lazarus. While John doesn’t specifically say it was Mary, the sister of Lazarus, yet the presence of both Lazarus and Martha at the supper would suggest that it was. In John’s version, Mary seems distraught at losing Jesus, as it is clear that trouble approaches, and he has already been foretelling his death. What she does is an honor and blessing to him, an anointing she would rather give to him in life than in death. In ...

2039. Parabola

Luke 10:25-37

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... God’s kingdom come. Note the examples below. Note the difference in the Isaiah scripture to this one that Jesus tells in his explanation of the important and meaning of parables. Jesus’ identity as the saving Messiah is evident in his retelling of scripture here. Here is the version from Isaiah 6: 8-13: Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I; send me!” And he said, “Go and say to this people: ‘Keep listening, but do not ...

2040. Soul Food

Luke 9:10-17, Matthew 14:13-21, Mark 6:30-44, John 6:1-15

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... IS the messianic Bread, and he demonstrates the power of God in feeding God’s people with the symbols of the kingdom to come. Soul food. What kind of food is in your diet? Are you content with the mere “fast foods” of life? The “eat and run” version of relationship? That may get you by, but it won’t get you the “soul food” you need to flourish in your faith, and nourish others with God’s love. When you soak in God’s love, when you are in relationship with Jesus deeply and lovingly, you ...

2041. God Gives the Pharisees the Finger!

John 7:25-44, John 7:45--8:11

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... 3:3) Is Jesus predicting the “new fall of Babylon?” “But if I cast out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.” (Jesus in Luke 11:20) The authorities in Jerusalem have desecrated God’s Temple with their own “versions” of the Law of Moses, the Covenant of God! And the moment of truth has come. This story is a story of judgment, accusation, and conviction –but it’s not about the woman! It’s the Pharisees on trial this time. And slowly, they slink away. Their ...

2042. Revised and Revisioned

John 8:48-59, John 9:1-12, John 9:13-34, John 9:35-41, John 10:1-21

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... a woman who bakes a large Gingerbread boy. He is her creation, and she wants to keep him to herself. But he escapes the kitchen and takes off, having various adventures in his flight, until at last he is consumed by a sly fox. Another delightful version is The Sorcerer’s Apprentice. We love to watch the “wizard’s apprentice” Mickey Mouse cavort about trying to prevent the damage done by the “broom” he has brought to life. The entire movie is spent trying to stop the antics of the figure he has ...

2043. The Light That Dwells Among Us

Matthew 16:13-20, Matthew 16:21-28, Matthew 17:1-13

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... , see the Jewish Encyclopedia, “Eschatology” by Kaufmann Kohler. See also “Miracles of Jesus, Moses, and Elijah, and Elisha.” In The Historical Jesus of the Gospels by Craig S. Keener, p. 243. **Keener ***See also the Gospel of Matthew. R.T. France. ^The Hebrew version of the Bible renders the line identically in the two scriptures. ^^For more on Elijah and John, see “The Zechariah Tradition in the Gospel of Matthew. Charlene McAfee Moss. And “Elijah the Peacemaker” by Lawrence Frizzel.

2044. Here I Am

Luke 1:26-38, Luke 1:39-45, Luke 1:46-56

Sermon

Lori Wagner

“Our deepest relationships are not defined by strength but by vulnerability.” --Rabbi Ari Kaiman Prop (Animation): youtube video [Show youtube video “Pass the Salt”] In the past, we laughed or sighed at the sight of a couple eating dinner with one of them reading the newspaper. It could have been a scene in the movies or an actual sighting in a restaurant—there’s always one person with a face in a newspaper, or one of them zoned out somewhere, leaving the other to dine alone in silence. Now, it’s become ...

2045. Trust in Me

Matthew 1:18-25, Luke 2:1-7

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... listen to it? In the end –he does. Why? Because he had learned to trust not just his dream, but his heart hunches, his holy intuitions. He has learned to trust his relationship with God. Maybe he had learned and memorized Isaiah 30:15 (English Standard Version): “In repentance and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.” Maybe he had read Isaiah 7:14: “The “almah” should bear a child, and she will call him Emmanuel.” We don’t know if Joseph had had a prior ...

2046. Precocious

Luke 2:41-52

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... oppressive. We’ve been living in an artificial world. We are out of touch with our communities. Our churches are existing inside a self-imposed “box.” Perhaps the most famous poem by Maya Angelou is “Caged Bird.” In a sense, it’s a condensed version of her autobiography “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.” Listen to these words: “The caged bird sings with a fearful trill of things unknown but longed for still and his tune is heard on the distant hill for the caged bird sings of freedom ...

2047. The Great Dinner

Luke 14:1-14, Luke 14:15-24

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... meaning. He is not just saying, the Pharisees are not favored. He is saying, they will not be included in God’s heavenly kingdom to come. Those who believe in the eschatalogical coming of the Messiah must have trembled. Others just got angry. In Matthew’s version of the story, those invited who did not appreciate the invitation were shut out, and all others were brought in. However, there is still a caveat. The robe. When a wedding is given, often at the entryway, ritual robes would be given out for the ...

2048. True Colors

Acts 9:1-19a, Acts 9:19b-31

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... That revelation of light, that flashlight in his face, blinded him. And would ultimately make him see. In Hebrew, the essence of that Light is the shekinah. Shekinah stands for God’s powerful presence manifested as light. In fact, in the Aramaic version of the scriptures, the “shekinah” exists before anything. It is the shekinah (the voice) that manifests itself in light, as in “Let There Be…Light” (Genesis 1). That primordial light, the dawn of revelation, the shekinah is the awakening of being ...

2049. Sparkle

Luke 4:31-37

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... an unclean spirit in the person of an evil thief or murderer. With all of the places he goes to in his ministry, you might expect that, right? But no! He’s encountering this unclean spirit (this demon like spirit) in the synagogue! In the synagogue! In their version of the church! In the synagogue in Capernaum. This is the place where people come to worship YHWH. It’s the place where you might expect people to be living and praising in the Spirit of God, right? It’s the last place you’d expect a ...

2050. Are You a Lemming or a Lassie?

Luke 12:13-21, Luke 12:22-34, Luke 12:35-48, Luke 12:49-53, Luke 12:54-59

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... very different. In this case, the “yeast” of the Pharisees are the hidden laws and rules created that the Pharisees and Sadducees and Priests were imposing upon people during Jesus’ time. Their teachings he felt were based on puffed up human-made versions of God’s will, not God’s will in fact. Taken with themselves, their arrogance, attire, penchant for riches, and legalistic theology angered Jesus. They had “hidden” motives, and Jesus felt they were selfish and self-serving. On the other hand ...

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